iiilliiie^^ '■(,11;. 1,; LIBRARY OF THK University of California. GIKX OF^ Accession '>^i^03 ^ Class OF THE UNIVERSITY Coliseum. Meta Sudans. c. Arch of Constantine. d. Arch of Titus and Velia, e. Mount Palatine. f. Excavated level of the Forum. g. Present level of Forum. ft. Arch of Severus. 1. Temple of Vespasian. k. Temple of Saturn. I. Clivus Capitolinus. m. Capitol. ROME. BIBD'b-EYB view of TUK FOBUMFBOM tub 0A.I'1T0L. HISTORY OF ROME ¥ROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE. WITH CHAPTERS ON THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE AND ART. PY HENRY G. LIDDELL, D.D., DEAN OF CHRIST CIIUKCII, OXFOED. IliLUSTRATED B WOODCUTS. NEW YORK •:• ClW^!«S*n •:• CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY -< k" V tK THE STUDENT'S SEHIES. BURY'S HISTORY OF ROME. To the Death of Marcus Aurelius. Illustrated. LODGE'S MODERN EUROPE. %\ 60. WESTCOTT A HORT'S GREEK TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. $1 00. MANUAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. By Philip Smith. Two Parts. Illustrated. $1 50 each. SKEAT'S ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY. $1 26. THE STUDENT'S CLASSICAL DICTIONARY. Illustrated. $1 S5. ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST. By Philip Smith. Illustrated. $1 25. HISTORY 0\ GREECE. By Dr. William Smith. Illustrated. %\ 25. COX'S GENERAL HISTORY OF GREECE. With Maps. $1 25. LIDDELL'S HISTORY OF ROME. Ill'd. $1 25. MERIVALE'S GENERAL HISTORY OF ROME. With Maps. %\ 25. RAWLINSON'S ANCIENT HISTORY, (l SSw LYELL'S GEOLOGY. Illustrated. %\ 25. GIBBON'S DECLINE AND FALL OF THB ROMAN EMPIRE. Illustrated. |1 25. HISTORY OF FRANCE. By the Rev. W. H. Jbbvis, M.A. Illustrated. $1 25. HUME'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, lllns- trated. New Edition. $1 60. STRICKLAND'S QUEENS OF ENGLAND. Illustrated. %\ 26. HALLAM'S MIDDLE AGES. $1 25. HALLAM'S CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. $1 25. OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. By Philip Smith. With Maps and Illustrations. $185. NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. By Philip Smith. With Maps and Illustrations. $1 25. LEWIS'S HISTORY OF GERMANY. With Maps and Illustrations. |1 60. THE STUDENT'S SMALLER SERIES. SCRIPTURE HISTORY. Illustrated. 60 cents. HISTORY OF GREECE. Illustrated. 60 cents. HISTORY OF ROME. Illustrated. 60 cents. COX'S SCHOOL HISTORY OF GREECE. With Maps. 60 cents. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Illustrated. 60 ct«, ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST. Illus- trated. 60 cents. SEEMANN'S MYTHOLOGY. Ill'd. 60 cents. MERIVALE'S SCHOOL HISTORY OF ROME. With Eleven Maps. 75 cents. W. P. I Coin of (Jaesar in 4th Dictatorship, p, CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. Shot. pxqb I. Physical Geography of Italy 1 II. Early Population of Italy 14 BOOK I. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Chap. I. Origin of Rome : Romulus and Numa II. Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Martius, the third and fourth kings III. Tarquinius Priseus and Servius Tullius, the fifth and sixth kings IV. Tarquinius Superbus, and the beginnings of the Republic . . V. Observations on the history of Rome under the kings . . 21 33 38 58 10 196-450. 470-449. 448-406. 448-391. 390. BOOK II. ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Chap. VI. Decline of Roman power after the expulsion of the Tarquins. Geographical sketch of the neighbour- hood of Rome 79 VII. The Tribunate 87 VIII. Agrarian law. The election of the Tribunes trans- ferred to the Tribes 95 IX. "Wars and foreign affairs from the battle of Lake Regil- lus to the Decemvirate 101 X. Continued struggle between the Orders. The Decem- virate Ill XI. The Code of the Twelve Tables 124 XII. Sequel of the Decemvirate. Military Tribunate. Gen- eral history to the war with Veil 128 XIII. Wars since the Decemvirate. Siege of Veil , . . . 136 XIV. The Gauls 143 91203 n CONTENTS. B.O. 389-367. Chap. XV. Paob Sequel of the Gallic War. Licinian Laws. Final equalization of the two Orders 152 XYI. Sources of early Roman history 162 BOOK III. a66-344. 389-344. 343-341. 340-338. 337-326. 326-304. 299-290. 289-282. 280-275. 274-264. ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY, (b.o. 366—265.) XVIL Sequel of the Licinian Laws. Civil History to the first Samnite War 167 XVIII. Wars from the burning of Rome to the first Sam- nite War 172. XIX. First Samnite War 177 XX. Great Latin War. Subjection of Latium . . . . 194 XXI. Events leading to the Second Samnite War . . 195 XXII. The Great Samnite War, commonly called the Second 199 XXIIL Third Samnite War 209 XXIY. Civil History during the time of the Samnite Wars 216 XXY. Events between the Third Samnite War and the landing of Pjnrhus 224 XXYI. Pyrrhus in Italy 237 XXYII. Final reduction and settlement of Italy . . . . 248 BOOK IV. ROME AND CARTHAGE. — xxYin. 263-241. XXIX. — XXX. 218-216. XXXI. 215-211. XXXIL 210-207. xxxin. 206-202. XXXIY. — XXXV. XXXYI. — XXXYTT. Carthage. Events leading to First Punic War . . 259 First Punic War 267 Events between the First and Second Punic Wars 282 Second Pumc War. First Period 296 Second Punic War. Second Period 321 Second Punic War. Third Period 336 Second Punic War. Fourth and last Period . . 350 Government and Constitutional Changes up to the close of the Hannibalic War 369 The Provinces and Finances 386 Social and Intellectual Condition of the People. • Manners — Religion — Literature — Art . . . 394 CONTENTS. VH BOOK V. ROME AND THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD, (b.c. 201-132.) 15.C. Chap. Pagb — XXXYIII. Introductory: State of the Eastern World ., .. 412 XXXIX. First and Second Macedonian Wars: Settlement of Greece by Flamininus 419 XL. War with Antiochus, and settlement of Eastern Affairs 432 XLI. Wars in the West contemporaneous with the Macedonian and Syrian Wars 441 XLII. CivU History during the Macedonian and Syrian Wars : Corruption of manners : Senatorial pre- dominance : Scipio and Cato 446 XLIII. The Third Macedonian War, or War of Perseus. . 456 XLIV. General History between the War with Perseus and the last Wars with Greece and Carthage . . 467 XLV. The last Wars with Macedon and Greece : Fall of Corinth 476 XLVI. Third Punic War : Fall of Carthage 481 XLVir. Spanish Wars: Fall of Numantia 491 XLVin. First Slave-War in Sicily 497 XLIX. The condition of Rome and her People at the close of the Period of Conquest 502 L. Manners and Morals : Literature and Art . . . . 508 214-194, J)2-188, 200-177. 200-169. 180-168. 166-150. 151-146. 150-146. 149-133. 133-131. BOOK VI. 133. 133-129. 128-121. 120-104. 105-101. 103-101. 100-91. 00, 89. 88-86. 88-84. 83, 82. 82-78. FIRST PERIOD OF CIVIL WARS. LI. Tiberius Gracchus 518 LII. Return and death of Scipio the Younger .. 527 LIII. Caius Gracchus and his times 533 LIV. Jugurtha and his times 545 LV. The Cimbrians and Teutons [ ggg Second Slave- War in Italy ) LVI. From the'^ixth Consulship of Marius to the death of M. Livius Drusus 565 LVn. The Social War 575 LVin. First Civil War " 582 LIX. First Mithridatic War 593 LX. Return of Sylla : Second Civil War 601 LXI. Sylla's Dictatorship and death 610 Vlll CONTENTS. BOOK VII. SECOND PERIOD OF CIYIL WAR. B.C. Chap. Pagb tS-YO. LXII. Revolutionary attempt of Lepidus : Sertorius : Spartacus: Consulship of Pompey and Crassus 620 T4-61. LXIII. Third or Great Mithridatlc War : Pompey in the East 629 69-61. LXIV. From Consulship of Pompey and Crassus to re- turn of Pompey from the East : Caesar: Cicero: CatiUne 639 62-58. LXV. Pompey's return: First Triumvirate: Caesar's Con- sulship : Clodius 651 58-50. LXV I. Caesar in Gaul : breach between Pompey and Caesar 661 50-48. LXVII. Second Civil War death of Pompey 673 48-44. LXVIII. Absolute rule of Caesar 687 44-42. LXIX. From the death of Caesar to the battle of Philippi 703 41-30. LXX. From the battle of Philippi to the final establish- ment of Imperial Monarchy 7 . — LXXI. State of the Empire : Literature, Art, Manners, and Religious feeling 731 Index 752 Coin of Agrippa, with head of Augustus on the reverse. Coin of M. Antony, with head of Caesar on the obverse. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Rome. — Bird's-eye View of the Forum from the Capitol Frontispiece. Page Coin of Ca3sar in 4th Dictator- ship V Coin of Agrippa, with head of Augustus on the reverse . . viii Coin of M. Antony, with head of Caesar on the obverse . . . . ix Coin with head of Janus . . . . x Medal commemorative of the foundation of Rome . . . . 1 Geological Map of Italy . . . . 4, 5 Ostia at the present day . . . . 13 Wolf of the Capitol 21 Lake of Alba 33 Cloaca Maxima 38 Map of Rome 52 Plan of the City 54 Cloaca of Marta in Tuscany . . 57 Tomb of the Tarquins . . . . 58 Bust of Niebuhr 70 View of Campagna 79 Geological Map of Country round Rome 85 Lake of Nemi, looking over the Campagna 86 Tarpeian Rock 95 Coin bearing the Dioscuri . . 100 Tivoh, looking over the Cam- pagna 101 Castor and Pollux Ill Coin of P. Porcius La3ca, author of the Law of Appeal . . . . 123 Emissary of Alban Lake . . . . 136 Geese of the Capitol (?) . . . . 143 As, with head of Janus . . . . 152 Reverse of As, with Ship's prow . - 161 1* Pagb M. Curtius 167 Etruscan Walling 172 Coin with Samnite Bull goring the Roman Wolf, struck in the Social War 177 Roman soldiers 1 84 Terracina . . . . 195 Beneventum in Samnium . . . . 199 Tomb of Scipio Barbatus . . . . 209 Appian Way 216 The Island of the Tiber . . . . 224 Coin of Epidaurus 236 Coin of Pyrrhus with head of Dodonean Zeus 237 Brundusium 248 Coin of Carthage, with Winged Horse 259 Coin of a Livineius with head of Regulus 267 Coin of Metellus Scipio, referring to Battle of Panormus . . . . 281 Temple of Janus closed, on a Coin of Nero . . 282 Lake Trasimene 296 Plan illustrating the Battle of Lake Trasimene .... . . 306 Head of Marcellus, on a Coin of Marcellinus 321 Coin of an Acilius, with Tri- umphal Car 336 L. Cornelius Scipio Africanus . . 350 Lictors 369 Sella Curulis 385 Temple of Saturn 386 Remains of Aqueduct at Rome 394 Coin of Ptolemy Philadelphus . . 412 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Coin of Philip Y., King of Mace- don 419 Coin of the Quinctian Gens, bear- ing the head of Flamininus . . 431 Coin of Antiochus the Great . . 432 Tomb of the Scipios, as restored by Canina 446 Coin of Perseus 456 Coin of Lepidus, representing Paullus triumphing over Per- seus and his Children . . . . 466 Coin of Attains 1 467 Plan of Tyrian Carthage . . . . 485 Tomb on the Appian Way . . 502 Medallion of Terence . . . . 508 Bust of Ennius 517 The Forum from the Capitol . . 518 Tomb on the Appian "Way . , 527 Walls of Rome, from the inside . 533 Caius Marius 556 Coin of the Eight Italian Nations, joining in an Oath of Federa- tion, with the Legend Italia. . 575 Coin of the Two Allied Nations who last held out, with the name of Papius in Oscan Cha- racters 581 Pa«s Coin of Mithridates VI 593 Coin. — Temple of Jupiter on Capi- tol, and head of Jupiter . . 601 Tomb near Alba 610 Cn. Pompeius Magnus . . . . 629 Slab from arch of Titus, repre- senting the Spoils of Jerusa- lem borne in triumph . . . . 638 M. Tullius Cicero 639 C. Julius Caesar 651 Coin of Caesar 660 Coin to commemorate Conquest of Gaul 661 Parthian Coin 072 Coin to commemorate the taking of Egypt 673 M. Junius Brutus 687 Coins struck upon the death of Cassar 702 Coins of the Triumvirs . . . . 703 Fine Coin of Antony, executed at Antioch "ZIS Antony and Cleopatra . . . . 719 Figure Head of Roman Galley, dredged up near Actium . . 730 Octavian 731 M. Vipsanius Agrippa . . . . 751 Ooin with head of Janiu. HISTORY OF ROME INTRODUCTION. SECTION I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY. g 1. Relation of Italy to Roman History. § 2. Length of Italian Peninsula. § 3. Breadth. § 4. Extent of Surface. § 5. Reasons for considering Physical Structure. § 6. Division of Italy into two portions. § 7, Physical Structure of upper portion : The Alps, or northern hmits of the valley of the Po, § 8. Upper Apennines, or southern hmits of this valley. § 9. Plam of the Po itself § 10. Physical Structure of lower portion of Apennine range. § 11. Its Southern flank. § 12. Northern flank. § 13. Deduction of geographical features of Italy from foregoing description : Few prominent Headlands and large Gulfs. § 14 Few Islands. § 15. No large Rivera., except in the valley of the Po. § 16. No large Plains, except in same valley. § IV. No large Lakes, except in same valley. Peculiar character of Lakes in many parts of sub- Apennine districts. § 18. Marshy character of some districts. Methods of reclaiming land in modem times. § 19. Cli- mate. § 20. Productions. § 21. Beauty of scenery. § 1. The History of Rome is properly the history of a City, or rather a Civic Community, which gradually extended its imperial sway, first over all Italy, then over all the countries bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea. It was, according to the common reckoning, nearly five centuries before the citizens of Rome became lords of I-ower Italy;* in little more than another cen- * V53— 270 8.0. 2 HISTORY OF ROME. Introd. tury they had become the sovereign power of the civilised world.* It is difficult, therefore, in attempting a geographical sketch for the purpose of elucidating Roman History, to deter- mine where we ought to begin and where to end. For during a long period we are hardly carried out of sight of the Capitol ; and at the close of that period we arc hurried with startling rapidity into the heart of every country, from the Atlantic to the mountains of Asia Minor, from the ridges of the Alps to the plains that lie beneath Mount Atlas. But since the origin and composition of the people whom we call Romans depends upon the early state and population of Italy at large, and since in course of time all Italians became Romans, it will be well to follow the usual custom, and begin with a geographical sketch of the Italian Peninsula. § 2. This Peninsula, the central one of the three which stretch boldly forward from the southern coasts of Europe, lies nearly between the parallels of north latitude 38° and 46°. Its length therefore, measured along a meridian arc, ought to be about 550 miles. But since, unlike the other two Mediterranean Peninsulas, it runs in a direction nearly diagonal to the hues of latitude and longitude, its real length, measured from Mont Blanc to Cape Spartivento, is somewhat more than 700 miles. § 3. To estimate the breadth of this long and singularly- shaped Peninsula, it may conveniently be divided into two parts by a line drawn across from the mouths of the Po to the northern point of Etruria. Below this line the average breadth of the leg of Italy docs not much exceed 100 miles. Above this line, both coasts trend rapidly outwards, so that the upper portion forms an irregularly-shaped figure, which lies across the top of the leg, being bounded on the north and west by the Alpine range from Illyria to the mouth of the Var, on the south by the imaginary line before drawn, ar.d on the east by the head of the Adriatic Sea. The length of this figure from east to west is not less than 350 miles; while from north to south it measures, on the average, about 120 miles. § 4. The SURFACE of the whole Peninsula, including both the leg of Italy and the irregular figure at the top, is estimated at about 90,000 square miles, or an area nearly equal to the surface of Great Britain and Ireland. But a very large proportion of this surface is unproductive, and a great part even incapable of tillage. § 5. The reason of this difference between the actual extent of the Peninsula and its productive surface is to be found in its PHYSICAL STRUCTURE, which is SO remarkable as to invite an * 263—233 B.O. SfcCT. L PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP ITALY. 8 attempt to describe it in the shortest and simplest manner com- patible with clearness. The Physical Geography of a country is -.ndeed the key to a great portion of its History, and explains the very fact of its existence. For example, mountains which lift their heads above the waves and storms form the indestructible core of some countries destined by Providence to play a large part in the history of the world, while others are spread out in broad and swelling plains equally indestructible. The hard lime- stone of the Apennine range has alone enabled the long and sL'nder Italian Peninsula to be the cradle of those political, social, and ecclesiastical institutions which are inseparably attached to the name of Rome. If the masses thrown into that singular shape had been composed of soft or loose materials, they had been swept away by the joint action of wind and water, and the names of Italy and of Rome had been unknown. § 6. For the purpose of description we must again divide Italy into two portions, as before, for the purpose of measure- ment.* The former portion consists of the enormous valley enclosed between the Alps on the north and the upper range of the Apennines on the south ; a valley which may be represented as an irregular triangle, having its base upon the Adriatic, and gradually thinning off towards the Maritime Alps. The latter portion is formed by that lower part of the Apennine range which runs down the whole leg of Italy. § 7. In the former portion a gigantic ridge of Granite rocks has burst through the superincumbent formations, and sweeps in an irregular curve from the Tyrol to the Gulf of Genoa. On the southern flank of this Granite ridge reclines an enormous mass of the most Ancient Limestone, of that kind which has been called the Jura Formation. Appearing first near the Lago Maggiore, it attains its greatest breadth between Verona and Belluno, and then again thins off towards the Tyrol. This Ancient Limestone dips towards the south, and disappears be- neath a thin and broken edge of the more Recent Limestone rocks, which are analogous to what is called the Chalk Formation in England and France, though in Italy the Chalk itself is nowhere found.f Thus, from the Lago Maggiore eastward, the great valley of the Po is skirted on the north by the two Limestone systems, with the Granite coming from beneath them. But westward, from the Lago Maggiore to the Maritime Alps, the Limestones disappear altogether, and the alluvial plain abuts upon the pri- maeval Granite itself. * In the map over the leaf the division is, by the requirement of the printer, made considerably lower down. f Creta is not chalk, but a tenacious white earth, much the same as argiUa. HISTORY OF ROME, Intror 10 12 14 GEOLOGICAL MAP ITALY § 8. The southern boundary of this great valley now remains to be examined. It is formed, as we have said, by the upper part of the Apennine range, which strikes nearly across Italy from above Genoa to the sources of the Rubicon and the Tiber. From beneath the southern edge of the alluvial plain first appears a band of the Tertiary rocks, which hardly show themselves on its northern edge. From below them again emerges in immense proportions the more Recent Limestone, which here covers the Jura formation, and forms the ientire surface of that part of the Apennines. The Granite, unable to burst its way through, has contented itself with upheaving the superincumbent mass of Limestone, while the Tertiary strata have been broken up and almost sv/ept away. § 9. In the vast sweeping hollow or basin embraced by the north- ern and southern elevation of the Limestone mountains, that is, in the space between the Alps and Apennmes, lies the great allu- Sect. I. PHYSICAL GEOaRAPHY OF ITALY. vial plain formed by the atoms washed down through all time by the thousand streams which descend from the Alps upon the north and west, and from the Apennines on the south, all at length combining their waters in the mighty stream of the Eri- danus. These waters, charged with particles of every kind of rock through which they flow, from the Granite to the Tertiary, form a soil hardly equalled in the world for natural richness. Near the mountains, indeed, where the streams descend from the gorges, the whole surface is often covered with barren gravel ; especially on the Apennine side, where the mountains are nearer and the descent more rapid. But as we advance into the centre of the plain, the gravel becomes finer and finer, till at 'length nothing is left but that fine and impalpable garden mould, which appears probably in the greatest perfection in the fertile district between Lodi and Cremona. 12 14 16 >P^"-. ££?«> ^«ii.Ai»ua«T^' ^^ '^^^ ^ iTiE § lOr We now turn to the leg of Italy, which consists of the lower range of Apennines, with its manifold branches and off'shoots. Near the sources of the Rubicon and Tiber the more Recent Limestone has suff'ered a violent disruption, and falls off right and left, so as to display a huge mass of the Ancient Limestone. The two formations, the Ancient flanked on both sides by the more Recent, edged by narrow bands of Tertiary remains, continue their coursa flowing down the leg of Italy, gradually inclining towards the Q HISTORY OF ROME. Introd. instep,* till at the point where the gulf of Tarentum threatens to penetrate to the Sicilian sea, the wild country of the Bruttii rises in primaeval Granite. § 11. A line drawn from Ancona to Cape Argentaro gives the greatest breadth of these Limestone formations; and a little lower down, a fragment of the more Recent kind, left like an island upon the uplifted shoulders of the Ancient, presents the loftiest mountain of the Apennine range, Monte Corno or the Gran Sasso d'ltalia, which attains an elevation of nearly 10,000 English feet. On the southern coast, from above the lake of Bolsena in Tuscany to the beautiful bay of Salerno, the regular geological series is broken up by a large tract of comparatively recent Vol- canic country, which is interrupted between Latium and Cam- pania by Ancient Limestone hills. § 12. On the northern flank of the Limestone range appears a belt of Tertiary formation, which spreads out wider, as the Lime- stone inclines towards the south, till it attains its greatest breadth along the western and northern sides of the gulf of Tarentum. But the Limestone formations, after sinking towards the Adriatic, again appear in the isolated eminence of Mount Garganus, the spur of Italy, and along the heel from Canusium to the lapygian headland. § 13. This description of the physical structure of the Italian Peninsula will enable us to comprehend, by a very brief glance, its chief GEOGRAPHICAL fcaturcs. Deep gulfs and inlets are not to be expected; for these are only found when mountain chains jut out into the sea, and maintain themselves as headlands, while the lower land between is eaten and washed away by the cease- less action of the waves. Such phenomena are presented by Greece, and by the western coasts of Scotland, Wales, and Ire- land. But in Italy there is but one uniform mountain-chain. On the northern or Adriatic slope of the Apennines, indeed, a number of gorges open to the sea in a direction transverse to the main line of the mountains. But the projecting spurs which form these gorges are not considerable in height; and on the southern or Mediterranean side the main range sinks towards the sea in subordinate or secondary ranges, more or less parallel to the principal chain, and therefore seldom admitting of abrupt headlands with deep embrasures between. * There is, however, one exception which proves the rule. We have above shown that at the foot of Italy, tlie Limestone range forks oft" into two great branches, one running towards the toe of the Peninsula, the other * There is, however, one complete gap or severance in the chain, which iii nearly marked by a line drawn from Capua to Venusia. Sect. L PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY. t forming the heel. The softer Tertiary formations between these two ranges have fallen a prey to the devouring waves. Here they have scooped out the great gulf of Tarentum, a vast expanse of sea, measuring from point to point no less than 80 miles. But except this great gulf, the coasts of the Peninsula are indented by comparatively gentle curves. On the northern side the single inequality is presented by the projecting mass of Mount Garganus, which forms with the lower coast what is now called the bay of Manfredonia. On the sole of the foot, below the gulf of Tarentum, we find the bay of Squillace (Sinus Scyla- cius). After passing the straits of Messina, first occurs the bay of St. Eufemia (Sinus Vibonensis), which is separated from that of Squillace by a mass of granitic rocks less than twenty miles in breadth. A little higher up we come to a wide sweep in the coast, known by the name of the bay of Policastro. That part of the southern coast which is most irregular deserves particular attention from the student of Roman History. Be- tween the point where ancient Lucania borders on Campania, and that at which Latium begins, a distance of about 120 miles, the coast-line is broken into three fine bays, the bay of P^estum, or Salerno on the south, the bay of Gaeta on the north, and be- tween them the smallest but most famous and most beautiful of the three— the bay of Cuma or Naples. From Cape Circello (Circeii)^ which forms the northern horn of the bay of Gaeta, the coast-line runs onward to Genoa, unbroken save by the headlands of Argentaro and Piombino in Tuscany. But these do not project far enough to form any recess worthy to be named. Nor is the little bay of Spezzia, just north of Tuscany, deserving of mention as a geographical feature. § 14. The same circumstance which prevents Italy from abounding in deep bays and bold headlands, also prevents its coasts from being studded with islands, which are but relics of projecting mountain-chains. If we omit Sicily, which is in fact a continuation of the Peninsula separated by a channel of two or three miles broad, and the Lipari islands, which are due to the volcanic action still at work beneath Etna and Vesuvius, the islands of Italy are insignificant. Caprea3 (Capri) on the one hand, Prochyta (Procida) and Ischia on the other, are but frag- ments of the two headlands that form the bay of Naples. Igilium (Giglio) and Ilva (Elba) stand in a similar relation to the head- lands of Argentaro and Piombino. Besides these may be named Pontise (Ponza), Pandataria, with a. few more barren rocks ofi" the bay of Gaeta, and a few even less important on the coast of Tuscany. 8 HISTORY OF ROME. Inteou § 15. Except in Northern Italy, which abounds in noble rivers, as above described, the narrowness of the Peninsula forbids the existence of really large streams. Yet the Apennine range, which forms on its southern side long parallel valleys, enables numerous torrents and rills which descend towards the south to swell into rivers of not inconsiderable size. Such especially are the Arno and Tib^r, which rise nearly at the point where the ancient limestone breaks through the more modern. Their waters are separated by the hills which terminate in the headlands of Argentaro and Piombino, so that the Arno flows northward, and enters the sea on the northern frontier of Tuscany, after a course of about 120 miles; while the Tiber runs in a general southerly direction, receiving the waters of the Clanis from the west, and those of the Nar (Nera) and Velinus from the east, till its course is abruptly turned by the Sabine limestone hills. The entire length of its channel is about 180 miles. These two well-known rivers, with their affluents, drain the whole of Etruria, the Sabine country, and the Campagna of Rome. Similar in their course, but on a smaller scale, are the Anio, (Teverone) and the Liris. They both rise in the ^quian hills, the Anio flowing northward to swell the stream of the Tiber a little above Rome : the Liris, joined by the Trerus (Sacco) from the west, running southward so as to drain southern Latium and Northern Campania, till it turns abruptly towards the sea, and enters it about the middle of the bay of Gaeta, after a course of about 80 miles. The Vulturnus and the Calor run down opposite valleys from the north and south of the Samnite territory, till they join their streams on the frontier of Campania, and fall into the bay of Gaeta only a short distance below the Liris. Each of these streams measure from their sources to their united mouth not less than 100 miles. The only other notable river on the southern coast is the Silarus (Sele), which descends by a channel of about 60 miles from the central Apennines of Lucania into the bay of Paestum or Salerno. After this comes the foot of Italy, in which the mountains come down so close to the sea that from the mouth of the Silarus down to the lower angle of the gulf of Tarentum, the streams are but short and rapid torrents. Of these it is said that no less than eighty may be enumerated between Paestum and the straits of Messina. The gulf of Tarentum in its middle portion is skirted by a lower tertiary bed, and has some streams of importance. The Bradanus and Casuentus (Basento) enter the gulf within four miles of each other, after a course of about 60 miles. The Aciris Sect. L PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP ITALY. 9 (Agri) is to the south of these. The Siris (Smno) notable as the scene of the first battle between Pyrrhus and the Romans, is a mere torrent, as is the Galesus upon which Tarentum stands. The northern or Adriatic coast is almost devoid of lateral valleys, such as are found on the other coast, and therefore has few considerable streams. The Aufidus (Ofanto) in Apulia, re- nowned in Roman history, from the fact that the fatal battle of Cannae took place upon its banks, rises on the opposite side of the same range as the Calor, and runs a course of about 80 miles. The Sagrus (Sangro) stands in the same relation to the Vulturnus, and conveys the waters of the Fucine lake from the ^quian hills through Samnium, by a nearly similar length of channel. But the largest river of this side is the Aternus, which finds its way from the Sabine hills into a short valley parallel to the main range, and thus prolongs its course. It is joined by a number of smaller streams, and attains a considerable volume of water before it reaches the sea at the point where the Marru- cinian coast abuts on that of Picenum. The whole coast from Mount Garganus northward is ploughed by numberless torrents which descend in rapid course down steep mountain gorges. Of these we need but name the JEsis between Picenum and Umbria ; the Metaurus, in Umbria, famous for the defeat of Hasdrubal; the Rubicon, which formed the boundary of Roman Italy on the northern side, as did the Macra (Magra) on the opposite coast. § 16. The limestone mountain track that occupies the whole narrow Peninsula from the great valley of the Po downwards is often too steep, bare, and rugged, to be capable of cultivation. There are, however, many rich plains of limited extent, among which Campania ranks first ; and many narrow but fertile valleys, in which nature rewards the smallest labour with bountiful returns. In the continental dominions of the modern kingdom of Naples, consisting of about half the leg of Italy, it is calcu- lated that little more than one half of the land is at present under cultivation. In the Estates of the Church, and on the sea-coast of Tuscany, the proportion is even less. § 17. In speaking of Lakes, we must resume our twofold divi- sion of the Peninsula. On the Alpine slopes of the great valley of the Po, the Granitic and Ancient Limestone rocks break into vast chasms at right angles to their general direction, in which the waters of the rivers that flow downwards to join the Po accumulate and form those lakes so well known to all lovers of natural beauty. Such are the lake Benacus (Lago di Garda) formed by the waters of the Mincius, Larius (Lago di Como) by those of the Adda, Verbanus (Lago Maggiore) by those of the 1* 10 HISTORY OF ROME. xntkod. Ticino, not to mention the lakes of Lugano, Orta, and others, .jmaller, but hardly less beautiful. But Apennine Italy, considering the great extent of its moun- tain districts, does not present many considerable lakes. Nor are these formed by the accumulated waters of rivers flowing through them, like the lakes of northern Italy or Switzerland. For the most part, like the lakes of Greece, they have no visible outlet, but lose their waters partly by evaporation, partly by underground fissures and channels. The Fucine lake in the ^:|uian hills feeds the Sangro, and lake Bradanus in the south feeds the river of the same name. But the celebrated lake of Trasimene in Etruria, and the numerous lakes of the volcanic district, as the " great Volsinian Mere," the lakes of Alba, Nemi, Amsanctus, and others, have no visible outlet. These, in fact, are the craters of extinct volcanoes. Roman history contains legends which relate to the artificial tapping of some of these caldrons ; and some of the tunnels cut through their rocky basins still remain. § 18. The abundance of water which is poured over the hills^ has a great disposition to accumulate in marshy swamps in the low districts towards the sea. Such is the case along the lower course of the Po, on the coast-lands of Tuscany, and in the lower part of the Campagna of Rome. Mantua, which stands a little above the junction of the Mincio with the Po, is surrounded by marshes ; and the whole coast between Venice and Ravenna is a swamp. To keep the Po and its tributaries within their channel, the Lombards of the Middle Ages raised embankments on either side of the stream. But the rivers being charged with mud are obliged by these embankments to deposit the whole within their chan- nels, and the quantity thus deposited is so great that it is neces- sary to raise these embankments continually; and thus in the course of centuries the bottoms of the rivers have been elevated considerably above the plains; so that the streams of Lombardy in their lower course are in fact carried along huge earthen aque- ducts. In time, human industry will not be equal to raise these embankments in sufficient strength, and a deluge will ensue more fearful than those which the poet of Mantua seems to have wit- nessed in his own time.* * " Non sic aggeribus ruptis, quum spumeus amnis Exiit, oppositasque evicit gurgite moles, Fertur in arva furens cumulo, camposque per omnes Cum staV)ulis armeuta tulit." ViRO., Aen. ii. 496; cf. Georg. i. 322, sq. While this unskilful mode of preventing the overflowing of t;ho Pp was Sect. I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OP ITALY. 11 § 19. The Climate of Italy, like its physical structure, is ex- tremely different in the northern and in the southern part of the Peninsula. In the valley of the Po tEe winters are often extremely severe, so that towards the close of the last century all the olive- trees in that district were killed by the frost. On the south of the Apennines the climate is much milder in the winter, though in spring the winds are often very cold. Snow is rarely seen in the Campagna di Roma, or in the neighbourhood of Naples at the present day; though in the times of the ancients it seems to have been not uncommon. Italy is in general a healthy country. The men are active, vigorous, and well-grown ;' the women, in their youth, handsome. Some parts, however, are afflicted by pestilential air (malaria), especially the lower part of Tuscany, and the Campagna di Roma, of which countries a more particular account will be found in a later page. Parts of Calabria also are extremely unhealthy, and all the southern side of the Apennines suffers from the south wind, called the Sirocco, which comes charged with suffocating heat from the plains of Africa. § 20. The productions are those of the temperate zone in their highest perfection. Wherever there is a sufficiency of soil and water, as in the valleys leading to the plain of Lombardy, or descending to the sea from either side of the Apennines, grain of all kinds is produced in great abundance. In ancient days, the plain of Lombardy, now so highly cultivated, was thickly covered with oak forests, that furnished food to countless herds of swine. Many parts of the Apennines are still well clothed with chestnut trees, and the inhabitants of the upland valleys live on their fruit during the winter. But modern ingenuity and industry have reclaimed many of these districts by the help of artificial irrigation.* On the southern slopes of followed in the north, a most ingenious method has been pursued in redeeming from the Aruo those marshes in which Hannibal was attacked by ophthalmia, and lost part of his army. The philosopher Torricelli (about 1550 a.d.) suggested that the stream should be allowed freely to flood the surface within certain Umits, and to deposit within these limits its fertilizing mud. This experiment has been tried with signal success. Strong embankments are formed, with sluices and flood-gates, to admit the river at will over a confined surface. Here all its deposit is spread ; and after a number of years the pestilent marshes of the Upper Amo (the Val Chiana) have been raised by a depth of not less than eight feet of fertile alluvial soil. "When one district had been raised, the same process was repeated with that next adjoining, and 80 the whole surface of the marshes has been raised. The same plan is now being pursued with the marshes formed by the Ombrone in the Maremma of Tuscany, * " The woods have been cleared, and a skilful system of irrigation imparts fertility to the district. Not less than one-fifth of the whole productive area 12 HISTORY OF ROME. Introd. the Apennines olives flourish ; and the vine is cultivated largely in all parts of the Peninsula. For this last pui-pose the sunny terraces of the limestone mountains are especially suited. But want of care in the treatment of the plant, or rather in the manufacture of the wine, makes the wines of Italy very inferior in quality to those of France or the Spanish Peninsula, though in ancient times the vineyards of northern Campania enjoyed a high reputation. Every schoolboy knows the names of the Massic and Falernian hills, of the Calene and Formian vineyards. In the southern parts the date-palm is found in gardens, though this and other tropical plants are not natural to the climate, as they are in the south of the Spanish Peninsula, which lies about two degrees nearer to the region of the vertical sun. The plains of Apulia, where the tertiary strata sink to- wards the gulf of Tarentum, were chiefly given up to pasturage — a custom which continues to the present day. This is connected with historical facts, to which we shall have to call attention hereafter. § 21. The natural beauty of Italy is too well known to need many words here. The lovers of the sublime will find no more magnificent mountain-passes than those which descend through the Alps to the plains of Lombardy. In the valley of the Dora Baltea, from its source under Mont Blanc to Aosta and Ivrea, all the grandeur of Switzerland is to be found, enriched by the colours and warmth of a southern sky; the cold green and gray of the central chain here passes into gold and purple. In the same district is found the most charming lake scenery in the world, where the sunny hills and warm hues of Italy are backed by the snowy range of the towering Alps. Those who prefer rich culture may gratify their utmost desires in the lower vale of the of Lombardy is irrigated at the present day. But nearer the mountains, nearly all the land is watered ; between the Ticino and the Adda not less than 9-lOths; between the Adda and the Ogho, about 2-lOths; between the Oglio and the Adige, about l-7th or l-8th." — Capt. Baird Smith's Irrig. of Italy, i. p. 205. This irrigation is almost entirely modern. The practice was known to antiquity, as appears from Yirgil's well-known line (Eel. iii. 11): — " Claudite jam rivos, pueri, sat prata biberunt." But that it was rude appears from the beautiful description in Georg. i. 106, sqq. :— " Deinde satis fluvium indueit, rivosque sequentes : Et quum exustus ager morientibus aestuat herbis, Ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam Elicit : ilia cadens raucum per levia murmur Saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva." It may, indeed, be observed, that this description is partly borrowed from Iliad . 257, sqq. Sect. I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY. 13 Po about Lodi and Cremona, or across the Apennines in the valley of the Arno and in Campania. If we follow the southern coast, probably the world presents no lovelier passages than meet the traveller's eye as he skirts the Maritime Alps where they overhang the sea cornice-like, between Nice and Genoa; or below Campania, where the limestone of the Apennines, broken by volcanic eruptions, strikes out into the sea between the bays of Naples and Salerno, The Romans, who became Jords of all Italy and of the civilised world, sprung up in one of the least enviable portions of the whole Peninsula. The attractions of Modern Rome are less of nature than of associa- tion. The traveller would little care to linger on the banks of the Tiber, if it were stripped of its buildings and its history. Ostia at the present day. SECTION II. EARLY POPULATION OF ITALY. § 1. Constart invasions of Italy, notwithstanding Alpine barrier. § 2, Its subdivision among numerous tribes. § 3. Signification of the name Italy in Roman times. § 4. Roman Italy occupied by at least six distinct races. § 5. Pelasgians. § 6. Opicans or Oscans. § 7. Umbrians. § 8. Sabel- lians. § 9. Etruscans. § 10. Greeks. § 11. Romans a compound race. § 12. Evidence of Tradition. § 13, Evidence of Language: — Roman language akin to the Greek in structure, being probably Pelagian, mixed with Oscan, with Sabine vocabulary added. § 14. Comparison between Romans and English in respect to origin. § 15. Sources of early Roman History. § I. It is a common remark, that mountains are the chief boundaries of countries, and that races of men are found in their purest state when they are separated by these barriers from ad- mixture with other tribes. Italy forms an exception to this rule. It was not so much the " fatal gift of beauty," of which the poet speaks,* as the richness of its northern plain, that attracted suc- cessive tribes of invaders over the Alps. From the earliest dawn of historic knowledge, we hear of one tribe after another sweep- ing like waves over the Peninsula, each forcing its predecessor on- ward, till there arose a power strong enough to drive back the current, and bar aggression for many an age. This power was the Roman Empire, which forced the Gauls to remain on the northern side of the Apennines, and preserved Italy untouched by the foot of the foreigner for centuries. No sooner was this power weakened, than the incursions again began ; and at the present day the fairest provinces of the Peninsula are subject to foreign rule. § 2. But if the northern barriers of the Peninsula failed to check the lust of invaders, its long straggling shape intersected by mountains from top to bottom, materially assisted in break- ing it up into a number of different nations. Except during the strength of the Roman Empire Italy has always been parcelled out into a number of small states. In the earliest times it was shared among a number of tribes differing in race and language. Great pains have been taken to investigate the origin and character of these primaeval nations. But the success has not been great, and it is not our purpose to dwell on intricate ques- * The stanzas of Filicaja are well known from their version in Ohilde Harold, "Italia, oh ItaUa! would thou wert less lovely, or more powerful," &c. Sect. IL EARLY POPULATION OF ITALY. 15 tions of this kind. We will here only give results so far as they seem to be established. § 3. It is well known that it was not till the close of the Re- public, or rather the beginning of the Empire, that the name of Italy was employed, as we now employ it, to designate the whole Peninsula, from the Alps to the straits of Messina. The term Italia, borrowed from the name of a primaeval tribe who occupied the southern portion of the land, was gradually adopted as a generic title in the same obscure manner in which most of the countries of Europe, or (we might say) the Continents of the world have received their appellations. In the remotest times the name only included Lower Calabria :* from these narrow limits it grad- ually spread upwards, till about the time of the Punic Wars, its northern boundary ascended the little river Rubicon (between Umbria and Cisalpine Gaul), then followed the ridge of the Apen- nines westward to the source of the Macra, and was carried down the bed of that small stream to the Gulf of Genoa. When we speak of Italy, therefore, in the Roman sense of the word, we must dismiss from our thoughts all that fertile country which was at Rome entitled the provincial district of Gallia Cis- alpina and Liguria, and which was nearly equivalent to the terri- tory now subject to the crowns of Sardinia and Austria, with the Duchies of Parma and Modena, and the upper portion of the States of the Church. It will be seen that this political division nearly coincides with the physical divisions noticed in the fore- going chapter. § 4. But under Roman rule even this narrower Italy wanted that unity of race and language which, in spite of political sever- ance, we are accustomed to attribute to the name. Within the boundaries just indicated there were at least six distinct races, some no doubt more widely separated, but all marked by strong national characteristics. These were the Pelasgians, the Oscans, the Sabellians, the Umbrians, the Etrurians, and the Greeks. § 5. It is certain that in primitive times the coasts and lower valleys of Italy were peopled by tribes that had crossed over from the opposite shores of Greece and Epirus. These tribes belonged to that ancient stock called the Pelasgian, of which so much has been written and so little is known. The names that remained in Southern Italy were all of a Pelasgian or half-Hellenic character. Such were, in the heel of Italy, the Bauni^ns and Peucetians (reputed to be of Arcadian origin), the Messapians and Sallentines ; to the south of the Gulf of Tarentnm, the Chaonians (who are also found in Epirus) ; and in the toe the Qi^notrians, who * Properly only the toe of Italy, from the Bay of Squillace to that of S. Eufemia (the Sinus Scylacius to the S. Lameticus), Arist. Polit. vii. 10- 16 HISTORY OF ROME. Inteod. once gave name to all Southern Italy.* Such also were the Siculians and other tribes along the coast from Etruria to Cam- pania, who were driven out by the invading Oscan and Sabellian nations.! § 6. The Oscan or Opican race was at one time very widely spread over the south. The Auruncans of Lower Latium belonged to this race, as also the Ausonians, who once gave name to Cen- tral Italy,J; and probably also the Volscians and the JEquians. In Campania the Oscan language was preserved to a late period in Roman History, and inscriptions still remain which can be inter- preted by those familiar with Latin. § 7. The Umbrians at one time possessed dominion over great part of Central Italy. Inscriptions in their language also remain, and manifestly show that they spoke a tongue not alien to the Latin. The irruption of the Sabellian and of the Etruscan nations was probably the caiise which broke the power of the Umbrians, and drove them back to a scanty territory between the ^sis, the Rubicon, and the Tiber. § 8. The greatest of the Italian nations was the Sabellian. Un- der this name we include the Sabines, who are said by tradition to have been the progenitors of the whole race, the Samnites, the Picenians, Vestinians, Marsians, Marrucinians, Pelignians, and Frentanians. This race seems to have been naturally given to a pastoral life, and therefore fixed their early settlements in the upland valleys of the Apennines. Pushing gradually along this central range, they penetrated downwards towards the Gulf of Tarentum; and as their population became too dense to find support in their native hills, bands of warrior youths issued forth to settle in the richer plains below. Thus they mingled with the Opican and Pelasgian races of the south, and formed new tribes, known by the names of Apulians, Lucanians, and Campanians. These more recent tribes, in turn, threatened the great Greek colonies on the coast, of which we shall speak presently. § 9. We now come to the Etruscans, the most singular people of the Peninsula. This people called themselves Rasena., or Rasenna — a name that reminds us of the Etruscan surnames Porsenna, Vibenna, Sisenna. At one time they possessed not * " Terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glebae ; (Enotri colu6re viri : nunc fama minores Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem." — Yirg., Am. i. 532. f For a clear and intelligible account of the Pelasgians, see Dr. Smith's Rlst. of Greece, p. 14, X Virgil, &c. Aristotle {Politic. viL 10) says that the Opicans were for- merly cailod Ausones. Sect. II. EARLY POPULATION OF ITALY. 17 only the country known to the Romans as Etruria (that is, the country bounded by the Macra, the central Apennine ridge, and the Tiber), but also occupied a large portion of Liguria and Cis- alpine Gaul ;* and perhaps they had settlements in Campania.f In early times they possessed a powerful navy, and in the primi- tive Gredk legends they are represented as infesting the Mediter- ranean with their piratical galleys.J They seem to have been driven out of their Trans- Apennine possession by early invasions of the Gauls; and their naval power never recovered the blow which it received in the year 480 b.c, when Gelo King of Syra- cuse defeated their navy, combined with that of Carthage, on the same day on which the battle of Salamis crippled the power of Persia. But who this people were, or whence they came, baffles con- jecture. It may be assumed as certain, that the Pelasgic settlers came in by sea from the western coasts of Epirus, which are distant from Italy less than fifty miles ; and that the Opican, Um- brian, and Sabellian races came in from the north by land. But with respect to the Etruscans all is doubtful. One well-known legend represents them as Lydians, who fled by sea from Asia Minor to avoid the terrible presence of famine. Another indi- cates that they came down over the Alps, and the origin of their name Rasena is traced in Rsetia. On the former supposition, Etruria was their earliest settlement, and, pushing northward, they conquered the plain of the Po ; on the latter, they first took possession of this fertile plain, and then spread southward over the Apennines. Their language, if it could be interpreted, might help to solve the riddle. But though we have numerous inscriptions in their tombs, though the characters in which these inscriptions are writ- ten bear close affinity to the letters of the Greek and Roman alpha- bets, the tongue of this remarkable people has as yet baffled the deftest eff'orts of philology. § 10. Of the Greek settlements that studded the coast of Lower Italy, and gave to that district the name of Magna * Allusion is made to this in Yirgil {Aen. x. 198-206) where the Etruscan chief Ocnus, the son of Manto, is said to have founded Mantua ("ihuros ma- trisque dedit tibi, Mantua, nomen"), and to have brought his troops from the Lago di Garda : — " Quos patre Benaco velatus arundine glauca Mincius infesta ducebat in aequora pinu." f Capua, according to tradition, was named from Capys, an Etruscan chief. X See the pretty Hymn to Dionysos, attributed to Homer, in which Etruscan pirates take the god prisoner, and are punished in a strange fashion for their audacity. 18 HISTORY OF ROME. Introd- Graecia, little need here be said. They were not planted till after the foundation of Rome. Many of them, indeed, attained to great power and splendour ; and the native Osco-Pelasgian popu- lation of the south became their subjects or their serfs. Sybaris alone, in the course of two centuries, is said to have become mis- tress of four nations and twenty-five towns, and to have been able to raise a civic force of 300,000 men. Croton, her rival, was even larger.* Greek cities appear as far north as Campania, where Naples still preserves in a corrupt form her Hellenic name, Neapolis. The Greek remains discovered at Canusium (Canosi) in the heart of Apulia, attest the extent of Hellenic dominion. But the Greeks seem to have held aloof from mixture with the native Italians, whom they considered as barbarians. Rome is not mentioned by any Greek writer before the time of Aristotle (about 340 B.C.) § 11. From the foregoing sketch it will appear that Latium formed a kind of focus, in which all the different races that in past centuries had been thronging into ^taly converged. The Etrus- cans bordered on Latium to the west ; the Sabines, with the Um- brians behind them, to the north ; the ^Equians and Volscians, Oscan tribes, to the north-east and east ; while Pelasgian com- munities are to be traced upon the coast-lands. We should then expect beforehand to meet with a people formed by a commixture of divers tribes ; and this expectation is confirmed both by ancient Tradition and by the investigations of modern scholars into the construction of the Latin Language. § 12. Tradition tells us that the Aborigines of Latium mingled in early times with a people calling themselves Siculians ; that these Siculians, being conquered and partly expelled from Italy, took refuge in the island, which was afterwards called Sicily from them, but was at that time peopled by a tribe named Sicanians ; that the conquering people were named Sacr^ians, and had them- selves been forced down from the Sabine valleys in the neighbour- hood of Reate by Sabellian invaders ; and that from this mixture of Aborigines, Siculians, and Sacranians arose the people known afterwards by the name of Latins. Where all is uncertain, conjecture is easy. It might be alleged that the Aborigines and Siculians, both of them, or at least the latter, were Pelasgians, and that the Sacranians were Oscan. All such conjectures must remain unproved. But they all bear wit- ness to the compound nature of the Latin nation. § 13. An examination of Language leads us a little further. (1.) The Latin language contains a very large number of words * See more in Dr. Smith's History of Greece, pp. 120-123. Sect. II. EARLY POPULATION OF ITALY. 19 closely resembling the Greek ; and, what is particularly to be observed, the grammatical inflexion of the nouns and verbs, with all that may be called the framework of the language, closely resembles that ancient dialect of the Hellenic called ^olic. But it is not to be supposed that these roots and forms were borrowed from the Greek ; for these same roots and forms are found in Sanscrit, the ancient language of India. In many of its forms, ii^deed, Latin more nearly resembles Sanscrit than Greek. It must be inferred, then, that these languages all branched off from one stock. And it may be afhrmed that the form under which this original language first appeared in Latium was Pelasgian or half-IIellenic. (2.) Though the framework and a large portion of the vocabu- lary resembles the Greek, there is also a large portion which is totally foreign to the Greek. This foreign element was certainly not Etruscan ; for if so, we should find many words in the Etruscan inscriptions agreeing with words in Latin; whereas, in fact, we find hardly any. But in the Oscan inscriptions we find words much resembling the Greek ; and it may be inferred that the Oscan races had so largely blended with the Pelasgian, that the original Latin tongue was a mixture of the two. (3.) It is certain that the nation we call Roman was more than half Sabellian. Traditional history, as we shall see, attributes the conquest of Rome to a Sabine tribe. Some of her kings were Sabine ; the name borne by her citizens was Sabine ; her religion was Sabine; most of her institutions in war and peace were Sabine ; and therefore it may be concluded that the language of the Roman people diff'ered from that of Latium Proper by its Sabine elements, though this difi'erence died out again as the Latin communities were gradually absorbed into the territory of Rome. § 14. This, then, is the summary of what we know. Tradition represents Italy as peopled by a number of different races, and Rome as partaking more or less of the peculiarities of each race. Philology confirms this representation, and attempts to establish some definite relations between these races. The result is meagre, because the materials for a judgment are meagre. But it IS at least certain, that the Roman people and its language were formed by a composition almost as manifold and heterogeneous as the people and language of England. The original Celtic population- of our island gave way before the mixed Saxon, Anglian, and Danish tribes, which poured into it from the north. Anglo-Saxon, not without a dash of Celtic, became the common lano;uage of the people. Norman conquerors, Danes by origin, and Frenchmen by habit, gradually adopted the language of the con' 20 HISTORY OF ROME. Ihteod. quered people, infusing into it a large vocabulary of French or rather Latin terms ; but still the grammatical structure, the bone and sinew of the language, remained and remains Anglo-Saxon. So in Latium, it may be assumed, that the original inhabitants, a mixture of Pelasgians and Oscans, spoke a tongue which was the parent of the later Latin ; that the Sabine conquerors of Rome gradually adopted this Latin language, infusing into it a large vocabulary of their own. Other infusions may have occurred, both before and after ; but the organic structure still remained the same, and is identified with the structure of the Greek and its kindred tongues. § 15. We will now pass on to the Legends, in which is preserved the early History of Rome, reserving for a later page all attempts to estimate how far these Legends are mere fictions, and how far they may be regarded as actual events. It may be observed that no people is so rich in legendary history as the Romans. Their patriotic pride preserved the stories of their ancestors from gene- ration to generation, till they were, so to say, embalmed by poets who lived in the times of the Punic wars. These poems, indeed, have, with the exception of a few fragments, perished ; but wc learn from Cicero how highly they were esteemed in his day, and in the epic poem of Virgil, with the scarcely less poetic prose of Livy's early history, they still liv^. From these great writers chiefly are derived those famous Legends, which are now to be recounted for the hundredth time. Wolf of the CapitoL BOOK I. ROME UNDER THE KINGS. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF ROME : ROMULUS AND NUMA. 1. Belief of the Romans that they were sprung from the East. § 2. Legend of ^neas. § 3. Legend of Ascanius. §. 4. Legend of Rea Silvia, and birth of the Twins.- § 5. Legend of recognition of Twins by Numitor. § 6. Legend of the quarrel of Romulus and Remus. Variations in Legends, § 7. Romulus founds Rome, Uncertainty of dates, § 8, Asylum. Rape of Sabines. § 9. War with Sabines. Legends of Tarpeia, of Janus, of Sabine women. § 10, Peace between Romans and Sabines, Romulus AND Titus Tatius joint Kings. § 11. Legend of Caeles Vibenna and Etruscan settlers at Rome. Four of Seven Hills now occupied. § 12. Death of Titus Tatius Reign and death of Romulus. § 13. Institutions attributed to Romulus: (1) Social; (2) Political; (3) Military, § 14. Interregnum : Numa Pompilius, a Sabine, second king of Rome. § 1 5. Religious institutions attributed to Numa. § 16. His love of agriculture. § 17. Other institutions. i 1. It was the pride of the Romans to believe that they were lescended from the ancient nations to the East of the Mediter- 22 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I ranean Sea. All their early legends point to Greece and Troy. How far the Pelasgian origin of the nation may account for this belief may be conjectured, but cannot be determined. It may, however, be assumed that the Arcadian Evander and his followers, whom the legends represent as the first settlers on the Palatine Hill, were Pelasgians ; and it is more than probable that the Trojan ^neas and his followers, who are believed to have coalesced with the Arcadians of the Palatine, were likewise Pelasgians. With this preface we proceed to the Legends themselves. § 2. Virgil has told the tale of the flight of JEneas, and every one knows how he escaped from the flames of Troy bearing his father Anchises on his shoulders, and leading his boy Ascanius by the hand to seek a new home in Hesperia, the Land of Promise in the West. His piety or reverential aff"ection* was not confined to his own family. He rescued also the gods of his father's house- hold from the flames, and he was rewarded by the favour of Hea- ven. Mercury or Hermes guided his steps from the burning city ; the star of his mother Vemis led him safely to the shores of the western land. Nor did the protection of the gods desert him when he had reached the long-sought shores of Italy. Omens and signs told him that he had reached the promised land, and that Latium was to be the cradle of the new people which was to spring from the loins of the Trojan settlers. A white sow farrowed on the coast, and gave birth to the prodigious number of thirty young. But before the Trojans could obtain a fixed settlement, it was needful to come to terms with the people of the country. These were the Aborigines or children of the soil.f Their King's name was Latinus, and their chief city Laurentum. They treated the new comers kindly, and Latinus gave his daughter Lavinia in marriage to JEneas, who therefore gave to the town which he built on the spot where the white sow had farrowed the name of Lavinium. This agreement, however, had not come to pass without blood- shed. Lavinia had been betrothed to Turnus, the young chief of the Rutulians of Ardea. He, wrathful with disappointment, made war upon the strangers. JEneas sought the aid of Evander the Arcadian, who had founded a city on the Palatine Hill, which afterwards became Rome ; he was also befriended by the Etruscans of Caere, who had revolted against their barbarous chief Mezen- tius, " the despiser of the gods." The Trojans prevailed, and * Lat. pietas, a feeling of reverence and love towards parents and gods, f Some authors spell the word Aberrigines, as if from aberro, to wander %way^ Ohai-. 1 ROMULUS. 23 Turnus fell. But tliree years after a new war arose ;* and ^neas disappeared amid the waters of the Numicius, a small river be- tween Lavinium and Ardea. It was said that the gods had taken him, and a temple was raised to him on the spot, in which he was worshipped under the name of Jupiter Indiges, or the " God of the country."! § 3. Ascanius, who was also called liilus, from the youthful down J; upon his cheeks, was warned by signs from Heaven that Lavinium was not to be the abiding place of the new people. After thirty years, therefore, as foretokened by the sign of the thirty young swine, he removed to the ridge of a hill about fifteen miles to the south-east of Rome, and here he built a new city, which was afterwards famous under the name of Alba Longa, or "the Long White City."|| In time this city became the capital of Latium, and all the Latin tribes came up to worship at the Tem- ple of Jupiter Latiaris on the top of the Alban Mount. Their chiefs also used to meet for the discussion of matters of state in the sacred grove by the spring of Ferentina on the side of the same mount. Ascanius was succeeded by a son of ^neas and Lavinia, named Silvius,^ and the eleven Kings of Alba who succeeded all bore the surname of Silvius. § 4. The last of these Kings, named Procas, left two sons, Nu- mitor and Amulius. Amulius, the younger, seized the inheritance of his elder brother Numitor, who coveted not the crowuo But he had a son and a daughter, who might hereafter be troublesome to the usurper. The son was put to death by Amulius ; the daughter, Rea Silvia by name,** was dedicated to the service of * " Bellum ingens geret Italia, populosque feroces Contundet, moresque viris et mcenia ponet, Tertia dum Latio regnantem viderit sestas, Terwaque transierint Rutulis hiberna subactis." — ViRG., Aen. i. 263, f Hence Virgil {Aen. vii. 242) speaks of vada sacra Numici, although he ends his poem with the death of Turnus. X lovloq. Here, as in many other of the Roman legends, Greek influence is discernible. II "At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen liilo, Triginta magnos volvendis raensibus orbes Imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini Transferet, et Longam multa vi muniet Albam," — YiRG., Aen. i. 2*71. •"f " Primus ad auras ^therias liah eommixtus sanguine surgit Silvius, Albanum nomen, tua postuma proles." — Aen. vi. 761. * * She is commonly confounded with Ilia. But Ilia was a daughter of ./Eneas ; and here we recognise a double legend, — one in which the vestal priestess was sister of liilus, one in which she was twelve generations in descent from him* 24 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book l Vesta, which compelled her to live and die unwedded. But destiny is stronger than the will of man. The sacred Virgin of Vesta was found to be with child by the god Mars, and she bore two boys at a birth. The punishment of a vestal virgin for incon- tinence was dreadful : the law ordained that she should be buried alive. Amulius spared not his niece. The Twins he ordered to be thrown into the Tiber. It chanced that at that time the river had overflowed his banks, and spread shallow pools over the ground afterwards famous as the Roman Forum. The shoal water shrank before the fated founder of Rome, and the Twins were left on dry ground near a wild fig-tree, which was long preserved with care- ful reverence under the name of the Ficus Ruminalis. Here they grew to boyhood, being suckled by a wolf and fed by the care of a woodpecker, creatures held sacred among the Latins.* Thus marvellously preserved, they were Pound by Faustulus, the herdsman of Amulius, who took them home to his wife Acca Laurentia. So the Twins grew up with the herdsman's children in his cot upon the Palatine, and were known by the names of Romulus and Remus. § 5. The Twins were distinguished among the young shepherds Uy their nobler form and bolder spirit. It chanced that the herdsmen of Amulius, who dwelt on the Palatine Hill, were at feud with the herdsmen of Numitor, who fed their flocks upon the Aventine. The latter took Remus prisoner by an ambush, and brought him before Numitor, their master, who admired the stately figure of the youth, and recognised in his features that which called back to his mind the memory of his unhappy daughter. Soon after Romulus came up to ransom his brother, and his appearance confirmed Numitor in his suspicions. The accounts given of them by their foster-father Faustulus revealed to the youths their true descent. With prompt energy they attacked Amulius in his palace at Alba and slew him there. Numitor, their good grandsire, was restored to the throne of the Silvii, his fathers. § 6. Three hundred years had now passed since the foundation of Alba ; and the Twins, led by omens and auguries, determined to quit the city of Ascanius and build a new town on the bank of the Tiber where they had been bred.f Now as they knew * " Lacte quia Infantes nescit crevisse Forino, Et Picum expositis sfepe tulisse cibum ?" Ovid, Fasti^ iii. 54. — Picus (the Woodpecker) was a Latin god, being father of Turnus, and grandsire of Latinus, Virg,, Aen. vii. 45-49. f " Hie jam tercentum totos regnabitur annos Gente sub Hectorea, donee regina sacerdos . Marte gravis gemiaam partu dabit Iha prolem. Chat. I. ROMULUS. 25 not which of the two was the elder, a dispute arose with respect to the place and name of the projected city. Romulus wished to build upon the Palatine, Remus on the Aventine. To settle this question, they resolved to appeal to the gods. They were to watch, each on their chosen hill, from sunrise to sunset, and from sunset again to sunrise, and whoever was favoured by an ominous flight of birds was to be the founder. Remus first saw six vultures on his left. But at the moment that his mes- senger announced this success to Romulus, there appeared to Romulus a flight of twelve. Which, then, had the advantage, — Remus who saw first, or Romulus who saw most ? The quarrel was renewed, and in the fray Remus was slain by a chance blow. Another legend says that Romulus began to build the city on the Palatine, when Remus scornfully leapt over the narrow trench, and Romulus in wrath slew him. Another attributes the fatal act not to the brother, but to Celer, the friend of Romulus. And lastly, according to another legend still, there were two cities, — Rome, built by Romulus on the Palatine, and Remuria by Remus, not on the Aventine, but on a hill three miles south of Rome.* § 1. Young Romulus was now left alone to build his city on the Palatine. He carried a wall along the edge of the hill all round, and ordained that a space should be left inside and out- side the walls clear of all buildings. This space was accounted holy ground, and was called the Pomoerium ; and the beginning of the great city of the Tiber, was called Roma Quadrata, or Square Rome, to distinguish it from that which inclosed all the seven hills within the circuit of its walls.f The common date for the foundation of Rome is 753 before the Christian era. J; Inde lupse fulvo nutricis tegmine Isetus Eomulus excipiet gentem, et Mavortia condet Moenia, Romanosque suo de nomine dicet." — ViRG., Aen. i. 272. ^neas therefore reigned 3 years ; Ascanius 3 X 10 = 30 ; the Silvii 3X100 = 300. See above, §§ 2 and 3. The number 3 was also the number which guided Romulus in framing his institutions. See below, note on Chapt. iii. § 3. * Remus himself is often called the founder of Rome. — Propert., ii. 1, 23; iv. 1, 9, &c. It will be observed that all these Legends are ignorant of the Legend of Evander's city upon the Palatine, which is adopted by Virgil. f There was, however, according to ancient authors, a Septimontium even in this primaeval Rome. X This is the date of Yarro, which is followed by most authors. Cato placed it 332 years after the fall of Troy, i. e. in 752 B.C. Polybius and others in 750 B.C. Cincius Alimentus, a Roman annalist contemporary witb Hannibal, as late as 729 b.c. 2 . . 26 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I. § 8. The walls were built and the city ready, but men were wanting to people it. To supply this want Romulus set apart a place within the walls as a sanctuary or refuge for those who had shed blood, for slaves who had run away from their masters, and the like. Hence the city of Romulus was called by the Greek name of the Asylum. But though by this means men were supplied in plenty, they lacked wives, and the neighbouring cities held them unworthy to receive their daughters in marriage. Romulus therefore deter- mined to compass by foul means what he could not obtain by fair. He invited the people of the Sabines and neighbouring Latin towns to witness the Consualia, or games to be celebrated in honour of the god Consus ; and when they were intent upon the show, a number of Roman youths rushed in and seized all the marriageable maidens on whom they could lay hands. This was the famous Rape of the Sabine Women. § 9. The kindness of their Roman husbands soon reconciled the women thus strangely wedded to their lot : but their parents and kinsfolk took up arms to avenge the insult they had •cceived. First came the men of Csenina, Crustumerium, and Vntemnse ; but Romulus defeated them all, and slew Acron, chief of the men of Csenina, in single combat, and offered up his arms as a trophy to Jupiter Feretrius. Trophies thus won by the leader of one army from the leader of another were called spolia opima, and were only gained on two other occasions in the whole course of Roman history. The war with the Sabines of Cures was more serious. They came with a large force under their chief, Titus Tatius by name, and advanced to the foot of what was then called the Saturnian Hill, the same that afterwards became famous under the name of the Capitoline. The southern portion of this hill was called the Tarpeian,* and here Romulus had made a cita- del, which he committed to the care of his faithful follower Tarpeius. But Tarpeius had a daughter, the fair Tarpeia, less faithful than her sire, and she promised to admit the Sabines into the citadel " if they would give her what they wore upon their left arms," by which she meant their golden armlets. She opened the gates ; but the Sabine soldiers threw upon her the heavy shields which they also " wore upon their left arms," and was crushed to death, — a meet reward for treachery. The Romans and Sabines now lay over against each other, the former on the Palatine, the latter on the Saturnian Hill, with a * The lower part was the Tarpeian Hill or Capitol, and the upper was the Arx. The depression between these two eminences was called Inter* wontium, Chap. I. ROMULUS. 27 swampy valley between them, the same in which the Twins had been exposed, the same which afterwards became so famous as the Forum of Rome. Here they fought many battles. Once the Sabines had forced their way up to the very Pomoerium of the Palatine, when, behold ! the gates burst open, and the god Janus poured forth a flood of water and swept away the foe. Another time, Mettus Curtius, a brave Sabine, forced his horse through the swamp and pressed the Romans hard. Romulus invoked the aid of Jupiter Stator, or the Stayer of Flight, and rallied his Romans. Still the battle raged fiercely, when the Sabine women, who were the cause of the war, rushed down from the Palatine with dishevelled hair and threw themselves between their Roman husbands and their Sabine kinsmen. Then a peace was made ; and in memory of the service done by the Sabine matrons, a festival called the Matronalia was celebrated on the Calends of March, which was at that time the flrst day of the new year.* § 10. By the peace then made it was agreed that the people of Rome and Cures should be united into one community. Ro- mulus and his Romans were to continue in the possession of the Palatine Hill, while Titus and his Sabines were to occupy the Quirinal.f The Saturnian Hill or Citadel was left in possession of the Sabines. The two kings were to retain joint authority, and to debate on matters concerning the whole community, the Burgesses of both nations were to assemble at the upper end of the valley which afterwards became the Forum, whencQ this place was called the Comitium or Meeting-place- More^ over it is to be noted that Romulus assumed the Sabme names of Quirinus,! and all the Burgesses or Citizens were cabed bji the Sabine title of Quirites or Men of the Spear, || facts which * Therefore Horace amuses himself with the wonder whiol? his friends would feel at seeing him, a bachelor, preparing for festivities on the day of the matron's feast : — " Martiis ccdebs quid agam Kalendis," &c. — Od. iii. 8, 1. Compare Ovid, Fasti, iii. 170, sqq. f " Hunc igitur .... veteres donarunt sede Sabini, Inque ^wmwaK constituere jugo." — Ovro, Fast\ vi. 217. X " narravit Tatium forteraque Quirinum, Binaque cum populis regna coisse suis." — Ibid. 93. H From Quiris, Sabine for a spear. Others derived these nair»€b iV^iii th© town of Cures. Ovid {Fasti, ii. 475) notes both derivations:^^ " Sive quod hasta Quiris priscis est dicta Sabinia> Seu quia Romanis junxerat ille GuresP See below, Chapt. iv. § 8. 28 ROME UNDER THE KINGS Book I. plainly proved that in the union the Sabines had the lion's share ^f the spoil. § 11. At this time the Etruscans were powerful by land and sea. They had, as the legend relates, taken part in the wars be- tween ^neas and the Rutulians ; and another legend mentions that Caeles Vibenna, one of their chiefs, had settled on the hill which lies to the south-east of the Palatine, and that from him this hill received the name of Cselian. This Caeles is said to have assisted Romulus in his war againt the Sabines, and when peace was made, his followers were allowed to become members of the new community. Thus four of the seven hills were com- bined into one city, the Palatine, Quirinal, and Cselian, with the Saturnian for the Citadel. § 12. Not long after the union, Titus Tatius, the Sabine king, was killed while sacrificing at Lavinium by the Latirrs, in revenge for some injuries which they had received from some of his Sa- bine compatriots. Romulus now resumed the sole sovereignty, and ruled without a colleague. He is said to have reigned in all seven and thirty years, when he came to a sudden and unexpected end. It chanced, says the Legend, that he was reviewing his army on the Field of Mars by the Goat's Pool, when there arose a fearful storm, and the darkness was so thick that no man could see his neighbour. When it cleared off, the king had disap- peared. But it was revealed that he had been carried away in the chariot of his father Mars ;* and shortly after one Julius Proculus related that as he was returning from Alba, Romulus the King had appeared to him in celestial form, and told him that hereafter the people of Rome were to regard him as their guard- ian god jointly with Mars, and were to worship him by his Sabine name of Quirinus. But in later days this Legend seemed too marvellous, and a new one was adopted. It was said that the chief men — the Sabine nobles we may presume — had murdered him in the con- fusion of the storm, had carried away his body piecemeal under their gowns, and then had invented the miraculous story to conceal their crime. § 13. To Romulus are attributed all the early institutions of Rome, Social, Political, and Military. (1.) To begin with the Social regulations. The whole popula- tion were divided into two classes, the Burgesses or citizens on the one hand, and on the other their Clients or dependents.! * " Quirinus Martis equis Acheronta fugit." — Horat., Od. f The common derivation of diens is from kavsiv, to hear or obey, with which is compared the Latin old duere, to be called [so and so]. Chap. I. ROMULUS. 29 The Burgesses were called Patrons in relation to their Clients. These Patrons were expected, by law or custom, to defend their Clients from all wrong or oppression on the part of others, while the Clients were bound to render certain services to their Patrons ; so that the relation of Patron and Client in some de- gree resembled that of Lord and Vassal in the feudal times, or that of Chief and Clansman in the highlands of Scotland, or per- haps even that of Proprietor and Serf in Russia. The Burgesses alone engrossed all political rights, and they alone made up what was at this time the Populus Romanus or Body Politic of Rome. The Clients were at the mercy of their Patrons, and had as yet no place in the State. (2.) The Political institutions of Romulus could only affect the Burgessess or Patrons. Among these the old national dis- tinctions gave the rule of division. They were formed into three Tribes* or nations, — the Ramnes or Romans of Romulus, the Tities or Sabines of Titus, the Luceres or Etruscans of Cseles, who was a Lucumo or nobleman in his own Etruscan city. Then he subdivided each Tribe into ten Curiae, and each Curia had a chief officer called its Curio. In all, therefore, there were thirty Curiae, and they received names after thirty of the Sabine women who had brought about the union of the nations. The Burgesses used to meet according to their Curiae in the Comitium to vote on all matters of state, which the King was bound to lay before them, and their assembly was called the Comitia Curiata or Assembly of the Curies, and all matters were decided by the majority of Curiae that voted for or against it. No law could be made except with their consent. Nor was the sovereign power of the king considered legally established till it had been con- ferred by a curiate law. By the sovereign power (Imperium) so conferred the King held chief command in war, and was supreme judge in all matters of life and death, and in token thereof he was attended by twelve lictors bearing bundles of rods with sharp axes projecting from the middle of them (fasces). Besides this large assembly, in which all Burgesses were enti- tled to vote, each in his own curia, there was a select body for advising the King, called the Senate or Council of Elders. This consisted at first of 100 members ; but when the Sabines were joined to the Romans, 100 more were added, so that the whole number consisted of 200, being 10 from each of the 20 Ramnian and Titian Curies : for the Luceres or Third Tribe, though they also had 10 Curiae, were not as yet allowed to send any members to the Senate. * The word tribus itself originally meant a third part. See ^ 6, Note. 30 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book L (3.) For military purposes each Tribe was ordered to furnish 1000 men on foot and 100 on horseback, so that the army of the united burgesses consisted of 3000 foot and 300 horse, and was called by the name of Legion. The 300 horsemen were the no- blest young men of the military age, and also served as a body- guard to the king. The horsemen of each Tribe were called a Century, and the three Centuries were known by the same name as their Tribes — Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres. The whole squadron was called by the joint name of Celeres, and the Cap- tain or Prefect of the Celeres bore the first rank in the state after the King.* § 14. Romulus had left the earth, and there was no King at Rome. The Senators took the government into their own hands. For this purpose the whole Senate was divided into tens : each ten was called a Decuria, and the chief of each Decuria a Decu- rion. Every Decurion with .his nine compeers held the sovereign power for five days. The Decurions therefore were called Inter- reges or Between-kings, and the time during which they ruled was an Interregnum. When this state of things had continued for a year, the Bur- gesses imperiously demanded that they should have a King. The Senate yielded, and a Sabine named Numa Pompilius was chosen, known as a just and holy man, famous for his wisdom in all mat- ters of right and religion. He was elected by the Curies in their assembly, and himself proposed the law whereby he was invested with sovereign power. His peaceful reign lasted for nine and thirty years, after which he was buried with the books of his laws on Mount Janiculum. § 15. As Romulus the Roman was held to be the framer of all regulations Social, Political, and Military, so Numa the Sabine is the reputed author of all the Religious and Ecclesiastical institutions of Rome. According to the Legend, he was instructed in all these things by Egeria, a Muse or (as the Latins called her) a Camena. To her sacred grove he was admitted, and even became her spouse. By her counsel he surprised the gods Picus and Faunus in their retreat under the Aventine, and kept them in duress till they had taught him how to draw forth Jupiter, the Father of the gods, from heaven. Jupiter appeared in the form of lightning, and promised him a public sign of his favour. Accordingly, next day, in the presence of the assembled Burgesses, the ancile * It will be remembered that according to one form of the legend, it was Gekr who killed Remus, § 6. Chap. L NUMA. 31 or sacred shield of Mars Gradivus, the father of Quirinus, fell from heaven amid lightning and thunder. To prevent this pre- cious gift from being stolen, Numa Ordered eleven others to be made of exactly the same substance, size, and shape, so that no man might know which was the true ancile : and to take charge of these shields, twelve Salii, or dancing priests of Mars, were appointed, who also officiated at the public thanksgiving which in after times the Romans used to offer after great victories.* Further, for the regulation of the worship of the gods, and to decide all questions of religion, he created four pontiffs, with a superior named the Pontifex Maximus. These acted as a kind of ecclesiastical council ; and the offices were usually held by the most distinguished men at Rome, for there were no clergy or class set apart from other classes for religious purposes. For the special service of the two guardian gods of Rome, Mars Gra- divus and Quirinus, he appointed two Flamens, called respec- tively the Flamens of Gradivus and Quirinus. With these was associated a third, devoted to the service of supreme Jupiter, who bore the name of the Flamen Dialis. To consult the will of the gods by auguries and divinations he created four Augurs. And to keep alive the sacred fire of Vesta, which had been brought from the shrine of the goddess at Alba, the mother city of Rome, he ordained that there should be four Vestal Virgins. In honour of Vesta he built a temple on the north side of the Palatine, abutting on the Forum, and adjoining it a dwelling for the vestals. His own palace also, the Regia, he placed next to the temple of the goddess. To distinguish time of war from time of peace, he is said to have built a temple to the god Janus, or the Double God, whose two faces looked different ways.f During the whole of his reign the door of the temple was closed in sign of peace ; but from his time to the time of the Emperor Augustus it remained open in sign of war, except during a brief period after the first Punic ♦Hence Horace (Od. i. 38), on receiving the news of the victory of Augustus at Actium, breaks out : — " Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede Hbero Pulsanda tellus ; nunc Saliaribus Ornare pulvinar Deorum Tempus erat dapibus, sodales." Such thanksgivings were called supplicationes. f His name Janus {i. e. Djanus), corresponding to the feminine Diana (Djana), is derived from the root dis ((Ug) or bis, implying double. It may here be observed that the divinities of ancient Latium went in pairs, as, Resides Janus and Diana, Saturnus and Ops, Yulcanus arjd Yest^i. 82 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I § 16. Yet Numa willed not that the Romans should offer costly sacrifices to the gods, but ordained that they should present corn and the fruits of the earth, and not any living thing ; for he was a lover of husbandry, and was anxious that this peaceful art should flourish. Therefore he took pains to secure each man in possession of his land, and fixed the bounds of each farm by landmarks or termini, which it was sacrilege to remove, for they "Were under the protection of the god Terminus ; and in honour •of this god he established the yearly festival of the Terminal ia. Moreover he distributed all the lands of Rome into pagi or dis- tricts, and ordered the memory of this act to be kept alive by the feast of the Paganalia.* §1*7. Some other matters are attributed to Numa which might here be mentioned. Re is said to have divided the people into guilds or companies, according to their trades and professions. He built a temple to Good Faith ; he determined the dies fasti arid nefasti, or common days and holidays ; and lastly, he is said to have added to the year of Romulus (which consisted of 10 months only, some of them but 20 days long) the months of January and February, and to have ordained that the year should consist of twelve lunar months and one day over, or in all oi 355 days.f * The city land was similarly (it is not said by whom) divided into vici or wards, with a corresponding festival called Compitalia, This festival is attributed to Servius TuUius f The Romans continued to reckon by this short year till the calendar was reformed by the dictator Csesar ; and in order to make the lunar year of 355 days square to some extent with the solar year of 365J- days, Numa is said to have ordained that a supplementary month should be intercalated every third year between the 23rd and the 25th of February, which was considered to be the last month of the year. This business of intercalation, however, was left to the Pontiffs, who executed it in a very arbitrary and uncertain manner. When, therefore, we hear of events taking place in any Roman month, it seldom happens that this month coincides with our own month of the same name : and this makes it extremely difficult to decide the exact time of most events in Roman History before the Julian era. Lake of Alba. CHAPTER II TULLUS HOSTILIUS AND ANGUS MARTIUS, THE THIRD AND FOURTH KINGS. § 1. Increase of Rome in next two reigns. § 2. Choice of Tullus Hostilius. § 3. War with Alba. Legend of Horatii and Curiatii. § 4. War with Etruscans. Punishment of Mettus Fuffetius. § 5. Forced migration of Albans to Rome. § 6. War with Sabines. § 7. Curia Hostilia. § 8- Death of Tullus. § 9, 10. Election of Angus Martius: his institutions § 11. Subjugation of Southern Latium: increase of Roman citizens. § 12. Pons Sublicius : Janiculum: Ostia. §13. Death of Ancus. § 1. From the reigns of Romulus and Numa, ttie reputed foun- ders of Rome and all her early institutions, we pass to that of two Kings, also a Roman and a Sabine, who swelled the numbers of the Roman people by the addition of large bodies of Latins, many of whom were transferred from their own cities by force or persuasion. These Kings prepared the way for the more ex- tensive political changes attributed to their successors. § 2. An Interregnum again ensued after the death of Numa. 2* 34 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book 1. But in no long time the Burgesses met, and chose to be their king TuLLus Hostilius, a Roman, whose grandsire had been a captain in the army of Romulus. His reign of two-and-thirty years was as bloody and warlike as that of Numa had been calm and peaceful. The acts attributed to him are, first, the esta- blishment of the Latins of Alba in Rome, and secondly, the crea- tion of judges to try matters of life and death in place of the king, called Qusestores Parricidii. The famous Legends which follow give the reasons for both these matters. § 3. The chief war of Tullus was against the Albans. It broke ^out thus. The lands of Rome and Alba marched together, that \is, they bordered one upon the other, and the borderers of both nations had frequent quarrels and plundered one another. King Tullus took up the cause of his people, and demanded restitu- tion of the booty taken by the Albans from Cluilius, the Dictator of Alba, who replied that his people had suffered to the full as much from the Romans as they of Rome from the Albans. Since, then, neither party would make satisfaction, war was de- clared. Cluilius first led out his army and encamped within five miles of Rome, at a place afterwards called the Fossa Cluilia, where he died, and the Albans chose Mettus Fuffetius to be Dictator in his stead. Meanwhile Tullus, on his part, had marched into tb/^ territory of the Albans, and Mettus returned to give him battle, ^ut when the two armies were drawn up ready to fight, Mettus pioposed that the quarrel should be de- cided by the combat of champions chosen from each army, and Tullus agreed to the proposal. Now it chanced that there were three brothers in each army, equal in age, strength, and valour. Horatii was the name of the three Roman brethren, Curiatii of the Alban.* These were chosen to be the champions, and an agreement was made, with solemn rites, that victory should be adjudged to that people whose champions should conquer in the strife. Then the two armies sate down opposite one another as spectators of the combat, but not like common spectators, for each man felt that the question at issue was whether Rome was to be mistress of Alba or Alba of Rome. Long and bravely fought all the champions. At length all the Curiatii were grievously wounded ; but of the Horatii two lay dead upon the plain, while the third was yet untouched. So the surviving Ho- ratius, seeing that, single-handed, he could not prevail, pretended to flee before his three opponents. They pursued him, each as he was able ; the most vigorous was foremost ; he that had lost * In another form of the legend, the names are reversed. It may be pre- sumed that this is the Latin version, while the received form is the Eoman. Each nation would wish to claim the conqueror. Chap, IL TULLUS HOSTILIU& 35 most blood lagged behind. And when Horatius saw that they were far separate one from another, he turned about and smote the first pursuer ; so likewise the second ; and lastly he slew the third. Then the Romans were adjudged victorious. But a sad event followed to damp their joy. Horatius was returning home with the spoils of the slaughtered three borne in triumph before him, when, outside the Capuan gate,* he met his sister. Alas ! she had been betrothed to one of the Alban brethren, and now she beheld his bloody vestments adorning the triumph of her brother, and she wept aloud before all the army. But when Horatius saw this, he was so angered that he took his sword and stabbed her where she stood. Now all, both Senate and People, were shocked at this unnatural deed ; and though they owed so much to Horatius, they ordered him to be tried before two Judges appointed by the King. These Judges found Horatius guilty, and condemned him to be " hanged with a rope," according to the law ; nor had they power to lighten his punishment. But Horatius appealed to the People, and they pardoned him, because he had fought so well for them, and be- cause old Horatius, the father, entreated for him, and said that his daughter had been rightly slain, and that he would himself have slain her, as he had a right to do, because he was her father; for by the old Roman law the father had this terrible power ovei his children. But to atone for the bloodshed, the father was ordered to make certain sacrifices at the public expense; and the heads of the Horatian Gens continued to offer these sacri' fices ever afterwards. § 4. Thus it was that the Albans became subjects of King Tullus, and they were bound to assist him in war against his enemies; and he soon called upon them to follow him against the Etruscans of Veil and Fidense. So Mettus Fuffetius came to his aid with a brave army ; but in the battle Mettus stood aloof upon a hill with his army, waiting to see which party should prevail. The Romans were so hard pressed that the king to stay the alarm, vowed temples in case of victory to Pale- ness and Panic-fear (Pallor et Pavor). At length the battle was won, and then the Alban Dictator came down and pretended to be on their side. But Tullus took no notice, and summoned all the Albans to come next day to consult on public affairs. So they came, as to a peaceful assembly, with no arms in their hands, when suddenly the Roman legion closed around them, and they could neither fight or flee. Then Tullus rebuked the Albans, but said that he would only punish their chief, for that * It may be noted that there was no Capuan Gate (Porta Capena) till after the building of the walls of Serviua TuUius. 36 ROME UNDER THE £.iNGS. Book i. he was the most g-ailty. And he took Mettus and bound him by the arras and legs to two four-horsed chariots ; and the cha- riots, being drawn different ways, tore the unhappy wretch asunder. § 5. Then Tullus gave orders that the city of Alba should be dismantled, and that all its burgesses with their clients should migrate to Rome. It was sad to leave their fathers' homes and the temples of their fathers' gods. Yet was their new abode no strange city. Had not Rome been founded by Alban princes ? and did not the Quirites keep up the eternal fire of Vesta and worship the Latin Jupiter ? Nor did Tullus treat them as ene- mies, but gave them the Caelian Hill for their quarter ; and he built a palace for himself on the same hill and dwelt in the midst of them : he also made the heads of chief Alban families bur- gesses of Rome, and placed some of their chief men in the Senate. § 6. After this he also made war against the Sabines ; and in fulfilment of a vow which he made in the stress of battle, he celebrated his victory by establishing the games of the Saturnalia and Opalia in honour of the Latin god Saturnus and the god- dess Ops. § 7. To Tullus Hostilius likewise is attributed the building of the Senate-house, called from him the Curia Hostilia. It stood on the edge of the Comitium facing the Palatine ; and in a building erected on the same spot at a later time, and bearing the same name, the Senate continued to hold their ordinary meetings till bhe days of Julius Caesar. § 8. But amid his triumphs and successes Tullus rendered not meet reverence to the gods. The people of Rome were smitten by a plague, and the King himself fell ill of a lingering disease. Then he bethought him to seek counsel of Jupiter, after the manner of King Numa. But when he took his station upon the Aventine, and endeavoured to draw forth the father of the gods from heaven, lightnings descended, as to Numa, but with de^ stroying force, so that he himself was smitten and his house burnt down. His reign had lasted two-and-thirty years. § 9. After a short interregnum, the Burgesses chose Ancuh ./[artius to be King, a Sabine noble, son of a daughter of King Numa. His reputation was worthy of his descent ; and his first act was to order the laws of his venerated grandsire to be written out fair on a white board and set up for all to read in the Forum. He also made a prison for criminals in the rock beneath that side of the Saturnian Hill which overhangs the Forum, — the same which was afterwards enlarged by King Servius Tullius, and called after him the Tullianum, Chap. II. ANGUS MARTIUS. 37 § 10. Ancus was a lover of peace ; but he did not shrink from war, when war was necessary to protect the honour of the Roman name. But even in matters of war he showed that reverence for law and order, which was his ruling characteristic. For he created a college of sacred Heralds, called Fetiales, whose business it was to demand reparation for injuries in a regular and formal manner,* and in case of refusal to declare war by hurling a spear into the enemy's land. § 11. His chief wars were with the Latin cities of the neigh- bourhood. He took Politorium, and destroyed it; and reduced to subjection all the Latin shore, or that part of Latium which lies between Rome and the sea. The heads of families in these Latin cities, after the example set by TuUus Hostilius, were made Roman citizens ; and to such as chose to settle in Rome Ancus assigned Mount Aventine for a dwelling-place, so that thus a fifth hill was added to the other four. In this way the city of Rome was greatly increased, and large numbers added to its citizens; while by the wars of Tullus and Ancus the power of the Latins proportionably diminished. But the Latins whom Ancus made citizens of Rome, were not, like the Albans in the time of Tullus, put on an equality with the old Burgesses. Most of them continued to reside in their own small cities, subject to Roman authority. They formed a new element in the state — being neither Patrons nor Clients — of which we shall speak more at length in our account of Tarquinius Pris- cus. It is probably this encouragement of a free people, who were not bound by the ties of Clientship to any Patron, that leads Virgil to speak of Ancus as " too much rejoicing in popular favour." f § 12. Other works of utility are attributed to Ancus Martins. He is said to have made the first bridge over the Tiber. It was built of wooden piles (sublicse), and hence was called the Pons Sublicius. In order to prevent it being broken down by the Etruscans who lived on the other side of the Tiber, he fortified Janiculum, where his grandsire Numa lay buried. He also built the town of Ostia at the mouth of the river, which long continued to be the principal haven of the Roman people. § 13. He died in peace after a prosperous reign of four-and- twenty years. * We find, however, that the same formahty was observed by Tullus" Hos- tilius in declaring war against Alba: see § 3. f " Quem juxta sequitur jactantior Ancus, Nunc quoque jam nimium gaudens popularibus auris." YiRG., Aen. vi. 816. Cloaca Maxima. CHAPTER III. TARQUINIUS PRISCUS AND SERVIUS TULLIUS, THE FIFTH AND SIXTH KINGS. § 1, Sons of Ancus set aside. § 2. Early history of Tarquinius Priscus. § 3. How he came to be chosen King. § 4. Addition to numbers of Senate. § 5. Social state before reforms of Tarquin. Patricians or Patrons, Clients, Plebeians. § 6. Origin of Plebs. § 7. Tarquin's plan of reform. § 8. Opposition of Patricians, Legend of Attus Navius. § 9. Plan modified. Augmentation of Patrician Gentes and of Knights. § 10. Wars of Tarquin. § 11. Pubhc works: Cloaca Maxima, etc. § 12. Legend of death of Tarquin. § 13. Servius Tullius. § 14. Wish to give political powei- to all Plebeians. § 15. Plan of reform. Comitia Centuriata. § 10. Census. Preponderating influence of property. § IT. Plebs made part of Populus, or Body Politic. § 18. Roman territory divided into Tribes. § 19. Four of city. § 20. Sixteen of country. § 21. Only Plebeians originally members of Tribes. § 22. Assembly of curiae finally superseded by that of Tribes. § 23. Walls of Rome built by Servius. § 24. Principal places in early Rome. § 25. Alliance with Latins. § 26. Legend of death of Servius. § 1. The first trace of hereditary succession in the Roman monarchy appears with Ancus. He was grandson to Numa, and Chap. III. TARQUINIUS PRISCUS. 39 according to one legend conspired to take away the life of his pre- decessor TuUus. But the legends, after the death of Ancus, all make the notion of hereditary right an essential element in the succession. Ancus had left two sons, as yet boys. But when they grew up, and found the throne occupied by a stranger, they took measures for asserting their right. It is of this stranger that we must now speak. He is known to all by the name of Tar- QuiNius Priscus. § 2. Tarquinius had been a citizen of Tarquinii, a city of Etruria. But it was said that his father was a Greek nobleman of Corinth, Demaratus by name, who had fled from his native land, because the power had fallen into the hands of a tyrannical oligarchy.* The son had become a Lucumo or Chief at Tarquinii, had gained great wealth, and married a noble Etruscan lady, Tanaquil by name. Both himself and his wife were eager for power and honour ; and, as they could not satisfy their desires at home, they determined to try their fortune in the new city on the Tiber, where their countryman Cseles Vibenna and his followers had already settled.f Therefore they set out for Rome; and when they had reached the Mount Janiculum, in full view of the city, an eagle came down with gentle swoop and took the cap from off the head of Tarquin, and then, wheeling round him, replaced it. His wife Tanaquil, skilled in augury, like all the Etruscans, inter- preted this to be an omen of good. " The eagle," she said, " was a messenger from heaven ; it had restored the cap as a gift of the gods ; her husband would surely rise to honour and power." Thus it was that he came to settle in Rome, probably among his coun- trymen on the Ca3lian Hill. He took the Latin name of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus; J and by his riches and his cleverness and goodwill he gained the favour of King Ancus, and was made guar- dian of his children. But he used the power so gotten in his own favour ; and the people chose him to be their king. § 3. It needs some explanation to show how Tarquin, being an Etruscan stranger, came to be chosen king of Rome : for in all likelihood he belonged to the tribe of the Luceres ; and this Tribe had hitherto been held subordinate. The Ramnians of the Palatine and Titians of the Quirinal had kept power in their own hands ; and the Kings had been chosen by turns from these two Tribes. Romulus and Tullus were Ramnians ; Numa and Ancus * Tndentified by the Romans with the Bacchiades mentioned by Herodotus. f Chapt. i. § 11 Another legend makes Cseles younger than Tarquin. Compare § 12, and Chapt. v. § 11. X Another form of the legend takes no notice of his Etruscan origin, and gives him to wife a person bearing the undeniably Latin name of Caia Caecilia 40 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I. were Titians. Also, Romulus had chosen only 200 elders into the Senate ; of whom 100 were first chosen from the Romans or Ramnians of the Palatine, and 100 afterwards from the Sabines or Titians of the Quirinal ; and there were no Lucerians in the Senate, except perhaps some few that King Tullus had added from the Alban families, which he settled in the Caelian Hill. Moreover, Numa did not admit the Burgesses of the Lucerian Tribe into the sacred offices which he made. For, under the Chief Pontifex, there were but four other Pontifices, two for the Ramnians, and two for the Titians. So, under the Chief Flamen of Jove, there were but two Flamens, one belonging to the Roman or Ramnian god Mars, the other to him who had become a god by the Sabine name of Quirinus. Likewise, he had made but four Augurs, and four Vestal Virgins ; two for the Ramnians, and two for the Titians;* and Tullus Hostilius had appointed but two Judges to represent him in deciding cases of life and death. The Luceres, therefore, were held in small account ; and no doubt in the Comitia Curiata they were always outvoted by the other two Tribes ; for they had but 10 Curiae to the 20 of the other two. But of late the Luceres had been waxing in power. The Albans had been added to their ranks ; and no doubt this addi- tion had made them more Latin, more like the other Romans, and less like the Etruscans. It might well be, therefore, that Tarquin was able by their means to raise himself to the kingly power. At all events, we may be sure that the four first Kings appear as representatives of the two elder Tribes ; and that the three last belonged to the Luceres. § 4. Tarquin soon began to use his power to raise those by whom he had risen ; for he made the Luceres almost equal in dig- nity to the two old Tribes. First he chose 100 fresh members into the Senate, who (we cannot doubt) were all of the Lucerian Tribe ; so that now the Senate consisted of 300. Then, he in- creased the number of Vestal Virgins to six ; the two new ones being (it is presumed) Lucerian. But the influence of the old Tribes in the colleges of Pontifices, Augurs, and Flamens appears to have been too strong to allow him to make similar alterations here. These remained according to the numbers fixed by Numa for a great many years. * It has been already noticed that the number 3 frequently recurs in the early history of Rome (c. i. § 6 and § 13). But this number is suddenly interrupted, and (as appears from the text) 2 became the ruling unit of com- bination. The latter number seems to have been the favourite of the Latins : see Chapt. i. § 15, Note. Probably this change must be attributed to the dominant influence of the two elder tribes. Chap. III. TARQUINIUS PRISCUS. 41 § 6. Tarquin, however, was not satisfied with simply raising his Lucerian friends to an equality with the Burgesses of the old Tribes. He designed to make other alterations in the state, larger and more important. To explain these we must go back to the institutions attributed to Romulus. The whole body of the people had been divided (as we saw) into two great classes, Patrons and Clients. The Clients or vassals being wholly dependent upon their Patrons, had no part in the Body Politic, nor had they the right of connubium (as it was called), that is, the right of inter- marrying with their Patrons. The Patrons, alone, therefore (we repeat), made up the Populus or Body PoHtic of Rome : these only were members of the Three Tribes ; these only voted in the Comitium by their Curiae, when they chose their Kings or made laws. At first, then, there were only two, classes of freemen at Rome, Patrons and Clients ; and all the power was in the hands of the Patrons. These Patrons or Lords also took the name ofpatres or patricii, iC'athers or Patricians. In after times the name of Patres was con- fined to the senators, and the descendants of the old patrons or patres were called Patricians. The Patricians were at this time the same as the Burgesses. The Patricians were divided into certain private associations, called GenteSj which we may translate Houses or Clans. All the members of each Gens were called gentiles ; and they bore the same name, which always ended in -ius ; as for instance, every member of the Julian Gens was a Julius ; every member of the Cornelian Gens was a Cornelius, and so on. Now in every Gens there were a number of Families, which were distinguished by a name added to the name of the Gens. Thus the Scipios, Sullas, Cinnas, Cethegi, Lentuli were all Families of the Cornelian Gens. Lastly, every person of every Family was denoted by a name pre- fixed to the name of the Gens. The name of the person was, in Latin, proenomen ; that of the Gens or House, nomen; that of the Family, cognomen. Thus Caius Julius Caesar was a person of the Caesar Family in the Julian Gens ; Lucius Cornelius Scipio was a person of the Scipio Family in the Cornelian Gens ; and so forth. Their praenomen, or fore-name, was Caius or Lucius, etc.; their nomen or name Julius, Cornelius, etc. ; their cognomen or sur- name Caesar, Scipio, etc. These Gentes may be compared to the Scottish Clans, in which there are many Families, as in the Clan Campbell there are the great Families of Argyle and Breadalbane and others. Whether the Gentes were originally connected by blood or not, is hard to say.* But whether it was so or no, it is certain * See the discussion in Niebuhr, i. p. 33, &c 42 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. 500K L that they ceased to be so, just as in the Scottish Clans. But they were bound together by certain private sacred rites, called sacra gentilicia, of which we have seen one example in the case of the Horatian Gens.* The Patrons or Patricians, then, alone belonged to Gentes, and these only might intermarry with each, other. If a Patrician mar- ried a Client, their issue could not take the Patrician rank, or become a member of his parent's house ; because the Clients had not the connubium, or right of marriage with their Patrons. But as time went on, there arose a third class of freemen at Rome, who were neither Patrons nor Clients — neither lords over vassals, nor vassals dependent upon lords. These were called Plebeians, and their general name was Plebs, or the Commonalty. They were like the Clients, in that they had no part in the government, in that they were excluded from the patrician houses, and could not intermarry with the Patricians. But they were unlike the Clients, in that they were quite free and independent, subject to no lord, except to the King and the laws. § 6. Now comes the question — How did this Plebs or Com- mons come into being ? How came there to be Plebeians in the time of Tarquinius Priscus, whereas they were at all events but few in the time of Romulus ? It is probable that at the first settlement of the city there were a number of people previously dwelling about the Seven Hills, who were made subject without becoming Clients. These were the original Plebeians, that is, free men, without political rights. Their numbers were afterwards much increased in various ways. First, a Patron might marry a Client's daughter, or a Client might marry a Patrician lady, and then the children would be neither Patricians nor Clients. Again, a Patron might die and leave no heirs, and then all his Clients would become independent, having no lord. But the third class was mainly formed by the addition of Latins, who were not powerful enough to gain admittance into the Patrician Gentes and Tribes. Tullus, we remember, brought the Albans to Rome, and admitted their chief families into the patrician order. But there were many families that were not so admitted. However, the great increase of this kind took place when King Ancus peopled the Aventine with Latins, and conquered all the country between Rome and the Sea. All new settlers who were not, like the Albans, admitted into the ranks of the Burgesses, and all the burgesses of conquered towns who continued to dwell at home, swelled the number of the Plebeians or Commons of Rome.f * Chapt. ii. § 3. f In the middle ages, the free towns of Italy and Germany had a population Chap. III. TARQUINIUS PRISCUS. 43 And as the great addition is reputed to have taken place in the reign of Ancus, he was held to be the father of the Plebs, and is (as we have before noted) represented by Virgil as exulting in popular applause. But yet he gave them no part in the State ; they lived like strangers at Rome, subject to no lord, as the Clients were, and yet, like them, without any rights or power as citizens. § 7. Now Tarquinius Priscus saw that, sooner or later, these families of the Commons must gain power in the State. Many of them were rich; many of them had been noble in the old Latin cities from which they had been brought to Rome, or in those which had become subject to Rome. Tarquin therefore determined to raise a certain number of these plebeian families to patrician rank, just as Tullus had raised many of the Alban families. He proposed to do this by doubling the number of the Patrician Tribes, so that they should be six instead of three. The three new Tribes were to be made up of Plebeian Gentes, and were to be called after himself and his chief friends. § 8. But the citizens of the two old Patrician Tribes, the Ramnes and Titles, already angry at seeing the Luceres raised nearly to an equality with themselves, opposed this new plan most fiercely. There was a lamous Titian augur, called Attus Navius, who came forward and plainly forbade the whole thing in the name of the gods. The story goes that Tarquin laughed at the augur, and bade him tell by his auguries whether what he then had in his mind was possible to be done. And when the augur said it was possible, then said the king, "I was thinking that thou should'st cut this whetstone asunder with a razor : now let me see whether thy auguries will help thee." Whereupon Attus took the razor and cut the whetstone asunder. At this the king greatly marvelled, and promised that he would not disobey the gods. § 9. But though Tarquin no longer thought of making new Patrician Tribes with new names, he did what in reality came to the same thing; for he added his favourite Plebeian Gentes to each of the three Tribes, so that each Tribe consisted of two parts — the Old Ramnes and the New, the Old Titles and the or privileged Cittadini or Burgesses, corresponding to the Roman Patrielana These had their Vassals or CUents. And besides these two classes, there was always a numerous class who were neither Burgesses nor Dependents. In Germany these Plebeians were called Pfahlbiirger, or Burgesses of the Pale, because they were allowed to live within the pale of the city, but not to enjoy any civic rights. They very much corresponded to the Proselytes of the Gate among the Jews. See Niebuhr. 44 ROME UKDER THE KINGS. Book I. New, the Old Luceres and the New,* and there were in reality six Patrician Tribes, though they bore only three names as before ; and the new Patricians were called the Fathers of the Younger Clans, Patres Minorum Gentium.j- Thus the chief Plebeians were numbered among the Patrician families, and became part and parcel of the Populus or Body Politic of Rome; and were entitled to vote in the Comitia Curiata. But the mass of the Plebeians remained, as of old, excluded from all share in the State. Tarquinius also doubled the centuries of Knights. Once they had been doubled by Tullus, so they were two hundred in each century or squadron, and six hundred in all. After the addition made by Tarquinius they amounted to twelve hundred The new Centuries retained the old names, just as in the Tribes the Old and New Ramnes, and so on ; and no doubt they were enrolled from the New Tribes. § 10. When Tarquin had thus attached the Plebeians to the state, by raising some and giving hopes to all, he led forth his army against the Sabines. He conquered them, and took their town Collatia, which he gave in charge to his nephew Egerius (the Needy), who was so called because he was left destitute to the charge of his uncle Tarquin. The son of Egerius took the name of Collatinus. He also made war against the cities of Latium, which had not been conquered by Ancus Martins. And he was so successful in his wars and treaties, that all the old Latin communities sub' mitted to Rome as their sovereign state. His authority was also recognised by many of his Etruscan compatriots ; and he is said first to have introduced at Rome the Etruscan ensigns of royal dignity, the golden crown and sceptre, the ivory chair, and the robe striped with violet colour. § 11. But what made the reign of Tarquinius Priscus most famous were the great works by which he improved the city. The bounds of the Roman Forum had already been fixed in part by the buildings of Numa and Tullus Hostilius. But Tarquin completed them for ever by building booths or shops along the northern and southern sides.J And in the valley between the * "Ramnes primi et secundi," etc. f Livy and others tell us that Tarquin only doubled the Centuries of Knights. But this (no doubt) is an error arising from the three Centuries of Knights bearing the same name with the three patrician Tribes. Festua (p. 169) says: " Cum Tarquinius Priscus institutas Tribus a Eomulo muiare vellet" etc.; and p. 344, "■civitas Romana in sex est distributa partes, in primos secundosque Titienses, Ramnes, iMceresy Cf. also Dionys. (iii. 71, 72), who speaks of (pv'kal lirTciuv, thus confounding the two accounts. :f Those on the northern side were rebuilt first, and hence were called Chap. III. TARQUINIUS PRISCUS. 45 Palatine and Aventine he formed the Circus Maximus, or great race-course for the celebration of the Roman or Great Games. He also vowed a temple to Jupiter on the Saturnian Hill, and began to level the ground at the lower extremity, where it bore the name of the Tarpeian Hill. But this great building was re- served for another to complete. One remarkable work remains to be mentioned, which even to the present day preserves the memory of Tarquin. This was the Cloaca Maxima, or great drain, which ran from tha valley of the Circus Maximus, and joined the Tiber below the island. The purpose of this great work was to carry off the waters which collected in stagnant pools in the ground to the west of the Palatine Hill, which was known by the name of the Velabrum. But its size and execution bear witness to the power and greatness of the monarch who planned it. It is formed in a semicircular vault, measuring nearly fourteen feet in diameter, and consists of three concentric arches, each com- posed of hewn blocks of hard volcanic stone.* Where it enters the river, the quay is formed by a wall of the same kind of masoni-y.f So admirable is the workmanship, that at the present day, though the stones are kept in their place simply by their own weight, without mortar or cement, not one block has been displaced in the part of it which has been explored, and a knife-blade can hardly be inserted between the joints.J; Similar works are found among the ruined cities of ancient Etruria ; and from that country doubtless came the artificers capable of execut- ing such a work.jl § 12. The legend of Tarquin's death is one of the most famous in the early Roman annals. It runs thus. He had a favourite called Servius Tullius, a young man whom some said was born of a female Latin slave taken at Corniculum ; whereas others said Tabernae Novae, while those on the south side retained the name of Tabernaa Veteres, even t3 Cicero's time. Academ. iv. 22 : " Ut ii qui sub Novie \sc. Ta^ernis] solem non ferunt . . ., Veterum . . . umhram secutvs esV * A kind of tophus or tufa, found near Rome, according to Brocchi (quoted by Dr. Arnold). - f This wall is almost concealed by a facing of later brick-work, as ia shown in the woodcut at the head of this chapter. X Another Cloaca from the great Cloaca under the Forum was discovered by excavations in the year 1742. This is probably the drain alluded to by Juvenal (Sat. v. 104), when he speaks of a fish " pinguis torrente cloaca, Et solitus mediae cryptam penetrare Suburae." But it appears to be built of travertino, a soft limestone from the neighbour- hood «f Tivoli, which was not used till a late period in Roman buildings.-^ Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 392. I See the woodcut at the close of the chapt^" 46 ROME UNDER THE KINGS, Book I. he was no Latin but an Etruscan called Mastarna, who had come to Rome, like Tarquin himself, and assumed a Latin name.* Servius had the same plans as Tarquin himself, and afterwards (as we shall see) executed much which that King was unable to perform, whence we may conclude that he was either a Lucerian or a member of one of the Latin houses which had lately been raised to Patrician rank. Now it was thought that this young man would most likely be chosen King, when Tarquinius was dead. Whereupon the sons of Ancus Martius, who had borne patiently the reign of Tarquin, resolved that they would seize the crown ; and probably they were urged on by their brethren the Titles and others of the older Gentes, who could not bear that another upstart should be King. So they procured two countrymen, who pretended to have a quarrel, and came before the King as if to seek for judgment ; and while one of them was speaking, the other smote the King on the head with an axe, so that he fell dead. But the lictors seized the murderers; and Tanaquil the Queen shut up the palace, and gave out that the King was not dead, but only wounded. Then she sent for Servius Tullius, and exhorted him to assume the royal robe, and go forth with the lictors in kingly state to judge causes in the King's name. Thus Tarquinius Priscus died after a reign of eight- and-thirty years. And after a time his death was made known, and Servius Tullius became King in his place, without being regu- larly chosen by the Assembly of the Curiae. § 13. Servius Tullius was the best and wisest of all the Kings, and his reign is a history of the greatest changes that took place among the Roman people during the whole time of the kingly government. His wars were few, though we hear that he overcame the people of Veil and other Etruscan cities. His chief glory came from his new institutions for the good government of the people, which in a manner completed what Tarquinius Priscus had begun. § 14. We have already spoken of the growth of the Plebs oi- Commons, a third class, belonging neither to the Patricians nor the Clients : and shown how Tarquinius raised the richest and most powerful houses of this class to be members of the Patrician Tribes. But still the mass of the Plebs continued to live as before upon the Aventine, without having art or part in the affairs of the Roman People. The Populus or Body Politic still consisted * The Etruscan legend, which makes Mastarna or Servius a comrade of Caeles Vibenna, rests on the authority of a speech of the Emperor Claudius, which was inscribed on a brass tablet, and is now preserved (though so placed that no one can read it) in the Museum at Lyons. Chap. IIL SERVIUS TULLIUS. 47 only of Patricians ; but the Pleb9ians were every day increasing m numbers and wealth, and it was to be feared that if they were much longer shut out from all part in public affairs, they might rise against the Patricians and take by force what they could not get as a free gift, and so the Aventine would become the chief place of Rome instead of the Palatine. Servius took measures to guard against this danger by admitting the Plebeians into full citizenship, and made them in great mea- sure equal to their Patrician brethren. The way he took was this. § 15. It was not proposed to raise the plebeian families to patrician rank and make them members of the Curiae, but to create a new popular Assembly which was to include all the citi- zens, Patricians and Plebeians alike. The whole form, divisions, and nature of this assembly was military. It was called the Exercitus ; it met in the field of Mars outside the city ; the members of it appeared in the arms of their respective divisions, and gave their votes in the same manner. Of this we shall find full proof as we go on. But it was not all free Romans who were admitted even into this Assembly. A great division was made between those who had independent means of living (locupletes or assidui *), and those who had no sufficient property (proletarii). The former were required to have at least 11,000 ases' worth of land or house property, and these alone were included in the new Assembly of Servius. The locupletes appeared in the Assembly in five great Classes, or armed bodies, which were distinguished by their Census or amount of rateable property in land ; the richest formed the First Class, the next richest the Second Class, and so on. Then each of the, five Classes were subdivided into a number of Cen- turies or (^ompanies, of which one half consisted of juniors, or men withintTie age of military service (17 to 45), the other half of seniors, or men between 45 and 60.f The First Class ap- peared in full armour, off'ensive and defensive ; the Second Class was less completely armed, and so on till we come to the Fifth Class, which wore no defensive armour, and served as light troops, slingers, archers, and the like. At the head of the five Classes stood the Horsemen or Knights * Assidutcs is said to be derived ab asse dando, because all who were included in the Classes had to pay the tax. f Occasi'onal service ' might be required of the Seniors. After 60 they were superannuated. And, as they could not serve, neither could they vote in the Centuriate Assembly ; a strange provision, that was in force in Cicero'a time. See his oration pro Sext. Roscio Amerino, c. 35. Such old men (sexagenarii) were therefore called depontani, because they could not pass the gangway {pons) which led into the voting-booth {oviUy 48 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I (eqiiites). Servius found six Centuries already existing, each con- taining 200 men, as they had been left by Tarquinius Priscus, and all these six Centuries were Patricians, as has been shown. To these Servius added twelve Centuries more, the members of which were chosen from the best Plebeian families. These were the horsemen of the army, amounting in all to 3600 men. They were allowed a horse at the public expense, with a certain yearly sum for maintaining it. Besides these there were two Centuries of carpenters and smiths (fabri tignarii et serarii) for engineering purposes, with three of trumpeters and horn-blowers. The former, being skil- ful workmen, were thought worthy of being associated with the first Class; the latter belonged to the fifth. The Proletarians also were thrown into a single century and added to the fifth Class.* Such was the celebrated assembly known by the name of the CoMiTiA Centuriata, or General Assembly of the Centuries. § 16. The Census or assessment of property in the above mili- tary classification was made solely with regard to land and all that we call real property. No account was taken of slaves, cattle, pre- cious metals, furniture, and all that we call personalty, till a much later period. The purpose of this Census was twofold : first, to raise a tri- * The subjoined table will make it easy to perceive these arrangements at a glance, as they are given by Livy: Classes. First Class Sec'd Class Third Class fo'rth Class Census, or Bateable Property in Land. Equites All having 100,0001 ases and upwards | Fabri , 5,000 ases and up- > wards • - - j 50,0)0 ases and up) wards S 5,000 ases and up-) wards 5 ! 1,000 ases and up-"! wards (more pro- ! bably 12,500, as f Dionysius says) -J Trumpeters Capite Censi, or Pro- ) letarii - \ 6Patrician+12 Plebeian=18] 40 Seniores-HO Juniores=&0 i 100 2j 10 Seniores-4-10 Juniores= 10 Seniores-flO Juniores= 10 Seniores-4-lO Juniorcs= 15 Seniores-fl5 Juniores=30 3J Defensive. Offensive. Helmet, shield, greaves, cuirass. I Helmet, shield., greaves. I Helmet, ; shield. Helmet (?) < Sword and i spear. 5 Sword and \ spear. < Sword and I spear. 5 Spear and I javelin. Slings, etc The whole number of Centuries, therefore, was 194; and in the First Class alone there are more than half. The Centuries of cornicines, tubicines, &c., were called accensi, because they were added to the list of censi. The single century of proletarii were called capite censi, because they were counted by the head, and not rated by their property. Later, however, the proletarii and capite censi were distinguished, the former being those who possessed appreciable property of less amount than 11,000 asea, Chap. IIL SERVIUS TlTLLIlTS. 49 butum or tax for military expenses, of which we shall speak in a future page ; and secondly, to serve certain political ends, of which we will speak here. It is manifest that Servius, when he admitted the Plebeians to political power, did not contem- plate anything like the equality of a democracy. He intended that all the citizens of the Classes should have votes, but that their votes should avail only in proportion to their landed pro- perty. The wealthy were sure to have the preponderance ; for if the Centuries of the Knights and the other centuries of tha first Class, even without the Fabri, agreed together, they could outvote the centuries of all the other Classes put together. More- over, great weight was given to age. It is certain that in each Class the seniores, or those between the age of 45 and 60, must have been far less numerous than the juniors ; yet in each Class they formed an equal number of centuries. The number of seniors in each of the 40 Centuries of the first Class, thinned alike by age and rate of property, must have been comparatively very few. § 17. But though safeguards so many and so great were pro- vided in favour of property, the new assembly of Servius con- ferred a great and positive boon on the Plebeians. It must be remembered that before his time they were outside the Populus or Body Politic altogether. They were still excluded from the Curiae or Assembly of the Patricians ; and so far as this involved political rights, the name of Populus was still confined to the old Burgesses. But in reality the Plebs became members of the Populus ; for the new Centuriate Assembly slowly but surely assumed to itself all the political rights which had formerly be- longed to the Curiate Assembly alone ; and though it is probable that all laws proposed in the former must receive the sanction of the latter (as bills brought forward in the House of Commons must pass through the House of Lords), and also must be autho- rised by the Senate, which was at this time exclusively patrician, in time these powers were cancelled, and the Centuriate Assembly became !,be supreme legislative body of the state.* § 18. But Servius was not satisfied with merely giving the Plebeians a place in the Body Politic. He also made regulations which related to the well-being of the Plebeians alone, without reference to the Patricians. By the conquests of the preceding Kings Rome had gained large acquisitions of territory in Latium, and some probably on the Etruscan side of the Tiber. Numa had divided the original * The intention of the change was somewhat the same as that wrought by Solon at Athens, wlio is said to have changed an dXLyapxiu into t* TijuoKparia. See Dr. Smith's Hist of Greece, p. 97. 3 50 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book l lands of the state into pagi. But these had become quite unequal to the altered condition of things ; and Servius now distributed the whole Roman territory, as he found it, into a number of Tribes. These Tribes of Servius, then, were divisions of the soil, like our parishes or townships, and we must take especial care not to confound them with the Tribes of Romulus. It is indeed unfortunate that things so difterent should be called by the same name. The Tribes of Romulus were three in num];)er : those of Servius were at least twenty. The Tribes of Romulus included the Patrician Burgesses only ; in the Tribes of Servius none were enrolled but Plebeians. The members of the Tribes of Romulus held their place in virtue of their Patrician birth, independently of their place of habitation ; those who belonged to the Tribes of Servius belonged to it because they had what we might call theii- " settlement" in some particular place. In one point only they were alike. A person who once belonged either to a Romulian Tribe of birth or a Servian Tribe of place, always remained a member of that Tribe, to whatever place he might remove his dwelling. It is probable, indeed, that there were means by which the members of the Servian Tribes might change their " settle- ment," but nothing is known upon this subject. In each Tribe there were Presidents,* whose business it was to keep the Hst of the Tribe ; but they were not empowered to remove the name of any person on the list simply because he had ceased to reside in the district belonging to the Tribe. § 19. Of these Tribes four were in the city and the rest outside the limits of the city. The four city Tribes were 1. the Palatine ; 2. the CoUine, answering to the Quirinal Hill ; 3. the Suburran, answering to the Cselian with its neighbouring valleys ; 4. the Esquiline, which shows that the Equiline Hill, together with the Viminal or seventh Hill, must have been already added to the city. It will be observed that neither the Saturnian Hill or Capitoline, nor the Aventine, were included within these Tribes. The former was omitted because it was, as it were, consecrated to military and religious purposes ; the latter because it never was included within the sacred limits of the Pomoerium, as will appear presently. § 20. The Country Tribes were all named after patrician Gentes. The names of sixteen are preserved as existing at the time of the expulsion of the kings.f The first Tribe which bore a name * Called hTtLfXElr]TdX (^vldv by Dionysius. They were probably the same as the Tribuni atrarii, of whom we shall have to speak hereafter. f These were, 1. Aemilia; 2. Cornelia; 3. Fabia; 4. Horatia; 5. Menenia-, 6. Papiria; 7. Sergia; 8. Veturia; 9. Claudia; 10. *Camilia; 11. *Galeria; 12. *Lemonia; 13. *Pollia; 14. *Pupima; 15< *Romilia; 16. *Voltinia. Th© Chap. III. SERYIUS TULLIUS. 61 not derived from a noble house was the Crustumine, which was added under the Republic, and made the i^ventj-first Tribe. No doubt the noble House which bore the same name with these Tribes consisted of the chief persons in these respective districts, just as in England great noblemen took their names from those counties in which their families once possessed almost sovereign power. § 21. It is probable that at first none save the Plebeians were entered upon the lists of their respective Tribes ; and the Ple- beians, having thus received a kind of constitution of their own, used to meet in the Forum on market-days (nundince) to settle their own affairs. These meetings were called the Comitia Tri- BUTA, because the Commons gave their votes according to their Tribes, as at the Comitia Curiata votes were given according to Curiae, and at the Comitia Centuriata according to Centuries ; for it wa-s an established custom at Rome not to vote in a mass and by the head ; but, first, the voters were distributed into smaller bodies, and then, in all cases, questions were determined by the majority of those bodies which voted for or against it. § 22. Thus, then, the outline of the future Roman constitution was marked out. The Patricians met in their CurisB in the Co- mitium at the high or narrow eiid of tliy ForuM 5 ' "the Plebeians met in their Tribes in the low or broad end of the same famous piece of land ; the whole People, Patricians and Plebeians alike, met in the Field of Mars according to their Classes and Centuries. One of the chief tasks of Roman history is to trace the work- ing and development of those Assemblies under the control and direction of the Senate. We shall find the Patrician Assembly of the Curies, now supreme, gradually wane and become an empty name ; while the despised Assembly of the Plebeian Tribes gra- dually engrosses power to itself, till at length it becomes the great legislative body of the State. Meanwhile the great Assem- bly of the Classes and Centuries undergoes changes and transmu- tations which much alter its character, and bring it into close neighbourhood with the popular assembly. But of this hereafter. names of most of these Tribes are familiar as the names of Patrician Gentes ; and it may be presumed that the seven unknown names (marked with aster- isks) represent Gentes that had become extinct. It has been generally assumed that Servius created Thirty Tribes in all, on the authority of Dionysius, iv. 14- dielXe di koI ttjv X'^P^^ dnaaav, ug (lev ^uj3i6q ^tjolv, eig fioipag [i. e. pagos] e^ Koi ehoaiv, uc kol avrdg KaXel (j^vliig \i. e. tribus], kcu rug uariKug TrpoaTtdelg avralg TeTTapug, rpiuKovra (j)VAdg ufKpoTtpov ETTi TvXTitov Tug miaag yeveadai Hya. — But in the learned aud ingenious work by Mommsen, On the Roman Tribes (Altona, 1844), so much uncertainty is shown to provail on this subject, that it is thought better to leave the question open. 62 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. BookL § 23. To Servius Tullius also is attributed the great work of enlarging the PomcEriuni of Romulus. But while the original Pomoerium of the Palatine or Roman Quadrata was the same as its wall or line of defence, this rule was not observed by Servius. His new Pomoerium, which surrounded the four Tribes of the city, included only five of the seven hills ; for the Capitoline and Aventine were not admitted within the sacred inclosure : but his wall or line of fortification ran round all the Seven Hills. ROMA 1 ROMAN MILE. This will be a convenient opportunity to give some account of the city of Rome with its hills, walls, and gates. Ancient Rome stood on the left bank of the Tiber. A little to the north of the ancient city the river makes a sudden bend westward, till it is stopped and turned to the south-east again by the high ground sloping downwards from the Vatican Hill. Between these two Chap. III. SERVIUS TULLIUS. 53 reaches of the river is inclosed a plain, anciently called the Campus Martins, on which stands the greater part of modern Rome. At the lower extremity of this plain, where the stream forms an island, called the Insula Tiberina, its course is again arrested and turned towards the south-west. This turn is caused by the abrupt rise of the eminence called in old times the Saturnian Hill, and still renowned under its later name of " the Capitol ;" and this shall be taken as the point from which we will survey the ancient city. The City, as bounded by the wall of Servius, may be likened to a fan, of which the Capitol forms the pivot. To this point con- verge, on the north, the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline ; then the Palatine and Cselian, lying in the same line, nearly south- west ; and due south, abutting upon the river, the Aventine. The Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline run out like so many pro- montories towards the Capitol ; but they soon unite and sink gradually into the plain towards the west. Across the slope thus formed a great earth-bank and trench were carried, of which traces still remain. In its original state this embankment of Servius Tullius is said to have been 60 feet high and its base 50 feet broad, while the foss outside it was 100 feet wide and 30 deep. From either end of this mound walls were built on all the low ground and across the valleys; but when these walls reached the edges or escarpments of the hills, which in those days were steep and high, no wall was needed. Thus from the northern end of the embankment the wall was carried to the steep edge of the Quirinal, where it ceased, and appeared again in the narrow valley between this hill and the Capitoline, and then was continued from the south- western corner of the Capitoline to the edge of the river. In like manner the wall was carried from the southern edge of the Esquiline across the valley which divides that hill from the Caelian ; then across the Caelian to its lower verge ; then across a second valley, and so quite round the Aventine to the river's edge, which it joined at a distance of little more than a quarter of an English mile from the point at which it started. This short space was faced by a quay, but was not considered to need a wall for its defence. The whole circuit thus inclosed measures about seven miles, and it remained without alteration for many centuries. Great suburbs grew up, and as Rome needed no fortifications till the times of the later emperors, the walls of Servius were suffered to decay, and no new line of fortification was formed till the days of Aurelian and Probus (a.d. 2*70-282). The principal gates in the wall of Servius were the Flumentan« 54 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book L and the Carmental, between the river and the Capitol ; the Col- line, at the northern extremity of the Agger of Servius, and the Esquiline at its southern extremity ; the Caelimontane upon the Cselian ; the Capene or Capuan, where this hill slopes to- wards the Aventine ; and the Trigemina, between the Aventine and the river. The Sublician Bridge, which Ancus built to con- nect the city with the Janiculum, was just outside this gate, if the piles still remaining in the bed of the Tiber indicate its true position. But as it is little likely that the only bridge then ex- isting would be outside the walls, it may- be assumed that the real position of the Pons Sublicius was between the points where the wall abuts upon the river. § 24. We may here also notice a few of the places of chief im- portance in Roman history, which were inclosed within the wall of Servius. The low ground along the river, below the Capitoline, Palatine, and Aventine, drained by the Cloaca Maxima and protected by its quay, was the Forum Boarium or cattle market, the part im- mediately beneath the Palatine being the Velabrum. From the upper end of the Velabrum the Nova Via led over the Palatine to the Forum, while from its lower part the Vicus Tuscus ran in a parallel direction to the same quarter. D. Prison, called TuUianum. G. Tribunal. E. Rostra. H. Arch of Fabius. C. Temple of Concord. F. Senate-House. K. Temple of Vesta. L. Temple of Castor and Pollux. A. Clivus Capitolinus. B. Temple of Saturn. This is the quarter on which principal attention must be fixed. As you stand upon the Capitol and look eastward, beneath you Chap. III. SERYIUS TULLIUS. 55 lies a piece of land of irregular shape, having its broader end beneath the Capitol itself, while its two sides converge towards the ridge called the Velia, which connects the Palatine with the Esquiline, and was in after ages marked by the triumphal arch of Titus. The broader end, of which we speak, measures about 190 feet, the narrower 100; the lower side about 630 feet, and the upper somewhat less. These measurements include both the Forum proper and the Comitiuin ; but the line of de- marcation between the meeting-places of the Plebeians and Patri- cians ran across at about 200 feet distance from the narrow end, and here stood the rostra, or place occupied by those who ad- dressed the people assembled beneath them. The Sacra Via, the most famous street of Rome, entered the Forum or Comi- tium at its south-eastern corner, passed along the narrow end, and then ran along the northern side, by the Curia Hostilia and the Tabernse Novse, till it reached the foot of the Capitoline. Here it met the famous Clivus Capitolinus, which led up by a steep ascent to the summit of the Capitol. When a general went up to oifer thanksgiving to Jupiter, he descended from the Velian ridge into the Forum, and then mounted by this ascent to the great temple on the Tarpeian, or lower height of the Capi- toline Hill. On the southern side of the Forum ran a street past the Temple of Vesta and the Regia of Numa, connecting the Nova Via with the Sacra Via. From the Forum to the Esquiline ran the Vicus Cyprius, the upper part of which was called the Vicus Sceleratus, in memory of the murder of King Servius, of which we are to speak presently. This street probably led through the Subura or populous quarter, which lay in the low ground between the Esqui- line, Viminal, and Quirinal Hills, to the Carinse, which was after- wards the most fashionable part of Rome, and lay on the edge of the Esquiline next the Velia. § 25. Besides enlarging and strengthening the city, Servius also endeavoured to form an enduring alliance with the whole Latin nation, who had been so much weakened by the wars of the former kings. He built a temple to the great Latin goddess Diana upon the Aventine, and here were to be held sacrifices and festivals common both to Rome and Latium. The Sabines also, as it seems, desired to share in this alliance, but not on equal terms. There was, so runs the legend, a cow of noble form and surpassing beauty, which belonged to a Sabine householder : whoever, said the soothsayers, first sacrificed this animal in the new-built temple of Diana, should hold sway over Rome. The Sabine owner brought his cow to ofi"er her on the Aventine. But the Roman sacrificing priest bade him first purify himself by 56 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I. bathing in the Tiber, and then cunningly himself completed the sacrifice. § 20. It remains only to add the famous legend of the death of the good King Servius. He had assumed kingly power without the consent of the patri- cian Curiae, and he had afterwards sought confirmation of his title, not from this proud assembly, but the new assembly of the Classes and Centuries which he had created. It is said, moreover, that when he had finished his reforms he had it in his mind to resign the kingly power altogether, and leave his great Assembly to elect two chief magistrates to govern in his stead. But this purpose was not accomplished. He continued to reign till he was mur- dered, like King Tarquinius before him. From the two sons of King Ancus there was nothing to fear. But Tarquinius Priscus had also two sons, Lucius and Aruns, and Servius had two daughters. So he married these two daughters to the two young Tarquins, that they might become his succes- sors, and might not be jealous of a stranger sitting in their father's seat. Now Lucius Tarquinius was a proud and violent youth, but his brother Aruns was mild and good. So also the eldest daughter of King Servius was gentle, but her sister w^as ambitious and cruel. Servius therefore took care that Lucius, the violent brother, should be married to the good sister, and Aruns, the good brother, to the bad sister ; for he hoped that the good might prevail over the evil and subdue it. But the event proved otherwise. The lamb will not lie down with the wolf, nor the hawk couple with the dove. Therefore Lucius and the younger Tullia conspired together; and Lucius murdered his wife, and Tullia murdered her husband ; and then they married together, so that the two wicked ones were free to work their will. Lucius Tarquin soon resolved to make an end of King Servius. So he conspired with the Patricians, and chiefly with those of the new Gentes, whom his father had raised ; and when he thought he was strong enough, he came into the Comitium and took his seat upon the throne in front of the senate-house, and summoned the Patricians to attend on " King Tarquinius." But when King Ser- vius heard of it he came forth and asked how any one dared sit on the throne while he was alive. But Lucius said it was his fether's throne, and that now it was his own by right. Then he seized the old man by the waist and cast him down the steps of the throne, and he himself entered into the senate-house. Servius, when he saw that all were against him, endeavoured to escape homewards; but certain men, sent by Lucius, overtook him and slew him, and left his body lying in the way. And when Tullia heard what was done, she mounted her chariot Chap. III. SERVIUS TULLIUS. and drove to the Forum and saluted her husband king. But he bade her go home, for such scenes were not fit for women. And she came to the foot of the Esquiline Hill, to the place where the body of her father lay in the way. And when the charioteer saw it he was shocked, and pulled in his horses that he might not drive over the body. But his wicked mistress chid him angrily and bade him drive on. So she went home " with her father's blood upon her .chariot-wheels ;" and that place was called the Wicked Street ever after. So King Servius died when he had reigned four and forty years, and Lucius Tarquinius the Proud reigned in his stead. Cloaca of Marta in Tuscany. Tomb of the Tarquins. CHAPTER IV. TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE REPUBLIC. § 1. Despotism of second Tarquin. § 2. Alliance with Etruscans and Latins. § 3. Temple on Capitoline. § 4. Legend of Sibyl. § 5. Stratagem by which Gabii was taken. § 6. King's sons, with Brutus, sent to consult the Delphic Oracle. § T. Legend of Lucretia. Expulsion of Tarquins. § 8. Consuls. § 9. Patres Conscripti. § 10. Rex Sacrorum. § 11. First attempt to restore Tarquin. Judgment of Brutus. § 12. Second attempt by Etruscans of Tarquinii and Veii. Death of Brutus. § 13. P. Yalerius Poplicola. §14. Consecration of Capitoline Temple by M. Horatius. §15. Third attempt to restore Tarquin. Porsenna. Legends of Horatius Codes, Mucins Sceevola, Cloelia. § 16. Tarquin at Tusculum. § 17. First Dictator. § 18. Fourth attempt to restore Tarquin by Latins. Battle of Lake Regil- lus. § 19. Death of Tarquin at Cumse. § 1. Tarquin had made himself king by the aid of the Patricians, and chiefly by means of the third or Lucerian tribe, to which his family belonged. The Burgesses of the Gentes were indignant at the curtailment of their privileges by the popular reforms of Ser- vius, and were glad to lend themselves to any overthrow of his power. But Tarquin soon kicked away the ladder by which he Dad risen. lie abrogated, it is true, the hated Assembly of Chap. IT. TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS. 59 the Centuries ; but neither did he pay cny heed to the Curiate Assembly, nor did he allow any new members to be chosen into the Senate in place of those who were removed by death or other causes ; so that even those who had helped him to the throne re- pented them of their deed. The name of Superbus, or the Proud, testifies to the general feeling against the despotic rule of the second Tarquin. § 2. It was by foreign alliances that he calculated on supporting his despotism at home. The Etruscans of Tarquinii, and all its associate cities were his friends ; and among the Latins also he sought to raise a power which might counterbalance the senate and people of Rome. The wisdom of Tarquinius Priscus and Servins had united all the Latin name to Rome, so that Rome had become the sovereign city of Latium. The last Tarquin drew those ties still closer. He gave his daughter in marriage to Octavius Mamilius, Chief of Tus- culum, and favoured the Latins in all things. But at a general assembly of the Latins at the Ferentine Grove, beneath the Alban Mount, where they had been accustomed to meet of olden time to settle their national affairs, Turnus Herdonius of Aricia rose and spoke against him. Then Tarquinius accused him of high treason, and brought false witnesses against him ; and so powerful with the Latins ^as the King that they condemned their countryman to be drowned in the Ferentine water, and obeyed Tarquinius in all things. § 3. With them he made war upon the Volscians and took the city of Suessa, wherein was a great booty. This booty he applied to the execution of great works in the city, in emulation of his father and King Servius. The elder Tarquin had built up the side of the Tarpeian rock and levelled the summit, to be the founda- tion of a temple of Jupiter, but he had not completed the work. Tarquinius Superbus now removed all the temples and shrines of the old Sabine gods which had been there since the time of Titus Tatius; but the goddess of Youth and the god Terminus kept their place, whereby was signified that the Roman people should enjoy undecaying vigour, and that the boundaries of their empire should never be drawn in. And on the Tarpeian height he built a magnificent temple, to be dedicated jointly to the three great ffods of the Latins and Etruscans, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva ; and this part of the Saturnian Hill was ever after called the Capitol ^r the Chief Place, while the upper part was called the Arx or Jitadel* He brought architects from Etruria to plan the temple, but he forced the Roman people to work for him without hire. * See Chapt. i. § 7. 60 HOME UNDER THE KINGS. Book! § 4. One day a strange woman appeared before the King and offered him nine books to buy ; and when he refused them she went away and burnt three of the nine books, and brought back the remaining six and offered to sell them at the same price that she had asked for the nine ; and when he laughed at her and again refused, she went as before and burnt three more books, and came back and asked still the same price for the three that were left. Then the King was struck by her pertinacity, and he consulted his augurs what this might be ; and they bade him by all means buy the three, and said he had done wrong not to buy the nine, for these were the books of the Sibyl and contained great secrets. So the books were kept underground in the Ca- pitol in a stone chest, and two men (duumviri) were appointed to take charge of them, and consult them when the state was in danger. § 5. The only Latin town that defied Tarquin's power was Gabii; and Sextus, the king's youngest son, promised to win this place also for his father. So he fled from Rome and pre- sented himself at Gabii ; and there he made complaints of his father's tyranny and prayed for protection. The Gabians be- lieved him, and took him into their city, and they trusted him, so that in time he was made commander of their army. Now his father suffered him to conquer in many small battles, and the Gabians trusted him more and more. Then he sent pri- vately to his father, and asked what he should do to make the Gabians submit. Then King Tarquin gave no answer to the messenger, but, as he walked up and down his garden, he kept cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies with his staff. At last the messenger was tired, and went back to Sextus and told him what had passed. But Sextus understood what his father meant, and he began to accuse falsely all the chief men, and some of them he put to death and some he banished. So at last the city of Gabii was left defenceless, and Sextus delivered it up to his father.* § 6. While Tarquin was building his temple on the Capitol, a strange portent offered itself; for a snake came forth and de- voured the sacrifices on the altar. The king, not content with the interpretation of his Etruscan soothsayers, sent persons to consult the famous oracle of the Greeks at Delphi, and the per- sons he sent were his own sons Titus and Aruns, and his sister's son, L. Junius, a young man who, to avoid his uncle's jealousy, feigned to be without common sense, wherefore he was called Brutus or the Dullard. The answer given by the oracle was, * It is well known that this Legend occurs in Herodotus, who relates that Babylon was betrayed to Darius Hystaspes in a similar manner, iii. 164, sqq. Chap. IT. TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS. 61 that the chief power of Rome should belong to him of the three who should first kiss his mother ; and the two sons of King Tar- quin agreed to draw lots which of them should do this as soon as they returned home. But Brutus perceived that the oracle had another sense ; so as soon as they landed in Italy he fell do'.vn on the ground as if he had stumbled, and kissed the earth, for she (he thought) was the true mother of all mortal things. § 7. When the sons of Tarquin returned with their cousin, L. Tnnius Brutus, they found the king at war with the Rutulians of Ardea. Being unable to take the place by storm, he was forced to blockade it ; and while the Roman army was encamped before the town the young men used to amuse themselves at night with wine and wassail. One night there was a feast, at which Sextus, the king's third son, was present, as also Collatinus, the son of Egerius, the king's uncle, who had been made governor of Col- latia. So they soon began to dispute about the worthiness of their wives ; and when each maintained that his own wife was worthiest, " Come, gentlemen," said Collatinus, " let us take horse and see what our wives are doing ; they expect us not, and so we shall know the truth." All agreed, and they galloped to Rome, and there they found the wives of all the others feasting and revelling: but when they came to Collatia they found Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, not making merry like the rest, but sitting in the midst of her handmaids carding wool and spinning ; so they all allowed that Lucretia was the worthiest. Now Lucretia was the daughter of a noble Roman, Spurius Lu- cretius, who was at this time Prefect of the city ; for it was the custom, when the kings went out to war, that they left a chief man at home to administer all things in the king's name, and he was called Prefect of the City. But it chanced that Sextus, the king's son, when he saw the fair Lucretia, was smitten with lustful passion ; and a few days after he came agdn to Collatia, and Lucretia entertained him hospitably as her husband's cousin and friend. But at midnight he arose and came with stealthy steps to her bedside : and hold- ing a sword in his right hand, and laying his left hand upon her breast, he bade her yield to his wicked desires; for if not, he would slay her and lay one of her slaves beside her, and would declare that he had taken them in adultery. So for shame she consented to that which no fear would have wrung from her : and Sextus, having wrought this deed of shame, returned to the camp. Then Lucretia sent to Rome for her father, and to the camp at Ardea for her husband. They came in haste. Lucretius brought with him P, Valerius, and Collatinus brought L, Junius 62 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book L Brutus, his cousin. And they came in and asked if all was well. Then she told them what was done : " but," she said, " my body only has suft'ered the shame, for my will consented not to the deed. Therefore," she cried, " avenge me on the wretch Sextus. As for me, though my heart has not sinned, 1 can live no longer. No one shall say that Lucretia set an example of living in un- chastity." So she drew forth a knife and stabbed herself to the heart. When they saw that, her father and her husband cried aloud ; but Brutus drew the knife from the wound, and holding it up, spoke thus : " By this pure blood I swear before the gods that I will pursue L. Tarquinius the Proud and all his bloody house with fire, sword, or in whatsoever way I may, and that neither they nor any other shall hereafter be King in Rome." Then he gave the knife to Collatinus and Lucretius and Valerius, and they all swore likewise, much marvelling to hear such words from L. Junius the Dullard. And they took up the body of Lucretia, and carried it into the Forum, and called on the men of Collatia to rise against the tyrant. So they set a guard at the gates of the town, to prevent any news of the matter being carried to King Tarquin : and they themselves, followed by the youth of Collatia, went to Rome. Here Brutus, who was Chief Captain of the Knights,* called the people together , and he told them what had been done, and called on them by the deed of shame wrought against Lucretius and Collatinus — by all that they had suffered from the tyrants — by the abominable murder of good King Servius — to assist them in taking vengeance on the Tar- quins. So it was hastily agreed to banish Tarquinius and his family. The youth declared themselves ready to follow Brutus against the King's army, and the seniors put themselves under the rule of Lucretius, the Prefect of the City. In this tumult, the wicked Tullia fled from her house, pursued by the curses of all men, who prayed that the avengers of her father's blood might be upon her. When the King heard what had passed, he set off in all haste for the city. Brutus also set off for the camp at Ardea ; and he turned aside that he might not meet his uncle the King. So he came to the camp at Ardea, and the King came to Rome. And all the Romans at Ardea welcomed Brutus, and joined their arms to his, and thrust out all the King's sons from the camp. But the people of Rome shut the gates against the King, so that he could not enter. And King Tarquin, with his sons Titus and Aruns, went into exile and lived at Caere in Etruria. But Sextus * Tribunus Celerum. Chap. IV. EXPULSION OF TARQUIN. 63 fled to Gabii, where he had before held rule, and the people of Gabii slew him in memory of his former cruelty. So L. Tarquinius Superbus was expelled from Rome, after he had been King tive-and-twenty years. And in memory of this event was instituted a festival called the Regifugium or P\igalia, which was celebrated every year on the 24tli day of February.* § 8. To gratify the Plebeians, the Patricians consented to re- store, in some measure at least, the popular institutions of King Servius ; and it was resolved to follow his supposed intention with regard to the supreme government — that is, to have two Magis- trates elected every year, who were to have the same power as the King during the time of their rule. These were in after days known by the name of Consuls ; but in ancient times they were called Praetors or Judges (Judices). They were elected at the great Assembly of the Centuries ; and they had sovereign power (imperium) conferred upon them by the Assembly of the Curies. They wore a robe edged with violet colour, sat in their chairs of state called curule chairs, and were attended by twelve lictors each. These lictors carried fasces, or bundles of rods, out of which arose an axe, in token of the power of life and death possessed by the Consuls as successors of ihe Kings. But only one of them at a time had a right to this power ; and in token thereof, his colleague's fasces had no axes in them. Each retained this mark of sovereign power (imperium) for a month at a time. The first Consuls were L. Junius Brutus and L. Tarquinius Col- latinus. § 9. The new Consuls filled up the Senate to the proper num- ber of three hundred ; and the new Senators were called Con- - scripti, while the old members retained their old name of Patres. So after this the whole Senate was addressed by speakers as " Patres, Conscripti" (i. e. Patres et Conscripti). But in later times it was forgotten that these names belonged to difi'erent sorts of persons, and the whole Senate was addressed as by one name, " Patres Conscripti." § 10. The name of King was hateful. But certain sacrifices had always been performed by the King in person ; and there- fore, to keep up the form, a person was still chosen, with the title of Rex Sacrorum or Rex Sacrificulus, to perform these ofi'er- ings. But even he was placed under the authority of the Chief Pontifex. § 11. After his expulsion, King Tarquin sent messengers to Rome to ask that his property should be given up to him, and the Senate decreed that his prayer should be granted. But the King's ambassadors, while they were in Rome, stirred up the * Ovid, Fasti, ii. 286. (j4 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Sook 1. minds of the young men and others who had been favoured by Tarquin, so that a plot was made to bring him back. Among those who plotted were Titus and Tiberius, the sons of the Consul Brutus ; and they gave letters to the messengers of the King. But it chanced that a certain slave hid himself in the place where they met, and overheard them plotting ; and he came and told the thing to the Consuls, who seized the messengers of the King with the letters upon their persons, authenticated by the seals of the young men. The culprits were immediately arrested ; but the ambassadors were let go, because their persons were regarded as sacred. And the goods of King Tarquin were given up for plun- der to the people. Then the traitors were brought up before the Consuls, and the sight was such as to move all beholders to pity ; for among them were the sons of L. Junius Brutus himself, the First Consul, the liberator of the Roman people. And now all men saw how Brutus loved his country ; for he bade the lictors put all the traitors to death, and his own sons first ; and men could mark in his face the struggle between his duty as a chief magistrate of Rome and his feelings as a father. And while they praised and admired him, they pitied him yet more.* Then a decree of the Senate was made that no one of the blood of the Tarquins should remain in Rome. And since Collatinus, the Consul, was by descent a Tarquin, even he was obliged to give up his office and return to Collatia. In his room, P. Valerius was chosen Consul by the people. This was the first attempt to restore Tarquin the Proud. § 12. When Tarquin saw that the plot at home had failed, he prevailed on the people of Tarquinii and Veil to make war with him against the Romans. But the Consuls came out against them ; Valerius commanding the main army, and Brutus the cavalry. And it chanced that Aruns, the King's son, led the cavalry of the enemy. When he saw Brutus he spurred his horse against him, and Brutus declined not the combat. So they rode straight at each other with levelled spears ; and so fierce was the shock, that they pierced each other through from breast to back, and both fell dead. Then, also, the armies fought, but the battle was neither won nor lost. But in the night a voice was heard by the Etruscans, saying that the Romans were the conquerors. So the enemy fled by night ; and when the Romans arose in the morning, there was no man to oppose them. Then they took up the body of Brutus, and departed home, and buried him in public with great ^ * "Infelix — utcunque ferunt ea facta minoresJ" — Aen. vi, 823 — a punctua- tion which one could wish it possible to maintain. Chap. IV. ATTEMPTS TO RESTORE TARQUIN. 65 pomp ; and the matrons of Rome mourned him for a whole year, because he had avenged the injury of Lncretia. And thus the second attempt to restore King Tarquin was frus^ trated. § 13. After the death of Brutus, Publius Valerius ruled the people for a while by himself, and he began to build himself a house upon the ridge called Velia, which looks down upon the Forum. So the people thought that he was going to make him- self king ; but when he heard this, he called an Assembly of the People, and appeared before them with his fasces lowered, and with no axes in them, whence the custom remained ever after, that no consular lictors wore axes within the city, and no Consul had power of life and death except when he was in command of his legions abroad. And he pulled down the beginning of his house upon the Yelia, and built it below that hill. Also he passed laws that every Roman citizen might appeal to the people against the judgment of the chief magistrates. Wherefore he was greatly honoured among the people, and was called Poplicola^ or Friend of the People. After this Valerius called together the great Assembly of the Centuries, and they chose Sp. Lucretius, father of Lucretius, to succeed Brutus. But he was an old man, and in not many days he died. So M. Horatius was chosen in his stead. § 14. The temple on the Capitol which King Tarquin began had never yet been consecrated. Then Valerius and Horatius drew lots which should be the consecrator, and the lot fell on Horatius. But the friends of Valerius murmured, and they wished to prevent Horatius from having the honour ; so when he was now saying the prayer of consecration, with his hand upon the door- post of the temple, there came a messenger, who told him that his son was just dead, and that one mourning for a son could not rightly consecrate the temple. But Horatius kept his hand upon the door-post, and told them to see to the burial of his son, and finished the rites of consecration. Thus did he honour the gods evbU above his own son. § 15. In the next year Valerius was again made Consul, with T. Lucretius; and Tarquinius, despairing now of aid from his friends at Veii and Tarquinii, went to Lars Porsenna of Clusium, 'a city on the river Clanis, which falls into the Tiber. Porsenna was at this time acknowledged as chief of the twelve Etruscan cities ; and he assembled a powerful army and came to Rome. He came so quickly that he reached the Tiber and was near the Sublician Bridge before there was time to destroy it ; and if he had crossed it the city would have been lost. Then a noble Roman, called Horatius Codes, of the Lucerian tribe, with two 66 ROME UNDER THE KINGa Book I. friends — Sp. Lartius, a Ramnian, and T. Herminius, a Titian — posted themselves at the far end of the bridge, and defended the passage against all the Etruscan host, while the Romans were cutting it off behind them. When it was all but destroyed, his two friends retreated across the bridge, and Horatius was left alone to bear the whole attack of the enemy. Well he kept his ground, standing unmoved amid the darts which were showered upon his shield, till the last beams of the bridge fell crashing into the river. Then he prayed, saying — " Father Tiber, receive me and bear me up, I pray thee." So he plunged in, and reached the other side safely ; and the Romans honoured him greatly : they put up his statue in the Comitium, and gave him as much land as he could plough round in a day, and every man at Rome subscribed the cost of one day's food to reward him. Then Porsenna, disappointed in his attempt to surprise the city, occupied the Hill Janiculum, and besieged the city, so that the people were greatly distressed by hunger. But C. Mucins, a noble youth, resolved to deliver his country by the death of the King. So he armed himself with a dagger, and went to the place where the King was used to sit in judgment. It chanced that the soldiers were receiving their pay from the King's secretary, who sate at his right hand splendidly apparelled ; and as this man seemed to be chief in authority. Mucins thought that this must be the King; so he stabbed him to the heart. Then the guards seized him and dragged him before the King, who was greatly en- raged, and ordered them to burn him alive if he would not confess the whole affair. Then Mucins stood before the King, and said — " See how little thy tortures can avail to make a brave man tell the secrets committed to him ;" and so saying, he thrust his right hand into the fire of the altar, and held it in the flame with unmoved countenance. Then the King marvelled at his cour- age, and ordered him to be spared, and sent away in safety : "for," said he, "thou art a brave man, and hast done more harm to thyself than to me." Then Mucins replied, " Thy generosity, O King, prevails more with me than thy threats. Know that three hundred Roman youths have sworn thy death : my lot came first. But all the rest remain, prepared to do and suffer like myself." So he was let go, and returned home, and was called Scsevola, or the Left-handed^ because his right hand had been burnt off. King Porsenna was greatly moved by the danger he had escaped ; and perceiving the obstinate determination of tlie Romans, he offered to make peace. The Romans gladly gave ear to his words, for they were hard pressed ; and they con- sented to give back all the land which they had won from the Chap. IT. ATTEMPTS TO RESTORE TARQUI^. 67 Etruscacns beyond the Tiber. And they gave hostages to the King in pledge that they would obey him as they had pro- mised, ten youths and ten maidens. But one of the maidens, named Cloelia, had a man's heart, and she persuaded all her fellows to escape from the King's camp and swim across the Tiber. At first King Porsenna was wroth ; but then he was much amazed, even more than at the deeds of Horatius and Mucins. So when the Romans sent back Cloelia and her fellow- maidens — for they would not break faith with the King — he bade her return home again, and told her she might take whom she pleased of the youths who were hostages ; and she chose those who were yet boys, and restored them to their parents. So the Roman people gave certain lands to young Mucins, and they set up an equestrian statue to the bold Cloelia at the top of the Sacred Way. And King Porsenna returned home ; and thus the third and most formidable attempt to bring back Tarquin failed. § 16. When Tarquin now found that he had no hopes of further assistance from Porsenna and his Etruscan friends, he went and dwelt at Tusculum, where Mamilius Octavius, his son- in-law, was still chief. Then the thirty Latin cities combined together, and made this Octavius their Dictator, and bound themselves to restore their old friend and ally King Tarquin to the sovereignty of Rome. § 17. P. Valerius, who was called Poplicola, was now dead, and the Romans looked about for some chief worthy to lead them against the army of the Latins. Poplicola had been made Consul foar times, and his compeers acknowledged him as their chief, and all men submitted to him as to a king. But now the two Consuls were jealous of each other; nor had they power of life and death within the city, for Valerius (as we saw) had taken away the axes from the fasces. Now this was one of the reasons why Brutus and the rest made two Consuls instead of one king : for they said that neither one would allow the other to become tyrant ; and since they only held office for one year at a time, they might be called on to give account of their govern- ment when their year was at an end. Yet though this was a safeguard of liberty in times of peace, it was hurtful in time of war ; for the Consuls chosen by the people in their great assemblies were not always skilful generals; or if they were so, they were obliged to lay down their com- mand at the year's end. So the Senate determined, in cases of great danger, to call upon one of the Consuls to appoint a single chief, who should be called Dictator, or Master of the People. He had sovereign 68 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book \. power (imperium) both in the city and out of the city, and the fasces were always carried before him with the axes in them, as they had been before the king. He could only be appointed for six months, but at the end of the time he had to give no account. So that he was free to act according to his own judgment, having no colleague to interfere with him at the present, and no accusations to fear at a future time. The Dictator was general-in-chief, and he appointed a chief officer to command ftie knights under him, who was called Master of the Horse. And now it appeared to be a fit time to appoint such a chief, to take the command of the army against the Latins. So the first Dictator was T. Lartius ; and he made Spurius Cassius his Master of the Horse. This was in the year 499 b.c, eight years after the expulsion of Tarquin. § 18. But the Latins did not declare war for two years after. Then the Senate again ordered the Consul to name a Master of the People, or Dictator ; and he named Aul. Postumius, who appointed T. JEbutius (one of the Consuls of that year) to be his Master of the Horse. So they led out the Roman army against the Latins, and they met at the Lake Regillus, in the land of the Tusculans. King Tarquin and all his family were in the host of the Latins ; and that day it was to be deter- mined whether Rome should be again subject to the tyrant, and whether or no she was to be chief of the Latin cities. King Tarquin himself, old as he was, rode in front of the Latins in full armour ; and when he descried the Roman Dictator marshalling his men, he rode at him ; but Postumius wounded him in the side, and he was rescued by the Latins. Then also ^butius, the Master of the Horse, and Oct. Mamilius, the Dictator of the Latins, charged one another, and ^butius was pierced through the arm, and Mamilius wounded in the breast. But the Latin chief, nothing daunted, returned to battle, fol- lowed by Titus, the King's son, with his band of exiles. These charged the Romans furiously, so that they gave way ; but when M. Valerius, brother of the great Poplicola, saw this, he spurred his horse against Titus, and rode at him with spear in rest : and when Titus turned away and fled, Valerius rode furiously after him into the midst of the Latin host, and a certain Latin smote him in the side as he was riding past, so that he fell dead, and his horse galloped on without a rider. So the band of exiles pressed still more fiercely upon the Romans, and they began to flee. Then Postumius the Dictator lifted up his voice and vowed a temple to Castor and Pollux, the great twin heroes of the Greeks, if they would aid him ; and behold there appeared on his right two horsemen, taller and fairer than the sons of men, and Chap. IY ATTEMPTS TO RESTORE TARQUIN. 69 their horses were as white as snow. And they led the Dictator, and his guard against the exiles and the Latins, and the Romans prevailed against them ; and T. Herminius, the Titian, the friend of Horatius Codes, ran Mamilius, the Dictator of the Latins, through the body, so that he died ; but when he was stripping the arms from his foe, another ran him through, and he was carried back to the camp, and he also died. Then also Titus, the King's son, was slain, and the Latins fled, and the Romans pursued them with great slaughter, and took their camp and all that was in it. Now Postumius had promised great rewards to those who first broke into the camp of the Latins, and the first who broke in were the two horsemen on white horses ; but after the battle they were nowhere to be seen or found, nor was there any sign of them left, save on the hard rock there was the mark of a horse's hoof, which men said was made by the horse of one of those horsemen. But at this very time two youths on white horses rode into the Forum at Rome. They were covered with dust and sweat and blood, like men who had fought long and hard, and their horses also were bathed in sweat and foam : and they alighted near the Temple of Vesta, and washed themselves in a spring that gushes out hard by, and told all the people in the Forum how the battle by the Lake Regillus had been fought and won. Then they mounted their horses and rode away, and were seen no more. But Postumius, when he heard it, knew that these were Castor and Pollux, the great twin brethren of the Greeks, and that it was they who fought so well for Rome at the Lake Regillus. So he built them a temple, according to his vow, over the place where they had alighted in the Forum.* And their effigies were displayed on Roman coins to the latest ages of the city.f § 19. This was the fourth and last attempt to restore King Tarquin. After the great defeat of Lake Regillus, the Latin cities made peace with Rome, and agreed to refuse harbourage to the old King. He had lost all his sons, and, accompanied by a few faithful friends, who shared his exile, he sought a ]ast asylum at the Greek city of Cumse in the Bay of Naples, at the court of the tyrant Aristodemus. Here he died in the course of a year, fourteen years after his expulsion. * See the plan of the Forum. Chapt. iii. § 24. f See the cuts at the end of Chapt. viii. and head of Chapt. x. Bust of Niebuhr. CHAPTER Y. OBSERVATIONS ON THE HISTORY OF ROME UNDER THE KINGS. § 1. Nature of Legendary History. § 2. Among Greeks. § 3. Among Ro- mans. § 4. Religious and Historical Legends. § 5. Tendency to propagate historical legends in all times. § 6. Detection of incongruities in early Roman history : difficulties explained away by ancient critics. § 7. Modem critics, before and after Niebuhr. § 8. Relation of stories of Kings to actual history. §9. Romulus and Numa. §10. Tullus and Ancus. §11. Tar- quinius Priscus and Servius. §12. Tarquinius Superbus. §13. Character of next Book. § 1. Few persons will now be found to dispute the position that the early history of Rome, like that of all nations, begins with legendary tales. Such Legends are not to be regarded as mere Romances, that is, fictions invented by persons of lively imagination for the purpose of giving pleasure and amusement to their hearers or readers. They are older and more genuine than such professed romances. Among all nations in a rude and simple state, tales will be found current which pass from mouth to mouth without suspicion that they are not absolutely true. They are not written, because they date from times when writing is unknown ; and the mere fact of their being repeated Chap. V. NATURE 01^' EARLY HISTORY. 71 by word of mouth causes a perpetual variation in the . narra- tives. The same original story being handed down tradition- ally by two different tribes, which have been separated from each other, or which are animated by hostile feelings, will in a very short time assume extremely difterent forms. Names,* circumstances, everything, except some dominant thought, may have been changed, and yet the origin may be the same. No fraud is intended or committed. The alterations arise naturally from the causes which have been indicated. § 2. Among the Greeks such legendary lore is chiefly connected with religious ideas. The Legends or /uidoi of that lively race may mostly be traced to that sort of awe or wonder with which simple and uneducated minds regard the changes and movements of the natural world. The direct and easy way in which the imagination of such persons accounts for marvellous phenomena is to refer them to the operation of Persons. When the atten- tion is excited by the regular movements of sun and moon and stars, by the alternations of day and night, by the recurrence of the seasons, by the rising and falling of the seas, by the ceaseless flow of rivers, by the gathering of clouds, the rolling of thunder, and the flashing of lightning, by the operation of life in the vegetable and animal worlds, in short by any exhibition of an active and motive power, — it is natural for uninstructed minds to consider such changes and movements as the work of divine Persons. In this manner the early Greek Legends associate themselves with personification of the powers of nature. All attempts to account for the marvels which surround us are foregone ; everything is referred to the immediate operation of a god. " Cloud-compelling" Zeus is the author of the pheno- mena of the air; "Earth-shaking" Poseidon of all that happens in the water under the earth ; Nymphs are attached to every spring and tree ; Demeter, or Mother Earth, for six months rejoices in the presence of Proserpine, the green herb, her daughter, and for six months forgets her absence in dark abodes beneath the earth. This tendency to deify the powtis of nature is due partly to a clear atmosphere and sunny climate, which inclines a people to live much in the open air in close communion with all that nature offers to charm the senses and excite the imagination, partly to the character of the people, and partly to the poets who in early times have wrought these legendary tales into works, which are read with increased delight in ages when science and method have banished the simple faith which pro- cured acceptance for these legends. Among the Greeks all these * See note on Chapt. li. § 3. 72 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I. conditions were found existing. They lived, so to say, out of doors ; their powers of observation were extremely quick, and their imagination singularly vivid; and their ancient poems are the most noble specimens of the old legendary tales that have been preserved in any country.* § 3. But among the Romans all is different. We find few traces of this Religious Legend among them. What may have been the case in the earliest times we know not ; but the Roman poets whose works we possess adopted the mythology of Greece, and transferred to the Sabine and Latin divinities the attributes and actions of the Hellenic gods, so that we are often presented with the strange anomaly of Italian divinities disporting them- selves on the hills and in the valleys of Thcssaly or Arcadia. But if there is not much of the native Religious Legend among the Romans, there is found another kind of Legend in greater fulness and beauty than perhaps among any other people. § 4. We are thus brought to a distinction which it is neces- sary to make in the Legends of all nations. One class may be called the Religious Legend, of which we have briefly spoken ; the other is the Heroic or Historical, of which we have now to speak. The Religious Legend pretends to explain the nature of the universe and its history ; the Heroic Legend seeks to determine the early history of the particular people among whom it is found existing. As the poetic fancy of the Greek inclined him to the former kind, so the practical and business-like character of the Roman mind cared little for the mysteries of nature, but loved to dwell upon the origin and early fortunes of their own great city. § 5. This tendency to hero-worship, which is indicated by the prevalence of the Heroic Legend, generally exerts its influence to a very late period in a nation's life, or rather it may be said never to die away entirely. A correcter natural philosophy ha« * Compare the beautiful passage in the fourth book of the Excwrsion : " The hvely Grecian, in a land of hills, Rivers, and fertile plains, and sounding shores, Under a cope of variegated sky, Could find commodious place for every god," eta And again : — " The traveller slaked His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thanked The Naiad. Sunbeams, upon distant hills Gliding apace, with shadows in their train, Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed Into fleet Oreads sporting visibly. The Zeyphers, fanning, as they passed, their- wings, Lacked not, for love, fair objects, whom they wooed With gentle whisper," etc Chap. V NATURE OF EARLY HISTORY. 73 banished from most minds this belief in particular divine beings exercising particular influence on streams, and skies, and trees * But no sooner does a man occupy any space in the public mind, than all kinds of tales concerning his sayings and doings pass current from mouth to mouth, and things are believed of him either for good or evil which have very slender foundation in truth. To children their parents, to young people their masters, to grown men their poets and philosophers, their statesmen and generals, or any one who raises himself above the crowd by ex- traordinary actions, good or bad, have an existence more or less mythical ; that is, they are the heroes of many tales, which are unconsciously invented, transmitted, altered, magnified, and be- lieved. Education and the press have done much to diminish this propensity to mythology ; the more persons are brought into im- mediate contact with the great, the more are they disabused of imaginative fancies with regard to them. But the spirit can never wholly be eradicated, nor indeed is its eradication produc- tive of unmixed good. It is impossible to conceive a society of men so penetrated by philosophical culture as to have become incapable of inventing and receiving legendary tales in some shape or other. § 6. It is well known that the Legends of Roman history were long repeated and regarded as sober historic truths. Some keen- sighted critics were excited to examine them, and they proved by a long and careful investigation that they had no claim to be so regarded.f Impossibilities were pointed out, discrepancies of time and fact noted, variations of the same story, as told by * See Coleridge's translation of Schiller's Wcdlenstein, act iL sa 4: — " The intelligible forms of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion, The power, the beauty, and the majesty, That had their haunts in dale or piny mountain, Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring, Or chasms and wat'ry depths ; — all these have vanish'd ; They live no longer in the faith of reason I" f The first, and probably the ablest, of these sceptical critics was Perizoniua, a G-erman. But his work {Animadversiones Historicce) was written in Latin, and addressed only to the learned. Gianbattista Vico, an Italian of extraor- dinary genius, mixed up his historical speculations with so much of mysticism and obscurity, that they also produced but little effect. The person who next shook the credit of the old Roman history was the Frenchman Beaufort, who, with the clear and cool calculation of his nation, made the discrepancies and variations clear to the least attentive, in his essay, Sur V Incertitude de VHis- toire Romaine. It is characteristic at least, that he was first stimulated to his investigations by national pique. He was indignant at the tale that the brave Gauls of Brennus were defeated by CamiUus, and his successful confutation of this legend led him on to more adventurous fiights. The immediate results of his work may be seen in <->ie histories of Hook and Ferguson. 4 74 fiOME UNDER THE KINGS. Book L different writers, brought forward. Even in ancient times the miraculous nature of many of these Legends was a stumbling- block to sober annalists. The course these writers took in ancient times was what we now know by the name of rationalism. They retained all the statements of the legends, but explained them so as to suit common prose. The Golden Fleece was a ship in which Medea and Jason escaped ; the Bull was a ship in which Europa was carried off by Jove, and so forth. In Grecian litera- ture the chief rationalist was named Euhemeros ; in Roman L. Calpurnius Piso played the same part. § v. But the modern critics who showed the discrepancies and variations of the ancient Legends took a different course. It was not the marvellous and supernatural incidents that attracted their notice ; for after all there are not many of such kind in Roman annals. It was the manifest falsehood of many of the early stories, which attracted notice, — the exaltation of indivi- dual heroes, the concealment of defeats and losses on the part of Rome. The most striking among these inventions, as we shall show below, are the stories of Porsenna and Camillus. The im- mediate effect of these discoveries was, that for a time the annals of early Roman history were passed over in almost contemptuous silence. It was then that Niebuhr arose. He acknowledged the sagacity of these critics, and conceded to them that the early history, if regarded as an actual narrative of facts, was wholly unreal ; but he refused to throw it all aside as arbitrar)' fiction. He showed that the early history of Rome, like that of all nations, was mythical or legendary, containing a poetical account of the first ages of the city, and not a sober historical nar- rative ; but the legendary traditions of the Roman people parti- cularly are, he contended, so rich and so beautiful, that they give an insight into the early genius of the people which would never have been divined from the imitative literature which has been handed down as Roman. Moreover, mingled up with the poetic legends of which we speak, there are accounts of laws and institu- tions which undeniably existed, such as the regulations attributed to Romulus and Numa, and the popular reforms of which the elder Tarquin and Servius Tullius are the reputed authors. There are also great works, in part remaining to the present •day, of which these Legends tell — such as the Cloaca Maxima, the Substructions of the Capitol, the Agger of Servius Tullius. Here we have realities which cannot be put aside as children's tales. § 8. At present we have only to estimate the relation which iho chronicles of Regal Rome bear to actual historical fact. The reigns of the seven Kings have been thrown into four Sect. V. NATURE OF EARLV HISTORY. YS chapters purposely. Each of these sections presents a legendary character of its own. The accounts of Romulus and Numa differ essentially from those of Tullus and Ancus ; and all these differ more widely from the chronicle of the first Tarquin and of Servius; while the story of the last Tarquin brings us into the atmosphere of romance in which we move during the first century and a half of the Republic. § 9. The reigns of Romulus and Numa are in the realm of pure mythology. Romulus, like ^neas, is the son of a god; Numa, like Anchises, is the favoured lover of a goddess. Romulus is the man of force, for Roma {p(^lirj) signifies strength and vigour, Numa is the man of law, for numus {yoiioq) signifies law. Under chese typical names is embodied, in beautiful legends, the origin of the social, political, and religious institutions of Rome. How long a period is thus symbolised, or how many generations of kings, it is impossible to guess. But under the mythical story of these reigns we may clearly discern historical truth. We see in them a continual struggle between the original Latin influence and the Sabine. Romulus the Roman founds the city, and is obliged to admit into partner- ship Titus the Sabine, who occupies both the Quirinal and Satur- nian Hills. Then Titus is slain by Latins, and the Roman King regains ascendancy for a time. But he is carried miraculously from the earth, is worshipped under a Sabine name, and a Sabine king succeeds. Here we trace the indisputable symptoms of Sabine conquest. The admission of Sabines into the city at all suggests this ; their occupation of the stronghold on the Saturnian Hill confirms it ; the assumption of a Sabine name by the Roman king, and the appellation of Quirites given to the united citizens, prove it.* It is probable, indeed, that the early institutions of Rome are Sabine rather than Latin. The religious ordinances of Numa are confessedly so. There is reason to think that the same is * Above, Chapt. i. § 10, Quirites has been rendered "Men of the Spear," according to the first derivation thus quoted from Ovid. It is objected that this appellation, which is always used of the Romans in their civil capacity, while as conquerors they are always called Populus Romanus, ill accords with this explanation. In answer, it is suggested that the term Quirites, originally meaning " united warriors," lost its warlike, and retained only its political, sense of union. From the notion of union or brotherhood, it follows (which is the fact) that the singular Quiris was not properly used at all. Niebuhr sup- poses that the common phrase, Fupulus Eomanus Quirites, stood for Populus Romanus et Quirites, according to the forms of ancient Latin. But, on the above hypothesis, this cannot be so. Quirites can hardly denote a body dis- tinct from Populus Romanus ; and the phrase must be equivalent to Pop. Rom. Quiritium, which is not unfrcquent. See the proof in Becker's Roman Antir quities, vol. ii. part i. page 21, sqq. 76 ROME UKDER THE KINGS. Book I. true also of the social and political regulations attributed to Romulus. For example, the relations of Patrons and Clients almost neces- sarily imply a conquering and a conquered people. The Clients we may presume to be the Aborigines, a Pelasgian tribe, first re- duced by Oscans, and afterwards by Sabines. On the conquest by the Sabines, it may be supposed that the chief Oscan families were almitted to equality with the conquerors, either at once or in the course of a short time : while the mass of the Osco-Pelasgian population sank into the condition of Russian serfs or of feudal vassals. Something not very dissimilar occurred after the conquest of England by William the Norman. The great Saxon families were not doomed to ruin by the Conqueror till a wide-spread rebellion had convinced him that he could not retain his power but by fear: and even then the French wars soon promoted an equality between the Norman lords and the Saxon chiefs, while the mass of the nation remained in a state of serfdom. It is, in like manner, very probable that the dominion of the Sabines was relaxed, in conse- quence of war with their neighbours the Latins and Etruscans ; and it is very possible that the patriotism of later Roman minstrels may have confounded the Sabines with their own progenitors ; just as the Norman-French of England soon learned to glory in the name of Englishmen. On the whole, then, it seems not unlikely that the reigns of Romulus and Numa represents a period of Sabine supremacy ; during which institutions arose of Sabine origin and character, but so moulded and modified as to suit the genius of the combined people ; and that slowly, but surely, the spirit and genius of the Latin people prevailed over the smaller numbers of their Sabine conquerors, just as the spirit and genius of the Anglo-Saxons gra- dually overpowered the Roman influence. § 10. The reigns of Tullus and Ancus present, in some mea- sure, a repetition of those of Romulus and Numa. The Roman King dies by a strange and sudden death ; the Sabine succeeds. But the miraculous has disappeared. The Kings are ordinary mortals, not the sons and spouses of divinities ; and there is very little even of heroic legend. But there are a few naked facts which are no doubt historical. The destruction of Alba by Tullus, the conquest of Politorium and the Latin shore by Ancus, and the rapid growth of an independent Commonalty by the side of their Patrons and their Clients, are evidently beyond the range of legendary tales. There are few signs here of hostility between Latin and Sabine interest. The reigns of Tullus and Ancus seem to denote a period in which the two Chap. V. NATURE OF EARLY HISTORY. 77 nations, though still distinct, were going through a rapid process of fusion. §11. With the elder Tarquin and Servius the scene changes suddenly. The differences between Romans and Sabines have dis- appeared ; the fusion of the Rhamnian and Titian tribes is com- plete. But the third Tribe, the Lucerian, which the Legends (erroneously, no doubt,) represent as coeval with the other two, and which had been hitherto kept in a subordinate position, now starts into political life. It seems originally to have been of a mixed race, partly Etruscan, partly Latin, though gradually the Latin preponderated, and the Etruscan element at length dis- appeared. This mixture is indicated by the varying accounts which are given of the birthplace and family of Tarquin and Ser- vius. The former is commonly represented as an Etruscan emi- grant, but one Legend calls him a Latin ; the latter is generally regarded as a Latin, but one Legend makes him an Etruscan chief, named Mastarna, the comrade of Caeles Vibenna. Yet, so vague and baffling is the language of these Legends, that after all inves- tigations, nothing more can be said than that the bulk of the third Tribe was manifestly Latin, and that whatever there was in Rome K)f Etruscan decayed and vanished away. Yet it is certain that, under these kings, Rome became the centre of a considerable monarchy, extending her sway over Lower Etruria and all Latium. This is proved not only by the concur- rent voice of all the Legends, but also most convincingly by the great works which still remain to attest the power and wealth of those who executed them, the Cloacae of Tarquin, the walls of Ser- vius, and the great extent of ground enclosed by them, and the plan of the Capitoline Temple. To this subject we have to recur at the beginning of our next chapter. Further, it is certain that under these kings the old oligar- chical constitution was in great measure superseded. Anciently, the Kings, according to the Sabine rule, had been the chiefs in war ; but in peace their power was almost limited to the duty of presiding in the oligarchical assembly of the Curise, and in the Council of the Senate. Their power of life and death was limited by the right of appeal to the Curiate Assembly belonging to every burgess, as is shown in the legend of Horatius. But Tar- quin admitted great numbers of new burgesses to leaven the oligarchy, and Servius remoulded the whole population, in which the independent commonalty now formed the chief part, into a new political frame. It cannot be doubted that with the decrease in the power of the Oligarchy that of the Kings increased. The reigns of Tarquin the Elder and Servius represent a period in which the old Sabino-Roman Oligarchy gave way before the royal Y8 ROME UNDER THE KINGS. Book I. power, supported by the Latin Plebs, just as in England the Commons were called into political existence by the Plantagenet kings to counterbalance the overwhelming power of the feudal aristocracy. § 12. The reign of the last Tarquin represents the consumma- tion of this work. Royalty is now despotic. The Plebeians having served the purpose of lowering the Oligarchy, are cast aside, and a despotic monarchy overrules both alike. As the leigns of Tullus and Ancus, of the elder Tarquin and Servius, though they present much of real political interest, are almost empty of legendary tales, so the accounts of the last Tarquin are nothing but a series of Heroic Legends, begmning with the death of Servius, and closing with the great battle of Lake Regillus. All that we can collect from these Legends is, that Tarquin the Despot was really a great and powerful monarch, a man of ability and energy, who acknowledged no political rights except those of the King, and who fell in consequence of one of those sudden bursts of passionate indignation, to which all orders of a nation are sometimes roused by contumelious oppression. No sooner was his fall achieved, than the disunion of the Patrician and Plebeian Orders disclosed itself, just as in England the enmity of Church- men and Puritans, who had combined for a moment against the Stuarts, broke out with double fury after their fall. § 13. In the History of Rome under the Patricians, which forms the subject of our next Book, we have still to deal with legendary narrative. But it is of a different kind to that which meets us in the chronicle of regal Rome. There the legends are mostly na- tional, and here they will be personal. There they refer to dynas- ties and the changes which arose from feuds between conquerors and conquered ; here they relate chiefly to foreign wai-s^ and th«, prowess of patrician heroes. View of Campagna. BOOK II. ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. CHAPTER VI. DECLINE OF ROMAN POWER AFTER THE EXPULSION OF THE TARQUIN8. GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ROME. § 1. Extent of Roman power at Expulsion of Kings. § 2. It fell with Mo- narchy. § 3. Romans for a time subject to Porsenna. § 4. Rome no longer head of Latium : accession of Attus Clausus and 3000 Clients. Narrow limits of Roman History for next 150 years. § 5. Campagna: pestilential air. § 6. Less unhealthy in ancient times. § 7. Nations bordering on plain of Rome: Tusculum, &c. § 8. Lower Apennines: Prseneste: Yols- cians: .^quians: Hernicans. § 9. Lower Etruria. § 1. It has been incidentally noticed that in the first year of the Republic, a sort of commercial treaty was made between Rome on the one part, and Carthage on the other. The very fact of a great trading city like Carthage thinking it worth while to enter into such a treaty leads us to look on Rome with very different eyes from those of the early Annalists. It is evident 80 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. that she must have occupied an important position in the Medi- terranean. The general impression raised by the mere existence of such a treaty, is much strengthened by its articles, so far as they have been preserved to us. It appears that the Carthagi- nians on their part bound themselves to make no settlement for trading purposes on the coast of Latium and Campania, while the Romans on their part covenanted not to sail along the African coast southward of the Hermsean promontory. This jealousy of maritime interference on the side of Carthage shows that Rome, or her Etruscan sovereign at least, must have been in possession of a considerable naval force. Again, the Latins are in the treaty expressly called the " subjects" of Rome, which confirms the statements of the Roman Annalists that all Latium was reduced under the sovereignty of the later kings. § 2. It is probable, then, on the one hand, that the Tarquins and Servius ruled a considerable kingdom, which certainly included all Latium, and probably also great part of Etruria. It is, on the other hand, certain that this dominion fell with the monarchy. § 3. The war with Porsenna and the Etruscans shows that Etruria, whatever was the case before, was now certainly not subject to Rome ; nay, there is evidence to prove that the Romans themselves became for a time subject to the Etruscan yoke. We have heard the legend of Porsenna as it is related by Roman bards. But it is certain that the truth has been much distorted. The tales of Horatius, of Mucins, of Cloelia, are noble poetry, and stir the youthful heart with no ungenerous fire. Yet we must confess that Porsenna conquered Rome, and held it for a time at least under an iron rule. Tacitus, the greatest of Roman historians, lets drop the fact that "the- city itself was surren- dered" to the Etruscan monarch :* another writer tells us, that the war lasted three years :t the legend itself obscurely con- fesses that Rome at this time lost its Trans-Tiberine pagi, and that Porsenna was acknowledged as sovereign by the pre- sent of an ivory throne, a sceptre, a crown of gold, and a robe of state, the very marks of Etruscan monarchy introduced at Rome by the elder Tarquin : and, lastly, Pliny expressly cites the treaty, by which it appears, that Porsenna forbade the Romans to use any iron except for implements of husbandry .| * " Deditd Urbe."— Tacit. Histor. iii. 12. f Orosius, it. 5. :{: " In foedere quod expulsis regibus Populo Romano dedit Porsenna, nomi- natim comprehensum invenimus, ne ferro nisi in agri culturam uterentur." — Plin. Hist. Nat xxxiv. 39. With this may be compared the treatment of the Israelites by the Philistines, 2 Sam. xiii. 19 — 22. There could be no more comple*^e proof of absolute submission. Chap. VI. DECLINE IN POWER. ^1 This dominion of the Etruscans over Rome did not continue long; for, soon after, Porsenna was defeated and slain before the Latin city of Aricia ; and then it was, doubtless, that the Romans seized and sold all the goods of the king on which they could lay their hands.* But it was not till long after that they reconquered the Yeientine pagi which they had lost. § 4. So also, notwithstanding the triumph of Lake Regillus, it is certain that Rome no longer was the head of Latium. The Latin cities Tusculum, Lanuvium, Corioli, and others, within ten or twelve miles of the Forum, asserted their independence *, not to speak of Tibur, Prseneste, and others, which were more remote. The only accession to her territory, amid all these losses, arose from the voluntary union of some Sabines with their old compatriots at Rome. Most of the Sabine tribes in proximity with Rome supported the Latins in their revolt. But a powerful chief of the name of Attus Clausus, with a following of no less than three thousand clients, joined himself to the Romans, and himself became a Roman. He and his followers were settled in a Sabine district beyond the Anio, which was con- stituted as a local tribe ; — the number of the Tribes being thus raised to Twenty-one.f Rome, then, now appears as mistress only of a small territory on the left bank of the Tiber. The next century and a half of her history is occupied in reconquering that which she had lost : and though still the narrative is much mixed up with legendary tales, yet the people with whom she deals, and the land which she wins, are real and substantial things, and re- main in her possession for ever. Here then it will be convenient and instructive for the student to pause, and take a geographical survey of the Roman territory and its adjacent lands. § 5. The city of Rome stands at the verge of a small island of tertiary formation in the midst of a long tract of volcanic country, which stretches from the Pontine Marshes on the south to Acquapendente, a town of modern Tuscany, about ten miles north of the Volsinian lake. The land along the coast-line of this tract, from Civita Vecchia, the port of modern Rome, to Cape Circello, is flat and low. But the land rises gra- dually inland, till at Rome the general level is considerably above the sea. To one standing upon the Capitol, the view to- wards Tuscany is immediately bounded by a ridge of hills, which * Hence "to sell the goods of King Porsenna" became a proverb at Rome for despoiling an enemy, Livy attempts to explain the phrase in accordance with the legend, which represents Rome as never having yielded to the kmg. f It probably was the Crustumine or Crustumerian, the first that did not bear the name of a Patrician Gens. See Chapt. iii. § 20, Note, whence it will be seen tliat a Claudian Tribe already existed. 4* 82 ROME UITDER THE PATRICIAKS. Book 11. skirt the Tiber on the west. The height directly west of the Capitol is Mont Janiculum ; northward, and facing the Campus Martins, is the Vatican hill ; while still further north appears the more considerable eminence of Mont Marius. Due north, the view up the valley of the Tiber is closed by the noble mass of Soracte. From this point round to the sea, that is on the north- east, east, and south, the eye ranges over a wide extent of plain, properly called the Campagna di Koma. Viewed from the heights of Rome, this plain appears level and unbroken. But the traveller who passes over it finds it rising and falling in constant undulations, Avhile in the hollows, here and there, small streams creep sluggishly towards the Tiber or Anio through broken banks fringed with broom and other low-grow- ing plants. He sees but few portions of this plain under cultiva-- tion, though it produces a luxuriant herbage. Houses, there are scarcely any, trees almost none, to break the dreary monotony ; and the peasants whom he meets, few and far between, give suffi- cient reason for this desolation in their unhealthy looks and listless bearing. The part of this plain which on the west is bounded by the course of the Tiber, from beyond the Anio to the sea, was the famous Ager Romanus, and formed the narrow district to which we find its limits reduced after the wars which followed the expulsion of the Tarquins. Its eastern boundary cannot be distinctly ascertained ; but it was formed by a waving line which ran from below Tivoli to Ardea, at a mean breadth of ten or twelve miles ; its whole area being not larger than the county of Middlesex. On enquiry into its present condition, we learn that this district is distributed into four or five and twenty farms ; that the land in each farm is divided into seven portions, each of which is ploughed up in rotation for a grain crop, and then it is left to resume the natural herbage which soon clothes it again without the help of man ; so that not above one-seventh part of the whole is under tillage at once. We are further in- formed that the country is thus left desolate because of the malaria or pestilential atmosphere which pervades it ; that few or none of the tenant-farmers who occupy the land are hardy enough to reside upon their farms ; that the peasants who reap the crops come down for the express purpose from the upland valleys on the north, and suffer much from low fever and disease during the time that they are thus occupied ; that when the crop is housed, all flee the pestilential soil, except some few who haunt spectre- like the ruinous remains of its ancient towns.* * The foregoing facts are mainly collected from an article in the Edinburgh Review, vol xxxviii. p. 48 and following. I UNIVERSITY I Chap. VI. THE CAMP AGNA^ />, , Of" ^ y/ SB § 6. It is a natural and inevitable thought, that, in the Roman times, the physical condition of this country must have been different ; for every eminence was then crowned with a town or village, and many of the broken cliff-like banks formed citadels, like the Hills of Rome. It is certain, indeed, that in ancient times the country was unhealthy and uninviting ;* but it is not to be doubted that it is more unhealthy now, and that Rome itself was in those days less exposed to the influence of malaria than at present. What is not less striking is, that hitherto the causes of this malaria have baffled the researches of science. It does not arise from marshy exhalations; for the soil of the Campagna is as dry in the present day as it was when Livy described it. It can hardly be due to the impreg- nation of the volcanic soil with mephitic vapour ; for, though it appears that the volcanic district of Etruria, now called the Maremma, is equally unhealthy, and presents a similar aspect of forlorn desolation, yet no such evil attacks other volcanic soils, as Campania or Sicily; nor will this hypothesis account for the increase of the plague in modern times. The causes suggested for this increase are : first, the neglected culture of the land ; secondly, the destruction of trees and natural shelter from the sun and wind ; thirdly, the want of all protec- tion to those who brave the climate from the sudden cold that at sunset follows the intense heat of the day. Instances are alleged to show that if good houses are built, if tillage is promoted in their neighbourhood, and trees encouraged around them, and if the inhabitants avoid the air during sunset and at night, life may be enjoyed in the Campagna even at the present day without constant liability to fever in the hot season.f But social mismanagement seems to have combined with nature to desolate this region. Under the Romans themselves of a later day, as we shall see hereafter, it was found more profitable to throw large districts into pastures, and people it wnth flocks tended by slave-shepherds; — for it must be noticed as a "singular fact, that the air so prejudicial to the health of the human frame is not hurtful to the cattle. This system, introduced of old, still pre- * Cicero {De Republicd, ii. 6) says that Romulus " locum delegit in regione pestilente salubrem." And Livy (vii. 38) represents discontented Romans as declaring that they were wearied of struggling " in pestilente atque arido cir- cum urbem solo." Compare the reasons given against removing to Yeii, v. 54. Strabo, a Greek, speaks still more disparagingly of the situation of Rome. It was, he says, matter of necessitj^, rather than of choice. f The reviewer above referred to quotes such cases; and Dr. Arnold, on the authority of Chevalier Bunsen, mentions the great improvements that have been made on the lands of the Duke of Zagarolo (near Palestrina) by promot- ing tillage and permanent occupation. Hist, of Borne, i. p. 501. 84 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL vails. And though it is likely that no natural evils would have dispeopled the Campagna, any more than they have dispeopled Vera Cruz or the coasts of the Sea of Azof, yet when the misrule of man seconds the visitation of God, and when once such a coun- try has lost its inhabitants, it is little to be expected that it will again be reclaimed from its state of desolation.* § 7. We will now notice the different tribes who dwelt on the verges of this celebrated district, and for this purpose we will return to the Capitol. A little to the south of east the plain is interrupted by a beautiful range of hills, wliicli rise abruptly and by themselves from its surface. This is the volcanic range so well known as the Alban Hills. The highest peak, measuring about 3000 feet, was anciently crowned by the temple of Jupiter Latiaris, the common sanctuary of the Latin nation ; and on the ridge, of which it forms the culminating point, once lay the town of Alba Longa. In two hollows, to the south-west, are found the Alban lake and the lake of Nemus (Nemi), being both of them formed by accumulations of water in the craters of extinct volcanoes. On a separate ridge to the north lay Tusculum (Frascati), one of the Latin cities which threw off the Roman yoke on the expulsion of the Tarquins : Corioli and Lavinium were situated on similar emi- nences to the south. § 8. A line, drawn along the map of Italy from below Narnia down the Tiber, then across the Sabine country to Tibur, and so past Praeneste and Signia to Terracina, marks the edge of a continuous chain of hills which bound the plain of Latium. This is formed by a narrow belt of Ancient Limestone, which rises from under a broad and many-ridged mass of the more Recent system, as shown in the annexed map. These united formations constitute the lower range of Apennines, while on the other side of the more Recent mass again emerge the Ancient Limestone rocks of the main chain. It is the de- scent down the face of this lower ridge which forms the beau- tiful cascade of the Anio at Tibur (Tivoli). At Praeneste, the ridge sinks and lets the eye into the valley of the Trerus (Sacco), which runs eastward to join the Liris. Praeneste (Palestrina) itself stands on a bold projecting eminence, in the gap formed by the sinking of the hills. Now this natural division of the range which we call the Lower Apeninnes, corresponds to its political division at the time of which we speak. The range between the right bank of the Trerus and Terracina was the hill country of the Volsci, who stretched across the Liris to Sora and * Edinburgh Review, as above, pp. 56, 67 ; Arnold's History of Rome, u p. 504 C5HAP. VL THE COUNTRY ROUND HOME. 85 Arpinum. The iip^^er part from the Aniu northwards, was the country of the ^qmans, reaching beyond Oarseoli and Alba, and including the Fucine lake (lake of Celano), the largest piece of water in the Apennine range. Between these two tribes, that is between the Trerus and the Anio, lay, wedged in their upland valley, the Hernicans. The Volscians and the ^quians were probably Opican tribes, of the same race with the Auruncans, who lay behind the Volscian hills in the mountainous tract which Jeads into Campania ; whereas the Hernicans, a brave and inde- pendent tribe, were of Sabine blood. The mountains to the north-east about Reate up to Amiternum, are the ancient homes of the Sabines ; and from these mountains descended, according to tradition, the first occupants of Rome and Latium. Close above Amiternum rises the wild mass of Monte Corno, and the highest peaks of the Apennine range. For six months of the year the central ridges may easily be distinguished by their snow- capped summits. § 9. Beyond the ridge which has been described as barring 1. Ancient Limestone. More Recent Limestons 3. Tertiary Beds. 4. Volcanic. 5. AUuTiaL 86 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. all view towards ancient Etruria on tlie west and north-west, lay what we may call Lower Etruria. This district, lying between the lower valley of the Tiber and the sea, is separated from Upper Etruria by a range of volcanic hills, which strike across the coun- try at right angles to the Apennine valleys. They formed an un- frequented tract, then called the Ciminian Forest, beyond which no Romans for many years after dared to penetrate. It is from the eastern edge of this range, now called the heights of Viterbo, that the traveller from Florence obtains his first view of the Campagna. Below these hills was the country occupied by the Veientines and the Faliscans. Beyond them again, the places of chief note were Sutrium and Nepeto ; and towards the sea lay the low lands of the men of Csere, a city which plays a considerable part in the history of Rome. Veii was not more than twelve miles distant from the walls of Rome. With this geographical sketch, which should be verified by a comparison with the map annexed, all the progress of Rome in foreign conquest may readily be followed for the next century and a half. Her arms, in that period, never travelled further than twenty miles from Rome ; generally their action took place in a much more circumscribed sphere. Lake of Nemi, looking over the Campagna. CHAPTER YII. THE TRIBUNATE. § 1. Character of straggle between Orders. § 2. Sufferings of Plebeians in border wars, not shared by Patricians. § 3. All power gradually resumed by Patricians. § 4. Patricians an exclusive Caste ; privilege of Connubium. § 5. Plebeians first roused by severe Laws of Debtor and Creditor. § 6. Patricians chief Creditors, Plebeians Debtors. § 7. Story of incident which gave rise to Tribunate: Appius Claudius, leader of Patricians, deceives Plebeians. § 8. Secession of Plebeians to Mons Sacer. § 9. Menenius Agrippa : Fable of Belly and Members. § 10. Peace restored : two Tri- bunes to be chosen as Protectors of Plebeians. § 11. Incompleteness of Protection. § 12. Plebeian ^diles. § 1. In the following chapters of this Book we shall have to record, not only the slow steps by which the Romans recovered dominion over their neighbours, but also the long-continued struggle by which the Plebeians raised themselves to a level with the Patricians, who had again become the dominant caste at Rome. Mixed up with legendary tales as the history still is, enough is nevertheless preserved to excite the admiration of all who love to look upon a brave people pursuing a worthy object with patient but earnest resolution, never flinching, yet seldom injuring their good cause by reckless violence. To an English- man this history ought to be especially dear ; for more than any other in the annals of the world does it resemble the long- enduring constancy atid sturdy determination, the temperate will and noble self-control, with which the Commons of his own country secured their rights. It was by a struggle of this nature, pursued through a century and a half, that the character of the Roman people was moulded into that form of strength and energy, which threw back Hannibal to the coasts of Africa, and in half a century more made them masters of the Mediterranean shore. § 2. There can be no doubt that the wars that followed the Ex- pulsion of the Tarquins, with the loss of territory that accom- panied them, must have reduced all orders of men at Rome to great distress. But those who most suffered were the Plebeians. The Plebeians at that time consisted entirely of landholders, great and small, and husbandmen ; for in those times the practice of trades and mechanical arts was considered unworthy of a free- born man. Some of the Plebeian families were as wealthy as any 88 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL among the Patricians ; but the mass of them were petty yeoman, who lived on the produce of their small farms, and were solely dependent for a living on their own limbs, their own thrift and industry. Most of them lived in the villages and small towns, which in those times were thickly sprinkled over the slopes of the Campagna. The Patricians, on the other hand, resided chiefly within the city. If slaves were few as yet, they had the labour of their Clients available to till their farms ; and through their Clients also they were enabled to derive a profit from the practice of trading and crafts, which personally neither they nor the Plebeians would stoop to pursue. Besides these sources of profit, they had at this time the exclusive use of the Public Land, a subject on which we shall have to speak more at length hereafter. At present, it will be suflficierrt to say, that the Public Land now spoken of had been the Crown Land or Regal Domain, which on the expulsion of the Kings had been forfeited to the State. The Patricians being in possession of all actual power, engrossed possession of it, and seem to have paid a very small quit-rent to the treasury for this great advantage. Besides this, the necessity of service in the army, or militia (as it might more justly be called), acted very diflferently on the rich landholder and the small yeoman. The latter, being called out with sword and spear for the summer's campaign, as his turn came round, was obliged to leave his farm uncared for, and his crop could only be reaped by the kind aid of neigh- bours; whereas the rich proprietor, by his Clients or his hired labourers, could render the required military service without robbing his land of his own labour. Moreover, the territory of Rome was so narrow, and the enemy's borders so close at hand, that any night the stout yeoman might find himself reduced to beggary, by seeing his crops destroyed, his cattle driven away, and his homestead burnt in a sudden foray. The Patricians and rich Plebeians were, it is true, exposed to the same contin- gencies. But wealth will always provide some defence ; and it is reasonable to think that the larger proprietors provided places of refuge, into which they could drive their cattle, and secure much of their property, such as the peel-towers common in our own border counties. Thus the Patricians and their Clients might escape the storm which destroyed the isolated yeoman. To this must be added, that the Public Land seems to have been mostly in pasturage, and therefore the property of the Patricians must have chiefly consisted in cattle, which was more easily saved from depredation than the crops of the Ple- beian. Lastly, the profit derived from the trades and business Chap. YIL THE TRIBUNATE. 89 of their Clients, being secured by the walls of the city, gave to the Patricians the command of all the capital that could exist in a state of society so simple and rude, and afforded at once a means of repairing their own losses, and also of obtaining a dominion over the poor yeomen. § 3. For some time after the expulsion of the Tarquins, it was necessary for the Patricians to treat the Plebeians with liberality. The institutions of "the Commons' King," King Servius, sus- pended by Tarquin, were, partially at least, restored : it is said even that one of the first Consuls was a Plebeian, and that he chose several of the leading Plebeians into the Senate. But after the death of Porsenna, and when the fear of the Tarquins ceased, all these flattering signs disappeared. The Consuls seem still to have been elected by the Centuriate Assembly, but the Cu- riate Assembly retained in their own hands the right of con- ferring the Imperium, which amounted to a positive veto on the election by the larger body. All the names of the early Consuls, except in the first year of the Republic, are Patrician. But if by chance a Consul displayed popular tendencies, it was in the power of the Senate and Patricians to suspend his power by the appointment of a Dictator. Thus, practically, the Patri- cian Burgesses again became the Populus or Body Politic of Rome. § 4. It must here not be forgotten that this dominant body was an exclusive caste ; that is, it consisted of a limited number of noble families, who allowed none of their members to marry with persons born out of the pale of their own order. The child of a Patrician and a Plebeian, or of a Patrician and a Client, was not considered as born in lawful wedlock; and however proud the blood which it derived from one parent, the child sank to the condition of th,e parent of lower rank. This was expressed in Roman language by saying, that there was no Right of Connu- bium between Patricians and any inferior classes of men. Nothing can be more impolitic than such restrictions ; nothing more hurt- ful even to those who count it their privilege. In all exclusive or oligarchical pales, families become extinct, and the breed decays both in bodily strength and mental vigour. Happily for Rome, the Patricians were unable long to maintain themselves as a sepa- rate caste. § 5. Yet the Plebeians might long have submitted to thia state of social and political inferiority, had not their personal distress and the severe laws of Rome driven them to seek relief, by claiming to be recognised as members of the body politic. The severe laws of which we speak were those of debtor and 90 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL creditor. If a Roman borrowed money, he was expected to enter into a contract witli his creditor to pay the debt by a cer- tain day ;* and if on that day he was unable to discharge his obligation, he was summoned before the Patrician judge, who was authorised by the law to assign the defaulter as a bondsman to his creditor ; that is, the debtor was obliged to pay by his own labour the debt which he was unable to pay in money. Or if a man incurred a debt without such formal contract, the rule was still more imperious : for in that case the law itself fixed the day of payment ; and if after a lapse of thirty days from that date the debt was not discharged, the creditor was empowered to arrest the person of his debtor, to load him with chains, and feed him on bread and water for another thirty days ; and then, if the money still remained unpaid, he might put him to death, or sell him as a slave to the highest bidder ; or, if there were several creditors, they might hew his body in pieces, and divide it. And in this last case the law provided with scrupulous pro- vidence against the evasion • by which the Merchant of Venice escaped the cruelty of the Jew ; for the Roman law said, that " whether a man cut more or less [than his due], he should incur no penalty."J; These atrocious provisions, however, defeated their own object ; for there was no more unprofitable way in which the body of a debtor could be disposed of. § 6. Such being the law of debtor and creditor, it remains to say that the creditors were chiefly of the Patrician caste, and the debtors almost exclusively of the poorer sort among the Ple- beians. The Patricians were the creditors, because from their occupancy of the Public Land, and from their engrossing the profits to be derived from trade and crafts, they alone had spare capital to lend. The Plebeian yeomen were the debtors, because their independent position made them,, at that time, helpless. Vassals, clients, serfs, or by whatever name depen- dents are called, do not suffer from the ravages, of a predatory war like free landholders, because the loss falls on their lords or patrons. But when the independent yeoman's crops are destroyed, his cattle "lifted," and his homestead in ashes, he must himself repair the loss. This was, as we have said, the condition of many Roman Plebeians. To rebuild their houses * Contracts were in Roman language called nexa, and persons bound by contract were nexi. f The technical word was addixit. Hence persons delivered over as bonds- men w ere addicti ; and the word addictus came to mean generally bound to do a thing, as in the phrase. "Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri." Horat. Epist. i. 1, 14. \ " Si plus minusve secuerint, se \i. e. sine] fraude esto." This, as well as the other provisions of the law, are given by Gellius, xx. 1, §§ 45-49. Chap. YlL THE TRIBUNA.TB. 91 and re-stock their farms, they borrowed ; the Patricians were their creditors ; and the law, instead of protecting the small holders, like the law of* the Hebrews,* delivered them over into serfdom or slavery. Thus the free Plebeian population might have been reduced to a state of mere dependency, and the history of Rome might have presented a repetition of monotonous severity, like that of Sparta or of Venice.f But it was ordained otherwise. The distress and oppression of the Plebeians led them to demand, and to obtain political protectors, by whose means they were slowly but surely raised to equality of rights and privileges with their rulers and oppressors. These protectors were the famous Tribunes of the Plebs. We will now repeat the no less famous legends by which their first creation was accounted for. § 7. It was, by the common reckoning, fifteen years after the expulsion of the Tarquins (494 b.c), that the Plebeians w^ere roused to take the first step in the assertion of their rights. After the battle of Lake Regillus, the Plebeians had reason to ex- pect some relaxation of the law of debt, in consideration of the great services they had rendered in the war. But none was granted. The Patrician creditors began to avail themselves of the severity of the law against their Plebeian debtors. The discon- tent that followed was great : and the Consuls prepared to meet the storm. These were Appius Claudius, the proud Sabine nobleman who had lately become a Roman, and who now led the high Patrician party with all the unbending energy of a chief- tain whose w^ill had never been disputed by his obedient clans- men : and P. Servilius, who represented the milder and more liberal party of the Fathers. It chanced that an aged man rushed into the Forum on a market-day, loaded with chains, clothed with a few scanty rags, his hair and beard long and squalid ; his whole appearance ghastly, as of one oppressed by long want of food and air. He was recognised as a brave soldier, the old comrade of many who thronged the Forum. He told his story, how that in the late wars, the enemy had burnt his house and plundered his little farm ; that to replace his losses, he had borrowed money of a Patrician, that his cruel creditor (in default of payment) had thrown him into prison, J and tormented him with chains and scourges. At this sad tale, the passions of the people rose high. * Levit. XXV. 23-31. f A well-known German historian calls the Spartans by tho name of " stunted Romans." There is much resemblance to be traced. :}: Such prisons were called ergastula, and afterwards became the places for keeping slaves in. 92 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL Appius was obliged to conceal himself; while Servilias under- took to plead the cause of the Plebeians with the Senate. Meantime news came to the city that the Roman territory was invaded by the Volscian foe. The Consuls proclaimed a levy; but the stout yeomen, one and all, refused to give in their names and take the military oath. Servilius now came forward, and proclaimed by edict, that no citizen should be imprisoned for debt so long as the war lasted, and that at the close of the war he would propose an alteration of the law. The Plebeians trusted him, and the enemy was driven back. But when the popular Consul returned with his victorious soldiers, he was denied a triumph ; and the Senate, led by Appius, refused to make any concession in favour of the debtors. The anger of the Plebeians rose higher and higher; when again news came that the enemy were ravaging the lands of Rome. The Senate, well knowing that the power of the Consuls would avail nothing, since Appius was regarded as a tyrant, and Servilius would not choose again to become an instrument for deceiving the people, appointed a Dictator to lead the citizens into the field. But to make the act as popular as might be, they named M. Valerius, a descendant of the great Poplicola. The same scene was repeated over again. Valerius protected the Plebeians against their creditors while they were at war, and promised them relief when war was over. But when the danger was gone by, Appius again prevailed; the Senate refused to listen to Valerius ; and the Dictator laid down his office, calling gods and men to witness that he was not responsible for his breach of faith. § 8. The Plebeians whom Valerius had led forth were still under arms, still bound by their military oath ; and Appius, with the violent Patricians, refused to disband them. The army, therefore, having lost Valerius, their proper general, chose two of themselves, L. Junius Brutus and L. Sicinius Bellutus by name, and under their command they marched northwards and occupied the hill which commands the junction of the Tiber and the Anio. Here, at a distance of about two miles from Rome, they determined to settle and form a new city, leaving Rome to the Patricians and their Clients. But the latter were not willing to lose the best of their soldiery, the cultivators of the greater part of the Roman territory, and they sent repeated embassies to persuade the seceders to return. They, however, turned a deaf ear to all promises ; for they had too often been deceived. Appius now urged the Senate and Patricians to leave the Plebeians to themselves ; the Nobles and their Clients, he said, could well maintain themselves in the city without such base aid. Chap. YIL THE TRIBUNATE. 93 § 9. But wiser sentiments prevailed. T. Lartius, and M. Va- lerius, both of whom had been Dictators, with Menenius Agrippa, an old Patrician of popular character, were empowered to treat with the people. Still their leaders were unwilling to listen, till old Menenius addressed them in the famous fable of the Belly and the Members : — " In times of old," said he, " when every Member of the body could think for itself, and each had a separate will of its own, they all, with one consent, resolved to revolt against the Belly. They knew no reason, they said, why they should toil from morn- ing till night in its service, while the Belly lay at its ease in the midst of all, and indolently grew fat upon their labours. Ac- cordingly, they agreed to support it no more. The feet vowed they would carry it no longer; the hands that they would do no more work; the teeth that they would not chew a morsel of meat, even were it placed between them. Thus resolved, the Members for a time showed their spirit and kept their resolution ; but soon they found, that instead of mortifying the Belly, they only undid themselves : they languished for awhile, and per- ceived too late that it was owing to the Belly that they had strength to work and courage to mutiny." § 10. The moral of this fable was plain. The people readily applied it to the Patricians and themselves ; and their leaders proposed terms of agreement to the Patrician messengers. They required that the debtors who could not pay should have their debts cancelled; and that those who had been given up into slavery (addicti) should be restored to freedom. This for the past. And as a security for the future, they demanded that two of themselves should be appointed for the sole purpose of protecting the Plebeians against the Patrician magistrates, if they acted cruelly or unjustly towards the debtors. The two officers thus to be appointed were called Tribunes of the Plebs. Their persons were to be sacred and inviolable during their year of office, whence their office is called "sacrosancta Potestas." They were never to leave the city during that time ; and their houses were to be open day and night, that all who needed their aid might demand it without delay. § 11. This concession, apparently great, was much modified by the fact that the Patricians insisted on the election of the Tribunes being made at the Comitia of the Centuries, in which they themselves and their wealthy clients could usually com- mand a majority.* In later times, the number of the Tribunes * That the election must have been so conducted is manifest from Liv. ii, 56, where he says that the object of the PubliUan Law was to take away from the Patricians the power of "per clientium suffragia creandi quos vellent tri- 94 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. was increased to five, and afterwards to ten. They were elected at the Comitia of the Tribes, as we shall have to notice presently. They had the privilege of attending all sittings of the Senate, though they were not considered members of that famous body. Above all, they acquired the great and perilous power of the Veto, by which any one of their number might stop any law, or annul any decree of the Senate, without cause or reason assigned. This right of Veto was called the right of Inter- cession. On the spot where this treaty was made, an altar was built to Jupiter, the Causer and Banisher of Fear ; for the Plebeians had gone thither in fear and returned from it in safety. The place was called Mons Sacer, or the Sacred Hill, for ever after, and the laws by which the sanctity of the tribunitian office was secured were called the Leges Sacratse. § 12. The Tribunes were not properly magistrates or officers, for they had no express functions or official duties to discharge. They were simply Representatives and Protectors of the Plebs. At the same time, however, with the institution of these protective officers, the Plebeians were allowed the right of having two ^diles chosen from their own body, whose business it was to preserve order and decency in the streets, to provide for the repair of all buildings and roads there, with other functions partly belonging to police-officers, and partly to com-* missioners of public works. bunos." When, therefore, Asconius (in Gorndianam, p. 16, ed. OreUi) says "Trit-ori Plehis Comitiis Ouriatis creati," and when Dionysius (vi. 89, ix. 41) follows tho same notion, there must be some mistake. Tarpeian Rock. CHAPTER VIII. AGRARIAN LAW. THE ELECTION OF THE TRIBUNES TRANSFERRED TO THE TRIBES. 1. Sp. Cassius, Patrician, patron of the Plebeians : proposes an Agrarian LoTw. § 2. Nature of Agrarian Laws. § 3. The Patricians allow Law to pass. § 4, Sp. Cassius condenjued for aiming at kingly power. § 5. Hii 96 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book 11 fall increases power of Patricians : seven Consulships of Fabii. § 6. But boldness of Tribunes also increases : a Consul impeached by Tribune Genu- cius, who is murdered, § 1. Volero Publilius refuses to enhst. § 8. Chosen Tribune : Publilian Law, enacting that Tribunes should be chosen by Tribes. § 9. Second Appius Claudius elected Consul to oppose Law : in vain. Five Tribunes henceforth elected at Comitia Tributa. § 1. The small beginning of political independence which the Plebeians had gained by the institution of the Tribunate, seemed likely to be much furthered by the unexpected appearance of a patron of their order in the ranks of the Patricians themselves. This was Spurius Cassius, a notable man. He was three times Consul. In his second Consulship he concluded a league with the Latins, and in his third Consulship a similar league with the Hernicans, by which the united people of Rome, Latium, and the Hernicans bound themselves to check the alarming advance lately made by the Volscians. But of this we will speak in the next chapter. At present we have to treat of another remark- able act of the third Consulship of Sp. Cassius, which was thp proposal of the first Agrarian Law. § 2. Great mistakes formerly prevailed on the nature of tl; - Roman laws familiarly termed Agrarian. It was supposed thai by these laws all land was declared common property, and that at certain intervals of time the state assumed possession, and made a fresh distribution thereof to all citizens, rich and poor. It is needless to make any remarks on the nature and conse- quences of such a law ; sufficient it will be to say, what is now known to all, that at Rome such laws never existed, never were thought of. The lands which were to be distributed by Agra- rian laws were not private property, but the property of the state. They were, originally, those Public Lands which had been the Domain of the Kings ; and which were increased whenever any city or people was conquered by the Romans, because it was an Italian practice to confiscate the lands of the conquered, in whole or in part, to the use and benefit of the conquerinjr people. Now at this time, as has been shown, the Patrician Burgesses in effect constituted the Populus, and they had occupied the greater part, if not all, of this Public Land. This land, as has also been said, chiefly consisted of pasturage ; and it w as ma- nifest that if the Plebeians could add to their small farms, which were mostly in tillage, the right of feeding cattle upon these lands, their means would be much increased, and they were likely to become much less dependent upon the rich Patriciar- Chap. Tia SP. CASSIUS. 97 § 3. It is said in the Annals that Servius Tullius was author of the first Agrarian regulations. He divided, we are told, part of the domain land among the poorer Plebeians, probably at the rate of seven jugera (about 4^ acres) a man ; for this is the rule that we find adopted at the expulsion of the Kings.* Whether these ancient assignments of land took eff'ect, and whether the pro- posal of Spurius Cassius was merely intended to carry them into execution, or was a further law of the same character, we have no means of judging. On either supposition, the relief of the Plebeians would be of the same kind. And as the Patricians en- joyed the use and profit of all Public Lands that had not already been divided, it is not unnatural that they should have resisted any such law with the utmost vehemence and pertinacity. Such indeed was the case. But Sp. Cassius, the proposer of the law, was Consul for the third time (486 b.c). His services to the state had been great ; his official power was great. The remem- brance of the Secession to the Sacred Mount was yet fresh ; and the law, after passing the Centuriate Comitia, was not re- jected by the Patrician Burgesses in their Curiae. They calculated that it would be more easy to thwart the execution of the law, than to prevent its being passed. And they calculated rightly. § 4. But though the Patricians had yielded thus far, they only waited for an opportunity of seeking vengeance. When Sp. Cassius laid down his Consulship, that opportunity arrived. It was said, that in the Leagues formed with the Latins and Her- nicansf he had granted terms too favourable to these people, and was seeking to make himself despotic lord of Rome by means of foreigners, as Tarquin had done. It appears that there was some colour for this last accusation. Indeed, it is not unlikely, that a man such as Spurius Cassius may have contemplated overthrowing the patrician Oligarchy, and making himself a King like Servius Tullius. But whether his views were simply ambi- tious, or whether they were directed to the true interests of the community, the very name of King had become hateful to Roman ears. Sp. Cassius was accused by Kseso Fabius, then head of one of the most powerful patrician Gentes. He was tried, no doubt before a patrician court, found guilty, and condemned to die the death of a traitor. He was scourged and beheaded, and his house razed to the ground. Such was the end of Spurius Cassius, a man little mentioned in the Annals of Rome, and who would be forgotten, were it not that the mere record of his acts at home and abroad, the Agra- rian law, and the treaties concluded by him with the Latins and Hernicans, have worthily preserved his name. His enterprise * Plin. Hist. Nat. xyiu. 4. t See Chapt. ix. § 6. 5 98 ROME) UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL and his end have been aptly compared with those of Agis at Sparta, or of Marino Faliero at Venice, who like him endea- voured to overthrow the power of the close and 'selfish oligarchy to which they respectively belonged. § 5. It is remarkable that for seven successive years after this event, a Fabius appears as one of the two Consuls ; and we con- stantly find one Consul in the interest of the high patrician party, while the other indicates more popular sentiments. These signs, together with some indistinct notices in two of our ancient authorities, led Niebuhr to conclude that at this time the Patri- cians obtained the power of electing one of the Consuls at their own Curiate Assembly, while in some years they even appointed both. Later inquiries, however, have made it probable that the Consuls were always elected at the great Assembly of the Classes and Centuries. The great influence which the Patricians had in this Assembly, by means of their own wealth and that of their Clients, must have given them at least a great preponderance in all elections ; and it is possible, that for the sake of peace, some arrangement may have been made by which one Consul was ge- nerally returned in the Patrician interest, and the other in the Plebeian. Such compromises are common in all elections. But when party-spirit ran very high, the Patricians might return both of the chief magistrates themselves.* § 6. The same preponderating influence which enabled the Patricians to command the consular elections, gave them power also to control the choice of the Tribunes of the Plebs, except that as both Consuls must be Patricians, so both Tribunes must be Plebeians. It is evident, that in order to make the Tribunes really the representatives and protectors of their order, they must be chosen by that order. Still, notwithstanding the mode of their election, energetic men had been found to put forth the power with which they were invested by the sanctity of the tri- bunitian oflice. The Patricians had successfully impeded the execution of the Agrarian law of Cassius. But three years after, a Tribune named Maenius, declared that he would prevent the militia from being called out to take the field against the Volscian and ^quian foe, till this grievance was redressed. He offered, that is, in virtue of his protective powers, to secure any plebeian soldier against the power of the Consul, should he refuse to obey the order to give in his name for active service ; and another Tribune, named Licinius, renewed the same attempt in the next year. These first essays of their newly gained power were the origin of that tremendous intercessory force, which in * On this question see Niebuhr, ii. 1*79 sqq., with the remarks of Becker, AnUqq. ii. part ii. p. 93. Chap. YIII. SP. CASSIUS. 99 later times was so freely exercised. At pres'^nt the attempt proved an empty threat. The Consuls held their levy outside the walls of the city, where they possessed power of life and death, and where the Tribunes' protective power availed not. The next attempt of the plebeian chiefs was more successful. The Tribunes of the year 476 b.c. publicly indicted the Consul Menenius, son of him who had done good service to the state at the Secession, for suffering the Fabian Gens to be overpowered by the Veientines, of which we shall speak presently ; and the Consul was condemned to pay a fine. At length, three years after (473), matters were brought to issue by the Tribune Genu- cius, who impeached the Consuls of the previous year for pre- venting the execution of the Agrarian la^.. Consternation pre- vailed among the Patricians. The condemnation of Menenius by the Centuries, notwithstanding the votes of the Clients, struck them with dismay ; and they resolved on striking a blow calculated to prevent such attempts in future. On the day of trial the Tribune appeared not. His friends sought him at' home. He was found murdered in his chamber. § 7. But the effect produced was contrary to expectation. The flame which the Patricians expected to smother, was fanned to greater violence. The Consuls ordered a levy to take the field, confidently expecting tame submission. But when one Volero Pub- lilius, who had served as a Centurion, was called out as a private soldier, he refused to give his name, and appealed to the Tribunes for protection. They hung back, terrified by the fate of Genu- cius. But Volero threw himself among his compatriots ; a tu- mult arose, and the Consuls were obliged to take refuge in the Senate-house. § 8. Volero Publilius was chosen one of the Tribunes for the en- suing year ; and he straightway proposed a law, by which it was provided that the Tribunes and JEdiles of the Plebs should be elected by the Plebeians themselves at the Assembly of the Tribes in the Forum, not at the Assembly of the Centuries in the P'ield of Mars. This is usually called the Publilian law of Volero. § 9. For a whole year, the Patricians succeeded in putting off the law. But the Plebeians were determined to have it. Volero was re-elected Tribune ; and C. Laetorius, a man of great resolu- tion, was chosen as his colleague : facts which show that in Reasons of excitement the people were able to procure the elec- tion of their own friends even before the passing of the first Pub- lilian law. The more violent among the Patricians now prepared to pre- vent this measure from being accepted by any means. App. Claudis, son of him whose haughty opposition had provoked 100 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book H. the secession to* the Sacred Mount, had succeeded his father as the bitterest and most determined foe of the Plebs, and was chosen Consul by his party. The law was again brought forward by the new Tribunes ; and the new Consul, attended by his lictors, appeared at the Comitia of the Tribes to interrupt the proceed- ings. Lsetorius ordered him to withdraw ; and a general riot followed, which was only stopped by the interveiition of the other Consul, T. Quinctius. But the Tribunes were resolved to have their law carried, and by a sudden movement they occupied the Capitol itsfelf, and defied all the attacks of the Patricians. Appius proposed, as of old, to reduce them by force, but the milder counsels of his colleague again prevailed, and the Patricians (by the authority of the Senate) passed the Publilian law. In the next year (470) five Tribunes were elected by the Plebeians themselves, without let or hindrance from the Patrician Burgesses. Thus, no doubt, these officers became real pro- tectors of their brethren. But their powers were too large and unrestricted, and the fruits of the absolute veto which they afterwards learned to exercise will amply appear in the course cf our subsequent narrative. I© MA, Coin bearing the DioscurL rs4^/fif Tivoli, looking over the Campagna. CHAPTER IX. WARS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS FROM THE BATTLE OF LAKE REGILLUS TO THE DECEMVIRATE. (496 450 B.C.) § 1. Great decrease of Roman power. § 2. Vagueness in history of "Wars; famous Legends. § 3. Volscian Wars : Legend of Coriolanus. § 4. ^quian Wars: Legend of Cincinnatus. § 5. Yeientine Wars: Legend of Fabian Gens. § 6, Leagues formed by Spurius Cassius with the Latins and Her- nicans the true barriers against ^qui and Volsci. § 7. Importance of these Leagues to Latins as well as to Rome. § 8. Duration of Latin League. § 1. While the two Orders were thus engaged in struggling for rights and privileges in the city, they were hard pressed upon their frontiers by the advancing power of the Volscians and the >^quians. Nothing can show the decrease of Roman power more than the facts which are incidentally disclosed by this history. It appears that, soon after the Secession, the Volscians, descending from their hills, had taken not only the remote Latin cities of Terra- cina, Circeii, Antium, Satricum, and others ; but also captured 102 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book XL Lavinium, Corioli, Lavici, Pedum, and other cities within sight of Kome. The Aequians also pressed on from the north-east; at one time they were in possession of the citadel of Tusculura, and shut up the Roman Consul within the Roman territory. At the same time, the Etruscans of Veii, who had recovered the lands taken from them by Rome under the later Kings, con- tinually appeared in force upon the opposite banks of the Tiber, and threatened the Janiculum, which the Romans still retained. § 2. To the readers of Livy nothing is more wearying than the monotonous iteration, with which he repeats the story of the victories won by Roman Consuls, over enemies who always appear next year unbroken and ready for fresh conflicts. He himself felt the weariness in recording these unsubstantial conflicts, and we shall here not think it necessary to follow him.* But there are some famous legends connected with these three- fold wars, which cannot be omitted by any writer of Roman history. These are the legends of Coriolanus, of Cincinnatus, and of the Fabian Gens. The exact time to which they refer is uncertain ; nor is it material to determine. § 3. Legend of Coriolanus and the Yolscians. Caius Marcius was a youth of high patrician family, descended from the Sabine king, Ancus Marcius; and he was brought up by his mother Volumnia, a true Roman matron, noble and ge- nerous, proud and stern, implacable towards enemies, unfor- giving towards the faults of friends. Caius grew up with all the faults and virtues of his mother, and was soon found among the chief opponents of the Plebeians. He won a civic crown of oak for saving a fellow-citizen at the battle of Lake Regillus, when he was seventeen years of age. But he gained his chief fame in the Volscian wars. For the Romans, being at war with this people, attacked Corioli, a Latin city which then had fallen into the hands of the Yolscians. But the assailants were driven back by the garrison ; when Caius Marcius rallied the fugitives, turned upon his pursuers, and, driving them back in turn, entered the gates along with them ; and the city fell into the hands of the Romans. For this brave conduct he was named after the city which he had taken, Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Now it happened, after this, that the Roman people being much distressed by having their lands ravaged in war, and tillage being neglected, a great dearth ensued. Then Gelon, the Greek king of Syracuse, sent them ships laden with corn to relieve the distress. It was debated in the Senate how this corn should be * " Non dubito" (he says naively), " praeter satietatem, tot jam libria assidua bella . . . logentibus id quoque succursurum (quod mihi miraculo fuit), unde toties victis Volscis et Acquis suflfecerint milites." — vi. 12. Chap. IX CORIOLANUS. 103 distributed. Some were for giving it away to the poorer sort ; some were for selling it at a low price ; but Coriolanus, who was greatly enraged at the concessions that had been made to the Plebeians, and hated to see them protected by the new officers, the Tribunes, spoke vehemently against these proposals, and said : " Why do they ask us for corn ? They have got their Tribunes. Let them go back to the Sacred Hill, and leave us to rule alone. Or let them give up their Tribunes, and then they shall have the corn." This insolent language wrought up the Plebeians to a height of fury against Caius Marcius, and they would have torn him in pieces; but their Tribunes persuaded them to keep their hands oft"; and then cited him before the Comitia to give account of his conduct. The main body of the Patricians were not inclined to assist Coriolanus ; so, after some violent struggles, he declined to stand his trial, but left Rome, shaking the dust from his feet against his thank- less countrymen (for so he deemed them), and vowing that they should bitterly repent of having driven Caius Marcius Coriolanus into exile." He went straight to Antium, another Latin city which had become the capital of the Volscians, and going to the house of Attus Tullius, one of the chief men of the nation, he seated him- self near the hearth by the household gods, a place which among the Italian nations was held sacred. When Tullius entered, the Koman rose and greeted his former enemy : "My name (he said) is Caius Marcius : my surname, Coriolanus — the only reward now remaining for all my services. I am an exile from Rome, ray country; I seek refuge in the house of my enemy. If ye will use my services, I will serve you well ; if ye would rather take vengeance on me, strike, I am ready." Tullius at once accepted the ofter of the " banished lord ;" and determined to break the treaty which there then was between his people and the Romans. But the Volscians were afraid to go to war. So Tullius had recourse to fraud. It happened that one Titus Atinius, a Plebeian of Rome, was warned in a dieam to go to the Consuls, and order them to celebrate the Great Games over again, because they had not been rightly performed the first time. But he was afraid and would not go. Then his son fell sick and died ; and again he dreamt the same dream ; but still he would not go. Then he was himself stricken with palsy; and so he delayed no longer, but made his friends carry him on a litter to the Consuls. And they believed his words, and the Great Games were begun again with increased pomp ; and many of the Volscians, being at peace with Rome, came to see them. ^Jpon this Tullius went secretly to the Consuls, and told them 104 EOME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL that his countrymen were thronging to Rome, and he feared they had mischief in their thoughts. Then the Consuls laid this secret information before the Senate; and the Senate decreed that all Volscians should depart from Rome before sunset. This decree seemed to the Volscians to be a wanton insult, and they went home in a rage. Tullius met them on their way home at the fountain of Ferentina, where the Latins had been wont to hold their councils of old ; and he spoke to them, and increased their anger, and persuaded them to break off their treaty with the Romans. So the Volscians made war against Rome, and chose Attus Tullius and Caius Marcius the Roman to be their commanders. The army advanced against Rome, ravaging and laying waste all the lands of the Plebeians, but letting those of the Patricians remain untouched. This increased the jealousy between the Orders, and the Consuls found it impossible to raise an army to go out against the enemy. Coriolanus took one Latin town after another, and even the Volscians deserted their own general to serve under his banners. He now advanced and encamped at the Cluilian Foss, within five miles of the city. Nothing was now to be seen within the walls but consterna tion and despair. The temples of the gods were filled with suppliants; the Plebeians themselves pressed the Senate to make peace with the terrible Coriolanus. Meantime the enemy advanced to the very gates of the city, and at length the Senate agreed to send five men, chiefs among the Patricians, to turn away the anger of their countryman. He received them with the utmost sternness ; said that he was now general of the Vol- scians, and must do what was best for his new friends ; that if they wished for peace they must restore all the lands and places that had been taken from the Volscians, and must admit these people to an equal league, and put them on an equal footing with, the Latins. The deputies could not accept these terms, so they returned to Rome. The Senate sent them back, to ask for milder terms; but the haughty exile would not suffer them to enter his camp. Then went forth another deputation, graver and more solemn than the former, — the Pontiffs, Flamens, and Augurs, all attired in their priestly robes, who besought him, by all that he held sacred, by the respect he owed to his country's gods, to give them assurance of peace and safety. He treated them with grave respect, but sent them away without relaxing any of his demands. It seemed as if the glory of Rome were departing, as if the crown were about to be transferred to the cities of the VolsciaiiS. • Chap. IX. CORIOLANUS. 105 But not so was it destined to be. It chanced that as all the women were weeping and praying in the temples, the thought arose among them that they might effect what Patricians and Priests had alike failed to do. It was Valeria, the sister of the great Valerius Poplicola, who first started the thought, and she prevailed on Volumnia, the stern mother of the exile, to accompany the mournful train. With them also W3nt Virgilia, his wife, leading her two boys by the hand, and a CiOwd of other women. Coriolanus beheld them from afar, as ho was sitting on a raised seat among the Volscian chiefs, and resolved to send back them also with a denial. But when they came near, and he saw his mother at the head of the sad pro- cession, he sprang from his seat, and was about to kiss her. But she drew back with all the loftiness of a Roman matron, and said — " Art thou Caius Marcius, and am I thy mother ? or art thou the general of the Volscian foe, and I a prisoner in his camp ? Before thou kissest me, answer me that question." Caius stood silent, and his mother went on : " Shall it be said that it is to me — to me alone — that Rome owes her conqueror and oppressor ? Had I never been a mother, my country had still boen free. But I am too old to feel this misery long. Look to thy wife and little ones ; thou art enslaving thy country, and with it thou enslavest them." The fierce Roman's heart sunk before the indignant words of her whom he had feared and respected from his childhood ; and when his wife and children hanging about him added their soft prayers to the lofty supplications of his mother, he turned to her with bitterness of soul, and said — " O my mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son !" So he drew off his army, and the women went back to Rome and were hailed as the saviours of their country. And the Senate ordered a temple to be built and dedicated to " Woman's Fortune" (Fortuna Muliebris) ; and Valeria was the first priestess of the temple.* But Coriolanus returned to dwell among the Volscians; and Tullius, who had before become jealous of his superiority, ex- cited the people against him, saying that he had purposely r3pared their great enemy the city of Rome, even when it was within their grasp. So he lost favour, and was slain in a tumult ; and the words he had spoken to his mother were truly fulfilled. This is the famous Legend of Coriolanus, which is dear to us, because it has been wrought by Shakspere into one of his noblest tragedies. Nothing can exceed the truth and force with which he has drawn the character of the haughty Patrician : but it must be observed that the Tribunes and Plebeians of tha * That of Fortuna Virilis had been built by Servius Tullius. 5* 106 ROME U:N'DER THE PATRICIANS. Book XL play rather represent the turbulent mob of the times of Marius and Caesar, than the sturdy countrymen who formed the people of Rome in those early days. § 4. Legend of Cincinnatus and the ^quians. In the course of these wars, Minucius, one of the Consuls, suffered himself to be cut off from Rome in a narrow valley of Mount Algidus, and it seemed as if hope of delivery there was none. However, five horsemen found means to escape and report at Rome the perilous condition of the Consul and his army. Then the other Consul consulted the Senate, and it was agreed that the only man who could deliver the army was L. Quinc- tius Cincinnatus. Therefore this man was named Dictator, and deputies were sent to acquaint him with his high dignity. Now this Lucius Quinctius was called Cincinnatus, because he wore his hair in long curling locks (cincinni) ; and, though he was a Patrician, he lived on his own small farm, like any ple- beian yeomen. This farm was beyond the Tiber,* and here he lived contentedly with his wife Racilia. Two years before he had been Consul, and had been brought into great distress by the conduct of his son Kseso. This Kseso Quinctius was a wild and insolent young man, who despised the Plebeians, and hated their Tribunes, like Coriolanus. Like Corio- lanus, he was impeached by the Tribunes, but on very different grounds. One Volscius Fictor alleged that he and his brother, an old and sickly man, had been attacked by Kseso and a party of young Patricians by night in the Suburra ; his brother had died of the treatment then received. The indignation of the people rose high ; and Kseso, again like Coriolanus, was forced to go into exile. After this the young patricians became more insolent than ever, but they courted the poorest of the people, hoping to engage them on their side against the more respect- able Plebeians. Next year all Rome was alarmed by finding that the Capitol had been seized by an enemy during the night. This enemy was Appius Herdonius, a Sabine, and with him was asso- ciated a band of desperate men, exiles and runaway slaves. The first demand he made was that all Roman exiles should be restored. The Consul, P. Valerius, collected a force, and took the Capitol. But he was himself killed in the assault, and L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, father of the banished Kseso, was chosen to succeed him. When he heard the news of his elevation, he turned to his wife and said, — " I fear, Racilia our little field must remain this year unsown." Then he assumed the robe of * "Within the entrenched limits of Janiculum, we must suppose ; for all the rest of the Trans-Tiberine land had been restored in the time of Porsenca to the Veientines. Chap. IX. CINCINNATUS. 107 state, and went to Rome. Now it was believed that Kaeso liad been concerned in the desperate enterprise that had just been de- feated. What had become of him was unknown; but that he was already dead was pretty certain ; and his father was very bitter against the Tribunes and their party, to whom he attributed his son's disgrace and death. P. Valerius, the Consul, had persuaded the Plebeians to join in the assault of the Capitol, by promising to gain them further privileges : this promise Cincinnatus refused to keep, and used all his power to frustrate the attempts of the Tri- bunes to gain its fulfilment. At the end of his year of office, how- ever, when the Patricians wished to continue him in the consul- ship, he positively declined the offer, and returned to his rustic life as if he had never left it. It was two years after these events, that the deputies of the Senate, who came to invest him with the ensigns of dictatorial power, found him working on his little farm. He was clad in his tunic only ; and as the deputies advanced, they bade him put on his toga, that he might receive the commands of the Senate in seemly guise. So he wiped off the dust and sweat, the signs of hibour, and bade his wife fetch his toga, and asked anxiously whether all was right or no. Then the deputies told him how the army was beset by the ^quian foe, and how the Senate looked to him as the saviour of the state. A boat was provided to carry him over the Tiber ; and when he reached the other bank, he wa greeted by his family and friends and the greater part of th( Senate, who followed him to the city, while he himself walked in state, with his four-and-twenty lictors. Cincinnatus then chose L, Tarquitius as his Master of the Horse. This man was a Patrician, but, like the Dictator, was poor, — so poor, that he could not keep a horse, but was obliged to serve among the foot-soldiers. That same day the Dictator and his Master of the Horse came down into the Forum, ordered all shops to be shut, and all busi- ness to be suspended. All men of the military age were to meet them in the Field of Mars before sunset, each man with five day*-' provisions and twelve stakes ; the older men were to get the pro- visions ready, while the soldiers were preparing the stakes. Thus all was got ready in time : the Dictator led them forth ; and they marched so rapidly, that by midnight they had reached Mount Algidus, where the army of the Consul was hemmed in. Then the Dictator, when he had discovered the place of the enemy's army, ordered his men to put all their baggage down in one place, and then to surround the enemy's camp. They obeyed, and each one raising a shout, began digging the trench and fixing his stakes, so as to form .a palisade round the 108 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book ii. enemy. The Consul's army, which was hemmed in, heard the shout of their brethren, and flew to arms ; and so hotly did they fight all night, that the JEquians had no time to attend to the new foe, and next morning they found themselves hemmed in on all sides by the trench and palisade, so that they were now between two Roman armies. They were thus forced to surrender. The Dic- tator required them to give up their chiefs, and made their whole army pass under the yoke, which was formed by two spears fixed upright in the ground, and a third bound across them at the top. Cincinnatus returned to Rome amid the shouts and exultation of his soldiers : they gave him a golden crown, in token that he had saved the lives of many citizens ; and the Senate decreed that he should enter the city in triumph. So Cincinnatus accomplished the purpose for which he had been made Dictator in twenty-four hours. One evening he marched forth to deliver the Consul, and the next evening he returned vic- torious. But he would not lay down his high office till he had avenged his son Kaeso. Accordingly he summoned Volscius Fictor, the accuser, and had him tried for perjury. The man was condemned and banished ; and then Cincinnatus once more returned to his wife and farm. § 5. Legend of the Fabian Gens and the Veientines. It has already been related that, after the final expulsion of the Tarquins, the Patricians withdrew from the Plebeians those rights which they had originally obtained from King Servius, and which had been renewed and confirmed to them during the time that the Tarquins were endeavouring to return. And for a number of years it appears that the Fabii engrossed a great share of this power to themselves. For we find in the lists of Consuls that for seven years running (from 485 to 479 b.c), one of the two Consuls was always a Fabius. Now these Fabii were the chief opponents of the Agrarian Law ; and Kseso Fabius, who was three times Consul in the said seven years, was the person who procured the condemnation of Sp. Cassius, the great friend of the Plebeians. This Kaeso, in his second Consulship, found himself as unpopular as Appius Claudius. His soldiers refused to fight against the enemy. But in his third Consulship, which fell in the last of the seven years, he showed an altered spirit, hi and all his house. For the Fabii saw the injustice they had been guilty of towards the Plebeians, and the injury they had been doing to the state ; and Kaeso himself came forward and proposed that the Agrarian Law of Sp. Cassius should be carried into full efi'ect. But the Patricians rejected the proposal with scorn ; and so the whole Fabian Gens determined to leave Chap. IX. THE FABII AT THE CREMERA. 109 Rome altogether. They thought they could serve their country better by warring against the Veientines than by remaining at home. So they assembled together on the Quirinal Hill, in all three hundred and six men, besides their clients and followers, and they passed under the Capitol, and went out of the city by the right-hand arch of the Carmental gate.* They then crossed the Tiber, and marked out a place on the little river Cremera, which flows into the Tiber below Veii. Here they fortified a camp, and sallied forth to ravage the lands of the Veientines and drive their cattle. So they stood between Rome and Veii for more than a year's time, and the Romans had peace on that side, whereas the Veien- tines suff'ered greatly. But there was a certain day, the Ides of February,! which was always held sacred by the Fabii, when they offered solemn sacrifices on the Quirinal Hill J to the gods of their Gens. On this day, Kaeso, their chief, led them forth for Rome ; and the Veientines, hearing of it, lay in ambush for them, and they were all cut off. And the Plebeians greatly mourned the loss of their patrician friends, and Menenius, the Consul, who vvas encamped near at hand, but did not assist them, was accused by the Tribunes of treacherously betraying them, as has been above recorded.§ But one young Fabius, who was then a boy, was left behind at Rome when the rest of his Gens went forth to settle on the Cre- mera. And he (so it was said) was the father of the Fabii who were afterwards so famous in the history of Rome. After this, it is said, the men of Veii asked and obtained a peace of forty years. § 6. Though these poetic legends are so much more copious than the scanty facts recorded by the Annals, these last furnish us with the true account of the manner in which the victorious inroads of the Volscians and ^quians were turned back, and their encroachments stayed. Here also the name of Spurius Cassius, albeit not celebrated in the legends, must claim our chief attention. The patrician minstrels who sang of Coriolanus and Cincinnatus left his acts unno'ticed. But not the less may we be sure that it was the Leagues formed by him with the * Called the right Janvs or Janua. So Ovid says {Fasti, ii. 201): — " Carmenti Port* dextro via proxima Jano est : Ire per hanc noli quisquis es : omen habet." \ " Haec ftiit ille dies, in quo Veientibns arvis Ter centum Fabii, ter cecidere duo." — Ovro, Fasti, ii. 195. X This seems to show that they were Sabines of the Titian tribe. Se* Niebuhr, vol. i. note 810. § Chapt viii. § 6. 110 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. Latins and Hernicans which really stemmed the tide of conquest, and saved Latium from the dominion of these Oscan tribes. The first of these Leagues was made in the second Consulship of Cas- sius (b.c. 493), the second in the third Consulship (b.c. 486). It was stipulated by the first that the people of Rome and Latium should form a combined army for the purpose of repelling the invader ; their Legions were united under the same forms, and in like manner ; and it is probable that in one year a Roman Con- sul, in another a Latin Dictator, took the supreme command. The League with the Hernicans was probably of a less intimate nature. In both it seems to have been agreed that all lands taken from the enemy should be shared alike by the combined nations. § 7. The geographical sketch above given will show the im- portance of these Leagues, especially of the second, for the defence of Rome. The League of Rome and Latium was as much a de- fensive measure on the part of the Latins as on that of the Romans. It was chiefly Latin towns that had become the booty of the con- querors. The Hernicans, in their upland valleys, were probably less exposed to the common danger. But their position betweei the Volscian and ^quian hills was such, that when either of thes; tribes sallied down to attack the cities of Latium, their flank and rear lay exposed to the assaults of the Hernicans. We have no detailed accounts to show how these advantages were used. But from the time of these Leagues we may date the declining power of the Oscan tribes, who had one time overrun Latium, and pre- sented themselves before the walls of Rome. Velitrse, Antium, Satricum, and other places were recovered ; and to Antium a colony was sent to restore its wasted population. § 8. The League formed by Spurius Cassius with the Latins, cemented as it was by common interest and common danger, re- mained unaltered till the Gauls broke into Latium, and with their furious onslaught confounded all that existed of order and associa- tion. The formation of an alliance which lasted unbroken foi more than a century, and which then gave way under the pressure of an unforeseen calamity, speaks of no ordinary prudence and foresight on the part of him who formed it. Yet this act was, as we have seen, turned into an article of impeachment against Spu- rius Cassius.* * Chapt viii. § 4. Castor and Pollux. CHAPTER X CONTINUED STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE ORDERS. THE DECEMVIRATE. (470—449 B.C.) § 1. Progress of Plebeians : Colony of Antium . impeachment of second Appius. § 2. Great pestilence. . § 3. Reform-bill of Terentilius Harsa. § 4. Violent scenes at Rome. § 5. Compromise : Triumvirs appointed to report upon Laws of Solon at Athens. § 6, "l^llc Land on the Aventine parcelled out among Plebeians. § 7. Return of Triumviri. § 8. Appointment of De- cemviri ; their functions : third Appius Claudius their chief. § 9. Ten Tables completed. § 10. Resignation of first Decemvirs : successors elected, including Appius. § 11. Change in bearing of Appius : despotism of new- Decemvirs. § 12. Two Tables added to Code. § 13. Appius and col- leagues retain oflBce for a second year. § 14. Wars break out with ^quians and Sabines. § 15. Legend of Siccius Dentatus. § 16. Legend of Vir- ginia. § n. Second Secession to Mons Sacer: Decemvirs resign. § 18. L. Valerius and M. Horatius sent to negotiate between Senate and Ple- beians: Ten Tribunes elected. §19. Restoration of Consulship ; Valerius and Horatius elected. § 20. Valerio-Horatian Laws. § 21. Triumph of new Consuls over Sabines and ^quians. § 22. Appius impeached and dies in prison: Appius executed: the rest pardoned. § 23. Attempt tore-elect Consuls and Tribunes. § 1. It has been shown how the Patrician Burgesses endeavoured to wrest independence from the Plebs after the battle of Lake Regilhis ; and how the latter, ruined by constant wars with the neighbouring nations, compelled to make good their losses by borrowing money from patrician creditors, and liable to become bondsmen in default of payment, at length deserted the city, and only returned on condition of being protected by Tribunes of their own ; and how, lastly, by the firmness of Publilius Volero and Lajtorius, they obtained the right of electing these Tribunes at their own assembly, the Comitia of the Tribes. It has also 112 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL been shown that the great Consul Spurius Cassius endeavoured to relieve the commonalty by an Agrarian law, so as to better their condition permanently. The execution of the Agrarian law was constantly evaded, as we have seen. But, on the conquest of Antium from the Volscians in the year 468 b.c, a colony was sent thither ; and this was one of the first examples of a distribution of public land to poorer citizens, which answered two purposes — the im- provement of their condition, and the defence of the place against the enemy. Nor did the Tribunes, now made altogether independent of the Patricians, fail to assert their power. One of the first per- sons who felt the force of their arm was the second Appius Claudius. This Sabine noble, following his father's example, had, after the departure of the Fabii, led the opposition to the Pub- lilian law. When he took the field against the Volscians, his soldiers would not fight ; and the stern commander put to death every tenth man in his legions. For the acts of his consulship he was brought to trial by the Tribunes, M. Duillius and C. Sicinius. Seeing that the event was certain, the proud Patrician avoided humiliation by suicide.* § 2. Nevertheless the border wars still continued, and the Plebeians still suff"ered much. To the evils of debt and want were added about this time the horrors of pestilential disease, which visited the Roman territory several times at that period. In one year (b.c. 464) the two Consuls, two of the four Augurs, and the Curio Maximus, who was the Head of all the Patricians, were swept off" : a fact which implies the death of a vast number of less distinguished persons. The government was adminis- tered by the Plebeian JEdiles, under the control of senatorial Interreges.f The Volscians and ^quians ravaged the country up to the walls of Rome ; and the safety of the city must be attri- buted to the Latins and Hernicans, not to the men of Rome. § 3. Meantime the Tribunes had in vain demanded a full execution of the Agrarian law. But in the year 462 b.c, one of the Sacred College, by name C. Terrentilius Harsa, came forward ^ith a bill, of which the object was to give the Plebeians a surer footing in the state. This man perceived that as long as the Consuls retained their almost despotic power, and were elected by the influence of the Patricians, this Order had it in their power to thwart all measures, even after they were passed, which tended to advance the interests of the Plebeians. He therefore no longer demanded the execution of the Agrarian law, but pro- * So says Dionys. ix. 51. " Morbo moritur," says Livy, ii. 61, f Liv. iii. G-8, chap.X. terentilian Law, lia posed that a commission of Ten Men (decemviri) should be appointed to draw up constitutional laws for regulating the future relations of the Patricians and Plebeians. § 4. The Reform Bill of Terentilius was, as might be supposed, vehemently resisted by the Patrician Burgesses. But the Ple- beians supported their champion no less warmly. For five con- secutive years the same Tribunes were re-elected, and in vain endeavoured to carry the bill. This was the time which least fulfils the character which we have claimed for the Roman people — patience and temperance, combined with firmness in their demands. To prevent the Tribunes from carrying their law, the younger Patricians thronged to the Assemblies, and interfered with all proceedings ; Terentilius, they said, was endeavouring to confound all distinction between the Orders. Some scenes occurred which seem to show that both sides were prepared for civil war. In the year 460 b.c. the city was alarmed by hearing that the Capitol had been seized by a band of Sabines and exiled Romans, under the command of one Herdonius.* Who these exiles were is uncertain. But we have seen, in the legend of Cincinnati! s, that Kaeso Quinctius, the son of that old hero, was an exile. It has been inferred, therefore, that he was among them, that the Tribunes had succeeded in banishing from the city the most violent of their opponents, and that these persons had not scrupled to associate themselves with Sabines to recover their homes. The Consul Valerius, aided by the Latins of Tus- culum, levied an army to attack the insurgents, on condition that after success the law should be fiiUy considered. The exiles were driven out, and Herdonius was killed. But the Consul fell in the assault ; and the Patricians, led by old Cincinnatus, refused to fulfil his promises. Then followed the danger of the ^quian invasion, to which the legend of Cincinnatus, as given above, refers. The stern old man used his dictatorial power quite as much to crush the Tribunes at home, as to conquer the enemies abroad. One of the historians tells us that in this period of seditious violence, many of the leading Plebeians were assassinated, as the Tribune Genucius had been ; and to this time only can be attri- buted the horrible story mentioned by more than one writer, that nine Tribunes were burnt alive at the instance of their colleague Mucius.f Society was utterly disorganised. The two * The oircumfitances, as related in the legend, have already been given in the story of Cincinnatus. \ Dio Oassius, Fragm&nt. Vatican, xxii., and in the abridgment by Zonaras, Yh, 17. Compare Yaler. Max. vi. 3, § 2. The latter atrributes it to the time 114 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II Orders were on the brink of civil war. It seemed as if Rome was to become the city of discord, not of law. Happily, there were moderate men in both Orders. Now, as at the time of the Sacession, their voices prevailed, and a compromise was arranged. § 5. In the eighth year after the first promulgation of the Terentilian law, this compromise was made (454 b.c). The law itself was no longer pressed by the Tribunes. The Patricians, on the other hand, so far gave way as to allow Three Men (triumviri) to be appointed, who were to travel into Greece, and bring back a copy of the laws of Solon, as well as the laws and institutes of any other Greek states, which they might deem good and useful. These were to be the groundwork of a new Code of Laws, such as should give fair and equal rights to both Orders, and restrain the arbitrary power of the Patrician Magistrates. § 6. Another concession made by the Patrician Lords was a small instalment of the Agrarian law. L. Icilius, Tribune of the Plebs, proposed that all the Aventine hill, being Public Land, should be made over to the Plebs, to be their quarter for ever, as the other hills were occupied by the Patricians and their Clients. This hill, it will be remembered, was consecrated to the godijss Diana (Jana),* and though included in the walls of Servias, was yet not within the sacred limits (pomoerium) of the patrician city. After some opposition, the Patricians suffered this Icilian law to pass, in hopes of soothing the anger of the Plebeians. The land was parcelled out into building-sites. But as there was not enough to give a separate plot to every plebeian householder that wished to live in the city, one allotment was assigned to several persons, who built a joint house in Jlats or stories, each of which was inhabited (as in Edinburgh and in most foreign towns) by a separate family .f § 7. The three men who had been sent into Greece returned in the third year (452 b.c). They found the city free from domestic strife, partly from the concessions already made, partly from expectation of what was now to follow, and partly from the effect of a pestilence which had broken out anew. § 8. So far did moderate counsels now prevail among the Pa- tricians, that after some little delay they agreed to suspend the ordinary government by the Consuls and other officers, and in of Spurius Cassius. But it must have been after the year 441 b.c. ; for in that year the numbar of Tribunes first became ten. * Chapt. iii. § 27. f These houses, or blocks of houses, jomtly occupied by several families, were in Roman phrase called insuloa (the term isola is still so used), while the term domus was restricted to the mansion occupied by a single wealthy family. Chap. X. DECEMVIRATE. 115 their stead to appoint a Council of Ten, who were during their existence to be entrusted^ with all the functions of government. But they were to have a double duty : they were not only an ad- ministrative, but also a legislative council. On the one hand, they were to conduct the government, administer justice, and command the armies. On the other, they were to draw up a Code of Laws, by which equal justice was to be dealt out to the whole Roman People, to Patricians and Plebeians alike, and by which especially the authority to be exercised by the Consuls, or chief magistrates, was to be clearly determined and settled. This supreme Council of Ten, or Decemvirs, was first appointed in the year 450 b.c. They were all Patricians. At their head stood Appius Claudius and T. Genucius, who had already been chosen Consuls for this memorable year. This Appius Claudius, the third of his name, was son and grandson of those two patri- cian chiefs who had opposed the leaders of the Plebeians so vehe- mently in the . ipatter of the tribunate. But he affected a dif- ferent conduct from his sires. He was the most popular man of the whole council, and became in fact the sovereign of Rome. At first he used his great power well ; and the first year's government of the Decemvirs was famed for justice and mo- deration. § 9. They also applied themselves diligently to their great work of law-making ; and before the end of the year, had drawn up a Code of Ten Tables, which were posted in the Forum, that all citizens- might examine them, and suggest amendments to the Decemvirs. After due time thus spent, the Ten Tables were confirmed and made law at the Comitia of the Centuries. By this Code equal justice was to be administered to both Orders without distinction of persons. § 10. At the close of the year, the first Decemvirs laid down their office, just as the Consuls and other officers of state had been accustomed to do before. They were succeeded by a second set of ten, who for the next year at least were to conduct the government like their predecessors. The only one of the old Decemvirs re-elected was Appius Claudius. The Patricians, indeed, endeavoured to prevent even this, and to this end he was himself appointed to preside at the new elec- tions ; for it was held impossible for a chief magistrate to return his own name, when he was himself presiding. But Appius scorned precedents. He returned himself as elected, together with nine others, men of no name, while two of the great Quinctian Gens who off'ered themselves were rejected. Of the new Decemvirs, it is certain, that three,* and it is pro- * Sp. Oppius, Q. Poetelius, C. Duillius. 116 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS Book II bable that five, were Plebeians. Appius, with the plebeian Oppius, held the judicial office, and remained in the city ; and these two seem to have been regarded as the chiefs. The other six commanded the armies and discharged the duties previously assigned to the Quaestors and ^diles. § 11. The first Decemvirs had earned the respect and esteem of their fellow-citizens. The new Council of Ten deserved the hatred which has ever since cloven to their name. Appius now threw off the mask which he had so long worn, and assumed his natural character — the same as had distinguished his sire and grandsire of unhappy memory. He became an absolute despot. His brethren in the council offered no hindrance to his will : even the plebeian decemvirs, bribed by power, fell into his way of action and supported his tyranny. They each had twelve lictors, who carried fasces with the axes in them, the symbol of absolute power, as in the times of the Kings ; so that it was said, Rome had now twelve Tarquins instead of one, and 120 armed lictors instead of 12. All freedom of speech ceased. The Senate was seldom called together. The leading men. Patricians and Plebeians, left the city. The outward aspect of things was that of perfect calm and peace ; but an opportunity only was want- ing for the discontent which was smouldering in all men's hearts to break out and show itself. § 12. By the end of the year the Decemvirs had added two more Tables to the Code, so that there were now Twelve Tables. But these two last were of a most oppressive and arbitrary kind, devoted chiefly to restore the ancient privileges of the patrician caste. Of these Tables we will speak presently ; but here it should be observed that they were made laws not by the vote of the People, but by the simple edict of the Decemvirs. § 13. It was, no doubt, expected that the second Decemvirs also would have held Comitia for the election of successors. But Appius and his colleagues showed no intention, and when the year came to a close they continued to hold office as if they had been re-elected. So firmly did their power seem to be established, that we hear not of any endeavour being made to induce them to resign. } § 14. In the course of this next year (449 B.C.), the border wars were renewed. On the north the Sabines, and the ^quiana on the north-east, invaded the Roman country at the same time. The latter penetrated as far as Mount Algidus, as in 458 b.c, when they were routed by old Cincinnatus. The Decemvirs probably, like the Patrician Burgesses in former times, regarded these inroads not without satisfaction ; for they turned away the mind of the people from their sufferings at home. Yet from Chap. X. DECEMVIRATE. 117 these very wars sprung the events which overturned their power and destroyed themselves. Two armies were levied, one to check the Sabines, the other to oppose the ^quians, and these were commanded by the six military Decemvirs. Appius and Oppius remained to administer affairs at home. But there was no spirit in the armies. Both were defeated ; and that which was opposed to the ^quians was compelled to take refuge within the walls of Tusculum. Then followed two events which were preserved in well-known legends, and which give the popular narrative of the manner in which the power of the Decemvirs was overthrown. § 15. Legend of Siccius Dentatus. — In the army sent against the Sabines, Siccius Dentatus was known as the bravest man. He was then serving as a centurion; he had fought in 120 battles; he had slain eight champions in single combat; had saved the lives of fourteen citizens ; had received forty wounds, all in front ; had followed in nine triumphal processions ; and had won crowns and decorations without number. This gallant veteran had taken an active part in the civil contests between the two orders, and was now suspected by the Decemvirs commanding the Sabine army, of plotting against them. Ac- cordingly, they determined to get rid of him ; and for this end they sent him out as if to reconnoitre, with a party of soldiers, who were secretly instructed to murder him. Having discovered their design, he set his back against a rock, and resolved to sell his life dear. More than one of his assailants fell, and the rest stood at bay around him, not venturing to come within sword's length ; when one wretch climbed up the rock behind and crushed the brave old man with a massive stone. But the man- ner of his death could not be hidden from the army ; and the generals only prevented an outbreak by honouring him with a magnificent funeral. Such y-^.s the state of things in the Sabine army. § 16. Legend of Virginia. — The other army had a still grosser outrage to complain of. In this, also, there was a notable; centurion, Virginius by name. His daughter Virginia, just ripen- ing into womanhood, beautiful as the day, was betrothed to L. Icilius, the Tribune who had carried the law for allotting the Aventine Hill to the Plebeians. Appius Claudius, the Decemvir, jaw her and lusted to make her his own. And with this view, he ordered one of his clients, M. Claudius by name, to lay hands upon her as she was going to her school in the Forum, and to claim her as his slave. The man did so ; and when the cries of her nurse brought a crowd round them, M. Claudius insisted on taking her before the Decemvir, in order (as he said) to have 118 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. the case fairly tried. Her friends consented ; and no sooner had Appius heard the matter, than he gave judgment that the maiden should be delivered up to the claimant, who should be bound to produce her in case her alleged father appeared to gain- say the claim. Now this judgment was directly against one of the laws of the Twelve Tables, which Appius himself had framed ; for therein it was provided, that any person being at freedom should continue free, till it was proved that such person was a slave. Icilius, therefore, with . Numitorius the uncle of the maiden, boldly argued against the legality of the judgment ; and at length Appius, fearing a tumult, agreed to leave the girl in their hands on condition of their giving bail to bring her before him next morning; and then, if Virginius did not appear, he would at once (he said) give her up to her pretended master. To this Icilius consented; but he delayed giving bail, pretending that he could not procure it readily ; and in the meantime he sent off a secret message to the camp on Algidus, to inform Vir- ginius of what had happened. As soon as the bail was given, Appius also sent a message to the Decemvirs in command of that army, ordering them to refuse leave of absence to Virginius. But when this last message arrived, Virginius was already half- way on his road to Rome ; for the distance was not more than twenty miles, and he had started at nightfall. Next morning early, Virginius entered the Forum leading his daughter by the hand, both clad in mean attire. A great num- ber of friends and matrons attended him ; and he went about among the people entreating them to support him against the tyranny of Appius. So when Appius came to take his place on the judgment seat, he found the Forum full of people, all friendly to Virginius and his cause. But he inherited the boldness as well as the vices of his sires, and though he saw Virginius stand- ing there, ready to prove that he was the maiden's father, he at once gave judgment against his own law, that Virginia should be given up to M. Claudius, till it should' be proved that she was free.* The wretch came up to seize her, and the lictors kept the people from him. Virginius, now despairing of deliverance, begged Appius to allow him to ask the maiden whe- ther she were indeed his daughter or no. "If," said he, "1 find I am not her father, I shall bear her loss the lighter." Un- der this pretence he drew her aside to a spot upon the northern side of the Forum (afterwards called the Novre Tabern{r),f and * This was called vindicias in servitutem dare. Vindex was the legal term for claimant; vindicce was the claim to possession. The opposite judgment was vindicias in libertatem dare. The person who claimed another as slave or free was said asserere aliquem in servitutem, or in libertatem. f See Chap. iii. § 11. Chap. X. FALL OF DECEMVIRATK 119 here, snatching up a knife from a butcher's stall, he cried : " In this way only can I keep thee free ;" — and so saying, stabbed her to the heart. Then he turned to the tribunal and said : " On thee, Appius, and on thy head be this blood." Appius cried out to seize " the murderer :" but the crowd made way for Virginius, and he passed through them holding up the bloody knife, and went out at the gate and made straight for the army. There, when the soldiers had heard his tale, they at once abandoned their decemviral generals, and marched to Rome. They were soon followed by the other army from the Sabine frontier; for to them Icilius had gone, and Numitorius ; and they found willing ears among men who were already enraged by the murder of old Siccius Dentatus. So the two armies joined their banners, elected new generals, and encamped upon the Aventine Hill, the quarter of the Plebeians. Meantime, the people at home had risen against Appius ; and, after driving him from the Forum, they joined their armed fellow citizens upon the Aventine. There the whole body of the com- mons, armed and unarmed, hung like a dark cloud ready to burst upon the city. § 17. Whatever may be the truth of the legends of Siccius and Virginia, there can be no doubt that the conduct of the Decem- virs had brought matters to the verge of civil war. At this juncture the Senate met ; and the moderate party so far prevailed as to send their own leaders, M. Horatius Barbatus and L. Valerius Potitus, to negotiate with the insurgents. The Plebeians were ready to listen to the voices of these men ; for they remembered that the Consuls of the first year of the Republic, when the Patri- cian Burgesses were friends to the Plebeians, were named Va- lerius and Horatius ; and so thef appointed M. Duillius, a former Tribune to be their spokesman. _^ut no good came of it. And Duillius persuaded the Plebeians to leave the city, and once more to occupy the Sacred Mount. Then remembrances of the great Secession came back upon the minds of the Patricians ; and the Senate observing the calm and resolute bearing of the plebeian leaders, compelled the Decem- virs to resign, and sent back Valerius and Horatius to negotiate anew. § 18. The leaders of the Plebeians demanded: — 1st, That the Tribuneship should be restored, and the Comitia Tributa recog- nised. 2ndly, That a right of appeal to the People against the power of the supreme magistrate should be secured. 3rdly, That full indemnity should be granted to the movers and promoters of the late Secession. 4thly, That the Docemvirs should be burnt alive. 120 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIAiS'S. Book IL Of these demands the deputies of the Senate agreed to the three first; but the fourth, they said, was unworthy of a free people ; it was a piece of tyranny, as bad as any of the worst acts of the late government ; and it was needless, because any one who had reason of complaint against the late Decemvirs might proceed against them according to law. The Plebeians listened to these words of wisdom, and withdrew their savage demand. The other three were confirmed by the Fathers, and the Plebeians returned to their quarters on the Aventine. Here they held an Assembly according to their Tribes, in which the Pontifex Maximus presided ;* and they now for the first time elected Ten Tribunes — first Virginius, Numitorius, and Icilius, then Duillius and six others : so full were their minds of the wrong done to the daughter of Virginius; so entirely was it the blood of young Virginia that overthrew the Decemvirs, even as that of Lucretia had driven out the Tarquins. § 19. The Plebeians had now returned to the city, headed by their ten Tribunes, a number which was never again altered so long as the tribunate continued in existence. It remained for the Patricians to redeem the pledges given by their agents Valerius and Horatius, on the other demands of the plebeian leaders. The first thing to settle was the election of the supreme magis- trates. The Decemvirs had- fallen, and the state was without any executive government. It has been supposed, as we have above said, that the govern- ment of the Decemvirs was intended to be perpetual. The Patricians gave up their Consuls, and the Plebeians their Tribunes, on condition that each order was to be admitted to an equal share in the new decemviral college. But the Tribunes were now restored in augmented number, and it was but natural that the Patricians should insist on again occupying all places in the supreme magistracy. By common consent, as it would seem, the Comitia of the Centuries met, and elected to the consulate the two Patricians who had shown themselves the friends of both Orders — L. Valerius Potitus, and M. Horatius Barbatus. Properly speaking, these were the first Consuls, though (in accordance with common custom) this name has been used to designate the supreme magistrates from the beginning of the Republic. But we are told by the Roman historians that before the year 449 b.c. these officers were known by the name of * Usually the Tribunes themselves conducted the business of the Comitia Tributa. But at present there were no Tribunes. The presence of the Chief Pontiff, although a Patrician, would give a peculiar force to the restoration of the leges sacrcUce of the tribunate. Chap. X. FALL OF DECEMVIR ATE. 121 pR^TORS.* Strictly, therefore, Valerius and Horatius were the first Consuls. § 20, As soon as they were installed in office they proceeded to redeem the pledges they had given to the Plebeian leaders by bringing forward certain popular laws, which from them are com- monly called the Valerio-Horatian Laws. (1.) First, they solemnly renewed the old law of Valerius Pop- licola, by which it was provided that every Roman citizen should have an Appeal to the People against the power of the supreme magistrate. This had been sanctioned by the Ten Tables of the Decemvirs, and some remarks on the nature of the right will be found in the next chapter. It must here be noticed that probably the "People" designated in the old law of Poplicola was the Assembly of Patrician Burgesses, whereas now it meant the general Assembly of the Centuries. To the law as proposed by the Consuls, the Tribune Duillius added the terrible penalty already inflicted on nine Tribunes, and threatened to the Decemvirs that " whoso transgressed it should be burnt alive."f (2.) Secondly, it was enacted that the Assembly of the Tribes should receive legislative power, and their measures should, like the laws passed at the Centuriate Comitia, have authority over the whole body of citizens — Patricians and Plebeians. Hitherto the Plebi-scita, or resolutions of the Plebs, had been made merely for regulating their own aff'airs, and had not the force of law. Henceforth they became laws binding on all the Body Politic^ We shall have occasion to return to this subject hereafter. At present it will be enough to note that, as will appear from our review of the laws of the Twelve Tables, the Decemvirs had included in the plebeian or local Tribes the Patricians and their Clients ; so that the claim of the Comitia Tributa to obtain legis- lative authority was no exclusive privilege conferred on the Plebeians. § 21. The second of these laws soon showed itself in operation. It will be remembered that two armies had been sent by the Decemvirs to meet the Sabines and the ^quians in the field. When these armies marched to Rome to take vengeance upon * See Liv. iii. 54. They were called Praetors in the Laws of the XII. Tables (Plin., Hist. Nat. xviii. 3). The derivation of consul and consulere is evidently the same, namely the preposition cum or cow, implying joint deliberation and common action. Niebuhr compares it to proesul from proi, exul from ex. f ZCJvrag KaraKavdr/vai, Piodor. xii. 25. Livy (iii. 55) says that the of- fepders were " to be scourged and beheaded." But the practice of burning seems at that time to have been the last penalty. X The terms of the enactment, as given by Livy, are ; — " Ut C[uo4 tnbVltUB plebes jussiaset, pojmlum teoeret," 6 122 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL Appius and liis colleagues, the enemy was left to pursue their ravages unchecked, except by the Latins and Ilernicans. The new Consuls now held a levy. Names were willingly given in, and they were soon ready to take the field at the head of men devoted, to them for their good services. Victories were gained ; but when Valerius and Horatius returned at the head of their troops, and halted in the Campus Martins (according to custom), that they might enter the city in triumphal procession, the Senate refused them this honour. Upon this, L. Icilius, Tribune of the Plebs, obtained a vote from the people assembled in their Tribes, by which it was ordained that the friends of the Plebs should enjoy their triumph in despite of the senatorial ill-will ; and the Senate saw themselves compelled to give way. § 22. Meanwhile the Decemvirs had been left personally unmo- lested; but Virginius, now a Tribune, singled out Appius as the chief offender, and impeached him. The proud Patrician scorned submission, and descended into the Forum, surrounded by a crowd of young men of his own order. Virginius ordered him to be arrested, and refused to hold him to bail unless he could prove " that he had not assigned Virginia into bondage till sho was proved free." This was impossible, and he was thrown into prison to await his trial before the assembled people. But to such degradation he could not stoop; and, like his father, he put an end to his own life in prison. Then Sp. Oppius, the chief among the Plebeian Decemvirs, the friend and imitator of Appius the Patrician, was accused by Numitorius and executed. The goods of both were confiscated to the state (publicata sunt). But when^some of the plebeian leaders would have gone on to impeach the other Decemvirs, then M. Duillius, the Tribune, came forward, and by his power of veto stayed all further proceedings. " Enough had been done," he said, " to vindicate justice and uphold freedom. Further pun- ishments would bear the semblance of revenge, and make it still more difficult to reconcile the two orders." Happy is the people which has leaders who in the heat and tumult of triumph can gain even greater honours by moderation, than by the firm- ness displayed in the conduct of the struggle ! § 23. In all these proceedings no security had yet been taken for the election of Consuls more favourable to plebeian claims. The late refusal of the Senate to authorise the triumph of Vale- rius and Horatius, and the zeal of the young Patricians to obtain the acquittal of Appius, were not encouraging signs for future peace. The more ardent of the plebeian leaders, therefore, pro- posed that the Consuls and Tribunes now in office should be con- tinued without re-election for the succeeding year. But, with cJHAP. X. FALL OF DEOEMVIRATE. 123 the moderation that had marked all their proceedings, the Consuls declined this honour for themselv es ; and Duillius the Tribune, on his part, declared that he could not receive any \ otes tendered for reappointing himself or any of his present colleagues. But many of the Plebeians persisted in voting in this sense : and in conse- quence only five of the new candidates obtained votes sufficient for ^neir election. These five then chose other five to complete the College of Ten. Thus closed the remarkable year in which the Decemvirs were overthrown, and a new beginning of independence made for the commonalty of Rome. But before we continue our narrative, it will be proper to add a chapter on the famous code of laws left behind by the Decemvirs ; for though they were passed away, and their government was forgotten, their laws endured for many * This was called codptatio: see Chapt. xxiv. § 3. One of the Tribunes now elected, L. Trebonius, introduced a law by which it was enacted that hereafter the election of the Tribunes should be kept open till all ten received the due n amber of votes. vAJiii ot p. Porci:u< LKca, author of the Law of A.ppet:i CHAPTER XI. THE CODE OF THE TWELVE TABLES, § 1. Pew remains of the XII Tables. *§ 2. Diflference of character in the first X and last II Tables. § 3, Political ordinances of the X Tables. § 4. Laws for protection of Person and Property. § 5. Iniquitous provisions of the II. Tables. § 6 Advantages resulting from the Code to the Plebeians. § 1. The Twelve Tables were considered as the foundation of all law,* and Cicero always mentions them with the utmost reverence. But only fragments remain, and those who have bestowed the greatest labour in examining these can give but an imperfect ac- count of their original form and contents. § 2. It is probable that the purpose of Terentilius and his fol- lowers, in urging the framing of a Code of laws, was to establish an equality of rights for both orders — Patricians and Plebeians, Lords and Commons. Now it will be seen in the following short statement that some laws had a contrary effect, and tended to widen the breach. These unequal laws were believed by the an- cients to belong to the Two last Tables, which were enacted by the second Decemvirs, and which were unduly favourable to the extreme patrician party, while the Ten Tables of the first Decem- virs were just and equal for all.f § 3. We will first review the political ordinances of these Ten Tables, by which the first Decemvirs sought to establish equality between the Orders. (1.) It has been already stated that they divided the supreme authority. All the old offices were, for the time at least, abro- gated ; and the state was to be governed by a Council of ten, con- sisting of five Patricians and five Plebeians. This reasonable rule fell to the ground when the Decemvirate was abolished ; and hence the contentions between the Orders were renewed (as we shall see) with great virulence. (2.) The Patricians and their Clients were now probably first included in the Plebeian Tribes ; and when we speak of Clients, we must now comprehend also the Freedmen {lihertini)^\ who * Livy (iii. 34) calls them "fons omnis publici privatique juris." f Cicero de Republica, ii. 37. So Appius boasts at the close of the first decemvirate — "se . . omnia jura summis infimisque sequasse," Liv. iii. 34. X They were called lihertini absolutely, but Uberti in reference to their patron. Thus Tiro was Cicero's libertus, but when spoken of simply he was a Uhertinus. Chap. XL CODE OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 125 were a large and increasing class.* Further, the three old Patri- cian Tribes now, or before this, became obsolete ; and henceforth a Patrician was known not as a Ramnian, a Titian, or a Lucerian, but as a Burgess of the Pollian, Papirian, or some other local Tribe. The term Populus Romanus, which (as before remarked) had been applicable in some measure to the united body of Patri- cians and Plebeians since the time when both Orders were com- prehended in the Comitia of the Centuries, was now more properly and strictly so used, — though the time of their perfect union was yet to come. (3.) In consequence of this ordinance a great alteration followed both in the Comitia Centuriata and in the Comitia Tributa ; but as these alterations were rather future consequences of the last- mentioned ordinance, than a distinct ordinance of the Decemvirs, it will be more convenient to notice them hereafter.f § 4. We will now notice a few provisions of those laws, which were intended to protect the person and property of private citizens. (1.) It was enacted that any person claimed as a Slave should be left at freedom till such time as the alleged master proved his claim good. This was the law violated by Appius in the case of Virginia. (2.) The power of a Father over his Children was made less absolute. By the old law the son was as much at the mercy of his father (in potestate patris) as a slave. Henceforth by three sales, real or fictitious, the son might acquire independence or be- come sui juris. (3.) The law of Debt was left in its former state of severity .J But the condition of borrowing money was made easier; for it was made illegal to exact higher interest than ten per cent. For that this is the meaning of fcenus unciarium has been clearly proved by Niebuhr. Uncia (derived from unus) is one of the twelve units into which the as was divided, each being one-twelfth part of the whole. Now y^g of the capital is S\ per cent. ; but as the old Roman year was only ten months, we must add two months' interest at the same rate ; and this amounts to ten per cent, for the year of twelve months. (4.) No Private Law or privilegium — that is a law to impose any penalty or disability on a single citizen, similar in character to our bills of attainder — was to be made.|| * All slaves who became free remained attached to their former master as his freedmen, and he was now called not their master (dominus), but their pa- tron (patronus), the very same term which was used in respect to his clients. It is indeed probable that the increase in the number of slaves and freedmen was among the causes of the gradual decay of the relation of patrons and clients, f See Chapt. xxxv. § 11 sqq. X ^^^ above, Chapt. vii. ^ 7. I Cicero pro Sestio 30, pro Domo 17, 126 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book XL (5.) There waste be an Appeal to the People from the sentence of every magistrate ; and no citizen was to be tried for his life except before the Comitia of the Centuries. It is remarkable how constantly laws of this kind were renewed, from the time of the first law of appeal passed by Valerius Pop- licola in the first year of the Republic. The right of Appeal was one of the demands made by Duillius on behalf of the Ple- beians at the fall of the Decemvirs ; and one of the first acts of the new Consuls was to provide that there should be such appeal. All these laws were finally absorbed in that of Porcius Lajca, passed nearly two centuries after (b.c. 256). This was the famous Porcian law " de capite et tergo civium," by which it was enacted that no Roman citizen should be put to death or scourged without trial before the. Centuries.* These laws may be compared to our Act of Habeas Corpus, which provides that no man shall be im- prisoned by the sovereign or his officers without having his person produced in open court and allowed a fair trial. And as in turbu- lent times this Act is sometimes suspended by the proclamation of military law, so at Rome the laws of appeal might be suspended. This was done in the earlier times by the appointment of a Dic- tator, and afterwards by a resolution of the Senate, " that th- Consuls should see that the commonwealth suffered no injury .'V By such a resolution the Consuls were invested with dictatorial power ; they possessed the imperium within the walls of the city, and might put any dangerous citizen to death. Thus it was that the Senate proceeded against the Gracchi, and against the Catili- narian conspirators. (6.) With regard to the laws of inheritance and contracts, they are of too intricate and technical a nature to be satisfactorily treated in a work like this. The decemviral laws on this head generally made the conveyance of property easier and more cer- tain, favoured the power of leaving property by will, and endeav- oured to secure the fulfilment of contracts. These laws are well worth careful study, for they are the foundation of the great Code of laws known in later times by the name of the Roman or Civil Law, which still prevails in Italy, Germany, and other parts of Europe. § 5. On the whole, therefore, it is clear that the legislation of the first decemviral council was honest and fair, and really tended to introduce equal rights both in law and government for the whole nation. But there are some laws which had a directly contrary effect, *• This was the law by which St. Paul " appealed to Caesar" — for the Em- peror then represented the Roman People. The phrases varied: — Provoco ad Populum, AppeUo Ccesarem. See the Coin at the end of the last Chapter. f " Videant consules, ne quid detriment! capiat Respublica." Chap. XL CODE OF THE TWELVE TABLES. 127 and these (as has been said) are, by the ancients, attributed to the Two last Tables of the Code. (1.) The old law or custom prohibiting all Intermarriage (con- nubium) between the two Orders was now formally confirmed, and thus a positive bar was put to what is conjectured to have been the primary aim of Terentilius and the Tribunes, namely to procure an equalisation of the two Orders. No such consummation could be looked for, when the Code of national law proclaimed them to be of different races, unfit to mingle one with the other. It is impossible to conceive any enactment that could more tend to dissever the two Orders, and produce greater bitterness of feeling between them. At the time of passing it the law was thought to be injurious chiefly to the Plebeians ; and to their feel- ings and their pride it was injurious. But the class to whom it was really most injurious was the Patrician ; for if they had been compelled to intermarry among themselves they would soon have dwindled into a very small number of families, as has been proved by experience in many cases.* It is probable that the wiser and more moderate of the Patricians knew this, and therefore it was that this law was repealed shortly after, without much opposition, by the Tribune Canuleius. (2.) To this may be added the celebrated law by which any one who wrote lampoons or libels on his neighbours was liable to be deprived of civil rights (diminutio capitis). By this law the poet Naevius was punished, when he assailed the great family of the Metelli.f (3.) We may also mention that no attempt was made to divide the Public Land more equitably. Hence we shall find that Agra- rian Laws remained a ready instrument in the hands of all ene- mies of the Patricians and wealthy Plebeians, whether true patriots or brawling demagogues. § 6. But, notwithstanding these unequal laws, there can be no doubt that by the Code of the Twelve Tables the Plebeians gained a considerable step towards the adjustment of their differences with the Patrician Lords. It was nearly eighty years before these dif- ferences were completely settled, when the Licinian Laws again admitted the Plebeians to the supreme offices of the state. * Niebuhr quotes the case of the baronial families of Bremen, who by such restricted marriages were in fifty years diminished by one-third. By the Act of Union with Scotland it was forbidden to create any more Scottish peerages. At the Union. 154 Peers were on the Roll. In 1812 71 of this list had disap- peared. A few of these were forfeited, and some dormant; but far the greater number were extinct, — and this, though there was no law prohibiting mar- riage with commoners. f Chapt. xxxvii. § 14, CHAPTER XII. SEQUEL OF THE DECEMVIRATE. MILITARY TRIBUNATE. GENERAL HISTORY TO THE WAR WITH VEIL (448 406 B.C.) § 1. Many Patricians go over to the Plebeians, § 2. Canuleian Law far legalising Intermarriage of Orders. § 3 Proposition to throw open Con- sulship to Plebeians: compromise by appointment of Military Tribunes. § 4. Nugatory nature of concession. Creation of Censorship. § 5. Survey of whole time of Military Tribunate: three periods. § 6. Reasons for Plebeians demanding so little. § 7. Quaestors increased from two to four: admission of Plebeians to Quaestorship. § 8. Probably at same time to Senate. § 9. Summary. § 10. Popularity of Sp. Mselius, a knight; struck dead by C. ServHius Ahala. § 11. Stories of twoPostumii: their severity. § 1. In the first joy which followed the fall of the Decemvirs, there seems to have been a great disposition in the moderate men of both sides to confide in the good intentions of the opposite party. This appeared fully in the conduct of the Consuls and of Duillius, the most influential of the Tribunes. But the greater part of the Patricians, especially the young men, in whom the pride of blood was hottest, seem only to have made concessions in the hope of recalling them on the first opportunity. It could not be concealed that the Tribunes and the Comitia Tributa had re- ceived a great accession of power; and it was, apparently, for the sake of wielding this power in their own interest that at this time we hear of Senators offering themselves for the Tribunate, and of Patricians laying aside the dignity of their birth, and obtaining adoption into Plebeian families ; nay, at this time, we read that Patricians, or those who had been Patricians, were chosen into the college of the Tribunes.* § 2. But the greatest omission in the arrangement eftected by the Consuls and Tribunes of the year 449 b.c. was, that they had not insisted on the repeal of the invidious law, ratified . * Livy (iii. 65) distinctly states that of the five Tribunes chosen by their colleagues, in default of due election (see Chapt. x. § 23), two were Patricians, and that a similar attempt was made at a later period (v. 10). If this was done without the Patricians having been previously made Plebeians, it must be set down to the disorder of the times ; for to the latest period, after all other political distinctions had ceased, a man of Patrician blood could not be- come a Tribune without having been adopted as a Plebeian. The fact that at this time " many Patricians renounced their birth to become Tribunes" is stated by Zonaras (the Epitomator of Dio Cassius), vii. 15, Chap. XII. CANULEIAK LAW. l29 lately by the Twelve Tables, by which the Intermarriage of the Orders was prohibited. Attention was perhaps called to this by the sight of Patricians seeking the Tribunate ; and in the fourth year after the deposition of the Decemvirs, an enterprising college of Tribunes made it fully understood that the claims of the Plebeians were yet unsatisfied. Nothing short of social and political equality would allay the contests which had been raging, and were sure to rage again, till the wall of severance raised up by oligarchical pride were broken down. ' With these views, C. Canuleius, one of the Tribunes of the year 445 B.C., gave notice of a bill which should make the marriage of the two Orders legitimate. And at the same time his nine col- leagues spoke of bringing forward a measure which should throw open the Consulship to Patricians and Plebeians alike. Scenes of great violence followed the introduction of these bills, as before, when Terentilius Harsa was striving for his law. We are not informed of the particulars ; but at length the Tribunes, despairing of success, a^'ain led the Plebeians out of the city, and in this third Secession they occupied the Janiculum.* If, they said, the Patricians deemed their fellow citizens unworthy to marry with them, if their blood would not mingle, if they were different races of men, — it were better that they separate. Here, however, as before, the Secession gave strength to the moderate party, and it was agreed by the Patricians to allow the Canuleian law to pass without further opposition. This was in itself a revo- lution. It destroyed the existence of the Patricians as a caste. It was now conceded that the two Orders were equal in blood, and that children born of a mixed marriage were in law entitled to the same rank and privileges as those of pure patrician descent.f This change, more than any other, promoted that complete amalgama- tion of the two Orders, which followed so rapidly in the next seventy or eighty years. § 3. The Canuleian bill had become law. The proposal of the nine Tribunes to open the Consulship remained. Against this, the Patrician Burgesses made a firmer stand. They had yielded the most dearly prized of their social privileges; they resolved to maintain their political powers untouched. The Consuls, they argued, had sacred duties to perform ; it was their business to icall together the Centuriate Assembly and preside over it, foi • * " Tertiam seditionem incitavit matrimoniorum dignitas, ut plebeii cum patriciis jungerentur: qui tumultus in monte Janiculo duce Canulcio Trib- Pleb. exarsit." — Florus, i. 25. Tliis secession is not mentioned by Livy or Dionysius. f See tbe eloquent speech which Livy puts into the mouth of Canulehis, iii, 3-5. It anticipates the pregnant argument of Shylock : " Hath not a Jew eyes? ... fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons," ko. 6* 130 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II none could take the auspices and pciforni tlie sacred duties asso- ciated witli this business except those in whose veins ran pure patrician blood. Thus was again raised the very question which ought to have been set to rest for ever by the Canuleian law. The different nature, as it were, of Patricians and Plebeians was still made a reason for excluding the latter from the highest offices of state. After much altercation and long delays, a compromise was agreed to, as in the case of the Terentilian law. Till a satisfactory ar- rangement could be made with respect to the Consulship the chief executive power was committed to officers who bore the name of Military Tribunes, or Tribunes with Consular authority.* They were to be elected, like the Consuls, by the Centuries, and Plebe- ians, as well as Patricians, were to be eligible. § 4. It seems, at first sight, as if by this concession the Patrici- ans had given up more than was demanded by the nine Tribunes. They asked for one of the Consulships ; all the places in the Mili- tary Tribunate were opened to them. However, on examination, it turns out that these apparent concessions were more than bal- anced by other portions of the arrangement. (1.) The Patricians felt quite sure, by their influence in the Comitia of the Centuries, that they should secure most of the places in the new tribunitian college. But if this seemed unlikely, the Senate had the power of suspending the new magistracy and ordering an election of Consuls for any given year. (2.) The office of Prefect of the City seems to have been called into greater prominency now than before. In the absence of the Kings or Consuls it had been usual to invest one of the lead- ing Senators with this high office. But now it seems to have be- come almost permanent. His business was to preside in the Senate and in the courts of justice, and to execute all those high execut- ive functions which were associated with regal and consular dignity. (3.) In the very year after the establishment of Military Tri- bunes, two new officers of state, called Censors, were appointed. These were both Patricians. Their business was to hold the Cen- sus, and perform the solemn rites with which every lustrum, or period of five years, was initiated ; and their office was to last for the whole of this period. In later times the Censors obtained a very great and commanding power, and became the chief and crowning dignity which a Roman burgess could reach. But it cannot be doubted that the cause of their creation was to take out of the hands of the Military Tribunes some of the most important * Their proper title was tribuni militares consulari potestate, or consulari imperio. Chap. XIL MILITARY TRIBUNATE. 131 functions attaching to the office of Consul. It is nowhere said that the Military Tribunes could not take the auspices. But it is said that none of them ever enjoyed a triumph ; the Patrician Tribunes would not claim this honour, lest it should also be granted to their Plebeian Colleagues. Probably the auspices were always taken by the Censors, or (when there were no Censors) by the Prefect of the City. It is evident, therefore, that the concessions made in the compro- mise of the year 444 b.c. were rather apparent than real. Even if the Plebeians had succeeded in filling all the places in the Mili- tary Tribunate, which was not to be expected, yet the Prefect of the City and the Censors were there to maintain the claim of the Patricians to exclusive management of the Comitia Centuriata, with its sacred attributes, the framing of the list of citizens, the assessment for taxation and military service. § 5. We must now anticipate matters a little, to see how this sys- tem worked in practice. The time during which the Military Tribunate lasted may be divided into three periods: (1), eighteen years (444 — 427 b.c), in which Military Tribunes, three in immber, were elected only five times, and Consuls in the remaining years; (2), twenty-one years (426 — 406 B.C.), in which we count fourteen colleges of Military Tribunes, consisting of four in each year, except twice, when the number of three recurs;* (3) thirty-nine years (405 — 36*7 b.c.) in which Consuls are found only twice, while the annual number of Military Tribunes amounts to six, except in three years,f when they are eight. It appears, then, that in the first period the Military Tribunes formed an exception to the rule. Out of seventeen annual magis- tracies, there were at least twelve sets of Consuls ; and even in the five years when there were three Military Tribunes there were Censors by their side. But in the year 434 b.c. L. ^milius Mamercus, himself a Patri- cian, and a man of highest distinction,^ introduced a change. He was in that year invested with the office of Dictator, for the purpose of conducting the war in Lower Etruria, of which we shall speak in the next chapter. His services, however, were not re- quired in the field ; but he brought in a law by which the Censors were allowed eighteen months for the purpose of executing their business, and then were required to lay down their office ; so that if Censors were elected for each lustrum, there would be three years and a half in each of these quinquennial periods during which there were no Censors. We know not what were the * Namely, the years 418, 408, B.C. f Namely, 403, 380, 379, B.a X He was three times Dictator. 132 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. motives of ^milius in this transaction. So angry were the Patri- cians, that the next Censors disgraced this eminent man by depriv- ing him of his political rights as a Burgess of Rome. It is shortly after this law took effect that we first hear of four Military Tri- bunes ; and the conjecture of Niebuhr is now commonly accepted, namely, that the fourth Tribune was the Praefectus Urbis, and therefore necessarily a Patrician.* The third period begins with the siege of Veii. From this time the Military Tribunate becomes the rule, and the Consulship the exception. The number now appears fixed at six : for the three years in which eight are counted, it is probable that the two addi- tional names were those of the Censors.f One of them was no doubt always the Prefect of the City, and he was supreme. It may be observed that it was not till the year 400 b.c. that even a single Plebeian obtained a place in the college. After this, however, the inferior order commonly obtained their due share of places, and in one year they even formed a majority. § 6. It may be matter of surprise that the Plebeians were content with so little. No doubt, the first thing they looked to was their own personal well-being; as yet they cared little for political rights. All their movements had rather tended to secu- rity of life and property than to possession of power. They sought for Tribunes of the Plebs, to protect the poor debtors from the oppression of rich creditors. They demanded an equal Code of laws, that they might have known rights, not dependent on the will of patrician courts of law. They claimed the right of Appeal from the judgment of the supreme magistrate ; that their per- sons might be secure from the arbitrary power of patrician praetors. The only exception is the second Valerian Law, by which the Assembly of the Tribes obtained the power of making laws. But for some time to come even these laws had to do only with questions of life and property ; the Plebeians did not yet interfere with political matters, such as peace and war. Just so, the Commons of England, from their first assembly in Parliament to the time of James L, confined themselves to laws aifecting their own personal interests, and to voting money for the purposes of government : and when they attempted to go further in Elizabeth's time, they were sternly rebuked by that * 418 B.C., when there were only three Tribunes, was a censorial year, and therefore a patrician prefect was not required. 408 b.c., when there were also but three, remains a problem. f This is certainly the case in 403 B.C., where Livy (v. 1) and Plutarch ( Vit. CamilL 2) reckon the Censors Camillus and Postumius among the eight Military Tribunes. In the years 380, 379 B.C., Diodorus alone names eight Tribunes. The Censors of these years, however, ^re not n^me4 »wong thea^ eight. Chap. XIL QU^STORES CLASSICI. 133 imperious sovereign for presuming to "meddle with matters of state." § 7. We may assume that the period between the Canuleian Law and the siege of Veii, when the Military Tribunate seems first to have been regularly established, was a period of pro- visional government, during which all public relations were ex- tremely unsettled. The few events that are preserved by the annalists fully indicate this state of things. Throughout the two first periods of the Military Tribunate, the Patrician Bur- gesses are evidently struggling hard to maintain their political supremacy. At first Consulships are general ; the very first election to the Military Tribunate was^et aside by the augurs, and the same thing happens more than once : but at length consular years become rare, and after the beginning of the siege of Veii almost disappear. In the year 421 b.c. the Plebeians were admitted to another office of state hitherto confined to the Patricians, namely, the Quaestorship. The Quaestors now spoken of are the Qu^stores Classici, so called because they were ori- ginally named by King Servius as paymasters of the Classes, or great military bodies, into which he divided all the people : and they must be distinguished from the Qusestores Parricidii, or Perduellionis.* As time went on, the duties of the Qusestores Classici, now called simply Quaestors, multiplied ; and it was thought necessary to appoint four instead of two. On this, the Tribunes of the Plebs demanded, that two of the four should be Plebeians, and after some little opposition this was conceded. Some time aher, the number of the Quaestors was again doubled ; and in later times they became indefinite in number, since every general and every governor of a province had a Quaestor attached to his staff". § 8. Now it was the custom (as we know in after-times) to fill up vacancies in the Senate from those who had served as Quaes- tors ; and probably it was so from the beginning. When, there- fore, there were eight Quaestors, the Censors at the commencement of each lustrum would find forty men, out of whom new Senators were to be chosen ; and as these forty had all been elected Quaestors by the People in their Centuries, it is plain that the Senate was indirectly chosen by the People. This regulation, whenever introduced, diminished very much the arbitrary power of the Censors in choosing new Senators. Moreover, it gave the Plebeians admission into the Senate — a most important pri- vilege, which was granted we know not exactly when, but probably from their first admission to the Quaestorship. For we find P. Licinius Calvus spoken of as " an old senator," just *Chapt. u. § 2. 134 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. at the close of the Veientine war (in 390 b.c.),* and he was a Plebeian. Now, as the Plebeians were admitted to the Quajstor- ship in 421 B.C. (about 20 years before), it may reasonably be supposed that this P. Licinius was one of the first plebeian Quaestors, and that he with other Plebeians was placed by the next Censors on the roll of the Senate. § 9. Therefore we see the Plebeians admitted to the Military rribuneship, by law in 444 b.c, and actually in 400 ; to the Qusestorship in 421, and to the Senate probably at the same time. The political disunion of the Orders was fast disappearing, and but for the Gallic invasion, which interrupted all peaceful reforms, would have ended sooner^han was actually the fact. § 10. Yet there remained many signs of discord and discontent, though of less violence than in the time of Terentilius. Of these the subjoined narratives will afford sufficient evidence. The year 440 b.c. was the beginning of several seasons of dearth and scarcity. To relieve the distress of the poor, a new office, called the Mastership of the Market (Prsefectura Annonse), was created ; and the Patrician L. Minucius was the first who held this office. But the poorer sort among the Plebeians, im- patient with hunger, complained that his measures were slow and ineffectual; and their discontent was still further increased by the suspicious liberality of Sp. Melius, a wealthy Plebeian Knight. This man employed his money in buying up corn, which he distributed for little or nothing among the poorer citizens. He thus became exceedingly popular ; and he was sus- pected by the Patricians of a wish to raise himself to kingly power. The unhappy man paid dearly for his ambition or generosity. One of the Consuls of the year was T. Quinctius Capitolinus, one of the most vehement of the Patricians, who determined to crush the attempts of Mselius. To this end he named a Dictator, and the person chosen was the old hero L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, his kinsman, well known as a bitter enemy of the Plebeians, who now reappears for a moment upon the stage. The aged Dictator entered on his office with all the eagerness of youth ; he named C. Servilius Ahala his Master of the Horse ; during the night he occupied the Capitol and all the strong places in the city. Next morning he took his seat in the Forum, and sent Ahala to summon Mselius before his tribunal. Maelius knew that his case was desperate; for the Dictator being ap- pointed, the right of Appeal to the Centuries w^as for the time suspended. He therefore refused to obey the summons ; and, on his refusal, Ahala struck him dead upon the spot. Then the Dictator gave judgment that the act was necessary and justifi- * " Vetus Senator."— Liv. v. 12. Chap. XII. STORIES OF TWO POSTUMIL 135 able : he treated Maelius as a condemned traitor, and ordered his house to be levelled with the ground. The place was called the yEquiraa^lium. His stores of corn were sold at a low rate to the poor Plebeians by Minucius. Cicero and the ancients always praise the conduct of Ahala, and represent him to have saved the commonwealth by his firmness and decision. On the other hand, the Plebeians of his own time considered Majlius as a martyr to their cause; and so great was their indignation that Ahala, fearing to be indicted for murder, was obliged to leave Rome. Which is the true view of the case — whether Maelius was a self- ish demagogue or a true patriot, or something between the two — it is impossible for us in our ignorance to say. But suspicions are raised in his favour by remarking that the members of the Quinc- tian Gens were generally violent and tyrannical ; and, further, by the notice that L. Minucius, the patrician Master of the Market, changed his mode of conduct after the death of Maelius so much as to desert his own order and become a Plebeian.* § 11. Still more angry feeling is indicated by two narratives relating to members of the haughty Postumian Gens. In the year 431 b.c, Rome was threatened by a combined attack from the ^quians and Volscians ; and to oppose it A. Pos- tumius Tubertus was named Dictator. He defeated the enemy, but only by enforcing the most rigorous discipline — so rigorous, that he condemned his own son to death because he had pre- sumed to attack the enemy, though he conquered them, without orders. The story of the severity of the Roman father is better known in the case of T. Manlius, which occurred nearly 100 years later. Again, in the year 414 b.c, M. Postumius Regillensis was Military Tribune, and warmly opposed an agrarian law, by which it was proposed to divide among the poor Plebeians certain lands which had been taken from the ^quians of Lavici and Bola. As commander of the army, he threatened to use his absolute power (imperium) in punishing any soldier who had dared, or should dare to further this agrarian law ; and he made good his word by refusing them all share in the plunder of Bola. So exasperated were the men by this conduct, that they rose in mutiny, and stoned their general to death — a rare instance of in- subordination among the soldiers of Rome. For a time, however, this violence, as is usually the case, gave advantage to the enemies of the Plebeians ; and for some years the Patricians succeeded in having Consuls elected instead of Military Tribunes. * livy, iv. 16. Emissary of Alban Lake. CHAPTER XIII. WARS SINCE THE DECEMVIRATE. SIEGE OF VEIL (448 391 B.C.) § 1. Steady advance of Romaas on side of ^quians and Volscians. § 2. Lower Etniria, at peace since fall of Fabii. § 3. Renewal of hostilities: Cossus wins spolia opima from Lars Tolumnius. § 4. Yeii : siege begins in 400 B.C. § 5. Appointment of M. Furius CamUlus as Dictator. § 6. Legend of Overflow of Alban Lake. § 7. Legend of Capture of 'Veii in tenth year of war. § 8. Camillus takes Falerii (story of schoolmaster), Chap. XIII. WARS SINCE THE DECEMVIR ATE. 137 Sutrium, Nepete : truce with Yolsinii. § 9. Project of removing from Rome to Veii, defeated. §10. Unpopularity of Camillus : his banishment. § 11. Estimate of his conduct: his parting prayer. § 1. Since the victory gained by the Consuls Valerius and Hora- tius over the Sabines, no molestation had been experienced from that quarter. The Leagues formed by the great Consul Sp. Cas- sius had checked the advance of the Opican nations on the east, particularly of the Volscians. These successes continued. The towns of Lavici and Bola were recovered from the ^quians ; Anxur won from the Volscians, then lost, but again won. Colo- nies sent to Ardea in 442 b.c, and to Velitrae in 404, shut out the Volscians from the coast-lands ; while northern Latium was secured by another Colony planted at Lavici in 418. While the narratives of these wars are uncertain and exaggerated, it is clear that there was a steady progress on the part of the Latin arms : the Opican arms were gradually being forced back into their mountains. A great change had taken place since they had been in occupation of the Alban Hills, and threatened the very gates of Rome. § 2. But if less positive results were obtained against the Opi- cans on the east, a war took place against the Etruscans beyond the Tiber, which ended in the first considerable addition to the Roman territory that had been received since the fall of the monarchy. It will be recollected that ancient Etruria was described as being divided into two portions by the Ciminian hills ; but the whole Etruscan nation was considered as constituting twelve great communities, of which twelve cities formed the centres.* All these communities were independent of each other, being governed by oligarchies, while the mass of the population were their clients or serfs. For general national purposes these twelve cities formed a federation, and their common meeting-place was the Fanum Vol- tumnse, which lay on the northern slope of the Ciminian range. When the nation engaged in common war, it was usual for them to elect a common chiefj under the title of Lar or Lars. Such was Porsenna of Clusium. Since the days of Lars Porsenna, Rome had carried on a desul- tory war with the Veientines, as with her neighbours on the eastern frontier. But since the fatal day on which the great Fabian Gens perished on the Cremera, there had been a cessation of these feuds. The quarrel was thus renewed. § 3. Fidense was an ancient town on the Sabine side of the Tiber, opposite the Cremera, not more than six or seven miles from Rome. It was a Roman Colony, but it had repeatedly re- * See the description of their country, Chapt. vi. § 9. 138 EOME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book n. volted and expelled the colonists. The last time that this hap- pened the Fidenatians called on Lars Tolumnius of Veii to defend them from the Romans. He raised an army of his own people combined with the men of Capena and the Faliscans, and marched against Rome. The Romans prevailed, and A. Cornelius Cossus, one of the Military Tribunes, slew the Veientine king with his own hand : the linen cuirass which he took and offered up to Jupiter was long preserved, and the Emperor Augustus himself pointed out to Livy that in the inscription upon it Cossos called himself Consul instead of Military Tribune, in order that he might have the credit of winning the spolia opima.* After this victory, Fidense was -taken and razed to the ground : a truce was made with Veii. § 4. This truce ended in the year 407 b.c, and the Veientines entreated the assistance of their Etruscan kinsfolk against the City of the Seven Hills. They met at the Fanum Voltumnse ; but the northern states were in fear of the Gauls, who were threatening to overrun their country,! and Veii was left to defend herself. She was no mean rival — as large as Rome, well-peopled, not more than twelve miles distant ; and, from the preparations made on the part of Rome, it was plain that the war must end in the destruction of one city or the other. The Veientines, however, did not dare again to meet the Romans in the field, and allowed their city to be invested. This was the first time that the Roman militia kept the field for a continuance. Hitherto the men had gone forth for a short campaign, but now they were obliged to remain in the field for the whole year, in order effectually to blockade the enemy's city. Hence it became necessary to pay the army for the whole year, instead of furnishing them with a small allowance for the summer's campaign.^; § 5. But the siege lasted several years without any progress on the part of the Romans. Their soldiers were (as we have said) a kind of militia, unused to the work of a regular siege ; and the Veientines, assisted now by the people of Capena and Falerii, met them in the field and defeated them. A panic fear spread from the army to Rome ; the matrons crowded to the temples ; the Senate met and ordered that a Dictator should be appointed. The choice fell on M. Furius Camillus, a great name, which is now mentioned for the first time. * Liv. iv. 20. For, as Military Tribune, he could not be sole commander of the legions. f They had expelled the Etruscans from the valley of the Po, but when this took place is quite unknown. Introduct. Sect. ii. § 9. I The regular pay {stipendium) was 100 asses a month, or in later times a denarius every three days. Of the mode in which the pay was raised an ac- count wiU be given in Chapt. xxxvi. § 7. Chap. nil. SIEGE OF YEIt. l39 From about the time of his appointment the story of the siege passes into an heroic legend, like those of Coriolanus and the Fabii. Thus it runs. § 6. The panic fear which overpowered the people in the seventh year of the war was not caused by defeat alone. It was magnified by prodigies and marvels : for Avhen summer was now far spent, the Alban Lake, which stands high on the Alban Hills without any visible outlet for its waters, began to rise, and at length poured itself upon the plain below. Prayers and sacrifice availed not; the waters still flowed on. Then the Senate sent to consult the oracle at Delphi what should be done to avert the mischief. Meantime an old Veientine soothsayer was heard to laugh at the Romans who were encamped by Veil ; " for," said he, " it is written in the Book of Fate that Veil shall never be taken till the waters of the Alban Lake find a passage into the sea." A Roman centurion who heard this persuaded the old man to come forth and advise him about certain matters of his own : then he seized the old man, and the generals sent him to Rome to be examined by the Senate. But the Senate paid no heed to him till the mes- sengers returned from Delphi, and said the same things as the old Veientine soothsayer. Then they set to work and made a great tunnel leading from the south-western part of the lake to the river Anio ; and so the waters escaped into the river, and flowed down with its waters into the sea. The tunnel, called in Latin an emissarium or out-letter, to which the legend refers, still remains. It is hewn through hard volcanic rock for a distance of nearly three miles, measuring about five feet in height and three in breadth.* It would be a great work even in these days.f When the Veientines found that the fates were about to be fulfilled, they sent messengers to ask for peace. But the Senate turned a deaf ear to their prayers ; whereupon one of the messen- gers said, " It is written truly that our city should fall ; but it * See the Section and Plan at the head of this Chapter. The Alban stone is noted for its hardness. To check fires at Rome, the Emperor Augustus or- dered that a portion of every new house should be of Alban or Gabian stone. — The interpreters suppose that these enigmatical orders darkly hinted at the operation of mining, by which (as the legend says) Yeii was taken. \ There is a similar emissarium to let off the waters of the Fucine Lake (Lake of Colano) in the -^quian mountains. It was executed in the time of the Emperor Claudius, and is three miles in length from the edge of the lake to the bed of the Liris. Its height is about ten feet, and its breadth six. Thirty thousand men were engaged for eleven years in the work ; and after all, it failed. In our own days, a company has been formed to complete the work, the calculated expense being 160,000Z. These facts will give some notion of the greatness of the work of draining the Alban Lake, which was successfully executed in the infancy of the Roman Republic. 140 EOME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL is also written (though ye know it not), that if Veii should fall, Rome shall be destroyed also." But still the Senate listened not, and M. Furius Camillus was appointed Dictator, as has been told before. § 7. Camillus dallied not with the work. He was not con' tented with blockading the city as before, but began a mine which was to open into the citadel ; and when this was ready for spring- ing, he sent for all citizens to come from Rome and share in the plunder. As the Romans stood in the mine, so runs the Legend, the King of the Veii was offering a sacrifice to Juno in the citadel ; and they heard the soothsayer declare that whoever completed that sacrifice should prevail. Then Camillus gave the sign, and the Veientines were astounded to see armed Romans rise from the floor beneath their feet. So they and their king were slain, and the Romans completed the sacrifice. And Camillus sent a band of young men dressed in white, with hands clean from blood, to carry the statue of the great goddess Juno to Rome. But they, not daring to touch her, asked whether she were willing to go ; and then (it is said) she nodded assent, and the statue was placed in a new tem- ple dedicated to her upon the Aventine. Thus fell Veii, like Troy, in the tenth year of the war, and the people obtained a great booty. And Camillus entered Rome, and descended the Sacred Way, and went up to the Capitol in a car drawn by four white horses, like the chariot of the sun. Never had general so triumphed before, and old men feared that the ven- geance of the gods might come upon his pride. § 8. Veii had fallen, and her few allies were not left unpunished. First, the Romans attacked and utterly destroyed Capena ; then Camillus, who was now a Military Tribune, went against Falerii, the chief city of the Falisci,* which also fell an easy prey to the Roman arms. The story goes that when he appeared before this city a certain schoolmaster, who taught the sons of all the chief men, brought them out by stealth and offered to put them into the hands of the Romans. But Camillus, scorning the baseness of the man, ordered that his hands should be tied behind him, and that the boys should flog him back again into the town; "for Romans," said he, " war not with boys, but with men." Then the Falis- cans, won by his noble conduct, willingly surrendered their city (b.c. 394). Soon after Sutrium and Nepete also surrendered, and as Caere was an ancient ally of Rome, her power was paramount in * These Faliscans, though in Etruria, were not Etruscans. Yirgil calls them ^qui Fcdisci {^n. vii. 695). Probably they were of the Opican race, which inhabited the country before the incoming of the Etruscans. Chap. XIIL SIEGE OF VEIL 141 all the district south of the Ciminian forest. Nor was this all, Three years later they came in collision with the powerful city of Volsinii, (Bolsena), north of the Ciminian range, and won a battle. A peace of twenty years was then concluded. Doubtless the same reasons had prevented the northern Etruscans from aiding their southern compatriots, and now hastened this peace. The Gauls ere this had crossed the Apennines. § 9. The conquest of Veii very nearly proved the ruin of Koma, It was a large and beautiful city, well and regularly built, on a plain, with a citadel of great natural strength overhanging the city. All the plain country round, up to the hills of the Cimi- nian forest, were now subject to Home. The Veientines them- selves, according to the barbarous practice of ancient times, had all been put to the sword or sold into slavery. There stood the goodly city empty, inviting people to come and dwell in her. On the other hand, Rome with her seven hills presented a series of ascents and descents; in the ancient city there was hardly a level street. The streets themselves were much less regular and handsome than those of Veii, and the climate was even then bad, as has been said above.* It is not wonderful then that men should turn their thoi^gLtf^ towards Veii, especially those poor Plebeians who had no lands at Rome. Some called for an agrarian law, to divide the lands of Veii among the people ; but T. Sicinus and some of his brother Tribunes proposed that half the people should go and settle in Veii, so that she should form another state equal to Rome. At first this proposal was stopped by the veto of two Tribunes who opposed their colleagues ; but at length it was brought before the People, who now listened to the reasoning of the Patricians, and eleven tribes out of twenty-one voted against the bill : thus the Tribunes were defeated even in their own Assembly. . Happy for Rome that her people were so moderate and reason- able. Separation such as was proposed might have condemned both Rome and Veii to become obscure Latin towns, like Tuscu- lum or Praeneste, and the sovereignty of Italy might have fallen to the Samnites or to Pyrrhus of Epirus. But Providence had determined that Rome was to be the mistress of the world, and she remained unbroken by the will of her own people. Satisfied with this victory, the patrician party consented to an agrarian law on a large scale. The Veientine lands were distri- buted, and seven jugera were allotted to every householder, with an additional allowance for his children. § 10. Meantime the great Camillus had lost favour with his countrymen. His patrician pride all along diminished the popu- * See Chapt. vi. §§ 5 and 6. 142 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. larity which as a conqueror he could not fail to win : and he lost still more when he called upon every man to refund a tenth of the spoil they had taken at Veil ; for though he, in the moment of victory, had vowed to offer his tenth to Apollo, yet the plunder was taken before there had been time to set apart the portion of the god. Poor men ill brook to part with what they think their own ; and in this case the whole of the ill-will fell upon the general. "His vow," they said, "was a mere pretence to rob the Plebeians of their hard-won spoil." Still worse than this, it was not long before men came forward and accused Camillus of taking much of the booty for his own share, which ought to have been fairly divided among all. Espe- cially, it was said, he had appropriated the great bronze gates, which in those days, when all coin was made of bronze, were exceedingly valuable. The general was impeached for corrupt practices by L. Appuleius, Tribune of the Plebs (391 b.c.) His Clients and Tribesmen offered to pay the fine, which probably would have been imposed upon him, but said they could not acquit him. He therefore left the city, and as he left it he turned about and prayed that his country might soon have reason to feel his want and call him back again. Ardea, a city of the Latins, was his place of refuge. § 11. There can be little doubt that the great Camillus really took these gates. But how far he was guilty of an illegal act we cannot determine. He might think that he was entitled to them, for it was acknowledged that a general had a right to set apart a portion for himself: and we may well believe that his chief fault was, that in his pride he arrogated to himself more than was generally thought right. All would wish to believe that so great a man was not to be blamed for greed and baseness. His parting prayer was heard : for " the Gaul was at the gatas," and the next year saw Rome in ashes. • Geese of the Capitol {?). OHAPTER XIV. THE GAULS. (390 B.C.) § 1. Introductory. § 2. Who the G-auls were. § 3. Migration of Celtic aations: occupation of Northern Italy by Gauls. § 4. Who those Gauls were that burnt Rome. § 5. Legend of quarrel with Gauls, and battle of Alia §6 — 8. Of sack of '\ome and blockade of Capitol. §9. Of delivery by Camillus. § 10. Falsehood of last Legend. § 11. Later inroads of Gauls. § 12. Legends of T Manlius Torquatus and M. Valerius Corvus. § 1, The course of Roman History, hitherto disturbed only by petty border wars, now suffers a great convulsion. Over her neighbours on the east and north the Republic was in the ascendant ; on the west, the frail oligarchies of Etruria had sunk before Camillus and his hardy soldiers ; when, by an untoward unon of events, Rome saw her best general depart from her walls, ana heard of the barbarian host which was wasting the fair land of Italy. The Gauls burst upon Latium and the adjoining lands with the suddenness of a thunder-storrxi; and, as the storm, with all its fury and destructiveness, yet clears the loaded air and restores a balance between the disturbed powers of nature, so it was with this Gallic hurricane. It swept over the face of Italy, crashing and destroying. The Etruscans were weakened by it ; and if Rome herself was laid prostrate, the Latins also suffered 144 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL greatly, the Volscians trembled, and the ^quians were irreeovei ably weakened. § 2. Before telling the tale of the destruction of Rome by the Gauls, it will be well to ask — Who were these Gauls ? They were a tribe of that large race of mankind who are known under the name of Celts, and who at the time in question peopled nearly the whole of Western Europe, from the heart of Germany to the ocean. The northern and central parts of the continei t were already in the hands of various nations, called by the com- mon name of Germans or Teutons, to whom belonged the Goths, Saxons, Danes, Normans, Lombards, Franks, and Alemanni, — names which yet live in Europe. But the Celts in earlier times possessed a far extended range of country — France, great part of Germany, most of Spain and Portugal, together with the British Isles. Of these Celts there were, and still are, two great divisions, commonly called Gael and Cymri, differing in habits and lan- guage.* The ancient inhabitants of France were Gael, those of Britain and Belgica were Cymri ; and the Druidical religion, though sometimes adopted by the Gael, was properly and originally Cymric. Gael are still found in Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland ; Cymri in Wales and Low Brittany ; and they have left traces of their name in Cumber-land. But the great Celtic race, once so widely spread, has been, as it were, pushed into the sea by the Gothic and German tribes. The few fragments of them that remain are usually found on the western verge of their old countries. § 3. Now before the time we are now speaking of, there had been a great movement in these Celtic nations. Two great swarms went out from Gaul. Of these, one crossed the Alps into Italy; the other, moving eastward, in the course of time penetrated into Greece and then passed into Asia Minor, where they were known under the name of Galatians.f It is supposed that the Gael who dwelt in the eastern parts of Gaul, being oppressed by Cymric tribes of the west and north, went forth to seek new homes in distant lands, as in later times the Gothic and German tribes were driven in the contrary direc- tion by the Huns and other Asiatic hordes, who were thronging into Europe from the east. At all events, it is certain, that large bodies of Celts passed over the Alps before and after * Celt is strictly the same as Gael (KeXr-al, TaAar-ai, Gall-i, Gael, being- all one), and therefore is itself properly opposed to Cymri. But it is convenient to have one common name, and most modern writers have taken Celt or Kelt as the generic appellation of the race. f They plundered the temple of Delphi in 279 B.C., rather more than a century after their compatriots sacked Rome. See Dr. Smith's Eisioi-y of Greece, chapt. xlvi. § 4. Chap. XIV. THE GAULS. U5 this time, and having once tasted the wines and eaten the fruits of Italy were in no hurry to return from that fair land into their own less hospitable regions. We read of one swarm after another pressing into the Land of Promise ; parties of Lingones, whose fathers lived about Langres in Champagne ; Boians, whose name is traced in French Bourbon and Italian Bologna ; Senones, whose old country was about Sens,* and who have left record of themselves in the name of Senigaglia, (Sena Gallica) on the coast of the Adriatic. The course taken by these adventurers was probably over divers passes of tho Alps, from that of the Mount Cenis and the Little St. Bernard to the Simplon. Pouring from these outlets, they overran the rich plains of Northern Italy, and so occupied the territory which lies between the Alps, the Apennines, and the Adriatic,! that the Romans called this territory Gallia Cisalpina, or Hither Gaul. The northern Etruscans gave way before these fierce barbarians, and their name is heard of no more in those parts. Thence the Gauls crossed the Apennines into Southern Etruria, and while they were ravaging that country they first came in contact with the sons of Rome. § 4. The common date for this event is 390 b.c. How long before this time the Gallic hordes had been pouring into Italy we know not. But whenever it was that they first passed over the Alps, it is certain that now they first crossed the Apennines. The tribe which took this course were of the Senones, as all authors say, and therefore we may suppose they were Gaelic; but it has been thought they were mixed with Cymri, since the name of their king or chief was Brennus, and Brenhin is Cymric for a King.\ They are described as large-limbed, with fair skins, yellow hair, and blue eyes, in all respects contrasted with the natives of Southern Italy — a description which suits Gael better than Cymri. Their courage was high, but their tempers fickle. They were more fitted for action than endurance ; able to conquer, but not steady enough to maintain and secure their conquests. These qualities attributed to the Gallic nations of antiquity, show themselves remarkably in their descendants. Nowhere, as above observed, have the Celts been able to sustain the approach of the German nations ; even in Gaul, transformed as it was by Roman civilisation, the Germans prevailed. The modern French nation is * "Senonumque priores," says Juvenal, whereas Polybius writes their name 'Liivovec. But other Gallic names in -ones are pronounced short (as Lingones, Santones Vascones, &c.), and therefore we follow Juvenal. f All of it except Liguria, which was bounded by the Apennines and Mari- time Alps, the Po and the Trebia. X The same title is given to the chief who led the assault upon DelphL i7 146 ROME UNDER l^HE PATRICIANS. Book II a compound of these conquerors, Goths, Vandals, Franks, North- men, with the original Celtic population. § 5. Such is a brief account of the Gauls who destroyed Rome. Now begins the Roman Legend. Brennus and his barbarians (it was said or sung) passed into Etruria at the invitation of Aruns, a citizen of Clusium (Chiusi), whose daughter had been dishonoured by a young Lucumo or Noble of the same place. To avenge his private wrongs thig Etruscan called in the Gauls, as Count Julian in the Spanish romance called in the Moors to avenge the seduction of his daughter by Roderic the Goth. The Gauls, nothing loth, crossed the mountains, and laid siege to Clusium ; on which the Etruscans of the city, terrified and helpless, despairing of effectual succour from their own countrymen, sent to seek aid from the city of the Tiber, which had formerly measured arms with their own King Porsenna, and which but now had conquered so many old Etruscan cities. Common danger makes friends of foes ; and the Senate determined to support the Etruscans against the barbarians. However, all they did was to send three ambas-^iadors, sons of Fabius Ambustus, the Pontifex Maximus, to warn the Gauls not to meddle further with the men of Clusium, for Clusium was the ally of Rome. The barbarians took slight notice of the message, and continued the war. Now it chanced that there was a battle fought while the three Fabii were still at Clusium ; and they, forgetting their peaceful character as envoys, took part with the Clusians against the Gauls, and one of them was seen stripping the arms off a Gallic champion whom he had slain. The barbarians, in high wrath, demanded to be led straight against the city whose sons were so faithless; but their chiefs restrained them, and sent an embassy to Rome demanding that the envoys should be given up. Then the Senate, not caring to decide so weighty a matter, referred it to the People ; and so far were they from listening to the demands of the Gauls, that at the Comitia next ensuing, these very envoys were all three elected Military Tribunes. On hearing of this gross and open insult, Brennus broke up his camp at Clusium, and the Gauls marched southward for Rome. The river Clanis, upon which stood Clusium, led them down to the Tiber beneath Vulsinii ; they crossed that river, and pouring down its left bank, they found themselves confronted by the Romans on the banks of the Alia, a little stream that rises in the Sabine hills and empties itself into the Tiber at a point nearly opposite the Cremera. Their left rested on the Tiber, the Alia was in their front, and their right occupied some hilly ground. Brennus did not attempt to attack in fronj^ Chap. XIV. THE GAULS. 147 but threw himself with an overpowering force upon the right flank of the enemy ; and the Romans, finding their position turned, were seized with panic fear and fled. The greater part plunged into the Tiber in the hope of escaping across the river to Veii, and many made their escape good; but many were drowned, and many pierced by Gallic javelins. A still smaller number made their way to Rome, and carried home news of the disaster. The Gauls cared not to pursue the flying foe. One day, or even two days (as some accounts give it), they spent in col- lecting trophies and rejoicing in their great and easy victory. § 6. Meantime the Senate at Rome did what was possible to retrieve their fallen fortunes. With all the men of military age they withdrew into the Capitol, for they had not numbers enough to man the walls of the City. These were mainly Patricians. The mass of the Plebeians, with the women, fled to Veii. The priests and vestal virgins, carrying with them the sacred images and utensils, found refuge at the friendly Etruscan city of Ca^re. But the old senators, who had been Consuls or Censors, and had won triumphs and grown gray in their country's service, feeling themselves to be now no longer a succour but a burthen, determined to sacrifice themselves for her ; and M. Fabius, the Pontifex, recited the form of words * by which they solemnly devoted themselves to the gods below, praying that on their heads only might fall the vengeance and the destruction. Then, as the Gauls approached, they ordered their ivory chairs to be set in the Comitium before the temples of the gods,f and there they took their seats, each man clad in his robes of state, to await the coming of the avenger. § 7. At length the Gallic host approached the city and came to the Colline gate. It stood wide open before their astonished gaze, and they advanced slowly, not without suspicion, through deserted streets, unresisted and unchecked. When they reached the Forum, there within its sacred precincts they beheld those venerable men, sitting like so m^ny gods descended from Heaven to protect their own. They gazed with silent awe : till at length a Gaul, hardier than his brethren, ventured to stroke the long beard of M. Papirius. The old hero raised his ivory staff" and smote the off'ender ; whereupon the barbarian in wrath slew him ; and this first sword-stroke gave the signal for a general slaughter. Then the Romans in the Capitol believed that the gods had accepted the offering which those old men had made, and that the rest would be saved. * Carmen, as the Romans called it. f Livy says that they sat in the porticoes of their own housea 148 ROME [JNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. But for a time they were doomed to look down inactive upon the pillage of their beloved city. Fires broke out, and all the houses perished, except some upon the Palatine, which were saved for the convenience of the chiefs. At length the Gauls, sated with plunder, resolved to assault the Capitol. In those days it was surrounded on all sides with steep scarped cliffs, and only approachable from the Forum by the Sacer Clivus. Here the Gauls made their assault; but it was easily repulsed, and henceforth they contented themselves with a blockade. A por- tion of them remained in the city, while the rest roamed through Southern Italy, plundering and destroying. § 8. Tlie months that follow are embellished with more than one heroic Legend. We read that while the Gauls were lying at the foot of the Capitol, they were astonished to see a youth named C. Fabius Dorso come down into the midst of them, clad in sacred attire, and pass through the Forum along the Sacred Way to the Quirinal Hill, there to perform certain solemn rites peculiar to the great E'abian Gens.* Struck with religious awe, they suffered the bold youth to go upon his way and return to the Capitol unharmed. Still more famous is the Legend of M. Manlius, the saviour of the Capitol. Tlie Plebeians at Yeii were anxious to communi- cate with the Senate and Patricians there; and for this pur- pose Pontius Cominius, a brave patrician youth, undertook to climb up the steep rock of the Capitoline Hill on the river side.f He explained to the Senate the wish of the People to recal Camillus and make him Dictator; and having obtained their sanction, he returned the same way in safety. But next day, the Gauls observed the marks on the rock where his feet had rested, or where he had clung for support to the tufted grass and bushes. Where one man had climbed another could follow ; and a chosen party cautiously ascended by the same track. The foremost of them was just reaching the top in safety ; the guards slept ; not even a watch-dog bayed. But in the temple of Juno, which stood hard by, certain sacred geese were kept, and the pious Romans (so ran the legend) had spared to eat of these even in the extremities of hunger. And they were rewarded. For now, in the hour of need, the sacred birds began to cackle aloud and flap their wings, so that they roused M. Manlius from sleep. Then he, hastily snatching up his arms, rushed to the edge of the cliff where the noise was, and found a Gaul who had just reached the top. On he rushed and pushed * See the legend of the Creraera, Chapt. ix. § 5. f The place designated was somewhere near the steps which now lead up to the Capitol, near the church of Araceli. Chap. XIV. THE GAULS. 149 him backward ; and his fall so alarmed his comrades, that some fell down, and others were slain without resistance. Thus did M. Manlius save the Capitol ; and his fellow-soldiers honoured his bravery so highly, that each man gave him a day's allowance of food, notwithstanding the distress to which, all had been re- duced. § 9. For seven months did the Gauls blockade the Capita}.* They entered the city in the heat of the Dog-day s,f and the two months that follow are at Rome the most unhealthy of the year. Unused to the sultry climate, naturally intemperate, living in the open air, numbers of them fell a prey to pestilence and fever. But with stubborn courage they braved all, till at length Brennus agreed to quit Rome on condition of receiving 1000 pounds weight of gold. This was hastily collected, partly from the temples of the Capitol, partly from private sources; and when it was being weighed out, Brennus with insolent bravado threw in his sword with the weights, crying, " Woe to the vanquished !" While the scale was yet turning (so ran the legend), Camillus,' who had successfully repulsed the Gauls from Ardea, and then as Dictator had taken the command of the Roman army at Veii, marched into the Forum. Sternly he ordered the gold to be taken away, saying that with iron, not with gold, would he redeem the city. Then he drove the Gauls away, and so com- pletely destroyed their host, that not a man was left to carry home the news of their calamity. § 10. Such was the conclusion of the Legend. But, unfortu- nately for Roman pride, here also, as in the tale of Porsenna, traces of true history are preserved which show how little the Roman annalists regarded truth. Polybius tells us, as if he knew no other story, that the departure of the Gauls was caused by the intelligence that the Venetians, an Illyrian tribe, had invaded their settlements in Northern Italy, and that they actually received the gold and marched off unmolested to their homes. It is added by a later historian, that Drusus, the elder brother of the Emperor Tiberius, recovered this very gold from the Gauls of his own day. This last account at least shows that in the time of Drusus the heroic Legend of Camillus found little credence. The Gauls left the city in ruins, in whatever way they were compelled to retire, whether by the sword of Camillus, or * So says Polybius, ii. 22. Varro and Fionas say six^ Servius eight \ The battle of the Aha was fought about the summer solstice (Plutarch, Cam.iU. c. 19). The Kalends of August was the day marked in the Kalendar as ill-omeued in consequence of this battle. But the uncertainty of the year haa already been noticed, Chapt, i. § 17, Note. 150 ROME UN"DER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. by tlie softer persuasion of gold. Of the effects of their inva- sions and the condition of Ronae thereafter, we will speak in the next chapter. § 11. It may be convenient to mention beforehand the two later invasions, which perhaps were quite as formidable a& the first, though the Romans now resisted with greater courage and firmness. Thirty years after the first irruption (361 b.c), we hear that another host of Senonian Gauls burst into Latium from the North, and in alliance with the people of Tibur, ravaged the lands of Rome, Latium, and Campania. For four years they continued their ravages, and then we hear of them no more. A third irruption followed, ten years later, of still more formi- dable character. The Gauls formed a stationary camp on the Alban Hills, and kept Rome in perpetual terror. But, in the second year, the Romans, under the command of L'. Furius Ca- millus, a nephew of the great M. Camillus, took the field against them, and so harassed them by cutting off their supplies, with- out venturing on a general action, that after some months they poured southward, and disappear from history. Therefore Lucius Camillus was called by Aristotle " the Deliverer of Rome" from the Gauls.* (b.c. 350, 349.) After this, the Romans did not come in contact with the Gauls for many years ; and then they were the invaders of Gallia Cisalpina, not the Gauls of Latium. § 12. These later inroads of the Gauls are distinguished by two famous Legends ; the last, or nearly the last, which occur in the pages of Roman history. In the Manlian house there was a Family which bore the name of Torquatus. This name was said to have been won by T. Manlius, who fought with a gigantic Gallic champion on the bridge over the Anio in 361 b.c, and slew him. From the neck of the slain enemy he took the massy chain (torques) which the Gallic chiefs were in the habit of wearing.f He put it round his own neck, and returning in triumph to his friends, was ever after known by the name of T. Manlius Torquatus. Of him we shall hear more in the sequel. Again, when L. Camillus was pursuing the Gauls through the Volscian plains in 349 b.c, a champion challenged any one of the Roman youth to single combat. The challenge was readily * Plutarch, CamiU c. 22, Aristotle was bom in 384 B.C., and was living at Athens when this last invasion took place. From this and other facts, w« see that the affairs of Italy were now exciting interest \v Greece, f " Lactea colla Auro innectuntur." — ^Yirg. JEn. viii. 660 Chap. XIV. THE GAULS. 161 accepted by M. Valerius, who, by the side of the huge Gaul, looked like a mere stripling. At the beginning of the combat (wonder- ful to tell) a crow lighted upon his helmet ; and as they fought, the bird confounded the Gaul by flying in his face and striking him with his beak, and flapping his wings before his eyes ; so that he fell an easy conquest to the young Roman. Hence M. Valerius was ever known by the name of Corvus, and his descendants after him. Him also we shall hear of hereafter; for he lived to be a great general, and more than once delivered his country from great danger. Ab, with head of Janus. CHAPTER XV, SEQUEL OF THE GALLIC WAR. LICINIAN LAWS. FINAL EQUALISATION OF THE TWO ORDERS. (389 367 B.C.) § 1. Proposition to migrate to Veil renewed, defeated by an omen. § 2. Ir- regularity in rebuilding the City. § 3, Misery of the people. § 4. M. Manlius comes forward as their patron : his fate. § 5. Estimate of his character. § 6. Measures to conciliate the Plebs : Four new Tribes created from the Veientine territory. § 7. Claims of the Plebeians to the Consul- ate renewed by C. Licinius and L. Sextius. § 8. Pretended cause of their enterprise. §9. The three Licinian Rogations promulgated 376 b.c; §10. First, for reduction of debt. § 11. Second, agrarian. § 12. Third, politi- cal. § 1 3. Violent opposition of the Patricians, met by an interdict on all elections by Licinius and Sextius. § 14. Struggle prolonged for five years. § 15. Compromise refused by the Tribunes: after five years more the Li- cinian Rogations become Law. § 16. Sextius first Plebeian Consul : Patri- cian Curies refuse him the Imperium, § 17. This Quarrel adjusted: judi- cial power of the Consul transferred to a new Patrician Magistrate : the Praetor: Curule ^diles. § 18. Camillus vows a Temple to Concord : rapid rise of Roman power consequent on the Union of the Orders. § 1. We can imagine better than describe the blank dismay with which the Romans, on the departure of the Gads, must have looked upon their ancient homes. Not only were the fields Chap. XY. "REBUILDING OF ROME. 153 ravaged and the farms of the plebeian yeomen destroyed, as had often happened in days of yore, but the city itself, except the Capitol, was a heap of ruins. It is not strange that once again the Plebeians should have thought of quitting Rome for ever. Not long before a great body of them had wished to make Yeii their city ; now, the bulk of the people had actually been living there for many months. Rome no longer existed ; patriotism, it might be said, no longer required them to stand by their ancient home : why should not all depart — Patricians with their Clients and Freedmen, as well as Plebeians — and make a new Rome at Veii ? Thus was the question argued, and so it seemed likely to be decided. In vain Camillus opposed it with all the influence which his late services had given him. Even standing in the Forum, under the shadow of the Capitol, with the Citadel so well defended by Manlius over their heads, in the sight of their coun- try's gods, which had now been safely brought back from the friendly refuge of Caere, the Plebeians were ready to agree to a general migration of the whole people, when (so runs the story) a sudden omen changed their hearts and minds. A certain cen- turion was leading a party of soldiers through the city, and, halt- ing them in the Forum while the question was in hot debate, he used these memorable words : " Standard-bearer, pitch the stand- ard here ; here it will be best for us to stay !" § 2. It was therefore resolved to rebuild the city, and the Senate did all in their power to hasten on the work. They took care to retrace, as far as might be, the ancient sites of the temples ; but the hurry was too great and authority too weak to prescribe any rules for marking out the streets and fixing the habitations of the citizens. All they did was to supply tiling for the houses at the public expense. Then men built their houses where they could, where the ground was most clear of rubbish, or where old ma- terials were most easy to be got. Hence, when these houses came to be joined together by others, so as to form streets, these streets were narrow and crooked, and, what was still worse were often built across the lines of the ancient sewers, so that there was now no good and effectual drainage. The irregularity continued till Rome was again rebuilt after the great fire in the time of the Em- peror Nero. § 3. Great were the evils that were caused by this hurry. The healthiness of the city must have been impaired, order and de- cency must have suff'ered, but there was one particular evil at the moment which threatened very great mischief. The mass of the people, having little or nothing of their own, or having lost all in the late destruction, were obliged to borrow money in order to complete their dwellings ; and as tillage had for the last season 1* 154 KOME UJ^DER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL been nearly suspended, the want and misery that prevailed was great. Now we have seen that the Twelve Tables did indeed regu- late the rate of interest, but left untouched the ancient severity of the laws of debt ;* so that now again, as after the wars against the Tarquins, many of the poorer sort were reduced to bondage in the houses of the wealthy Patricians and Plebeians ; for the latter now possessed many rich members, and the rich persons of both orders began to act together. § 4. Then it was that M. Manlius, the defender of the Capitol, stood forth as the patron of the poor. He saw a debtor being taken to prison, whom he recognised as a brave centurion that had formerly served with him in the wars. He instantly paid the man's debt and set him free. After this he did the same for many others ; and, selling the best part of his landed pro- perty, he declared that while he could prevent it he would never see a fellow-citizen imprisoned for debt. His popularity rose high, and with the poorer sort the name of M. Manlius was more in esteem than that of the great Camillus. Nor did he content himself with relieving want ; he also stepped forward as an accuser of the Patricians and Senators : they had divided among themselves, he said, part of the gold which had been raised to pay the Gauls. On the other hand, the Patricians asserted that Manlius was endeavouring to make himself tyrant of Rome, and that this was the real purpose of all his generosity. The Senate ordered a Dictator to be named, and Au. Cornelius Cossus was the person chosen. He summoned Manlius before him, and required him to prove the charge which he had mali- ciously brought against the ruling body. He failed to do so and was cast into prison, but claimed to be regularly tried before the whole people assembled in their Centuries; and his claim was allowed. On the appointed day he appeared in the Campus Martins, surrounded by a crowd of debtors, every one of whom he had redeemed from bondage. Then he exhibited spoils taken from thirty enemi.s slain by himself in single combat; eight civic crowns bestowed each of them for the life of a citizen saved in battle, with many other badges given him in token of bravery. He laid bare his breast and showed it all scarred with wounds, and then turning to the Capitol, he called those gods to aid whom he had saved from the sacrilegious hands of the bar- barians. The appeal was felt, and if the Centuries had then given their votes, he would certainly have been acquitted of high treason. So his enemies contrived to break up that Assembly ; and shortly after he was put on his trial in another place, the Peteline grove, whence (it is said) the Capitol could not be seen. Here he * Chapt. xi. § 4, . Chap. XV. M. MANLIUS. 155 was at once found guilty, and condemned to be thrown down the Tarpeian rock. A bill was then brought in and passed, enacting that his house on the Capitol should be destroyed, and that no one of his Gens should hereafter bear the forename of Marcus.* § 5. When we read this story, like those of Sp. Cassius and Sp. Maelius, we again ask, was M. Manlius really a traitor or no ? It is difficult to give a positive answer, yet there are circum- stances which show that probably he was not free from guilt. The ostentatious way in which he relieved the debtors is no good sigA; and we read that in the first trial the Tribunes of the Plebs were against him. It is not unlikely that he endeavoured to exalt him- self by means of the poorest classes, and thus raised against him not only the Patrician Lords, but also all the wealthier Plebeians, or indeed men of all orders, who had cause to fear disorder and revolution. There are several different accounts of his trial and latter days. One historian f tells us that Manlius forestalled his arrest by heading an insurrection, and, seizing the Capitol, where he himself dwelt,J bade defiance to the power of the Senate. But they craftily engaged a false friend of the traitor in their interest ; and he, pretending to have something important to tell, led Man lius to the edge of the Tarpeian rock and then pushed him un- awares over the brink. All accounts agree at least in this, that Manlius had made him- self dangerous to public order, and, in the unsettled state of affairs which then prevailed, it is more than probable that the Senate resorted to unusual, perhaps unconstitutional, measures to put him down. § 6. The Senate, however, also had recourse to conciliatory measures. The lands which had been taken from the Veientines on the right bank of the Tiber were now incorporated into the Roman territory and divided into four Tribes, so that all free men settled in these districts became burgesses of Rome, and had votes in the Comitia both of the Centuries and Tribes. This politic measure, however, served no less to conciliate the affections of their new Etrurian subjects than to benefit their own poor citizens.§ Moreover an attempt was made to plant a number of poor citizens in the Pontine district. Yet these * It may be observed that each gens et familia clung to the same forenames. Thus Publius, Lucius, Cneius, were favourite forenames of the Comelii ; Caius of the Julii ; Appius of the Claudii ; and so on. f Dio Cassius, Fragm. xxxi., ed. Reimar. ; also as abridged by Zonaras, vii. 24. X He was surnamed Capitolinus from this circumstance probably, and not because he saved the Capitol. For we have other families called by the samo name, as that of T. Quinctius Capitolinus. § See Chapt. xviu. § 2. 156 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL measures were insufficient to heal the breach which still subsisted between the Patricians and Plebeians. Nothing could be effectual to this end but the admission of the Plebeians to the chief magis- tracy ; and a struggle now commenced for that purpose whicl? ended successfully. § 7. It has been often repeated, that all difference between the Patrician and Plebeian Orders was rapidly disappearing, or rather tl;at the Patrician families were dying off, and the numbers of their order gradually becoming less, while many Plebeian fami- lies were becoming wealthy and powerful. Already we have seen the Plebeians obtain a footing in the Senate ; already they were allowed to fill the offices of Quaestor and ^dile, and, as Mili- tary Tribunes, could command the armies of the state ; but to the highest curule offices, as the Censorship and Consulship, they were not admissible, the reason given being, that for these offices the auguries must be taken, and no religious rites could be per- formed save by persons of pure Patrician blood. This now began to be felt to be a mockery. Men saw with their own eyes and judged with their own understanding that Patricians and Plebeians were men of like natures and like faculties, were all called on alike to share burthens and dangers in the service of the state, and therefore ought to share alike the honours and dignities which she conferred. So Canuleius argued many years before, so the Plebeians thought now ; and two resolute, clear- headed Tribunes arose, who proposed, and at length carried, the celebrated laws by which Plebeians were admitted to the highest honours. These two men were C. Licinius Stolo and L. Sextius his kins- man. § 8. There is a well-known story of the manner in which they were first roused to the undertaking. It runs thus. M. Fabius Ambustus, a Patrician, had two daughters, the elder married to Serv. Sulpicius, a Patrician, the younger to C. Licinius, a Ple- beian. It happened that Sulpicius was Consular Tribune in the same year that Licinius was Tribune of the Plebs ; and as the younger Fabia was on a visit to her sister, Sulpicius, return- ing home from the Forum with his lictors, alarmed the Plebeian's wife by the noise he made on entering the house. The elder sister laughed at this ignorance ; and the younger Fabia, stung to the quick, besought her husband to place her on a level with her proud sister. Thus, it is said, did Licinius form the design which we have now to speak of. It may be observed, by the way, that the story must be an invention ; — because, Lici- nius' wife being daughter of a man who had himself been Con- sular Tribune not long before, could not have been ignorant of Chap. XV. LICINIAN ROGATIONS. 157 the dignities of the office ; and because there was nothing in the world to prevent Licinius himself from being Consular Tribune, and thus equal* in power and dignity to his brother-in-law. No doubt Licinius and his kinsman were led by higher motives and better principles to bring forward their laws. § 9. However this might be, Licinius and Sextius, being Tri- bunes of the Plebs together in the year 376 b.c, promulgated the three bills which have ever since borne the name of the Lici- NiAN Rogations. These were : L That of all debts on which interest had been paid, the sum of the interest paid should be deducted from the principal and the remainder paid off in three successive years. IL That no citizen should hold more than 500 jugera (nearly 320 acres) of the Public Land, nor should feed on the public pastures more than 100 head of larger cattle and 500 of smaller, under penalty of a heavy fine. IIL That henceforth Consuls, not Consular Tribunes, should always be elected, and that one of the two Consuls must be a Plebeian. § 10. Of these laws, the first is of a kind not very uncommon in rude states of society, and in such only could it fail to pro- duce great and serious mischief. If persons lend and borrow money, without violating the law, they enter into a legal con- tract, and the State is bound to maintain this contract, not to annul or alter it. Cases will occur when the borrower is unable to pay his debts, and that from no fault or neglect of his own ; and it is good that laws should be enacted to provide for such cases of insolvency, — cases, that is, in which the insolvent is not guilty of fraud or neglect. These laws must be general and known beforehand, so that when the parties make the contract they may do it with their eyes open. But if the State were often to cancel legal debts, in whole or in part, this would shake all confidence, persons would be very slow to lend money at all, and thus credit and commerce would be destroyed. But at Rome in the times after the Gallic war, as at Athens in the time of Solon (when a similar ordinance was passed)* all things were in such confusion, all law so weakened, all trade so utterly at a stand-still, that it might possibly be necessary to resort to vio- lent and arbitrary measures of this kind ; and we may well believe that Licinius, who was himself a wealthy man, would not have interfered in this way but for a presumed necessity. It must be * His famous aetaaxdeta, or Disburthening Ordinance, by which all existing debts were wiped out. See Dr. Smith's History of Greece, chapt. x. § 12. So, after the wars of the League in France, Sully deducted from the principal of all debts the usurious interest already paid, and left the remainder standmg at the legal rate of interest. 158 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book IL added that tlie Roman law, at that time, was too favourable to the creditor, and quite insufficient to protect the debtor. But the precedent was a bad one ; and in later times one of the worst means by which demagogues pandered to the dishonest wishes of the people was a promise of novce tabulce^ or an abolition of all standing debts. § 11. The second law was a general Agrarian Law. We need only refer here to what has before been said as to the nature of Agrarian Laws at Rome, namely, that they were not intended to confiscate private property, but to divide among needy citizens the state-lands, which by the law of the state belonged to the whole body of citizens.* Former Agrarian laws had merely di- vided certain portions of state-land (ager publicus) among the needy citizens ; but this proposed to lay down a general rule, by which the holding (possessio) of all the state-lands was to be limited. The purpose of Licinius was a good one. He wished to maintain that hardy race of independent yeomen who were the best soldiers in the state-militia ; whereas if all these lands were absorbed by the rich, they would be cultivated by hired labourers or slaves. The subsequent history will show how unfortunate it was for Rome that this law was not more fully executed. § 12. These two laws were of a social nature, attempting to regulate the private relations and dealings of the citizens : the third was a political law, and needs no remark. It went to aflSrm that the Plebeians had an equal right to supreme power with the Patricians. § 13. At first the Patricians were equally opposed to all these laws ; they were the chief creditors, and therefore would lose by the first law ; they held the bulk of the state-lands on easy terms, and therefore would lose by the second ; they alone could be Consuls, and therefore they could not brook the third. We need not therefore wonder at a violent resistance ; nor is it won- derful that they should enlist many rich Plebeians on their side, for these persons would suff'er as much as themselves from the first two laws. Accordingly we find that in the college of Tri- bunes of the Plebs some Tribunes were found to put a veto on the bills. But Licinius and Sextius would not be thus thwarted, and themselves turned the powerful engine of the veto against their opponents. When the time of the elections arrived they interdicted all proceedings in the Comitia of the Centuries : con- sequently no Consuls, Consular Tribunes, Censors, or Quaestors * Appian (Bell. Civ. i. 8) states this so clearly, that it is surprising that the common misapprehensions should ever have arisen. After explaining what the Public Land was, he says that Licinius ordained /xTjdiva ex^iv TH2AE TH2 FHS irXedpa TTEvraKoatuv TzXeiova, k. t. A. Chap. XV. LICINIAN ROGATIONS. 159 could be elected. The Tribunes and Jildiles, who were chosen at the Comitia of Tribes, were the only officers of state for the ensu- ing year. § 14. This state of things (as the Roman annalists say) lasted for five years,* Licinius and Sextius being re-elected to the Tri- bunate every year. But in the fifth year, when the people of Tus- ciiluni, old allies of Rome, applied for aid against the Latins, the Tribunes permitted Consular Tribunes to be elected to lead the army, and among them was M. Fabius Ambustus, the father-in- law and friend of Licinius. The latter, far from relaxing his claims, now proposed a fourth bill, providing that, instead of two keepers of the Sibylline books (duumviri), both Patricians, there should be ten (decemviri), to be chosen alike from both Orders ; — so scornfully did he treat the pretensions of the Patricians to be sole ministers of religion. The latter felt that the ground was slipping from under them, and that the popular cause was daily gaining strength. In vain did the Senate order a Dictator to be named for the purpose of settling the matter in their favour. The great Camillus assumed the office for the fourth time, but resigned ; and P. Manlius Capi- tolinus, who was named presently after, effected nothing. He seems, indeed, to have been friendly to the Plebeians, if we may judge from the fact that he chose P. Licinius Calvus, a Plebeian, to be his Master of Horse. § 15. Once more, as when the Patricians were in opposition to the Tribunes Terentilius and Canuleius, so now did the more moderate party propose a compromise. The law respecting the keepers of the Sibylline books was allowed to pass, and it was suggested that the two former of the Licinian Rogations, the two social laws, might be conceded, if the Plebeians would not press the political law, and claim admission to the highest curule rank. But this the Tribunes refused. They could not, they said, eff"ectually remedy the social evils of their poor brethren unless they had access to the highest political power ; and they declared they would not allow the two first bills to become law unless the third was passed together with them. "If the people will not eat," said Licinius, " neither shall they drink." In vain did the Patricians endeavour to turn this declaration against them ; in vain did they represent the Tribunes as ambitious men, who cared not really for the wants of the poor in comparison of their own honour and dignity ; in vain did the mass of the Plebeians * In a highly organised state of society, it is impossible to conceive the sus- pension of the chief magistrates for so long a time. But after the burning of the city, with the population much diminished, and in the absence of foreign war^ the thing does not seem incredible, 1 60 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. avow themselves ready to accept the compromise offered by the Patricians. The Tribunes set their faces like iron against the threats of the higher sort and the supplications of the lower. For another five years the grim conflict lasted, till at length their reso- lution prevailed, and in the year 367 B.C. all the three Licinian Rogations became law. This great triumph was achieved with little tumult (so far as we hear) and no bloodshed. Who can refuse his admiration to a peo- ple which could carry through their most violent changes with such calmness and moderation ? § 16. But the Patricians, worsted as they were, had not yet shot away all their arrows. At the first election after these laws were passed, L. Sextius was chosen the first Plebeian Consul. Now the Consuls, though elected at the Comitia of the Centuries, were invested with the imperium or sovereign power by a law of the Curias.* This law the Patricians, who alone composed the Curies, refused to grant ; and to support this refusal the Senate had ordered Camillus, who was now some eighty years old, to be named Dictator for the fifth time* The old soldier, always ready to fight at an advantage, perceived that nothing now was piac- ticable but an honourable capitulation. The Tribunes advised the people to submit to the Dictator, but declared that they would in- dict him at the close of his oflrice ; and he, taking a calm view of the state of things, resolved to act as mediator.f § 17. The matter was finally adjusted by a further compro- mise. The Plebeian Consul was invested with the imperium ; but the judicial power was now taken from the Consuls and put into the hands of a supreme Patrician Judge, called the Praetor of the City (Praetor Urbanus), and Sp. Camillus, son of the Dictator, was the first Praetor. A hundred men (centum viri) were named, to whom he might delegate all diflicult cases not of a criminal nature. At the same time also another magistracy, the Curule ^dileship, was created, to be chosen from Patricians and Plebeians in alternate years, who shared the duties of the only Plebeian ^diles, and besides this, had to superintend the Great Games, for which they were allowed a certain sum from the treasury. At the same time a fourth day was added to these games,! ^^ honour of the Plebeians. * Lex curiata de imperio. f Not, however, without another Secession, if we must take Ovid's wordfl literaDy {Fast. i. 639) :— "Furius antiquum populi superator Etrusc/ Yoverat et voti solverat ante fidem. Causa, quod a patribus sumtis secesserai armii Vulgus et ipsa suas Roma timebat ope^." I Ludi Magni or Romani- Chap. XV. TEMPLE OF CONCORD. 161 § 18. Thus the Patricians lost one of the Consulships, but re- tained part of the consular functions under other titles. And when Camillus had thus effected peace between the Orders, he vowed a temple to Concord ; but before he could dedicate it, the old hero died. The temple, however, was built according to his design ; its site, now one of the best known among those of an- cient Rome, can still be traced with great certainty at the North- western angle of the Forum, immediately under the CapitoHne.* The building was restored with great magnificence by the Emperor Tiberius ; and it deserved to be so, for it commemorated one of the greatest events of Roman history, — the final union of the two Orders, from which point we must date that splendid period on which we now enter. By this event was a single city enabled to conquer, first all Italy, and then all the civilised countries of the known world, that is, all the peoples bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. We pause here, though it was some years yet before the political equality of the Plebeians was fully recognised. But it will be convenient to reserve this transition period for the next Book, because it runs inextricably into the events there to be narrated. The present Book shall be closed with a chapter on the sources of Roman History down to the point which we have now reached. * See the Plan of the Forum, Chapt. iU. § 24. Reverse of As, with Ship's prov/. CHAPTER XVI. SOURCES OF EARLY ROMAN HISTORY. g 1. Destruction of all public Records by the Gauls. § 2. Meagre character of these Records : early History of Rome embodied in Legends. § 3. Legends of the Patrician period full of falsehood. § 4. Due to banquet- minstrelsy and funeral eulogies. § 6. Plebeian ballads also rife. § 6. How this mass of Legends was made into History. § 7. Tradition and documents. § 8. Minstrelsy hngered on after Burning by Gauls, but super- seded by Annals. § 1. When the Gauls departed and left Rome in ashes, it was not only the buildings of the city which perished. We are expressly told that all public Records shared in the general destruction, — the Fasti, or list of yearly magistrates with their triumphs, the Annales Pontificum and the Linen Rolls (libri lintei), which were annual registers or chronicles of events kept by the Pontiffs and Augurs.* This took place, we know, about the year 390 b.c. Now the first Roman annalists, Fabius Pictor, Cincius Alimen- tus, Cato the Censor, with the poets Nsevius and Ennius, flourished about a century and a half after this date. Whence, then, it is natural to ask, did these writers and their successors find materials for the History of Rome before the burning of the city ? What is the authority for the events and actions which are stated to have taken place before the year 390 B.C.? § 2. The answer to these questions may partly be found in our fifth chapter. The early history of Rome was preserved in old heroic legends, which lived in the memories of men, and were transmitted by word of mouth from one generation to another. The early history of all nations is, as we have said, the same ; and even if we had the Fasti and the Annals complete, we should still have to refer to those legendary tales for the substance and colour of the early history. The Fasti, indeed, if they were so utterly destroyed as Livy states, must have been preserved in memory with tolerable accuracy, for we have several lists of the early magistrates, which only differ by a few omissions and trans- positions. The Annals and Linen Rolls, if we had copies of them, would present little else than dry bones without flesh, * Liv. vi. L Chap. XYI. SOURCES OF EARLY ROMAN HISTORY. 163 mere names with a few naked incidents attached, much like what we read in the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. For narrative we should still have been dependent upon the Legends. We might know the exact time at which Coriolanus appeared at the head of the Volscian host, but the story would remain untouched. The Annals would give us nothing of the Legends of Romulus and Numa, of the Horatii and Curiatii, of Mucins Scaevola, Codes and Cloelia, of the twin horsemen of Lake Regillus, of the fatal suf- ferings of Lucretia and Virginia, of the Veientine soothsayer and the draining of the Alban lake, of the self-sacrifice of Curtius, of the deeds of Camillus, and the noble devotion of the aged senators who fell beneath the Gallic sword. All these are as much matter of legendary story as the lays of King Arthur and his knights, of Charlemagne and his Paladins, of the Cid and Bernardo, which we read in the ballad poetry of England, France, and Spain.* § 3. We have already taken notice of the legendary character of the early history, and endeavoured very brietly to show how out of them might be extracted evidence of historical truth so far as regarded the condition of Rome under the kings. Under the patrician rule, of which we have now been speaking, the Legends tell us little, for they pass into positive romance. We have noticed that it was the glaring discrepancies and falsehoods per- vading the legends respecting Porsenna and Camillus that led Beaufort to attack the whole of early Roman history. These false statements are quite different in kind from the greater part of the legendary fictions of Greece or of regal Rome. There we discern no dishonesty of purpose, no intentional fraud ; here much of this baser coin is current. In the Legends of Porsenna and Camillus the dishonour of Rome and the triumphs of the in- vaders are studiously kept out of sight, and glorious deeds are attributed to heroes who are proved to have no claim to such honour. It remains to state the cause of this altered character in the Legends. § 4. The cause seems to have been, chiefly, the predominant power of certain great Houses. The Valerii, the Fabii, the Furii, the Horatii, the Mucii, appropriated to themselves and their an- cestors deeds which were never performed ; and family bards or ministrels made it their vocation to pander to this idle and unreal love of honour. The occasion on which these poets were enabled * It is doubtful, indeed, whether the Annals even went so far back as the earlier of these legends. The fact of the year being marked by fixing a nail confirms Livy's statement that writing was little known in those times: " Parvae et rarae per eadem tempora litterse . . . ; una cugtodia fidelis memoria rerum gestarum." — ri. 1. 164 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book II. to exalt the family of their patrons arose out of the custom common among all rude nations to enhance the pleasures of wine and wassail by music and heroic song. Of these practices we have direct and positive evidence. " Cato, in his Origines, tells us," says Cicero, " that it was an old custom at banquets for those who sate at table to sing to the flute the praiseworthy deeds of famous men."* But these lays had perished in Cicero's time. " Oh," he exclaims in another place, " Oh that we had left some of those old lays of which Cato speaks in his Origines !"f Valerius Maximus bears testimony to the same fact.J Varro adds that well-born boys used to sing these ballads to the company,] like Phemios in the Odyssey, or Cadwallader in the halls of the kings of Powys. We may wish with Cicero that Cato had pre- served some of these Reliques of early Latin poetry^ and had thus done his country the same service that Percy and Scott have rendered to the minstrelsy of old England and of the Scottish border. We should then be able more clearly to distinguish between the poem and the chronicle, as they lie mixed in the pages of Livy. Besides this practice of banquet minstrelsy, it was a custom much honoured at Rome, on occasion of the funerals of persons of rank, to carry forth the images of their ancestors, when family bards rehearsed their laudatory songs, and family chroniclers poured forth panegyrics in praise of the illustrious dead.^ At such times truth is little regarded. The common saying, " de mortuis nil nisi bonum," is easily extended to the families and ancestors of the departed. The stories of Horatius and of Mucins may be traced to the desire of the Horatii and Mucii of later times to connect themselves with the early history of Rome. If we had an Etrus- can account of the siege of Rome by Porsenna, we should proba- bly hear little of these famous names ; and if a Gallic bard had sung the lay of Brennus, the great Camillus would appear in a very different light. This may be illustrated by Percy's remj^rks on the battle of Otterburn. The version which he gives, " is re- lated," he says, " with the allowable partiality of an English poet ;" i while " the Scottish writers have, with a partiality at least as allow - lable, related it no less in their own favour." The version adopted by the ministrel varied according as he touched his harp in the halls of the Percy or the Douglas. * Qusestiones Tuscul. iv. 2. + Brutus, 19. X Book ii. 1, § 10. I Varro ap. Nonium, s. v. Assa voce. "If Such songs and speeches were called noenioe, laudationes, — " Absint inani fdnere nsenise," says Horace; that is, "I am a poet, and shaU not die: my funeral, therefore, will be an idle ceremony: funeral songs will be wasted upon me,"— Od. U. 20, 21. Chap. XVI. SOURCES OF EARLY ROMAN HISTORY. 165 § 5. It may be observed that some of the Legends, as those of Virginia, show a manifest leaning to the side of the Plebeians. No doubt the lower order had their minstrels as well as the higher, nor did the praises of the great Plebeian Houses remain unsung. So in our own country the Commons had their poets as well as the great feudal lords ; nor were the deeds of Percy and Douglas, of the Childe of EUe, or of Fair Rosamond, more famous than the " Gestes of Robin Hood and Little John," the feats of Adam Bell and Clym of the Clough, and of other heroes in whose names the people delighted. § 6. There can be no doubt, then, that at the burning of Rome there was abundant store of these romantic lays or ballads, which were constantly called for and constantly adapted to the require- ments of the hearers. Thus they lived, and thus they were pro- pagated, till they were reduced into more regular form by Nsevius and Ennius, and the prose chroniclers in the times before and after the great Hannibalic war, and at length were embalmed in the great work of Livy, who gave them, as he found them, in their true poetic form. But for him, perhaps, the mass of these legends might have been filtered off into rationalising narratives, like those of Piso.* Thus not only should we have lost the life of the Roman Annals, but we should have regarded them as so dry and uninterest- ing that they would have been studied no more than the early history of Scotland or Ireland ; and we should have altogether lost the spirit-stirring story of these early times. We may there- fore say, paradoxically, that it is to the fiction manifest in the legendary tales of Livy that we owe our knowledge of the reali- ties of early Roman History. § 7. Besides these lays, it cannot be doubted that there was a mass of traditional history which preserved incidents in the strug- gle of the two Orders. Some documents were certainly preserved, as the Laws of the Twelve Tables, and the Treaty with Carthage which Polybius saw.f There were also, no doubt, archives pre- served in Latin towns, from which careful inquirers might have gleaned information ; but searching examination of this kind was little the fashion among Roman annalists. § 8. After the burning of the city the minstrels still continued to compose their romances. It is plain that the combats of Valerius Corvus and Manlius Torquatus with gigantic Gauls were borrowed from ballads in their honour ; but few or none appear in the pages of Livy after this date, and one reason for their some- what sudden disappearance is the fact that after this time the An- nals or Registers are preserved ; so that henceforth Chroniclers, ith their dry narratives, superseded the ministrels. The meagre * See Chapt. v. § 6. f Chapt. vi. § 1. 166 ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS. Book n. and unintelligible Annals of the years that follow the Gallic irrup- tion are a specimen of what would have remained to us, had all the Legendary History perished, and had the Annals been pre- served entire from the first ages of the Republic. The gradual decay of Roman minstrelsy may, like its positive qualities, be compared to our own. " As the old minstrels gra- dually wore out," says Percy, " a new race of ballad-writers suc- ceeded, an inferior race of minor poets, who wrote narrative songs merely for the press. Towards the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign the genuine old minstrelsy seems to have been extinct, and thenceforth the ballads that were produced were wholly of the latter kind." Such ballads are merely rhythmical versions of pass- ing events, which die when they have satisfied the immediate occasion for which they were produced. As poetry they are gen- erally worthless ; as historical narratives they are inferior to the more exact accounts of the prose writers who gradually supersede them. M. Curtius. BOOK III. ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. (B.C. 366—265.) CHAPTER XVII. SEQUEL OF THE LICINIAN LAWS. CIVIL HISTORY TO THE FIRST SAMNITE WAR. (b.c. 366 344.) § 1 Difficulties of Social Reformation. § 2. Increased by pestilence : Gulf in Forum : Self-sacrifice of M. Curtius. § 3. Also by Gallic inroads. § 4. Vain attempts to limit rate of Interest. § 5. Evasion of Second Licinian Law. § 6. Attempts to set aside Third Licinian Law foiled : First Plebeian Dictator: First Plebeian Censor. § 7. Plebeian honours limited to a few families. § 8. Subject of this Book. § 1. Various causes were for some time interposed to prevent the due execution of the Licinian laws. Indeed the first two of these measures, which aimed at social improvements, may be said to have failed. Social abuses are always difficult to correct. The evils are, in these cases, of slow growth ; their roots strike deep ; 168 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL they can only be abated by altering the habits and feelings of the people, which cannot be effected in the existing generation ; they will not give way at once to the will of a lawgiver, however good his judgment, however pure his motives, however just his objects. In most cases he must content himself with carrying his reform, and leaving it to work upon a future generation. But the com- mon difficulty of removing social evils was increased in Rome at this time by circumstances. § 2. For two years a pestilence raged in the city, which swept away great numbers of citizens and paralysed the industry of all. The most illustrious of its victims was Camillus, who died even more gloriously than he had lived, while discharging the office of peacemaker. About the same time the region of the city was shaken by earthquakes; the Tiber overflowed his bed and flooded the Great Circus, so that the games then going on were broken off. Not long after a vast gulf opened in the Forum, as if to say that the meeting-place of the Roman People was to be used no more. The seers being consulted, said that the gods forbade this gulf to close till that which Rome held most valu- able were thrown into it. Then, when men were asking what this might be, a noble youth, named M. Curtius, said aloud that Rome's true riches were brave men, that nothing else so worthy could be devoted to the gods. Thus saying, he put on his armour, and, mounting his horse, leaped into the gulf; and straightway, says the legend, the earth closed and became solid as before; and the place was called the Lacus Curtius for ever after.* § 3. To these direct visitations of God, the pestilence and the earthquake, was added a still more terrible scourge in the continued inroads of the Gauls. It has been noticed above that in the years 361 and 350 B.c.f hordes of these barbarians again burst into Latium and again ravaged all the Roman territory. § 4. These combined causes so increased the distress of the poor that no one can wonder to hear of debts being multiplied every day. We read therefore without surprise that in the year 357 B.C., ten years after the passing of the Licinian laws, a bill was brought forward by Duillius and Msenius, Tribunes of the Plebs, to restore the rate of interest fixed by the XII. Tables,^ which in the late troubles had fallen into neglect ; and five years later (in 352) the Consuls, P. Valerius and C. Marcius Rutilus, * According to an older legend it derived its name from the Sabine chamr pion Mettus Curtius (chapt. ii. § 9). Here is a notable example of the " double legend." The spot was called "the Lacus Curtius;" and to account for the name two legends arose, one recent, the other of remote antiquity. f Chapt. xiv. §§ 12 and 13. X Obapt xi. § 4. Chap. XYIL SEQUEL OF THE LICINIAN LAWS. 169 brought forward a measure to assist the operation of the Licinian law of debt. Many persons had not been able to take advantage of this law, because their whole property was invested in land or houses ; and owing to the general distress and the great scarcity of money, they could not sell this property but at a very heavy loss. The Consuls therefore appointed Five Commissioners (^juinqueviri), with power to make estimates of all debts and of the property of the debtors. This done, the Commissioners ad- \ anced money to discharge the debt, so far as it was covered by the property of the debtor. Thus a quantity of land came into possession of the state ; and landed property in general must have become more valuable, while money was more freely circulated, and must have been more easy to procure at a fair rate of in- terest. The measure was wise and useful, but could only be partial in its effects. It could not help those debtors who had no property, or not enough property to pay their debts withal. Hence we find that in another five years (3 47 b.c.) the rate of interest was reduced to five per cent. ;* and some years afterwards it was tried to abolish interest altogether. But, laws to limit interest then, as ever since, proved ineffectual or even mischiev- ous. It is always easy to evade such laws ; and the only difference they make is, that needy borrowers have to resort to grasping and dishonest usurers, who charge higher interest than they would otherwise have done, in order to meet the increased risk. In short we find, as we should expect, that all these laws proved in- sufficient, and in the year 342 b.c. recourse was had to a measure still more sweeping and violent than the Licinian law, which shall be spoken of in its proper place.f § 5. There were, then, great difficulties in the way of a law for relieving debtors. These were increased, as has been seen, by circumstances, and we must now add the selfishness and dis- honesty of the rich Patricians and Plebeians, who held the bulk of the Public Land in tneir own hands. If these lands had been leased out on moderate terms to the poorer sort, no doubt they would have been able in great measure to avoid debt for the future. But the present holders contrived to evade the Licinian law in the following way. If a man held more than 500 jugera, he emancipated his son and made over a portion of the land nominally to him, or, if he had no son, to some other trusty per. son. With sorrow we hear of these practices, and with still greater sorrow we learn that in the year 354 b.c. C. Licinius * Tacit. Annal. vi. 16. Foenus semi-unciariura, ie. -^^ of the capital, being 4^ per cent for the old Roman year of 10 months, or five per cent, for the com- mon year. + Chapt. xviii. § 12. 8 170 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III himself was indicted by the Curule -^Edile, M. Popillius Laenas, for fraudulently making over 500 jugera to his son, while he held another 500 in his own name. Perhaps it was some suspicion of his true character that induced the people to elect L. Sextius, his kinsman, first plebeian consul, instead of Licinius himselt. Thus this remedy for pauperism was set aside and neglected, till the Gracchi arose, and vainly endeavoured, after more than two centuries of abuse, to correct that which at first might have been prevented. Circumstances, therefore, combined with the dishonesty of men, thwarted the social amendments which the Licinian laws aimed at. § 6. The law for equalising political power was more effective. For eleven years after the Licinian law one Consul was always a Plebeian. Then the Patricians made one last struggle to recover their exclusive privilege ; and in the year 355 b.c. we have a Sulpicius and a Valerius as Consuls, both of them Patricians ; and in the course of the next dozen years we find the law violated in like manner no less than seven times. After that it is regu- larly observed, one Consul being Patrician and the other Plebeian, till at length in the year 172 b.c, when the patrician families had greatly decreased, both Consulships were opened to the Plebeians, and from that time forth the oftices were held by men of either order without distinction. These violations of the law above mentioned were effected by the power by which the Senate ordered the Patrician Consul to name a Dictator. At least in the space of twenty-five years after the Licinian laws, we have no less than fifteen Dictators. Now several of these were appointed for sudden emergencies of war, such as the Gallic invasions of 361 and 350. But often we find Dictators when there is no mention of foreign war. In the year 360 we find that both the Consuls enjoyed a triumph, and not the Dictator. These and other reasons have led to the belief that these Dictators were appointed to hold the Consular Comitia, and brought the overbearing weight of their political power to secure the election of two Patrician Consuls. § 7. But if this were the plan of the Patricians, it availed not. After the year 343 b.c. the law was regularly observed, by which one Consul was necessarily a Plebeian. The Plebeians also forced their way to other offices. C. Marcius Rutilus, the most distin- guished Plebeian of his time, who was four times elected Consul, was named Dictator in the year 356 b.c, no doubt by the Plebeian Consul Popillius Laenas; and five years later (351) we find the same Marcius elected to the Censorship. § 8. Practically, therefore, the political reform of Licinius and Chap. XTIL SEQUEL OF THE LlCINIAN LAWS. lYl Sextius had been effectual so far as the admission of Plebeians to the highest offices of state was concerned. It must be re- marked, however, that these privileges, though no longer en- grossed by Patricians, seem to have been open only to a few wealthy plebeian families. C. Marcius Rutilus, as we have just remarked, held the Consulship four times in sixteen years (35*7- 342). M. Popillius Laenas and C. Poetelius Libo enjoyed a similar monopoly of honours. § 9. As the exclusive privileges of the Patricians thus gradually and quietly gave way, instead of being maintained (as in modern France) till swept away by the violent tide of revolution, so did the power of the Senate rise. It was by the wisdom or policy of this famous assembly that the City of Rome became mistress of Italy and of the World ; but a more convenient place for ex- amining its altered constitution will occur hereafter. At present we proceed with our proper task. Hitherto the contest has been internal, of citizen against citizen, in order to gain an equality of rights. Henceforth, for two hundred years, we shall have to relate contests with foreign people, and the subject of this Book is to give an account of the conquest of Italy, for which the Roman Senate and People, now at length politically united, were prepared. Etruscan Walling. CHAPTER XYIII. WA.RS FROM THE BURNING OF ROME TO THE FIRST SAMNITE WAR. (B.C. 389—344.) § 1. Rising of Yolscians, ^quians, and Etruscans. Victorious Dictatorship of Camillus. § 2. Six new Tribes added, four from the Etruscan, two from the Volscian territory. § 3. The Latin League no longer in existence ; wars with several Latin Cities. § 4. Fresh irruption of the Gauls, favoured by Hernicans and Tiburtines. § 5, Renewal of Latin League. § 6. War with the Tarquinians, followed by a peace for 40 years. § 7. Third inroad of Gauls. Second Treaty with Carthage. Reflections. § 1. The annals for several years after the burning of the city by the Gauls, are, especially in regard to foreign wars, extremel}- vague and meagre. We have lost the poetic Legends without finding anything like historic exactness in their stead. There can be no doubt that at first Rome had to struggle for very existence. Before the city was so far restored as to be habitable, it was announced that the ^quians and Volscians were in arms. The ^quians seem to have shared in the general disaster caused by the Gallic inroad : henceforth at least the part they play is insignificant. But the Volscians boldly advanced to Lanuvium, and once more encamped at the foot of the Alban Chap. X via TRIUMPH 0? CAMILLUS. ITS Hills. The city was in great alarm ; and the Consular Tribunes being deemed unequal to the exigency, Camillus was named Dictator for the second time. He defeated them with great loss, and pursued them into their own territory. He then marched rapidly to Bola), to which place the ^quians had advanced, and gained another victory. But in the moment of triumph news came that Etruria was in arms. The storm of the Gallic invasion seems to have been averted from Etruria to Rome, and by a brave effort it now seemed possible to recover the territory which the Romans had for the second time appropriated. The people of Fidense and Ficulea are mentioned as appearing in arms. A force was sent against them ; but so completely was it routed on the Nones of July, that this day was noted in the Kalendar as the Poplifuga. Siege was then laid to Sutrium by the victors, and it fell. But the prompt Dictator, on the first alarm, marched his troops straight from Bolae to the point of danger ; and on the very day on which Sutrium had yielded to the foe, it was again taken by the Roman General. Such is the obscure account preserved of this year's danger. Camillus again appears as the Saviour of Rome. He enjoyed a threefold triumph over the Volscians, the JEquians, and the Etrurians. § 2. It was two years after, that the Etruscan territory, now effectually conquered, was formed into four Tribes, as has been mentioned before.* By the addition of these new Tribes, the first that had been added since this very territory had been wrested from Rome by Porsenna, the whole number was raised to twenty- five. The late assault of the Etruscans, perhaps, suggested the wisdom of making the free inhabitants of this district citizens of Rome. Men who had lately been subject to the oppressive government of a civic oligarchy, being now mingled with Roman Plebeians who had received allotments in the district, and seeing the comparative freedom of all Roman Burgesses, were sure in future to fight for Rome rather than join in an insurrection against her. Her-e was the beginning of that sagacious policy, which for a time led political enfranchisement hand in hand with conquest. Thirty years later (358 b.c.) the Senate pursued the same course with respect to the Pontine district and other lowlands, which had been recovered from the grasp of the Volscians. A settlement of poor Plebeians which was at- tempted in 387 B.C., failed : the emigrants were cut off by the Volscian hills-men. But the territory being now formed into * Chapt. XV. § 6. The names of these four tribes were the Stellatine, Tro- roentine, Sabatine, Aniene. Liv, vi. 5, 174 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III two Tribes, so as to make the whole number twenty-seven, the inhabitants had themselves an interest in repressing predatory inroads.* Yet the assaults of the Volscians continued. In 386 b.c, Ca- millus being Consular Tribune for the fourth time, reconquered Antium, which must have fallen into the hands of the Volscians again after the Gallic invasion. Colonies were sent to Satricum and Setia in Southern Latium, to Nepete in Etruria. Then came the struggle for the Licinian laws ; and during this period the annals are altogether silent on the subject of wars. § 3. But before the pronmlgation of the Licinian laws, there were threatenings of greater danger than was to be feared either from Etruscans or Volscians. The Latins and Hernicans, who since the time of Sp. Cassius had been bound in close alliance with Rome, and had fought by her side in all her border wars, no longer appeared in this position. The inroad of the Gauls had broken up the League. Rome had then been reduced to ashes, and was left in miserable weakness. Many of the thirty Latin cities, the names of which occur in the League of Cassius, were so utterly destroyed that the antiquary in vain seeks for their site in the desolation of the Campagna. But the twc important cities of Tibur and Prsenest^ (Tivoli and Palestrina,) perched on steep-scarped rocks, defied the rude arts of the invader, and had gained strength by the ruin of their neigh hours. Pn^neste seems to have seized the district of Algidus and the other lands from which the ^quians had been expelled. Both Prseneste and Tibur appear as separate and independent communities, standing apart from the rest of Latium and from Rome. It was believed that the Praenestines encouraged the Volscians in their inroads, and in 382 b.c. war was declared against them. Some of the Latin cities joined Prseneste, as Lanuvium and Velitrae ; others sought protection against her from Rome, as Tusculum, Gabii, Lavici. In this Avar all is obscure. In the course of it even the Tusculans deserted Rome. But after a struggle of five years, the Dictator T. Quinc- tius took nine insurgent cities, Velitra) amongst the number, and blockaded Prseneste itself, which also capitulated on terms of which we are not informed. Soon after Tusculum also was recovered ; and for the present all fear of the Latins sub- sided. § 4. But a few years after the Temple of Concord had been erected by old Camillus, fresh alarms arose. The Hernicans gave signs of disquietude. War was declared against them in * The Pontine and Publilian. Liv. vii. 15. Chap XVIIL WAR WITH THE TARQUINIANS. 1Y5 362 B.C. Next year came the second inroad of the Gauls, and it was observed with consternation that this terrible foe occupied the valley of the Anio, and was not molested either by the Latins of Tibur or by the Ilernicans. In the year 360 b.c. the Fasti record a triumph of the Consul Fabius over this last-named people, and another of his colleague Poetelius over the men of Tibur a7id the Gauls* — an ominous conjunction. § 5. But this new inroad of the barbarians, which threatened Rome with a second ruin, really proved a blessing; for the re- maining Latin cities, which in the late conflict had stood aloof, terrified by the presence of the Gauls, and seeing safety only in union, now renewed their league with Rome, and the Hernicans soon after followed their example. The glory of concluding this second league belongs to C. Plautius, the plebeian Consul of -the year 358 b.c. The Gauls now quitted Latium, we know not how or why. Of all the Latin cities, Piivernum and Tibur now alone remained out of the alliance ; but in the next five years both were compelled to yield. (35 7, 354 b.c.) § 6. AVhile these dangers were successfully averted on the north-eastern frontier, war had been declared against Rome by the powerful Etruscan city of Tarquinii, which lies beyond the Cimi- nian Hills. This was in the very year in which the new League was formed with the Latins and Hernicans. But for this, it is hard to imagine that Rome, exhausted as she was, could have resisted the united assaults of Gauls, Volscians, Latins, Hernicans, and Etruscans. As it was, she found it hard to repel the Tarquinians. The people made a sudden descent from the hills, defeated the Consul C. Fabius, and sacrificed three hundred and seven Roman prisoners to their gods (b.c. 358). Two years later they were joined by the Faliscans. Bearing torches in their hands, and having their hair wreathed into snake-like tresses, they attacked the Romans with savage cries, and drove them before them. They overran the district lately formed into four new Tribes, and threatened Rome itself. Then M. Popillius Lsenas, the ple- beian Consul, being ordered by the Senate to name a Dictator, named another Plebeian, C. Marcius Rutilus, the first of his order (as we have said) who was advanced to this high office; and his conduct justified the appointment. The enemy was de- feated. The Senate refused a triumph to the Plebeian ; but the People in their Tribes voted that he should enjoy the well-earned honour. For a moment the people of Caere, the old allies of the Roman people, who had given shelter to their sacred things, their * "C. Poetelius C. F. Q. N. Libo Visolus Cos. de Galleis et Tiburtibua." 176 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III women and children, in the panic of the Gallic invasion, joined the war ; but almost immediately after sued for peace. The Romans, however, remembered this defection, as we shall have to mention in a future page.* The Tarquinians were again defeated in a great battle. Three hundred and fifty-eight prisoners were scourged and beheaded in the Forum to retaliate for former bar- barity. In the year 351 b.c. a peace of forty years was concluded, after a struggle of eight years' duration. § 7. It was in the very next year after the conclusion of this war that the third inroad of the Gauls took place, of which we have above spoken, when L. Camillus, grandson of the old Dic- tator, rivalled the glory of his progenitor, and L. Valerius gained his name of Corvus. Thus remarkably was Rome carried through the dangers of intestine strife and surrounding wars. When she was at strife within, her enemies were quiet. Before each new assault commenced a former foe had retired from the field, and Rome rose stronger from every fall. She had now recovered all the Latin coast-land from the Tiber to Circeii ; and her increasing importance is shown by a renewed treaty with the great commer- cial city of Carthage.f But a more formidable enemy was now to be encountered than had as yet challenged Rome to conflict ; and a larger area opened to her ambition. In the course of a very few years after the last event of which we have spoken the- First Sam- nite War began. * Chapt xxvii. § 12 (1). f Liv. v^ 5f7. Oros. iil 1. Coin -with Samnite Bull goring the Roman "Wolf, struck in the Social W&c CHAPTER XIX. FIRST SAMNITE WAR. (b.C. 343 341.) §. 1. Origin and geographical position of the Samnites. § 2. Little unity between thera and kindred tribes. § 3, Samnites a pastoral people. § 4. They spread from their mountains over various parts of the coast. Cam- pania. Their Colonists become their enemies. § 5. Causes of the War. § 6. First year of the War : battle of Mount Gaurus gained by Valerius Corvus. Other victories. § 7. Peace concluded next year. Reasons. § 8. First Reason; Mutiny of Roman Legions wintering at Campania. They advance to Bovillse, and are joined by Plebeians from the City. § 9. Difference between this and former Secessions. It is put down by Valerius. § 10. Laws for improving the condition of soldiers. § 11- Genucian Laws. Laws for relieving debtors: remarks. § 12. Second Reason deferred to next Chapter. § I. We must now carry our eyes beyond the district described in our sixth Chapter, and penetrate into Campania and the val- leys of the Apennines, of which, as yet, our History has taken no count. The Sabines are a people connected with the earliest legends of Rome. But the Sabines of Cures and the lower country between the Anio and the Tiber are those who have hitherto engaged our attention. It is in the highlands of Reate and Ami- ternum that we must search for the cradle of the race. The valleys of this high district afford but scanty subsistence ; and the hardy mountaineers ever and anon cast off swarms of emi- grants, who sought other homes, and made good their claim by arms. It was a custom of the Sabellian race, when famine threatened and the population became too dense, to devote the whole produce of one spring-time, by a solemn vow, to the gods.* Among other produce, the youth born in that year were included; * This was called a Ver sacrum. 8* 178 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. they were dedicated to the god Mamers (Mars), and went forth to seek their fortunes abroad. On one such occasion the emi- grants, pressing southward along the highland valleys, occupied the broad mountainous district which lies northward of Cam- pania. Such is the story which the Samnites told of their own origin.* The Picenians and Frentanians, on the north coast, with the four allied Cantons of the Vestinians, Marrucinians, Pelignians, and Marsians, who were interposed between the Sam- nites and their ancestral Sabines, claimed kin with both nations. The k^amnites themselves also formed four Cantons — the Caro- cenians, Pentrians, Caudinians, and Hirpinians. Of these Can- tons, the first and last are little heard of. The Pentrians were far the most considerable : they occupied the rugged mountain district between the upper valleys of the Vulturnus and the Calor. Here a great mass of mountains, now known by the name of Mount Matese, projects boldly from the central chain, rising to the height of more than 6000 feet ; and its steep defiles ofter defences of great natural strength against an invader. But the remains of massive polygonal masonry, which are still seen on the rocky heights occupied by their towns of ^scrnia and Bovi- anum (Isernia and Bojano), show that the Samnites trusted to military art as well as to natural strength of country. Below Mount Matese, in the valley of the Calor, lay the Cantons of the Caudinians, whose town of Beneventum (anciently called Male- ventum, or Maliessa) also offered a position made strong by art. It is within these limits, from isernia to Beneventum, that the scenes of some of the chief campaigns of the Samnite wars were laid. § 2. It must be remarked that but little connexion seems to have been maintained between the Samnite Cantons and their Sabellian kinsmen to the north. If the Sabines of the Upper Apennines, if Marsian, and Pelignian, and other Cantons which lie between the Sabines and the Samnites, had combined, nay, if all the Samnite cantons had been closely united, the issue of the wars which were waged with Rome might have been difterent. But the brunt of conflict fell chiefly on the Pentrians and Caudinians ; and it. was not till their strength was well nigh exhausted that the other Sabellian tribes came forward to oppose the. growing power of Rome. § 3. From the nature of their country, the Samnites were for the most part a pastoral people. Their mountains break into numberless valleys, sloping both to the north and south, well watered, and fresh even in the summer heats. Into these valleys, * Strabo, who gives a similar account of the origin of the Picenians. Chap. XIX. FIRST SAMNITB WAR. 179 as is still the practice of the country, the flocks were driven from the lower lands, ascending higher and higher as the heats in- creased, and descending towards the plain in the same gradual way as autumn inclined towards winter. § 4. But the Samnites were not contented with these narrow mountain-homes. As they had themselves been sent forth from a central hive, so in time they cast forth new swarms of emigrants. In early times a Samnite tribe, under the name of Frentanians, had taken possession of the coast lands between the Marrucinian canton and Apulia. They also constantly pushed forward bands of adventurous settlers down the Vulturnus and Calor into the rich plain that lay temptingly beneath their mountains, and to which they gave the name of Campania, or the champagne-land, in opposition to the narrow vales and rugged hills of their native country. In earlier times this fair plain had attracted Etruscan conquerors ; and its chief city, anciently called Vulturnum, is said from them to have received the lasting name of Capua.* But in about the year 423 b.c, nearly a century before the time of which we are presently to speak, a band of Samnites had seized this famous city, and had become its lords,t the ancient Oscan inhabitants being reduced to the condition of clients. Soon after, the great Greek city of Cuma, which then gave name to the Bay of Naples, had been conquered by the new lords of Capua ;l and from this time forth, under the name of Cam- panians, they became the dominant power of the country. In course of time, however, the Samnites of Capua, or the Cam- panians, lost their own language and usages, and adopted those of the Oscan people, who had become their subjects. Hence it is that we shall find the Campanian Samnites at war with the old Samnites of the mountains, just as the Roman Sabines lost all national sympathy with the old Sabines of Cures, and as in England the Anglo-Normans became the national enemies of the French. It may be added that the Lucanians and Apulians, who stretched across the breadth of Italy below Campania, were formed by a mixture of Samnite invaders with the ancient popu- lation, themselves (as we have seen above) a compound of Oscan and Pelasgian races ; || while the Bruttians, who occupied the * From the Etruscan chief Capys. It must be remarked, however, that Capita and Campania seem to be etymologically akin, and are probably both of Samnite origin. f Liv. iv. ?>1. X Liv. iv. 44, who places the conquest of Cumae in the year 420 B.C. Dio dorus, xii. 76, places it eight years earlier. \ Introduction, Sect. II. § 8. 180 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book in. mountainous district south of the Gulf of Tarentum, were a similar offcast from the Lucanians. But these half-Sabellian tribes, like the old races from whom the Samnites came, lent very uncertain aid to their kinsmen in the struggle with Rome. The sons were not more alive to their own interest in joining the Samnites against the new conquerors than the fathers. § 5. These prefatory remarks will prepare us for the great conflict which followed, and which, in fact, determined the sovereignty of Italy to be the right of the Roman, and not of the Samnite people. The first war arose out of a quarrel such as we have just alluded to between the Campanians and the old Sam- nites of the Matese. In the year 354 b.c, a league had been concluded with the Romans and the Samnites. Since that time, Samnite adventurers had been pressing upon the Oscan nations in the upper valley of the Liris, and had even taken the Volscian cities of Sora and Fregellae, while the Romans, combined with the Latins again since the year 358 b.c, were forcing back the Volscians from the west. In 343 b.c, the Samnites had pursued their encroachments so far as to assail Teanum, the chief city of the Sidicines, probably an Oscan tribe, who occupied the lower hills in the north of Campania. The Sidicines demanded the aid of the Burgesses of Capua against their assailants ; and the Cam- panians, venturing to give this aid, drew upon their own beads the wrath of the mountaineers. The Samnites took possession of Mount Tifata, a bare hill which overhangs Capua on the north, and from their camp there plundered at will the rich plain below. Unable to meet the enemy in the field, the degenerate Campanians entreated the assistance of the Roman and Latin League. There was some difficulty in listening to this application ; for the treaty of peace, which had been concluded eleven years before, still subsisted, and no aggression against Rome or her allies was chargeable upon the Samnites. But it is probable that their aggressions in the valleys of the Liris and Vulturnus had alarmed the Senate ; and all scruples were removed when the Campanians offered to surrender their city absolutely, so that in defending them Rome would be defending her own subjects. This quibbling bargain was struck, and war was declared against the Samnites. § 6. The Consuls of the year were both Patricians — Au. Corne- lius Cossus, and M. Valerius Corvus, whose single combat with the Gaul has been mentioned more than once. Apart from legendary tales, it is evident that Valerius was the most considerable man at Rome, now that Camillus was no more. He was now in his third Consulship, and thrice in future years he held the sam« Chap. XIX. FIRST SAMNITE WAR. 181 high office. To extreme old age he continued in the service ot the state, and his last Consulships were employed in assisting to remove the last traces of disunion between the Orders. If the Licinian Law was to be broken, it could not be broken in favour of a worthier than M. Valerius. Each Consul led two legions separately into the field, with an equal number of Latin Allies. The force under the command of Valerius was destined to drive the Samnites out of Campania, ■while Cossus was to invade the Pentrian valleys. But the details of the campaign are quite unintelligible. Valerius gained a great victory over the Samnites on Mount Gaurus, which lies near Baiae on the sea-coast. How it was that he was thus driven into this corner of the land we know not. No sooner was the battle of Mount Gaurus won, than news reached Vale- rius that his colleague Cossus had become entangled in a Sam- nite defile, and was shut in by the enemy on all sides. From this danger he was relieved by the valour and conduct of a legionary tribune, P. Decius Mus, the first-named of an illus- trious plebeian family. He seized an eminence, which com- manded the pass, and the Consul was enabled to escape from his danger. Then, say the Roman annals, Cossus attacked the Sam- nites and defeated them. It is added that Valerius joined him directly after, and the united forces overthrew the enemy in a third great battle. § 7. An army remained in Campania during the winter, lest the Samnites should descend from their mountains suddenly. But in the next spring, instead of continuing the war, the Romans concluded a treaty of alliance with the enemy, by which the Sidicines and Campanians were left entirely at their mercy. The causes of this unexpected change of policy were twofold ; first, a renewal of discord between the two Orders of the Roman People ; secondly, the uneasy feeling which showed itself between the Romans and their Latin Allies. § 8. It has been shown above that the pressure of the laws of debt continued, and that there was a systematic attempt to evade the Licinian Law in the election of Consuls.* The dis- content thus caused, long smouldering, broke out into flame among the legionaries who were wintering in Campania. They compared that rich and beautiful country with the sullen gloom of the Roman territory, and the luxurious life of the Campanian people with their own rude and sparing habits : and they formed (as we are told) a design to imitate the old Samnites in making themselves lords of this happy land. When C. Marcius, the new Consul, came to the army in the year 342 b.c, he found tbo * Chapt. xvii. 182 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. men more ready to mutiny than to take the field. An attempt was made to check this spirit by drafting off the most unruly, and sending them home under various pretences. But as these men passed Lautulse, a place near Terracina, which commanded the road over the Volscian Hills, they found the cohort that had been posted to defend this pass ready to mutiny, and those who were on their way home agreed to join them. The insurgents, being joined by many others from the army, forced an old Patrician of the Quinctian house, whom they found dwell- ing at his country house, to be their leader ; and then advancmg, encamped at Bovillse, in front of the Alban Hills. Upon this, the disaffected within the city also rose ; and putting another Patrician, named Manlius, at their head, joined the mutineers in their camp. § 9. Here, then, was another of those Secessions of which we have already heard so much. But now, be it observed, the secession was not of the whole Plebeian Order, but only of the poorer sort, who felt oppressed by debt. Against these were arrayed not only the Patricians and their Clients, but also all the wealthier Plebeians, indeed, all who wished to maintain order in the state : and this great party showed their sincerity by pro- curing that M. Valerius Corvus, a man as famous for moderation as for bravery, should be appointed Dictator, to put an end to the sedition. He was able to collect an imposing force, with which he approached the camp of the insurgents. But Roman <3itizens were not yet so reckless of blood and so cold of heart as willingly to engage in civil war ; and when the two armies met, both were overpowered by their different feelings, the one by pity, the other by remorse. Arms were laid aside, and the sol- diers of each party embraced each other. No doubt this happy issue of the sedition was brought about by the good offices of the Dictator Valerius and Marcius the Ple- beian Consul. It was no doubt understood on both sides that the Patricians and rich Plebeians were ready to avert the evil by making large concessions, for these followed immediately. § 10. The leaders of the army were allowed to propose and carry two Laws : first, that no citizen should be struck off" the military roll, except for some crime ; secondly, that no one who had served as legionary tribune should thereafter be called on to act as centurion. The first law was evidently a boon to the debtors ; for persons serving in the army were protected from their creditors. The second is said to have arisen from the case of one Salonius, who had been vexatiously degraded to a sub- altern rank by his patrician general ; and tbe Plebeians were the more willing to maintain the dignity of the Tribunes, since the Chap. XIX FIRST SAMNITE WAR. 183 election of six out of the twenty-four had recently been conceded to the legions themselves.* It was also proposed to reduce the pay of the equites, who at that time received three times as much as the foot soldiers. But on the interference of Valerius this proposal was withdrawn. § 11. Such were the concessions made to the army. But at home greater changes followed. L. Genucius, Tribune of the Plebs, moved that henceforth both Consulships should be open to Plebeians ; and that no one should be re-elected to a curule magistracy. But it does not appear that these Genucian Laws took effect. It was long before both Consuls were Plebeians ; and it remained for many years a constant practice to re-elect the same persons to the Consulship within the stated period. But from this time forth we find no more violations of the Licinian Law. At the same time another Law was carried, by whom we know not, of much greater and more serious import; for it enacted that all debts then existing should be cancelled, and that for the future no interest was to be taken for money lent. This second provision was simply absurd. It was the same thing as forbid- ding the loan of money at all ; no one will lend without some [)rofit to cover the risk of loss. The former provision, cancelling all debts, was a more violent and dangerous form of the first Licinian Law. The Licinian Law struck certain sums off the debts, providing for the payment of the rest; this new Law abolished the debts altogether. What was said of the former law must be repeated here. Such laws, declaring general insol- vency, can only be justified by absolute necessity, and never can be enacted in a settled state of society. At Rome, possibly, they may have been necessary at this juncture, owing to the great cruelty of the old laws of debt. And that such laws were necessary may be inferred from the fact that Valerius suff"ered them to pass. Society was already so disorganised, that even such a law did not make it worse : nay, from this time forth we may date improvement; for henceforth we hear no more of free Romans binding themselves as slaves to their creditors. § 12. The second cause which, joined to these intestine com- motions, operated to promote the Samnite peace, was so im- portant, and was followed by results so considerable, that it must form the subject of a separate Chapter. * The regular number of Legions was four, two to each Consul, and there were six Tribunes to each Legion. At a later time, the people elected 18 out ©f the 24. Roman Soldiers. CHAPTER XX, GREAT LATIN WAR. SUBJECTION OF LATIUM. (b.C. 340 338.) § 1. Review of the relations between Rome and Latium. § 2. Proposals of the Latin Cities for a union with Rome. § 3. Contemptuously rejected. § 4. Manlius and Decius, Consuls, march into Campania: reasons. § 5. Roman and Latin armies meet under Vesuvius : military systems of Rome : identical with that of Latins § 6. Order of Manlius against single com- bats. § 7. Manlius condemns his son for disobeying. § 8. Battle of Vesuvius : self-sacrifice of Decius. § 9. Mournful triumph of Manlius. § 10. Conclusion of the War. § 11. Large quantity of Public Land gained by the War : a portion distributed to the poor Plebeians. § 12. Publilian Laws. § 13. Principle on which the Latin Cities were treated. § 14. Public and Private Rights of Romans : how granted to foreigners. § 15. Previous privileges of Latins. § 16. New arrangements, of three kinds. § 17. Settlement of the Campanian Cities. § 1. The uneasy feeling caused by the disposition visible among the Latin Communities in league with Rome must have operated still more strongly than domestic troubles to incline Rome to peace ; for it must never be forgotten that when a Roman army took the field, half of it was composed of Latins. It has been said that after the burning of the city in 390 B.C. the Latins, as a body, stood aloof from Rome, while Praeneste and Tibur assumed a position of defiance. But in 356 b.c. the old Chap. XX. GREAT LATIN WAR. 185 League had been renewed, and such as remained of the original Thirty Cities again joined their ranks to those of Rome in war- ring first against the Yolscians and Etruscans, and finally against the Samnites. In the first year of the Samnite war we find two Roman Consuls in command ; in the second it is probable that the Latins would have claimed the chief command for their two Prsetors. All we know is, that the Senate foresaw that the con- federacy of Latin Cities would claim equality with Rome ; and it was no doubt to strengthen themselves against such claim that now, in the year 341 b.c, they not only made peace with the Samnites, but concluded a separate league with that people. Thus the Latins alone continued in alliance with the Sidicines and other Oscan tribes of Campania, while the Romans united themselves with the Samnites, the mortal enemies of these same Oscan tribes, whose protectors they had lately been. We also hear of the Latins being at war with the Pelignians, which sho' .s that other Sabellian tribes were taking part with the Samnites.* § 2. When Rome formed a separate League with the Samnites, she broke faith with the Latins. Her conduct made it clear that Latium could no longer remain the independent ally of Rome : the former must either submit entirely to her rival, or assert her independence in arms. There was, indeed, a third course possible, namely, for the two nations to form a united state under one central government, like England and Scotland since the Union : and this course the Latins proposed to try, although the spirit and temper of the Roman Senate made it very clear that the attempt must fail. However, it was made. In the year 340 b.c. the united cities of Latium sent their two Praetors (who were elected every year like the Consuls at Rome), together with the ten chiefs of their Senate, to propose terms of union. Rome and Latium were henceforth to form one state, Rome being allowed to remain as the seat of government ; but of the two Consuls, one was to be a Latin. The Senate was to be doubled by the admission of 300 Latin members ; and no doubt (though this is not recorded) the Latin territory was to be divided, like the Roman, into Tribes, which would have equal votes with those of old Rome at the Comitia. The proposal was fair enough, and it may be thought that Rome might have accepted it without loss of honour ; for not very long after, most of the Latin cities formed the centres of new Tribes, and some of the most distinguished men of later times were of Latin origin. But the conduct of some Latin * Liv. vii. 38. 186 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book m. cities, as Tibur and Prseneste, had not been such as to warrant confidence, and it is probable that an Union now formed, when neither nation were willing quite to acknowledge the supremacy of the other, would not have been more lasting than that of Holland and Belgium in our own times. The Latins now pro- posed it only under fear of the Gauls and Samnites, and when that fear was removed, they would probably have broken it up. § 3. It is not likely, however, that politic reasons of this kind influenced the Romans in rejecting it. Rude nations generally act on impulse rather than on reason ; and the story shows that it was Roman pride which was touched, rather than Roman in- terests. The Senate, says the Legend, met to receive the Latin depu- ties in the temple of Capitoline Jupiter, at the head of the Sacer Clivus. When the deputies had spoken, the Fathers were filled with wrath, and their mind was uttered by T. Manlius Torquatus, patrician Consul elect, the same who had earned his surname in a single fight against a Gaul. " If," said he, "the Roman Senate were so dead of heart as to admit these proposals, I myself would come down to the Senate-house sword in hand and slay the first Latin who should presume to cross this holy threshold." Angry words followed, in the course of which L. Annius of Setia, one of the Latin Prsetois, spoke lightly of the great god of the Capitol, beneath whose temple they were standing. Then, to avenge his majesty, burst Ibith lightning and thunder ; and the Latin, turning hastily to depart, fell head- long down the steps of the Sacred Ascent, and was killed.* § 4. But when the Senate were receiving these deputies, they were already preparing for war. Their patrician Consul was, as has been mentioned, the famous champion T. Manlius, and his plebeian colleague was the no less famous P. Decius Mus, who had saved the army of the Consul Cossus in the Samnite war. These Consuls straightway assembled their legions, and boldly resolved to leave Rome under the protection of the Praetor, while they marched through the friendly passes of the Sabines, Marsians, and Pelignians into Samnium, there to unite with a Samnite force and descend upon Capua. This bold stroke suc- ceeded. The Latin army marched hastily southward to protect their Oscan allies, and it was in the plains of Campania that the fate of Rome and Latium was to be decided. There could be little doubt which people were destined to prevail. The Latins and Romans might be well matched ; but, of * The Chroniclers, however, mention L. Annius as general of the Latins in the ensuing warj^^fjothei" Instance of the variety above noticed in these old legends. Chap. XX. GREAT LATIN WAR. ISl their allies, the Oscans were quite unequal to the mountaineers of Samniura. Moreover, even of the Latin cities three adhered to Rome, Laurentum, Ardea, and Lanuvium, and several were luke- warm in the cause. The Oscan cities of Fundi and Formise, which command the road between Rome and Capua, remained neutral ; and in Capua herself a protest against war with Rome was made by sixteen hundred Knights (as they are called), who were probably the heads of the old Samnite families, before men- tioned as the lords of Capua.* § 5. When the two armies met under Mount Vesuvius, they lay opposed to one another, neither party choosing to begin the fray. It was almost like a civil war ; Romans and Latins spoke the same language ; their armies had long fought side by side under common generals ; their arms, discipline, and tactics were the same. And here we will follow Livy in giving an account of the Ro- man army as at that time constituted.! In the old times the Roman army had been drawn up in close order like the Greek phalanx, so as to act by its weight. The front ranks were armed with the long pike or spear {hasta) and t!ie large round shield [clipeus, danig). Locking their shields to- gether, with their spear-points bristling in front, they formed a mass irresistible so long as it remained unbroken. This order of battle was carried to its greatest perfection by Philip of Macedon, and we shall have to speak further of it when we come to the Macedonian wars. The Romans, as is well known, changed their system, and made this heavy mass a living body. Their citizens were brave men fighting for their country, and were fit for something better than to be mere machines, unable to act separately. The soldiers of the republic were armed, not with the long pike, but with two heavy javelins, called pila, which they were taught to throw with great eff'ect, and a short strong sword, fit alike for striking and thrusting.^; They exchanged the heavy round shield for a lighter one of oblong shape, (scutum), curved so as to defend the side as well as the front. Thus armed, they stood at a distance of a yard from their right and left hand men, so as to allow free room for the use of their weapons. The men of each rear-rank stood, not directly behind their front-rank men, but so as to cover the space between two, like the knots in net-work (in quincuncem dispositi). Thus, when* the front-rank men had discharged * Chapt. xix. § 3. f Liv. viii. 8. The account that follows is based on this passage with the commentary of Niebuhr. X The gladius Hispanus — see Liv. vii. 10. . 188 ROME CONQUEROR OP ITALY. Book III. their pila, they fell back, and their rear-rank stepped forward, so as to come in front and discharge their pila in turn. Mean- while the original front-rank was falling back to the rear, and each rear- rank was gradually coming up to be ready to take their turn in front. When all the pila were discharged, and the enemy thrown into confusion by this continued fire, the whole body advanced to close combat, and completed the work of defeat with their swords. Now in the times of Marius and Cajsar, who conquered the Germans and Gauls with tactics of this kind, the whole legion was^ armed alike, being divided into ten cohorts, and each cohort into three maniples or six centuries, each century being commanded by a centurion. But at the time of which we now speak, this uniformity of system did not yet prevail. At this time the Legion consisted of three battalions of the line, each 1200 strong, and to these were attached a body of light troops, bowmen and slingers (called rorarii, because they sprinkled their missiles like dew), and also an unarmed body called accensi, because they were added to the rate-paying citizens (censi)* to serve as attendants, and perform all the duties of camp-followers. Of the three main battalions the foremost was called Hastati, because they were still armed with the long pike, like the old phalanx. Close behind these were the Principes, who were composed of the first in rank among the citizens, and were probably armed with the sword and pila. In rear of the principes were placed the standards of the whole army, so that these two front battalions were called Ante-signani. Be- hind the standards were ranged the third battalion, called Triarii, composed of the most experienced soldiers, destined to act as a reserve, and bring aid to any part of the front battalions which seemed to be in difficulty. The battle was begun by the rorarii, who covered the advance of the main body, and then dispersed on either flank. It is probable that the principes then advanced through the intervals of the maniples of the hastati, and having discharged their pila, fell back again through the same intervals : but the manner in which the soldiers, armed some with the pike and some with the sword and pila, acted together, must remain matter of doubt. To each Legion was attached a squadron {ala) of 300 horse ; but the horse-soldiers of Rome were always inefficient ; her chief dependence was on her infantry. § 6. This system, at the time we speak of, was common both to * Those who paid no rates and taxes (the capiie censi) were not allowed to serve in the legions till the time of Marius, who first placed them on the military roU. Chap. XX. GREAT LATIN WAR. 189 Romans and Latins. The divisions of their army, their oflScers, their tactics were exactly alike. They had been used to fight side by side, and in each army there were many men and officers who were personally connected with those in the other. Under these circumstances the Roman commanders thought it important to break oft* all communication between the armies, and they issued a general order to this eff'ect. It was also strictly forbidden to en- gage in any partial skirmishes with the Latins, or to accept any challenge to single combat which they might make. All strength was to be reserved for the great battle which was to determine the fate of the two nations. § 7. While the armies were thus lying over against each other, the Latin horsemen, conscious of superiority, used every endeavour to provoke the Romans to single combats. The latter, however, were checked by the orders of their generals, till young Manlius, son of the Consul, stung to the quick by the taunts of Geminus Metius, a Latin champion, accepted his challenge. The young Roman conquered, and returned to the camp to lay the spoils of the enemy at his father's feet. But the spirit of Brutus was not dead ; and the stern Consul, unmindful of his own feelings and the pleading voices of the whole army, condemned his son to death for disobedience to orders. Discipline was thus maintained, but at a heavy expense, and the men's hearts were heavy at this unnatural act. § 8. In the night before the day on which the Consuls resolved to fight, each of them were visited by an ominous dream, by which it was revealed that whichever army first lost its general should prevail ; and they agreed that he whose division first gave ground should devote himself to the gods of the lower world. In the morning, when the auspices were taken, the liver of the victim off'ered on the part of Decius was defective, while that of Manlius was perfect, and the event confirmed the omen ; for Man- lius, who commanded the right division, held his ground, while the legions of Decius on the left gave way. Then Decius, mindful of his vow, sent for Valerius, the Chief Pontiff", to direct him how duly to devote himself. He put on his toga, the robe of peace, after the Gabine fashion, bringing the end or lappet under the right arm and throwing it over his head ; and then standing on a javelin, he pronounced the solemn form of words prescribed, by which he devoted the army of the enemy along with himself to the gods of death and to the grave. Then, still shrouded in his toga, he leaped upon his horse, and dashing into the enemy's ranks was slain. Both armies were well aware of the meaning of the act ; it de- 190 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL pressed the spirits of the Latins as much as it raised those of the Romans. The skill of Manlius now finished the work of superstitious awe. He had armed his accensi, contrary to usual custom ; and as soon as his two front battalions were wearied, he brought them up in place of the triarii. The Latins, thinking they were triarii, brought up their own third battalions, who thus used up their W3apons and their strength upon the Roman accensi. Then Man- lias brought up his real triarii, fresh and unbroken, to gain an easy victory over the wearied enemy. They fled in irretrievable confusion. Such was the battle of Vesuvius, which decided the fate of Latium and of Campania. We know not what part the Campa- nians and Samnites took in it, but there is no doubt that they were engaged as allies on either side. The Latins en- deavoured to make a stand upon the Liris, but again suffered a defeat, and the surviving Consul led his victorious army to Rom3. § 9. If the greatness of a Consul's honours were proportioned to the importance of his acts, the triumph of T. Manlius Torquatus ought to have been second to none ; for Capua, Cumae, Calcs, and other towns in Campania were among the conquered ; and not only Latium, but Campania and the intervening country of the Auruncans and Volscians, remained at the mercy of the conquer- ors. But the memory of his son was alive ; the younger men were too ma3h struck with horror at the remorseless father to give glory to the victorious Consul, and a gloomy silence attended his progress along the Forum to the Capitol. From the stern exercise of his authority he is said to have derived his other surname of Imperiosus. § 10. The war was kept up the next year by several Latin cities, which, however, were unable to keep an army in the field. Tibur, Prseneste, Aricia, Lavinium, Yelitrai, and Antium were conquered successively by the Consuls Ti. ^inilius and Q. Publilius Philo, but Pedum still held out : in the third year, however (339 b.c), this city also yielded, and the Latin war was ended. § 11. The country that was left at the mercy of Rome by the issue of the Latin war was a large tract, comprehending Latium itself, the country of the Volscians and Auruncans from Anxur or Terracina to the mouth of the Liris, and the northern district of Campania nearly to the mouth of the Vulturnus. It is probable that in the lower part of Campania the Samnites remained para- mount : but Roman Campania was the vine-growmg part of the country, in which lay Mons Massicus and Cales, and the famous Ager Falernus, while northward, among the Ausonians, was tho Chap. XX. SUBJECTION OP LATIUM. 191 Ager Csecubus and the Formian hills, whose wines were only second to those of Campania. It was a rich domain, and at the close of the first year of the war the Senate, sure of their prize, proceeded to appropriate part of the lands of these comitries. The poorest Plebeians, lately relieved of the pressure of debt, now received portions not exceeding three jugera (nearly 2 acres) apiece.* The allotments were small, but with the help of pasturage on the public land, this was enough to enable industrious men to keep free from debt. § 12. However, the smallness of these allotments seems to have again raised discontent ; and in the second year of the Latin war (340 B.C.) the Plebeian Consul, Q. Publilius Philo, being named Dictator by his patrician colleague for some purpose now unknown, proposed and carried three laws still further abridging the few re- maining privileges of the patrician Lords. The first Publilian law enacted that one of the Censors, as one of the Consuls, must bo a Plebeian, which confirmed as a rule what had already been allowed ; for C. Marcius Rutilus had already held this office.f The second gave fuller sanction to the principle already established, that the Resolutions of the Plebeian Assembly should have the force of law.]; The third provided that all lawt passed at the Comitia of the Centuries or of the Tribes should re- ceive beforehand the sanction of the Curies ;|| so that this Patrician Assembly now lost all power of stopping or rejecting laws proposed in the Popular Assemblies. It is remarkable that these Publilian Laws were passed with very little open opposition on the part of the Patricians. §13. After the surrender of Pedum, in the third year of the war, the Senate proceeded to make such a settlement of the con- quered communities as might deliver Rome from all future fears of insurrection. The principle of policy was that which was steadily and insidiously pursued in all future dealings with conquered countries, namely, to divide the interests of the different communi- ties by bestowing privileges on some, and by reducing others to such a state of absolute subjection that they were never likely again to unite in arms. It should be added, however, that hopes were * Some received allotments on the public lands of Latium and the Yolsci, and these portions only amounted to 2f jugera. But those who were settled on the Falernian lands had three. — Liv. viii. 11. f See Chapt. xvii. § 1. \. '■'■ Ut Plebiscita omnes Quirites tenerent,''^ — which seems to have been merely a re-enactment of the Valerio-Horatian law mentioned in Chapt. x. § 22 ( 2). — See below, Chapt. xxv. § 2. 'I "Ut Legum, quae Comitiis Centuriatis ferrentur, ante initum suffragium Patres auctores fierent." — This was clearly a diminution of the power of the Comitia Curiata. 192 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IH, held out to those who were most severely punished that by obedi- ence and good service they might hereafter gain the privileges of the most highly favoured. § 14. It will be necessary hereto say a few words on the nature of the privileges which Rome was able to bestow upon her subjects or to withhold from them. All Burgesses of Rome, now that no political distinction re mained between Patrician and Plebeian, enjoyed the same rights. Tliese rights are commonly divided into two classes, the Private and the Public. The private rights of a Roman citizen were (1) the power of legal marriage with all families of citizens, (2) the power of making legal contracts of bargain and sale, so that he might hold land and houses by a good title in any part of the Roman territory, (3) the power of devising property by will, and of inheriting property, with other smaller privileges of which it is needless to speak here.* The Public Rights were (1) the power of voting in the great popular assemblies, the Comitia of the Centuries and of the tribes, in all matters of legislation, in the election of magistrates, in the trial of fellow-citizens, and (2) the power of being elected to all offices of State.f When foreign lands were incorporated with Rome, the free citizens residing in those lands became entitled to all these Rights, both Private and Public. But it was common for Rome to enter into relations with foreign communities on such conditions, that she granted a portion of those Rights to the citizens of those com- munities, and received for her own citizens corresponding rights in those communities. Thus the citizens of Capua might possess the Private Rights of a Roman Citizen at Rome, and reciprocally a Roman burgess might be able to exercise the same Rights at Capua. It is obvious that these concessions might be made in various degrees of completeness. All Private Rights might be granted, or only some ; or to the Private Rights might be added a power of obtainmg even the Public Rights, that is, of becoming a burgess of Rome. § 15. It is probable that by the League of Spurius Cassius, and by the League renewed by Plautius in 356 b.c, this equal relation was established between Rome and her subject communities on the one hand, and all the independent Latin communities on the other. Romans possessed the Private Rights of citizenship in all these communities, and Latins possessed the same Rights at Rome. It is probable also that the citizens of each of the two parties to this League had some power of obtaining the * Jvs ConniMi, Jus Commercii, Jus Testamentifaciionis et Ecercdiia'is, etc. f Jus Suffragii, Jus Honorum, Chap. XX. SUBJECTION OF LATIUM. Id3 Public Rights in the allied states. A Roman might become the burgess of one of the Latin communities, a Latin might become a burgess of Rome. In Campania also similar relations seem to have existed between Rome and the chief Campanian communi- ties before the great war of which we are speaking. § 16. But now, at the end of the year 339 B.C., Latium, Cam- pania, and the intervening country, lay at the feet of Rome, and no such equality was thought of for the future. A complete division of interest was made, and all union between the cities was rendered difficult. (1.) Some Latin communities with their lands were at once added to the Roman territory, so that their citizens became citi- zens of Rome and voted in the Comitia. This complete incor- poration was conferred upon Lanuvium, Tusculum, Nomentum, and Velitrse. Part of these lands were added to Tribes already existing,* but the greater part was comprehended in two new Tribes, which were formed by the next Censors in 332 b.c, so that now the Roman Tribes amounted in number to tv/enty- nlne.f It must be observed, however, that no reward was herein conferred upon Velitrse, which had been pertinacious in its resistance during the war ; for its walls were thrown down and its chief citizens banished beyond the Tiber, while its lands were divided among Plebeians of Rome. It was not, therefore, the Latins of Velitrse, but the new Roman settlers who became members of the Tribe in which the city stood ; but in the other three cities the Latin inhabitants henceforth became Ro- mans. It is probable that Aricia and Pedum were treated in the same manner as Velitrse. (2.) Tibur and Prseneste were deprived of a portion of their territory, which thus became part of the public domain of Rome ; otherwise they remained independent. Probably they were still too powerful to be treated without regard. Prseneste more than once again appeared in arms against Rome. (3.) The other Latin Communities were prohibited from enter- ing i^ito any relations, private or public, one with another. The citizens of one town could not enter legal marriage with the family of another town, nor make a legal contract of bargain and sale with any but one of his own townsmen. This severe penal enactment shows that they were reduced into a state of absolute subjection to Rome, and the isolation which was its consequence effectually maintained that subjection.. Many Latin * Tusculum was added to the old Papirian tribe. — Liv. viii. 37. f " Eodem anno census actus, novique cives censi : Tribus propter eos additae, Maecia et Scaptia." — Liv. viii. 17. The last had been added mora than 50 years before. — Chapt. xviii. § 2. 9 194 ROME CONQUEROR Oi ITALY. Book III. Cities had been destroyed by the Gauls : others now began to dwindle away : so early began that chain of causes which has ended in the present desolation of the Campagna. In course of time their territory was nearly all incorporated with the Roman Tribes, and Latin families derived from these towns furnished some of the most illustrious generals and statesmen of Rome. The Fulvii, the Curii, the Coruncanii were of Latin origin: Marius and Cicero, as is well known, derived their origin from the little Volscian town of Arpinum. § 17. The Oscan communities between Latium and Campania, with the chief cities of Northern Campania, were admitted into alliance with Rom 3 much on the same terms that had before subsisted between Rome and the communities of Latium. Capua especially appears in later history on terms as equal as ever had been enjoyed by Tusculum, or Tibur, or Prseneste. The chief men, whom Livy calls the Knights, were (as we have seen) pro- bably of Samnite origin, and had taken part with Rome in the late Latin war, while the mas^ of the Oscan popidation joined their countrymen against the Latins. It is likely that these men were now restored as a Patrician order in Capua, and that the privileges of equal alliance referred to them alone. Probably, also, in Cumse, Suessula, Formise, and Fundi, where similar pri- vileges were granted, similar political revolutions took place. A Patriciate was formed and put in possession of political privi- leges, while the mass of the people were left in the former con- dition of the Plebeians at Rome. Thus the Patricians or govern- ing body in each city would be anxious to maintain alliance with Rome, because on that depended the maintenance of their own supremac}' Terracina. CHAPTER XXI. EVENTS LEADING TO THE SECOND SAMNITE WAR. (337 326 B.C.) § 1. Next twelve years without great events : measures of precaution againi Samnites, § 2. Revolt of Cales : Colony there. § 3. Alexander of Mo lossus engaged by Tarentines to make war with Lucanians : Treaty of Romans with him. § 4. Colony sent to Fregellae. § 5. Generous treat- ment of Privemum : Thirty-one Tribes, § 6. Colony to Terracina. § ,7. Dispute with Palsepolis, which calls in a ^amnite garrison. § 8. Publilius Philo besieges Palaepolis : first Proconsul : destruction of Palsepolis. § 9. From these causes of quarrel, Second Samnite War breaks out. ^ § 1. The first war with the Samnites, followed so closely by the great Latin War, must have exhausted the resources of Rome ; a time of peace and quiet was necessary to restore them. But it was impossible for two aggressive nations like the Romans and the Samnites to remain long in alliance. Almost every event which occurred in the next twelve years shows that war, though staved off for the present, must be renewed in no very long time. Of these events we will now take a short survey, noticing par- ticularly how well the Romans employed the interval to strengthen themselves on the Samnite frontierc 196 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL § 2. It appears that the Sidicines, in the late settlement of Campania, had been left independent, as a sort of border country between the Roman and the Samnite borders. This people, not satisfied with neutrality, drove the Auruncans of Cales into revolt against Rome, and a short war followed. Cales was speedily reduced by Valerius Corvus, Consul in b.c. 335 ; and, to prevent all future trouble, was occupied by a Colony of 2500 citizens (b.c. 334). These settlers became as it were the Patri- cians of the Colony, sharing the public domain amongst them ; while the old population was reduced to the position of Ple- beians; and therefore it was for the interest of the colonists always to remain faithful to Rome. Thus one outpost was planted in the newly-conquered country, so placed as to defend it against the Saranites. § 3. Three years after (b.c. 332) news came to Rome that Alexander, King of Molossus, had landed in Southern Italy with an army. This Alexander was uncle of Alexander the Great, being brother of his mother Olympias. He had been invited to cross the sea by the Tarentines, whose practice it was to hire foreign armies commanded by leaders of note, in order to defend til 3m against their barbarous neighbours, the Lucanians. Alex- ander defeated these people near Psestum ; and the Senate forth- with sent to form an alliance with him, thinking he might be of service to them in any future war with the Samnites. This was dishonest ; for Rome was already in alliance with the Sam- nites, and the Samnites were at war with Alexander. Nor did it profit them ; for Alexander, who had come into Italy not so much to assist the Tarentines as to win a kingdom for himself, was slain not long after in a second battle at Pandosia. § 4. Another event brought the two nations still nearer a direct collision. It will be remembered that the Samnites had conquered the Yolscian country in the Upper Liris ; that they had been left in possession of their conquests at the settlement which followed the Great Latin War. From this frontier they S3 2m to have gone on to attack other Volscian towns now under th3 protection of Rome; for in the year 328 b.c. we find the Volscians of Fabrateria, near Fregellse, imploring the assistance of Rome. The appeal was listened to at once. The Senate warned the Samnites to abstain from further inroads ; and not content with this, they proceeded to occupy Fregollae with a strong body of Colonists. This second Colony on the Samnite frontier was destined to command the upper or inland road from Latium into Campania. § 5. Two years before (330 b.c.) one of the newly-conquered Volscian cities had revolted against Rome. This was Privernum^ CiiAP. XXI. CAUSES OF SECOND SAMNITE WAR. 197 and the revolt was countenanced by Fundi, and perhaps other Auruncan towns ; for Vitruvius Vaccus, a wealthy citizen of Fundi, who had lately settled at Rome, appears as the leader of the Privernatians. The revolt was soon crushed : but the Pri- vernatians, contrary to custom, were treated with indulgent favour by the Senate. Their deputies, being asked by the Con- sul, " What was due to such conduct as theirs ?'' boldly re- plied by another question : — " What is due to brave men who have fought for freedom ?" " Well, but if we spare you," re- joined the Consul, " what are we to expect ?" " Peace," was the reply, " if you treat us well ; but if ill, a speedy return to war." Tlien the Senate voted that the people of Privernum should be admitted to be Roman citizens ; and not long after, they were included in two new Oscan Tribes, which, being added to the Roman territory, made the Tribes thirty-one in all* Probably this conduct was rather politic than magnanimous. It was evidently well calculated to make the Oscan nations satisfied with Roman sovereignty, and willing to take part with Rome rather than with the Samnites. § 6. Shortly after this the Senate placed a Colony of 300 Roman citizens in the strong city of Anxur, or Terracina. This Colony was of a different sort from those of Cales and Fregellse (as shall hereafter be explained). It was intended to command the lower or coast road from Latium into Campania, as Fregellae did the upper or inland. A Colony, planted in Antium at the close of the Latin war, had a similar effect. § 7. In the year 327 b.c. began the dispute which was the immediate cause of the great Samnite War. Parthenope was an ancient Greek colony founded by the Chalcidians of Cuma on the northern part of the Bay of Naples. In after years an- other city sprung up a little to the south, whence the original Parthenope was called Pala?polis, or Old-town, while the New Town took the name of Neapolis. The latter preserves its name in the modern Naples ; the former has so utterly disappeared that its site is a matter of guess. These two cities (as has been stated) were considered to be free and independent, though the main part of the country above had been seized by the Samnites. Now at the time just mentioned the Senate sent to Pala3polis to complain of piracies and other outrages committed upon Roman subjects in Campania. But the Greek city, being closely allied with her sister Neapolis and the great Oscan town of Nola (which had almost become Greek), seeing also that she might count on the aid of the Samnites against Rome, and being secretly instigated by the Tarentines, refused to give any satis- * "Duse Romae additae Tribus, Ufentina et Faleriaa." — Liv. ix. 20. 198 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. faction for the alleged injuries. On this the Senate declared war, and ordered L. Pablilius Philo, the plebeian Consul, to besiege Palaepolis ; and this city on her part received a garrison, consisting (it was said) of 2000 Nolans and 4000 Samnites. § 8. The Consul encamped between the two cities, the new and the old : but the Romans were at this time unskilful in sieges, and the year drew on without any great advance being made. Publilius Philo, however, was a deserved favourite of the people, and in order to enable him to continue the war, he received the title of Pro-consul, with the command of the be- sieging army for the next year — the first example of a practice which afterwards became common. Still all his efforts might have been vain, had not two traitor Greeks, holding high offices in Palaepolis, offered to betray the city. This offer was eagerly accepted, and the Romans were admitted into the old town at one gate, while the Samnite garrison left it by the opposite side. From this time we hear no more of Palaspolis. The Neapolitans, foreseeing the ascendency of Rome, entered into a treaty of peace with the Senate ; and Publilius returned home completely suc- cessful. He was the first Pro-consul ; he was also the first general who was allowed to triumph before he had laid down his office. § 9. While these affairs were going on, war broke out with the Samnites. The Senate sent ambassadors to complain of the conduct of these people in encouraging the men of Privernum to revolt, and in supporting the Greeks of Palaepolis against Rome. The Samnites denied both charges, and fiercely retorted upon Rome for daring to colonise Fregellae, which they had taken and destroyed. " What need of further trifling ?" said they ; " war is the only way to settle our disputes, and the plain of Campania must be our battle-ground. There let us meet, between Capua and Suessula, and decide which is to be mistress of Italy, Samnium or Rome." But the Romans, coldly replying that it was their custom to choose their own field of battle, contented themselves with declaring war ; and the colleague of Publilius was ordered to enter the Samnite frontiers. Thus in the year 326 b.c. was war again begun between Rome and Samnium. This time it lasted, not two years, as before, but twenty-two. It was a desolating warfare, which brought both nations to the last stage of exhaustion. But Rome remained the conqueror. Beneventum in Samnium. CHAPTER XXII. THE GREAT 8AMNITE WAB, COMMONLY CALLED THE SECOND. (326—304 B.C.) § 1. Part taken in war by nations of Southern Italy. § 2. Leading men of Rome: M. Valerius Corvus, M. Papirius Cursor, Q. Fabius, P. Decius the younger, etc. § 3. War divided into three periods. § 4. First Period (326-322), in which Romans gain the upper hand, § 5. Second Period (b.c. 321-315): great defeat of Roman army at Furculae Caudinae, ^ 6. Pontius passes Romans under yoke, and releases them on conditions of peace. §. 7. Peace repudiated by Senate, § 8. Remarks on their conduct, § 9. Continued success of Samnites, till 315, § 10. Third Period (314-304): precautionary measures: Capua called to account: Colonists sent to Fre- gellae, Casinum, Interamna, Suessa. § 11, War declared by Etruscans, § 12, Great defeat of Samnites by Papirius, § 13, Of Etruscans by Fabius. § 14. Samnites sue for Peace (304 B.C.) § 15. Why Senate was ready to come to terms. — Thirty-three Tribes. § 1. War being declared, the Senate hastened to detach from the cause of the Samnites such of the Sabellian tribes as would listen to their diplomacy. They appear to have been successful with some of the Lucanian and some of the Apulian communities. We find, indeed, that theLucanians soon after took part with the 200 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. . Book IIL Saranites ; but their aid seems to have been of an uncertain and unstable character. The alliance formed with the Apulian tribes was more serviceable to Rome. Tarentum, which was now the chief of the Greek cities in the South of Italy, took no direct part in the war, but regarded it with no common interest. Lately the Samnites and Ijucanians had been her chief enemies ; but the conquests of Rome, and especially the fall of Palsepolis, had excited the interest and the fears of the Greek cities in the south, and their good wishes were on the side of Samnium. Indeed, we are expressly told that it was by the arts of the Tarentines that the Lucanians were detached from their alliance with Rome.* § 2. Such was the state of the neighbouring nations when war broke out. It will be useful here to notice the men whom the Romans expected to lead them to victory. Of T. Manlius Torquatus, the conqueror of the Latins, we hear not. Either he was dead, or the horror caused by the ruthless execution of his son prevented his being again elected Consul. But M. Valerius Corvus, the conqueror of the Samnites in the First War, was still in the vigour of life. He had been first elected Consul in the year 346, at the early age of twenty-three, now, therefore, he was little more than forty-four. Four times had he been Consul ; and as Dictator, in the year after his Samnite vic- tory, he had quelled a dangerous insurrection without bloodshed. In the course of this war he was once more Dictator and twice Consul. But the general in whom the Senate seem to have placed most confidence was M. Papirius Cursor. Four times was he made Consul in this war, and once Dictator, and his services were usually called for in the greatest emergencies. He was a man of little education, of great bodily strength, and especially remarkable for his swiftness of foot (whence his name of Cursor) ; able to endure all extremes of hunger, cold, and fatigue ; and not without a rough sort of humour. Once, it is said, the troops asked for some remis- sion of duty in reward for good service : " Very well," said he, " you need not stroke your horses on the back when you dismount." Again, an offender was brought before him as he was walking up and down in front of his tent, and straightway he bade the lictor get ready his axe. The culprit, pale with fear, stood expecting his death-blow, when Papirius said — " Here, lictor, cut away this root, or 'twill trip me up as I walk ;" and then dismissed the trembling wretch. A man of this kind was sure to be popular with the sol- diers ; yet often he lost their good-will by his violent and overbear- ing conduct. * Liv. viil 21, fin. OMAP. XXII. SECOND SAMIOTE WAR. 201 Q. Fabius Maximus* was perhaps the most considerable man of the time. He was a patrician, but the warm friend of the plebeian P. Decius, the son of that Decius who devoted himself so nobly in the Latin War. Fabius more than once proved himself the better genius of Rome, in the latter part of this war and after- wards. With these three Patricians must be remembered the names of C. Marcius Rutilus and Q. Publilius Philo, Plebeians, who have already been mentioned more than once. To oppose these Ronian chiefs, the Samnites had no doubt bold and skilful leaders ; for during a great part of the war their arms were in the ascendant. But the only name we know is that of C. Pontius ; and a fitter place will occur presently to speak of this great man. § 3. The war itself may be conveniently divided into three periods : the first, from 326 to 322, when the Samnites were so far reduced as to sue for peace; the second from 321, when the Ro- mans were defeated at the Caudine Forks, to 315, when the Sam- nites gained another victory at Lautulse, and Capua threatened to revolt; the third, from 314, when the Roman fortune again began to prevail, to 304, when the war ended. § 4. First Period (326— 322).— The year after the fall of Pa^ Isepolis, the Senate boldly ordered the Consul D. Junius Brutus to march into the allied country of Apulia, in order to attack the Sam- nites from that quarter, while the other Consul entered Samnium from Campania. By this means they hoped to avert the war from their own territory, as they had done successfully in the Latin war. Brutus was refused a passage through the Vestinian country, and spent the whole year in reducing these people to submission. The purpose of this was, no doubt, to secure a passage into Apulia. Meantime, the other Consul being sick, M. Papirius Cursor was named Dictator to act in his place, and he chose Q. Fabius as his Master of Horse. The Dictator found the Samnite army ad- vanced to the edge of the Lower Apennines, which overhang the Latian Plain, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Sublaqueum (Subiaco), and there he fixed his camp. Being recalled to Rome to rectify some mistake in the auguries, he left the army in com- mand of Fabius, strictly charging him not to venture on an action. But in a day or two, as he was presiding in the Senate, a message reached him to say that his Master of Horse had been so pro- voked by the hourly insults of the enemy, that he had attacked them and gained a signal victory. Papirius rushed out of the * Also called Rullianua. From this name it should seem that he was adopted by a Fabius from the Gens RuUia. 9* 202 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL Senate-house, and went straight to the army, vowing that his rebellious officer should die the death of young Manlius, the son of Torquatus. But Fabius, being forewarned, called the soldiers together, and told them of his danger; whereupon they bade him be of good cheer, for they would stand between him and the Dictator's wrath. The latter, as soon as he arrived, ordered the lictors to seize Fabius, who took refuge among the veterans ; and after a long struggle, the Dictator was obliged to let matters stand over till the next day. Meantime, Fabius fled to Rome, and appeared before the Senate to tell his story. But Papirius pursuing him, entered the Senate-house and ordered the lictors to arrest him. A scene of great violence followed; and at length the Dictator was obliged to yield to the wishes of both Senate and People. But the pardon he granted was forced and ungracious, and on his return to the camp he found the army ripe for mutiny and unwilling to fight. Then even his stubborn will gave way ; he found it necessary to curb his angry temper, and adopt gentler manners ; till at length, having recovered the good-will of the soldiery, he again attacked the enemy, and again defeated them. So discouraged were the Samnites, that they sued for peace ; but only a year's truce was granted, at the end of which hostilities were resumed with the same fortune as before. They were again defeated in a great battle on the borders of their own country ; while Q. Fabius, now Consul, made an irruption into the northern part of Apulia, which was still subject to the Samnites, and took Luceria, with other places. On these losses, the enemy prayed for peace more earnestly than before ; but the Senate refused to treat unless Brutulus Papius, whom they accounted the leader of the war-party, were first delivered up. This man nobly said that he would not stand in the way of his country's wishes, and sought a voluntary death. Then the Samnites sent ambassadors to Rome, bearing the body of Papius, to repeat their former prayer. But this unworthy treatment of a man whose only fault seems to have been that he loved his county too well, was of no avail. The conditions of peace oftered by the Senate were so hard, that it was thought that a war ever so unsuccessful could bring about no worse results. It was determined to renew hostilities. § 5. Second Period (321 — 315 b.c.) — As during the first five years of the war the Roman arms had prevailed, so during the next seven the Samnites were almost uniformly successful. This success was mainly due to C. Pontius. Herennius, his father, was famed for wisdom, not without reason ; for he had drank at the fountain of Greek philosophy, having been the friend of th«i. Chap. XXll SECOND SAMNITE WAR. 20^ Pythagorean sage Archytas,* who had governed Tarentum with wisdom and virtue for many years. Herennius had paid great attention to the education of his son, and the name of C. Pontius stood so high, that he was elected captain-general of the Samnite League. The very first year of his command was marked by one of the greatest disgraces which the Roman armies ever suffered. This was the famous affair of the Caudine Forks (Furculae Caudinae). It appears that in thib year (321 b.c.) both the Consuls, T. Veturius and Sp. Posthumius, had been ordered to march into Campania, in order to attack Samnium from that country. When they reached Capua, they heard that Pontius with the whole Sam- nite army was besieging Luceria. Thinking that, unless they hast- ened by the shortest w^ay into Apulia, the whole country might fall away from the Romans, they marched straight northward into Samnium, taking the road which led by Calatia through the mountains to Beneventum, the chief town of the Caudini. Soon after the road enters the mountains, the valley becomes very nar- row : it then opens out into a small plain, and then closes in again.f When the Roman armies, after traversing the plain, attempted to defile through the pass at the far end of it, they found they had been deceived by false reports. The enemy had indeed besieged Luceria ; but C. Pontius himself, with the best of his troops, had beset the road, and was so strongly posted, that it seemed impossi- ble to force a passage. The Consuls then turned about, intending to go back into Campania and seek another way into Apulia, but they found that the enemy had in the meantime taken possession of the pass by which they had entered, so that they were hemmed in both in front and rear. The hills on either side were also guarded, so that escape was impossible. Still the Romans made a desperate attempt to force their way out of this trap, but at what point is unknown. Great njimbers fell ; one-half of their officers were killed or wounded ; and not till then did the Consuls offer to treat. J; § 6. Pontius was so elated by his great success, that he knew not what would be the best use to make of his victory. In this state of doubt he sent for his sage father, and demanded counsel. " Two courses are open to you," said Herennius, " either to put all to the * Cicero de Senect. c. 12. f The place is uncertain. It was certainly on the road from Capua to Beneventum, and must have been either the Stretto d'Arpaia, a narrow defile between Arienzo and Arpaia, or the depressed valley beyond Arpaia, between that place and Montesarchio. X Livy mentions no battle : he did not see that defeat was more glorious than surrender. But the battle is expressly mentioned by Cicero (de Offic. iii. 30, de Senect. 12), and the great loss is specified by Appian. 204 ROME CONQUEROR OP ITALY. Book ID. sword, and deprive your enemies of a brave army ; or to let them go untouched, and make them your friends." This advice has been highly praised, but without much reason. It sounds like the policy of a rude Samnite mountaineer, rather than of one who had heard the lessons of Grecian wisdom. The slaughter of a whole army is too cruel for a civilised man to think of. To dis- miss them all without conditions would have been a romantic piece of generosity, which the Roman Senate would have ascribed either to folly or to fear. Nor did Pontius listen to his father's counsel. He proposed to let the army go free, on surrendering their arms and publicly acknowledging their defeat, if the chief officers would engage to procure a peace and cause that all towns and lands which had been taken from the Samnites should be restored. This was agreed to ; the treaty was signed by the Consuls and all the superior officers. Six hundred knights were handed over to Pontius as hostages till the treaty was ratified by the Senate. And then the whole army, clad in their under gar- ments only, having given up their armour and cloaks, was allowed to go through the Samnite lines, each man passing singly under the yoke. They returned in this sorry guise to Capua, where they were supplied with arms and outer garments, that they might not return to Rome like prisoners or slaves. But so ashamed were they, that none would go into the city till nightfall, except the Consuls, who were obliged to enter publicly, and by daylight. But they shared in the feelings of their men, and the whole Roman people were oppressed by shame and grief. All busi- ness was suspended '* all ranks put on mourning ; all festivals, public and private, were adjourned ; and the Comitia for election of new magistrates were held by an Interrex, the Consuls being deemed unworthy to preside. The persons chosen to be the new Consuls were those held most likely to repair this great disaster, — L. Papirius Cursor the Patrician, and Q. Publilius Philo the Plebeian. § 7. Pontius now demanded the fulfilment of the treaty, and the matter was laid before the Senate. The late Consuls, who had made the treaty, rose and declared that it ought not to be observed ; that they and all who had signed that shameful treaty ought to be given up to the enemy. Two Tribunes of the Plel:« opposed this motion, but they were not heard. Consuls, Legion- ary Tribunes, Quaestors, and all others who had signed, were given to the fecial or herald ; and he delivered them in chains to the Samnites. As soon as this was done, Postumius, the late Consul, struck the Roman fecial with his knee, saying: " I am now a Sam- Justitium indicium est. Chap. XXIL SECON^D SAMNITE WAR. 205 nite subject, and thus do I insult the sacred officer of Rome. The Romans can now make rightful war against the Samnites." But Pontius cut short this paltry quibbling by declaring that he would not receive the prisoners at all. " Rome," said he, " made a treaty with me ; I will not excuse her performance of her duty because she gives up the persons of a few officers. If she will not have the treaty, let her place her army as it was in the Pass of Caudine Forks, and then I will see what may be done." The Roman pri- soners returned to Rome ; the six hundred hostages were left to the mercy of the Samnites. § 8. In this matter the Roman Senate has been much blamed for treachery and breach of faith. But, to justify such censure, we must be able to answer these questions : — Had the Consuls power to make a treaty binding on the whole people ? Or if they had not, did they send to Rome to obtain the sanction of the Senate and People? If these questions are answered, one or both of them, in the affirmative, then doubtless the Senate were most guilty. But if the Consuls had no such power, and if the authorities at home had not been consulted, then all that can be said is that C. Pontius ought not to have dismissed the army till the treaty had been duly ratified : for Rome was so near that an answer could soon have been brought back. There is too much reason to think that, directly or indirectly, some authority was given to the treaty. At all events the conduct of Postumius, in pretending to be a Sam nite when he insulted the Roman fecial, is, to our notions, contemptible, if not too ludicrous even to be contemptible. § 9. So the war was renewed, and Papirius Cursor, with his ple- beian colleague, took the field. It is said that Luceria surrendered to Papirius ; at all events, his presence in Apulia prevented that people from deserting the Roman alliance, and he was re-elected Consul for the next year. The history of the rest of this period is obscure. Two years passed in another armistice, during which the Romans created the two new Oscan Tribes above noticed.* But fortune continued to favour the Samnites. They advanced still further along the upper valley of the Liris; Sora revolted to them, and they expelled the Roman colonists from Fregellse ; so that the Romans lost the command of the upper road into Campania. Still the Senate persisted in their aggressive policy ; and in the eleventh year of the war, Papirius and Publilius, again colleagues in the Consul- ship, again led their arms into Apulia and Samnium, leaving the lower Campanian road undefended. On this the Samnites * Cliapt. xxi. § 5. 206 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. descended into Campania ; and Fabius, being appointed Dictator, had only just time to occupy the pass of Lautulae, which has been mentioned as an important position on the lower road, between Anxur and Fundi. But Fabius, brave and skilful as he was, could not hold his post with an army so hastily drawn together. He was defeated with great loss, Q. Aulius Cerre- tanus, Master of the Horse, being in the number of the slain. The loss of Lautulae opened Latium to the Samnite army; the Auruncans and other Oscan tribes rose against Rome, and Campania threatened to revolt. The condition of the city seemed desperate. But old Rome never shone so bright as when her light seemed quite put out. "Merses profundo, pul- chrior evenit," is no poetic fancy, but an historic truth. And so it was even now. Fabius appears to have saved part of his army, and with it to have joined one of the Consuls, who had returned home in haste, when the news of the battle of Lautulae reached him. They fell upon the Samnites, and defeated them completely. From this time the star of the Samnites began to wane. For the remaining ten years of the war the Roman arms uniformly prevailed ; and with these begin our third and last period. § 10. Third Period (314—304 b.c.).— The defeat of the Sam- nites just mentioned was so complete, that they could not meet the Romans in the field. The wretched Auruncans, who had been tempted to revolt after the battle of Lautulae, were betrayed to their old masters, and (to use the words of Livy) were annihi- lated.* Maenius was named Dictator to inquire into Campanian disaffection ; and his presence at Capua created so much terror, that the two Calavii, the leaders of the confederacy, were delivered up to him, and a general amnesty was granted. The Senate then busied themselves with so fortifying the upper road, that they might never again lose it. Sora was a second time betrayed to them ; they re-established the Colony of Fregellae, and sent colonists to Casinum, Interamna, and Suessa, so that these places, with Cales, formed a line of for- tresses along the Samnite frontier. They also took the large town of Nola in Southern Campania, and probably also Salernum, so that the Samnites were now almost, if not quite, cut off from the southern sea. Lastly, a large body of colonists was sent to the distant town of Luceria, to prevent its being again surprised by the enemy. Thus were the Samnites held in check on every side. § 11. The war would probably have come to a quick conclusion * " Deleta gens Ausonum." — ix. 25. Chap. XXII SECOND SAMNITE WAR. 207 had it not been that in the fifteenth year the forty years' truce with the Etruscans of the southern country ended, and this people stirred up other cities of Northern Etruria to join with them in war against Rome. In that year Q. Fabius was appointed Consul for the second time, to conduct the war against the Etrus- cans, while 0. Marcius Rutilus, his colleague, held the Samnites in check. But the Plebeian Consul was defeated by the Samnites, and cut off from communication with the city. The Senate, in great alarm, resolved that Papirius Cursor should be named Dic- tator. But who was to name him? Marcius could not; and Fabius, it was feared, would not. However, they sent to the lattei in Etruria, trusting that love of his country would overcome memory of his private wrongs. Fabius received the order to exalt his old enemy in silence, and turned abruptly from the messengers; but at dead of night he rose, according to ancient custom, and named his deadly foe to the Dictatorship. § 12. For the next year (309 b.c), it appears from the Fasti that no Consuls were elected. Papirius, with dictatorial power, led his legions into Samnium ; while Fabius continued as Pro- consul in Etruria. The Samnites had made great exertions to improve their success, and the splendid equipment of their army i& described by Livy. One division wore striped tunics with gilded shields ; the other was clad in white, with shields of silver. But all was of no av.ail ; the long-tried fortune of Papirius again pre- vailed, and the Samnites were once more utterly defeated. This was the last battle they fought in this war. § 13. Meanwhile Fabius had been no less successful in Etruria. He first madft another attempt upon the Etruscan lines at Sutrium ; but finding them too strong to be forced, with the bold decision which marks the Roman leaders of this time he determined to make an inroad into their country. He knew their weakness at home, caused by the tyranny which was exercised by the Lucumones over their serfs. Still his enter- prise was a bold one. To reach the Vulsinian territory he must traverse the Ciminian hills.* Since Lower Etruria had been con- quered, these hills had been left as a frontier, not to be occupied by either party. They were quite overgrown with wood, and no Roman foot (it is said) had traversed them for many years. Fabius proposed to make his way through this barrier, and descend at once upon Vulsinii, justly calculating that the alarm caused by his appearance would draw off the invading army. He sent forward his brother Marcus, who had been brought up at Caere and spoke Etruscan like a native, to examine the * See Chapt. vi. § 9. 208 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. country beyond the forest; and sent word to the Senate of his intention, that they might provide means to defend the city, in case the Etruscans ventured to attack it in his absence. The Senate was alarmed by his boldness, and sent off ambassadors, attended by two Tribunes, with positive orders to stop his march. But Fabius was already in Etruria. He ravaged the country far and wide ; and the enemy broke up from Sutrium to defend their own homes. He encountered them near Perusia, and, after a bloody battle, defeated them utterly. The result was that the cities whom the Vulsinians had drawn into the war, made a peace for thirty years. The Vulsinians, however, continued in arms. § 14. The Samnites were now quite worn out. The war had lasted more than twenty years. The Romans every year invaded their country ; and at length, upon the fall of Bovianum, the chief town of the Pentrians, they sued for peace. It was granted, but on hard terms. They lost all their territory on the sea-coast : they gave up all foreign alliances and conquests, and acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. § 15. The Senate were more ready to come to terms, because some of her other neighbours threatened to be troublesome. Even the Hernicans, the old and faithful allies of Rome, had risen against her just before the close of the war ; but they were re- duced in a single campaign, and their towns treated as those of the Latins had been before. Anagnia, their chief city, became a Roman municipal town. Part of the Volscian lands also were occupied by the colonies of Interamna and Casinum (as above noted), and more recently by Sora. x\t the close of the war, the remnant of the ^quians also ventured to provoke the wrath of Rome. They also were soon subdued, and two Colonies were planted among their mountains- — at Alba on the Fucine Lake, and at Carseoli ; and by the next Censors the ^quian territory on the Anio was formed into two new Tribes, so that now the number amounted to Thirty -three.* This near approach of Roman .settlers alarmed the Sabellian tribes on the high Apennines, and the Mai - sians declared war. They also were defeated ; upon which thj Senate at once offered to enter into a league with them on equal terms : and the Marsians long remained the faithful ally of Rome. The Marrucinians, Pelignians, Frentanians, and Vestinians, also joined the Roman league. * In the censorship of P. Sempronius Sophus, P. Sulpicius, 299 b.c. "Tri- busque additae duae, Anienis et Terentina." — Liv. x. 9. ■EliiO WMEim^CM Mtwm 1 I I lAI 1 I /,.,, aOR/VELIVS -LVCIVS-SCIPIOrBARBATVS-CMAIVOD-RATRF. ,iJi;' PP0C/VATVS-F0R1IS-VIR-SAPIEN5-QVE-QV0IVS FORMA- VIRTVTEI-PARISVMA X/zf VIT- CONSOLCENSOR-AIDILIS QVEIFVIT-APVD-VOS- TAVRASIA-C SAVNA. SAMNIO-CEPIT-SVBIGIT-OMNE-LOVCANA-OBSIDESQVEABDOVCIT- Toinb of Scipio Barbatus. CHAPTER XXIII. THIRD SAMNITE WAR. (299 290 B.C.) § 1. Hollo wness of the late peace. § 2. Rome engaged in war with Etrus- cans, Umbrians, and G-auls. § 3. Samnites choose this crisis for declaring war. § 4. Samniura desolated by Fabius and Decius. § 5. Great con- federacy organised by Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite. § 6. Fabius and Decius again elected Consuls : great efforts for Campaign. § 7. Decisive battle of Sentinum : self-sacrifice of second Decius. § 8, Victory in Sam- nium by Papirius and Carvillus. § 9. C. Pontius again appears, and is taken prisoner by Fabius. § 10. Great Colony planted at Yenusia. § 11. Submission of Samnites. § 12. Shameful death of C. Pontius. § 1. The peace which concluded the Second Samnite War was made in 304 b.c, and in less than six years from that time the Third Samnite War beg;an. This peace indeed was no peace (in onr sense of the word), but a mere armistice on the part of the Samnites, who no doubt were resolved to break it as soon as they felt themselves strong enough to renew hostilities. Their great want in the late war had been allies. They had fought single-handed against Rome, who was supported by Latins, Campanians, and Apulians. The greater part of the Sabellian tribes had stood aloof in cold neutrality, or had rendered a very doubtful succour. But an opportunity now offered which seemed to present occasion for forming a great confederation of Central Italy against Rome. 210 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL § 2. After the conclusion of the peace before-named, Rome again appears in hostility with many- of the Etruscan cities, not- withstanding the thirty years' truce which all except Vulsinii had lately made.* At Arretium (Arezzo) we find the noble house of the Cilnii, from whom C. Cilnius Maecenas, the minister of Augus- tus, claimed descent, inviting the Romans to restore them to the city from which they had been banished. Perusia also and other cities appear in arms. Even beyond Etruria, in TJmbria, we find the Romans at war with the people of Nequinum, a city strongly situated on the Nar (Nera). After an obstinate siege they took the place, and planted a Colony there, under the name of Narnia (Narni), to command the point at which the frontiers of Etruria, Umbria, and the Sabines meet. The TJmbrians were so alarmed by this aggressive movement, that they called in to aid them a people who had hitherto been regarded with horror by all Italian nations. A tribe of the Senonian Gauls, the same who had burnt Rome, had made a permanent settlement on the Umbrian coast-land, between the Utis and the ^Esis. The Umbrians, once a large and powerful nation, had been gradually confined to the moun- tain land on the left bank of the Tiber ; and these Gauls had been the last enemy who had encroached upon their lands till the late settlement of the Romans at Narnia, We may infer the alarm felt by the Umbrians from the fact of their seeking such assistance. § 3. In the year 298 b.c. the Consuls were preparing to resist an attack from the Umbrians and Gauls ; and this was the favourable moment chosen by the Samnites for renewing the war. Their first step was to overpower the Roman party in Lucania and Apulia ; the colony of Luceria alone held out. Then they attempted to draw over the Marsians to their league ; but this people turned a deaf ear to the voice of the tempter. The Sabines, however, of the upper country, gave a favourable answer. With this formidable confederacy on the one hand, and the fear of the Etrurians, Umbrians, and Senonian Gauls on the other, the position of Rome appeared critical. But for some reason the fickle Gauls failed in their engagement, the Umbrians did not move, and Rome was left to deal with the Samnite league on the south, and the Etruscan cities on the north. But no doubt the interposition of the Frentanians and of the Marsians, with their associated cantons, between the Samnites and Northern Italy, must have greatly strengthened the hands of Rome in the ensuing war. * Chapt. xxil § 12. Chap. XXIIl. THIRD SAMNITB WAR. 211 § 4. The patrician Consul of the year 298 B.C., L. Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, the first of a great name,* invaded Etruria, while his colleague, Cn. Fulvius, entered the country of the Pentrian Samnites. Fulvius gained not that advantage which the Roman people expected over an enemy whom they considered as already conquered. Accordingly, the general wish was to elect Q. Fabius Maximus, the hero of the late war. Consul for the next year. Fabius was now an elderly man, and this would be his fourth Consulship. He was fain to decline the task, but at length gave way on condition that his plebeian colleague should be P. Decius Mus, son of him who devoted himself in the great Latin war; and he also had been Consul twice before. They had been col- leagues in the Consulship four years before (301 b.c), and had cordially united in measures calculated to preserve harmony in the state, as we shall show in the next chapter. They continued firm friends till the death of Decius, and present a most honoura- ble specimen of a Patrician and Plebeian combined for the com- mon good. Etruria was neglected. Both Consuls invaded Samnium : Fa- bius the Pentrian, Decius the Caudine valleys. They overran every part, burning and destroying. It is said that in this sum- mer's campaign, Decius encamped in forty-five different places, Fabius in eighty-six. The campaign served to detach the Luca- nians and Apulians from alliance with the Samnites. § 5. It appeared as if this brave people were again at the feet of Rome ; and L. Volumnius, the plebeian Consul of the next year (296 b.c), whilst his colleague App. Claudius was sent into Etruria, entered Samnium as if to take possession. But the Samnites rose from under their calamities with an elasticity as great as Rome herself displayed. Probably in the terrible assault of the last year great part of their flocks and herds, their chief wealth, had been secured in mountain fastnesses, and therefore they suffered not so much as an agricultural people might have done. But the chief merit of their renewed vigour must be at- tributed to a brave chief, named Gellius Egnatius, who shines forth for a moment, like Pontius in the former war, through the uncertain mist of Samnite history, as it is transmitted to us by Roman annalists. The plan for an Italian confederation, which had been faintly attempted at the beginning of the war, this man attempted to realise by a step as bold as ever was taken in a des- perate emergency. * This was the Scipio whose sarcophagus (figured at the head of this Chap- ter) is so famihar to all eyes. The inscription on it records that he " conquered the Lucanians, &c., apd led away hostages." When this wa§ dooe ig »P* re* porded in Livy- 212 ROMP] CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL With a chosen body of Samnites he made a rapid march into the valley of the Tiber, between Umbria and Etruria, hoping that his presence might rouse to action the slumbering energies of those countries, leaving, however, a sufficient force to keep Volumnius employed in Samnium. App. Claudius, a remarkable man, of whose acts in peace we shall have to speak in the next chapter, was more skilled in the contests of the Senate than of the field, and he was alarmed to hear that Gellius was likely to rouse both Umbrians and Gauls to join the Etruscans. He shut himself up in an entrenched camp, and sent orders to his colleague to join him. But no attack was made that year. § 6. In this state of alarm the people were convened to elect Consuls for the ensuing year (295 b.c). They at once chose old Fabius for the fifth time, and would have continued Volumnius in oflSce. But Fabius again refused to be elected unless he was united to his old and tried colleague, P. Decius ; and this noble Plebeian was elected for the fourth time Consul. At the very beginning of the year Fabius went to the camp of the late Consuls, where he found Appius adding to the fortifica- tions. He treated the statesman with much contempt, and led forth the men into the field, exercising them daily. He then returned for a short time to the city, to concert measures with thci Senate for the eventful campaign that followed. It was settled that both the Consuls, with four legions, were to go forward into Umbria, so as to separate the Samnites, with their Umbrian and Gallic allies, from Etruria. Scipio Barbatus had been sent forward with a single legion to watch the move- ments of the enemy. Volumnius, as Proconsul, was sent into Samnium. Fulvius was to be stationed near Falerii with a re- serve force to overawe Etruria ; while a fourth army, under Pos- tumius, was to cover Rome herself. This was the largest number of troops that the Republic had ever yet called into the field. With her allies she could not have had less than 100,000 men under arms. § 7. When the Consuls took the field, they were greeted with the unwelcome news that Scipio had been overpowered by the Gauls ; and that these barbarians, with some of the Etruscans, had joined the brave Gellius Egnatius in Umbria. They im- mediately pushed across the Apennines, and (probably to supply Scipio's place) recalled Volumnius from Samnium. At the same time they sent orders to Fulvius to advance into Etruria, hoping by this diversion to draw ofi" the Etruscans, and thus weaken the confederate army. The scheme was successful ; and when the Roman army met the confederates at Sentinum in Umbria, the Etruscans had already returned home. Here, as on all occa' Chap. XXIII. THIRD SAMNITB WAR. 213 sions, the conduct of that people was weak and selfish. No brave man could trust his fortunes in their hands. The Roman army of Umbria, legionaries and allies, amounted to not less than 60,000 men. The enemy, even without the Etruscans, were far more numerous. Fabius commanded the right wing, which was opposed to Gellius with his Samnites, the Umbrians, and probably some other Italian tribes ; Decius on the left faced an immense host of Gauls. Just before the battle began, a hind and a wolf (so runs the story) ran down between the armies : the hind turned in among the Gauls, and was slain by their javelins; the wolf sought refuge in the Roman ranks, and no man touched the sacred beast of Romulus. This was hailed as an omen of good, and the battle began. Fabius, after an obstinate struggle, brought up his reserve and the Samnites gave way. But he could not pursue them ; for Decius on his side had been less successful. The Gauls had brought their war-chariots into action, and the Romans were terror- struck by these strange engines of destruction. A panic seized the cavalry, and the legions wavered ; when Decius resolved to follow the example of his father, and devote himself for his country. He went through the same solemn forms ; his heroic death lent new courage to his men, and they returned to the charge under the command of M. Livius, the Pontifex Maximus. Still the Gauls kept their ground unflinching, though the heat of an Italian sun relaxed the strength of their northern frames. At this time Fabius, having driven the Samnites and their con- federates from the field, wheeled round, and assailed the Gauls on their left flank, while he detached the Campanian cavalry to take them in rear. Thus surrounded, they were soon completely broken, and a general pursuit took place. Then the Samnites were attacked anew, and the brave Gellius Egnatius fell fighting. But a remnant of his hardy mountaineers retreated in good order, and regained their own country. The slaughter on both sides was prodigious. Such was the battle of Sentinum, which determined the fate of Samnium and of Italy. The triumph of Fabius, who returned not home till he had gained another victory over the Etruscans at Perusia, was well deserved. But it was marred by the absence of his brave colleague ; and none felt this more than Fabius himself. He pronounced an oration over the grave of his thrice-proved friend, lamenting that he had borne all the danger, but had not lived to share the glory. § 8. Notwithstanding this complete rout of the confederates, the Samnites maintained the contest for five years more. In 293 B.C. they made a desperate eflfort ; certain picked battalions were 214 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. Bplendidly armed, as in the last war, and bound themselves by horrid oaths to die or conquer. The Consuls of the year were L. Papirius, son of Papirius Cursor, and Sp. Carvilius ; and they both invaded Samnium, as Fabius and Decius had done four years before. The Samnites resolved to try the fortune of another battle with their new levies, and their armies met Papirius — we know not where. When the omens were taken from the feeding of the sacred fowls (pulli), their keeper (the puUarius) reported that " they fed well, — so greedily indeed, that some of the corn fell over." The omen was good. But just as the battle was beginning the nephew of the Consul Papirius came to him in great fear : " for," said he, " the pullarius has lied ; the fowls will not eat at all." " Be it so," replied the Consul, " the omens were reported to me as good, and I shall begin the battle. If the report was false, let the false speaker look to it ;" and he ordered the pullarius to be set in the front rank. At the first onset the wretch was killed ; by his death the anger of the gods was believed to be averted, and the Romans advanced to battle with fresh confidence. In the heat of battle Papirius, confident of victory, shouted : " Jupiter, grant me vic- tory, and I will give thee a cup of wine and honey before I touch a cup myself." The soldiers recognised the rough humour of old Papirius Cursor, and shared the general's confidence. The enemy were utterly defeated ; and the rest of the year was spent in ravaging the country. The booty taken was immense ; and Car- vilius signalised his triumph by erecting a colossal statue of Jupi- ter on the Capitol, so huge that it could be seen from the Alban Hill, twelve miles off". § 9. These vigorous measures were not continued the next year, when Q. Fabius Gurges, son of old Fabius, was sent alone into Samnium. He had the name but not the nature of his father, and the Samnites were once more commanded by their greatest man, C. Pontius, of whom we hear nothing from the year of the Furculae Caudinse to the present time. He resumed his old tactics, and again drew the Romans into a defile, from which, however, he allowed them to escape, but not without heavy loss. The news of this unexpected reverse raised a storm of indignation at Rome, and the Consul was only saved from disgrace by his father, who volunteered to join the army as his son's legatus or lieutenant. His presence restored spirit to the army. Another battle was fought ; many thousand Samnites fell, and C. Pontius was taken prisoner. The tri- umphal procession was remarkable, because old Fabius and his son both appeared in the car of victory, and ascended together to the Capitol. Chap. XXIII. THIRD SAMNITE WAR. 215 § 10. The Senate had some fear lest Tarentiim and the Southern tribes might even yet be excited to join the Samnites ; and to curb them, they determined to colonise Venusia, in Southern Apulia. It is said that 20,000 Romans and Latins settled in the future birthplace of Horace, and we shall find Venusia hereafter appear- ino" as one of the most faithful of the Colonies. § 11. Two years after, in the year 290 B.C., the Samnites finally laid down their arms, and submitted to Roman supremacy. One short struggle more followed ten years after, when the arrival of Pyrrhus gave fals3 hopes to the people of Southern Italy. After his departure the Samnites, with the rest of the Italians, bowed without further dispute to the sovereignty of Rome. § 12. The close of this war was marked by one disgraceful act, the death of C. Pontius. He followed the triumphal procession of Fabius Gurges, and was beheaded in the prison under the Capitol. We blush for Rome when we hear of such treatment of a noble and generous enemy. We grieve that the last we hear of old Fabius is that he should have been associated in a triumph whose laurels were so grievously sullied. The death of Pontius not only showed a great want of magnanimity, but was a viola- tion of common humanity. But the religion of the Romans did not teach humanity ; and though they were magnanimous in mis- fortune, they were always tyrannical in success. Appian Way. CHAPTER XXIV. CIVIL HISTORY DURING THE TIME OF THE SAMNITE WARS. § 1. Internal changes during Samnite Wars : remnants of jealousy between two Orders: Pudicitia Plebeia. § 2. Patrician Clubs put down by C. Msenius. § 3. Ogulnian Law for admitting Plebeians to Pontificate and Augurate. § 4. Plebeians, as a class, no longer poor. § 5. Increasing number of Slaves and Freedmen. § 6. Political condition of Freedmen. § 7. Appius Claudius Caecus : his scheme of uniting Patricians and Freed- men against Plebeians. § 8. Choice of Senate by Appius as Censor : his colleague resigns, but he remains sole Censor. § 9. He enrols Freedmen in aU TriDes. § 10. His agent, Cn. Flavins the notary : publishes a Calendar. § 11. Elected Curule ^dile. § 12. Appius retains his Censorship for four years. § 13. His public works: Appian Road: Appian Aqueduct. § 14. His later life. § 15. Restoration of old rule with respect to Freedmen by Fabius and Decius : peaceable end of the question. § I. In a period of continued war, home affairs commonly present a monotonous aspect. It is after a war that civil commotions usually arise and political innovations take place. There weie, G'HAP. XXIV. CIVIL HISTORY DURING SAMNITE WARS. 21 Y however, some changes introduced during the Samnite wars that -jail for special notice. First, it may be noticed that as all political inequality be- tween Patricians and Plebeians had been removed, so all social distinctions were fast disappearing. Many Patrician families had fallen into decay ; a Plebeian Nobility had grown up by their side ; and the Publilii, the Marcii, the Decii, boasted names as great as the Manlii, the Papirii, the Fabii. Moreover access to the Senate was obtained, as we have before said, by the tenure of political office ; and, now that these offices were equally divided, it may be presumed that there were as many Plebeian Senators as Patrician. That jealousy still lingered in many minds is certain. A sign of this appears in the story preserved of the wife of Volumnius, the plebeian colleague of Appius Claudius in 296 b.c. She was a Patrician of the Virginian Gens, but the patrician matrons would not allow her to join in the worship of the Pudicitia Patricia, alleging that by marriage with a Plebeian she had for- feited her rights. Upon this she consecrated a chapel to Pudi- citia Plebeia. But petty jealousies of this kind did not find place among the better sort of either order. The example of Fabius and Decius shows that there were noble-minded men in each who could join heart and hand in the service of the state. § 2. But there were many of the young Patricians who could not brook to part even with their political supremacy. Clubs (coitiones) were formed for the purpose of promoting the elec- tion of their own order at the Comitia, and debarring the Ple- beians from the rights accorded to them by the Licinian law. But C. Maenius, a Plebeian, who had been appointed Dictator to inquire into the threatened revolt of Capua (314 b.c.),* after executing his duty abroad, went on summarily to break up these political clubs as contrary to public good. The outcry raised by the clubbists was so great that he laid down his office, and sub- mitted to be impeached before the Senate, together with his Master of the. Horse, M. Foslius, and the noble plebeian Q. Pnb- lilius Philo, by whose advice he had acted. The complaint, how- ever, was dismissed, and the Clubs are little heard of afterwards. § 3. The only exclusive privilege which was still maintained by the Patricians was, that they alone were eligible to the sacred offices of the Pontificate and Augurate.f There were still only four Pontifices, beside the Pontifex Maximus, and four Augurs, * Above, Chapt.'xxii. § 10. f The Plebeians, indeed, first obtained entrances to the Censorship in 280 B.c. — Liv. Epit. xiii. But there seems to have been no law necessary to admit tbem. 10 . . 218 ROME OONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III all Patricians, according to the original institutions ascribed to Numa. But this privilege was little worth preserving, when it had been conceded that Plebeians could hold curule offices, enter the Capitoline Temple in triumphal procession, and take the aus- pices at the meeting of the Centuriate Assembly. Accordingly, in the year 300 b.c, a law was proposed by two Tribunes, both bearing the name of Ogulnius, for removing this last symbol of exclusive privilege. It was proposed that henceforth there should be eight Pontifices, four from each order, besides the chief Pontiff, who might be either patrician or plebeian, for we find the office held by Ti. Coruncanius, a distinguished Plebeian, not many years later. The number of Augurs was also to be increased to nine, four from each order, the ninth probably being President of the College, as was the Chief Pontiff of the Pontifical College. Vacancies were to be filled up as heretofore, by the surviving mem- bers of the College, a practice which in Roman language was called Cooptatio* Decius spoke warmly in favour of the law, and it was carried by general consent. § 4. "We have now ceased to hear the epithet poor applied to the Plebeians as a class. There were still, no doubt, poor Plebeians, as there were poor Patricians ; but the law which de- livered debtors into bondage was no more, and the late divisions of Public Land to those who had been sent out to settle in the colonies lately planted in the Volscian, JEquian, and other dis- tricts, must have removed poverty from a large number of families. The colonial system of Rome, which afterwards played so import- ant a part in her policy, was as yet in its infancy, and we shall defer our consideration of its nature and intentions. But its effect in diminishing the number of the poor Plebeians is self-evi- dent ; nor was anything now remaining to affix poverty to them as a class. § 5. But while this complete fusion of the Orders was peace- ably brought about, a new element of discord was appearing in the state. The poor of the plebeian order had been relieved by colonisation. But another class of poor was rapidly arising with the increase of the city in population and wealth. In all large communities assembled in towns a vast number of needy per- sons are found, who live from hand to mouth, and are ready to take advantage of any political or social disturbance. In ancient cities, where labour and mechanical arts were chiefly left to slaves, this class was separated from the burgesses or citizens by a yet wider gulf than prevails in modern communities. For a long period of Rome's earlier age, Slaves seem not to have been * Being the process by which Fellows of Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge we elected, Chap. XXtT. CIVIL HISl^ORY DtfRIJ^G SAMI^ITE WAHS. 219 numerous. Agricultural labour was mostly done by the Plebeians themselves, either as the owners of small estates or as free la- bourers. The mechanical works of artisans and the business of trade were mostly carried on by the Clients under the protection and for the benefit of their Patrons. But, no doubt, when Rome became a powerful monarchy under the later kings, she followed the example of all ancient states, and made Slaves of a large number of those whom she conquered. And the same process must have been repeated with accelerated rapidity during the progress which the arms of the Republic had made since the union of Patricians and Plebeians. We find, in fact, that the Freedmen, that is, those who had once been Slaves or whose parents had been Slaves, had become an important class in the state'; and therefore it follows that Slaves, from whose ranks the Freedmen were sup- plied, must also have become numerous. These Freedmen were many of them wealthy ; but when a large number of Slaves were set free at once, as was sometimes the case on the death of their master, a number of indigent per- sons must have been left to their own resources : and thus it was that the new race of poor citizens arose, of whom we shall hear so much in th^ later period of our history under the name of the Populace of Rome, the factio forensis of the Roman writers. § 6. We have called these Freedmen citizens. They were so ; but their citizenship was limited by this particular stigma, that they could only belong to one of the four City Tribes, Therefore, even if they formed a majority in these four Tribes, they never could exercise much weight in the Comitia Tributa. For, since there were at present twenty-seven Rustic Tribes, the votes of the full Burgesses stood to those of the Freedmen in the proportion of more than six to one. But it was obvious that if these Freed- men were thrown into the Rustic Tribes, their single votes would gain great weight, and give much political power to any one who could command these votes. § 7. It is not an unusual thing to find persons of high patri- cian blood associating themselves politically with the lowest orders rather than with the class immediately below them. The proud Patrician may find more complete submission in the one case than will be rendered in the other ; and the lower orders themselves are glad to find a leader among those whom historical association and ancient wealth connect with the highest order in iue state. Such a combination was easy at Rome, because the elevation of the Plebeian order still rankled in the minds of many Patricians ; and it might have been ex- pected that there would not be wanting unscrupulous men of this class who would avail themselves of any means to recover 220 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL their exclusive privileges. Such a man appears at the present juncture. Appius Claudius, afterwards named Csecus or the Blind, was this man. He was descended from that proud Sabine family which in the earlier times of the Republic had for three gene- rations led the high Patrician party in their opposition to the claims of the Plebeians. But for nearly a century and a half, from the end of the Decemviral government to this period, the name of that great family disappears from the Annals. He was, as we have seen, devoid of military talent among a people where every man was more or less a soldier, and where every magis- trate was expected to be a general. But his abilities as a states- man must have been great. He is the first man of whom we hear as rising to high honours with this recommendation only to favour : his temper was determined, and his will inflexible. This eminent man first conceived the plan of creating a new party by means of the Freedmen, so as to neutralise the equality lately won by the Plebeians. The Patricians were as yet the chief slave-owners. The Freedmen were therefore chiefly attached to them, and whatever influence was conceded to them would probably be used, for a time at least, on the side of the Patricians, especially if the political boon conferred were conferred by the hand of a patrician statesman. § 8. In 312 B.C., three years after the disastrous defeat sustained by Fabius at Lautulae, Appius was chosen Censor, together with the plebeian C. Plautius. He was not Consul till five years later, a reversal of the usual order of office, which may be attributed to his want of military skill. One of the first duties of the Censor was to make up the list of the Senate. The com- mon practice was to leave all the old members on the list, unless Buy man had been guilty of some dishonourable act, and to fill ap the vacancies by a regular rule, of which we shall speak here- after.* But Appius disdained all precedent, and called up into the Senate a number of persons devoted to himself, who had no claim to such a dignity. No doubt the chief slight was shown to the Plebeians, for L. Junius Bubulcus, who in the next year was Plebeian Consul for the third time, treated the list made out by Appius as null, and the Plebeian Censor, C. Plautius, resigned his office. The purpose of this resignation was to force Appius aJso to resign ; for it was the custom when by any cause a Cen- sor was deprived of his colleague, that he should lay down his office at once. But here again Appius defied precedent, and re- mained sole Censor. § 9. He was now quite unfettered, and undertook the great * Chapt. XXXV. § 9. Chap. XXIY. CIYIL HISTORY DURING SAMNITE WARS. 221 alteration to which we have before alluded. In revising the Census-register, or list of all who belonged to the Tribes, he allowed the Freedmen to be registered in the list of any Tribe they pleased, country as well as city. By this means, as we have said, the Freedmen's votes became available in every Tribe, in- stead of being confined to four. Moreover the Freedmen, being resident in Rome, were always present at the assemblies, whereas the country voters attended much less regularly, — a fact which gave to the Freedmen a power beyond their numerical propor- tion.. It is not too much to assume that in this measure Appius had the interest of the Patrician party at heart rather than that of the Freedmen and Populace, whom he admitted to equality with the rest of the Burgesses. § 10, The agent whom he employed in dealing with the popu- lace was one Cn. Flavins, the son of a freedman, who followed the calling of a public scrivener or notary (scriba), a class which in ancient times, when printing was unknown, was numerous and important. This man's name is best known in connexion with another matter, the publication of the forms and times to be observed in legal proceedings. Up to that time the Patri- cians had kept all the secrets of law in their own hands ; they alone knew which were the days when courts could be held and when they could not ;* they alone were in possession of those technical formularies according to which all actions must pro- ceed. But Flavins, probably by the help of his patron Appius, got possession of these secrets, and drew up a regular Calendar, in which the Dies Fasti and Nefasti were marked ; and this he set up in the forum, so that all might see it : he also published an authentic list of the formularies proper to be employed in the several kinds of action ; and thus, as Cicero says, " he picked out the crows' eyes."t § 11. Soon after the admission of the Freedmen to the full citizenship, Flavins became a candidate for the Curule ^dile- ship. The Tribune presiding at the election said he could not take votes for a person who was engaged in trade ; upon which Flavins stepped forward and laid down his tablets and stile, the badges of his occupation, declaring that he would be a scrivener no longer. Then he was elected, to the great indignation of the * Originally the court days had been on the Nundinse, or one day in every week when the markets were held. But they were now held irregularly on the Dies Fasti, that is, on all days which were not marked as Nefasti or lUicit in the secret calendar of the Pontiffs, as Ovid says: — Ille Nefastus erit, per quern tria verba silentur ; Fastus erit, per quem lege licebit agi. f " Scriba quidam, Cn. Flavins, qui cornicum oculos conflxerit." — Cicero pro Murena, ch. 11. 222 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book 111 old citizens, who saw two of their own candidates, men of consular rank, rejected in favour of this Freedman's son. Flavins, how- ever, was no common man ; he maintained his position with dignity, and was so struck with the evils that might result from continued disunion, that he vowed a shrine to Concord if the upper and lower classes could be reconciled. § 12. We have seen that Appius remained sole Censor, and when he had held his office for eighteen months it was expected that he would lay it down, as ordered by the ^milian law.* But he had no such intention. He had begun some great na- tional works, and determined to hold his office for the whole Lustrum, that is, for three and a half years longer. The works we speak of became and still remain famous as the Appian road and the Appian aqueduct. § 13. The Appian Road is well known, even to those who have not visited Rome, by the amusing description which Horace has given of his journey along it. It led from Rome to Capua, passing through the Pontine marshes to Terracina, then skirted the seaward side of the Auruncan hills, so as to avoid the pass of Lautulae, and went on by way of Fundi, Formise, and Sinuessa to Capua. There had been a road this way before, which we have called the lower road to Capua. What Appius did was to straighten it, and make it fit for military purposes : its length was about 120 miles. Some years later it was paved with large angular blocks of basalt or hard lava (silex) and long afterwards it was continued through Beneventum and the Samnite Apennines to Brundusium.f The Latin road, as the upper road to Capua was now called, left Rome by the same gate, the Porta Capena. The Appian Aqueduct (aqua Appia) was the first of these great works by which Rome was so abundantly supplied with water, to the shame of the great cities of modern times. But it did not resemble the Roman Aqueducts of later times — those long lines of arches with which every one is familiar. In those days enemies often penetrated even to the walls of Rome, and might easily have broken ofi" a raised Aqueduct. It passed under ground, except after it had entered the city, when it rose on a few arches near the Porta Capena :;|; thence it passed down into * See Chapt. xii. § 5. (3). f Part of it has recently been laid bare of the rubbish which had collected over it, and an interesting description of the discoveries made, with restora- tions, has been given by Canina, the well-known Roman antiquary. See the woodcut at the head of this Chapter. X "Substitit ad veteres arous madidamque Capenam." — Juven. iii. 11. From this it will appear that the common Roman practice of raising their aqueducts on high arches arose, not from io^norance of the fact that watf\r Chap. XXIY. CIVIL HISTORY DURING SAMNITB WARS. 223 the lower parts of the city next the river, between the Capitol and the Aventine, where spring-water there was none. In this quarter dwelt those poorer classes whose favour Appius had otherwise endeavoured to gain. It may therefore be suspected that in this work also he had a political end in view ; but how- ever this may be, every one will agree with the remark, that one must " feel unmixed pleasure in observing that the first Roman- aqueduct was constructed for the benefit of the poor, and of those who most needed it."* § 14. At the end of the fourth year of his Censorship Appius was elected Consul. He intended to have continued Censor for this year, but the Tribunes interfered with so much determina- tion that he deemed it prudent to resign his office, and content himself with the Consulship. He was Consul again ten years later (296 e.g.), when Gellius Egnatius led his Samnites into Etru- ria, and the next year he was Prastor : it was not long after this, probably, that he lost his sight. This deprivation was regarded as a punishment for his having advised the Patrician Gentes of the Potitii and Pinarii, who were hereditary priests of Hercules, to delegate their ministry to slaves, another evidence of the con- tempt of Appius for old customs. These Gentes, adds the legend, soon after ceased to exist, § 15. During the whole of Appius' arbitrary Censorship the Senate and the old citizens behaved with marvellous self-control, and refrained from offering any direct opposition to his acts. But when the next Censors (of .the year 307 b.c.) left office without attempt to restore the balance of power which Appius had destroyed, the Senate resolved that new Censors should be chosen for this purpose two and a half years before the proper time, and the choice of the people fell on Rome's two worthiest sons, Q. Fabius Maxiraus and P. Decius Mus. These two great men, who agreed heart and hand together, accepted the office, and applied a remedy simple but effectual. They did not, as some of the more violent might have wished, disenfran- chise the new citizens, but merely removed their names from the country Tribes and restored them to the four city Tribes, to which they had before belonged. Thus the new voters could only carry four Tribes, while there were twenty-nine in the hands of the old citizens. This measure was executed in the year 303 B.C. Fabius and Decius saved the state as much by their firm- ness and moderation now as they did afterwards by the glorious victory of Sentinum. rises to \ts own level, but probably because they were not able to manufacture pipes of sufficient magnitude for conveying very large streams, * Arnold, Hist, of Rome, ii. p. 289, The Island of the Tiber. CHAPTER XXV, EVENTS BETWEEN THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR AND THE LANDING OF PYRRHUS. (289—282 B.C.) § 1. M' Curius Dentatus: conquest of Upper Sabines. § 2. Agrarian Law of Curius: Secession of poorer Citizens : Hortensian Laws. §3. Early inter course of Rome with Greece Proper : the Snake of ^sculapius and Sacred Isle. § 4. Now brought into contact with Magna Grsecia and Sicily: retrospective view of their wealth and population. § 5. Syracuse. § 6. Other towns of Sicily: Rhegium occupied by Mamertines. § 7. Tarentum: her situation and people : practice of hiring foreign captains. § 8. Her treaty with Rome. § 9. She intrigues with Italian nations against Rome § 10. Thurii seek aid of Rome against Lucanians. §11- General rising of Southern Italians, as also of Etruscans and Gauls : Praetor Metellus cut off in Etruria. § 12. Consul Dolabella extirpates Senonians. § 13. Boian Gauls defeated in a great battle on Lake Vadimo : Colony of Sena Gallica. § 14. Fabricius conducts war in South. § 15. Ten Roman ships are as.saulted in harbour of Tarentum : sack of Thurii. § 16. Roman Envoys insulted : speech of L. Postumius. § 17. Hopes of peace frustrated by promised arrival of Pyrrhus. § 1. Of the years which follow the Samnite wars little is known. The glowing pages of Livy desert us at this point, and from the end of the Samnite wars to the beginning of the great Chap. XXV. CONQUEST OF UPPER SABINES. 225 war with Hannibal and the Carthaginians, a brief and naked epitome of each book is all that remains to us. For the cam- paigns of Pyrrhus we have Plutarch. But for the intervening years the materials are few and scanty. Immediately upon the final submission of the Samnites, in 290 B.C., the Senate resolved to punish the Sabines for their ^ spicious conduct in listening to the overtures of Gellius iv»-natius at the beginning of the late war, when the Marsians and their neighbours stood firm in their alliance.* The com- mander entrusted with the invasion of the difficult country formed by the valleys of the highest Apennines, was M' Curius Dentatus, a name which may be counted among the most illus- trious in Roman history,f though we confess with regret that we know little of his life. He is said himself to have been of Sabine origin, — sprung from the Sabines of the lower country, no doubt, who had long been closely united with Rome.J We first hear of him as Tribune of the Plebs, when he stood forth as a defender of his order, and forced Appius Claudius, then presiding as interrex, to receive the votes of the Plebeians, which the Patricians wished to reject.|| He lived, like the old plebeian yeomen, on his own farm, and himself shared with his men the labours of the field. It is said that on one occasion the Samnites sent messengers to tempt him with costly presents of gold ; the messengers found him toasting radishes at the fire ; and when he had heard their business, he pointed to his rude meal, and said — " Leave me my earthen pans, and let those who use gold be my subjects." His honesty and rough vigour of character recommended him to the Tribes, and notwithstanding his humble condition, he rose to the first offices of state. In the year 290 B.C. he was elected Consul, and received the final submission of the Samnites. He then straightway turned his arms against the Sabines, who fell an easy prey. What surprises us is to hear that he took a very large booty, a quantity of gold, and other things, which sound strangely as the possessions of a tribe that dwelt in the upland valleys of the Apennines. The Sabines became now absolutely subject to Rome, being obliged to accept the citizenship without suffrage, the burdens without the privileges* * Chapt. Jfxiii. § 7. f So thought Horace : — "Hunc, et incomtis Curium capillis Sseva paupertas tulit, et CamiDum," etc. And So Milton : — " Canst thou not remember Quinctius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus?" 1 Chapt. xiii. § 1. I Sex> Aurelius Victor de Viris Illustr., c. xxxiii. 10* 226 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book lit § 2. After his double triumph over the Samnites and Sabines, Curius proposed an Agrarian Law, providing that all the poorer citizens (these probably were for the most part the Freedmen and others lately admitted into the Tribes) should receive each man an allotment of seven jugera in the Sabine country.* This was vehemently opposed by the greater part of the old citizens, Ple- beians as well as Patricians, and the life of Curius was thought to be in so great danger, that eight hundred young men attached themselves to him as a body guard. The sequel of this strife cannot be unfolded. All we know is, that the poverty of the poor was aggravated by several years of famine and pestilence : at the same time debts again multiplied and became oppressive. The end of it was, that about the year 286 B.C. the mass of the poorer citizens, consisting (as may be guessed) chiefly of those who had lately been enfranchised by Appius, left the city and encamped in an oak-wood upon the Janiculum.f To appease this last Secession, Q. Hortensius was namad Dictator, and he succeeded in bringing back the people by allowing them to enact several laws upon the spot. One of these Hortensian laws was probably an extension of the Agrarian Law of Curius, granting not seven, but fourteen jugera (about 9 acres) to each of the poor citizens.]; Another provided for the reduc- tion of debt. But that which is best known as the Hortensian law was one enacting that all Resolutions of the Tribes should be law for the whole Roman people.|| This was nearly in the same terms as the law passed by Valerius and Horatius at the close of the Decemvirate, and that passed by Publilius Philo the Dictator, after the conquest of Latium.*[f Hortensius died in his Dictatorship — an unparalleled event, which was considered ominous. Yet with his death ended the last Secession of the People. For one hundred and fifty years from this time to the appearance of the Gracchi, we hear of no civil dissensions at Rome. It may be here added, that on the allotment of the Sabine domain lands, Curius refused to take more than any other poor citizen. But it was decreed by acclamation that he should be rewarded by a gift of five hundred jugera (about 320 acres). And we shall find him acting with the same single-minded honesty ten years later in the war with Pyrrhus. * See Chapt. viii. § 3. f In cesculeto, Plin. Hist. Nat, xvi. § 37. I Aurel. Victor says that Curius assigned fourteen jugera ; Pliny (H. N., xviii. § 8) says seven. The statement in the text attempts to reconcile the twa I " Quod Piebs jussisset, omnes Quirites teneret." ^ Above, chapt. x. § 22, and chapt. xx. § 11. Chap. XXY. PESTILENCE AT ROME. 227 § 3. Notwithstanding the part played by Hellenic heroes in the earliest Roman Legends, the Romans had as yet had few dealings with the Greeks. The tale of Tarquin sending to consult the Oracle at Delphi, of the mission of the three men to procure the laws of Solon, of the answer of the Delphic Priestess with respect to the draining of the Alban Lake, are Legends of dubious authority. A story that Roman envoys appeared among the ambassadors of other Italian peoples at Alexander's court at Baby- lon, is rejected as false by Arrian, the most trustworthy historian of the great king. The next time we find Rome mentioned as having intercourse with Greece was soon after the close of the third Samnite war. Pestilence was raging at Rome ; and the Senate is said to have sent to Epidaurus, to request that ^Esculapius (the tutelary god of that place) might come to avert the evil. The ambassadors returned with a sacred snake, the emblem of the god,* who found his own way into their ship, and ensconced him- self in the cabin. When they arrived in the Tiber, the snake glided from the ship, and swimming to the land which lies between the Capitol and Aventine disappeared there. Here a temple was built to the Greek god of medicine. The island was shaped into the rude resemblance of a trireme, which it still bears, and to this day it is called by the name of the Sacred Isle (Isola Sacra) .f Such are the faint records of Rome's early intercourse with Greece Proper. § 4. But there was another Greece, nearer home, with which she was soon to come in direct collision. In early times, when the name of Rome was yet unknown, the cities of Greece, especially the great Dorian city of Corinth, were sending out their superflu- ous population to seek settlements in the western worlds, Italy and Sicily were to them what North America has been to us. All the eastern and southern coasts of Sicily — all the coasts of Lower Italy, from the Bay of Naples to the promontory of lapygia, were thick-studded with Grecian Colonies, which had become large and flourishing cities when Rome was yet struggling for existence. The inhabitants of these Greek colonies were known by the names of Siceliotes and Italiotes,J; to distinguish them from the native Siceli and Itali. The whole seaboard of Southern Italy received, and still retains, the appellation of Magna Grecia. * See the coin of Epidaurus at the end of this Chapter. f See the cut at the head of this Chapter. There is no doubt that this tem- ple was a Hospital, like other temples of ^sculapius. Its insular position might be chosen to avoid the noise of the thoroughfares, and to obtain fresher air than was possible in the close and crooked streets of the old cit^, I 2t/cf/lfdiraf,'lraAi6Jrai. 228 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book HI. Hitherto the name of Rome had been unfeared and uncared for. The Greeks of Sicily were defended by the sea ; those of Italy by the barrier of hardy tribes which lay between them and their future mistress. But now this barrier was broken down. The brave Samiiites had submitted after a struggle as noble as any which history has recorded. The Lucanians and Apulians had formed a league with Rome. Already had Pala}polis and Neapolis bowed before her. Any day the Consuls and their legions might be expected to knock at the gates of the southern cities. These cities, so famous in early time, had most of them fallen into decay. This had been caused in part by the inroads of the Oscan and Sabellian tribes (as above noticed),* in part by civil wars with one another, and by domestic convulsions in each. In Sicily especially, the Carthaginians were always dangerous ; and here, above all, the changes of Government were most frequent and most violent. Aristocracies were supplanted by turbulent democracies, and these gave way in turn to despotic rulers, who had been elevated in ancient times, or who had raised themselves by force or fraud to sovereign power. Such rulers were called Tyrants by the Greeks — a name which (as is well known) referred rather to the mode in which power was gained than to that in which it was exercised. In seditions and civil wars thousands and tens of thousands of citizens had fallen ; the prosperity of ancient cities had decayed ; cities themselves had perished. The vast remains of temples at Agrigentum, at Selinus, at Psestum, show what those cities must have been, where now not a house is left. Whole mounds of broken pottery cover the environs of Tarentum, and show what masses of men must have peopled those now deso- late shores. The series of coins due to this city is surpassed in beauty and variety of type only by those of Syracuse. Sybaris, the splendid and luxurious rival of Croton, was destroyed by the latter city. Croton herself, though supported by the old I'emembrance of her Pythagorean rulers, had fallen into insignifi- cance. Thurii, the chosen seat of the old age of Hciodotus, aid its neighbouring Metapontum, Locri, and Rhegium, still retair.td the vestiges of ancient grandeur. The most noted tyrant of Syia- cuse, Dionysius, was one of the chief causes of the decay of the Greek towns of Lower Italy. About the time that the Gauls were devastating Latium, he did not scruple to league himself with the barbarous Lucanians to establish a tyranny over his fellow-countrymen. And about a century later, Agathocles of Syracuse ravaged Lower Italy. Thus, by combined violence * Chapt I § 20. Chap. XXV. SYRACUSE. 229 from many sources, the Hellenic communities both of Italy and Sicily, were fallen from their sometime magnificence. Tarentum and Syracuse remained, and a brief sketch of the previous history of these two places will illustrate the above remarks, and will serve to make the succeeding narrative in- telligible. § 5. Syracuse was founded about the same time as Rome, by Archias, a noble Corinthian, who led forth a colony of his coun- trymen, to seek a new country in the far west. For many years the colony was governed (like the mother city) by a moderate aristocracy. This was interrupted by the princely tyranny of Gelo and his son Hiero, who held the sceptre of Syracuse at the time of the Persian wars from 485 to 467 b.c. The old republic was then restored till the invasion of the Athenians in 415, when it was supplanted by a violent democracy. This again was overthrown by the elder Dionysius in 406 ; but the sceptre which, after an active reign of thirty-eight years, he transmitted to his son, passed finally from that son's feebler grasp about the beginning of the Samnite wars. For twenty-six years the republic was restored, when in 317 another adventurer possessed himself of the throne. This was Agathocles, who began life as a potter's apprentice, and raised himself first by his personal strength and beauty of form, then by the continued exertion of an almost fabulous boldness. His reign terminated in 289, just as the third Samnite war had been concluded. A new king, Hiero II., was called to the throne in 270, and it was in his reign that the Romans first set foot in Sicily. Of these sovereigns, it may be observed that the two last, Agathocles and Hiero, were no longer called Tyrants, but Kings. The former name had fallen into disuse after the splendid royalty of Alexander, whom no one, save Demosthenes and his republican followers, ventured to call by the name of Tyrant. Yet they had all risen by the same means, and held their power by the same tenure. Nor were any of them able to transmit the sceptre to a line of successors. They all rose to power, because the Republic needed a skilful captain to carry on the war against the Cartha- ginians. Gelo defeated the enemy in a great naval battle on the same day as the battle of Salamis. Dionysius I., after being besieged in his capital, took Motye, the Calcutta of those merchant- princes, and established his rule over the greater part of Sicily. Agathocles carried fire and sword up to the gates of Carthage. More than once he landed in Italy for the purpose of defending the Tarentines from the Bruttians, their barbarous neighbours. Strange to say, the name of this remarkable man is not mentioned by the Roman historians. Yet, but for his perpetual wars with 230 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. Carthage, he might have employed his restless arms in supporting the Samnites against Rome. § 6. The other Greek cities of Sicily suffered similar vicissitudes. But we know little of them, nor is it important that we should. The state of one will serve to inform us of all. But before we leave Sicily, an event must be mentioned, which has no small influence on the subsequent history. A large portion of the army of Agathocles consisted of Italians, who called them selves Mamertines, that is, servants of Mamers, or Mars. They were Campanian adventurers of Samnite origin, who took service with any government that would pay them. They chose their own captains, like the free troops led by the condottieri of the middle ages. On the death of Agathocles, a large body of these Mamertines seized Syracuse as a guarantee for the payment of their wages. On payment being made, they were induced to leave the city, and were marched to Messana, for the purpose of crossing into Italy. But finding this city an inviting prey, they seized it and became its lords ; and soon they established their power over a large portion of northern Sicily. Meanwhile, the Carthaginians recovered possession of the west of the islands. Syracuse and the other Greek cities retained a precarious independence. Hence it will appear that the Greek-Sicilian cities were in no case to help their brethren in Italy, should they be attacked by Rome. They could not defend themselves, much less render aid to others. § 7. Our attention is now claimed by Tarentum, the chief of the Greek-Italian cities. The origin of Lacedaemonian Tarentum is veiled in fable. The warriors of Sparta (so runs the well-known legend) went forth to the second Messenian war under a vow not to see their homes till they had conquered the enemy. They were long absent, and their wives sought paramours among the slaves and others who had not gone out to war. When the warriors returned, they found a large body of youth grown up from this adulterous intercourse. These youths, (the Parthenii, as they were called) disdaining subjection, quitted their native land under the command of Phalantus, one of their own body, and founded the colony of Tarentum. Whatever may be the truth of this legend, thus much is certain, that Tarentum was a Lacedaemonian colony of very great antiquity. Its history is little known. But what is known shows that the colony partook of the steady nature of her mother-city, and resisted those violent and frequent changes which were «»o rife in Syracuse and the other Greek cities of the Chap. XXY. TARENTUM. 231 west. Tarentum lay at the northern corner of the great gulf which still bears its name. It had an excellent harbour, almost land-locked. On its eastern horn stood the city. Its form was triangular ; one side being washed by the open sea, the other by the waters of the harbour, while the base or land side was pro- tected by a line of strong fortifications. Thus advantageously posted for commerce the city grew apace. She possessed an opulent middle class; and the poorer citizens found an easy sub- sistence in the abundant supply of fish which the gulf aff'orded. These native fishermen were always ready to man the navy of the state. But they made indifferent soldiers. Therefore when any peril of war threatened the state, it was the practice of the government to hire foreign captains, soldiers of fortune, who were often kings or princes, to bring an army for their defence. Thus we find them taking into their service Archidamus of Sparta and Alexander of Molossus,* to defend them against the Lucanians. So also, after the second Samnite war, when they began to fear the power of Rome, they engaged the services of Cleonymus Prince of Sparta to fight their battles. They called in Agatliocles of Syracuse to war against the Bruttians. And last of all, when they came into actual conflict with Rome, they put them- selves under the protection of Pyrrhus, as we shall presently have to narrate. It was probably this practice of hiring foreign armies for their wars which saved them from the domination of successive tyrants ; for at Syracuse, as we have seen, these tyrants were citizens who had raised themselves by means of the military power with which they had been invested. However, this practice had many evils. The city learnt every day to trust more to stiangers and less to the energies of her own citizens ; and the foreign captains whose aid she sought often proved mere buccaneers, who plundered and ruined friendly Greeks as well as hostile barbarians.. Such was the con- duct of Cleonymus towards Metapontum and Thurii, of Agathocles towards Locri and Rhegium. Yet on the whole the government of Tarentum was better and more regular than that of most Greek Republics, Seven times was Archytas, the Pythagorean Philosopher, raised to the supreme magistracy,^that Archytas who has been mentioned above as the friend of Herennius the Samnite, and instructor of C. Pontius.f This shows that the Tarentines could value duly the merits of this great man, without that jealousy which in many Greek states pre- vented the people from reaping the full service of their best and wisest citizens. * Cbapt. xxi. § 3. t Chapt. xxii. § 5. 232 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL This brief sketch of the state of Sicily and Magna Graecia will have shown that of all the Greek cities, lately so great and power- ful, Tarentum alone was in a condition to cope with Rome. § 8. Once already they had been engaged in brief hostilities: this was at the close of the second Samnite war, when the Romans lent aid to the Lucanians in attacking the Sallentines. This last- named people were neighbours of Tarentum, and the Greek republic, willing to defend them, called in the aid of Cleonymus, as has been just mentioned. The appearance of this soldier of fortune inclined the Lucanians to peace, and at the same time no doubt was made the treaty between Rome and the Tarentines by which certain limits were prescribed to the fleets of the latter power, while the Romans: on their part bound themselves not to pass the temple of Lacinian Juno, nor let any ships of theirs appear in the Gulf of Tarentum. § 9. After this followed the third Samnite war. At its close it seemed clear that Rome was to be, if she was not already, mistress of Italy. What power could withstand her ? Tarentum must now meet Rome face to face, and must decide whether they should meet as friend or foe. She chose the latter. For the next few years we find various nations of Italy, the Etruscans and Gauls in the north, the Lucanians and other barbarians in the south, renewing war with Rome, and finally crushed by her energy. These last struggles are attributed to the intrigues of Tarentum, and when they availed not, she at length threw herself into the gap, and called in Pyrrhus, the greatest general of the age, to fight the battles of the Greeks against Rome. § 10. The first link in the chain of events which led to the war with Tarentum was (curiously enough) the aid lent by Rome to a neighbouring Greek city. This was Thurii. Soon after the close of the third Samnite war Thurii was attacked by the Lucanians. The Thurians knew that Tarentum would not defend them. Some years before, when Cleonymus of Sparta made a descent upon their coast and took their city, they had implored the aid of Roman legions, which came too late indeed, but yet came, and Thurii now hoped for more effectual succour. But at this time the domestic struggle was going on which ended in the Hortensian law. Soon after quiet was restored, the Tribune ^lius proposed, and the people voted, to declare war against the Lucanians, (284 B.C.). § 11. This declaration of war was followed by a general rising of the Italian nations against Rome. The Lucanians, lately her allies, now her enemies, were joined by the Bruttians, part of the Apulians, and even by some relics of the Samnites. But the attention of the Senate was diverted from this southern war by Chap. XXV. EXTIRPATION OF SENONIANS. 233 more imminent peril in the north. Early in the year 283 b.c. news came that the Etruscans of Vulsinii, who had been for the last twenty years engaged in feeble and uncertain war against Rome, had roused the other states of Northern Etruria to make a joint attack upon Arretium, which, under the rule of the friendly Cilnii, remained faithful to Rome. They had summoned to their aid an army of Senonian Gauls from the coasts of Um- bria, and these Celtic barbarians, though at peace with Rome, came eager for plunder, and burning to avenge their defeat at the battle of Sentinum. Q. Caecilius Metellus, the Consul of the last year, and now Praetor, was ordered to march to the relief of Arretium, while the new Consuls, P. Cornelius Dolabella and Cn. Domitius, prepared to crush the Etruscan war. But what was the consternation at Rome when tidings came that Metellus had been utterly defeated, himself slain, and his whole army cut to pieces or made prisoners. § 12. The Senate, nothing daunted, ordered the Consul Dola- bella to advance, while Domitius, with M' Curius the Praetor, re- mained in reserve. Meanwhile they sent the Fecials into Umbria to complain of the breach of faith committed by the Senonian Gauls. But it happened that in the battle with Metellus, Brito- maris the Gallic chief had fallen, and the young chief, his son, burning with mad desire of vengeance, committed another and a worse breach of faith : he murdered the sacred envoys in cold blood. As soon as the news of this outrage reached the Consul Dolabella, he promptly changed his plan. Instead of marching towards Arretium he turned to the right, and crossing the Apen- nines descended into the Senonian country. This he found almost defenceless, for the warriors were absent in Etruria. He took a bloody revenge, ravaging the country, burning the dwell- ings, slaying the old men, enslaving the women and children. The Celtic warriors hastily returned to defend their homes, but in vain ; they sustained a complete defeat, and " the race of the Senonians was annihilated."* Such is the brief and terrible epitome of their fate. § 13. The work of death was not yet done. The Boian Gauls, who lived along the southern bank of the Po, from the Trebia to the Rubicon, seized their arms and marched southwards to assist or avenge their brethren. They overtook the Consul Dolabella on the Tiber at its junction with the Nar, but not till after he had been joined by his colleague Domitius. The battle was fought on the right bank of the Tiber, near the little lake Vadimo. It was a fierce conflict, the most terrible probably which the Roman* * " Gens Senonum deleta est." — Liy, 234 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. had fought since the battle of Sentinum. But the legionaries had become used to the huge bodies, strange arms, and savage cries of the Celtic barbarians ; and their victory was complete. Once more, however, the Boians made a desperate rally, and were again defeated. These great successes kept the Celtic tribes of Northern Italy quiet for nearly sixty years. Meanwhile the Senate secured the frontier of Umbria and occupied the vacant lands of the Senonians by the Colony of Sena Gallica, which, under the name of Senigaglia, still preserves the memory of its Celtic possessors. § 14. Meanwhile the war had been going on feebly in Lucania; but these prompt and successful operations in the north enabled the Senate to prosecute it more energetically ; and in the year 282 B.C. the Consul of the year, C. Fabricius Luscinus, a remark- able man, of whom we shall have more to say presently, defeated the confederates in several actions, and finally compelled them to raise the siege of Thurii. The Roman army was withdrawn, but a garrison was left to defend the city ; and the grateful people de- dicated a statue to their deliverers, the first honour paid by Greeks to their future masters. § 15. It was believed at Rome, and not without reason, tbj I the Tarentines, though they had not themselves drawn the sword, had been the secret instigators of these, wars, both in Lucania and Etruria. The Senate therefore determined to pay no atten- tion to the treaty, by which Roman ships were forbidden to appear in the bay of Tarentum ; and on the withdrawal of the army of Fabricius, L. Valerius, one of the duumviri navales,* sailed round the Lacinian headland, and with ten ships stood across the gulf towards Tarentum. It was a summer noon, and the people were assembled in their theatre, which (as was com- mon in Greek cities) was used alike for purposes of business and pleasure.! This theatre was cut out of the side of the hill look- ing towards the sea, and commanded a view of the whole bay. The whole assembly therefore saw the treaty violated before their eyes, and lent a ready ear to a demagogue named Philocharis, who rose and exhorted them to take summary vengeance. The people, seamen by habit, rushed down to the harbour, manned a number of ships and gained an easy victory over the little Roman squadron. Four ships were sunk, one taken, and Valerius him- * This ofi&ce was abolished not long after. In the Punic and subsequent wars the Consuls and Praetors commanded both the armies and fleets indiffer- ently, as was the case in all modern European countries till the close of the 17th century. f Compare the assembly in the theatre at Ephesus to hear the complaint of the silver- workers against the Christians. — Acts xix. 29. Chap. XXV. L. POSTUMIUS AT TARBNTUM. 235 self was killed. The die was now cast, and the demagogues pushed the people to further outrages. They marched forth to Thurii, and, accusing that people of seeking aid from the barba- rians, required the instant dismissal of the Roman garrison. This was done, and no sooner was it done than the Tarentine populace plundered the unfortunate city and drove its chief citizens into exile. § 16. The Senate, unwilling to undertake a new war, in which their coasts might be ravaged by the superior navy of the Taren- tines, sent an embassy, headed by L. Postumius, to require some explanation of this outrageous conduct. They knew that the wealthier citizens of Tarentum were as averse from war as them- selves, and hoped that by this time the people might be inclined to hear the voice of reason. But unfortunately the ambassadors arrived at the season of the Dionysia, when the whole people, given up to wine and revelry, were again collected in the theatre. The Roman envoys were led straight into the orchestra, and ordered to state the purpose of their mission. When Postumius endeavoured to do so, his bad Greek produced peals of laughter from the thoughtless populace. He bore all patiently till a Irunken buffoon ran up and defiled his white toga with ordure. This produced fresh laughter and loud applause, which was again renewed, when Postumius held up the sullied robe in the sight of all, " Aye," said he, " laugh on now : but this robe of mine shall remain uncleansed till it is washed in your best blood !" § 17. Yet even after these gross insults the Roman People was so weary of war that the Senate debated long before they ordered L. ^rnilius Barbula, the Consul of the year 281 B.C., to march southward, while his colleague covered the Etruscan frontier. yE-nilius was instructed to ravage the lands of the democratic party, and to spare the property of those citizens who wished to maintain peace ; and so successful was this policy, that the demagogues lost their power, and Agis or Apis, the chief of the moderate party, was chosen strategus. And now there was good hope that some satisfaction would be offered for the outrages committ3d against the Romans and their allies, and that peace might be maintained : but this hope was soon frustrated. Early in the year the chiefs of the democratic party had sent to invite Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, to bring over an army and undertake the defence of Tarentum. These Tarentine envoys were accom- panied by ambassadors from the Lucanians and Samnites, with Iarg3 promises of soldiers to recruit his army and provisions to feed them. Pyrrhus needed no great persuasion to undertake a romantic enterprise, and he forthwith despatched Milo, one of his best officers, with 3000 men, to garrison the citadel of 236 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book lit Tarentum. The arrival of Milo restored tlie democratic party to power. Agis was deprived of his office : the Roman Consul retired into Apulia, and fixed his head-quarters at the colony of Venusia. Pyrrhus was now expected every day, and the Tarentine popu- lace gave themselves up to immoderate joy. " Aye, dance and sing, while ye may," said one of their graver citizens ; " there will be something else to do when Pyrrhus comes." He did not arrive till winter, and before we speak of his opera- tions, it will be necessary to give some account of his life and character. Coin of Epidauriur. (Join of Pyrrhus with head of Dodonean Zeus, CHAPTER XXVI. PYRRHUS IN ITALY. (280 2*75 B.C.) g 1. Adventurous youth of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus : lust of conquest. § 2. Arrives at Tarentum : stern discipline. § 3. Preparations of Romans : comparison of forces. § 4. Pyrrhus meets Romans on Siris : battle of Heraclea. § 5. Remarks of Pyrrhus after victory § 6. Locri joins Pyrrhus : Rhegium seized by Campanian captain, Decius Jubellius : disap- pointment of Pyrrhus. § 7. Mission of Cineas to Rome : patriotic speech of App. Claudius. § 8. Report of Cineas : Pyrrhus marches into Latium, but Rome remains firm. § 9. Embassy of Fabricius during winter. § 10. Second campaign : Battle of Asculum in Apulia : Pyrrhus inclined to Peace. § 11. Consuls of the next year warn him of his physician's treachery: Pyrrhus restores prisoners and departs for Sicily. § 12. His fortunes in Sicily. § 13. Returns to Italy in third yean § 14. M' Curius, the Consul, compels Romans to enlist. § 15, Battle of Beneventum : defeat of Pyrrhus. § 16, After fate of Pyrrhus. § 1. Pyrrhus, King of Epirns, when he landed in Italy, was in his thirty-eighth year. His whole early life had been a series of adventure and peril. His father's name was ^acidas, a kinsman of that Alexander of Molossus, who, some fifty years before, had been invited by the Tarentines to defend them against the Lucanians.* When Alexander fell at Pandosia, ^Eacidas seized the throne of the Molossians. But he did not long retj^in it * Chapt. xxi. § 3, 238 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. . Book III For soon after followed the death of Alexander the Great at Babylon (323 b.c), and the whole of his vast empire was broken up into separate kingdoms, which became the appanages of his generals. Cassander obtained Macedon, first as Regent, after- wards as king. But Olympias, the mother of the great Alexander, raised a faction against him, and ^acidas took her part. After some years of conflict, ^acidas fell in battle (ol3 n.c.) and by order of the ruthless Cassander all his family were massacred except Pyrrhus, who was then a child of about five years old. The boy was carried oft' secretly, and found safe harbourage v/ith Glaucias, an Illyrian chief In this obscure retreat he remained till he had reached the age of twelve or thirteen years, when his foster-father took advantage of disturbances in Macedon to restore his young charge to the throne of Epirus. But Cassander again triumphed over opposition, and prevailed upon the Epi- rotes to expel the young prince. Pyrrhus, now about seventeen years old, sought refuge at the court of Antigonus, the Macedonian king of Syria. Here he formed a friendship with the king's son, the celebrated Demetrius Poliorcetes. But the ambition of the Syrian princes provoked the other Macedonian monarchs to form a league against them; and the bloody field of Ipsus (301 B.C.) deprived Antigonus of his life, and Demetrius of his crc- cession. Pyrrhus was present at the battle. On the defeat of his friend Demetrius, he off'ered himself as a hostage for him, and was so received at the magnificent court of Ptolemy Soter, the first Macedonian king of Egypt. Here he had opportu- nities of completing the education which the friendship of Deme- trius had off'ered him. Ptolemy was one of the best of Alexander's officers ; and himself, with his son Philadelphus, did all that lay in their power to encourage the cultivation of Greek arts and letters. Pyrrhus found favour with the queen Berenice, who gave him in marriage Antigone, her daughter by a former marriage, and persuaded Ptolemy to assist him in recovering his Epirote sovereignty. For some time he reigned conjointly with Neop- tolemus, son of that Alexander who had been killed in Italy. But, as was to be expected, the two sovereigns broke out into quarrels, which ended in the death of Neoptolemus (295 b.c), so that Pyrrhus, now about twenty-three years of age, became sole monarch. In that same year Cassander died, and a war arose about the succession to the throne of Macedon. At length De- metrius, who had long been an outcast and a wanderer, gained possession of the Macedonian throne. But Pyrrhus thought his own claims better than those of his old friend, and joined a general league against him. In 287 b.c. Demetrius was overthrown ; and while Lysimachus took possession of the eastern part of Macedon, Chap. XXYI. PYRRKUS IN ITALY. 239 the western provinces were ced(^ to the young and enterprising sovereign of Epirus. But Pyi-rhus did not long retain this much- coveted prize. The Macedonians preferred Lysimachus as their king ; and, after a seven months' reign, Pyrrhus was again driven across the mountains into Epirus (b.c. 287). For the next few years he lived at peace ; built Ambracia as a now capital of his dominions, and reigned there in security and magnificence. He was in the prime of life, handsome in person, happy in tempci; popular from his frankness and generosity, and reputed to be a skilful soldier. But neither his nature nor his restless youth had fitted him for the enjoyment of happy tranquillity. He had married as his second wife the daughter of Agathocles of Syra- cuse ; the exploits of that remarkable man fired his soul ; he remembered that Alcibiades, that Alexander, that every Greek conqueror had looked to the West as a new scene for enter- prise and triumph ; and he lent a ready ear to the solicitations of the Italian envoys. After defeating the Romans and Cartha- ginians, he miglit return as king of Southern Italy and Sicily, and dictate terms to the exhausted monarchs of Macedon and Asia. These had been the dreams of less romantic persons than himself. § 2. It was at the end of the year 281 b.c. that he left Epirus with a force of about 20,000 foot, and 4000 or 5000 horse, together with a squadron of 20 elephants, held by the Greeks of that time to be a necessary part of a complete armament. On the passage his ships were scattered by a storm, but eventually they all reached Tarentum in safety. His infantry was in part supplied by Ptolemy Ceraunus, the new King of Macedon. His cavalry were Thessalian, the best in Greece. It was a small army for the execu- tion of designs so vast. But he trusted to the promises of the Lucanians and Samnites ; and he also intended to make the Tarentines into soldiers. No sooner had he landed than this people found how true were the words of their fellow-citizen. They had meant him to fight their battles, like his kinsman, Alexander of Molossus ; but he resolved that they also should fight his battles. He shut up the theatres and other places of public amusement; closed the democratic clubs; put some dema- gogues to death, and banished others ; and ordered all citizens of military age to be drilled for the phalanx. The indolent popu- lace murmured, bat in vain. The horse had taken a rider on his back to avenge him on the stag, and it was no longer possible to shake him off. § 3. With the early spring the Romans took the field. Ti. Coruncanius, plebeian Consul for the year 280, commanded against the Etrurians, with orders to make a peace if possible. P. Valerius 240 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. Lsevinus, his patrician colleague, Vas to march through Lucania, so as to prevent the Lucanians from joining the king ; while ^milius, Consul of the former year, was stationed at Venusia, to hold the Samnites and Apulians in check. A Campanian legion, composed of Mamertines, commanded by Decius Jubellius, an officer of their own choosing, occupied Rhegium, in order (we may suppose) to intercept communication from Sicily. The army with which Pyrrhus advanced along the coast of the Bay of Tarentum, to encounter Lsevinus, is said to have been inferior to that of the Consul. It must be supposed that the latter had not only his own two legions, but also a third legion, under the command of a Prsetor. These three, together with the allies, would .amount to about 30,000 foot, and the cavalry might be 4000. But this arm was in quality very inferior to the Thessalian horse of the king ; and when we take the elephants into account, it is difficult to understand how Pyrrhus' army, which must have been increased by Tarentine levies, though none of the Italians had yet joined, could have been inferior to that of the Romans. It is rather matter of wonder that the Senate should not have sent both Consuls against so formidable an antagonist, relying on a praetorian army to keep the Etruscans in check. § 4. As the king moved along the coast from Heraclea he came in view of the Roman army, encamped on the right bank of the little river Siris. His practised eye was at once struck by the military order of the enemy's camp. And when he saw them cross the broad but shallow stream in the face of his own army, and form their line before he could close with them, he remarked, " In war, at least, these barbarians are no way barbarous." And now for the first time the Roman Legions had to stand the shock of the Greek Phalanx. The tactics of the two armies were wholly different. The Roman army had undergone no cssejitial change since we had occasion to describe its order in the great Latin war.* Each soldier stood free of his right and left hand man. When all had discharged their pila they then came to close quarters with their short strong swords, and large oblong shields, each man fighting separately. But the Epirots formed two great columns, called the Phalanxes, in which each man stood close to his fellow, so that half his body was covered by his right-hand man's shield. They were drawn up sixteen deep, and their long pikes, called sarissae, bristled so thickly in front, that the line was impenetrable unless a gap could be made in the front ranks. They acted mechanically, by weight. If ^ Chapt XX. § 5. Chap. XXYl. PYRRHUS IN ITALY. 241 they were once broken they were almost defenceless. Level ground, therefore, was necessary to their effective action. Pyrrhus had secured this last-named advantage : the plain ot Heraclea was well adapted for the regular movement of the phalanxes, as well as for that of his cavalry and elephants. The action began by the Roman cavalry crossing the Siris, and driving back a squadron of the Thessalian horse, the remainder of which, with the elephants, were yet in rear. The main body of the Romans, inspirited by this success, followed across the bed of the river to assail the phalanxes. But they could make no impres- sion on these solid masses ; the Principes took the place of the Hastati, and the Triarii succeeded to the Principes, in vain. Laevi- nus then ordered up his cavalry to attack the phalanxes in flank. But they were met by the whole body of Thessalian horse, sup- ported by the elephants. The Romans had never before seen these monstrous animals, which in their ignorance they called "Ijucanian oxen:" their horses would not face them, and galloped back affrighted among the infantry. Pyrrhus now led the whole line forward, and the rout was general. The Romans were driven back across the Siris, and did not attempt to defend their camp. Yet they soon rallied, and retired in good order into Apulia, where Venusia was ready to receive them. It was now seen with what judgment the Senate had occupied that place with a large Colony. § 5. The victory of Heraclea was gained at a heavy loss. Pyrr- hus now rightly estimated the task he had undertaken. He had a soldier's eye. When he visited the field of battle next day, and saw every Roman corpse with its wounds in front, he exclaimed : " If these were my soldiers, or if I were their general, we should conquer the world." When he offered in the temple of Jove at Tarentum a portion of the spoils taken after the battle, he placed on them the following inscription : — " Those who had ne'er been vanquished yet, great Father of Olympus, Those have I vanquished in the fight, and they have vanquished me."* And when he was asked why he spoke thus, he answered : " Another victory like this will send me without a man back to Epirus." § 6. The battle of Heraclea, however, encouraged the Greek cities of Locri and Rhegium to throw off" the Roman yoke. Locri joined Pyrrhus ; but Decius Jubellius, with his Campanian soldiers, declared themselves independent, and seized Rhegium * The lines quoted by Orosius, iv. 1, are, no doubt, those of Enniua, 4 translation of the original Greek : — " Qui ante liac invicti fuere viri. Pater 6ptirae Olympi, Hos ego in pugna viol * *, victusque sum ab Isdem." 11 242 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. ^ Book III. for themselves, as their brethren the Mamertines had seized Mes- sana on the opposite side of the straits. But, above all, the battle of Heraclea left the ground open for the Lucanians and Samnites to join the king ; and he advanced into Samnium to claim the fulfilment of their promises. But as he advanced he was struck by the fewness of the men, and the desolate condition of the whole country; and he bitterly reproached the Italians with deceiving him. The battle which had just been fought taught him how for- midable was the foe he had to deal with, and what he now saw showed him how much he must trust to his own resources. He resolved therefore to end the war at once by negotiating an advan- tageous peace, while he himself advanced slowly to support his negotiations by the show of force. § 7. The person employed in this negotiation was Cineas, a. name only less remarkable than that of Pyrrhus himself. He was a Thessalian Greek, famous for his eloquence, but still more famous for his diplomatic skill. He served Pyrrhus as minister at home and ambassador abroad. " The tongue of Cineas," Pyrrhus used to say, "had won him more battles than his own sword." So quick was his perception, and so excellent his memory, that lis had hardly arrived in Rome when he could call every Senator by his name, and address everyone according to his character. The terms he had to offer were stringent ; for Pyrrhus required that all Greek cities should be left free, and that all the places that had been taken from the Samnites, Apulians, and his other allies, should be restored. Yet the skill of Cineas would have persuaded the Senate to submit to these terms if it had not been for one man. This was Appius Claudius the Censor. He was now in extreme old age ; he had been blind for many years, and had long ceased to take part in public aftairs. But now, when he heard of the proposed surrender, he caused himself to be conducted to the senate-house by his four sons and his five sons-in-law, and there, with the authoritative eloquence of an oracle, he confirmed the wavering spirits of the Fathers, and dictated the only answer worthy of Rome, — that she would not treat of peace with Pyrrhus till he had quitted the shores of Italy. The dying patriotism of Appius covers the multitude of arbitrary acts of which he was guilty in his Censorship. § 8. Cineas returned to Pyrrhus, bafiled and without hope. He told his master, that " to fight with the Roman People was like fighting with the hydra ;" he declared that " the City was as a temple of the gods, and the Senate an assembly of kings." But the king resolved to try what efi'ect might be produced by the presence of his army in Latium. He passed rapidly through Campania, leaving it to be plundered by the Samnites, and ad Chap. XXVL PYRRHUS IN ITALY. 243 vanced upon Rome by the upper or Latin road. He took the colony of Fregellse by storm ; he received the willing submis- sion of Anagnia, the capital of the Hernicans, and was admitted into the impregnable citadel of Prseneste, for both the Hernicans and the Prsenestines were only half Roman citizens ; they bore the burthens without enjoying the privileges, and were therefore glad to welcome a chance of liberty. He then advanced six miles beyond Prseneste, within eighteen miles of Rome. But here his course was stayed. There were no signs of defection among the bulk of the Latins, or Volscians, or Campanians, who had been admitted into the Tribes and enjoyed the full honours of Roman citizenship. Ti. Coruncanius, afterwards Chief Pontiff, and now Consul, was himself a Latin of Tusculum. What he had now gained all might hope for. The situation of Pyrrhus now became perilous. Coruncanius himself had just concluded a peace with the Etruscans, and his army was free to act in front of Rome ; Laevinus had recruited his shattered army and was coming up in rear ; his own army was, except the Epirotes, ill-disciplined and disorderly, and he therefore determined to close the campaign and retire into win- ter quarters at Tarentum. § 9. This winter is famous for the embassy of C. Fabricius, who was sent by the Senate with two other Consulars to propose an interchange of prisoners. The character and habits of Fabricius resembled those of Curius. He lived in frugal simplicity upon his own farm, and was honoured by his countrymen for his inflexible uprightness. He was somewhat younger than Curius, and seems to have been less rough in manners and more gentle in dispo- sition. The stories are well known which tell how Pyrrhus practised upon his cupidity by offering him gold, and upon his fe^rs by concealing an elephant behind the curtains of the royal tent, which, upon a given signal, waved its trunk over his head ; and how Fabricius calmly refused the bribe, and looked with un- moved eye upon the threatening monster. Pyrrhus, it is said, 80 admired the bearing of the Roman that he wished him to enter into his service like Cineas, an offer which, to a Roman ear, could convey nothing but insult. He refused to give up any Roman citizens whom he had taken, unless the Senate would make peace upon the terms proposed through Cineas : but he gave his prisoners leave to return home in the month of De- cember to partake in the joviality of the Saturnalia, if they would pledge their word of honour to return. His confidence was not misplaced. The prisoners used every effort to procure peace; but the Senate remained firm, and ordered every man, under penalty of death, to return to Tarentum by the appointed daj. 244 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book m § 10. Hostilities were renewed next year. The new Consuls were P. Sulpicius for the Patricians, and P. Decius Mus, son and grandson of those illustrious Plebeians who bore the same name, and had devoted themselves to death beneath Vesuvius and at Sentinum. Since peace was now concluded with the Etrus- cans, both Consuls led their armies into Apulia, where Pyrrhus had already taken the field. He was anxious to make himself master of the Colonies of Venusia and Luceria, so that the Romans might be forced to quit that country and leave him master of all Southern Italy. But he failed. We are ignorant of the details of the campaign till we find the Consuls strongly encamped on the hills which command the plain of Apulian Asculum.* Here Pyrrhus encountered them. After some skilful manoeuvring he drew the Romans down into the plain, where his phalanx and cavalry could act freely. He placed the Tarentines in the centre, the Italian allies on his left wing, and his Epirotes and Macedonians in phalanx on the right ; his cavalry and elephants he kept in reserve. What success the Roman Legions had against the Tarentines and Italians we know not, but they wasted their strength upon the phalanxes. Again and again they charged that iron wall with unavailing bravery. At length, when they were well nigh exhausted, Pyrrhus brought up his cavalry and elephants, as at Heraclea, and the Romans were broken. But this time they made good their retreat to their entrenched camp, and Pyrrhus did not think it prudent to pursue them. He had little confidence in his Italian allies, who hated the Greeks even more than they hated the Romans, and gave signal proof of their perfidy by plundering the king's camp while he was in action. The loss on both sides was heavy. The second victory was now won ; but the king's saying was fast being fulfilled. In these two battles he had lost many of his chief officers and a great number of the Epirotes, the only troops on whom he could rely. He dared not advance. When he returned to Tarentum news awaited him which dis- pirited him still more. The Romans, he heard, had concluded a defensive alliance with Carthage, so that the superiority of Taren- tum at sea would be lost ;t Ptolemy Ceraunus, who had pro- raised him fresh troops from Macedon, had been slain by the Gauls, and these barbarians were threatening to overrun the whole of Greece.J; § 11. Under these circumstances he seized the first occasion of making peace with Rome. This was aff'orded early in the * Otherwise called Apulum, now Ascoli di Satriano. This town must not be confounded with Asculum (Ascoli) in Picenum. + Polyb, iii, 2-^ | See above, Chapt. xiv. § 3, Chap. XXVI. PYRRHUS m ITALY. 246 next year by a communication he received from tne new Consuls Q. ^^milius and C. Fabricius. They sent to give him notice that his physician or cup-bearer (the accounts vary) had otfered to take him off by poison. Pyrrhus returned his warmest thanks, sent back all his prisoners fresh-clothed and without ransom, and told his allies he should accept an invitation he had just received to take the command of a Sicilian-Greek army against the Carthaginians and Mamertines. Accordingly he sailed from Locri to Sicil}^, evading the Carthaginian fleet which had been lying in wait for him. He left the Italians to the mercy of the Romans, but Milo still kept hold of the citadel of Tarentum, and Alexander, the king's son, remained in garrison at Locri. He had been a little more than two years in Italy, for he came at the end of the year 281 b.c. and departed early in 278 : he re- turned towards the close of 276, so that his stay in Sicily was about two years and a half. The events of this period may be very briefly summed up. § 12. The Samnites and Lucanians continued a sort of partisan warfare against Rome, in which, though the Consuls were ho- noured with triumphs, no very signal advantages seem to have been gained. The Romans no doubt took back the places on the Latin road which had submitted to the king ; they also made themselves masters of Locri, and utterly destroyed the ancient city of Croton, but they failed to take Rhegium, which was stoutly maintained by Decius Jubellius and his Campanians against Pyrrhus and Romans alike. Meanwhile Pyrrhus was pursuing a career of brilliant success in Sicily. He confined the Mamertines within the walls of Messana, and in a brilliant cam- paign drove the Carthaginians to the extreme west of the island. At length, in an evil hour and by the advice of evil counsellors, he undertook the siege of Lilybaeum, a place which the Cartha- ginians had made almost impregnable. He was obliged to raise the siege, and with this first reverse of fortune he lost the confidence of his fickle Greek allies. Before this also death had deprived him of the services of Cineas. Left to himself, he was guilty of many harsh and arbitrary acts, which proceeded rather from impatience and disappointment than from a cruel or tyrannical temper. It now became clear that he could hold Sicily no longer, and he gladly accepted a new invitation to re- turn to Italy. § 13. Accordingly, late in the year 276 b.c, he set sail for Tarentum. On the passage he was intercepted by a Carthaginian fleet, and lost the larger number of his ships ; and, on landing between Rhegium and Locri, he sufl*ered further loss by an assault from the Campanians, who still held the former city. 246 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book HL Yet, once in Italy, he found himself at the head of a large array, composed partly of his veteran Epirotes, and partly of soldiers of fortune who had followed him from Sicily. His first act was to assault and recover possession of Locri; and here, in extreme want of money, he again listened to evil counsellors, and plun- dered the rich treasury of the temple of Proserpine. The ships that were conveying the plunder were wrecked, and Pyrrhus, conscience-stricken, restored all that was saved. But the me- mory of the deed haunted him : he has recorded his belief that this sacrilegious act was the cause of all his future misfor- tunes.* § 14. The Consuls of the next year were L. Cornelius Lentulus and M' Curius Dentatus. On Curius depended the fortunes of Rome. The people were much disheartened, for pestilence was raging. The statue of Capitoline Jupiter had been struck by lightning, and men's hearts were filled with ominous forebodings. When the Consuls held their levy, the citizens summoned for service did not answer their names. Then Curius ordered the goods of the first recusant to be sold, a sentence which was fol- lowed by the loss of all political rights. This severe measure had its effect, and the required legions were made up. § 15. Lentulus marched into Lucania, Curius into Samnium. Pyrrhus chose the latter country for the seat of war. He found Curius encamped above Beneventum, and he resolved on a night attack, so as to surprise him before he could be joined by his colleague. But night attacks seldom succeed : part of the army missed its way, and it was broad daylight before the Epirote army appeared before the camp of the Consul. Curius imme- diately drew out his legions, and assaulted the enemy while they were entangled in the mountains. He had instructed .his archers to shoot arrows wrapped in burning tow at the elephants, and to this device is attributed the victory he won. One of the females, hearing the cries of her young one, which had been wounded in this way, rushed furiously into the ranks of her own men. Curius now brought up the main body of his foot and attacked the disordered phalanxes : they were broken, and became help- less. The defeat was complete : Pyrrhus fell back at once upon Tarentum, and resolved to leave the shores of Italy. However, he left Milo still in the citadel, as if he intended to return. § 16. But the glory of his life was ended ; the two or three years that remained of it were passed in hopeless enterprises. One day he was proclaimed King of Macedon, and the next he lost his kingdom. Then he attacked Sparta, and nearly took *Qc Koi ai'Toc 6 Hvppog ev Tolg Idioig 'bTZOUVTJfiaoi ypd<^ei, — Dionys. xix. 11. Chap. XXVL DEATH OF PYRRHUS. 247 it. Lastly, he assaulted Argos, and was killed by a tile thrown by a woman from the roof of a house. Such was the end of this remarkable man. Like Richard L of England or Chai'les XIL of Sweden, he passed his life in winning battles without securing any fruits of victory ; and, like them, a life passed in the thick of danger was ended in a petty war and by an unknown hand. His chivalric disposition won him the admiration even of his enemies ; his impetuous temper and impatience of misfortune prevented him from securing the con- fidence of his friends. Yet he left a name worthy of his great ancestry ; and we part with regret from the history of his Italian wars, for it is the most frank and generous conflict in which Rome was ever engaged. Brunduaiuin. CHAPTER XXVII. FINAL REDUCTION AND SETTLEMENT OF ITALY. (274 264 B.C.) § 1. Milo left by Pyrrhus in Tarentum. § 2. Final reduction of Samnites and Italians of South. § 3. Surrender of Tarentum : embassy of Ptolemy Philadelphus to Rome. § 4. Campanian soldiers in Rhegium compelled to surrender: their fate. § 5. Submission of Sallentines and Messapians: Colony of Brundusium. § 6. Reduction of Picenians and Umbrians. § 7. Of Etruscans. § 8. Account of Settlement of Italy : present extent of Roman Territory : none but its inhabitants admitted to a share fn govern- ment. § 9. Principles adopted in regulating Italy: Isolation and Self- government. § 10. How Isolation was produced : different conditions of Italian Towns. § 11. Prefectures. § 12. Municipal Towns. § 13. Colo- nies. § 14. Colonies of Roman Citizens. § 15. Latin Colonies. § 16. Jus. Latii. §1*7. Free and Confederate States. § 18. Constitutions, of Italian Towns. § 19. Admirable results of the system. § 1. The departure of Pyrrbus left Italy at the mercy of Rome. Yet Milo, the king's lieutenant, still held the citadel of Tarentum, and none of the nations who had lately joined the Epirote stan- dard submitted without a final struggle. Of this strnirgle, what few particulars have survived shall be related, the affairs of the south being taken first, and then those of the north. Chap. XXVII. FINAI^ REDUCTION OF ITALY. 249 § 2. Affairs of the South. — The Samnites, Lucanians, Brut- tians, and other tribes continued a kind of guerilla warfare, for which their mountains afforded great facilities. To put an end to this, in the year 272 b.c, L. Papirius Cursor the younger, and Sp. Oarvilius, who had been the instruments of crushing the Samnites at the close of the third war, were again elected Consuls together a:id sent southward with all their legions. Papirius invested Ta- rentum ; and while the lines were being formed, he received the submission of the Lucanians and Bruttian^. Meanwhile Carvilius attacked the Samnites in their mountains, and the scattered remnants of that brave people, deserted by all, saw themselves compelled to submit finally to Rome, after a struggle of about seventy years. Thus ended what is sometimes called the fourth Samnite war. § 3. The same summer witnessed the reduction of Tarentum. Papirius, jealous of the appearance of a Carthaginian fleet in the gulf, entered into a secret treaty with Milo, by which the Epirote governor agreed to evacuate the city and leave it to the will of the Romans. This man had ruled the Tarentines like a tyrant, and it is probable that they on their part would have gladly pur- chased reasonable terms from the consul by surrendering their Epirote governor. But they were not allowed the choice. Milo sailed for Epirus with all his men and stores, and Tarentum was left to itself. The aristocratical party instantly seized the govern- ment, and made submission to Rome. They were allowed to con- tinue independent, on condition of paying an annual tribute to the conqueror : but their fortifications were rased, their arsenal dis- mantled, the fleet surrendered to Rome, and a Roman garrison placed in their citadel. The attention generally excited in the east of the Mediterranean by the failure of Pyrrhus is attested by the fact that in the year 273 B.C. Ptolemy Philadelphus, the king's brother-in-law, now sovereign of Egypt, sent ambassadors to Rome, and entered into alliance with Rome. Thus began a friendly connexion with Egypt which continued unbroken to the time of Caesar. § 4. In 271 B.C. the Plebeian Consul, C. Genucius, was sent to reduce Decius Jubellius and the Campanian soldiers, who had made themselves lords of Rhegium. This able captain had added ^ number of adventurers to his original legion, and was in fact head of a military oligarchy in that city. But the Senate formed a treaty with the Mamertine soldiery, who had occupied Messana in precisely the same manner, and thus detached them from alliance with their compatriots : they also secured supplies of corn from Hiero, who had been raised to the sovereignty of Syra- cuse on the departure of Pyrrhus from Sicily, The Campanians 11* 250 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IIL of Rhegium were thus left to themselves ; the city was taken by assault and all the soldiery put to the sword, except the original legionaries of Jubellius, who as burgesses of Capua possessed some of the rights of Roman citizens, and were therefore reserved for trial before the People of Rome. Not more than three hundred still survived out of several thousands ; but they met with no mercy. Every Tribe voted that they should be first scourged and then beheaded as traitors to the Republic. Rhegium was restored to the condition of a Greek community. § 5. A few years later, the Sallentines and Messapians in the heel of Italy submitted to the joint forces of both Consuls. Brundusium and its lands were ceded to Rome ; and about twenty years afterwards (244 b.c.) a colony was planted there. Brundu- sium became the Dover of Italy, as Dyrrhachium, on the opposite Epirote coast, became the Calais of Greece. § 6. Affairs of the North. — In the year 268 B.C. both Con- suls undertook the reduction of the Picenians, who occupied the coast land between Umbria and the Marrucinians. Their chief city, Asculum, was taken by storm. A portion of the people was transferred to that beautiful coast which lies between the bay of Naples and the Silarus, where they took the name oi Picentines. Soon after (266 b.c.) Sarsina, the chief city of the Umbrians, was taken, and all Umbria submitted to Rome. § 7. It remains to speak of Etruria. No community here was strong enough, so far as we hear, to maintain active war against Rome ; and the haughty Vulsinii, which had so long resisted her single-handed, was now compelled to sue for succour. The ruling aristocracy had ventured to arm their serfs, probably for the purpose of a Roman war : but these men had turned upon their late masters, and were now exercising a still direr oppression than they had suffered^ The Senate readily gave ear to a call for as- sistance from the Volsinian lords ; and (in the year 2,65 b.c.) Q. Fabius Gurges, son of old Fabius Maximus, invested the city. He was slain in a sally made by the Etruscan serfs, who were, how- ever, obliged to surrender soon after. The Romans treated the city as lawfully-gotten booty. The old Etruscan town on the hill- top, with its polygonal walls, was destroyed ; its 2000 statues and other works of art were transferred to Rome ; a new town was founded on the low ground, which in the modernised name of Bolsena still preserves the memory of its ancient fame. After the fall of Vulsinii, all the Etruscan communities, which (like Arre- tium) were not already in alliance with Rome, made formal sub- mission ; and Etruria, like every other district of Roman ItalyJ awaited the will of the conquering city of the Tiber, Chap. XXVIL FINAL REDUCTION OF ITALY. 261 § 8. We must now give a brief account of the manner in which the Roman government so ordered the noble dominions of which they were now masters, that for many years at least absolute tranquillity prevailed. We have no definite account of the organisation by which these results were obtained ; but by putting together incidental facts which are handed down with respect to various communities, a tolerably exact knowledge of their system may be obtained. To conceive of ancient Rome as the capital of Italy in the same sense that London is the capital of England or Paris of France would be a great mistake. London and Paris are the chief cities of their respective countries only because they are the seat of government. The people of these cities and their surrounding districts have no privileges superior to those of other English or French citizens. But the city of ancient Rome, with her surrounding territory, was a great Corporate Body or Com- munity, holding sovereignty over the whole of Italy, which had now obtained that signification which we have above noticed,* and comprehended the whole Peninsula from the Macra and Rubicon downwards, except that the territory lately taken from the Senonian Gauls was for some years later termed the Pro- vince of Ariminum. The Roman territory itself, in the first days of the Republic, consisted (as we have seen) of twenty -one Tribes or Wards. Before the point at which we have arrived, these Tribes had been successively increased to three-and-thirty. These Tribes included a district beyond the Tiber stretching somewhat further than Veii ; a portion of the Sabine and ^quian territory beyond the Anio ; with part of Latium, part of the Volscian country, and the coast-land as far as the Liris, southward. None but persons enrolled on the lists of these Tribes had a vote in the Popular Assemblies or any share in the government and legislation of the City. The Latin Cities not in- cluded in the Tribes, and all the Italian Communities, were subject to Rome, but had no share in her political franchise. § 9. The principles on which the Italian nations were so settled as to remain the peaceable subjects of Rome were these. First, they were broken up and divided as much as possible ; secondly, they were allowed, with little exception, to manage their own aff'airs. The Isolation enforced by Rome prevented them from combining against her. The Self-government granted by Rome made them bear her supremacy with contentment. § 10. The arts by which Isolation was produced we have seen put in full practice at the settlement of Latium fifty years before.f The same plan was pursued with the different Italian * Cha^t. i § 3. t See below, § 17. 252 t^OME CONQlTElROR OF ITALY. Book lit nations. Those which submitted with a good grace were treated leniently. Those which resisted stubbornly were weakened by the confiscation of their lands and by the settlement of colonies in their principal towns. The Frentanians are the best example of the milder treatment ; the Samnites afford the most notable instance of the more harsh. The work of Isolation was promoted partly by the long and narrow shape and the central mountain range, which still makes a central government so difficult, and still renders it easy for many states to maintain a separate existence, but partly also by a sentiment common to most of the Italian nations, as well as to those of Greece. They regarded a free man, not as one of a Nation, but as the member of a Civic Community. Every one regarded his first duties as owed to his own City, and not to his Nation. Their City was their Country. They addressed one another not as fellow-countrymen, but as fellow- citizens. Rome herself was the noblest specimen of this form of society. And the settlement which she adopted throughout Italy took advantage of this prevailing rule, and perpetuated it. Not only were the Italians split up into civic communities, but these communities were themselves placed in very different "•conditions. The common division of the Italian communities, as established by the Roman Government, is threefold — Pre- fectures, Municipal Towns, and Colonies. In each of these three classes, many subordinate differences existed. Yet there were certain broad distinctions which justify this division ; and they shall now be described briefly in their order. § II. Prefectures. We will begin with these, because, though they may be regarded as exceptions, they are examples of the simplest form under which Italian cities subject to Rome present themselves. The Prefectures are exceptional, because they did not enjoy the right of Self-government, but were under the rule of Prefects ; that is, of Roman governors annually nominated by the Praetor of the City. All lawsuits were tried in the Prefect's court ; and the inhabitants of the Prefecture were registered by the Roman Censor, so as to be liable to all the burthens and duties of Roman citizens, without enjoying any of their privileges. This condition was called the Caerite Franchise, because the town of Caere, in Lower Etruria, was the first community placed in this dependent position.* Amid the terror of the Gallic invasion, Caere had afforded a place of refuge to priests and sacred things, and women and children of the Romans, and had * Cserite cera digni, Horat i. Epistol 6. 62 : c£ Gellius, xvL 13. Chap. XXYII. FINAL REDUCTION OF ITALY. 253 been rewarded by a treaty of equal alliance. But at a later period she joined other Etruscan communities in war against Rome,* and it was on her submission, probably, that she was reduced to the condition of a Prefecture. Capua afterwards became a notable instance of a similar change. She also, during the Samnite wars and afterwards, enjoyed a state of perfect equality in respect to Rome. The troops which she supplied in virtue of the alliance between her and Rome formed a separate legion, and were commanded by officers of her own, as appeared in the case of Decius Jubellius. But in the Hannibalic war she joined the Carthaginian conqueror; and when Rome regained the ascendancy, she was degraded to the condition of a Pre- fecture f § 12. Municipal Towns. At the period of which we write, these were Communities bound to Rome by treaties of alliance varying in specific terms, but framed on a general principle with respect to burthens and privileges. Their burthens consisted in furnishing certain contingents of troops, which they were obliged to provide with pay and equipments while on service, provisions being found by the Romans.]; Their privileges con- sisted in freedom from all other taxes, and in possessing in more or less completeness the right of Self-government. This con- dition was secured by a treaty of alliance, which, nominally at least, placed the Municipal community on a footing of equality with Rome; though sometimes this treaty was imposed by Rome without consulting the will of the other Community.! Thus there was, no doubt, a considerable diversity of condition among the Municipia. Some regarded their alliance as a boon, others looked upon it as a mark of subjection. In the former condition were Caere and Capua before they were made Prefec- tures ; in the latter condition was Yolsinii and the other Etrus- can Cities. The Municipal Towns, then, were exempt from all tribute or toll payable to Rome, except military service. They enjoyed the right of Self-government, and administered their own laws. They also were allowed to exercise the Civil or Private rights of * Chapt. xviii. § 1. f The Prefectures of which we hear are : — (1), in Campania : Capua, Cumas, Casilinum, Volturnum, Liternura, PuteoU, Acerrse, Suessula, Atella, Calatia, Fundi, Formise ; (2), in Etruria: Caere, Saturnia; (3), in Samnium: Yena- frum, AUifae; (4), in the Volscian land: Arpinum, Privemum; (5), in the Hemican : Anagnia, Frusino ; (6), in the Sabine : Reate, Nursia. t Polyb. vi. 39, § 15. II Hence the distinction between Qlvitates Federatce, and Civitates Libera. All Federate Communities were free, but not all Free Communities ver^ federate. 254 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book IH Roman citizens ; but none, without special grant, had any power of obtaining the Political or Public Rights. In some cases even the Private Rights were withheld, as from the greater part of the Latin communities after the war of 338 b.c, when the citizens of each Community were for a time forbidden to form contracts of marriage or commerce with Roman citizens or with their neigh- bours. They stood to Rome and to the rest of Italy much in the same condition as the Plebeians to the Patricians before the Can- uleian law. But these prohibitions were gradually and silently removed. Municipal Towns were often rewarded by a gift of the Roman franchise, more or less completely, w^hile those which offended were depressed to the condition of Prefectures. At length, by the Julian and other Laws, (b.c. 90), of which we shall speak in its proper place, all the Municipal Towns of Italy, as well as the Colonies, received the full Roman franchise ; and hence arose the common conception of a Municipal Town, that is, a Community of which the citizens are members of the whole nation, all possessing the same rights, and subject to the same burthens, but retaining the administration of law and government in all local matters which concern not the nation at large. But the Municipal Towns of Italy, before the Julian law, were hardly members of a nation at all. Their citizens had no share in the central government, no votes in the National Assemblies ; while they were exempt from all taxation, except that which they found it necessary to impose on themselves for sending their contingents of troops into the field ; and they possessed unfettered power of self-government, except when a Roman Consul or Praetor hap- pened to be present in their city. § 13. Colonies. It is in the Colonial Towns that we must look for the chief instruments of Roman supremacy in Italy. Directly dependent upon Rome for existence, they served more than anything to promote that division of interests which ren- dered it so difficult for Italy, or any part of Italy, to combine na- tionally against the Roman government. When we speak or think of Roman Colonies, we must dismiss all those conceptions of colonisation which are familiar to our minds from the practice either of ancient Greece or of the mari- time states of modern Europe. Roman Colonies were not planted in new countries by adventurers who found their old homes too narrow for their wants or their ambition, and whose bond of union with the mother-country was rendered feeble and precarious by difference of interest or remoteness of situation. When the Romans planted a Colony (at the time we speak of and for more than a century later), it was always within the limits of the Italian Peninsula, and within the walls of ancient Chap. XXYII. FINAL REDUCTION OF ITA.LT. 255 cities whose obstinate resistance made it prudent to restore them to independence, and whose reduced condition rendered it possible to place them in the condition of subjects. It was a custom followed by the Romans, in common with the Sabeliian nations, to amerce a conquered community of its lands, either in whole or in part, for the benefit of the conquering state. The lands thus confiscated were added to the Public Land, of which we have heard so much. After the conquest of Italy, this Public Land had become very large in extent in every part of the Peninsula. - We have, on several occasions, mentioned that por- tions of this land were appropriated to the citizens who migrated from Rome and its neighbourhood to become the citizens of a Colony. Thus two purposes were served at once : — the poorer plebeians were raised to a state of easy independence, and the sovereignty of Rome was secured in remote districts by the pres- ence of a new population devoted to her interests. But these Colonies were not all of the same character. They must be distinguished into two classes, — the Colonies of Roman Citizens, and the Latin Colonies. § 14. The Colonies of Roman Citizens consisted usually of three hundred men of approved military experience, who went forth with their families to occupy conquered cities of no great magnitude, but which were important as military positions, being usually on the sea-coast.* These three hundred families formed a sort of patrician caste, while the old inhabitants sank into the condition formerly occupied by the plebeians at Rome. The heads of these families retained all their rights as Roman citizens, and might re- pair to Rome to vote in the Popular Assemblies. When in early Roman history we hear of the revolt of a Colony, the meaning seems to be that the natives rose against the colonists and expelled them. Hence it is that we hear of colonists being sent more than once to the same place, as to Antium.f § 15. But more numerous and more important than these were the Latin Colonies, of which there were thirty in existence when Hannibal crossed the Alps. Of these thirty no fewer than twenty-six had been founded before the close of the year 263 B.C. The reason for the name they bore was this. We have seen that a close connection had subsisted between Rome and the Latin communities from the earliest times. Under the later * All such were called specially Colonice Navales. f The Roman Colonies of which we hear previous to 263 B.C., were Antium^ Yitellia, Satricum, Terracina, Casinum, in the Volscian land; MinturnsB and Sinuessa, in Campania (296 b.c ) ; Sena Gallica, on the Umbrian coast (282 B.C.); Castrum Novum, in Picenum (264 B.C.). 256 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. Kings Rome was the head of Latium ; and by Spurius Cassius a League was formed between Rome and Latium, which continued with a slight interruption till the great Latin War of 338 b.c. So long as this league lasted, Rome on the one side and the Latin Communities on the other granted certain reciprocal rights to the citizens of each people. Latins enjoyed all the Private Rights of Roman citizens in Rome ; and Romans enjoyed all the Private Rights of the Latin citizens in any of the cities of Latium.* During the period of the league a number of Colonies were sent forth, in which the settlers consisted jointly of Romans and Latins, and their numbers were not confined to the small number of three hundred, but usually amounted to some thousands. But the citi- zens of these Latin Colonies seem to have had no rights at Rome, except such as were possessed by the allied Municipal Towns. They were therefore regarded politically as Communities in alliance with Rome. After the Latin wat-, similar Colonies still continued to be sent forth ; indeed, these were the Colonies which chiefly relieved the poor of the Roman territory. At first, no doubt, the Colonists remained distinct from the old inhabitants ; but generally both were fused into one body, like the Sabines and Latins at Rome, like the Samnites and Oscans in Capua. The Latin Colonies, then, at that time seem to have been merely Allied Cities, bound like them to furnish troops for the service of Rome, and holding their cities as the friends of Rome in the midst of a hostile population. It is to these Colonies that we must attribute chiefly that tenacious grasp which Rome was able to keep upon every district in Italy. The Volscians were overawed by Fregellte, Pontise, Interamna, and Sora ; the Campanians by Cales, Suessa Aurunca, and Cosa ; the JEquians by Carseoli ; the Marsians by Alba Fucentia ; Umbria by Narnia and Ariminum ; the Picenians by Hatria and Firmum ; the Samnites by Saticula, Beneventum, and vEsernia; the Apulians by Luceria and Venusia; the Lucanians by Posidonia (afterwards Psestum). These places were, no doubt, all strongly fortified. The ruins of massive walls bailt with irregular polygonal blocks of stone, which crowned their rocky citadels, still remain in many places, to show that they must have presented most formidable obstacles in an age when gun- powder was unknown. § 16. The rights and privileges of these Latin Colonies are only known to us as they are found at a later period of the Republic under the name of Latinitas, or the Right of Latium (Jus Latii). This Right, at the later time we speak of, we know to have con- sisted in the power of obtaining the full Rights of a Roman * Comp. Chapt. xx. § 14. Chap. XXVIL FKTAL REDUCTION OF ITALY. 257 Burgess, but in a limited and peculiar manner. Any citizen of a Latin Community, whether one of the Free Cities of Latium or a Latin Colony, was allowed to emigrate to Rome and be enrolled in one of the Roman Tribes, on two conditions : first, that he had held a magistracy in his native town ; secondly, that he left a representative of his family in that native town. Thus was formed that large body of half-Roman citizens throughout Italy, who are so well known to readers of Livy under the appellation of " the Latin name." Socii et nomen Latinum — the Allies and the Latin Name — was the technical expression for all those Italian Communi- ties, besides Rome herself, who were bound to supply soldiers for her armies. § 17. Free and Confederate States.* It will be seen, then, that the mass of the Italian Communities were in a condition of greater or less dependence upon Rome, — the Prefectures being in a state of absolute subjection, the Colonies bound by ties of national feeling and interest, the Municipal Towns by articles of alliance varying in kind. Besides these more or less dependent communi- ties, there remain to be j^oticed, fourthly, the Cities which remained wholly independent of Rome, but bound to her by treaties of Equal Alliance. Of the Latin cities, Tibur and Praeneste alone were in this condition ; in Campania, most of the cities, till, after the Hannibalic war, Capua and others were reduced to the con- dition of Prefectures, while Nola and Nuceria alone remained free ; of the Hellenic cities in the south, Neapolis, Velia, Locri, Rhegium, and Heraclea ; in Umbria, Camerium ; in Etruria, Iguvium ; with all the cities of the Frentanians. But as Roman power increased, most of these communities were reduced to the condition of simple municipal towns. § 18. Whatever is known of the internal constitution of these various communities belongs to later times, when by the Julian Law they had all obtained the Roman franchise, and had become part and parcel of the Roman state. At Capua, indeed, we learn that the government was now in the hands of a Senate, with an elective chief called the Meddix Tuticus.f But Capua, as wc have just seen, was, till after 211 b.c, to all intents and pur- poses an independent city, and affords no clue to assist us in judging of the rest. There can, however, be little doubt that in the Colonies a con- stitution was adopted similar to that of Rome herself. The Colonists formed a kind of Patriciate or Aristocracy, and the heads of their leading families constituted a Senate. There were two chief magistrates representing the Consuls, to whom (in the more important towns) were added one or two men to fulfil the * Civitates Liberae et Federatae. f Liv. xxiii. 35 ; xxiv. 19. 268 ROME CONQUEROR OF ITALY. Book III. duties of Censor and Quaestor.* In course of time similar con- stitutions were introduced into the Municipal Towns also. And it is probable that from the first Rome exerted her influence in favour of an aristocratic governmept. § 19. Thus, by placing the Italian Cities in every possible rela- tion to herself, from real independence to complete subjection, and by planting Colonies, some with full Roman Rights, some with a limited power of obtaining these Rights, Rome wove her net of sovereignty over the Peninsula, and covered every part with its entangling meshes. It is not to be supposed that every step in this process was taken with a full consciousness of its effect But some general plan there must have been, such as we have summed up in the words Isolation and Self-government. The effects, at all events, were such as would have corresponded with the most deep- laid plans of policy. The campaigns of Pyrrhus took place at a time when Italy was yet not wholly conquered. But few cities of importance, except those of his own countrymen, opened their gates to him. In the first Punic war, not an Italian community took advantage of the exhausted condition to which Rome was more than once reduced. In the Gallic war that followed, her allies served her faithfully. The invasion of Hannibal exposed her to 9 pressure as severe as any government ever underwent. Yet when the great General was asked by his rivals at home, " Whether the defeat of Canna3 had caused one Latin community to desert Rome ?"f he could not answer in the affirmative. More than this. The mass of the Campanians, the poor remains of the brave Samnite tribes, the Lucanians, Apulians, and Bruttians, all rose in favour of the Carthaginian invader. But in central Italy, where the Roman government was best known, not one city, federate or municipal, opened her gates to the conqueror; and even in the insurgent districts the Colonies remained immoveable as rocks, upon which the seething waves might lavish their utmost fury. * This was so in later times, at all events. Hence in some towns we hear the magistrates called Duumviri, in others Tresviri, in others Quatv^yviri For purposes of business the municipal senates were divided into committees of ten, whence the members of those senates are called Decuriones. f " Ecquis Latini Nominis Populus defecerit ad nos?"— Liv. xxiil 12. Coin of Carthage, with Winged Horse. BOOK IV. ROME AND CARTHAGE. CHAPTER XXVIII. CARTHAGE. EVENTS LEADING TO FIRST PUNIC WAR. • § 1. Good fortune of Rome in her successive wars. § 2. Saying of PyiThw § 3. Situation of Carthage. § 4. Origin and growth of Carthage. § 5 Her subjects. § 6. Government. § 7. Army. § 8. Navy. § 9. Her attempts to gain possession of Sicily. § 10. Mamertines of Messana and Hiero of Syracuse : Mamertines seek protection of Rome. § 11. Hiero and Carthaginians defeated by Romans. § 12. The First Punic War follows. § 1. Nothing is more remarkable in the History of Rome than the manner in which she was brought into contact only with one enemy at a time. During the heat of her contest with the Samnites, Alexander of Macedon was terminating his career. The second Samnite war broke out in 324 b.c. ; and in the fol- lowing year the great King died at the untimely age of thirty- two. When he took rest at Babylon, after ten years spent in ceaseless activity, he received embassies from all parts of the known world. If it is to be believed that among these envoys there were representatives of the Samnites and other tribes of Lower Italy, their business at the distant court of Alex- 260 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IY. ander could have been no other than to solicit the aid of his victorious arms to arrest the course of Rome, and protect the south of Italy, so dear to every Greek, from her overpowering ambition. The possibility that the great King might have turned his course vrestward to execute the plan which had once presented itself to the young ambition of Alcibiades,* oc- curred to Roman minds. Why should not he have attempted, what his kinsman Alexander of Molossus had attempted, and what Pyrrhus after him was destined to attempt? Livy broaches the question whether Rome would have risen su- perior to the contest or not, and decides it in the affirmative. But his judgment is that of a patriot, rather than of an histo- rian. Scarcely did Rome prevail over the unassisted prowess of the Samnites. Scarcely did she drive the adventurous Pyrrhus from her shores, after she had broken the force of Italy. If a stronger than Pyrrhus — a man of rarest ability both for war and peace — had joined his power to that of C. Pontius the Samnite, it can hardly be doubted that the History of the World would have been changed. § 2. The same good fortune attended Rome in her collision with Carthage. The adventurous temper of Pyrrhus led him from Italy to Sicily, and thus threw the Carthaginians into neces- sary alliance with the Romans. When the King was on his return to the Italian shore, the greater part of his forces were destroyed by a Carthaginian fleet. What might have been the result of the Tarentine war, if the diplomacy of Cineas had, in the first instance, been employed to engage the great African city against Rome ? Now that Italy was prostrate, it was plain that a collision between the two governments so encroaching and so jealous was inevitable. As Pyrrhus left the soil of Italy for ever, he said regretfully : — " How fair a battle-field we are leaving for the Romans and Carthaginians !" § 3. Before we begin the narration of the first Punic War, it will be well to give a brief account of Carthage and the Cartha- ginians. The north coast of Africa, at a point nearly due south of Florence, turns abruptly southward, and the coast continues to run in a southerly direction for about two hundred miles, when it again trends eastward. Just before the coast takes its sudden ourn to the south, it is hollowed out into a deep bay, of which the western extremity was named the Fair Promontory (Pulcrum Promontorium), and the eastern horn, anciently called the Pro- montory of Mercury (Promontorium Hermaeum), is now well known under the appellation of Cape Bon. About the middle of * Thuc. vi. 90. Chaf. xXVIII. CARTHAGE. ^61 tliis great bay a tongue of land juts out into the water, and on this now desolate spot once stood the great commercial city of Carthage.* Cape Bon is not more than eighty miles distant from Lilybseum, the southernmost point of Sicily, and Carthage itself was not more than one hundred miles from the same point. If the African coast ran on straight eastward from Cape Bon, it would strike against the headland of Lilybaeum. § 4. It is well known that this celebrated city was a colony from Tyre, the great centre of Phoenician commerce in the east, and that the common date for its foundation is about a century before the foundation of Rome. The language of the colony con- tinued to be Phoenician, or (as the Romans called it) Punic ;f and the scanty remains of that language are sufficient to show its near affinity with Hebrew and other kindred tongues. In very early times Carthage had assumed a leading position in the west of the Mediterranean. At the time of her fall, after the long and disastrous struggle with Rome, and the loss of all her empire, she still numbered a population of 700,000 within her walls ; and the circumference of these walls measured more than twenty miles. As her wealth and power increased, she had planted numerous colonies on the African coast. Three hundred Libyan cities are said to have paid her tribute ; and her dominion was gradually extended to the Pillars of Hercules on the one side, and nearly to the Great Syrtis on the other. Much of this coast- land, especially the great plain that extends south of Carthage to the Lesser Syrtis, is extraordinarily fertile. § 5. This fertility naturally attracted inhabitants. Besides the native Libyan Tribes, there was a large mixed population of Libyans and Phoenicians in and around the colonies of Carthage, and of other cities which, like Carthage, claimed descent from Phoenicia itself. These people were ruled by Carthage with ex- cessive rigour. They were treated as mere tillers of the ground, subject to the payment of tribute, but were not entrusted with any political rights whatsoever. Their condition somewhat resembled that of the Rayahs or Christian peasantry in the Turkish dominions, before the recent reforms ; but whereas the Turkish tribute was always light, the burdens imposed upon these subjects of the Carthaginian government were often more than the utmost industry could furnish. The result was that the Carthaginian Government was detested everywhere, and the presence of a foreign invader was always the signal for a general * A plan of Carthage, with its harbours, will be given to illustrate its siege, in Chapt. xlvi. § 7. f Phoenix became Tn old Loiin Poernis. The adjective hence formed wag Punicus, as munire from moenia^ punire from poena. 262 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. insurrection, a fact which offers a remarkable point of contrast between the dominion of Rome in Italy and that of Carthage in Africa. § 6. Of the internal condition of Carthage little is known. It seems probable that both the government and the trade were a monopoly in the hands of a few wealthy families, descendants of those merchant princes who once bore rule in Tyre. Power was nominally entrusted to two elective magistrates, who bore the title of Suffets* or Protectors^ and a Senate of three hun- dred. The Suffets were elective, but only held their office for a season. On certain occasions the whole body of citizens were called together and consulted. But all real power seems to have been absorbed by a smaller Council of One Hundred, self-elected, who held office for life. Before this narrow oligarchy all other powers grew dim. The Suffets became mere lay -figures; the Senate and the Assembly of the People faded into venerable forms; just as at Venice, after the thirteenth century, the Doges and the Assembly of the Nobles dwindled into a shadow before the secret despotism of the Council of Ten. § 7. The Carthaginians had little need of a strong military force in Africa. Their own citizens seem to have been trained to arms for home purposes, and an immense magazine of military stores was kept in Byrsa or Bosra,f the citadel. This force was probably sufficient to overawe the native Libyans, and to repress the incursions of the Numidians and other predatory tribes on their western side. But for foreign service they relied almost solely on mercenary troops. These they hired from Libya itself, Spain, Italy, Gaul, and Greece. The Balearic Isles supplied them with good slingers. Their light cavalry, which in the hands of Hannibal proved a formidable force, was formed of wild Nu- midians, light, spare, hardy men, who had their horses so com- pletely under command as to ride them without bit or rein. Organisation seems to have been introduced into this army by Mago, a notable man who flourished about 500 B.C., and is the re- puted founder of the military power of Carthage. The officers in chief command of these motley forces were usually native Carthaginians. But here the jealous and confined nature of the Government was hurtful to the public interest. * The Latin Suffes^ plur. Suffeies, is clearly the same as the Hebrew Shophet, plur. Shof Urn, which in our version of the Bible is translated Judges. But the root is shdfat, to protect. f More than one strongly fortified city on the borders of Palestine was called Basra — the Phoenician name for the citadel of Carthage. The Greeks called it Bvpaa. No doubt the meaning of this word gave rise to the legend that Dido bought as much land from the Libyans " as a hide would compass," ftad then cheated them by cutting the hide into strips. Chap. XXVIII. CARTHAGE. 263 Nothing was more formidable to such a Government than an able and successful general at the head of a force that owed no allegiance save to their officers. The generals, therefore, seem mostly to have been men chosen rather because of their devo- tion to the oligarchical families, than because of their aptness for command. When they failed their merciless masters visited the failure by fine, imprisonment, or crucifixion. § 8. If the army was not a national institution, it might have been thought that a people whose wealth so much depended upon their shipping would at least have been absolute masters of the sea. And we find immense fleets fitted out, and great losses speedily repaired. But here again the commanders seem to have been hampered by the Government, or not to have made fit use of the means at their command. It must have been as surprising to people of that day to see the Carthaginians beaten on their own element by the Romans, as it would be to the present generation to see the fleets of England defeated by those of Russia. § 9. It was by means of the fleets, of course, that Carthage was brought into connexion and collision with other countries. In early days she had established commercial settlements in the South of Spain and in Sicily. It was in the latter country that she came in contact firsts with the Greeks, and afterwards with the Romans. We have seen that in the first year of the Republic a treaty was made between Carthage and Rome. This was at a time when the Sicilian Greeks, by their growing wealth and restless energy, must have already awakened the jealousy of the mer- chant-rulers of western Sicily. About thirty years later, the great Persian invasion encouraged Carthage to assail them; but the Sicilian Greeks had kept aloof, and Gelon of Syracuse destroyed the fleets of Carthage and Etruria, combined under the command of Mago, as has been already noticed. For the next seventy years the Carthaginians contented themselves with obtaining possession of three factories or trading-marts on the coast of Sicily — Panormus, Motye, and Lilybseum, which they fortified very strongly. But after the great overthrow of the Athenian power by the Syracusans (413 b.c), the Carthaginian Government formed the design of becoming masters of this fertile and coveted island. Three years later they appeared in great force before Selinus, which fell after a brave resistance. Other cities shared the same fate ; and in 406 b.c. the city of Agrigentum, then probably the largest and most magnificent in the Hellenic world, was sacked and destroyed. The person, afterwards so famous as Dionysius the Tyrant, took advantage of thisdisasteir 264 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV to attack the existing Government of Syracuse for permitting the destruction of a sister city, and with singular craft raised himself to absolute power. His long reign of thirty-eight years (405 — 367 B.C.) comprises the time of Rome's great depression by the Gallic invasion, while the year of his death is coincident with that of the Licinian Laws, the era from which dates the con- stant advance of the Italian great city. He engaged in two great wars with Carthage. In the first, he had lost all Sicily, and was blockaded by Imilcon in Syracuse, when a pestilence destroyed the Carthaginian army, and so reduced that people, that their Libyan subjects rose in insurrection, and for a time the existence of Carthage seemed doubtful (394 b.c.) In the second, he was at first eminently successful, but was at length obliged to conclude a peace by which the River Halycus was settled as the boundary between Grecian and Carthaginian Sicily, and the territory of Agrigentum was added to Syracusan rule (383 b.c.) This treaty was followed by a long rest. The younger Diony- sius succeeded, and was overthrown by Dion, a Platonic philoso- pher, who put down the tyranny of Dionysius II. only to continue a modified tyranny in his own person. Dion was put to death by his brother Timoleon, a man in whom stern patriotism overpow- ered the sentiments of nature. The Carthaginians took advantage of these troubles to renew hostilities, but were compelled by Timo- leon to remain contented with the same boundaries which had been fixed by the treaty of Dionysius. This took place in the year of the great Latin War. Peace was now maintained for nearly thirty years. But in 317 B.C. Agathocles made himself King of Syracuse by means still more unscrupulous than had been used by Dionysius. In 310 B.C. the Carthaginians declared war against him. At Himera he was signally defeated, and Syracuse lay open to the enemy. But Agathocles took the bold step of transporting the troops which remained for the defence of the capital into Africa, so as to avail himself of the known disaftection of the Libyan subjects of Carthage. His successes were marvellous. One of the Suff'ets fell in battle, the other acted as a traitor. All the Libyan sub- jects of Carthage supported the Sicilian monarch, and he en- camped almost under the walls of the city. But he was obliged to return to Sicily rapidly, to check an insurrection there, and a hurried peace was made with Carthage. The remainder of his life was spent in vain attempts in Sicily, in Corcyra, and in Southern Italy. He died in 289 b.c, less then ten years before the appearance of Pyrrhus in Italy. After the death of Agathocles, the Carthaginians and Greeks of Sicily rested quiet, till Pyrrhus undertook to expel the former Chap. XXYIII. CARTHAGE. 265 from the island. We have already mentioned his first brilliant successes and his subsequent failure.* By this assault of Pyr- rhus, Carthage was led to conclude a treaty with Rome. But the appearance of Carthaginian fleets off Ostia and in the Gulf of Tarentum had roused the jealousy of the Italian Republic, and an opportunity only was wanting to give rise to open war between the two states. In the year 264 b.c. such an opportu- nity occurred. § 10. It has been recorded above that a body of Campanian Mercenaries, calling themselves Mamertines, being discharged from the service of Agathocles, had made themselves masters of Messana.f From this place they became dangerous neighbours to Syracuse. A young man of good birth, named Hiero, who had won distinction in the Sicilian campaigns of Pyrrhus, gained a signal victory over these marauders at Centuripa, and was by his grateful compatriots proclaimed king. This was about the year 270 b.c. For some time the Mamertines remained quiet, and Hiero was occupied in securing his power at Syracuse. But in 264 B.C. the new King resolved to destroy this nest of robbers, and advanced against Messana with a force superior to any they could bring into the field against him. The Ma- mertines, in this peril, were divided as to the best means oi seeking succour. One party wished to call in the Cartha- ginians, who were close at hand : another preferred alliance with Rome. The latter prevailed, and envoys were despatched to demand immediate aid. The Senate were well inclined to grant what was asked ; for they knew that, if they did not inter- fere, Carthage would ; and to see Messana, a town with a good harbour, and separated from Italy by so narrow a strait, in the hands of Carthage, might have given alarm to a less watchful government. Yet shame restrained them. It was barely six years since Hiero had assisted them in punishing the Campanian legion which had seized Italian Rhegium, as the Mamertines had seized Sicilian Messana. In this perplexity, the Senate de- clined to entertain the question. But the Consuls, eager for military glory, immediately brought the matter before the Centu- riate Assembly, v/hich straightway voted that support should be given to the Mamertines, or in other words, that the Carthaginians should not be allowed to gain possession of Messana. The Consul App. Claudius, son of the old Censor, was to command the army; and he sent his kinsman, C. Claudius, to assure the Mamertines of approaching aid. § 11. During this delay, however, the Carthaginian party among * Chapt. xxvi § 12. f Chapt. xxv. § 1. 12 266 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. the Mamertines had prevailed, and Hanno, with a party of Car- thaginian soldiers, had been admitted into the town. But the arrival of Appius soon changed the face of affairs. After being once driven back by the fleet of Hanno, he succeeded in landing his troops to the south of the town ; and immediately attacking Hiero, he defeated him with such loss, that the prudent King gave up the siege and retired to Syracuse. Next day the Romans fell upon Hanno, and also defeated him. Messana was now free. The Consul pursued his successes by plundering the Syracusan dominions up to the very gates of the city. § 12. The Romans, having now set foot in Sicily, determined to declare war against Carthage, so as to anticipate any plan which she might have of assailing Italy. It is probable that the Senate, recollecting the rapid success of Pyrrhus, who in two years almost swept the Carthaginians out of the island, reckoned on a speedy conquest: else, after their late exhausting wars, they would hardly have engaged in this new and terrible conflict. But they were much deceived. The first Punic War, which began in 263 b.c, did not end till 241, having dragged out its tedious length for three-and-twenty yfears. The general history of it is most uninteresting. All the great men of Rome, who had waged her Italian wars with so much vigour and ability, were in their graves ; we hear no more of Decius, or Curius, or Fabricius ; and no worthy successors had arisen. The only men of note who appear on the Roman side are Duillius and Regulus. But the heroes of Carthage are no less obscure. No one on their side is worthy of mention, except the great Hamilcar ; and he appears not till near the close of the war, and is to oe mentioned not so much for what he then did as for thfe promise of what he might do hereiifter. Coin of a Livineius with head of Regulus. ^ CHAPTER XXIX. FIRST PUNIC WAR (263 241 B.C.). § 1. First Punic War divided into Three Periods. § 2. First Period. Suc- cess of Romans : sack of Agrigentum. § 3. Romans build a fleet of Quin- queremes, § 4. Sail to the North of Sicily. § 5. Grappling engines, called Corvi. § 6. Carthaginians defeated by Duillius of Mylae. § 7. Cartha- ginians lose greater part of Sicily. § 8. Second Period. Regulus and Manlius set sail for Africa : great victory at sea off Ecnomus. § 9. Army landed at Clupea. § 10. Romans advance to Carthage. Great defeat of Regulus by Xanthippus. § 11. Fleet entirely lost. § 12. Fresh Fleet built. Panormus taken. § 13. Second Fleet lost. Romans give up the Sea. § 14. Victory gained by Metellus at Panormus. § 1 ">. Embassy and death of Regulus. § 16. Criticism of this event. § 17. Third Period. Third Fleet built. Siege of Lilybseum. § 18. Headstrong folly of Claudius: part of Fleet destroyed at Drepanum, the rest by a storm off Camarina. § 19. HamUcar. § 20. Fourth Fleet built. § 21. Battle of the ^gatian Isles. § 22. Terms of Peace. with Carthage. § 23. Review of the War. Prospects. § 1. To make tlie dreary length of this war more intelligible, it may conveniently be divided into three periods. The first com- prises its first seven years (263-257), during which the Romans were uniformly successful, and at the close of which they had driven the Carthaginians to the south and west coasts of Sicily. The second is an anxious period of mingled success and failure, also lasting for seven years (256-250) : it begins with the invasion of Africa by Regulus, and ends with his embassy and death. The third is a long and listless period of nine years (249-241), in which the Romans slowly retrieve their losses, and at length con- clude the war by a great victory at sea. § 2. First Period (263-257). — The ill success of Hanno at Messana so displeased the Carthaginian government that they 268 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. ordered the unfortunate general to be crucified. They had mani- festly not calculated on the aggressive spirit of Rome, and had no force on foot sufficient to meet her armies in the field. The Romans pursued their first success with vigour. In the year 263 B.C. both the Consuls crossed over into Sicily with an army of forty or fifty thousand men. On their appearance, a vast number of the Sicilian towns, weary of being the objects of contention be- tween Carthaginians and Syracusans, declared in favour of the new power, which might (they hoped) secure their independence against both ; for at present no one dreamed of a permanent occu- pation of the island by the Romans. No less than sixty-seven towns are said to have taken this course. Hiero, a prudent man, was struck by the energy of the new invaders. "Tliey had con- <|uered him," he said, "before he had time to see them." He shrewdly calculated that the Carthaginians would prove inferior in the struggle, and forthwith concluded a treaty of alliance with Rome, by which he was left in undisturbed possession of a small but fertile region lying round Syracuse : some more remote towns, as Tauromenium, being also subject to his sceptre. From this time forth to the time of his death, a period of forty-seven years, he remained a useful ally of the Roman people. In 262 b.c. both Consuls laid siege to the city of Agrigentum, which, though far fallen from her ancient splendour, was still the second of the Hel- lenic communities in Sicily. Another Hanno was sent with a force from Carthage to raise the siege, and for some time fortune favoured him. He drew a second circle of entrenchments round the Roman lines, so as to intercept all supplies ; and thus the besiegers, being themselves besieged, were reduced to the greatest straits. But the Consul at length forced Hanno to give him battle, and gained a complete victory. Upon this the commandant of the garrison, finding further defence useless, slipped out of Agri- gentum by night, and deserted the hapless city after a siege of seven months. The Romans repaid themselves for the miseries they had undergone by indulging in all those excesses which soldiers are wont to commit when they take a town by storm after a long and obstinate defence. It is said that 25,000 men were slain. § 3. This great success raised the spirits of the Romans. And now, for the first time, the Senate conceived the hope and formed the plan of expelling the Carthaginians entirely from Sicily : but after a short experience, that sagacious Council became aware that a fleet was indispensable for success. The coasts of Italy were infested by Carthaginian cruisers, and though it might always be possible to carry men and stores across the narrow strait of Messana, the want of roads in the mountainous dis- Chap. XXIX. FIRST PUNIC WAR. 269 trict about ^tna made this an inconvenient place of transit. It was important for Rome to send her armies straight to Syracuse or Panormus ; and since the Carthaginians were masters of the sea, this could not be done without such a navy as might be able to cope with the fleets of the enemy. Nothing shows the courage and resolution of the Romans more than their manner of acting in this matter. It is no light matter . for landsmen to become sea- men ; but for unpractised landsmen to think of encountering tho most skilful seamen then known might have been deemed a piece of romantic absurdity, if the men of Rome had not undertaken and accomplished it. What they wanted first was a set of ships, Vhich, in size at least and weight, should be a match for those of the enemy. It is a mistake to suppose that the Romans had no fleet before this time. The treaties with Carthage sufliciently prove the contrary ; and on several occasions we hear of ships being employed by them. But these ships were of the trireme kind, formerly em ployed by the Greeks. The Carthaginians, like the Greeks aftei Alexander, used quinqueremes ; and it would have been as absurd for the small Roman ships to have encountered those heavier ves- sels, as for a frigate to cope with a three-decker. The Romans therefore determined to build quinqueremes. A Carthaginian ship cast ashore on the coast of Bruttii served as a model ; the forest of Sila, in that district, supplied timber. In sixty days from the time the trees were felled they had completed, probably by the help of Greek artisans, a fleet of one hundred quinqueremes and twenty triremes ; and while it was building, they trained men to row in a manner which to us seems laughable, by placing them on jcaff"olds ranged on land in the same way as the benches in the ships.* (266 B.C.) § 4. The Consul Cn. Cornelius put to sea first with seventeen ships, leaving the rest of the fleet to follow ; but he was surprised near Lipara and captured, with the whole of his little squadron, bj the Carthaginian admiral. His plebeian colleague, C. Duillius, was in command of the army in Sicily ; but as soon as he heard of this disaster, he hastened to take charge of the main body of the fleet, and with it he sailed slowly along the north coast of Sicily. § 5. Meantime, the Roman shipwrights had contrived certain engines, by means of which their seamen might grapple with the enemy's ships, so as to bring them to close quarters and deprive them of the superiority derived from their better construction * All this rests on the weighty authority of Polybius (i. 20 and 21), except the time spent in building the fleet, which is given by Pliny (Nat. Hist. xvL 270 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. and tlie greater skill of their crews. These engines were called crows (corvi). They consisted of a gangway 36 feet long and 4 broad, pierced with an oblong hole towards one end, so as to play freely round a strong pole 24 feet high, which was fixed near the ship's prow. At the other end was attached a strong rope, which passed over a sheaf at the head of the pole. By this rope the gangway was kept hauled up till within reach of the enemy's ship : it was then suddenly let go, and as it fell with all its weight, a strong, sharp spike on its under side (shaped like a crow's beak) was driven fast into the enemy's deck. Then the Roman men-at-arms poured along the gangway, and a mere stand-up fight followed, in which the best soldiers were sure to prevail. § 6. Thus prepared, Duillius encountered the enemy's fleet. He found them ravaging the coast at Mylae, a little to the west of Palermo. The admiral was the same person who had com- manded the garrison of Agrigentum, and was carried in an enor- mojs septireme, which had formerly belonged to Pyrrhus. Nothing daunted, Duillius attacked without delay. By his rude assault the skilful tactics of the Carthaginian seamen were con- founded. The Roman fighting-men were very numerous, and when they had once boarded an enemy's ship, easily made them- selves masters of her. Duillius took thirty-one Carthaginian ships and sunk fourteen. For a season, no Roman name stood so high as that of Duillius. Public honours were awarded him ; he was to be escorted home at night from banquets and festivals by the light of torches and the music of the flute ; a pillar was set up in the Forum, ornamented with the beaks of the captured ships, and therefore called the Columna Rostrata, to commemorate the great event : fragments of the inscription still remain.* And no doubt the triumph was signal. To have defeated the Mistress of the Sea upon her own element in the first trial of strength was indeed remarkable, and might justify almost any amount of extravagant exultation. The honours conferred upon the con- queror cannot but give a pleasing impression of the simple life and manners then prevailing at Rome, especially when we con- trast them with the cruelty of the Carthaginian Government, who crucified their unfortunate admiral for this and other mis- chances. § 7. The sea-fight of Duillius was fought in the year 260 b.c. The next three years passed with no very remarkable successes. In 259 we learn that L. Scipio, Consul of the year, made a de- * In the Capitoline Museum at Rome — probably a copy of the original, made when the Columna Rostrata was restored by the Emperor Augustus. Chap. XXIX. FIRST PUNIC WAR 271 scent upon Sardinia and Corsica. But in the following year the Consul L. Atilius Calatinus had nearly suffered a great reverse. He advanced incautiously into a defile in the western part of the island, and was entirely hemmed in, when he was delivered by the military skill and bravery of M. Calpurnius, one of the legionary tribunes in his army, and the imminent disaster was changed into a victory, which the Senate deemed worthy of a triumph. On the whole, it is clear that the Carthaginians were now only able to act upon the defensive. Not only Agrigentum, but Cama- rina, Gela, Erina, Egesta, and many other cities had surrendered to the Romans. The Carthaginians were confined to their great trading marts, Drepana, Lilybseum, Eryx, and Panormus. They did not dare to meet the Romans in the field ; yet these places were very strong, especially Lilybaeum. Against its iron fortifica- tions all the strength of Pyrrhus had been broken. It was not time yet for Carthage to despair. But in the eighth year of the war the Senate determined on more decisive measures. They knew the weakness of the Cartha- ginians at home ; they had a victorious fleet, and they determined not to let their fortune slumber. — -^ 8. Second Period (256-250 b.c). — Duillius appears for a brief time as the hero of the first part of the war ; but its second period is marked by the name of a man who has become famous in the whole world as a hero and a patriot, — M. Atilius Regulus. His claim to these high titles has of late years been questioned and denied, and shall be shortly examined when we come to the close of his career. At all events, he fills a commanding place among the men of the first Punic War. It was in the year 256, the eighth of the war, that the Consuls, M. Regulus and L. Manlius, sailed from Italy and doubled Cape Pachynum with a fleet of 330 quinqueremes. The Carthaginian fleet, even larger in number, had been stationed at Lilybseum to meet the enemy, whether they should approach from the north or from the east. They now put to sea, and sailed westward along the southern coast of Sicily. They met the Roman fleet at a place called Ecnomus, a little more than half way along that coast. The battle that ensued was the greatest that, up to that time, had ever been fought at sea : it is calculated that not fewer than 300,000 men were engaged. It was desperately contested on both sides ; but at Ecnomus, again, we are astonished to find the Roman fleet victorious. It must be presumed that they still employed the corvi to baffle the superior skill of the enemy, and turn a sea-fight into the similitude of a battle on laud. 272 ROME AND CARTHAaE. Book IV. § 9. The way was now open to Africa. The Consuls, after re^ fitting and provisioning their fleet, sailed straight across to the Hermajan Promontory, which is distant from the nearest point of Sicily not more than eighty miles. But the omens were not auspicious; the Roman soldiery went on board with gloomy fore- bodings of their fate ; nay, one of the tribunes refused to lead his legionaries into the ships, till Reguhis ordered the lictors to seize him. The passage, however, was favoured by the wind. The Consuls landed their men, drew up the fleet on shore, and fortified it in a naval camp ; and then, marching southward, they took the city of Aspis or Clupea by assault. No Carthaginian army met them : every place they came near, except Utica, surrendered at discretion ; for they were unfortified and defenceless. Carthage, being of old mistress of the sea, feared no invaders : like England since the Civil Wars, she left her cities unwalled, trusting for defence rather to her ships than to stone walls. Yet she had not been unwarned. Sixty years before, the adventurous Agathocles had landed like Regulus. Then, as now, the whole country lay like a garden before him, covered with wealthy towns and the luxurious villas of the Carthaginian mer- chants. Then two hundred towns or more had surrendered almost without stroke of sword. It appeared as if the same easy success now awaited Regulus and the Romans. § 10. The Consuls were advancing along the coast of the gulf towards Carthage, when, at a critical moment and for reasons we know not of, Manlius was recalled with the greater part of the army, and Regulus was left in Africa with only 15,000 foot and 500 horse. Yet even with this small force he remained mas- ter of the country. The Libyans (as has been said) ofl'ered no resistance or joined the invader ; and the Carthaginian generals, after venturing one battle in which they were worsted, did not again meet the Consul in the field. He had gone round the whole Gulf of Tunis as far as Utica, and now he turned upon his steps with the intention of marching upon the capital itself. On his way he was obliged to cross the river Bagradas, and here (so ran the legend) the army was stopped by a huge serpent, so strong and tough of skin that they were unable to destroy it, till they brought up their artillery of catapults and balists :* he then continued his route southwards to the Bay of Carthage. He was allowed to take Tunis, which stood within * No mention of this is made by Polybius, the most ancient and most authentic historian of the war. Its subsequent invention shows how easily semi-mythical legends may intrude themselves even into the history of well- known times, and certainly is one of the circumstances which indicate that the fame of Regulus is partly due to the family pride of the Atilian Gens. Chap. XXIX. FIRST PUNIO WAR. 2*73 twenty miles of Carthage. The great city was now reduced to the utmost straits. A Roman army was encamped within sight ; the Numidians took advantage of the enemy's presence to overrun and plunder the whole country ; famine stared the townsmen in the face ; the Government trembled. In this abject condition the Council sent an embassy to ask what terms of peace Regulus would grant. The Consul was so elated by success, so confident in his power, that he demanded the most extravagant concessions. The Carthaginians were to give up their fleet, pay all the expenses of the war, and cede all Sicily, with Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Isles, to Rome. When these terms were reported the Government took care to publish them, and public indignation rose against the arrogant invaders. The civic force was, as we have said,* not untrained to arms, and they had now to fight for their hearths and altars. A good general was sought for. At that time there happened to be at Carthage a soldier of fortune, by name Xanthippus, a Lacedaemonian. This man had been heard to censure the ordinary tactics of the native generals, and to de- clare that the victories of the Romans were due, not to their own superior skill and valour, but to the faults committed by their opponents. He was summoned before the Council and desired to give reasons for his remarks. He did so ; and, for a moment, the Government, dismissing all jealousy, appointed this obscure foreigner general in chief. Xanthippus immediately drew to- gether all the mercenaries he could find, and united them with the armed citizens; then, supported by a large body of elephants, he boldly took the field. The Romans were aston- ished ; but they were too much accustomed to victory to hesi- tate about accepting battle. But they were both outnumbered and outgeneraled. Xanthippus gained a victory as easy as it was complete. Regulus himself was taken prisoner; only 2000 of his men succeeded in making good their retreat to Clupea. Thus was Carthage delivered by the ability of one man, and that man a foreigner. The Government did not improve in wis- dom or generosity ; their old and incapable generals resumed the command; Xanthippus, loaded with honours and presents, prudently withdrew from the jealous city, and is heard of no more. § 11. The Roman Senate, on the other hand, did their best to repair this great calamity. The new Consuls were ordered to put to sea, and bring oft" the garrison and fugitives from Clupea. Near the Hermaean Promontory they encountered the enemy's * Chapt. xxviii. § 7. 12* 274 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IY. fleet, and again defeated it ; and then, having taken up the ships and men at Clupea, they sailed for Syracuse. But now a still greater disaster was in store for Rome than the destruction of her African army. This was the loss of that fleet of which she was justly proud. The time of year was about the beginning of the dog-days, when the Mediterranean is apt to be visited by sudden storms. The Consuls, upon their passage, were warned that such a storm was at hand ; but they were ignorant and rash, and con- tinued their course. Before they could double Cape Pachynum they were caught by the tempest; almost the whole fleet was wrecked or foundered ; the coast of Sicily from Camarina to Pa- chynum was strewed with fragments of ships and bodies of men. Such was the end of the Roman fleet. § 12. These successive disasters might well raise the hopes of Carthage, and they sent a considerable force into Sicily with 140 elephants. Agrigentam is said to have been recovered, and no doubt it was expected that the whole island would once more become their own. But the Romans, aptly compared by Horace to the hydra which grows stronger from successive mutilations, showed a spirit equal to the need. In three months' time (so won- derful was their energy), a new fleet of 220 sail was ready for sea.* The Consuls of the year 254 e.g., having touched at Mes- sana to take up the remnants of the old fleet, passed onward to Drepanum. They could not take this strong place, but they were more successful at Panormus, the modern Palermo, which yielded after a short siege to the Roman arms. This was an important conquest. § 13. Next year the fleet touched at several places on the Afri- can coast, but without making any impression on the country. Among the shoals and currents of the Lesser Syrtis it ran great danger of being lost ; but having escaped this peril, the Consuls re- turned to Panormus and thence stood straight across for the mouth of the Tiber. On the passage they were overtaken by another of those terrible storms, and again nearly the whole fleet was lost. Thus, within three years, the Romans lost two great fleets. This was enough to damp even their courage ; and the Senate determined to try whether it were not possible to keep their ground in Sicily without a navy. For the present they gave up all claim to the command of the sea, and limited themselves to a small fleet of sixty ships. § 14. Matters continued in this state for two years. Neither party seemed willing to hazard a battle by land ; but in 250 b.c. Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general, was induced to march * The grave Polybius is voucher for this fact. Chap. XXIX. FIRST PUNIC WAR 2Y5 secretly from Lilybaeum to Panormus, in the hope of surprising and recovering that important town. The Roman commandant was the Proconsul L. Caecilius Metellus. He allowed the enemy to approach the walls, and then suddenly sallied forth, covering his attack by a cloud of light troops, slingers, and javelin-men. Some of the elephants being wounded, carried confusion into their own ranks, and Metellus, seizing the occasion, charged the enemy and defeated them utterly. Besides 13 Carthaginian generals, 120 3lephants were taken and carried across the sea on strong rafts to adorn the triumph of the Proconsul. The battle of Panormus was the greatest battle that was foughf on land in the course of the war, and it was the last. In memory of this victory we find the elephant as a frequent device on the coins of the great family of the Metelli.* § 15. After the battle of Panormus, the hopes of the Romans rose again, and the Senate gave orders to build a third fleet of 200 sail. But the Carthaginians, weary of the expenses of the war, and suffering greatly in their commerce, thought that a fair opportunity for making peace was now offered. The Romans had recovered in some measure from their late disasters, but not so entirely but that they miglit be glad to listen to fair terms. Accordingly an embassy was dispatched to offer an exchange of prisoners and to propose terms on which a peace might be concluded. Regulus (according to the well-known story) accompanied this embassy, under promise to return to Carthage if the purposes of the embassy should fail. When he arrived at Rome he refused to enter the walls and take his place in the Senate, as being no longer a citizen or a senator. Then the Senate sent certain of their own number to confer with him in the presence of the ambassadors, and the counsel which he gave confirmed the wavering minds of the fathers. " Useless it was," he said, " to ransom prisoners who had ignobly yielded with arms in their hands : let them be left to perish unheeded ; let war go on till Carthage be subdued." His coun- sel prevailed, and the embassy returned without effect. Regulus also returned to suffer the vengeance of the Carthaginians. Every one knows the horrid tortures by which it is said that life was taken from him ; how his eyelids were cut off; how he was placed in a barrel stuck full of nails, with one end knocked out ; and how he was exposed to the unmitigated glare of an African sun, to die by the slow agonies of pain, and thirst, and fever. § 16. Regulus was a man of the old Roman kind, like Curius a.nd Fabricius, devoted to his country, eager for glory, frugal, * **<^« a coin of Metellus Scipio figured at the eud of this chapter 276 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. bold, resolute or (call it) stubborn. He has been censured for ex- cessive presuniptuousness in his African campaign, and for the extravagance by which he lost all the advantages which he might have secured. But it must be allowed that he had some grounds even for overweening confidence. Ever since the two nations had met in arms, the star of Carthage had grown dim before that of Rome. Even on the sea, where her navies had long ridden triumphant, the Queen of the Mediterranean had twice been beaten by her unskilled rival. There was enough to make more sagacious men than Regulus believe that Carthage was well nigh powerless against Rome. The Romans had yet to learn that when the jealous government of Carthage allowed great generals to command their armies, such as Xanthippus, and Hamilcar, and Hannibal, then the well-trained mercenaries might gain easy victories over their own brave but less practised citizens. The whole story of the embassy and death of Regulus has been doubted, chiefly because of the silence of Polybius, the most authentic historian of the time ; and from the certainty that at least one mythical marvel has been introduced into the narrative.* But if allowance be made for some patriotic exaggeration, there is nothing improbable in the story. Those who crucified their own unlucky generals would not be slow to wreak any measure of vengeance on a recusant prisoner. We read also that the Romans retaliated by torturing some Carthaginian prisoners,! and this fact can hardly be an invention. At all events, the personal qualities of Regulus rest too firmly on old tradition to be questioned. While we read the beautiful passage in which Cicero describes his disinterested patriotism ;]; while we repeat the noble Ode, in which Horace paints him as putting aside all who would have persuaded him to stay — people, friends, and family, going forth to torture and death with the same serene indiff'erence as if he were leaving the busy life of Rome for the calm retirement of his country house ; § — so long will the blood flow more quickly and the heart beat higher at mention of the name of Regulus. With the failure of this attempt at peace closes the second period of the war. § 17. Third Period (249-241).— It has been said that the Senate, encouraged by the victory of Panormus, resolved once more to attempt the sea. In the year 249 b.c, the third fleet was ready, and its purpose soon became evident. The Consuls * Above, § 10. f Niebuhr supposes that these tortures are a fact, and that the story of th* tortures of Regulus arose out of them, — a somewhat gratuitous supposition, t De Officiis, iii. 27. § Carm- ji' '^ Chap. XXIX. FIRST PUNIC WAR. 277 were ordered to invest Lilybseum, the queen of Carthaginian fort- resses, both by sea and land. If this strong place fell, the Cartha- ginians would have no firm hold on Sicily ; but it could not be taken unless it were blockaded by sea, for by sea supplies could be poured into it from Carthage. The blockade of Lilybaeum was the thing that made a fleet necessary at this time. The Romans began the siege with great activity ; they con- structed enormous works, they endeavoured to throw a dam across the harbour, but in vain. The skilful seamen of Carthage con- trived to carry prpv^ion-ships into the harbour through the midst of the Roman fleeft^ Their own navy lay near at hand in the Bay of Drepanum, reaay to take advantage of any remissness on the part of the Romans. § 18. Yet the invincible perseverance of the Romans would have prevailed, but for the headstrong folly of the Patrician Consul for the year 249 b.c. This was P. Claudius, a younger son of the old Censor, brother of him who had relieved Messana. As he lay before Lilybaeum, he formed a plan for surprising the enemy's fleet at Drepanum, and left his station for this purpose. In vain he was Avarned by the Pullarii, that the sacred chickens would not feed. "Then let them drink," said the irreverent commander, and threw them into the sea. But the men were much dispirited by the omen and by the contempt of the omen. And the Consul had managed matters with so little secresy and skill, that the enemy were informed of his intended attack. As the Romans sailed in column into the harbour, the Carthaginian fleet was seen sailing outward. But on a sudden they tacked and bore down upon the side of the Roman column. Of Claudius' two hundred and twenty ships, only thirty escaped. The reckless Consul was recalled to Rome by the Senate, and ordered to supersede him- self by naming a Dictator. With the old insolence of his family he named the son of one of his own freedmen, by name Claudius Glycias. But the Senate set aside the nomination, and themselves appointed A. Atilius Calatinus, who was also called Serranus.* What became of Claudius we know not. But he was dead three years after ; for a story is preserved, that at that time his sister insolently expressed a wish that he were still alive, that he might lose more men, and make the streets less crowded. She was heavily fined for this speech ; and if words deserve punishment, none ever more deserved it than hers. The loss of the fleet of Claudius was not the only disaster * " Yel te sulco, Serrane, serentem." — Aen. vi. 844 The story told of Cincinnatus is here transferred to Calatinus : see Chapt. ix. § 4. 278 ROME AND CARTHAGE. book IV. of the year. L. Junius, his Plebeian colleague, was less guilty, but even more unfortunate. He was convoying a large fleet of ships, freighted with supplies for the forces at Lilybaeum, when, near Caniarina, he was overtaken by a tremendous hurricane, and both the convoy and the convoying squadron perished. The destruction was so complete, that every single ship was broken up, and not a plank (says Polybius) was fit to be used again. Thus, by the folly of one Consul and the misfortune of the other, did the Romans lose their entire fleet for the third time. It seemed to them as if the god of the sea was jealous of these new pretenders to his favour. § 19. These disasters left the Carthaginians once more masters of the Sea. And at the same time a really great man was appointed to a command in Sicily. This was Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal, of whom we shall have a better opportunity to speak hereafter. He does not seem to have had many ships or troops at his command; but the skill with which he used his means abundantly shows what might have been done if the government had trusted him more completely. He made continual descents on the coasts of Italy, plundering and alarming. Before long he landed suddenly near Panormus, and in the face of the Roman commandant seized a hill called Hercte, which overhung the town (the same with the modern Monte Pellegrino). Here he fortified himself; and hence he carried on a con- tinual predator)^ warfare against the Romans for the space of three years. After this, by an equally sudden movement, he made a descent on Eryx, which had been taken by the Romans not long before, and surprised it. To this place he now shifted his quarters, and continued the same harassing attacks for the remaining years of the war. Except for this, matters were at a stand-still. Neither party made any advance. The whole strength of the Romans was con- centrated in the lines of Lilybaeum ; but they had no fleet now, and therefore the place was fully supplied from the sea. On the other hand, Hamilcar. acted like a perpetual blister, and kept the enemy always in alarm ; but either his forces were too small, or the Romans were too watchful to allow him to make any great impression. Slight actions constantly took place ; and an anecdote is told by Diodorus, which sets the character of Hamilcar in a pleasing light. In a skirmish with the Roman Consul, C. Fundanius, he had sufi^ered some loss, and sent (according to custom) to demand a truce, that he might bury his dead. But the Consul insolently replied that he ought to concern himself about the living rather than the dead, Chap. XXIX. FIRST PUNIC WAR. 2Y9 and save further bloodshed by surrendering at once. Soon after it was Hamilcar's turn to defeat the Romans, and when their com- mander sent for leave to bury their dead, the Carthaginian General at once granted it, saying that he " warred not with the dead, but with the living."* § 20. These interminable hostilities convinced the Senate that they must once more build a fleet, or give up all hopes of driving the Carthaginians out of Sicily. Lilybseum would foil all their eff"orts, as it had done those of Pyrrhus. The siege had now lasted eight years, from 250 to 241, and it appeared no nearer its conclusion than at first. All sacrifices must be made. A fleet must be built. And it was built. At the beginning of the year 241 B.C., the Patrician Consul, Q. Lutatius Catulus, put to sea with more than two hundred sail.f This was the fourth navy which the Romans had created. Three times had they' lost the whole by storms or by mismanage^ ment. It is impossible not to admire this iron determination ; im- possible not to feel satisfaction at seeing it rewarded. § 21. The Consul, with his new fleet, sailed very early in the year. He immediately blockaded Drepanum by sea and land, hop- ing to take it at once, and so deprive the Carthaginians of the harbour in which their fleet commonly lay to watch the Romans at Lily- baeum. He also took great pains to train his seamen in naval tactics. In an action which took place at Drepanum he was severely wounded. On the other hand, the Carthaginians had of late neglected their navy; and it was not till early in the following year (241) that a fleet was dispatched to the relief of Drepanum. It was heavily freighted with provisions and stores. Hanno, its com- mander, touched at Hiera, a small island, about twenty or twenty- five miles from the port of Drepanum. Of this (it appears) Catu- lus was informed. He was still suff'ering from his wound, but he at once embarked and put to sea, hoping to intercept the enemy before they unloaded their ships. On the evening of the 9th of March he lay to at ^Egusa, another small island, not above ten miles distant from Hiera. Next morning the Carthaginians put to sea and endeavoured to run into Drepanum. But they were in- tercepted by the Roman fleet, and obliged to give battle. They fought under great disadvantages, and the Romans gained an easy victory. Fifty of the enemy's ships were sunk, seventy taken ; the rest escaped to Hiera. § 22. This battle, called the battle of the ^gatian islands (for this was the general name of the group), decided the war. It was * " Nullum cum victis certamen et sethere cassia." — Virg,, Aen. xl 105. f Polybius says 200 ; Justin and others say 300. 280 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. plain that Lilybseum must now surrender ; and that though Harail- car might yet stand at bay, he could not recover Sicily for the present. The merchants of Carthage were eager for the conclu- sion of the war ; and the government sent orders to Hamilcar to make a peace on the best terms he could obtain. Catulus at first required, as a preliminary to all negociations, that Hamilcar should lay down his arms, and give up all Roman deserters in his service. But when the Carthaginian disdainfully refused this condition, the Consul prudently waived it, and a treaty was finally agreed on by the two commanders to the following eff'ect : — that the Carthagi- nians should evacuate Sicily ; should give up all Roman prisoners without ransom ; and should pay 2,200 talents, in twenty years, towards the expenses of the war. This treaty^ however, was sub- ject to the approval of the Roman people, and the tribes refused to ratify it without inquiry. Accordingly the Senate sent over ten envoys, who confirmed the treaty of Catulus, except that they raised the sum to 3,200 talents, and required this larger sum to be paid in ten years, instead of twenty. They also in- sisted on the cession of all the small islands between Italy and Sicily. The treaty was immediately executed. Lilybaeum, Dre- panum, Eryx, and the other places still held by the Carthagi- nians, were surrendered, and Hamilcar embarked his troops for Carthage. § 23. Thus ended the first Punic War. The issue of this long struggle was altogether in favour of Rome. She had performed few brilliant exploits ; she had sent few eminent men to conduct the war ; but she had done great things on the whole. She had beaten the Mistress of the Sea upon her own element. She had gained possession of a large and fertile island ; an island nearly twice as large as Yorkshire, and fertile beyond the example of other lands.* Her losses indeed had been enormous ; for she had lost seven hundred ships, a vast number of men, and large sums of money. But Carthage had suffered still more. For though she had lost not more than five hundred ships, yet the interruption to her trade, and the loss of her great commercial emporiums of Lilybaeum and Drepanum, not only crippled the resources of the State, but largely diminished the fortunes of every individual citi- zen. The Romans and Italians, who fought in this war, were mostly agricultural ; and the losses of such a people are small, and soon repaired, while those suffered by a great commercial state are often irreparable. * Sicily became the first province. But as it was lost again a few years after, and all the known rules of government date from the second conquest, all notice of the provincial system of Rome shall be deferred. See Chapt. xxxvi. Chap. XXIX. FIEST PUNIC WAR. 281 This war was only the prelude to a more fierce and deadly contest. Carthage had withdrawn discomfited fi'om Sicily, and her empty treasury and ruined trade forbade her to continue the conflict at that time. But it was not yet decided whether Rome or Carthage was to rule the coasts of the Mediterranean. The great Hamilcar left Eryx without despair. He foresaw that by patience and prudence he might shake off" the control of his jealous Government, and train up an army in his own interest, with which he might deiy the Roman legions.* Unfortunate circumstances prevented him from the execution of this project for the next four years. After that (as we shall see) he began that policy which was so successfully carried out by his celebrated son. * See Polyb., i. 60. Coin of Metellus Sdpio, referring to Battle of Panormua. Temple of Janus closed, on a Coin of Nero. CHAPTER XXX. EVENTS BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND PUNIC WARS. § 1. Origin and progress of the Mercenary "War at Carthage : Spendius and Matho. § 2. Hamilcar commissioned to check it : thwarted by Hanno. § 3. Hamilcar made sole commander: he compels Spendius to surrender. § 4. Obstinate resistance of Matho : he murders Gisgo and other prisoners : end of War. § 5. Ungenerous conduct of Rome. § 6. Hamilcar goes to Spain- § 7. Affairs of Rome : Temple of Janus closed. § 8. Illyrian War : Piratical tribes of Illyrian coast : Queen Teuta murders a Roman Envoy. § 9. Demetrius of Pharos, Teuta's governor of Corcyra, treacher- ously joins Rome: Teuta obliged to consent to hard terras. § 10. Honour paid to Romans in Greece. § 11. Gallic War: Gauls provoked to war by proposal of Flaminius to plant settlements in Picenum and Umbria. § 12. Enormous forces at disposal of Rome: plan of campaign. § 13. Great defeat of Gauls at Telamon in Etruria. § 14. Invasion of Transpa- dane Gaul. § 15. Marcellus wins spolia opima. § 16. Colonies planted at Placentia and Cremona. § 1*7. Revolt of Demetrius of Pharos, easily sub- dued by ^milius Paulus. § 18. Hamilcar's operations in Spain: Hanni- bal's oath. § 1. The first Punic War lasted three-and-twenty-years ; and the interval between the end of this war and the beginning of the next was of nearly the same duration. In the course of this period '(from 240 to 218 b.c.) both Rome and Carthage, notwithstanding their exhausted condition, were involved in perilous wars. In the next three years Carthage was brought to the very brink of de- struction by a general mutiny of her mercenary troops. This Mer- cenary War arose in the following manner. As soon as peace was concluded, it was necessary for Carthage Chap. XTX. THE MERCENARY WAR. 283 to withdraw all her troops from Sicily, and pay them their arrears. The general who was entrusted with the charge of shipping off these troops, Gisgo, executed his trust with judg- ment and dexterity. He foresaw the danger that might arise, if the whole army, consisting of adventurers without country or law, were landed all at once on the shores of Africa. They might make war on their own account, like the Campanians of Rhe- gium, or the Mamertines of Messana. Gisgo therefore sent home the troops in small detachments, so that each might be paid off and disbanded before the next arrival. But he was ill seconded by the Government at home. The treasury was ex- hausted. No doubt money was to be raised on loans at high interest ; and perhaps the Council imagined that, by delaying payment, they might induce the soldiers to be content with a smaller sum than was their due. They therefore allowed the whole army to collect at Sicca, in the neighbourhood of the capital, before any measures were taken for payment of their arrears. The consequence was the reverse of what was expected. The reckless adventurers who commanded these mercenaries saw the weakness of the Government, and coveted the wealth and luxury of the great city, which seemed now within their grasp. They at once declared that they must have their full arrears of pay ; and presently added that now they would not be content even with this. To enforce these demands they en- camped at Tunis, almost within sight of Carthage. The Govern- ment became frightened, and offered to concede all demands. But with the fears of the Government rose the demands of the soldiers; it soon became clear that the whole army was in open revolt, and their leaders bent on nothing less than conquering their masters. Their Carthaginian officers and commanders were discarded : two desperate and abandoned men gained supreme power over the whole army. These were Spendius, a runaway Campanian slave, who feared to be given up to the Romans; and Matho, a Libyan, who had been too forward in urging the demands of the army to hope for forgiveness from the Carthaginian Government. Led on by these desperadoes, the soldiers gave a full loose to their ferocity ; they seized Gisgo, who had been sent to treat with them, as a hostage ; plundered the country round about ; raised the subject Africans in rebellion; besieged the fortified towns of Utica and Hippo ; and cut off all communication by land with the promontory on which Carthage stands. § 2. In this desperate crisis, the Government turned their eyes on Hamilcar, and charged him with the office of saving his country. He promptly obeyed. The civic force of Carthage 284 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IT. itself must have formed his chief force. By skilful persuasion he induced the Numidian cavalry to desert and join his standard. Thus strengthened, he gave battle to the mutineers twice, and twice defeated them. He showed his policy by sparing all prisoners, and offering free pardon to all that would at once sub- mit. Everything promised a speedy termination of this mutiny, when the Government again spoiled all. Hanno, who headed the most influential party in the Council, was jealous of Hamilcar, and procured his own appointment to a share in the command. The two generals were now continually at variance ; all the plans of Hamilcar were thwarted ; and the rebels again resumed the upper hand ; so much so indeed, that at the end of the second year they got possession of Utica and Hippo, and proceeded to besiege Car- thage herself. § 3. Immediate danger once more made the Government wise, and Hamilcar was again appointed to the sole command. He was enabled to take the field with a better appointed force than before; for Hiero of Syracuse, and the Senate of Rome, both sent supplies to the exhausted Carthaginians, and interdicted all communication with the insurgents. Hamilcar soon succeeded in raising the siege of Carthage, and forced the rebel army to separate into two bodies, respectively commanded by Spendius and Matho. He first pursued Spendius, and reduced him to such extremities, that he surrendered at discretion, with Autaritus, the leader of the Gallic Mercenaries : he then turned his arms against Matho, and compelled this rebel chief to shut himself up in Tunis. § 4. The spirit of the insurgents was now quite broken, and they would fain have given in. But Matho and his ofiicers were fighting with halters round their necks, and whenever any one attempted to persuade peaceful measures, a knot of the more violent cried him down ; and thus, as usually happens in popular commotions, the real wishes of the greater part were drowned in the loud vociferations of a few bold and resolute desperadoes. What made the task of these men easier, was that the army was composed of a great many dift'erent nations; and the soldiers not being able to understand one another, could not so readily combine against their leaders. Almost the only word which was understood by all, was the terrible cry of " Stone him, stone him !"* which was raised by the leading insurgents, whenever any one rose to advocate peace, and was re-echoed by the mass in ignorance or fear. But Matho still feared the influence of Hamilcar over the troops, and he resolved to commit acts which would compromise himself and his followers still more * j3aAe /3aXe.— Polyb., i. 69 and 80. OriAP. XXX. THE MERCENARY WAR. 285 irrevocably. He took Gisgo, who had hitherto been kept as a hostage, with seven hundred other prisoners, cut off their hands and ears, broke their legs, threw them, yet living, into a pit, and declared that he would treat all other prisoners in the same barbarous fashion. Hamilcar, who had hitherto used all gentle- ness, was by this brutal conduct driven to retaliation : he crucified Spendius, and threw his other prisoners to wild beasts. But this frightful state of things did not last much longer. The insurgents in Tunis were now reduced to the last extremi- ties of famine, and at length Matho was obliged to lead out his men to battle. He was utterly defeated, taken prisoner and put to death. The death of Matho terminated this terrible war, which had lasted more than three years and four months, and at one time threatened the very existence of Carthage. It was known by the name of the War Without Truce, or the Inexpiable War.* § 5. The forbearance shown by the Romans to Carthage during this fearful war makes their conduct at its close very surprising. For now they were guilty of an act which was not only unjust, but dishonourable. The mercenary troops in Sardinia had mutinied after the example of their brethren, had slain Bostar, their Carthaginian commandant, and had taken possession of the island. After the close of the war in Africa these insurgents, fearing that their turn was come, put them- selves under Roman protection ; and their prayer for aid, like that of the Mamertines, was granted. The Senate had the effrontery not only to demand the cession of Sardinia and Cor- sica, but also the payment of a further sum of 1,200 talents. The Carthaginians were too weak to refuse ; not even Hamilcar could have counselled them to do so. But this ungenerous conduct sank deep into many hearts, and strengthened Hamil- car's grim resolve, to take full vengeance on the grasping Italian Republic. § 6. In order to execute this resolve, it was necessary for him to obtain an independent authority, so as to form armies and carry on campaigns, without being fettered by the orders of the narrow-minded government. And now seemed the time to obtain this authority. Hanno and the leading members of the council had long been jealous of the family of Barca,t of which Hamilcar was the chief. Hamilcar's fame and popularity was now so high, that it was possible he might form a party and overthrow the usurped power of the council. It was therefore * TToXe/j-og uaTTOvSnc. — Polyb. i. 65. f Barca, or Barka, is the same word as the Hebrew Barak, which meani lightning. 286 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV, with pleasure that they received his proposal to go to Spain and reduce that country under the Carthaginian power. Carthage already had settlements in the south of Spain, and the old trad- ing city of Gades was in alliance with her. But the rest of the country was peopled by wild and savage tribes, who could not be conquered in a day. No doubt the government of Carthage saw the departure of Hamilcar for Spain with as much inward satisfaction as the French Directory in 179Y witnessed the departure of Napoleon for Egypt. If he succeeded, he would at least be far distant, and long absent; if he failed, they would be rid of one whom they feared and hated. Before we trace the consequences of this extension of Carthaginian power in Spain, the affairs of Rome and Italy claim our attention. § 7. During the Mercenary War in Africa, the Romans had remained at peace, except to quell an insignificant revolt of the Faliscans, which was put down in less than a week. The northern frontier of Roman Italy was slightly troubled by incursions on the part of Gauls and Ligurians ; and in more than one year a triumph is recorded over Sardinians and Corsicans, the new provinces so iniquitously wrung from Carthage. But so pro- found was the general tranquillity in the year 235 b.c, that the temple of Jarius was closed by the Consul Manlius Torquatus, for the first time (say the annals) since the time of Numa. The people of Italy seem to have been little disturbed during the late war. Several Colonies had been founded in its course, of which one was Brundusium. In the last year of the war, the lower Sabine country was formed into two Tribes, the Veline and the Quirine. Thus the number of thirty-five was completed, and no addition was hereafter made to the Roman territory. § 8. This tranquillity was of no long duration. The success of their arms in Sicily, and their newly acquired maritime power, encouraged the Romans to cross the Adriatic not so much for the purpose of advancing their own dominion as to render a service to all who frequented these seas for the purposes of traflSc. The far side of the Adriatic consists of a narrow ledge of coast-land flanked by parallel mountain-chains. Many islands appear off the shore, and several large creeks or bays afford safe anchorage for ships. These natural advantages made the Illyrians of the coast skilful seamen. Their light barks (lembi)* * The lUyrian seamen long continued the use of these light vessels. The Liburnian galleys used by Augustus at Actium were from these coaeta. Therefore Horace (Epod. i. 1) says to Maecenas, " Ibis Liburnis inter alta navium, Amice, propugnacula," Chap. XXX. ILLYRIAN PIRATES. 28Y issued from behind the islands or out of the creeks, and practised piracy on their neighbours. The lower part of this Illyrian district had been reduced by Philip of Macedon, but on the confusion which followed the death of Alexander, the people had become independent. The main stronghold of this lower Illyria seems to have been Scodra (Scutari), and a chief named Agron had established a supremacy for his tribe over all his neighbours as far as the Ceraunian mountains. He died in 231 B.C., and his wife Teuta, a woman of bold and masculine spirit, became chief of this piratical race during the infancy of Agron's son Pinnes. She pursued her husband's designs, and in 230 b.c. had made herself supreme over all the islands except Issa, which she blockaded in person in that year. The Senate had not hitherto found leisure to attend to the many complaints which reached them of the assaults committed by these pirates. But in the year just named, they resolved to take measures for checking their marauding expeditions, and sent C. and L. Coruncanius as Envoys to remonstrate with Teuta. They found her, it seems, at Issa. But Teuta was little disposed to listen to them. " It was not," she said, " customary for the Chiefs of Illyria to prevent their subjects from making use of the sea." The younger Coruncanius, indignant at this avowal of national piracy, replied that "if such were the institutions of the Illyrians, the Romans would lose no time in helping her to mend them." Exasperated by the sarcasm, Teuta ordered the Envoys to be pursued and the younger one to be put to death. Upon receiving news of this violent act, the Romans at once declared war against the Illyrians. § 9. After the surrender of Issa, the Illyrian Queen had pur- sued her success by the capture not only of Dyrrhachium, but also of Corcyra ; and Demetrius, a clever and unscrupulous Greek of Pharos (a place on the coast of Upper Illyria), who had been the chief counsellor of Teuta in her late enterprises, was made Governor of this famous island. Upon this, the Epirotes sent Ambassadors to crave protection from Rome ; and the Senate, already preparing for war, gladly took advantage of this opening. Early in the next spring both Consuls appeared at Corcyra with a powerful fleet and army. Demetrius quickly discerned to which side fortune would incline, and without hesitation took his course. He surrendered Corcyra to the Romans without a blow. This treachery seems to have paralysed Teuta's spirit ; and the information given by Demetrius enabled the Roman commanders to overpower her forces with little trouble. Teuta was obliged to surrender the greater part of her dominions to the traitor Demetrius, who now became 288 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IT Chief of Corcyra and southern Illyria, under the protection of Rome. The Illyrians were not to appear south of Lissus with more than two barks at a time. § 10. The suppression of Illyrian piracy was even more advan- tageous to the commerce of Greece than that of Rome. The leading men of the Senate began, even at this time, to show a strong disposition to win the good opinion of the Greeks, who, degenerate as they were, were still held to be the centre of civili- sation and the dispensers of fame. Postumius the Consul, therefore, sent envoys to various Greek states to explain the appearance of a Roman force in those quarters. They were received with high distinction. The Athenians and Corinthians, especially, paid honour to Rome ; and the latter people recog- nised her Greek descent by voting that her citizens should be admitted to the Isthmian games (228 b.c). § 11. This short but decisive war was scarcely ended, when Rome saw a conflict impending, which filled them with more alarm than was warranted by the event. It will be remembered that just before the war with Pyrrhus, the Senonian Gauls had been extirpated, and the Boians defeated with great slaughter in two battles near the lake Vadimo in Etruria (283 b.c.)* From that time, some sixty years before, the Gauls had remained quiet within their own boundaries. But in 292 e.g., the Tribune C. Flaminius, a man who will hereafter claim more special notice, proposed to distribute all the public lands held by Rome on the Picenian and Umbrian coasts to a number of poor citizens ; a law which was put into effect four years afterwards. When the Colonies of Sena Gallica and Ariminum had been planted on that same coast, the Boians were too much weakened by their late defeats to offer any opposition. But in two generations their strength was re- cruited, and they were encouraged to rise against Rome by the promised support of the Insubrians, a powerful tribe who occupied the Transpadane district about Milan. The arrival of large bodies of Gauls from beyond the Alps f completed their determination, and increased the terror which the recollections of the Alia still wrought upon the Roman mind. * See Chapt. xxv. §§ 13 and 14. f They were called Gaesatae, which Polybius (ii. 22, 1) explains as mei'ce- naries. But it is hardly possible to avoid connecting the name with gaesa, the Gallic javehns mentioned by Yirgil and others : -" duo quisque Alpina coruscant Gaesa manu." — Aen. viii. 661. They are represented as very lightly clad, wearing tartan plaids (sagula virgata) and trews (braccae). Hence Transalpine Gaul was called Gallia Braccaia, while the Romanised Cisalpine province was Gallia Togata. OiiAi*. XXX. GREAT GALLIC WAR. 289 § 12. Reports exaggerated these movements, and the Romans made larger preparation for this Gallic war than they had made against Pyrrhus or the Carthaginians. It is said that in the year 225 b.c. the men returned fit for active service in the Roman Tribes and among the various Italian Allies amounted to nearly 800,000 ; but the forces called out for service were only a small portion of this vast national militia. A consular army amounting to about 25,000 foot and 1500 horse was sent under ^milius to Arminium, while a Praetor with an army of similar amount pushed forward to Faesulse on the Arno. The other Consul, Atilius, who had been despatched early in the year to Sardinia, was ordered to join the Praetor in Northern Etruria without delay. A reserve force of large amount was ready near Rome. These active preparations were seconded by superstitious rites. The Sybilline books were consulted, and in them it was found written that the soil of Rome must be twice occupied by a foreign foe. To fulfil this prediction, the Government ordered a Gaulish man and woman, together with a Greek woman, to be buried alive in the Forum. By this barbarous folly it waf hoped the alarm of the people might be calmed, and the omen averted. § 13. The campaign opened in Northern Etruria. The Gauls crossed the Apennines into the vale of the Arno and fell suddenly upon the Praetor stationed at Faesulae. Him they overpowered, and defeated with great slaughter. The Consul ^milius now, with great promptitude, crossed the Umbrian hills into Etruria ; and on his approach the Gauls retired north- wards along the coast, wishing to secure their booty ; while ^milius hung upon their rear, without venturing to engage in a general action. But when the Gauls came near Pisa, they found that the Consul Atilius had landed there from Sardinia; and thus hemmed in by two consular armies, they were obliged to give battle at a place called Telamon. The conflict was desperate ; but the Romans were better armed and better disci- plined than of old, while th6 Gauls had remained stationary. Their large heavy broad-swords, forged of ill-tempered iron, bent at the first blow, and while they stooped to straighten them with the foot, they were fully exposed to the thrust of the short Roman sword. The victory of Telamon was as signal as that of Sentinum or that of the Lake Vadimo. ^milius pursued the flying host across the mountains, and brought hbme a large booty from the Boian lands to grace the triumph. § 14. The Consuls of the next year (224 b.c.) again invaded tho Boian country, and received the complete submission of all 13 290 ROME AND CARTHAGe:. Book lY. the tribes on the left bank of the Po. They were prevented from pursuing their successes by a pestilence in their army. But in the following year C. Flaminius, who was the reputed cause of the war, was Consul with P. Furius, and these Consuls pushed across the Po, with the resolution of punishing the Insubrians (Milanese) for the part they had taken in the invasion ot Etruria. The place at which they crossed the great river was somewhere above Mantua ; and here they formed a league with the Cenomanni, who were at deadly feud with the Insubrians. Assisted by these auxiliaries, they moved westward across the Adda, which was the boundary of the Insubrian district. Fla- minius now appears to have had the chief command. Despatches arriveJ from the Senate addressed to him, forbidding him to invade the Insubrian country. But suspecting their contents, he laid them aside unopened, and at once gave battle to the enemy, who had advanced to drive him into the Adda. The Romans, however, beat them back triumphantly ; and then Flaminius, opening the despatches, laughed at the caution of the Senate.* § 15. The war was brought to an end in the fourth campaign. During the winter the Insubrians sued for peace ; but the new Consuls, Cn. Cornelius Scipio and M. Claudius Marcellus — after- wards so celebrated — persuaded the Senate to reject the appli- cation. The Consuls both marched north, and entered the Insu- brian territory. But Marcellus hearing that Viridomarus, the Insubrian chief, had crossed the Po to ravage the country lately occupied by the Romans, left his colleague to reduce the prin- cipal towns of the Insubrians, while he pursued the chief with his army. He came up with him near . Clastidium, and attacked him with his cavalry alone. A smart action ensued, in which Marcellus encountered Viridomarus, and slew hifti with his own hand ; and the Gauls fled in disorder. Thus were won the third and last Spolia Opima. Meanwhile Scipio had taken Mediolanum (Milan), the chief city of the Insubrian Gauls, and the war was concluded (b.c. 221). § 16. Soon after this, it was resolved, probably at the instance of Flaminius, to plant two colonies, Cremona and Placentia, on opposite sides of the Po, so as to secure the territory lately won in the Boian and Insubrian territories. But the execution of this project did not take place till three years later, when Hannibal was on his march. Probably the same interruption prevented the large tract of country which had been conquered on the Po * If we believe Polybius (ii. 23), the victory was due to the military skiD of the legionary tribunes. Flaminius is strongly censured for the reckless way in which he aceepted battle, without providing for retreat in case of defeat. Chap. XXX. HAMILCAR IN SPAIN. 291 from being at once formed into a Province. A few years after- wards we hear it spoken of under the name of the province of Ariminum ;* but when this Province was constituted we are not informed. Communication was secured between Rome and Ariminum by a road constructed in the Censorship of Flaminius, which bore his name (220 B.C.). § 17. During this great disturbance in Italy, Demetrius of Pharos proved as false to his new patrons as he had been to Teuta. Relying on the promised support of the king of Macedon, he assumed the air of an independent chief, and encouraged his subjects in the piratical practices, which he had been placed at Corcyra to prevent. In 219 B.C. L. ^milius Paullus, the Patrician Consul, received orders from the Senate to put a stop to these proceedings. In one short campaign he reduced Corcyra, took Pharos, and forced Demetrius to take refuge at the court of his new patron, Philip king of Macedon, where we shall find him at a later time active in promoting hos- tilities against Rome. Perhaps Illyria, as well as Gaul, might then have been occupied as a Province, but for the sudden events that checked the progress of the Roman arms. Left to itself, it again fell into the hands of native chiefs. The Romans, however, kept possession of the island of Corcyra, together with the strong towns of Oricum and Apollonia, with a small surrounding district, — positions which were of great service to them afterwards in the Macedonian wars. § 18. Thus triumphant on all sides and on all sides apparently secure, the Roman government had no presentiment of the storm that had long been gathering in the West. We must now return to the time at which Hamilcar, as has been related,f was preparing to cross over into Spain. He crossed the straits of Gibraltar in 235 b.c. With him went his son-in-law Hasdrubal, and his son Hannibal, then a boy of nine years old, but even then giving promise of those qualities which afterwards made him the terror of Rome. Hamilcar had not intended to take him to Spain ; but the boy pleaded so earnestly, that the father yielded on condition that he should «wear eternal enmity to Rome and the Romans. Hannibal him- self, in his old age, told the tale to Antiochus, king of Syria, how that he was led to the altar of his country's gods, and took this direful oath.J; How well he kept it the sequel will prove. Nothing can more strongly show the feelings with which Hamil- car left his country. He went not as the servant of Carthage, * In the year 205 B.c. See Liv. xxviii. 38 : '' Ariminum, — ita Galliam appeUabant." t Above, § 6. X I'olyb., iu. 12. ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. but as the enemy of Rome, with feelings of personal hostility, not to be appeased save by the degradation of his antagonist. His first object was to conquer Spain, and thus put Carthage in possession of a province which might itself become a great kingdom, and was worth many Sicilies and Sardinias. One of the chief advantages he proposed to himself in this conquest was the unlimited supply of hardy soldiers, which would be given by the possession of Spain. But he was well aware that for this purpose conquest was not sufficient ; he must enlist the feelings of the Spaniards in his cause ; he must teach them to look up to himself and his family as their friends and bene- factors. Accordingly he married a Spanish lady of Castulo ; he lived among the natives like one of themselves ; he taught them to work their rich silver mines ; and in all ways opened out the resources of the country under his sway. Meanwhile he col- lected and disciplined an excellent army, with which he reduced many of the ruder tribes to the northward of the modern Anda- lusia and Murcia. Thus he reigned (this is the best word to express his power) with vigour and wisdom for eight years ; and in the ninth he fell in battle, admired and regretted by rll southern Spain. His forecast and sagacity, combined with grcai activity, resolution, and knowledge of men, gave him all the qualities of a great general and a great sovereign. It is a remark of Aristotle's that men of brilliant abilities seldom leave those abilities as an inheritance. In the times of which we write, Hamilcar and Hannibal, as Philip of Macedon and Alexander before them, afford remarkable exceptions to this rule. § 19. Hannibal was yet only in his eighteenth year, too young to take up the work which Hamilcar had left unfinished. But Hasdrubal, the son-in-law of the great commander, proved his worthy successor. He at once assumed supreme authority. By the gentler arts of conciliation he won over a great number of tribes ; and in order to give a capital to this new realm, he founded the city of New Carthage, now Carthagena, on the coast of Murcia. The successes of Hamilcar had at length attracted the notice of the Roman Senate ; and in the year 22*7 b.c, the first of Hasdrubal's command, they concluded a league with the latter general, whereby the river Ebro was fixed as the northern boundary of the Carthaginian empire in Spain. Hasdrubal fell by the knife of an assassin in the year 221 b.c, the seventh of his command. § 20. Hannibal was now in his twenty-fourth year. He was at once elected by the acclamations of the army to stand in his great father's place. Nor did the government venture to brave the anger of a young general at the head of an army devoted to Chap. XXX. HANNIBAL IN SPAIN. 293 his cause. Hannibal remained as ruler of Carthaginian Spain. The office was becoming hereditary in his family. He set himself to realise his father's designs. Hamilcar had enlarged the Carthaginian rule in Spain from a few trading settlements to a great province. Hasdrubal had car- ried the limits of this province as far as the Sierra of Toledo. Hannibal immediately crossed this > range into the valley of the Tagas, and reduced the Celtiberian tribes which then occupied Castille. He even passed the Castilian mountains which form the upper edge of the basin of the Tagus, and made the name of Car- thage feared among the Vaccseans in the valley of the Douro, by taking their chief town Helmantice (Salamanca). At the close of the year 220 b.c, all Spain south of the Ebro and Douro was in subjection to Carthage, or in alliance with her. The great quali- ties of the three men through whom they knew her made them not unwilling vassals. § 21. But there was one city south of the Ebro which still maintained independence. This was Saguntum, an ancient colony from the Greek island of Zacynthos. Its site on the coast of modern Valencia is marked by the present town of Murviedro (Mari Veteres), rather more than half-way between New Car- thage and the mouth of the Ebro. Saguntum, like Massilia, had been for some time in alliance with Rome ; and therefore, though it was on the Carthaginian side of the Ebro, was by Roman cus- tom entitled to support. In the year 219 b.c. this city was at war with a neighbouring tribe, and Hannibal eagerly accepted an invitation to destroy the ally of his enemy. He surrounded Saguntum with a large army. The siege began ; but the people held out for eight months against all his assaults with that heroic obstinacy which seems to distinguish all dwellers on Spanish ground, when engaged in defensive warfare. In many respects, the siege of Saguntum brings that of Saragossa to mind. The booty obtained by the conqueror was of great use in fitting out his army for the next year's campaign. § 22. While the siege yet lasted, the Roman Senate had sent envoys to Hannibal, requiring him to desist from attacking their ally. He replied coldly, that "he could not answer for their safety in his camp ; they had better seek redress at Carthage." They went on their way : but meantime the news of the fall of Saguntum reached Rome, and an embassy was sent to Carthage to demand that Hannibal, the author of the mischief, should be given up. There was a large party, that of Hanno and the government, which would probably have complied with their de- mand. But the memory of Rome's dishonourable conduct at the close of the Mercenary War dwelt in many hearts ; and the 294 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IY. government did not dare to oppose the general feeling. Nor in- deed were they themselves altogether averse from such a war as Hannibal proposed to wage against Rome ; they might expect the brunt of it to be borne by him and his Spaniards : at all events it would remove the young ambition of the general far from home, and might end by ruining him altogether. They replied that "Saguntum was not mentioned in the treaty of Hasdrubal ; but even if it were, that treaty had never been rati- fied by the government, and therefore was of no authority." Then Q. Fabius Buteo, the chief of the Roman Envoys, doubling his toga in his hand, held it up and said : " In this fold I carry peace and war : choose ye which ye will have." " Give us which you will," replied the SuflPet. " Then take war," said the Roman, letting his toga fall loose. " We accept the gift," cried the Senators of Car- thage, " and welcome." Thus was war formally declared against Rome. But before we pass on to the narrative of this war, it will be well to form some idea of the extraordinary man who, by his sole genius, undertook and supported it with success for so many years. § 23. Hannibal was now in his twenty-eighth year, nearly of the same age at which Napoleon Bonaparte led the army of the French Republic into Italy. And when we have named Napo- leon, we have named, perhaps, the only man, ancient or modern, who can claim to be superior, or even equal, to Hannibal as a general. Bred in the camp, he possessed every quality necessary to gain the confidence of his men. His personal strength and activity were such, that he could handle their arms and perform their exercises, on foot or on horsebeck, more skilfully than themselves. His endurance of heat and cold, of fatigue and hunger, excelled that of the hardiest soldier in the camp. He never required others to do what he could not and would not do himself. To these bodily powers he added an address as winning as that of Hasdrubal his brother-in-law, talents for command fully as great as those of his father Hamilcar. His frank manners and genial temper endeared him to the soldiery. His strong will swayed them like one man. The difterent nations who made up his motley arms — Africans and Spaniards, Gauls and Ital- ians — looked upon him each as their own chief. Polybius twice remarks, that amid the hardships which his mixed army underwent for sixteen years in a foreign land, there never was a mutiny in his camp.* The admirable versatility of the man was seconded by qualities required to make the general. His quick perception and great sagacity led him to marvellously * xi. 19: xxiv. 9. Chap. XXX. HANNIBAL. 295 correct judgment of future events and distant countries, — which in those days,, when travellers were few and countries unknown, must have been a task of extraordinary difficulty. He formed his plans after patient inquiry, and kept them profoundly secret till it was necessary to make them known. But with this caution in design- ing was united marvellous promptness in execution. "He was never deceived himself," says Poly bins, " but never failed to take advantage of the errors of his opponent."* Nor was he a mere soldier. In leisure hours he delighted to converse with Greeks on topics of intellectual cultivation. And we shall see hereafter that, as a statesman, he displayed ability hardly inferior to that which he had displayed as a general. Against these great qualities, he was traditionally reported to have been cruel even to ferocity, and treacherous beyond the common measure of his country .f But even if we believe the bad faith of Carthage to have been greater than that which Rome showed towards foreigners, yet we hear of no single occa- sion on which Hannibal broke faith with Rome. With regard to his cruelty, there can be no doubt that he was indifferent to human life when success could be gained by its sacrifice; and on several occasions we shall find him, under the influence of passion, treating his prisoners with great barbarity. But though he had been trained to consider the Romans as his natural enemies, to be hunted down like wolves, we shall find that he forgot not to treat worthy foemen, such as Marcellus, with the magnanimity of a noble nature. And after all, it is somewhat out of place to expect refined humanity from a leader of mercenaries, who had lived from his earliest boyhood in the midst of war. But whatever might be the ability, whatever the hardihood of the young general, he required it all for the enterprise he had now in hand. To penetrate from the Ebro to the Po, with chains of giant mountains to bar his progress, through countries partly bar- barous and for the most part hostile, without roads, or inaps, or accurate knowledge of his route, without certain provision for the food and clothing of his army, without the hearty concurrence of his own Government, — was an undertaking from which the boldest might shrink ; and to have accomplished this march with tri- umphant success would alone justify the homage which is still paid to the genius of Hannibal. * X. 33, 2. f " Has tantas viri virtutes ingentia vitia aequabant : inhumana crudelitas, perfidia plusquam Punica." — Li v. xxi. 4. Lake Trasimene. CHAPTER XXXI SECOND PUNIC war: FIRST PERIOD (218 216 B.C.). § 1. The "War divided into Four Periods. § 2. Hannibal's preparations and forces. § 3. His march to the Rhone. § 4. Preparations of the Romans : Sempronius sent to Sicily, Scipio touches at Massilia. § 5. Passage of the Rhone. § 6. Scipio sends his brother into Spain, and himself returns to Italy. § 1. Hannibal marches up the Rhone to the Isere. § 8. Begins the passage of the Alps. § 9. Surmounts the Pass and reaches Italy. § 10. His great losses: takes Turin. § 11. Cavalry skirmish of the Ticinus. § 12. Retreat of Scipio: position of the two armies on the Trebia. § 13. Battle of the Trebia. § 14. Preparations for second cam- paign : position of Flaminius. § 1 5. Hannibal's march through Etruria. § 16. Battle of Lake Trasimene. § 17. Dismay at Rome: measures taken by the Senate. § 18. Course taken by Hannibal. § 19. Policy of Fabius: escape of Hannibal from Campania. §20. Discontent at Rome : Minucius. § 21. Review: Yarro and PauUus Consuls for next year. § 22. Position of the two armies near Canusium. § 23. Varro resolves to give battle. § 24. Preparations for the battle of Cannae. § 25. Battle of Cannae. § 26. Feelings at Rome. % 21. Reasons for Hannibal not advancing to Rome: Embassy, § 28. Firmness of the Senate. § 29. Hannibal enters Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD I. 297 Capua. § 30. Revolt of all Southern Italy, except Colonies and Free. Towns. § 31, Embassy of Hannibal to Carthage. § 32. The Scipios in Spain. § 33. Prospects of Hannibal. § 34. Senate filled up : economical measures. § 35. Philip of Macedon : Oppian Law. § 1. The war which began with the invasion of Italy by Han- nibal lasted for seventeen years. Its changing scenes and for- 'tunes will be made more clear by separating it into Periods, as was done with the First Punic War. These Periods shall be Four. The First comprehends the victorious career of Hannibal, from the Passage of the Alps in 218 e.g., to his winter-quarters at Capua in 216-15. Each year is marked by a great battle — Trebia, Tra- . :mene, Cannge. The Second is of Five Years, in which the Romans, by caution and wariness, avoid signal defeats, and succeed in recovering Capua while they lose Tarentum (215-211 e.g.). The Third, of Four Years, in which Hannibal, left without sup- port from home, is obliged more and more to confine himself to the mountain regions of Calabria, relying on the succours to be brought him from Spain by his brother Hasdrubal. It ends with the disastrous Battle of the Metaurus, which destroyed his hopes (211-207 B.C.). The Fourth, of Four Years, in which Hannibal stands at bay in the extremity of Italy, while the main scene of the war shifts to Spain, Sicily, and Africa. It terminates with the great battle of Zama, and the peace which followed (206-202 e.g.). But during the former periods of the great war, the Roman arms were also engaged in Spain, in Sicily, and in Epirus. From the very beginning of the war they maintained the conflict in Spain. After 215 e.g. they were obliged to besiege Syracuse and reconquer Sicily, as well as Sardinia. In 212 e.g. they declared war against Philip of Macedon, in order to prevent him from send- ing aid to Hannibal in Italy. Fitting opportunities will occur to ■^peak of the first two wars ; but the Macedonian War will be con- veniently deferred to the next Book. § 2. The winter of 219 was passed by Hannibal in active preparations for his great enterprise. His soldiers received leave of absence, with orders to be present at New Carthage at the very beginning of next spring. He sent envoys into the south of Gaul and north of Italy, along his intended line of march, with instructions to inform the Celts on both sides of the Alps of his expedition, — to win the Transalpine Gauls with hopes of the plunder of Italy, to rouse the Cisalpines by promises of de- livery from the Roman yoke. These envoys returned early in 13* 298 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. the year 218 with favourable accounts of the disposition of the Gallic tribes : the Passage of the Alps they reported to be diffi- cult and dangerous, but not impracticable. Thus assured, Hannibal reviewed his troops at New Carthage. The army of invasion amounted to 90,000 foot and 12,000 horse, with some fifty elephants.* The infantry were mostly Spanish, the veteran soldiers of Hamilcar and Hasdrubal, recruited by new levies of his own. The Spaniards, however, were kept in balance by a large body of Libyan mercenaries, drawn over from Africa in exchange for about 15,000 Spaniards, whom he placed at the dis- posal of the Home Government. The light infantry, slingers and archers, were from the Balearic Isles. Of the cavalry, the heavy troopers were Spanish, while the light horse were furnished by Numidia ; and the whole of this arm was placed under the com- mand of the fiery Maharbal. Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, was left at New Carthage, to rule the lately-conquered province of Spain, and to raise an army of reserve for the Italian war. Mago, his youngest brother, accompanied the general. § 3. Having left New Carthage about the end of May, he marched with no interruption to the Ebro ; but as soon as he had crossed that river, the whole country up to the Pyrenees was hos- tile. By great rapidity of movement, though with the loss of many men, he reduced all the tribes to submission in a few weeks ; and leaving an officer in charge of this newly-acquired district, with 11,000 men, he pushed forward to the Pyrenees. Here his Spanish soldiers first discovered that they were to leave their own country for strange and unknown lands ; discontent appeared in the camp ; 3,000 Carpetanians, a tribe which had not been long conquered, seized their arms and set ofi" homewards. Upon this, Hannibal, with prudent frankness, called the troops together, told them his whole design, and gave all who were unwilling to go on free leave to return. Nearly 8,000 more availed themselves of this permission. He passed round the eastern end of the Pyrenees, where the mountains sink gently towards the sea, and halted his army for a few days at Ruscino (Roussillon). On a review, it appeared that the losses he had sustained, together with the 22,000 men whom he ha(i either left in Catalonia or dismissed, had reduced his foot to 50,000, and his horse to 9,000. With this force he advanced almost unopposed to the banks of the Rhone. § 4. It is now time to inquire what the Romans were doing to meet the coming danger. * Polybius saw at Lacinium in Southern Italy a bronze table left there bj Hannibal on which these numbers were inscribed (iii. 34, 18). Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD I. 2D9 The Senate had not been idle in preparation. But they had acted on the supposition that the Second Punic War would, like the First, be fought on foreign soil. It is almost amusing to con- trast their expectations with the actual result of the year's cam- paign. The Plebeian Consul, Tib. Sempronius Longus, was sent to Lilybseum with a large fleet, and instructed to invade Africa. The other Consul, P. Cornelius Scipio, was ordered to land in Spain and take the field against Hannibal. And it is plain that the Senate thought this service was the least important of the two, because they detained Scipio's army rather than that of Sempro- nius, to quell a rebellion which broke out this summer in Cis- alpine Gaul. This rebellion was caused by the proceeding of the Triumviri, who had been sent to distribute the confiscated lands of the Boians and Insubrians among the settlers in the new colo- nies of Placentia and Cremona.* Just at this time the envoys of Hannibal arrived, and the Gauls rushed to arms. The Triumviri were taken prisoners ; the colonists fled to Mutina (Modena) ; and L. Manlius the Praetor was obliged to retire. It was to repress this outbreak that one of Scipio's legions was sent oft' in all haste : the Consul could not set sail for Spain till he had raised a new legion. It is plain, however, that his movements must still have been very measured. For he was only just leaving Pisa for Spain when he heard that Hannibal had already crossed the Pyrenees. On receiving this news he put in at the allied city of Massilia (Marseilles), and disembarked there, intending to meet Hannibal upon the Rhone. He did not expect him there for some time yet, and therefore he gave his army some days' rest, while he de- spatched a reconnoitring party of 300 picked horse, to move from Marseilles up the left bank of the Rhone, under the trusty guidance of some Massaliots. § 5. But Hannibal had crossed the Rhone while these horsemen were on their way up the river. The point at which he reached it was not far above x\vignon, about fifty miles from the coast.f The river itself is large, and the rapidity of its stream pro- verbial. But, besides these natural difficulties, he found the left bank occupied by a large host of Gauls. Upon this, he imme- diately made preparations for forcing the passage, by seizing all the boats he could, and constructing rafts. After two days spent in this way, he sent Hanno, son of Bomilcar, with a strong detach- ment of cavalry, to cross the river about twenty miles higher up, so that, returning down the other bank, he might come upon the * Above, Chapt. xxx. § 16. f Four days' march. Roquemaure is the place fixed upon by the conjec- ture of several geographical critics. 800 ROME AND CARTHAOE. Book IT. rear of tlie Gauls. On the morning of the third day after his departure, Hanno signalled his arrival to Hannibal by a column of smoke ; and the Carthaginians, who were ready to put off their boats and rafts, immediately pushed into the stream. The Gauls flocked down to the water's edge, brandishing their arms and uttering wild yells of defiance. But while the boats were in mid stream, a cry arose from the rear ; and, looking round, the Barbarians beheld their tents in flames. They hastened back, and were charged by Hanno with his cavalry. Meanwhile, the first divisions of the army landed, and forming under the General's eye, attacked the Gauls in rear ; and for the remainder of the day the Carthaginians lay encamped in the enemy's late quarters. All the army, except the elephants, had eff"ected the passage. It was on this very day that Scipio sent off" his 300 horse from Marseilles. On the next morning (the sixth after his arrival on the Rhone) news reached Hannibal that the Romans had landed. Upon this he instantly despatched a body of 400 Numidian horse to recon- noitre, while he himself spent the day in preparation for bringing over the elephants. At this moment, some Boian and Insubrian chieftains arrived from Italy to inform him of what their people were doing and had done against the Romans, and to describe in glowing colours the richness and beauty of the land which would welcome him after the toils of the Alpine Passage. This news had a great efi'ect upon the army, which was somewhat dis- pirited by the opposition off"ered by the Gauls upon the Rhone. These barbarians, repented, it seemed, of encouraging the march of the Carthaginians, when they found the strangers really among them. The unknown language of all, the swarthy skins and un- couth forms of the Africans, the wild Numidian horse, the mon- strous elephants appalled them ; and the Carthaginians found enemies where they expected friends. The encouraging news from Italy came most opportunely. In the evening the Numidian horse galloped into camp in great disorder, having lost half their number. At some distance a body of cavalry appeared in pursuit, who reined in their horses on coming in view of the Carthaginian camp, and then turned about and rode off" down the river. This was Scipio's reconnoiter- ing party, who had encountered the Numidians and defeated them. § 6. Hannibal, finding the enemy so near at hand, and having no intention to fight them till he reached Italy, sent ofi" the whole of his infantry next morning to march up the left baiik of the Rhone. He himself only stayed till he saw his elephants, now about thirty in number, safely across the stream ; and then, with Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUXIC WAR: PERIOD I. 301 the elephants and cavalry, he followed the main body of his army. Scipio, on his part, so soon as he heard that the Carthaginians had already crossed the Rhone, proceeded by forced marches up the river. But it was three or four days after Hannibal's de- parture that he arrived at the point where the Carthaginians had crossed. It was in vain to pursue the enemy into unknown regions, peopled by barbarous tribes ; and Scipio had the morti- fication to reflect that, if he had marched at once from Mar- seilles, he might have come in time to assist the Gauls in barring Hannibal's passage. Not able to undo the past, he provided wisely for the future. He despatched his brother Cneius to Spain with the fleet and the consular army, deeming it of high importance to cut off communication between Hannibal and that country ; and himself returned to Pisa, to take command of the army of Manlius, which had suppressed the Gallic insurrection. He expected to be in time to meet Hannibal's army shattered and broken by the passage of the Alps, and to gain an easy victory. § 7. Meanwhile, Hannibal continued his march up the Rhone, and crossing the Isere, found himself in the plains of Dauphine, then inhabited by the Allobrogian Gaull. He marched thus far north, about one hundred miles beyond the place where he had crossed the river, at the invitation of a chieftain who was con- tending for the dominion of the tribe with his younger brother. Hannibal's veterans soon put the elder brother in possession; and the grateful chief furnished the army with a quantity of arms and clothing, and entertained them hospitably for some days. He then guided them to the verge of his own dominions, and took his leave. This must have brought them to the point at which the Isere issues from the lower range of the Alps into the plain, some- where near the present fortress of Grenoble. § 8. Up to this point there is little doubt as to the route taken by Hannibal ; but after this all is doubtful. It appears that he first hai to force his way through a pass of the lower mountains just behind Grenoble, from which he emerged into a compara- tively open valley; and here he assaulted a town belonging to the Allobrogian Gauls, who had attempted to bar his way through the above-named pass. Two or three days' march through this valley brought him to the foot of the main Alpine chain. Here he was met by the mountaineers with branches in their hands, in token of peace and friendship, offering to guide him over the pass. Hannibal accepted their offers, only because he thought it dangerous to refuse, and took the precaution to secure his rear by a strong guard. On the third day^ the faithless barbarians 302 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. fell upon his rear, and were only repulsed with great loss both in men and horses. They continued to annoy his line of march by rolling huge stones down the steep sides of the mountain which overhung the path, till Hannibal prevented them from following, by seizing a strong white rock which entirely commands the pass. Here he kept the barbarians at bay till his baggage and cavalry were a day's march in advance ; and then followed, with the ele- phants in rear, for the mountaineers dared not come near these strange and unknown monsters. § 9. In seven days* after he began the ascent did he reach the summit. Hannibal now endeavoured to cheer the fainting hearts of his weary soldiers, by pointing out the descending pathway which led to the plains of Italy. And here he halted two days to rest them and collect the stragglers. It was now near the end of October.f The last year's snow, frozen into ice, lay thick at the top of the pass, and fresh snow now began to fall, which covered the traces of the path. The ascent had been bad, but the descent threatened to be worse. Those who have walked over the main Alps, where they are traversed only by a mule-track, may in some degree imagine the difficulty of conveying an army with its stores and baggage over such a pass, especially at* a season when the days are shortening and the snow constantly falling. Multitudes of men and cattle sank daily, worn out by hunger and fatigue. Their progress was further impeded by finding that in one place the pathway had slipped down or been carried away by an avalanche for a distance of a furlong and a half.J Before this place could be passed it was necessary to make the road good, and in miserable plight the army was compelled to halt for nearly three days.§ In three days more they reached the bottom of the pass, having spent fifteen in the whole passage. § 10. The extent of suff'ering which the army had gone through may be best estimated by considering the losses which it had sustained since the review at Roussillon. Out of 50,000 foot and 9000 horse Hannibal had now remaining only 20,000 of the * Polybius says nine (iii. 53, 9). But this must include the two days' halt at the top of the pass. For the descent occupied at least six days (compare id., iii. 55, 8, with 56, 1); and the whole passage took fifteen days (56, 3). f About the setting of the Pleiades (Polyb., iii. 54, 1). This took place on the 29th October, according to Pliny (xviii. 31); on the 27 th, according to Columella (xi. 2, 77). X Livy's blunder of "mille pedum in altitudinem,^^ where he should have said "in longitudinem," is well known. § The stories of his softening the rocks by fire and vinegar are omitted Polybius says not a word of such matters ; and there is little doubt that they are a romantic addition of the Latin writers. Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR : PERIOD I. 303 former and 6000 of the latter.* A large number of his elephants had perished ; it is only wonderful that so many horse had survived. Hannibal descended among the mountains of the Salassians, and pushed on into the friendly country of the Insubrians (Milanese), vi^here he rested his troops for some time, and pro- cured fresh horses for many of his cavalry. He then rewarded the good services of the Insubrians by lending them his aid against the hostile tribe of the Taurini, whose capital city (Turin) he took by assault.f § 11. It was now December. He was moving down the left bank of the Po, above its junction with the Ticinus, and on the Piedmontese side of that river, when his cavalry came accident- ally in conflict with the Roman horse, commanded by the Consul Scipio himself. Scipio had returned to Pisa. Taking command of the army of the Praetor, he moved slowly through the Gallic country, in order to be ready to encounter Hannibal on his descent from the Alps. He crossed the Po near Pavia, and made a bridge over the Ticinus to secure his retreat ; then crossing the latter river, he began to march up the left bank of the Po, just as Hannibal was coming down it. Both generals were in advance with their cavalry, and came unexpectedly in sight of each other. A smart action followed, in which the Romans had the worst, and the Consul was severely wounded, his life being saved by the devotion of a Ligurian slave, or, as others said, by his son Publius, afterwards the great Africanus, then a youth only seven- teen years old. He fell back upon his main body and recrossed the Ticinus so rapidly that, in breaking up the bridge, he left 600 men behind, who fell into the hands of Hannibal. This was the skirmish of the Ticinus, which proved Hannibal's superiority in cavalry. It had the effect of making the Boian Gauls on the * This also is taken from Hannibal's bronze plate at Lacinium. f From Grenoble on the Isere to Turin, geographers dispute about the route ascribed by Polybius to Hannibal. At one time, General Melville's route was adopted, which carried him over the low range between Grenoble and Montmeillan into the valley of Chambery, up the Isere over the Little St. Bernard, down through the valley of Aosta into the Insubrian country, and so back to Turin. This is confessedly a long round. And li.ter writers prefer carrying him from Montmeillan up the Arc over the Mont Cenis, and straight down by Susa to Turin. Others again follow Livy in taking him from Grenoble up the Romanche into the valley of Bo\irg d'Oisans, and so over the Mont Genevre (Cottian Alp) down to Turin. The controversy will probably last for ever. The data seem insufficient to enable us to form a positive judgment. 304 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. south of the Po declare in his favour. Those who were serving as auxiliaries in the Roman camp deserted ; and the Roman Triumviri, who had been seized early in the spring, were given up to the Carthaginians. § 12. Hannibal, after spending two or three days on the north gide of the Po, crossed somewhere below Placentia ; and Scipio. not finding his position near that town secure, fell back so as to place the Trebia between himself and Hannibal. On the left bank of this river, he fortified a strong camp, with the purpose of awaiting the arrival of his colleague Sempronius, whom the Senate had ordered to hasten from Sicily into the north of Italy. Hannibal followed the Romans and encamped in view of them on the right bank of the Trebia. Here he received off'ers from a Brundusian, who was in charge of the Roman magazine at Clas- tidiura, a town in Scipio's rear, to betray the place ; and it must have been while he was absent in this quarter that Sempronius joined Scipio. Sempronius, not daring to sail across from Sicily to Pisa at that time of year, had sent his army over the Straits of Messana, with orders to rendezvous at Ariminum ; and so expeditious were they that they performed the whole march from Lilybseum to Scipio's camp in forty days. After some days' rest, a foraging party of Hannibal's was attacked with some advantage by the Roman horse, and this slight success made Sempronius eager for a general action. Scipio endeavoured to dissuade him, but in vain ; and being still confined by the consequences of his wound, he was obliged to leave the whole army under the direction of his colleague. Hannibal, for his part, was equally anxious for a battle. The Gauls began to com- plain of the burthen of two armies in their country, and victory was necessary to secure them in his interest. § 13. The Trebia is a mountain stream, which in summer runs babbling over a broad gravelly bed, so shallow that the foot- traveller walks over it unheeding; but in winter, or after heavy rains, it rises to a deep and rapid torrent. It was now nearly the end of December,* and Hannibal resolved that he would not cross the water to attack the Romans, but would make them cross it to attack him. He executed his purpose with great skill. On his left there was a sort of gully, thickly grown with reeds and brushwood, in which he concealed his brother Mago with 1000 foot and as many horse. Then, early in the morning, he sent his Numidian riders across the river, and ordered the whole army to prepare for the cold of the day by rubbing tt'^.mselves with oil and making a hearty meal. As soon TTspl Tzeifiepiva^ Tpona^, Polyb. iii. Y2, 3, Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD i. 305 as Sempronius saw the Numidians cross the water, he sent out his cavalry, about 4000 strong, to meet them, and then drew out his whole army, amounting to about 36,000 men, to support the attack. The Numidians feigned to be beaten and fell back across the river. The Romans pursued, but the water was running breast-high and was deadly cold ; sleet *was falling, which was driven in their faces by the east wind ; and when they reached the other side, they were half frozen with cold and wet, as well as faint with hunger. Their treacherous foes now opened on both sides and displayed Hannibal's infantry in battle-order with the rest of the cavalry and the elephants on either wing. The Roman cavalry, which was also on the wings, was greatly outnumbered and soon put to flight ; but the Legions and Allies kept their ground bravely under all disadvantages till Mago rose from ambush and attacked them in rear. Then the rout became general. A body of 10,000 men, however, cut their way through the Carthaginian lines to Placentia; the rest were driven back with great slaughter to the Trebia, in which many were drowned, but a large number, with the Consul Sempronius himself, recrossed in safet}^ The battle of the Trebia ended Hannibal's first campaign. The two Consuls, with the relics of their armies, soon after con- trived to throw themselves into Placentia and Cremona, and afterwards made good their retreat to Ariminum. Sempronius had sent home a varnished account of the battle, but the fatal truth soon betrayed itself. Two consular armies had been de- feated. Cisalpine Gaul was abandoned to the Carthaginians. § 14. B.C. 217. The Senate made great preparations for the next campaign. Sicily, Sardinia, and Tarentum were garrisoned against the Carthaginian fleets ; the new Consuls were to keep Hannibal out of Roman Italy. The Patrician Consul for the year was Cn. Servilius ; C. Flaminius was the Plebeian. Flaminius, it will be remembered, had held this high office in 223 b.c, and had won a great battle over the Insubrian Gauls, in contempt of the orders of the Senate. As Censor, he still dwells in memory for having made the Flaminian Way, the great high road from Rome through the Sabine country to Ariminum. He had won extraordinary popularity by a sweeping agrarian law to divide the coast lands of Umbria and Picenum among a number of poor citizens. He had incurred the bitterest enmity of the Senate by the warm support he gave to a law of the Tribune Claudius, which prohibited senators from engaging in trade. This was the man elected by popular favour to oppose Han- nibal, brave, as it appears, and generous, but adventurous and reckless. Fearing that the Senate might even yet bar his Con- 306 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IT. sulship by an appeal to the omens, he left the city before the Ides of March,* which was at that time the day for the Consuls to enter upon office. But no such attempt was made. Servi- lius was sent to Ariminura in case Hannibal should come down by the Flaminian Road ; and Flaminius himself took post at Arretium to watch the passes of the Apennines. § 15. As the spring approached, Hannibal was anxious to leave Cisalpine Gaul. His friends the Insubrians and Boians, how- ever much they wished to be relieved from the Roman yoke, did not relish entertaining a large army in winter-quarters. They were proverbially fickle, and so much did Hannibal mistrust them, that, to prevent attempts upon his life, he continually wore disguises, and assumed false hair. Leaving the Roman colonies of Placentia and Cremona unassailed, he passed the Apennines early in the year by an unfrequented route, which brought him down into the neighbourhood of Pistoja and Lucca. From this point eastward he had to march through the Yal d'Arno, which was at that time an unwholesome swamp.f Here his men and horses suffered much ; he himself, being attacked by ophthalmia, lost the sight of one eye, and was obliged to have recourse to the single elephant which survived the cold of the Alps and a winter in the North of Italy. In the neighbourhood of Faesulae he rested his army, now much increased by Gallic recruits, and re- warded his men for their late toils by the plunder of Etruria. Flaminius now found that his dexterous enemy had stolen a march upon him, and Hannibal, on his part, heard with delight the rash and adventurous character of the new Consul. Trust- ing to this, he led his army past Arretium, where Flaminius still ^ lay encamped, and leav- ing Cortona on the left, passed on towards Pe- rusia along the northern side of Lake Trasimene. As soon as Flaminius found that the Cartha- ginian had passed him in this disdainful way, he immediately marched in pursuit. § 16. As the traveller comes upon the north-western corner of Lake Trasimene, the road ascends a low ridge, now called Monte Gualandro, along * From the year 223 to 153 B.C., the Consuls entered ofiBc© on the Ides of March ; after the latter date, on the Calends of January. ■j- See introduction, Sect. 1. § 18. Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR : PERIOD L 307 which runs the boundary line of the Estates of the Church and Tuscany. The broad lake lies to his right and the road descends ii.to a crescent-shaped plain, skirted on the left by hills of some height, while between the road and the lake the ground undulates considerably. After traversing this open space the road passes through the modern village of Passignano, and ascends a hill. This was the ground Hannibal chose for awaiting Flaminius. He placed his Balearians and light troops in ambush round the hills on the left of the narrow plain ; he himself, with his infantry, lay in front somewhere near the village of Passignano, while his cavalry were ensconced in the uneven ground next the lake, ready to close upon the rear of the Romans so soon as they were fairly in the plain. While the Carthaginians were thus disposed, Flaminius was encamping for the night on the Tuscan side of Monte Gualandro. In the morning a thick mist hung over the lake and low lands, so that when the Consul advanced into the plain above described he could see nothing. Hannibal suffered the Roman van-guard, consisting of 6000 men, to advance beyond Passignano before he gave the signal for attack. Hearing the cries of battle behind them, they halted anxiously on the hill which they were then ascending, but could see nothing for the mist. Meantime the Consul, with the main army, was assailed on all sides. Charged in front by the Spanish and African infantry, on his right and rear by the Gauls and cavalry, exposed on his left flank to the ceaseless fire of the slingers and javelin-men, Flaminius and his soldiers did all that brave men could. They fought valiantly and died fighting. Not less than 15,000 Italians fell on that fatal field. Such was the scene disclosed to the soldiers of the van-guard when the mist cleared off. Hannibal now sent Maharbal to pursue this division, which surrendered at discretion. Such of them as were Romans or Latins were all thrown into chains ; the Italian Allies were dismissed without ransom. Thus did Hannibal's plan for the conquest of Rome begin to show itself; he had no hope of sub- duing Rome and Italy with a handful of Spanish and African veterans. These were to be the core of a great army, to be made up of Italians, who (as he hoped) would join his victorious stan- dard, as the Gauls had already done. " He had come," he said, *'into Italy, not to fight against the Italians, but to fight for the liberty of the Italians against Rome." Such was the battle of Lake Trasimene. So hot was the conflict that the combatants did not feel the shock of an earthquake, which overthrew many cities of Italy. § IV. Stragglers escaping from the slaughter soon carried the evil tidings to Rome, and the Praetor, unable to extenuate the 808 HOME AND CARTHAGE. Book IY. loss, came into the Forum, where the people were assembled, and ascending the Rostra uttered the brief but significant words : " We have been defeated in a great battle." Dreadful was the terror, so soon as it was known that the Consul was dead, his army destroyed. The gates were thronged with mothers and children, eagerly questioning the fugitives about the fate of their sons, and fathers, and kinsfolk. Every hour Hannibal was expected at the gates. Three days passed and he came not ; but the news of a fresh disaster came. Cn. Servilius, the other Consul, as soon as he heard of Hannibal's presence in Etruria, resolved to join his colleague immediately, and sent on his horse, 4000 strong, as an earnest of his own arrival. Hannibal, informed of their approach, detached Maharbal with a division of cavalry and some light-armed troops to intercept them. Half of the Romans were cut in pieces, the rest returned in disorder to tell the Consul that he was too late. Amid the terror which prevailed at Rome the Senate alone maintained their calmness. They sate, without adjournment, to receive intelligence and deliberate on measures of safety. It was resolved (an extraordinary measure) to call upon the people to elect a Dictator, the person recommended being Q. Fabius Maximus, a man of known discretion and reputed skill ; M. Minucius Rufus was also elected as his Master of the Horse.* Fabius first called upon the gods to sanction the defence of Rome, consulted the Sibylline books, and advised the Senate to decree a " sacred spring," according to the ancient custom of the Sabines.f A.nd then, collecting the troops that had escaped from the slaugh- ter, and filling up their ranks by a new levy, he sent for the army of Servilius, and thus with four legions and their auxiliary troops he prepared to take the field. § 18. Meanwhile the movements of Hannibal had relieved the Romans of all immediate fear of seeing him at the gates. It seems that he had little hopes of the Etruscans, for he straightway left their country and passed northwards by the Flaminian Road. He presented himself before the colony of Spoletum, but the colonists closed their gates, and he passed upon his way into Picenum, collecting plunder from all the Roman settlements as he went. Here he lay quiet during the heat of summer. As the weather became cooler, he advanced along the coast of the Adriatic into Apulia, still plundering as he went. The soldiers of the Alps revelled in the abundance of Italy : it is said they bathed their horses in wine. But the colonies of Luceria and * Commonly, it will be remembered, the Consul nominated the Dictator at the order of the Senate, and the Dictator chose bis own Master of Horse. f See Chapt xix. § 1. Chap. XtCXL i^ECOND PUNIC WAR : PERIOD L 309 Venusia, as of old, refused entrance to the invader, and Hannibal passed the Apennines again into Lower Samnium, where Bene- ventum, now become a colony, defied him like the rest. § 19. By this time Fabius had taken the field. He had made up his mind not to risk another battle. His plan for conducting the campaign was to move along the heights, so as to keep Han- nibal in view, cutting oft* his supplies, intercepting his commu- nications, and harassing him in all ways without a general action. This was not for Hannibal's interest. He wished to fight another great battle and win another great victory (the things were synonymous with him), in order that the Samnites and other Italians, lately conquered, might venture to rise and join him. It was no doubt with the purpose of provoking Fabius to a battle, or of showing the Italians that the Romans dared not fight him, that Hannibal descended from Beneventum down the Vulturnus into the rich Falernian Plain.* Here dwelt Roman citizens ; this was the garden of Italy : would not the Dictator fight to defend them and their country from the spoiler ? No : Fabius persisted in his cautious policy. He closed all the passes leading from the plain, where Hannibal's soldiers were now luxuriating, and waited his time patiently, thinking he had caught the invader in a trap. But the wily Carthaginian eluded him by a simple stra- tagem. Collecting all the oxen he had seized in this favoured region, he ordered fagots to be tied to their horns ; and as soon as it was night, these fagots being lighted, the animals were driven,»tossing their heads with fright and waving the flames, up the pass which leads from Teanum to AUifse. The troops who guarded this pass fled panic-stricken to the heights of Mount Callicula, and left free passage for the Carthaginian army. When morning broke Hannibal was gone ; he was lying safely encamped near AUifae. From thence he pursued his devastating course through the Pelignian and Frentanian lands, till he again reached Apulia, and there fixed on a strong position near Geronium for his winter-quarters. The place was warm and sunny ; corn and pro- visions were abundant. Fabius, however discomfited by Hannibal's escape from Cam- pania, persisted in earning his name of The Lingerer,] and follow- * This is the simple statement of Polybius (iii. 91). The well-known story in Livy (xxii. 13), that Hannibal told the guides to lead to Casinum on the Latin road, and that they by a mistake took him to Casilinum in Campania, is not noticed by the graver historian. f Cunctator. Every one knows Ennius' line, borrowed by Yirgil — " Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem." Bat every one does not know those which follow — *' Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem ; Erp^^ magisque magisque viri nunc gloria claret" 310 ROME AND CARTHAGE, Book IV. ing Hannibal as before, took post at Larinum, within five or six railes of the enemy's camp. § 20. He was now called to Rome, ostensibly to preside over certain sacred offices, but really to give an account of his conduct. He found the people much discontented. He had been in command of two Consular armies for several months, and had done worse than nothing : he had allowed the lands of the Roman colonists in Apulia and Samnium, the lands of Romaa citizens in Campania, to be wasted and spoiled before his eyes. These discontents were fomented by Minucius, the Master of the Horse, who openly dissented from the tactics of his commander, and declared that were he General-in-Chief he would try the for- tune of another battle. Minucius had been left in command at Larinum, and though charged by the Dictator not to risk an action, he pushed his camp forward within two miles of Han- nibal, and gained some advantages in skirmishing with the Car- thaginian foraging-parties. This raised his self-opinion still higher, and he sent home highly coloured despatches describing his successes. Popular feeling rose to its height, and Terentius Varro became its mouthpiece. This man was a petty merchant by trade, the son of a butcher ; but he had been Praetor the year before, and was now candidate for the Consulship. His elo- quence was great ; and the Senate were obliged to consent to a law which gave Minucius an equal command with the Dictator. Fabius returned to the camp, and quietly gave up half the army to his late subordinate. But he was soon repaid for his modera- tion. Hannibal discovered the rash character of the new com- mander, and drew him out to battle, having previously (according to his wont) concealed a squadron of cavalry in the flank of the field of battle. Minucius fell into the snare, and would have been defeated as utterly as Flaminius at Lake Trasimene, had not the watchful Fabius come up upon his rear, so as to baffle the flank attack of the cavalry. Hannibal drew off his men ; and Minucius, acknowledging Fabius as his deliverer, craved his pardon and re- sumed his post of Master of the Horse. The whole army returned to its old quarters at Larinum. § 21. Thus ended the second campaign, not greatly to the satisfaction of either party. Hannibal had hoped that ere this all Southern Italy would have risen like one man against Rome. He had shown himself her master in the field ; wherever her soldiers had dared to meet his, they had been grievously defeated. He had shown all indulgence for Italian prisoners, though he had put to the sword all Roman and Latin citizens. But not one city had yet opened its gates to receive him. The Gauls of the J^orth were the only people who had joined him since he crossed Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD L 311 the Alps. The Romans, indeed, continued to suffer cruelly, and their ordinary revenues were grievously curtailed. It seems to have baen agreed that a great effort must be made in the ensuino- campaign ; an overpowering force was to be brought ao-ainst Hannibal ; he was to be crushed, if not by skill, by nuinbars. It was so far encouraging that the Allies had as yet remained faithful ; but how long this might last no one could tell. Everything concurred in showing that another battle must be ventured. When the day of electing the Consuls came, out of six candi- dates C. Terentius Varro alone obtained a sufficient number of votes in any tribe to be returned. It is difficult to ascertain the true character of this man. His vigorous eloquence had won the confidence of* the people : but so much is plain, that he was no general, and his election was esteemed a public misfortune by the Senate. Varro himself presided at the election of his colleague, when the Senate, anxious to provide an able general, induced L. ^milius PauUus to offer himself as candidate. Paullus had shown his ability as a general in his former Consulship, when (219 B.C.) he concluded the Illyrian War in a single campaign. But his character for integrity was not spotless, and his manners were cold and haughty. Yet so earnestly did the Senate represent the necessity of the case, that he was returned without opposi- tion. These were the Consuls elected to fight Hannibal. Their four legions were to be added to the four which Fabius had com- manded just before, and which were still in the field. These eight legions were raised to more than their usual complement,* so that the whole army to be commanded by the Consuls must, with the allied force, have amounted to at least 80,000 foot and more than 6000 horse. § 22. B.C. 216. The late Consuls (Atilius had succeeded Fla- minius), now serving as Proconsuls, had moved from Larinum southwards towards Venusia, and had busied themselves with forniing magazines at Canusium and Cannae ; and on the plain near the latter place the camp was formed. Hannibal, as the spring advanced, suffered much from want of corn, for he had exhausted his supplies at Geronium ; and having by this time received recruits from Cisalpine Gaul, he made a rapid move- ment and seized the Roman magazine at Cannse, encamping not far from that place, on the left bank of the Aufidus. The Pro- * The usual complement of a legion at this time was 4000 foot and 200 horse. At need, this was raised to 5000 foot and 300 horse. It must be always remembered that the legions of every Consular army were rather moro tiian doubled by the addition of the Italian Auxiliaries. 312 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. consuls sent home word of this disaster, but received strict ordei*s to continue on the defensive till the Consuls arrived to take the command. Yet it was some time before this took place, certainly not till near the end of July, for the great battle, which is now to be described, was fought on the 2nd of August,* and it was fought soon after the arrival of the Consuls. § 23. The Consuls found the army about two days' marcli from Hannibal ; they immediately moved to his neighbourhood, with the intention of offering battle. But when Paullus observed the open plain on which Hannibal lay, he was desirous to put of! an engagement, and manoeuvre so as to draw the enemy into ground less favourable for the action of cavalry. Varro, however, knowing the anxiety of the people to have the matter brought to a speedy issue, thought otherwise, and now appeared the evil of both Consuls being joined in command of the same army. It was a repetition of the arrangement which had answered so ill in the last years with Fabius and Minucius, with this additional evil, that the Consuls, instead of dividing the army between them, took the command of the whole on alternate days. A plan more expressly calculated to prevent unity of action could not have been devised. But the Consuls were, by the constitution, equal, and Varro was far too confident of success to give way to his more experienced colleague, ^milius felt bitterly the truth of Fabius' parting in- junction : " Remember that you will have to oppose not only Han- nibal, but also Varro." On the first day of his sole command, Varro moved the whole army to the right bank of the Aufidus, between Cannae and the sea, so that the river only separated the Roman camp from that of the Carthaginians. Next day ^milius fortified a smaller camp on the left side of the river, fronting Hannibal, so as to secure the passage of the river, but resolutely declined battle. On the third day, however, when morning broke, the red standard, which was the Roman signal for battle, was seen flying from Varro's tent. The men rejoiced at this ; they were sick of their long inactivity ; they were confident in their numbers, and the resolution of their favourite Varro was highly applauded. § 24. When JEmilius found that a battle must be fought on the plain of Cannae, he did his best to support his colleague. The whole army was drawn up nearly facing south, with the right resting, on the river Aufidus. The Roman cavalry, only 2400 strong, were on this right flank ; the left was covered in like manner by the cavalry of the Allies. JEmilius commanded on the * It is probable, however, that the Roman Calendar was in error, and that the battle was really fought earlier in the year. See Clinton, F. H, iil anno 216. Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD I. 313 right, Varro on the left ; the centre was under the orders of Ser- vilius and Atilius, the Proconsuls. It must be especially observed that the Legionaries and Allied Infantry were not drawn up, as usual, in an open and far-extended line, leaving considerable gaps between each manipulus; but the ranks were made very deep and closed up almost like the Phalanx. It has been above ob- served how serviceable the Phalanx was on plain ground ; and probably the Consuls imagined that by this order they might OxTer a more complete resistance to the formidable cavalry of Hannibal, which might be expected to break itself against these compact masses of infantry. But Hannibal skilfully availed himself of this close array, and formed his line accordingly. He had crossed the river early, as soon as he saw the Romans in motion. The Spanish and Gallic Infantry, which were much inferior in number to the Romans, he drew out in an extended line, equal in length to that of the enemy, but much less deep and massive. This line advanced in a convex form, and at each end he placed his Africans, armed with the spoils of former battles, so as to form two flanking columns of narrow front but great depth. He himself, with his brother Mago, commanded the infantry. On his left flank, next the river, were the heavy cavalry of Spain and Gaul, commanded by an officer named Hasdrubal, not the brother of the General. On the right were the Numidian light horse, under the orders o* Maharbal. Hannibal was in high spirits at the prospect of the battle. He had ascended an eminence to gain a better view of the Roman lines : and as he stood surveying them, surrounded by his oflBcers, one of them, named Gisgo, remarked on "the won- derful numbers" of the enemy. "Ah," said Hannibal, "there is one thing about them more wonderful than their numbers." Gisgo asked what he meant. " Why," replied the General, " in all that vast number there is not one man called Gisgo." This sally raised a laugh ; the gaiety of the General was an earnest of victory. § 25. After some indecisive skirmishing betwen the light troops, the real battle began with a conflict on the river-side between the Roman cavalry and the horse of Hasdrubal. The latter were greatly superior in force, and charged with such effect as to drive the Roman horse across the river. Meantime the Roman legions, and their allied infantry, ad- vanced steadily against Hannibal's centre. The long crescent- shaped line above described was quite unable to withstand the shock. Nor had the General expected it. On the contrary, he bad instructed the centre so to fall back, as to form a coucavo 14 314 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. figure, and then the whole line to retire slowly, in order to draw the Roman masses on between the African flanking columns. This order was obeyed with great precision. The Romans pressed eagerly on the retiring foe ; but as they advanced, the Africans, on either hand, wheeled half-round opposite ways, and attacked the Romans on both flanks. The latter, jammed together, and assailed on both sides, fell into great disorder, very few of their vast army being able to use their weapons. But the Consul ^milius, who had been wounded by a sling, in an early part of the action, and hr/l vainly endeavoured to make the Roman ca- valry keep their ground, contrived to restore some sort of order; and it seemed as if the battle was not lost ; when Hasdrubal fell upon the rear of the legions, and the rout became complete. This able officer, after destroying the Roman cavalry, had led his heavy horse round to the other wing, where he found the Numidians, engaged with the allied cavalry. The latter being borne down by the whole force of Hannibal's cavalry, speedily turned their backs ; and Hasdrubal, leaving Maharbal to pursue them, made that decisive charge upon the rear of the legions, which completed the defeat of the Roman army. Then the battle became a mere massacre. The Romans and Allies, mingled in a disorderly mass, were cut down on all sides. The Consul ^milius fell. Varro, with but seventy horsemen, escaped to Venusia. Other parties of fugitives made good their retreat to Canusium ; some thousands took refuge in the camps. But on the bloody field that evening, there lay dead, at the lowest computation, more than 40,000 Roman foot and 3,000 horse. The loss in the cavalry involved the death of some of the wealthiest and most distinguished men at Rome. With them had fallen one Consul, both the Proconsuls, both the Quaestors, one-and-twenty out of eight-and-forty Tribunes, and not less than eighty Senators. And to add to this, all who had taken refuge in the camp surrendered at discretion next day. Hannibal's loss is variously stated at from six to eight thousand.* § 26. This then was the battle of Cannae. History does not record any defeat more complete, and very few more murderous. The great army levied to conquer Hannibal had been annihilated. * The slaughter in ancient battles was much greater than in modem. At "Waterloo the English loss in killed and wounded was about 15,000, the French more than double. The killed are generally about one-fifth of the whola But in ancient battles we never hear of wounded; for in ancient battles the conflict was hand to hand, and few were left wounded on the field. In these also the lines were generally much closer and deeper, and the attack took place along the whole line instead of on single points ; so that, in case of a defeat, the conquered army was wholly at the mercy of the con- queror. Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD I. 315 The feverish anxiety with which all men at Rome followed the Consuls to the field may be imagined ; those who stayed behind in horrible suspense, flocked to the temples, otfered vows, con- sulted the auguries, raked up omens and prophecies, left no means untried to divine the issue of the coming battle. What must have been the dismay, what the amazement, with which they re- ceived the first uncertain tidings of defeat ! what the despair, what tli3 stupor, which the dreadful reality produced ! Among the fugitives who came in with the tidings, was a Tribune of the Legions, Cn. Lentulus by name. As he rode off the field, he had seen ^milius the Consul sitting on a stone, mortally wounded. He had dismounted and offered him his horse. But the Consul replied, " No, my hours are numbered : go thou to Rome, seek out Q. Fabius, and bid him prepare to defend the city : tell him that vEmilius dies, as he lived, mindful of his precepts and example." To Fabius, indeed, all eyes were now turned. The Senate instantly met ; and at his motion, each Senator was invested with the power of a magistrate : they were to prevent all public lamentations ;* to hinder the people from maeting in the Forum, lest they should pass resolutions in favour of peace ; to keep the gates well guarded, suffering no one to pass in or out without a special order. Every one feared to see the army of Hannibal defiling through the Apennines upon the plain of Latium. § 27. What the Romans feared the Carthaginians desired. " Only send me on," said Maharbal to the General, " with the cavalry, and within five days thou shalt sup in the Capitol." But Hannibal thought otherwise. His army was small : he was totally unprovided with materials for a siege ; Rome was strongly fortified. He felt that the mere appearance of his army before the walls would rather rouse to action than terrify into submission ; and meanwhile the golden time for raising the Samnites and other nations of Italy might be lost. Already was he in negocia- tion with the leading men at Capua, a city second only to Rome in point of size, superior probably in wealth. To this place he resolved to march as soon as his men were rested. When their Allies had deserted, Rome must agree to his terms, without giving him the trouble of a siege. He resolved, however, to try the temper of the Romans, and accordingly sent ten of the chief men among his prisoners, with offers to hold all whom he had taken to ransom. The Senate, on the motion of T. Manlius Torquatus, a man who had inherited * ov6' eld KXaLEtv Ufua/uog fiiyag' oi 61 atUTrrj veKpodc TTvpKaifjc £TT£V)jveov, dxvvjuevoi Krip. — J\. H. 42*7. Si6 ROME AND CARTHAGE!. Book IY. the stern decision of his ancestor, refused to admit the messengers to an audience, and ordered all to return, as they had bound themselves, to Hannibal's camp. One man conceived he had ful- filled his promise, because he had gone back on pretence of hav- ing forgotten something. But the Senate sent him back with his companions. Hannibal was greatly provoked at this almost contemptuous reply to his advances. He immediately sold the greater part of his prisoners into slavery. This was but the com- mon custom of the times. But besides this, he reserved the bravest and noblest youths, in order to fight as gladiators for the amuse- ment of his army ; and on their refusal, he put them to death by torture.* The fact shows, that in moments of passion Hannibal was too justly liable to the accusation of barbarous cruelty. § 28. The Senate were now busily occupied in taking all steps possible for the safety of Rome. The public horror was in- creased by a discovery that two Vestal virgins had been guilty of unchastity. One was, as the law directed, buried alive ; the other put herself to death. To avert the wrath of the gods, Fabius Pictor was sent to consult the Greek oracle at Delphi ; and by the orders of the Sibylline books, a Greek man and woman and a Gaulish man and woman were buried alive in the Forum, according to the same horrid practice used in the last great Gallic War.f But to these superstitious rites were added wiser precautions. Fabius, with the coolness of age and expe- rience, continued to direct their measures. M. Claudius Mar- cellus, one of the Praetors, was at Ostia with some troops for the service of the fleet, and one legion. He was ordered to bring these troops to Rome, while he himself was sent to take the command of the fugitives in Apulia. For by this time despatches had arrived from Varro, stating that he had been joined by about four thousand men at Venusia, and that about the same number had assembled at Canusium under App. Claudius, young P. Scipio (now about nineteen years of age,) and other Tribunes. It was added, that some of the young nobles at Canusium, headed by a Metellus, had formed a plan to fly from Italy and off'er their ser- vices to some foreign prince, despairing of the Republic; that young Scipio had gone instantly to the lodgings of Metellus, and standing over him with a drawn sword, had made him swear that neither would he desert the Republic, nor allow others to do so*, that to support the noble conduct of Scipio, Varro had himself transferred his head-quarters to Canusium, and was using all his ^ffbrts to collect and organise the remains of the defeated army. * This is noticed by Dio Cassius, and others. Comp. Polyb. i. 62. f See Chapt. xxvii. § ] 8. Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD I. Sll On tlie arrival of Marcellus at Canusium, Varro set out to Rome to make a personal report of his conduct. With what feelings he approached the city may be imagined. But as he drew near, the Senate and People went out to meet him, and publicly thanked him, " for that he had not despaired of the Re- public." History presents no nobler spectacle than this. Had he been a Carthaginian general, he would have been cruci- fied. The Dictator ordered levies in Rome and Latium. But the immense losses sustained in the three past years had thinned the ranks of those who were on the military list. From the action on the Ticinus to Cannae, the loss of the Romans and their allies could not have been less than 80,000 men. And therefore, while the regular levies were slowly proceeding, the Dictator pro- posed to buy 8000 slaves from their masters to serve as light troops ; and also to enrol debtors, prisoners, and other persons by law incapable of serving in the Roman Legions. Marcellus had now drawn the eight or ten thousand fugitives from Canusium into Campania, and took his post at Casilinum. All commanders Avere instructed to keep to the defensive system of Fabius, and on no account to risk another battle. § 29. Meanwhile Hannibal had advanced throughi Samnium to Capua, where he found all prepared to receive him. The Senate, who were in the interest of Rome, were dismissed, and the chief power committed to a popular leader, named Pacuvius Calavius. His first act was to seize on all Romans resident in the city and put them to death ; he then made an agreement with Hannibal that no Carthaginian oflScer should exercise authority in Capua, but that all the magistrates, as heretofore, should be of their own choice ; and demanded that 300 Roman prisoners should be put into his hands as hostages for the safety of 300 Capuan knights who were serving in the Roman army in Sicily. Hannibal agreed to all their demands, and entered this great and wealthy city in triumph. One man only, by name Decius Magius, ventured to oppose the measures of Pacuvius. Hannibal treated him with magnanimous clemency, and contented himself with sending him off to Africa. The rest of the Roman party held their peace, and were suffered to remain in Capua. § 30. All Southern Italy had by this time declared in Han- nibal's favour. Most of the Apulians, the Hirpinian and Cau- dinian Samnites, the Surrentines, most of the Lucanians, the Bruttians, and all the Greek cities of the South which were not held by Roman garrisons, welcomed him as their deliverer. It seemed as if he were now about to realise his great project of raising Italy in insurrection against Rome. 318 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. He was obliged to send detachments of his army into these several districts; and he employed what small force he still retained in attempting to gain possession of the cities in the plains of Campania. Nuceria, Acerra, and some others sub- mitted, as Capua had done. But Neapolis and Cumse closed their gates ; and the Senate of Nola, fearing that the people might rise against them, as at Capua, sent for Marcellus to Casilinum. This bold and enterprising officer threw himself into the city, and by a successful sally repulsed Hannibal from the gates. He then seized and executed seventy persons who were suspected of treason, and entrenched himself strongly in a fixed camp near the city. Hannibal being thus repulsed from Nola, determined to invest Casilinum, which from its close proximity to Capua was likely to prove a troublesome neighbour.* The garrison held out obstinately ; but as Marcellus dared not risk an action to relieve them, they were at length obliged to yield to the Carthaginian. This was almost the only town in Italy which he took by a regular siege. § 31. Hannibal now went into winter quarters at Capua, in expectation of receiving succours from home. Soon after the battle he had sent off his brother Mago to carry home the tidings of his great success. For three years he had pursued a career of victory unassisted by the Government : Rome was at his feet : he only wanted force enough to crush her. In proof of the greatness of the victory of Cannae, Mago poured out on the floor of the Senate-house a bushel of gold rings, which had been worn by Roman knights who had fallen on that fatal field. But the jealous Government, headed by a Hanno, the mortal enemy of the Barcine family, listened coldly to Mago's words : they asked " whether one Roman or Latin citizen had joined Hannibal ? He wanted men and money : what more could he want, had he lost the battle instead of winning it ?" At length, however, '.t was agreed that Mago should carry reinforcements to Hannibal. But the war in Spain soon assumed so threatening an aspect, that these succours were diverted to this nearer danger, and Mago was ordered to lead them to the support of his brother Hasdrubal in that country. All that reached Hannibal was a paltry force of 4000 Numidian horse, with about forty elephants, and a stinted supply of money. § 32. Perhaps the General had not expected much from this quarter. No doubt the person to whom he looked for chief sup- port was his brother Hasdrubal in Spain. But here, too, he was * Casilinum is the modern Capua, It lies on the river. The site of the ancient Capua is about two miles eastward, on an eminence. Chap. XXXI. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD L 319 doomed to disappointment. It will be remembered that P. Scipio, the Consul of the year 218, when he returned from Marseilles to Pisa, had sent on his brother Cneius with proconsular command into Spain, according to the original orders of the Senate. The wisdom of this step was fully proved by the event. Cn. Scipio landed at Emporium (Ampurias), an old Greek colony. Within the year he had driven Hanno across the Ebro, and recovered the Roman dominion in Spain. In the next year, the year of Trasi- msne, he defeated Ilasdrubal by sea, ravaged the coast up to the sub- urbs of New Carthage, and made large booty in one of the Balearic Isles. P. Scipio joined his brother towards the close of the same year ; and by the time that the battle of Cannae had made Hanni- bal master of Southen Italy, the two brothers had subdued all Northern Spain. § 33. Hannibal's hopes, therefore, of reinforcements for the next campaign rested with his new Italian allies. The additional cavalry and elephants from Carthage, would still give him the command of the open country. But the Romans had learnt wisdom by sore experience, and Hannibal could not expect to win great vic- tories, such as had marked his first three campaigns. What he wanted was a good engineer corps and siege apparatus, to take the Latin Colonies and other Free Towns, which even in the dis- tricts that had joined him still maintained the cause of Rome. Why he did not employ his winter at Capua in organising a force of this nature we know not. Whether it was that he thought Rome was too much weakened to make head against him, or whether the Italians were jealpus of his authority, and, fearing to make him their master, never provided him with any efficient force, we know not. The clear narrative of Polybius deserts us after the battle of Cannae ; and the history of Livy, beautiful as it is, fails in all that precise information which would account for Hannibal's apparent remissness during the winter. But, whatever was the cause, he was never able to take towns by force ; and the Romans never gave him an opportunity of winning another great battle. Consequently all the Latin Colonies and Free Towns remained faithful to Rome, and Hannibal was only half master even of Southern Italy. § 34. The Romans, for their part, passed the winter in the most active preparations. The first step necessary was to fill up tha numerous vacancies caused in the Senate by the late disastrous bat- tles. It appeared, on calling over the list, that no fewer than one hundred and seventy-seven members were missing. Sp. Carvilius proposed to recruit the ranks of the Senate by admitting the chief citizens of the Latin towns, but this liberal proposal was not list- ened to ; and it was resolved to commit the whole business to the 320 ROME AND CARTHAGK Book FV. care of a Dictator specially appointed for the purpose. The person chosen was M. Fabius Bnteo, the same who had been sent as chief ambassador to Carthage in the year 219 b.c. He was an old man, universally respected ; and the way he discharged the duty laid upon him gave great satisfaction. The bravest and the worthiest men were named as the new members. The Consuls elected for the ensuing year were T. Sempronius Gracchus and L. Postumius, Vfho was now Praetor commanding in Cisalpine Gaul. But before the Ides of March came the sad intelligence that Postumius, with all his army, had been cut off by the Gauls. Fabius Maxi- mus himself was elected Consul for the third time, to supply his place. Marcellus and Varro were to remain in command as Proconsuls. Yet to support the vast expenses of the war means were scanty, for the revenues of the whole of Southern Italy were cut off. The direct taxes were doubled ; and to regulate the collection of this impost, three Commissioners* were appointed by a special law.* The Praetors in Sicily and Sardinia were informed that they must raise money to pay their forces within their Provinces ; and, fortu- nately for Rome, King Hiero of Syracuse supplied money to her treasury even in her most exhausted state. But he died at the close of this year,f and it was well known that both these pro- vinces were on the eve of revolt. § 35. It must have been a further discouragement to find that Hannibal had entered into negociations with Philip King of Macc- don. The messengers of the King were taken on their way to Capua. For the present, therefore, the danger to be expected from this quarter was averted ; but for the future the prospect was made more gloomy. Yet nothing availed to break the courage or shake the determination of the Senate. Few things, probably, could mark the public feeling more than a law which was passed in the next year at the instance of the Tribune Oppius, by which it was forbidden that any woman should wear a gay-coloured dress, or have more than half an ounce of gold to ornament her person, and that none should approach within a mile of any city or town in a car drawn by horses. Public need must be very urgent before it is possible to restrain rivate expense by enactments so rigid as those of the Oppian w. * Triumviri mensarii (Liv. xxiii. 22). f Clinton, F. H. ii. p. 267, Not. (Ed. 2). Head of Marcellus, on a Coin of Marcellinus. CHAPTER XXXII. SECOND PUNIC WAR. SECOND PERIOD (215—211 B.C.). g 1. Fabius and his coadjutors. § 2. Plan of the campaign on both sidea § 3. Gracchus attacks the Capuans : Marcellus sallies from Nola and defeats a division of the Carthaginians. § 4. Fabius sets aside the election of the tribes. § 5. Order with respect to the soldiers of Cannae. § 6. Hanno fails before Beneventum, Hannibal before Tarentum. § 7. Uncertainty of Hannibal's position in Southern Italy. § 8. War declared against Philip of Macedon. § 9. Insurrection in Sardinia. § 10. Death of Hiero, and revolt of Syracuse. § 11. Marcellus takes Leontini and begins siege of Syracuse. § 12. Extent of Syracuse. § 13. Vigorous defence by Archi- medes : general defection of the Sicilian towns. § 14. Capture of Syracuse. § 15. War still maintained by Epicydes, with the assistance of the African Mutin: Ovation of Marcellus. § 16. Laevinus in Sicily; the war ended by the desertion of Mutin. § 17. Hannibal surprises Tarentum, and blockades the Citadel. § 18. Capua besieged by Fulvius and Appius. § 19. Raised by Hannibal : heavy losses sustained by several Roman commanders. § 20. Siege of Capua resumed: the place completely invested. § 21. Hannibal's endeavour to reUeve it by a march upon Rome. § 22. Surrender and punishment of Capua. § 23. Prospects of Hannibal. § 24. The war in Spain : defeat and death of the two Scipios. § 1. The first three campaigns of this great war have been nar- rated somewhat explicitly, because of the remarkable nature of the events.- It would not suit the plan of this work to pursue the same course with the remainder of the war. Nor indeed is it possible to do so satisfactorily. For here (as we have said) the narrative of Polybius fails us, and we are left to the guidance of Livy, whose account of military movements is always extremely vague. The first period closed with the revolt of Capua. That which claims our attention ends portant city by the Romans with the recovery o^ nat im- 14* 322 ROME AND CARTHAGE Book IY In times of danger and difficulty, the chief power of a Republic usually falls into the hands of a single man, who is thought capa- ble of saving the state. At Rome, after the battle of Cannae, Q. Fabius Maximus became for some years the virtual chief of Senate and People. He was great-grandson of that Q. Fabius who won so high a name in the Second Samnite War. He was already an old man ; more than seventy summers had passed over his head. His disposition was so mild or so apathetic that he was known by the popular name of Ovicula, or the Lamb. His abilities seem not to have been great. His merit was that he had the hardihood to avow that the Roman militia were no match for Hannibal's vet- erans, and the courage to act on his belief. The cautious system which he had practised after the battle of Lake Trasimene had excited discontent : but the great defeat of Cannae had most unhappily vindicated it. For some years it was rigorously car- ried out by commanders more skilful in war than Fabius him- self. Of these coadjutors the ablest was unquestionably M. Claudius Marcellus, who was called the Sword of Rome, as Fabius was called the Shield. He also was past the middle age, being at this time more than fifty. In his first consulship he had distinguished himself by a brilliant victory over the Insubrian Oauls ;* and his name now stood very high, for having given the first check to Hannibal in his career of victory. Marcellus was a true Roman soldier, prompt and bold in action, resolute in adversity, stern and unyielding in disposition, blunt and illiterate, yet not with- out touches of finer feeling, as was proved at the siege of Syra- cuse, With him must be mentioned Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, a man of humane and kindly temper, and possessing high talents for com- mand. Had he not been cut off" so early, he might have rivalled the fame of Marcellus. Q. Fulvius Flaccus, who, like Marcellus, had already been twice Consul, disdained not for the two following years to act as Praetor of the City. He enjoyed the confidence of Fabius and the Senate, and this office gave him, in the continued absence of the Consuls, the whole management of the home government. He was not less than sixty years of age, discreet and cautious as Fabius himself, but more active, energetic, and relentless. These and other able men kept Hannibal in check by acting on the defensive system of Fabius. When by this means the strength of the republic was recruited, Scipio came forward as the author of an oflfensive system. But for the next few years, * Above, Chapt. xxx. § 15, Chap. XXXn. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD II. 323 it is only necessary to cast the eye over the list of Consuls, to see how that office was limited to those whom Fabius, as the Senate's Minister for War, approved.* § 2. The plan of war now adopted was of the following kind. The two Consuls and a Proconsul were stationed in Campania, each with two legions and their auxiliary cohorts. In the present year Fabius took post on the Latin road, between Cales and Casili- num ; Gracchus occupied the entrenched camp, which had been formed by Marcellus near Sinuessa; and Marcellus himself occupied a similar camp near Nola. Thus these commanders were always ready to harass Capua, and were also able to make forays into Samnium, Apulia, and Lucania, whenever Hannibal was absent. Their connexion with the sea was maintained by the great sea- ports of Naples and Cumse. Hannibal, on the other hand, formed a strong camp on the ridge of Mount Tifata above Capua. But he was often obliged to move his forces into the south, leaving the Capuans to defend themselves. He sent Hanno son of Bomilcar, with a small division, into Brattii, to reassure his friends in that quarter, and collect recruits. The Greek towns of Locri and Croton fell into the hands of this com- mander ; but the Romans retained a firm hold of Rhegiura, Thurii, Metapontum and Tarentum. We have no means of estimating the amount of Hannibal's army ; but it may be inferred that it was small ; we never find him able to act in force both in Campa- nia and in the south. § 3. He soon came in collision with the Consul Gracchus. This general was in his camp at Sinuessa, busily employed in training the two legions of slaves, who, by the name of Volones or Volun- teers, still served under his command. Here he received informa- tion from the people of Cumse that the Capuans were coming to hold a festival near their city, and he was enabled to fall upon the Capuans by night, and slaughter a great number. The news soon reached Hannibal, who descended from his camp, only to find Gracchus safe behind the walls of Cumse. * Those who seem to have been opposed to Fabius are marked with an asterisk. The Patrician Consul stands first in each year. 215 B.C. Q. Fabius Maximus, iii. Tib. Sempronius Gracchus. 214 — Q. Fabius Maximus, iv. M. Claudius Marcellus, iii. 213 — Q. Fabius, son of old Fabius. Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, ii. 212 — App. Claudius Pulcher. Q. Fulvius Flaccus, iii. 211 B.C. *P. Sulpicius Galba. Cn. Fulvius Centumalus. 210 — *M. Valerius Laevinus. M. Claudius Marcellus, ir. 209 — Q. Fabius Maximus, v. Q. Fulvius Flaccus, iv. 208 — T. Quinctius Crispinus. M. Claudius Marcellus, v. Therefore, out of sixteen Consulships, Fabius and his eon held four, Marcellus three, Fulvius two. S24 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. While Gracchus was thus engaged at Cumse, Fabius had occupied his camp at Sinuessa, and Marcellus was making forays in the Sam- nite country. The sufferers sent earnest appeals for defence to Hannibal, who now appeared a second time before the walls of Nola, being induced by some of the popular party, which in all the cities was hostile to Rome, to hope that the place might be betrayed. But Marcellus made a well-timed sally, in which he cut off a large body of the Carthaginian army ; and Hannibal, retiring in disappointment, went into winter quarters at Arpi in Apulia. § 4. Returning spring (214 B.C.) found Hannibal again in his camp on Tifata, and the same Roman commanders opposed to him. Pabius was still Consul, with Marcellus for his colleague ; while Gracchus had taken the place of the latter as Proconsul. The circumstance of the election of these Consuls deserves noting, because it shows how completely the people had surrendered their right of free choice into the hands of Fabius. The old Consul, on returning to hold the Comitia, purposely halted in the Campus Martins, and held the election without having entered the city. By this means he retained his Imperium, or absolute power. The Prerogative Century, which happened to be the Juniors of the An- iene tribe, gave their vote for M. ^milius Regillus and T. Otacilius Crassus. Otacilius was a nephew of Fabius, and had served as Praetor in command of the fleet during the current year, but without much credit. Upon this vote being given, the old Consul stopped the proceedings and addressed the people. "The Re- public," he said, "was struggling for existence; she was main- taining nearly twenty legions in Italy and Sicily and other quarters ; and that with revenues diminished and citizens thin- ned ; what was the use of all their exertions if she committed her armies to untried men ? Therefore," he concluded, " go, Lictor, call back the Juniors of the Aniene tribe to give their vote anew." All men felt that the old man had not only power, but reason on his side. The same Century which had voted for other men, now gave their voices for Fabius himself and Marcellus. § 5. At the same time the Senate gave an earnest of their stern determination by passing a decree that the soldiers of Cannae should be sent to act on the defensive in Sicily, without hope of honour and glory till the end of the war. And the Censors, in the course of this year, summoned before them Metellus and the others who had wished to desert the Republic after the defeat of Cannae ; and they were all deprived of their civic rights. Provision was also made for supporting the continued drain upon the Treasury ; but of this hereafter, Chap. XXXII. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD U. 325 § 6. Early in this campaign, Hannibal was enticed from Cam- pan»a by a message sent from certain friends whom he had made within the walls of Tarentum, and who now offered to betray that large and important town to him. Meanwhile he ordered Hanno to come up from Bruttii, for the purpose of covering Samnium and Campania. Hanno seems to have had hopes of surprising the Roman colony of Beneventum. But the Proconsul Gracchus threw himself into the town ; " A.nd now," he told his Slave- soldiers, " now the time was come when they might win their liberty. Every one who brought in an enemy's head should be made free." In the battle which followed, victory was long undetermined ; till Gracchus proclaimed that without victory none should be enfranchised ; but if they conquered, none should remain a slave. Thus the desperate conflict was determined in favour of the Romans, and Hanno, after great loss, made good his retreat back into the Bruttian territory. Then Gracchus fulfilled the promise made to his Volones, and celebrated their enfranchisement by a public festival, in which they all appeared wearing white caps in token of liberty. So pleased was their commander with the scene, that he had a picture painted to com- memorate it on the walls of the Temple of Liberty on the Aventine Hill. . Hannibal, therefore, had the mortification to hear of this reverse, without the satisfaction of succeeding in his own expedition. For M. Valerius Lsevinus, the Roman Praetor stationed at Brundusium, being informed of the plot to betray Tarentum, threw a strong- garrison into the place under the command of M. Livius, and the conspirators did not dare to attempt the fulfilment of their promises. § 7. The next year (213 b.c.) was still less fruitful in decisive events than the two foregoing. That is, it was favourable to the Romans ; for to Hannibal's cause inaction was fatal. And there are not wanting indications to show that the Italians who had joined him began even now to falter in their resolution, and to look with fearful eyes to the little progress he had made since the battle of Cannae, and to the tenacity with which the Romans kept hold of every city. Arpi in Apulia, Hannibal's late winter quarters, was betrayed to Fabius the younger, who was now Consul, assisted by his father as legate.* The 300 Capuan * In the same way that the elder Fabius nad acted as legate to his son in the Third Samnite War, Chapt. xxiii. § 8. When old Fabius arrived in camp, he rode up to greet his son, who bade him dismount before he presumed to appear before the Consul. The old man alighted and said, " My son, I wished to see if thou wouldst remember that thou wen OonauL" 326 ROME AND CAKTHAGB. Book IV. knights who were in the service of Rome at the time when their city threw itself into Hannibal's arms, had shown their disapprobation of this step by enrolling themselves as citizens of Eome ; and about this time one hundred and twelve more of the game order came into the Roman camp at Suessula. There can be no doubt that the aristocratic party, who had formed the municipal government of the communities in connexion with Eome, were all against Hannibal. It was this party which main- tained so many places in their old allegiance, and were ready to restore to Rome such places as had revolted at the first opportunity. But if the war in Italy languished, it had broken out with great vigour in other quarters. Hannibal's skilfuP negociations had raised up enemies to Rome wherever his envoys could find an opening — in Macedonia, in Sardinia, in Sicily. § 8. It has been mentioned that the first letters of Philip king of Macedon to Hannibal had been intercepted by the Romans; and it was the fear of an attack from this quarter that had induced them to station Lsevinus with a fleet at Brundusium. A second embassy was more successful, and an alliance was concluded by Hannibal with the king, by which the latter bound himself to send an auxiliary force to support the Carthaginians in Italy. But Laevinus and his successors carried the war into Philip's own neighbourhood, and took their measures with so much skill and energy that the promised succours were never sent. § 9. In Sardinia an insurrection broke out in the year after Cannae. Q. Fulvius, the City-Pra^tor, was ordered to provide for its suppression, with leave to appoint any commander whom he thought fit. He straightway made choice of T. Manlius Torquatus, a man as stern and uncompromising as himself, who in his Consul- ship twenty years before had first conquered the island.. The old general landed with little delay, and in one decisive battle com- pletely restored Sardinia to subjection. § 10. Aff'airs in Sicily gave much more trouble. Indeed in the years 211 and 212 this island became the chief seat of the war. Hiero, the old king of Syracuse, who for fifty years had never faltered in his alliance with Rome, had died soon after the fatal day of Cannae. He was succeeded by his grandson Hiero- nymus, a youth of fifteen years of age, whose imagination was captivated by the brilliant career of Hannibal. The able Cartha- ginian soon availed himself of the opportunity which thus pre- sented itself to send over agents, into whose hands the young prince completely surrendered himself. These were two brothers named Hippocrates and Epicydes, Syracusan Greeks by descent, Chap. XXXTL SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD II. 32V but natives of Carthage. The young King, however, after a little more than a year's reign, was assassinated by a gang of obscure conspirators in the main street of Leontini. A republic was immediately proclaimed at Syracuse : and shortly after, all the remaining members of the royal family were massacred with circumstances of singular atrocity. The question now was whether the new government should side with Rome or Carthage. The brothers, Hippocrates and Epicydes, had at first resolved to return to Hannibal ; but they changed their plan, and pretending to fall in with the views of the conspirators, were elected Generals-in- Chief with several others. Yet the popular feeling seems to have inclined towards Rome ; and when App. Claudius the Praetor, who had been watching the course of events from Murgantia, a seaport about thirty miles north of Syracuse, appeared off the harbour with a squadron of 100 ships, it was agreed to conclude a treaty with Rome. Before long, however, Hippocrates, true to the interests of his master, contrived to leave Syracuse with a body of troops. He re- paired to Leontini, and here he was soon joined by his brother Epicydes. They then threw off the mask ; and the Leontines de- clared themselves independent of Syracuse. This was probably late in the year 214 b.c. And about that time the Consul Marcellus arrived to take the command of the army in Sicily ; for Appius foreseeing that war was at hand, had sent despatches to the Senate early in the year. § 11. Marcellus, without delay, laid siege to Leontini, and took the town by assault. He did what he could to spare the inhabi- tants ; but he was guilty of a piece of most imprudent severity in scourging and putting to death as deserters 2000 of the garrison, who had once been in the service of Rome. It appears that the troops whom Hiero had sent over to the succour of Rome, had returned home on the death of that prince, and that these men were now in the Syracusan army. When they heard of the cruel death of their comrades at Leontini, they lent a ready ear to the persuasion of Hippocrates and Epicydes, who had escaped from Leontini and now turned the severity of Marcellus to good account. These two adventurers were elected sole Generals, and Syracuse closed her gates against Rome. Marcellus made some fruitless attempts at negociation ; and finally commenced the siege of Syracuse. § 12. The city of Syracuse had been greatly enlarged since the Athenian expedition.* The island of Ortygia had become the citadel, and the suburb along the sea-coast, called Achradina, * See the plan in Dr. Smith's *' History of G-reece," p. 337. 328 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. was now part of the town. The rugged triangular surface called Epipolse was well fortified, and its northern approaches, especially, were strongly defended by a fort called Hexapylum. § 13. Marcellus at first attempted to take the city by assault. He himself attacked the sea-wall of Achradina, while Appius attempted to force Hexapylum. The Romans were always famous for their skill in the attack and defence of fortifications, and Mar- cellus was well provided with engines of all kinds. But within the walls was an engineer more skilful than any they possessed. Archimedes, the most celebrated mathematician of ancient times, was now 75 years old, but age had not quenched the inventive vigour of his mind. He was so devoted to abstruse calcu- lations, that sometimes he forgot even to take his meals ; yet speculation had not unfitted him for practical pursuits. He had been the friend of Hiero and therefore of Rome* yet his pa- triotism burnt with steady flame, and the enemy of his country was his enemy. Marvellous are the stories told of the engines which he invented to thwart the assaults of the Romans, both by sea and land. The whole wall was armed with ballists and cata- pults of immense power, so that the ships dared not come within shot. If they ventured to get close under the walls, favoured by the darkness of night, they were galled by a fire from myriads of loopholes, and nearly crushed by enormous stones let drop from the battlements. Then one end of the ship was grasped by an " iron hand" let down from a projecting crane, which suddenly lifted it up, and as suddenly let it go, so that first one end and then the other was plunged in the water. It is said also, that burning-glasses of great power were so placed as to set on fire ships which approached within their reach. This is pro- bably a fiction.* But thus much is certain, that Marcellus at length gave up all hopes of taking the city by storm, and com- menced to blockade it by regular lines of circumvallation. After many months the Romans were as far from taking Syracuse as ever. Meantime, the Roman cause was daily losing ground in Sicily. Even Murgantia, the head-quarters of the fleet, surren- dered to Carthage : and Enna, a very strong fortress, was only prevented from doing likewise by the prompt cruelty of the Commandant, who massacred the whole of its inhabitants. But * The burning-glasses are not mentioned in any of the earlier accounts. They first appear in Galen and Lucian, authors of the second century after Christ. The thing appears to be mathematically possible ; for, by a compli- cated arrangement of mirrors, Buffon succeeded in igniting wood at a distance of 150 yards. See a summary of the argument in Smith's Diet of Biography, vol L p. 270. Chap. XXXIL SECOND PUNIC WAR : PERIOD IJ 329 this barbarous act, though efficacious on the vere covered by a marsh or lagoon, which was overflowed by the sea, so that the place was only approachable by a narrow neck of land between the lagoon and the harbour. On this neck of land Scipio took up his position, entrenching himself in rear, but leaving the front of his camp open towards the city. No time was to be lost ; and next morning he gave orders to assault the walls. He addressed his soldiers, and assured them of success ; Neptune, he said, had appeared to him in a dream, and promised to fight with the Romans. The men advanced gallantly to the escalade, confident in their young General. But the walls were high and strong ; the garrison made a stout defence : and before noon Scipio called off his soldiers. But he did not give up his enterprise. In the afternoon, as he was informed, the water in the lagoon would be very low, in consequence of a fall in the tide assisted by a strong wind. He therefore picked out 500 men, who were ordered to take a number of scaling-ladders and dash through the water so as to mount the walls unobserved, while the main body of the army made a feigned attack by the neck of land. Thus Neptune would fulfil his promise. The device succeeded completely. The garrison had retired to their noon day's sleep, and while they were hurrying to repel the * Polybius says in seven days (x. 9). The distance in a straight line is not less than 230 miles, so that this march would rival the march of Nero to the Metaunis. We must suppose that the baggage and engines were sent with the fleet. 354 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. feigned attack, the 500 got into the town unopposed, and rushing to the main entrance threw open the gates. Scipio, with a chosen detachment, pushed on to the citadel, into which the garrison had fled ; and the Commandant surrendered at discretion. All pillaging and slaughter was now stopped ; and at the close of the day the young General found himself master of this impor- tant city, with a very large treasure and an immense supply of stores. § 5. In the city he found a number of Spaniards, mostly women and children, kept there as hostages for the fidelity of their countrymen. For the Carthaginian rule was no longer beloved ks in the days of the elder Hasdrubal. Hasdrubal tlie son of Gisgo, especially, had made himself hateful to the people ; and the Celtiberians, the most powerful tribe of Central Spain, were eager for an opportunity of revolting. Scipio turned these dispositions to his own advantage with admirable dexterity. He set free all the hostages, as well as all of Spanish blood who had been taken prisoners in the city. Among these hostages was the wife of Mandonius, brother of Indibilis, a powerful chief who had formerly been the friend of Carthage, and the daughters of Indibilis himself He sent them home with as much care as if they had been his own kinswomen, although Indibilis and Mandonius had been actively engaged against his unfortunate father and uncle. Then the soldiers brought him a beautiful girl, whom they had reserved as a special gift for their youth- fill commander. But Scipio, observing her tears, inquired into her condition, and finding that she was the betrothed of Al- lucius, a young Celtiberian chief, he sent for the youth, and restored his bride unharmed, without ransom or condition. This generous conduct was not without its reward. The Spaniards, quick in feeling and romantic in disposition, regarded the young conqueror as a hero sent to deliver them from the yoke of Carthage. His noble bearing, his personal beauty, confirmed the favourable impressions caused by his conduct to the hostages; and when he advanced next year into Celti- beria, he was v/elcomed by Indibilis and Mandonius at the head of their vassals. Soon after, a deputation of Spaniards came to him with entreaties to become their King. In him they saw revived the dignity of Hamilcar, the aflEability of the elder Hasdrubal; and they hoped that the popular times of those favourite rulers might return. But Scipio courteously declined the offer, informing them that he was but the General of the Roman People, in whose ears the name of king was a byword and a reproach. § 6. The Carthaginian generals had been quite unable to make Chap. XXXIY. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD IV. 365 head against the well-earned popularity of the youthful Roman. Hasdrubal Barca had attempted to retake New Carthage by surprise, but in vain ; and the year 208 found him too busily engaged in preparing for his Italian expedition to act with energy against the Romans. All Spain north of the Baetis (Guadalquivir) was relinquished ; but at length Hasdrubal found himself obliged to give battle at a place called Bsecula, which stands near that river. The Romans won the day; but the Carthaginian Com- mander made a skilful retreat, leaving his camp and baggage in the hands of the enemy. Hasdrubal now drew back into Lusi- tania, leaving his brother Mago and the other Hasdrubal (son of Gisgo) to cover the borders of that district, which with the pro- vince now called Andalusia were the only parts of Spain left to the Carthaginians. Meanwhile he himself crossed the Tagus, and marching northwards (as we have seen) by ways unknown to the Romans, crossed the Pyrenees into Gaul near the shores of the Bay of Biscay. Scipio, informed of his intentions to pass into Italy, and expecting him to follow the course of his brother Hannibal, spent the remainder of the season upon the Ebro in fruitless expectation. In the beginning of 207, he heard that his able opponent had eluded him, and was already in the heart of Gaul. § 7. In that year the Carthaginians made great efforts to retrieve their falling fortunes. An officer named Hanno had come over from Africa to replace Hasdrubal Barca; and the young Masinissa, son of Gala, a powerful Numidian chief, had also taken the field with a large body of his formidable horse- men. Scipio himself did not appear in the field till late in the season, when he found that his brother Lucius, with his legate Silanus, had kept the Carthaginians in check. But the news of the Metaurus had reached him, and he burned with eagerness to eclipse the glory of Nero. Late in this year, therefore, or early in 206, Scipio with his whole force prepared to pass the Baetis and bring the enemy to action. The Carthaginians, confident in their numbers, were equally ready, and their united forces boldly faced the enemy. The place of the battle is unknown ; its name is variously given as Silpia or Elinga. But the result is certain. Scipio's victory was complete : the whole Carthaginian army was broken and destroyed ; its scattered remains took re- fuge behind the walls of Gades, with Hasdrubal Gisgo and Mago ; while the wily Masinissa entered into secret negotia- tions with Silanus, of which we shall have to speak further pre- sently. The Senate, therefore, at the commencement of the year 206, had to congratulate the People not only on seeing 356 HOME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. Italy almost delivered from the army of Hannibal, but also on the important fact that all Spain, except the town of Gades, was in the hands of the Roman armies. § 8. But Scipio regarded Spain as a mere stepping-stone to Africa. Here, and here only, he felt convinced, could the war be concluded. Already had Valerius Lsevinus made descents upon the African coast, and found the country nearly as de- fenceless as in the days of Regulus. But Fabius and the Senate •were hostile to bold enterprises, and Laevinus could go no further. Scipio determined not to return to Rome till he had laid the train for an invasion of Africa; and then, with the confidence that marked his whole career, he would offer him- self for the Consulship, and force the Senate to allow him his own way. § 9. At that time, the country to the west of the Carthaginian Territory, from Bona to Oran, was known by the name of Nu- raidia; and the Numidians themselves were divided into two great Tribes, the Eastern Numidians or Masaesylians, and the Western or Massy lians. Of the Masaesylians, Syphax was King ; his capital being Cirta, now well known under the name of Coi - stantine as a chief place in French Algeria. Gala, father o1 Masinissa, was ruler of the Massylians. We have already seen Scipio entering into negotiations with Masinissa. But Masinissa had not yet any power of his own. On the other hand, the position of the territory of Syphax on the Carthaginian frontier necessarily made him the most dangerous enemy of Carthage. It was therefore of the greatest importance to secure the friend- ship of this powerful but unstable chieftain. Scipio resolved, with a boldness almost romantic, to pay a visit to the Numi- dian capital ; and, to show his confidence in Syphax, he sailed from New Carthage to Africa with two ships only. It hap- pened that Hasdrubal Gisgo, who had before this left Spain in despair, appeared at the court of Syphax at the self-same time, with the self-same purposes. The two rivals were both enter- tained by the Numidian ; but the winning manners and personal grace of Scipio prevailed for the present, and Syphax formed an alliance with the Romans. § 10. When Scipio returned to Spain, he found that his short absence had produced a serious change. Three important cities in the vale of the Baetis, Illiturgi, Castulo, and Astapa, had closed their gates and declared their independence. Without delay, he laid siege to Illiturgi. The town was taken after an obstinate defence, and given up to massacre and pillage. This dreadful fate of their countrymen produced immediate, but opposite, eflfects on Castulo and Astapa. The men of Castulo, stricken with fear, Chap. KXX.1V. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD IV. 357 surrendered at discretion. The men of Astapa collected all their property and valuables into a huge funeral pile in the market-place, and placed their wives and daughters under a guard, who had orders to slay them and fire the pile as soon as the gates should be forced. The rest of the citizens fell fighting bravely, and the Romans were left masters of a heap of ashes. § 11. Another circumstance showed that the Roman power in Spain rested on a very precarious tenure. Scipio fell ill at New Carthage, and a report was spread that he was dead. Upon this, Indibilis and' Mandonius, whom he had believed to be his most faithful friends, raised the standard of revolt and advanced into Celtiberia. A division of Italian troops, 8900 strong, stationed upon the Sucro, broke out into open mutiny, driving away their Roman officers, and choosing two Italians as their chiefs. The prompt and decisive way in which Scipio quelled this dangerous mutiny recalls the conduct of Clive in Bengal on a similar occasion. He sent messengers to the mutineers, desiring them to come to New Carthage and state their grievances; and as they approached the town, he ordered the division of the army in that place to pre- pare for marching against the revolted Spaniards. The Italians, therefore, met the army leaving New Carthage as they entered it, and fondly deemed that the General would now be completely at their mercy. But when they appeared next morning before Scipio, they found that thirty-five persons, the ringleaders of the mutiny, had been arrested during the night ; and the clash of arms in the streets leading to the Forum apprised them that the army had returned from its pretended march. Scipio now showed the mutineers that they were in his power. He re- proved them with much severity. He ordered the ringleaders for execution, and pardoned the rest on their taking the oath of allegiance anew. Indibilis and Mandonius, finding that the re- port of the General's death was false, hastened to make full sub- mission. But no sooner had Scipio left Spain, than these discon- tented chiefs again took arms. Indibilis fell in battle ; Mando- nius was taken prisoner, and put to death with a number of Other chieftains. For the present, therefore, Spain was reduced to quiet ; but it was more than two centuries before the power of Rome was finally established in the Peninsula. § 12. It was^ now apparent that the Carthaginians had no longer any hope of recovering their lost ground in Spain. Has- drubal Gisgo had returned to Africa. Masinissa obtained a personal interview with Scipio, and renewed those promises of friendship which he had made to Silanus after the battle of Elinga, and which he afterwards faithfully performed. Mago, 358 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. the last remaining brother of Hannibal, after a vain attempt to surprise New Carthage, returned to Gades, and found that the inhabitants shut their gates against him. He enticed the chief Magistrates, called SufFets, like the two chief Magistrates of Carthage, into a negotiation, and then seizing their persons, he crucified them in sight of the town. This brutal and trea- cherous act forfeited his last claim on the sympathies of the people of Gades. They immediately surrendered to the Romans, while Mago sailed off to the Balearic Isles, and there occupied himself in preparing for a fresh descent upon the coast of Italy, as a last chance of relieving his illustrious brother. § 13. The soil of the Spanish Peninsula was now completely cleared of the Carthaginians, and Scipio prepared to return to Rome. About three years before he had left his country amid the hopes and expectations of all men. He now returned, having more than fulfilled those hopes and expectations. His friend Laelius had been sent home to announce his first great success; his brother Lucius had lately arrived to prepare the Senate and people for the speedy arrival of the hero ; and no one doubted that at the approaching elections Scipio would be raised to the Consulship by the unanimous voice of the people. It was towards the close of the year 206 b.c. that he returned. The Senate met him at the Temple of Bellona; but refused him a triumph on the ground that he had not held any regular magistracy during his absence. He therefore entered the city, and offered himself candidate for the Consulship. Every Tribe united in giving him their suffrages, though he was not yet thirty years old. But the common rules of election had been neglected throughout the war, and no difficulty seems to have been raised on the score of age. His colleague was P. Licinius Crassus, who was Pontifex Maximus, and therefore unable to leave Italy. Whatevei; foreign enterprise was undertaken must fall to the lot of Scipio. He himself was at no pains to conceal his intention of carrying the war into Africa; and it was generally understood, that if the Senate refused leave, he would bring a special bill for the purpose before the people. Fabius, with Fulvius and the old Senatorial party, vehemently opposed these bold projects. But the time was gone by when they could use the votes of the people against an enterprising Consul, as they had done some years before against Laevinus.* The confidence of all men in Scipio was unbounded ; and, in the end, the Senate was fain to compromise the matter by naming Sicily as his province, with permission to cross over into Africa, if he deemed it expedient * Chapt. xxxiii. § 8. Chap. XXXIV. SECOND PUNIC WAR : PERIOD IV. 359 They refused him, however, the additional levies and supplies which he required. But the Etruscans and other Italians enthu- siastically volunteered to give all he wanted. Scipio led a well- appointed fleet into his province, and was able to add con- siderably to the veteran soldiers of Cannai and Herdonea, who had seen hard service under Marcellus and Lsevinus. The year passed, however, without any attempt on Africa, except that Laelius went across to reconnoitre, and, after an interview with Masinissa, returned laden with spoil. § 14. It will be worth while to devote a few lines to the for- tunes of this Numidian Prince. His life, since his return from Spain, had been one series of romantic enterprises ; and at the present time, notwithstanding his adventurous daring, he was a wanderer and an outlaw. While he was in Spain, his father Gala had died, and his uncle Q^salces took possession of the chief- tainship of the Massylians. On the death of his uncle, and his uncle's son, which followed in rapid succession, the chief power was seized by an adventurer named Mezetulus, who pretended to act as guardian of an infant, the sole remaining scion of the family of (Esalces. Masinissa now appeared on the scene. He was very popular among the Massylians, and Mezetulus, with his young charge, was obliged to fly for safety to the court of Syphax at Cirta. This prince, we saw, had formed a treaty with Scipio. But Hasdrubal Gisgo soon found means to detach the fickle Numidian from his new ally, by offering him the hand of his beautiful daughter Sophonisba, and urged him to prevent Masinissa from recovering the power of his father. The power of Masinissa was unequal to that of Syphax. He was defeated in every battle he ventured to fight ; but he seemed to lead a charmed life. Once he was obliged to lie hid many days in a cave, once he escaped with only two horsemen by swimming a broad and rapid river ; but he always appeared afresh, from his fastnesses in the mountains of the south, at the head of a body of his wild cavalry, plundering and alarming the subjects of Carthage, as well as those of Syphax. Personal pique was added to the desire of recovering the chieftainship of his father ; for the beautiful Sophonisba had been his betrothed bride. § 15. In the next year he looked eagerly to see the Romans in Africa. But before this took place the enemies of Scipio made one more attempt to thwart his African enterprise. He had been continued in his command as Proconsul ; and, hearing that the citadel of Locri had been taken by Q. Pleminius, who commanded as Propraetor in Bruttii, but that Hannibal had come to the relief of the place, he left his province without hesita- tion, and sailing into the harbour of Locri, obliged the Cartha- 360 ROME AND CARTHAGE. BooK IV ginian to retire. Pleminius was no sooner left in command tliere than he indulged in gross and brutal outrages, not only against the people of Locri, but against such Romans as ventured to oppose his will. Scipio was appealed to, but declined to interfere, desiring the Locrians to lay their complaints before the Senate at Rome. These complaints arrived early in the year 204 B.C., and old Fabius again took occasion to inveigh loudly against the presumptuous audacity of his young rival. He endod his speech by proposing that he should be deprived of his cou-- mand. Other complaints were made against Scipio, that by going to Locri he had transgressed the limits of his province, as he had done before by visiting Syphax in Numidia ; more- over, that he spent his time in pursuits unfit for a Roman soldier, frequenting the schools and gymnasia of the Greek cities, and wearing a Greek dress ; while his men were daily becoming corrupted by licentious living and want of discipline. The Senate was too well aware of the merits and popularity of Scipio to venture to act on these vague accusations without pre- vious inquiry ; and it was therefore resolved to send a commission into Sicily to examine into the truth of the charges. The result was highly favourable to the General. It was reported that he was quite guiltless of the excesses of Pleminius, who was arrested and left to die in prison ; and his troops, instead of being neglected or undisciplined, were in the highest order ; the Com- missioners had themselves witnessed the evolutions of the army and fleet, and could testify to their effective condition ; they had also inspected the stores at Lilybseum, and found arms, engines, and supplies of every kind provided for the invasion of Africa. It was universally resolved that Scipio should retain his command till he should bring the war to a close. § 16. The confidence which the Senate felt in the altered state of aff'airs is fully shown by two Decrees passed in the same year. The first respected the Twelve Latin Colonies, which five years before had refused to furnish soldiers. At the time, it had been thought prudent to pass over this contumacious conduct.* But now they were required to furnish twice their proper con- tingent till the end of the war. They murmured, but submitted. The other Decree was moved by Laevinus for the repayment of the patriotic loan advanced by the Senators and people during his Consulship in the year 210 B.c.f It was apparent, therefore, that the battle of the Metaurus, backed by the great successes of Scipio in Spain, had raised the Republic above all fear of disaffection in her Colonies, or of bankruptcy at home. Other * Chapt. xxxiii. § 8. f Chapt. xxxiii. § 6. Chap. XXXIY. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD IV. 361 signs of confidence appear. A huge stone, supposed to represent the Great Mother of the Gods, was brought in state to Rome from Pessinus in Sicily. The Sibylline books directed that the care of this precious reHc should be given to " the best man" at Rome : and the Senate adjudged the title to P. Scipio Nasica, son of Cn. Scipio, who had died in Spain, and first cousin to the great man who was now making the name illustrious.* The Cincian Law, also, brought forward by the Tribune M. Cincius Alimentus, at the instance of old Fabius, to prevent advocates from accepting fee* for their services, shows that business was falling into its routine course again. § 17. All obstacles being now removed, Scipio prepared to cross over into Africa. His army and fleet were assembled at Lilybseum under his own eye. His brother Lucius and his friend La?lius still attended him as legates; and his Quajstor was a young man destined hereafter to become famous, M. Porcius Cato. It was towards the close of 204 b.c. that he set sail. His army was not so numerous as it was well-appointed and well- disciplined, composed of men who had grown old in service, skilful in sieges, prepared for all dangers ; for the greater part of them knew that in the successful termination of the war lay their only chance of returning home to end their days in peace. As the ships left the harbour at daybreak, Scipio prayed aloud to all the gods, that his enterprise might be blessed by their favour; that the evils which Carthage had. wrought against Rome might now be visited upon her own head.f When the second morning broke, they were in sight of land ; and Scipio, when he heard that they were off* the Fair Promontory, said that the omen was a good one, and there should be their landing- place. Masinissa hastened to join him with only 200 of his Numidian horse ; but his knowledge of the country, and the ceaseless activity which he displayed, would have made him most welcome, even if he had come alone. § 18. Scipio immediately laid siege to Utica. The terror felt at Carthage, when Laelius had landed the year before, was great ; and now, when Scipio himself was almost at the gatfes, terror rose to its highest pitch. For a time he was left to carry on his operations unmolested. But as the winter advanced, Has- drubal Gisgo succeeded in collecting a considerable force, and * The Megalesian games (i. e. the games of the jueydXij juijTijp) long pre- served the memory of this great event. f The prayer is given by Livy (xxix. 27) evidently from an old author. Jl number of old Latin forms occur in it, — Dii. . . he'm verruncent^ i. e. vertani — bonis auctihus auxiUs, — copiam faxitis, — eta 16 5^62 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. persuaded Syphax, his son-in-law, to lend his aid in relieving Utica. Scipio was encamped on a head-land to the eastward of this town, on a spot which long retained the name of "the Cornelian Camp,"* where (it is said) the ruins of his entrench- ments are still to be traced ; and the Carthaginians hoped that they might blockade him here both by land and sea. They made their arrangements not without skill ; and their fleet, which was superior to that of the Romans, threatened to intercept com- munication with Sicily. Scipio remained quiet the whole winter, except that he amused Syphax by entering into negotiations for peace. The fickle Numidian showed himself not unwilling to form a separate treaty, and to desert his father-in-law Hasdrubal. But Scipio had no real purpose in these negotiations. They were only carried on to mask a design, which, as spring came on, he was enabled to put in practice. He observed that Hasdrubal occupied one camp, and Syphax another. The huts occupied by- the Numidians were composed merely of stakes wattled and thatched with reeds ; the quarters of the Carthaginians, though somewhat more substantial, consisted solely of timber, without any stone or brick. Scipio, in the course of the before-mentioned negotiations, contrived to gain an accurate knowledge of the plan and disposition of these camps ; and when he thought the time for the execution of his design was arrived, he suddenly broke off the negotiations, and told Syphax that all thoughts of peace must be deferred till a later time. On the first dark night that followed, he sent Lselius and Ma- sinissa against the camp of Syphax, while he himself moved to- wards that of Hasdrubal. Masinissa, with his Numidians, ob- tained an easy entrance into the lines of his countrymen, and straightway set fire to their inflammable habitations. The unfor- tunate men rose from their beds or from their wine-cups, and en- deavoured to extinguish the flames. But the work had been too well done ; and as they attempted to escape, they found that every avenue of the camp was beset by enemies. Fire was behind them, death by the sword before ; and though Syphax, with a chosen band, escaped, the whole of his army was destroyed. The same fate befel ±Iasdrubal. On the first alarm, he conjectured the truth, and with a cowardly haste made off", leaving his men an easy prey to Scipio. When morning broke, the Romans pursued the fugi- tives; and it is not too much to say that the whole army on which Carthage depended for safety was cut off in this horrible way. The recital makes the blood run cold. We may congratulate ourselves on the comparative hone?*" * Caesar, Bell Civ. U. 24 and 31. Chap. XXXIY. SECOND PUNIO WAR : PERIOD IT. 363 of modern warfare. If in sieges and bombardments dreadful calami- ties are inflicted and suftered, yet no general would form a plan for burning and destroying an army by pretended negotiations for peace, carried on in cold blood for weeks before. Yet the historian Polybius relates this event as a matter quite in the ordinary course of warfare, without any remark on the duplicity by which it was made successful. Neither the act itself, nor the means by which it was carried into execution, was ever thought to cast any slur on the fair fame of Scipio. § 19. The Carthaginian Senate were ready to give up matters as lost. But at this juncture 10,000 Celtiberians landed in Africa and offered their services to Syphax ; and this prince was over- persuaded by the entreaties of Sophonisba to renew the struggle. Hasdrubal also exerted himself greatly to collect a new army ; and in the course of thirty days the two allied generals appeared on the Great Plains, which lie about 70 or 80 miles to the south-west of Utica and Carthage. Scipio, leaving his fleet and a division of his army to continue the blockade of Utica, advanced to give them battle without delay. The Celtiberians made a stout resist- ance ; but being deserted by the rest of the army, they were en- tirely cut to pieces. Hasdrubal fled to Carthage, Syphax to his own kingdom ; so that the whole country was left to the mercy of the Romans. Scipio advanced towards Carthage, receiving the submission of the different towns by which he passed. Encamping at Tunis, within sight of the Capital, he awaited the submission of the Government. § 20. Meanwhile La)iius and Masinissa, with the Italian and Numidian cavalry, pursued Syphax to Cirta. The unlucky king made a faint show of resistance ; but he was defeated, and his capital surrendered at discretion. Masinissa now received his reward, and was proclaimed king of all Numidia. When he entered Cirta, he was met by Sophonisba, formerly his betrothed, and now the wife of his rival. Her charms melted his heart; and fearing lest Scipio might claim her as his captive, to lead her in triumph by the side of Syphax, he took the bold step of mar- rying her at once. This much provoked Scipio, who sent for the young chief and rebuked him sternly for venturing to take pos- session of a Roman captive. Masinissa sighed, and felt that he was unable to protect his unhappy bride. But, resolved that at least she sho ild have the option of escaping from the degrada- tion of a Roman triumph, he sent her a cup of poison, telling her that herein lay her only possible deliverance. She took the potion, saying that she accepted the nuptial gift, and drained it to the dregs. When the tragical fate of Sophonisba reached the ears of Scipio, he feared that he had dealt too harshly with 364 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IT. his Numidiaii ally. He sent for him, and gently reproving him for his haste, he publicly presented him with the most honourable testimonies to his bravery and fidelity which a Roman General could bestow. In the delights of satisfied ambition and the ac- quisition of a powerful sovereignty, Masinissa soon forgot the sor- rows of Sophonisba. § 21. While Scipio remained at Tunis, the Carthaginian fleet made an attack on the Roman ships in the harbour of Utica, and gained some advantage. Intelligence also reached the Govern- ment that Mago, on landing in Italy, had been welcomed by the Ligurians and a portion of the Gauls, and had lately taken posi- tion on the Po with a considerable force. Here, however, he was encountered by a Roman army and defeated after a severe strug- gle. Mago, himself wounded, took refuge among the Ligurians, who still remained faithful to his cause. The Carthaginian Government then had the choice of three courses : either to make terms with Rome at once ; or to continue the war by recalling Hannibal and Mago from Italy to Africa ; or to re- call the two brothers on the one hand, while on the other they en- tered into negotiations for a peace. The last was the course adopted. Ambassadors were dispatched to Rome to treat for peace, while orders were sent to Hannibal and Mago to return with such forces as they could bring. Mago obeyed the orders immediately, but never reached Africa. He died of his wound upon the passage, and his few ships were taken by the Romans. Hannibal also with bitter feelings prepared to obey. For sixteen years had the indomitable man maintained himself on foreign ground ; and even now the remains of his veteran army clung to him with desperate fidelity. He felt that, so far as he was concerned, he had been more than successful ; if he had failed, it had been the fault of that ungrateful country, which had left him long years unsupported, and now was recall- ing him to defend her from the enemy. What Scipio w^as now to Carthage, that might Hannibal have been to Rome. Still he saw that no advantage could be gained by remaining longer in Italy : he therefore bade farewell to the foreign shores, so long his own, and set sail for that native land which had not seen him for nearly forty years. § 22. Great was the joy at Rome when the news came that their dire* enemy had been at length compelled to leave the shores of Italy. A public thanksgiving was decreed; sacrifices off'ered to all the Gre^t Gods of Rome; and the Roman Games, which had been vowed by Marcellus in his last Consul- * This epithet has been appropriated to Hannibal by Horace. Chap. XXXIV. SECOND PUNIC WAR : PERIOD lY. 365 ship, were now at length performed. It was at this moment of triumph that the Carthaginian Ambassadors arrived. The Senate received them (inauspicious omen !) in the» Temple of Bellona. Laevinus moved that they should be at once dismissed, and that orders should be sent to Scipio to push on the war with vigour. After some debate, his proposition was adopted. The close of the year 203 therefore rendered it certain that the war must be decided by a trial of strength between the two great Generals, who, each triumphant in his own career, had never yet encountered each other in arms. About the same time old Fabius breathed his last, as if unwilling to be a spectator of the final glory of Scipio. He died in extreme old age. He has the merit of first successfully opposing Hannibal ; but his somewhat narrow mind, and the jealous obstinacy which often accompanies increasing years, prevented him from seeing that there is a time for all things; that his own policy was excellent for retrieving the fortunes of tbe Republic, but that the inactivity of the Car- thaginian Government had ruined Hannibal and left the field open for the bolder measures of Scipio. § 23. Hannibal had landed at Leptis, to the south of Carthage, with his veterans ; and thence marching northwards, took up his position on the plain of Zama, within five days' march of Carthage. Scipio, early in the year (202 b.c), advanced from Tunis to meet him ; and finding that the Carthaginian General had sent spies to ascertain his strength, he ordered them to be led through his camp, and sent back with a full account of all that they had seen. Hannibal felt that he had to deal with a superior force, led by a General only second in ability to himself. His own veterans were few in number ; the remainder of his army were raw levies or allies little to be trusted ; the Numidian horse, which had been his main arm in Italy, were now arrayed against him under the enterprising Masinissa. He therefore proposed a personal conference, in the faint hope that he might effect a treaty between himself and Scipio, which he would then compel the Carthaginian Government to accept. Perhaps if Scipio had felt himself free to act independently, he might have listened to the blandishments of his great opponent; but he was the General of the Republic, and he knew the feeling at Rome too well to venture to act in opposition to it. The Generals therefore parted from their conference, with feelings of mutual esteem, and prepared to decide the fate of the civilised world by battle. § 24. Next day at sunrise both armies drew out. Hannibal marshalled his army in three lines : first his Gallic and Ligurian auxiliaries, with Balearians and other light troops ; in the 366 ROME AND CARTHAGF*. Book IV. second line, the veterans of Italy with fresh African levies; and in the rear, the few Bruttian and Italian allies who had followed his fortunes. Both wings were flanked by cavalry, as usual ; and the whole line of battle was covered by a formidable array of eighty elephants. To oppose him, Scipio also formed three lines according to the common practice of the Romans ; Lselius with the Italian cavalry was posted on the left, Masi- nissa with his Numidians on the right. The Roman army was superior in all respects, except in elephants ; and to make the attack of these monsters powerless, Scipio drew up the maniples of his infantry not (as was usual) chequer-wise, but one imme- diately behind the other, so as to leave open lanes between the maniples from front to rear. The battle began by an attack of the elephants on the Roman light troops, who skirmished in front of the regular lines. These were overborne by the weight of the huge beasts, and fled down the lanes which have been described ; but when the elephants came within the ranks, the men on each side pricked them with their javelins, so that some of them rushed clear through the spaces without turning to the right or left; others wheeled about and carried confusion into the Carthaginian ranks. Meanwhile both Masinissa and Lselius had routed the cavalry opposed to them, and the battle grew hot in the centre. The auxiliaries in Hannibal's front line were soon driven in upon the veterans, who, how^ever, levelled their spears and com- pelled them to advance again. Both parties kept bringing up their fresh men, withdrawing their wounded to the rear ;* and the battle continued with great fury, till Lselius and Masinissa, returning with the cavalry from the pursuit, charged the Car- thaginians in rear, and decided the fate of the day. The Romans lost about 5000 on the field ; the Carthaginians not less than 20,000, besides a vast number who were taken prisoners. § 25. Thus was Hannibal defeated, but not subdued. The Battle of Zama has often been compared to that of Waterloo. In both, the greatest Generals of the respective parties met for the first time; and in both, the more famous chief, fighting with an army hastily drawn together in defence of his country, was defeated. But in other points they were unlike. Waterloo left France helpless ; and her ruler had no hope but in with- drawing from her shores. After the Battle of Zama Hannibal could still have oflfered a long resistance; ar/d if he thought it best to make peace immediately, it was that he might reform the government, and prepare for new struggles at a future time. § 26. As Scipio was returning to Tunis, he met envoys from Crap. XXXIY. SECOND PUNIC WAR: PERIOD lY. 367 Carthage. He sent them back with the following conditions of peace : " The Carthaginians were to be left independent within their own territories; they were to give up all prisoners and deserters, all their ships of war except ten triremes, and all their elephants ; they were not to make war in Africa or out of Africa without the consent of Rome ; they were to acknowledge Masi- nissa as King of Numidia; they were to pay 10,000 talents of silver towards the expenses of the war by instalments in the course of the next fifty years."* When the Senate of Carthage met to debate on these conditions, Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, rose to advise the continuation of war ! when Hannibal, angry at the folly of the man, pulled him back to his seat. A loud cry was raised; upon which the General rose and said that "for six- and-thirty years he had been fighting the battles of his country in foreign lands, and if in the camp he had forgotten the manners of the city, he prayed forgiveness." He then went on to show that all resistance, however prolonged, must eventually prove fruitless; and in the end the Senate agreed to accept the pro- posed conditions. Upon this Scipio granted an armistice of three months, while he sent his brother Lucius, with two other envoys, to Rome to learn the pleasure of the Senate and People. The Senate gave audience to Scipio's envoys in the Temple of Bellona, and welcomed them into the city with the highest honours. At the same time ambassadors arrived from the old Government party at Carthage, who had always opposed the Hannibalic War, and now hoped to obtain more favourable terms : but they were dismissed by the Senate with contumely ; and the final decision respecting Peace was left to the People. All the Tribes voted that Scipio should be empowered to con- firm the conditions which he had already offered ; and the Fe- cials were ordered to pass over into Africa, carrying with them Italian flints to strike fire withal, and Italian herbs on which to offer sacrifice, that the Treaty might be made in unexceptionable form. Accordingly, in the very beginning of the year 201 b.c, seventeen years after Hannibal had set out from New Carthage on his march into Italy, peace was concluded, and Scipio set sail for Rome. § 27. When the old merchant rulers of Carthage saw their ships of war delivered up to the Romans, and most of them burned before their eyes ; when they were obliged to open their money-bags to pay the first instalment of the enormous fine entailed upon them by that war, which had been begun in defi- ance of their secret wishes, and which had ended thus disas- * 10,000 talents weight of silver would be worth at the present day more than 2,000, OOOi. sterling. 368 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book 1 , . trously in consequence of their own jealousy and supineness, Han- nibal made no secret of his contempt, and laughed openly at their rueful and dejected aspect. Nothing marks more clearly the cha- racter of this son of the camp. Kind and genial as he was, frank and generous to his soldiers, he respected not the real suf- ferings of these civilians, and took no trouble to disguise his sen- timents. He felt conscious that his power in the city was greater now, than when he was conqueror of Italy. We shall see here- after that for the next few years he became the absolute ruler of Carthage, and the reformer of her narrow institutions. If he had been permitted, he might have raised her to an eminence greater than that froin which she had fallen. But such was not the will of Providence. § 28. The Triumph of Scipio was the most splendid that had ever yet ascended the Sacred Hill. The enormous quantity of silver which he brought with him not only enriched his soldiers, but relieved the State from the pressure of the debts which dur- ing the war she had been obliged to contract. King Syphax fol- lowed his car, with many other illustrious prisoners ; and, what was still more grateful to his feelings, many Romans who had long 'anguished in captivity attended their deliverer wearing caps of Liberty. Among these was a Senator, by name Q. Terentius Culeo, who ever after considered himself the Freedman of Scipio. The General himself, the universal gaze of men, was saluted by the name of the country he had conquered. No one before him had obtained the honour of this titular surname: but the name of Scipio has come down to our own times indissolubly linked with that of Africanus. Lictors. CHAPTER XXXV. Guv^ERNMENT AND CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES UP TO THE CLOSE O: THE HANNIBALIC WAR. § 1. The present a fit place for a Review of the Constitution, &c. § 2. The severance between Patricians and Plebeians fast disappearing. § 3. Decay of the Comitia Curiata. § 4. Regulations of age, &c., for admission to offices of State. § 5. Duties attached to each, § 6. These offices pro- fessedly open to all, but now practically limited to the wealthy. § 7. Constant change in executive officers, even in those of the army. § 8. Re- publican nature of the system : its disadvantages, how counteracted in practice. § 9. Stability given to the system by the Senate: the Senate composed of persolis~qualified (1) by tenure of office, (2) by property, (3) by age. § 10. Power of the Senate, (1) in legislation, (2) in administra- tion of home and foreign affairs, (3) in jurisdiction. § 11. The Comitia Centuriata, as re-modelled. § 12. The Comitia Tributa: its gradual rise to power, coordinate with the encroachments of the Tribunate. § 13. Anomaly of two independent legislative bodies : how were collisions prevented ? § 14, The Tribe Assembly far from a pure democracy, § 15. AU laws in both Assemblies required the previous sanction of the Senate. § 16. Causes that prevented colUsions between the Senate and the Tribes, § 17, Predominance of the Tribe Assembly over the Centuriate, in legislation. § 18, Their elective powers, § 19. Their rights of jurisdiction. § 20. Present supremacy of the Senate accounted for. § 1. Now that we have seen Rome first become Mistress of Italy, and then, after a life and death struggle, rise superior to Car- 16* 370 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. thage ; now that we shall have to follow her in her conquest of all the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, so that this sea be- came what in modern phrase may be called a Roman lake, we naturally inquire what was the form of government; under which she made these great achievements, what the treatment of the subject foreigners, what the condition of the people, their manners and mode of life, their progress in art and literature. To some of these questions an answer has already been given by the history itself; to others no answer can be given, so scanty are the records of the time. § 2. About the time of the Punic Wars the framework of the Roman Constitution was complete. This Constitution was not created by a single legislator, like that of Sparta, nor due to the convulsive eftbrts of an oppressed commonalty, like that of modern France, but had grown up, like that of England, by slow degrees out of the struggle between the Patrician Lords who had origi- nally engrossed all political power, and the Plebeians or Commons, who had by successive steps obtained a share in all the privileges of the Patricians. The only trace remaining of ancient severance was the regulation by which, of the two Consuls and the two Censors, one must be a Patrician, one a Plebeian. At the time of which we speak this regulation was in full force. Indeed the Consuls who in the Hannibalic War rendered the most signal services were Patrician ; but, by a law of nature, the Patrician Families being (like the Scottish Peei'ages) limited in number, gradually died off, while new Plebeian Families were rising to opulence and honour. In a few years even the partition of offices fell into disuse,* and no political distinction remained, save that persons of Patrician pedigree were excluded from the Tribunate of the Plebs, as Scottish Peers from sitting in the House of Com- mons. § 3. In correspondence with the advance of Plebeian and the decay of Patrician Families, a silent revolution had been wrought in most parts of the Constitution. The Assembly of the Curies, consisting wholly of Patricians, once the sole and supreme Legislative Body, continued to drag on a sickly existence. The Curies, indeed, still retained nominal powers of high sound. No Consul or Dictator could assume the Imperium without a Curiate Law to invest him therewith. But what at first sight seems a veto on the appointment of the first officers of State, was in fact a mere form ; for the assent which the Curies were still allowed to give they were not allowed to withhold. They continued to meet even to Cicero's time, * Both Consuls were plebeian first in 1*72 B.C. ; both Censors first in 131. Chap. XXXY. GOVERNMENT AT CLOSE OF PUNIC WARS. 37 1 but their business had then dwindled away to the regulation of the religious observances proper to the Patrician Gentes. A few Lictors, who were present as the attendants of the presiding Magis- trate, alone appeared to represent the descendants of the Valerii, the Claudii, and the Posthumii.* As the Assembly of the Curies declined, the Assembly of the Tribes arose. As the Comitium or Patrician Meeting-place at the narrow end of the Forum was deserted, the Forum itself or Ple- beian Meeting-place was more and more thronged.f But before wc speak of this Assembly it will be convenient to give some account of the Executive Government. § 4. The chief officers of State employed in the administration of Roman affairs remained as they had been settled after the Li- cinian Laws. In Cicero's time it is well known that every Roman who aspired to the highest offices was obliged to ascend through a regular scale of honours. An age was fixed before which each was unattainable. The first office so held was the Qusestorship, and the earliest age at which this could then be gained appears to have been about twenty-seven. Several years were then to elapse before a Roman could hold the first Curule office, that is, the iEdileship. But between this and each of the highest honours, the Praetorship and the Consulship, only two complete years were interposed. To be chosen ^dile a man must be at least thirty-seven, to be Praetor at least forty, to be Consul at least forty-three.J But no settled regulations had yet been made. Many cases occur, both before and after the Second Punic Wav, in which men were elected to the Consulship at a very early age, and before they had held any other Curule office. Such was the case with Valerius Corvus in the Samnite Wars ; such was the case with the great Scipio in the Hannibalic War ; such was the case with Galba and Flamininus, two of the Consuls whom we shall find employed in the Macedonian War. Even in later times the rule was dispensed with on great emergencies or in * Cicero, ad Alt iv. 18 ; a curious and interesting passage. •f- In later times the Tribe Assembly became too large for the Forum, It might meet in any place to which the power of the Tribunes extended ; that is, any place within a mile of the city walls, and therefore in the Campus Mar- tins, the regular meeting-place of the Centuriate Assembly. X These ages were probably fixed by the Lex Annalis of L. ViUius (b.c. 1 80). The age of 27 for the quaestorship is inferred from the age at which the Grac- chi and others are known to have held it. The other ages follow from a well- known passage of Cicero {de Lege Agraria^ ii. 37), in which he says that h' held each of his curule offices at the earliest age permitted by the law. Com- pare De Officiis, ii. 17. 372 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. favour of particular men. The younger Scipio was elected Consul, though he was but candidate for the ^dileship : Marius and Sylla both avoided the ^dileship. § 5. There can be little doubt that this last-named office was the least acceptable to an active and ambitious man. The chief duties of the ^diles related to the care of the Public Buildings (whence their name), the celebration of the Games and Festivals, the order of the streets, and other matters belonging to the depart- Xjient of Police. But the Quaestors were charged with business of a more important character. They were attached to the Consuls and Praetors as Treasurers and Paymasters. The Tax-gatherers (Publican!) paid into their hands all moneys received on account of the State, and out of these funds they disbursed all sums lequired for the use of the Army, the Fleet, or the Civil Adminis- tration. They were originally two in number, one for each Con- sul ; but very soon they were doubled, and at the conquest of Italy they were increased to eight. Two always remained at home to conduct the business of the Treasury, the rest accompa- nied the Consuls, and Praitors, and Proconsuls to the most impor- tant provinces. The office of Praetor was supplementary to that of the Con- suls. The time of its first creation was that important crisis when the Consulate was half surrendered to the Plebeians.* The judicial functions hitherto discharged by the Consuls were then transferred to a special Magistrate, who assumed the name of Praetor, originally borne by the Consuls themselves, and the Patricians retained exclusive possession of this magistracy longer than of any other; it was not till 337 b.c, that the first Plebeian obtained access to it. This original Praetor was called Praetor Urbanus, or President of the City Courts. A second was added about the time when Sicily became subject to Rome, and a new court was erected for the decision of cases in which foreigners were concerned : hence the new magistrate was called Praetor Peregrinus. For the government of the two first provinces, Sicily and Sardinia, two more Praetors were created, and when Spain was constituted as a double province, two more, so that the whole number amounted to six. In the absence of the Consuls the Praetors presided in the Senate and at the great assembly of the Centuries. They often commanded reserve armies in the field, but they were always subordinate to the Consul ; and to mark this subordinate position they were allowed only six Lictors,f whereas each Consul was attended by twelve. Of the Consuls it is needless to speak in this place. Their * Cbapt. xy, § X"^, | Penpe their Greek naipe of tfffTreAf/cwf, Chap. XXXV. GOVERNMENT AT CLOSE OF PUNIC WARS. 37 a position as the supreme executive officers of the State is sufficientlj indicated in every page of the History. § 6. To obtain each of these high offices the Roman was obliged to seek the suffrages of his fellow-citizens. They were open to the ambition of every one whose name had been entered by the Cen- sors on the Register of Citizens, provided he had reached the required age. No office, except the Censorship, was held for a longer period than twelve months : no officer received any pay or salary for his services. To defray expenses certain allowances were made from the Treasury by order of the Senate. To discharge routine duties and to conduct their correspondence, each magistrate had a certain number of clerks (Scribse), who formed what we should call the Civil Service, and who had before this assumed an important position in the State.* But though the highest offices seemed thus absolutely open to every candidate, they were not so in practice. About the time of the First Punic War an alteration was made which, in effect, confined the Curule offices to the wealthy families. The ^diles, as has been said, were charged with the management of the Public Games, and for celebrating them with due splendour an allowance had been made from the Treasury. At the time just mentioned this allowance was withdrawn. Yet the Curule ^diles were still expected to maintain the honour of Rome by costly spectacles at the Great Roman Games, the Megalesian Festival, and others of less consequence. A great change was wrought by this law, which, under a popular aspect, limited the choice of the people to those who could buy their favour. § 1. That which strikes the mind as most remarkable in the Executive Government of Rome is the short period for which each magistrate held his office, and the seeming danger of leaving appointments so important to the suffrages of the people at large. And this is still more striking when we remember that the same system was extended to the army itself as well as to its generals. The Romans had no standing army. Every Roman citizen between the complete ages of seventeen and forty -five, and possessing property worth at least 4000 pounds of coppei-, was placed on the Military Roll. From this Roll four Legions, two for each Consul, were enlisted every year, and in cases of necessity additional Legions were raised. But at the close of the year's campaign these legionary soldiers had a right to re- turn home and be relieved by others. Nor were there any fixed officers. Each Legion had six Tribunes and sixty Centurions ; but these were appointed, like the Consuls and soldiers, fresh * See the history of Appius the Censor, and Cn. Flavins, Chapt. xxxv. § 10. 3*74 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book ly. every year. The majority of the Tribunes were elected by the people at the Comitia of the Tribes, and the remainder were nomi- nated by the Consuls of the year, the only limitation to such choice being that those elected or nominated should have served in the Legions at least five campaigns. The Centurions were then nomi- nated by the Tribunes, subject to the approval of the Consuls. No doubt the Tribunes and Consuls, for their own sake, would nomi- nate effective men : and therefore we should conclude, what we find to be the fact, that the Roman armies depended chiefly on their Centurions, and on those Tribunes who were nominated by the Consuls. § 8. This brief statement will sufficiently show that the Roman system, both in Army and State, was s trictly Republica n, that is, calculated to distl'iKute public offices to asmany citizens as possible, and to prevent power being absorbed by any single man or classes of men. There were no professed statesmen or officers, but there was a large number of men who had served for a time in each ca- pacity. There was no standing Army, but there was a good Militia. There was no regularly trained soldiery, but every citizen had served in his time several campaigns, and every one was some- thing of a soldier. It has often been objected that this system was hurtful on the one hand to the successful management of war and foreign aff"airs ; on the other hand destructive of that liberty which is necessary to trade and commerce. As to the latter point it may be admitted at once : the Roman institutions were not framed for the purpose of encouraging commercial pursuits. But military and political success would seem likely to be thwarted no less effectually by this fleeting tenure of office. If a Consul was pursuing his operations ever so successfully, he was liable to be superseded at the year's close by his successor in the Consul- ship : and this successor brought with him new soldiers and new officers ; everything, it would seem, had to be done over again. This was always felt in times of difficulty, and the con- stitutional usages were practically suspended. No Republic, hov/ever jealous, can rigidly carry out such a system: necessity will modify it in practice. During the Samnite Wars we find the same eminent men repeatedly elected to the Consulship, notwithstanding the provision that no man should hold this high office except at intervals of ten years. Valerius Corvus was first chosen Consul at three-and-twenty ; he held the office four times in fourteen years ; and, besides tliis, he often served as Dictator, as Praetor, and as Tribune of the Legions. The same remark, with slight alteration, may be made of Papirius Cursor, Publilius Philo, Fabius Maximus, Marcius Rex, and others, who Chap. XXXV SENATE AT CLOSE OF PUNIC WARS. 375 held the same sovereign office repeatedly at short intervals. It was not till after 300 b.c. that the ten years' law seems to have been enforced ; and before this time another plan had been devised to leave the conduct of any doubtful war in the hands of a General who had shown himself equal to the task. In the year 328 b.c. the Senate first assumed the power of decreeing that a Consul or Praetor might be continued in his command for several successive years, with the title of Proconsul or Pro- praetor, the power of these officers being, within their own dis- trict, equal to the power of the Consul or Praetor himself. The Proconsul also was allowed to keep part of his old army, and would of course continue his Tribunes and Centurions in office. The hope of booty and the desire to serve out their campaigns (foi after a certain number of campaigns served the legionary was exempt, even though he was much under forty-five years*) kept many soldiers in the field ; and thus the nucleus of a standing army was formed by each commander. In the Punic Wars the ten years' law was suspended altogether, and Proconsuls were ordered to remain in office for years together : almost all the great successes of Marcellus and Scipio were gained in Proconsular commands. § 9. But though the chief officers both in State and Army were continually changing at the popular will, there was a mighty power behind them, on which they were all dependent, which did not change. This was the Senate. The importance of this body can hardly be overstated. All the acts of the Roman Republic jfan in the name of the Senate and People, as if the Senate were half the state, though its number seems still to have been limited to Three Hundred members. The Senate of Rome was perhaps the most remarkable assem- bly that the world has ever seen. Its members held their seats for life ; once Senators always Senators, unless they were degraded for some dishonourable cause. But the Senatorial Peerage was not hereditary. No father could transmit the honour to his son. Each man must win it for himself. The manner in which seats in the Senate were obtained is tolerably well ascertained. Many persons will be surprised to learn that the members of this august body, all — or nearly all — owed their places to the votes of the people. In theory, indeed, the Censors still possessed the power really exercised by the Kings and early Consuls, of choosing. the Senators at their own will and pleasure. But official powers, however arbitrary, are * Such exempts were called Emeriti, — qui stipendia legitima fecissent. The number of campaigns required was 20 for the infantry, 10 for the cavalry. 376 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IY. always limited in practice ; and the Censors followed rules established by ancient precedent. A notable example of the rule by which the list of the Senate was made, occurs at a period when, if ever, there was wide room for the exercise of discretion. After the fatal days of Thrasymene and Canna?, it was found that to complete the just number of Senators, no less than one hundred and seventy were wanting. Two years were yet to pass before new Censors would be in office ; and to provide an extraordinary remedy for an extraordinary case, M. Fabius Buteo, an old Senator of high character, was named Dictator for the sole purpose of recruiting the vacant ranks of his Order. He thus discharged his duty. " After reciting the names of all sur- viving Senators, he chose as new members, first, those who had held Curule offices since the last Censorship, according to the order of their election ; then those who had served as ^diles, Tribunes, or Quaestors ; then, of those who had not held office, such as had decorated their houses with spoils taken from the enemy, or with crowns bestowed for saving the lives of fellow- citizens."* In the interval between two Censorships, that is in the course of five years, the number of Ex-Qusestors alone must have amounted to at least forty, and this was more than sufficient to fill the number of vacancies which would have occurred in ordinary times. The first qualification for a seat in the Senate then was that of Office. It is probable that to the qualification of office there was added a second, of Property. Such was certainly the case in later times. The Emperor Augustus fixed the property qualification of Senators at double that required of the Equestrian Order. And so early as the Hannibalic War, we have seen that Avhen all orders were required to contribute to- wards a fleet, the Senators were called upon to equip a larger number of seamen than the citizens of the First Class ;f a requisi- tion which seems absurd, unless Senators had been the wealthiest men in the State. A third limitation, that of Age, followed from the rule that the Senate was recruited from the lists of official per- sons. No one could be a Senator till he was about thirty years of age. Such is a sketch of the constitution of this great Council during the best times of the Republic. It formed a true Aristocracy. Its members, almost all, possessed the knowledge derived from the discharge of public office and from mature age. They were recommended to their places by popular election, and yet se- * WTien Appius the Censor transgressed the rule, new Censors were ap- pointed, to make out a list according to old custom. Y. Chapt. xxiv. § 15. f Chapt. xxxiii. § 5. Chap. XXXV. SENATE AT CLOSE OF PUNIC WARS. 377 cured from subserviency to popular will by the amount of their property. Forty or fifty Consulars at least, ten or twelve men to whom had been committed the delicate trusts belonging to the office of Censor, with a number of younger aspirants to these high objects of ambition, were to be counted in its ranks. It was not by a mere figure of speech that the minister of Pyrrhus called the Roman Senate " an Assembly of Kings." Many of its mem- bers had exercised Sovereign power; many were preparing to exercise it. I § 10. The power of the Senate was equal to its dignity. It absorbed into its ranks a large proportion of the practical ability of the community. It was a standing Council, where all official functions were annual. And thus it is but natural that it should engross the chief business of the State. First, in regard to Legislation, they exercised an absolute con- trol over the Centuriate Assembly, because no law could be sub- mitted to its votes which had not originated in the Senate ; and thus the vote of the Centuries could not do more than place a veto on a Senatorial Decree. In respect to the Legislation of the Tribe Assembly, their control was less authoritative ; but of this we will speak presently. In respect to Foreign Affairs, the power of the Senate was absolute, except in declaring war or concluding treaties of peace, — matters which were submitted to the votes of the People.* They assigned to the Consuls and Praetors their respective provinces of administration and command ; they fixed the amount of the troops to be levied every year from the list of Roman citizens, and of the contingents to be furnished by the Italian allies. They prolonged the command of a general or superseded him at pleasure. They estimated the sums neces- sary for the military chest ; nor could a sesterce be paid to the General without their order. If a Consul proved refractory, they could transfer his power for the time to a Dictator ; even if his success had been great, they could refuse him the honour of a Triumph. Ambassadors to foreign states were chosen by them and from them ; so were the frequent Commissions appointed for transacting business abroad, either in treating with foreign po- tentates, or settling the government of conquered countries. All disputes in Italy or beyond seas were referred to their sovereign arbitrement. In the administration of Home Affairs, all the regulation of * Declarations of "War were submitted to the Centuriate Assembly, treaties of Peace to the Tribes. See the commencement of the First Punic and Mace, donian wars (Chapt. xxviii. § 7, xxxix. § 12), and the treaties at the close of the First Punic and HannibaUc wars (Chapt. xxix. § 23, xxxiv. § 26). 378 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. religious matters was in their hands ; they exercised superinten- dence over the Pontiffs and other ministers of public worship. They appointed days for extraordinary festivals, for thanksgiving after victory, for humiliation after defeat. But, which was of highest importance, all the Financial arrangements of the State were left to their discretion. The Censors, at periods usually not exceeding five years in duration, formed estimates of annual out- lay, and provided ways and means for meeting these estimates; but always under the direction of the Senate. In all these matters, both of Home and Foreign administra- tion, their Decrees had the power of law. In times of difficulty they had the power of suspending all rules of law, by the appoint- ment of a Dictator, or by investing the Consuls with Dictatorial power. Besides these Administrative functions, they might resolve them- selves into a High Court of Justice for the trial of extraordinary offences. But in this matter they obtained far more definite authority by the Calpurnian Law, which about fifty years later established High Courts of Justice, in which Praetors acted as pre- siding judges, but the Senators were the Jury. It appears, then, that the Senate of Rome was not, like our Par- liament, a merely deliberative and legislative body, but a great Sovereign Council, controlling every branch of administration, and nearly all matters of legislation also. The Consuls and Praetors were its Ministers of Foreign and Home Affairs ; the Censors its Ministers of Finance ; the Quaestors its Treasurers and Paymasters; the ^diles its Superintendents of Police and Public Works. It was at the present time, and for many years later, the main-spring of the Roman Constitution. § 11. Our attention must now be directed to the two great Legislative Assemblies of the Roman People, well known respec- tively under the names af the Assembly of the Classes and Cen- turies, and the Assembly of the Tribes, which had now entirely superseded the ancient Patrician Assembly of the Curies. A description was given in a former page of the manner in which King Servius so organised the great Centuriate Assem- bly as to give the privilege of a vote to every citizen, yet so as to leave all real power in the hands of the wealthier classes. But at some time between the Decemvirate and the Second Punic War, a complete reform had been made in the organisation of Servius. When this was we know not.* Nor do we know the * Niebuhr and many others attribute the reform to the Censorship of Fabius and Decius (Chapt. xxiv. § 15). Others place it as late as the Censorship of C. Flaminius, only two years before Hannibal crossed the Alps. The~e is no evidence to justify pnjr positive conclusion. Chap. XXXY. POPULAR ASSEMBLIES. 379 precise nature of the reform. This only is certain, that the distribution of the whole people into Tribes was taken as the basis of division in the Centuriate Assembly as well as in the Assembly of the Tribes, and yet that the division into Classes and Centuries was still retained, as well as the division into Seniores and Juniores. The maintenance of this last division preserved the military character of this great Assembly ; the in^ Production of the Tribes as a basis of division gave it a more democratic character than before ; while the preservation of the Class system made it more aristocratic than the Tribe Assembly. In the absence of positive evidence, we may here give what is the most probable constitution of the Reformed Centuriate Assembly. It is assumed then, that the whole People was con- vened according to its division into thirty-five Tribes ; that in each Tribe, account was taken of the five Classes, arranged ac- cording to an ascending scale of property, which, however, had been greatly altered from that attributed to Servius ; and that in each Tribe each of the five Classes was subdivided into two Centuries, one of Seniores, or men between forty-five and sixty, one of Juniores, or men between eighteen and forty-five. On the whole, then, with the addition of eighteen Centuries of Knights, there would be 368 Centuries. This plan, though it allowed far less influence to wealth than the plan of Servius, would yet leave a considerable advantage to the richer classes. For it is plain that the two Centuries of the First Class in each Tribe would contain far fewer members than the two Centuries of the Second Class, those of the Second fewer than those of the Third, and all those of the first four together, probably, fewer than those of the Fifth. Yet these four Tribes having in all 240, or (with the Knights) 258 Centuries, would command an absolute majority; for the question was still decided not by the majority of persons, but by the majority of Centuries. § 12. While the Centuriate Assembly was becoming more popular in its constitution, a still more democratic body had come into existence, namely, the Assembly of the Tribes. . There can be no doubt that when the Centuriate Assembly was restored by the Patricians after the expulsion of Tarquin, it was intended to be the sole Legislative body. The more recent Legislative Assembly of the Tribes was a spontaneous growth of popular will, not contemplated by statesmen. The Tribe As- sembly, originally intended to conduct the business of the Ple- beian Order, gradually extended its power over the whole Body politic ; and its ordinances (Plebiscita) obtained all the force of laws. 380 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IT. It is in the history of the Tribunate that we trace the course of the insensible revolution which made the Assembly of Tribes the chief Legislative body in the State. The Tribunes were, as their name denotes, the Presidents and Ministers of the Tribes. They were originally invested with political authority for the purpose of protecting the persons of the Plebeians from the arbitrary punishments inflicted by the Patrician Magistrates. It was no doubt intended that this au- thority should be only suspensive, so as to prevent sudden acts of violence. But the Tribunes soon assumed the licence of standing between Plebeians and the law. Thus they established the celebrated right of Intercession, which in course of time they extended to all matters. They forbade trials, stopped elections, put a veto on the passing of laws. So far, however, their power was only negative. But when the Tribe Assembly obtained legislative rights, the Tribunes obtained a positive authority. The power of the Tribunes and of the Tribes implied each other. The Plebeian Assembly was dead without able and resolute Tribunes; the Tribunes were impotent without the democracy at their back. This relation was at once established when the election of the Tribunes was committed to the Tribes themselves. The Tribunes soon began to summon the Tribes to discuss political questions; and the formidable authority which they now wielded appeared in the overthrow of the Decemvirate and the recognition of the Tribe Assembly as a Legislative body. The political powers then gained by the Valerio-Horatian laws were confirmed and extended by the popular Dictators, Q. Publilius Philo and Q. Hortensius.* It is impossible to estimate the amount of con- cession made by each of these laws. All that can be determined is, that by these laws — all of them passed at the Centuriate Assembly — the Tribes were constituted by the side of the other Assembly as a complete and independent Legislative body, and that no person except a Tribune could introduce a measure for their approval. Before the first of these laws was passed, the votes of the Tribe Assembly were merely like the rules of a parish meeting, having no reference to the community at large. After these laws were conceded, the Plebiscita obtained the authority of law, and were binding on the whole community. For a long period, however, only the measures of the Centuriate Assembly were dignified with the name of Leges ; but in later times the name Lex was applied indiscriminately to the measures passed by both Assemblies. § 13. Thus the Roman Constitution presents us with the ap' * See Chapters x. § 22 ; xx. § 11 ; xxv. § 2. Ohap.XXXY, popular ASSEMBLIES. 381 parent anomaly of two distinct Legislative Assemblies, each independent of the other; for laws passed in the one did not require the sanction of the other, as is the case with our Houses of Parliament. Nor were any distinct provinces of action assigned respectively to each . This being so, we should expect to find the one clashing with the other ; to hear of popular laws emanating from the one body met with a counter-project from the other. But no such struggles are recorded. The only way in which it can be known that a particular law is due to the more popular or to the more aristocratic Assembly is by looking to the name of the mover, by which every law was designated. If the name be that of a Tribune, the law must be referred to the Tribe Assembly. If the name be that of a Consul, Praetor, or Dictator, the law must be referred to the Centuriate Assembly. What, then, were the causes which prevented collisions which appear inevitable ? § 14. First, it must be remembered that, though the Centuriate Assembly had been made more democratic, yet the Tribe As- sembly was very far indeed from a purely democratic body. In the latter, the suffrages were taken by the head in each of the thirty -five Tribes, and if eighteen Tribes voted one way, and seventeen another, the question was decided by the votes of the eighteen. But the eighteen rarely, if ever, contained an abso- lute majority of citizens. For the whole population of Rome, with all the Freedmen, were thrown into four Tribes only,* and if these four Tribes were in the minority, there can be no doubt that the minority of Tribes represented a majority of voters. Thus even in the more popular Assembly, there was not wanting a counterpoise to the will of the mere majority. § 15. A still more eflPective check to collision is to be found in the fact that all measures proposed to the Tribe Assembly by the Tribes, as well as the Centuriate Laws proposed by the Consuls or other Ministers of the Senate, must first receive the sanction of the Senate itself The few exceptions which occur are where Tribunes propose a Resolution granting to a popular Consul the Triumph refused by the Senate. But these exceptions only serve to prove the rule. § 16. Our surprise that no collision is heard of between the two Assemblies now takes another form, and we are led to ask how it came that, if all measures must be first approved by the Senate, any substantial power at all could belong to the Tribes ? It would seem that they also, like the Centuriate Assembly, could at most exercise only a veto on measures emanating from the great Council. * See Chapt. xxiv. § 15. 382 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IY. That tliis result did not follow, is due to the rude but formid- able counter-check provided bj the Tribunate. The persons of the Tribunes were inviolable ; but the Tribunes had power to place even Consuls under arrest. By the advance of their inter- cessory prerogative they gradually built up an authority capable of overriding all other powers in the State. It is plain that if the Senate and the Tribunes had both in- sisted on their respective rights of initiation and intercession, Legislation must have come to a standstill. But it was to the credit of all orders at Rome, that hitherto they had always agreed to a peaceful compromise. The Senate, by its very composition, contained men of widely different sentiments ; the Plebeians, as we have seen, obtained access to its ranks at an early period.* Its members were taken from the official lists, and official personages are never disposed to push matters to extremity. Old soldiers will maintain a position while it is defensible : when it ceases to be so, they make an honourable retreat. As in early times we find the Senate far more moderate than the hot Patrician party, who would have resisted the demands of the Plebeians at all hazards, so in a later age we shall see this experienced Council taking a middle course between the stiff conservative policy of the Nobility and the violence of the Democratic Leaders. On the other hand, the College of Tribunes, consisting of Ten Members, were seldom so unanimous as to be able to thwart the Senate with effect. We shall find that it was by divisions in the College that their formidable power was often broken. § 17. We are now better able to appreciate the position of the two Assemblies as Legislative Bodies. The Tribe Assembly was presided over by officers of its own choice, invested with autho- rity generally sufficient to extort from the Senate leave to bring in Laws of a popular character. No such power resided in the Presidents of the Centuriate Assembly : for the Consuls were little more than Ministers of the Senate. It was natural that the more energetic will of the popular leaders should exalt their own Assemblies ; and as two Legislative Assemblies could not coexist with full and independent powers, it was no less natural that the more aristocratic body should suffer decay. Between the time when the Tribes gained legislative power and the close of the Hannibalic War, there are recorded but eleven Centuriate Laws, and more than thirty which emanated from the Tribes. Even of these eleven, five were measures of compromise, which served to advance the authority of the Tribes. The Centuriate » Chapt. xii. § 8. OhaP. XXXV. POPULAR ASSEMBLIES. 383 Assembly more and more became a passive instrument in the hands of the Senate. The Tribe Assembly rose to be the real and sole organ of popular opinion. § 18. In other matters, the powers of the two Assemblies were more definitely marked and the limits better observed. In -Elections, the Centuriate Assembly always retained the right of choosing the chief Officers of State, the Consuls, the Praetors, and the Censors. The Tribe Assembly, originally, elected only their own Tribunes and the Plebeian JEdiles. But' in no long time they obtained the right of choosing also the Curule ^diles, the Quaestors, the great majority of the Legionary Tribunes, and all inferior Officers of State. But as the Centuries were, generally, obliged to elect their Praetors and Consuls out of those who had already been elected Qusestors and ^diles by the Tribes, it is manifest that the elective power of the former was controlled and over-ridden by the latter. In conferring extraordinary commands, such as that of Scipio in Spain, the Tribes were always consulted, not the Centuries. § 19. In regard to Jurisdiction, it has before been noticed that Rome was tender of the personal liberties of her citizens. Various Laws of x\ppeal provided for an open trial before his peers of Any one charged with grave off'ences, such as would subject him to stripes, imprisonment, or death.* Now the Centuries alone formed a High Court of Justice for the trial of citizens ; the Tribe Assembly never achieved this dangerous privilege. But the peculiar nature of the Tribunician power ofi"ered to the chief officers of the Tribes a ready means of interference. They used their right of intercession, occasionally, to prevent any trial from taking place, and thus screened real off'enders from justice. But more frequently they acted on the off'ensive. There was a merciful provision of the law of Rome, by which a person liable to a state-prosecution might withdraw from Italian soil at any time before his trial, and become the citizen of some allied city, such as Syracuse or Pergamus. But the Tribunes sometimes threw culprits into prison before trial, as in the case of App. Claudius the Decemvir and his father. Or, after a culprit had sought safety in voluntary exile, they proposed a* Bill of Outlawry, by which he was " interdicted from fire and water" on Italiau soil, and all his goods were confiscated. Offending Magistrates were also fined heavily, without trial, by special Plebiscita, which rasembled the Bills of Attainder so familiar to the reader of English history. These encroachments of the Tribunes were met by other iin- * Chapt. xi. § 4. ^t^ ROME AND CARTHAGE. 3ook IT. constitutional measures on the part of the Senate. To bar the action of the Tribunes and to suspend the Laws of Appeal, they at one time had constant recourse to Dictatorial appointments. Ten years after the nomination of Dictators had been solemnly prohibited by the Valerio-Horatian Laws (449 b.c.) Cincinnatus approved the act of Ahala, who had struck down the popular champion Q. Mselius in the Forum. In the following 237 years the Fasti supply the names of 65 Dictators, of whom no fewer than 37 appear in the 67 years next after the Licinian Laws. Three of these are expressly said to ha\e been named for the purpose of quelling sedition.* But it must be remembered that of those appointed for special military service,f many used their power to overawe the Plebeian leaders. It is a complaint constantly put by Livy into the mouths of the Tribunes, that Dictators were appointed nominally to carry on war, but really for a very different purpose ; nor indeed is it conceivable that so many emergencies should have occurred requiring the special action of an irresponsible magistrate. But these contests slackened at the time of the Samnite Wars. Dictators were ?\gain named, hilt for real service, in the desperate conflict of thft Punic Wars. After that none are heard of till the time of Sylla. We shall find, however, that in critical times the Senate as-r suraed the right of investing the Consuls with dictatorial power. And the dispute about jurisdiction over the persons of citizens assum^^d a new form when the Calpurnian I aw, already noticed, transferred the power of trying all grave offences from the Centuries to Juries of the Senate under the presidency of the Prsetor. § 20. It must not here be forgotten that of late years circum- stances had greatly exalted the power of the Senate and propor- tionally diminished the power of the Tribunes. In great wars, especially such as threaten the existence of a community, the voice of popular leaders is little heard. Reforms are forgotten. Agitation ceases. Each man applies his energies to avert present danger, rather than to achieve future improvements. During the Samnite Wars, scarcely one Tribunician law is recorded in the Annals : but no sooner is the peril overpast than the Ogulnian Law opens the Augurate to the Plebeians. During the first Punic War, the Forum is silent : but no sooner is it ended than we are struck by the appearance of a leader of the Commons, bold, resolute, and accomplished. This was C. Flaminius. In 232 * Sedandce seditionis causa. \ Rei gerendce causa. The third cause for appointing Dictators was clavi figendi caitsd^ — to drive a nail into the door-post of the Temple of Jupiter, as a rude way of keeping count of the years. Chap. XXXV. INCREAgEB POWER OF SENATE. 385 B.C., being Tribune, he proposed an Agrarian Law to distribute the lands taken from the Boians and Insubrians to a large number of Colonists; and notwithstanding the opposition of the Senate, the colonies of Placentia and Cremona were founded. In the memorable year in which Hannibal crossed the Alps, Flaminius was Consul-elect, and under his auspices the Tribune Claudius obliged the Senate to consent to a law by which Senators were prohibited from engaging in commercial pursuits. Nor did the popular spirit evoked by this man die till after the great battle of Cannse. His own election and that of Terentius Varro were directly contrary to the wisher of the Senate ; and the measure by which Fabius was obliged to share his imperial power with Minucius his Master of the Horse, was a Plebiscitum proposed by a Tribune. Even after Cannae, the Tribune Oppius forced the Senate to consent to a sumptuary law. But after this, the Senate under the leading of old Fabius Cunctator ruled abso- lutely for several years. Even elections to the Consulate, which he deemed inopportune, were set aside, — a thing without pre- cedent in Roman constitutional history. Fabius was at length superseded by young Scipio, who in his turn became absolute, and at the close of the war might have made himself Dictator, had he been so pleased. At present, popular spirit had fallen asleep. Constitutional opposition there was none. The Senate seemed likely to retain in peace the power which war had neces- sarily thrown into their hands. H MifiFiTiliTiTiTiTifiMililiMillfiTI! Temple of Saturn. CHAPTER XXXYI. THE PROVINCES AND FINANCES. § 1. Provincial and Italian Communities. § 2. Our knowledge chiefly drawn from Sicily. § 3. Condition of the Sicilian Cities after the Second Punic "War. § 4. General principles of Provincial Government : sLmilarity of Provincial Towns to Italian. § 5. Difference, chiefly consisting in Taxa- tion : Jus Italicum. § 6. Treasury. § T. Ordinary Revenues. § 8. Extraordinary Tax on Property levied for war expenses. § 9. Not suffi- cient for expenses of Second Punic War : Loans, Contracts paid in paper- money: nature of these advances: soon repaid. § 10. The War Tax itself repaid: finally abolished. § 11. How far Italians contributed to war expenses : reasons for their patience. § 1 2. System of Taxation and Tax-gathering in the Provinces. § 13. Corrupt adrhinistration of Pro- vincial Grovernment. § 1. After this general view of the manner in which the dif- ferent elements of the Roman Constitution were roughly welded into a sort of unity, we must give some account of the Imperial relations subsisting between Rome and her subjects at the be- Chap. XXXVI. PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT. 387 ginning of the second century before the Christian Era, and especially of the way in which the expenses of government were defrayed. In speaking of the subjects of the great Republic, the Latin and Italian Allies are not included. What has been said of them in a former Chapter will show the justice of this distinction. It is true, indeed, that all the ItaHans were not Allies; for the Prefectures and some small communities were strictly subject. Nor were all the Provincial communities sub- ject ; for a favoured few were left in a condition as independent as any Italian city. But, as a general rule, the Italian Com- munities were allied, the Provincial communities were subject. § 2. At the close of the Hannibalic War, Rome was in pos- session, nominally, of five Provinces, Sicily, Sardinia, the Gallic coast of Umbria (then called the Province of Ariminum), with Hither and Further Spain. But of these, Sardinia and the Spains were almost to be conquered again ; and Gallic Umbria was shortly after absorbed into Italy, while the magnificent dis- trict between the Alps and the Gulf of Genoa became the Pro- vince of Gaul. Sicily was the only Province as yet constituted on a solid foundation. To Sicily, therefore, we will confine our remarks ; a course which is further recommended by the fact that we are better informed with regard to Sicily than with regard to any other of the foreign possessions of the Republic. § o. We must call to mind that, in speaking of Sicily as of Italy, we are not to think of the country as a whole, but as broken up into a number of Civic Communities, each being more or less isolated from the rest. It was Roman policy to en- courage this isolation, but in Sicily no encouragement was needed. Sicily, like Greece Proper, had long been divided into numerous small States, sometimes Republican, sometimes subject to Tyrants, but always full of jealousy towards each other, and often in a state of war. Strong rulers, like Dionysius the Elder, might for a season unite the greater part of the island under the supremacy of Syracuse; but as soon as the coercive force of military despotism was removed, disruption followed. At tho close of the First Punic War, when the Romans had expelled tho Carthaginians from the island, the greater part of " t was formea into a Province ; while the kingdom of Hiero, consisting of Syra- cuse with six dependent communities,* was received into free alliance with Rome. But in the Second Punic War, Syracuse and all Sicily was reconquered by Marcellus and Laevinus, and the form of the Provincial Communities was altered. The cities of Sicily were now divided into three classes. First, there were * Acrae, Leontini, Megara, Helorum, Netum, Tauromenium. 388 EOME AND GARTH AGE. Book IT. those cities whicli had been taken by siege : these, twenty -six in number, were mulcted of their territory, which became part of the public land of Rome ;* their former citizens had perished in war, or had been sold as slaves, or were living as serfs on the soil which they had formerly owned. Secondly, there were a large number of Communities, thirty-four in all, which retained the fee-simple of their land, but were burthened with payment of a tithe of corn, wine, oil, and other produce, according to a rule established by Hiero in the district subject to Syracuse.f Thirdly, there were eight Communities left independent, which were, like the Italians, free from all imposts, except certain military services. These states were all left in possession of what we should call Municipal institutions ; they had the right of self-government in all local matters, with popular assemblies and councils, such as were common in Greek communities. But all were subject to the authority of a governor, sent from Rome, with the title of Praetor, whose business it was to adjudicate in all matters where the interests of Rome or of Roman citizens were concerned, and, above all, to provide for the regular payment of the imposts. In Sicily, which in those days was a well-cultivated and produc- tive country, this department was so important, that the Praetor was assisted by two Quaestors, one stationed at Syracuse, the other at Lilybseum. § 4. This brief statement will show the principles of Roman Provincial government. Communities which, during the War of Conquest, had joined the invaders at once or at a critical point in the war, were left free from all ordinary and annual imposts. Cities that were taken by force became, with their territory, the absolute property of Rome. Between these extremes there was a large class, which retained full possession of their lands, and complete local independence, but were subject to the payment of yearly imposts to the imperial treasury, which were levied on the produce of their land. All alike were obliged to contribute towards the expenses of the Praetor's court and government. In the formation of the numerous Provinces which were con- quered in the next eighty years, the same principles were fol- lowed. But it is probable that there was a greater uniformity in the condition of the various communities. In many of the ^Provinces there seem to have been no large portions of public land, as in Sicily : while, on the other hand, the States both * Therefore called Civitates Censor ice. f Of these, three were allied cities, Civitates Federates, Messana, Tauro meniura, Netum, ; five were free without any special treaty of alliance. Civitates Liheroe ei immunes, Centuripa, Alesa, Segesta, Panormus, Halicyae, Chap. XXXVI. REVENUES OF ROME. 389 in independence and alliance seem also to have been less nume- rous. In a general way, the administration of each Province much resembled that of Italy itself. The Prefectures, Municipia, and allied States of Italy correspond very nearly to the three conditions of Provincial Communities above noticed ; the prin- ciple of administration was, generally, internal independence under the control of the central government of the Senate. In Italy, the Senate acted through the Consuls or Praetor resident at Rome ; in the Provinces, through the Praetors or Proconsuls deputed to conduct the government there. § 5. There were, however, some important particulars, in which the constitution of Italy differed from the constitution of the Pro- vinces. In the Provinces, as we have said, the free and allied Communities formed the exceptions. Nor was it, till long after the present time, the practice to found Colonies out of Italy. But there was one yet more important distinction. It was a general rule that all Italian land was tax-free ; and that all Pro- vincial land, except such as was specified in treaties or in Decrees of the Senate, was subject to tax. This rule was so absolute, that the exemption of land from taxation was known by the technical name of Jus Italicum or the Right of Italy. This last distinction implies that the Imperial revenues were raised chiefly from the Provinces. In the course of little more than thirty years from the close of the Hannibalic War, this was actually the case. We will take this opportunity of giving a brief account of the different sources from which the revenues of Rome were raised. § 6. The Imperial Treasury of Rome was in the ancient Temple of Saturn, situated at the end of the Forum beneath the Capitol, of which three stately columns still remain to attest the magni- ficence with which it was restored by the Emperor Severus. Here the two Quaestors of the city deposited all the moneys re- ceived on account of the State. No disbursements could be made without an order from an officer duly authorised by the Senate. For the moneys received, the Quaestors also had to account to the Senate. The sources of receipt were two-fold, ordinary and extraordinary. § 7. The Ordinary Revenues consisted of the proceeds and rent of public property, custom-duties, tolls, and the like, and the tax levied on Provincial lands. The property of the State was, as has often been noticed, very large. Much of the public land, however, had been distributed to colonies, and the rent received for the rest seems to have been small. Yet the quantity of undistributed land in Italy and Sicily was so great, that it must have yielded a considerable re- 390 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book ir. venue. Besides this, the fisheries, with all mines and quarries, were considered public property. Even the manufacture of salt was a State monopoly from the Censorship of M. Livius, who thenceforth bore the name of Salinator, or the Salt-maker. It is fair to state, however, that this monopoly was intended to keep salt at a lower price than it could be manufactured by private enterprise, and therefore, though it might be a mistake, the Senate is not properly chargeable with the odium of raising re- venue from one of the first necessaries of life, as was the practice in France before the Revolution, and as has remained the practice in India to the present day. Besides these rents and monopolies, custom-duties were levied on certain kinds of goods, both exports and imports, and tolls were demanded for passengers' and goods carried by canals or across bridges and ferries.* There was also an ad valorem duty of five per cent, imposed on the manumission of slaves. This was not carried to the account of the year, but laid by as a reserve-fund, not to be used except in great emergencies. The revenue derived from the Provincial Land-tax was only beginning to be productive, but in a few years it formed the chief income of the Republic. § 8. It appears that for the Civil government of the Republic the Ordinary Revenues were found sufficient. The current ex- penses, indeed, were small. The Italian and Provincial Commu- nities defrayed the expenses of their own administration. Rome herself, as we have said, claimed the services of her statesmen and administrators without paying them any public salaries. In time of war, however, the Ordinary Revenues failed, and to meet the expenses of each year's campaign an Extraordinary Tax was levied as required. This was the Tributum or Property- tax. Its mode of assessment marks its close association with war-expenses. We have seen above that the whole arrangement of the Centuriate Assembly was military. Not the least im- portant of these was the Census or Register of all citizens, arrangad according to their age and property. It was made out by the Censors at intervals of five years, and served during the succeeding period as the basis of taxation. The necessities of each year determined the amount to be levied. It was usually one in a thousand, or one-tenth per cent.f The Senate had the * These dues {portoria, as they were called) were extended to each Pro- vince as it was formed, and were abolished in Italy in the year 60 B.C. f This was the simplex tributum. The word tributum was used because this war-tax was collected in each tribe, according to the assessment of tha Censors. The tribe-ofi&cers who collected it were the Tribuni Aerarii Chap. XXXYL TAXES AND LOANS. 391 power of calling for this payment. It was this " power of the purse" which, in time of war, enabled them to play so great a part. No people can control its government effectually, unless it has the right of taxing itself. § 9. In the Second Punic War this tax was quite insufficient to meet the expenses. Once it was doubled.* But at length it became necessary to call on wealthy individuals to furnish sea- men, and to advance money by way of loan ; and contracts were formed with commercial companies to furnish stores and clothing for the army, in return for which they received orders on the Treasury payable at some future time.f The obligations thus contracted were not left as a national debt ; though the Hanni- balic War was so entirely a struggle for existence, that it might well have justified the Senate in laying part of the load upon posterity by the expedient Avhich has been so much abused in modern times. But probably this expedient was not thought of. Those who made advances to the State without prospect of immediate payment, did so on speculation. If Rome pre- vailed, they were sure not to lose. If she fell, the practice of ancient warfare made it certain that they would lose all they had. The advancement of money or goods, therefore, was rather an act of prudent policy, than of extraordinary patriotism. The first and chief contributors were the Senators, who had much to lose and all to gain. No doubt, those who gave freely and without interest deserved well of their country. But, in serving the State they also served themselves. The whole con- cerns of the State, formed a great joint-stock company : every man had an interest in success and failure. We find, accord- ingly, that the first instalment of repayment was made in the year 204 B.C., immediately after the submission of Carthage ; the second and third at successive intervals of four years.J; § 10. But here it must be observed that the w^ar-tax itself in some degree resembled a compulsory loan. It was a forced con- tribution to the necessities of the State ; but it was repaid, in whole or in part, on the successful completion of the war. The soldiers who survived battles won or towns captured, seldom failed to gain a large share of booty. The greater portion, how- ever, was sold, and the money received paid into the Treasury, while the expenses of the war were in whole or in part charged upon the conquered people. From these funds which may be "considered as another source of extraordinary revenue, it seems to have been the practice to repay the sums raised by way of * Duplex tributum imperatum (Liv. xxiii. 31). f Chapt. xxxiii. § 4. | Liv. xxix. 15; xxxL 13; xxxiil 42. 392 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book TV. property-tax during the war.* At length, in the year 16*7 b.c, we shall find that the payments exacted from the Provincials became so large that the Senate was enabled to dispense with extraordinary taxes altogether ; and thus the ordinary revenues sufficed for the expenses of all future wars, as well as for the civil administration. § 11. When it is said that the Italian allies were free from Land-tax, it must not be supposed that they escaped all taxation. Roman land was free from direct taxation except when the Tri- butum or war-tax was levied. So, also, the allied Communities of Italy, the Municipia and Colonies, were free from all direct burthens, except in time of war. Then each Community was required, according to a scale furnished by its own Censor, to supply contingents of soldiery to the Roman army, such contin- gents bearing a proportion to the number of legions levied by the Romans themselves in any given year. The Italian soldiery were fed by Rome ; but their equipments and pay were provided at the expense of their own States : and therefore it is plain that every Italian Community was indirectly subject to a war-tax. But though these Communities suffered the burthens of war like Rome, they did not like Rome profit by war. The Roman Trea- sury repaid taxes raised for the conduct of war. But such re- payment was confined to Romans. The soldiers of the Latin and Italian towns might obtain ""heir share of booty ; but their citi- zens at home had no hope of repayment. Moneys paid into the Roman 1'reasury were applicable to Roman purposes only. The Italians, though they shared the danger and the expense, were not allowed to share the profit. Here was a fertile field for dis- content, which afterwards bore fatal fruits. In the Hannibalic War Italians, as well as Romans, were fighting for house and home ; and if, in the last years, the genius of Scipio enriched the Treasury by conquest, the Italians were too thankful for deliverance from the invader to think of claiming equality with Rome. But in the wars which fol- lowed, when their citizens were carried beyond seas and detained for years far from home, when their blood and treasure, poured out as profusely as the blood and treasure of Roman citizens, only served to bring glory and profit to Rome, it is less won- derful that disaftection should have arisen, than that it should have been delayed so long. It was more than a century from the close of the Hannibalic War before the Italians in arm^ * Says Livy (xxxix. *7) " A decree was made that from the moneys paid into the Treasury after the triumph (of 187 B.C.), repayment should be made of that portion of the soldiers' pay contributed by the people which had not been repaid already. " Chap. XXXYI. MODE OF COLLECTING TAXES. 393 demanded to be placed on an equal footing with the citizens of Rome. § 12. In the Provinces, on the other hand, little military service was required ; but direct imposts were levied instead. This system was itself galling and onerous. It was as if Eng- land were to defray the expenses of her own administration from the proceeds of a tax levied upon her Indian Empire. But the system was made much worse by the way in which the taxes were collected. This was done by contract. Every five years the taxes of the Provinces were put up to public auction ; and that company of contractors which outbade the rest would receive the contract. The Farmers of the Taxes, therefore, oftered to pay a certain sum to the Imperial Treasury for the right of collecting the taxes and imposts of Sicily, gave security for payment, and then made what profit they could out of the taxes collected. The members of these companies were called Publicani, and the Farmers-general, or chiefs of the companies, bore the name of Mancipes. It is manifest that this system off'ered a premium on extortion ; for the more the tax-collectors could wring from the Provincials, the more they would have for themselves. The extortions incident to this system form a principal topic in the Provincial history of Rome. § 13. If the Roman Governors had done their duty, it is pro- bable that the extortions of the Tax-gatherers might have been prevented, or limited within a narrow circle. The system of Pro- vincial governments, as above stated, sounds fair. Local indepen- dence, subject to the general control of a central authority, is the ideal of government. But, unfortunately, the fairness of the sys- tem was more in the sound than the reality. The Proconsuls and Praetors exercised an authority virtually despotic. They were Sena- tors, and were responsible to the Senate alone. It may too surely be anticipated what degree of severity a close corporation, like the Senate, would exercise towards its own members in times when communication with the Provinces was uncertain and diflScult, when no one cared for the fate of foreigners, when there was no press to give tongue to public opinion, and, indeed, no force of public opinion at all. Very soon, the Senatorial Proconsuls found it their interests to support the tax-gatherers in their extortions, on condition of sharing in the plunder ; and one party played into the hand of the other. Thus, the Provincial government of the Republic became in practice an organised system of oppression, calculated to enrich fortunate Senators, and to provide them with the means of buying the sufi'rages of the people or of discharging the debts incurred in buying them. The name of Proconsul be- came identified with tyranny and greed. 17* of Aqueduct at Rome. CHAPTER XXXVII SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. MANNERS RELIGION LITERATURE ART. § 1. The Third Century before Christ the Golden Age of Rome. § 2. The Towns chiefly peopled by the Nobles and their dependents : § 3, the Country by the Yeomen : their condition in these times. § 4. Excess of population relieved by Home Colonies. § 5. Increase in the number of Slaves by conquest: their social condition. § 6. Common practice of setting Slaves free. § V. Condition of the Freedmen: Rustic and Civic Tribes. § 8. Family Hfe of Romans : Marriage : paternal authority. § 9 Religion: its influence on morality. § 10. Superstitious practices. § 11. No faith or humanity towards Foreigners. § 12. The Language of Rome quite formed aft;er First Punic "War: versification. § 13. Native Literature of Rome Hellenized by the conquest of Magna Grsecia. § 14. M. Livus Andronicus the first HeUenizing writer. § 15. Cn. Naevius: his opposition to Hellenism. § 16. Q. Ennius secures the ascendency of HeUenizing Literature. § 17. Prose "Writers. § 18. Early specimens of Roman Art: due to the Grseco-Etruscan artists. §19- P"re Greek Art "introduced aft;er conquest of Magna Graecia. § 20. Slow progress in the mechanical Arts, § 21, l^udeuess of bouses, agriculture, &Ci § 22, Chap. IXKYlt GOLDEN AGJE OP flOMjE. 3^5 Architecture: greatness of the Komans as engineers and builders. § 23. Use of the Arch. § 24. Attention to sanatory rules at Rome. § 25. Tunnels. § 26. Conclusion with respect to Roman Character. § 1. The age of which we have been treating, from the Samnite War to the close of the Punic Wars, was always considered by the Romans, and is still considered by their admirers, to have been the golden age of the Republic. There is a tendency in every nation to look back with fond regret to the " good old times." Frenchmen, after all their revolutions, still love the gallantry and popular sympathies of their Fourth Henry; and English- men, perhaps with better reason, are still proud of the age of " good Queen Bess." Modern historians have laboured to dispel illusions, by holding up a dark picture of the social condition of such times, and by contrasting the comforts and luxuries which we enjoy with the rudeness and filth in which former generations were content to live. Reasonings of this kind are more appli- cable to people dwelling in a climate like our own than to those who live under the sky of Italy. In Italy, so great a part of life is spent in the open air, that many of our comforts or necessaries are to her people superfluous. On the other hand, in many countries and ages which we call uncivilised, there is found a genuine simplicity of thought and manners, which give them some unquestionable advantages. This simplicity, which Horace, no depredator of cultivated life, found and loved in his Sabine valley, when Rome was in the depth of corruption, still lingers in retired parts of Italy, and was at that time to be found within sight of the walls of Rome. A people which handed down the legends of Cincinnatus, Curius, Fabricius, Regulus, can hardly not have practised the thrift and honesty which they admired. The characters are no doubt idealised ; but they may be taken as types of their times. In the Roman country dis- tricts, and still more in the Apennine valleys, the habits of life were no doubt simple, honest, and perhaps rude, of Sabine rather than of Hellenic character, the life of countrymen rather than of dwellers in the town § 2. It has been remarked that the Italians, like the Greeks, must be regarded as members of Cities or Civic Communities. But the walled towns which were the centres of each com- munity were mostly the residence of the chief men and their dependents and slaves, while the mass of the free citizens were dispersed over the adjoining country district, dwelling on their own farms, and resorting to the town only to bring their produce to market or to take their part in the political business transacted at the general assemblies. Such was the case at Rome in early 396 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. times. The great patrician lords with their families dwelt in strong houses or castles on the Capitoiine, Palatine, and Quirinal Hills, while their clients thronged the lower parts adjacent. As the Plebeians increased in wealth and power, their great men established themselves at first upon the Cselian and Aventine, and afterwards indiscriminately on all the Hills. We may judge of the importance attached to these castle-like mansions by the fact, that when a man became too powerful or incurred the suspicion of the ruling party, one chief part of his punishment was that his house should be levelled with the ground. Such was the sentence laid upon the popular leaders Sp. Mselius and M. Manlius by the aristocratic Tribunals. And this was the reason which induced Valerius Publicola to avert jealousy by shifting the situation of his new house from the Velian ridge to lower ground. Suspicion prevailed on both sides. The Pa- . tricians could not brook to see fortresses in the hands of popular leaders ; the Plebeians dreaded the Patrician mansions as the strongholds of oppression, and the prisons of unhappy debtors. § 3. In the country districts of Rome the greater part of the land was still in the hands of small proprietors, who tilled their own lands by the aid of their sons and sons-in-law. In the earliest times the dimensions of these Plebeian holdings were incredibly small, — an allotment being computed at not more than 2 jugera (about 1^^ acres). Even with very fertile soil and unre- mitting labour, such a piece of land could barely maintain a family. But to eke out the produce of their tilled lands, every free citizen had a right to feed a certain number of cattle on the common pastures at the expense of a small payment to the State ; and in this way even a large family might live in rude abundance. In no long time, however, the plebeian allotments were increased to 7 jugera (about 4^ acres) ; and this increase of tilled lands indicates a corresponding improvement in the habits and comforts of the people,-— an improvement attributed, as all benefits conferred on the Plebeians in early times were attributed, to King Sarvius. And this long remained the normal size of the small properties then so common in the Roman district.* As long as the border wars with the ^quians and Volscians lasted, tillage must have been constantly interrupted. The yeo- manry of the Roman district must have been much in the condition of the English and Scottish borderers a century ago*, their hands must have been as well used to the sword and spear as to the spade or hoe. And even when war was re- moved to a distance from Rome, the farmer and his sons must * See Chapt. xxv. § 2. Chap. XXXVII. PROSPERITY AFTER SAMNITE WARS. 397 have been often summoned from their field labours to serve in the militia called out for service in the year. Yet the inconvenience cannot have been great. The allotments were still small : the severe labours of digging or ploughing were over before the year's campaign opened : and the lighter toils of hoeing and weeding, and even of reaping, could be performed by the sturdy wife and boys whom the soldier left behind ; or, if the sons were ripening to manhood, one of them would take the place of the good man in the legions. The cattle on the public pastures only needed a boy to drive them afield and bring them home. In the times that followed the Samnite Wars, it may be assumed that the Romans and Italians generally enjoyed a condition of great material prosperity. The farm and public pasture pro- duced all that the family required, — not only food, but flax and wool, which the matron and her daughters dressed and spun and wove, wood and stone for building and farm implements, every- thing except metals and salt, which were (as we have seen) state monopolies. § 4. But a golden age generally comes to an end with increase of population. Mouths to be fed multiply ; the yeomen sell their little farms and emigrate, or become satisfied with a lower scale of living as hired labourers. The Swiss have long poured a tide of emigrants into various parts of the world. The French are beginning to feel the evil of excessive division of land. But the Romans had a remedy for these evils in a home colonisation. The immense quantity of public land in the hands of the State, with the necessity of securing newly-conquered districts of Italy, led to the foundation of numerous Colonies between the Samnite and Punic Wars, and extended the means of material wellbeing to every one who was willing and able to work ; and this not only for Romans, but for Latins and others who were invited to become citizens of the colony. § 5. If, however, the superfluous sons of families settled on lands in Samnium, or Apulia, or Cisalpine Gaul, others musLhave lost these lands ; and the question naturally occurs, — What had become of these people ? This question brings us to the worst point in ancient society, — that is. Slavery. It was the practice of ancient nations to regard all conquered persons as completely in the light of booty as cattle or lifelesc goods. If indeed the enemy surrendered without a blow, they became subjects. But those who were taken after a struggle were for the most part sold into slavery. Barbarians were con- sidered even by philosophers as only created to be slaves to civilised people. In early times this evil was small. Nor was it to be expected 398 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IT. that the small proprietors could afford either to buy or to main- tain slaves. They were acquired by the rich Patricians and Plebeians, who held large tracts of public land, or who had acquired large estates of their own. Before the Decemvirate, their debtors were their slaves. But this custom had been long- abolished, and it was conquest which supplied slaves to the rich. After the conquest of Samnium, 36,000 persons are said to have been sold. After the reduction of Cisalpine Gaul and Sicily, still larger numbers were brought to the hammer. These were the wretches on whose lands the poorer sort of Roman citizens settled. The slaves may generally be divided into two great classes, the Urban or City Slaves, and those of the Country. They had no civil rights; they could not contract legal marriage^ they had no power over their own children; they could hold nopi-o- perty in their own name ; their very savings were not their own, but held by consent of their master;* all law proceedings ran in the name of their masters. For crimes committed, they were tried by the public courts ; and the masters were held liable for the damage done, but only to the extent of the slave's value. To kill, maim, or maltreat a slave, was considered as damage to his master, and could only be treated as such. No pain or suffering inflicted on a slave was punishable, unless loss had thereby accrued to the owner. But human nature is too strong always to fulfil conditions so cruel. There is no doubt that the slaves of the household were often treated with kindness ; often they became the confidential advisers of their masters. The steward or bailiff of a rich man's estate, his Villicus, was a person of considerable power. Still the mass of the slaves, especially the agricultural slaves, were treated as mere cattle. Some poor drudges were the slaves of other slaves, such ownership being allowed by the masters. Cato recommends to sell off old and infirm slaves, so as to save the expense of keeping live lumber. Englishmen feel a pang at seeing a fine horse consigned in his old age to the drivers of public carriages; but Romans wasted no such sympathy on slaves who had spent their lives and strength in culti- vating their lands. Notwithstanding the better treatment of the house-slaves, the humane Cicero reproached himself with feeling too much sorrow for one who had been for years his tried and faithful servant. It was in the next half-century, however, that slaves increased so much in Italy as to produce great effect upon the social condition of the people. At present the evil was only in its beginning. * PecuUum (i. e. pecuniolum) was the name of such savings. Chap. XXXVIL SLAVES AND FREEDMEN. 399 § 6. Here it must be remarked that, in the times of the Re- public, the practice of giving liberty to slaves was very common. Whether it was that the Romans made the discovery that slave- labour is less profitable than the labour of free men working for wages, it is certain that Freedmen became so numerous that restrictions were placed upon manumission by law. The pros- pect of freedom as a reward for good conduct must have done much to prevent Roman bondsmen from sinking into that state of animal contentment and listless indiff'erence which marks the negro slaves of our own times. § 7. We have seen that, before the close of the Samnite Wars, the proud Patrician, App. Claudius, had conceived the plan of forming out of the Freedmen a political body devoted to himself,* and that his scheme was frustrated by the succeeding Censors, Fabius and Decius, who threw them into the Four City Tribes, so that after the Tribes had reached their highest number of Thirty-five (in 241 b.c), the votes of the Freedmen only availed in the proportion of four to thirty-one. These Freedmen, however, filled no mean space in Roman society. Among them were to be found able and well-educated men, who had held a high station in their native country, and often obtained great influence over the minds of their masters. Freedmen exercised most branches of retail trade, and formed the shopkeepers and petty traders and artizans of Rome : for Roman citizens, however poor, could in early times condescend to no business except that of agriculture. Rich men carried on trades by means of their slaves and freedmen; in later times Freedmen often worked as artists under some Patrician roof, and many of the early poets were Freedmen. Here then we trace the beginning of a great distinction, that afterwards was more strongly fnarked, between the population of the city and the population of the country, — between the Rustic and the Civic Tribes. § 8. At the time of which we write, a patriarchal rule prevailed in the family. In early ages the refusal of the Patricians to recognise any right of legal marriage between themselves and the Plebeians must have frequently led to illicit connexions. But this unnatural severance between the Orders was the first to give way; and after the Canuleian Law, the simple marriage-rite of the Plebeians was held equally binding upon all as the more solemn vows of the Patrician form.f It is a noteworthy fact, * Chapt. xxiv. § 6-15. f If two Plebeians lived together for a year, this was enough to constitute Matrimonium. But the union of Patricians required certain religious rites, called Confarreatio. 400 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. that Sp. Carvilius was the first person who put away his wife, and that the first example of divorce occurs as late as the year 231 B.C. This observance of marriage as a sacred bond is striking. From it was derived the pure and lofty character of the ancient Roman Matron. At Rome it was not by clever and fascinating courtesans, such as Aspasia and Thais, but by wives and mothers, such as Lucretia and Volumnia of the legends, such as Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi in actual history, that noble wishes nnd heroic thoughts were inspired into the hearts of the men. The chastity and frugality of the women found an answer in the temperance and self-devotion of the men. This is the more remarkable, since by the Roman law married women had no personal rights : they were subject to their husbands as absolutely as if they had been slaves. The same patriarchal power belonged to the father over his children, unless he thought fit to emancipate them, a process which was conducted with the same forms as the manumission of a slave. It was a terrible power ; yet we seldom hear of its being abused. Such a system no doubt prevented all gentleness of filial love. The old Romans had but one word — pietas — to ex- press the veneration due from children to parents and from men to gods. But the sterner exercise of parental authority, with the general purity of morals, preserved youth from that wild intem- perance, both of action and thought, which has often injured nations. It is impossible to read without admiration Cicero's description of the house of old Appius the Censor. " Blind and old as he was, he held dominion over four strong sons, five daughters, and a crowd of clients. His mind was always ready strung, like a bow : nor did he give way to the feebleness of age. He ruled his dependents with sovereign power, feared by his slaves, respected by his children, beloved by all. Such, in his house, was the power of ancient custom and ancient discipline." If this could be said of the house of Appius, how much more shall we believe it of Fabius and Decius, of Curius and Fabricius ! But if in his own house the father was sovereign, the son when invested with the power of the State was not only allowed, but expected, to act as if there were no relation between them. All must remember the story of old Fabius Cunctator, who rode into the camp of the Consul, his son, and was overjoyed at receiving a stern rebuke for his apparent want of deference to the representative of the Senate and People of Rome. § 9. There can be little doubt that the simple morality of the times, maintained by habitual deference to authority, was con- firmed by the higher sanction of Religion. The Religion of Rome was, as the legends show, of Sabine Chap. XXXYII. RELIGION OF ROME. 401 origin, much of its ceremonial, the names of many of its gods, were Etruscan : and Hellenic mythology began, at an early time, to mingle itself in the simple religious faith of the Sabine countrymen. The important question in the history of all reli- gions, is how far they exert power over the lives of their pro- fessors. That the old faith of Rome was not without such power in the times of which we speak is unquestionable. The simple Roman husbandman lived and died, like his Sabine ances- tors, in the fear of the gods ; he believed that there was some- thing in the universe higher and better than himself; that by these higher powers his life and actions were watched ; that to these powers good deeds and an honest life were pleasing, evil deeds and bad faith hateful. Many modern historians represent Roman Religion as but a piece of statecraft, devised to make the people more easy to be led. But the cases quoted prove the con- trary. Papirius Cursor the younger spoke like a rough humour- ist, but not irreverently, when he vowed the cup of honied wine to Jove. Regulus and Claudius, when they neglected the omens in the first Punic War, shocked all men. Scipio won his early pop- ularity in a great measure by his religious fervour. And the weighty testimony of Polybius, delivered with reference to a later and more corrupt age, proves the conclusion. " If," says he, " you lend a single talent to a Greek, binding him by all possible securi- ties, yet he will break faith. Biit Roman magistrates, accustomed to have immense sums of money pass through their hands, are restrained from fraud simply by respect for the sanctity of an oath." If this was true in the days of Cato and the younger Scipio, how much more so in those of Fabius and Africanus, of Regulus, Fabricius, and Curius ! The Religion of Rome was wholly subject to the State. It had no clergy set apart and paid by special funds. The Pontiffs, Augurs, and Flamens, indeed, at this time formed close corpo- rations, which their own vacancies filled up, like the fellows of a college ; but in later times they were elected at the Comitia, in the same manner, though by a different rule, as the officers of state. § 10. No doubt, in Cicero's time, educated persons looked with contempt on the Roman ceremonial, with its omens and its auguries. At that time, formalism had taken the place of reli- gion ; but, at that time, morality also was little respected at Rome. No doubt, also, the Religion of Rome lent countenance to gross superstition and inhuman practices. The ominous circumstances constantly recorded by Livy, of oxen speaking, of stones falling like rain, show the former ; and for the latter, we are shocked to read that two Greeks and two Gauls, one of each sex, were buried 40^ ROME AND CARTHAGEl. Book IV alive in the Forum on two different occasions, because it was fore- told in the Sibylline Books that these people should at some time occupy the soil of that famous place ; and that human sacrifices were occasionally offered — once even in the time of the Dictator Caesar — though they had been abolished by a special edict more than a century before. But these horrors may, as the mention of the Sibylline Books shows, be referred rather to Etruscan formularies than to the old Sabine religion of Rome. Nor ought those to be too forward in censuring the senseless modes adopte^ by heathen nations, in times of darkness and danger, to ascerta.in the will or avert the wrath of the gods, who remember what a history of superstitious practices and inhuman cruelties might be drawn up from the Annals of Christianity itself. The main point is, and this is indisputable, that the old Romans were in fact more pure in morals, more honest, more self-denying than their neighbours ; and we have found a clear-sighted Greek ac- counting for the difference by their stronger sense of the obliga- tions of religion. § 11. But while morality, good faith, and self-denial prevailed among themselves, it is clear that the Romans laid no such re- strictions upon their dealings with other nations. This great defect is common to Rome with all antiquity. The calmest Greek philosopher, Aristotle, regarded barbarians as naturally the slaves of Greeks. International Law was unknown, except in certain formalities observed in declaring war and making peace, and in the respect paid to the persons of Ambassadors. This absence of common humanity and generosity to foreigners appears in many pages of this History, in none more strongly than in that which records the treatment of the Samnite leader C. Pontius. Gleams of better feeling appear in the war with Pyrrhus : the chivalric character of the King awakened something of a kindred spirit in the stern and rigid Romans. But nothing could be more ungenerous than the conduct of Rome to Carthage, after the Mercenary War : and still baser pieces of diplomacy occur in the subsequent dealings of the Senate with the Achaeans and with Carthage. § 12. We have now to speak of the intellectual condition of the people. i - In the period between the conquest of Italy and the close of the First Punic War a great change had taken place in the lan- guage of the Romans. The heterogeneous compound of Pelas- gian, Oscan, and Sabine elements* had already been moulded * Introduction, Sect, il § 13. Chap. XXXYII. CHANGE IN THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 403 into a clear, uniform, and nervous instrument of thought. The oldest specimen extant of the Latin tongue is a Hymn of the Fra- tres Arvales, a rural priesthood, who used to go round the fields in spring, praying the earth to yield her increase. Its language is as different from the Latin of Horace as the English of WiclifPs Bible is from that of Dryden.* Its antiquated forms recur in Inscriptions and Laws down to a late period ; for the Romans, like ourselves, did not easily relinquish old forms. But fragments remain, which w jre written between the First and Second Punic Wars; and these, if the ancient forms of spelling are altered, exhibit Latin in its com- plete form. A change also had taken place in the versification. The metre of the ancient Hymn just quoted is Saturnian, a kind of verse which much resembled our own ballad-metre, being regulated by accent or cadence solely, without regard to the laws of quantity so strictly observed by all Greek and by later Latin writers.f But at the time of the Punic Wars we find the forms of Greek metres already established. § 13. The revolution here indicated is no doubt due to the Hellenic influences which began to prevail at Rome after the conquest of Lower Italy and Sicily. If the compound structure of Latin may be compared to that of our own tongue, its destiny has been far diff'erent. While English can boast of a more vig- orous native literature than any language, except Greek, Latin is perhaps of all the most destitute of originality. The germs of a rude literature existed in the ancient Lays, of which we have spoken in our 16th chapter. The Romans, also, from the earliest times, seem to have been fond of dramatic representations. The Atellane Fables or Exodia of the Oscan tribes were a kind of pantomimic performance, which perhaps still survives in the Policinello of modern Italy. They were kept up to a late time even at Rome, and were extemporaneous pieces, in which it was * Here it is, with a modern version : — Enos, Lase, juvate I Neve luerve, Marmar, sins incurrer in pleores. Satur fufere, Mars ; limen sali sta, Berber. Semunes alternei innocapit cunctos. Enos, Marmar, juvato ! Triumpe, Triumpe I ) Nos, Lares, juvate ! Neve luem, Mamers, sinas incurrere inflores. Satur Jueris, Mars ; pestem (?.oifxdv) maris siste, Mavors. Semi-homines (demigods) alterni invocate cunctos. Nos, ATamers, juvato ! Triumphe, Triumphe ! f Exam}.ies of the Latin Saturnium occur below in § 15. As an English example, take this: Go fetch my sword Excalibar, Go saddle me my steed, J^ow, by my fajrej that grim baron Shall rue this rutbful de^'i, 404 ROME i\ND CARTHAGE. Book IV. not disgraceful for the noblest youths to play a part. The Fes- cennine verses were no doubt the original of the only kind of literature which the Romans claim as their own, — that is, the Satura or Satire, a lively and caustic criticism of the foibles and follies of the day. Dramatic exhibitions are said to have been first borrowed from the Etruscans in the year 363 b.c, when a pestilence was raging at Rome ; but at this time the drama was a mere name, — the story being told by means of dancing anc" gesticulation, with music, but without words. The Roman draina, such as we know it, was not so much borrowed or imitated as translated from the Greek originals. It arose in the period of tranquillity after the First Punic War, when the Temple of Janus was shut for a brief period. The vast increase of terri- tory and wealth which the Romans had lately won was of itself sufficient to give a stimulus to intellectual exertion as great as the Athenians received from their triumphs over the Persians. But in the conquered cities of Tarentum and Syracuse the Romans found a literature of unrivalled excellence, and it was not their na- ture to pursue with labour what they could adopt ready made. From this time dates the growth of the Grgeco-Roman literature. In the well-known words of Horace, " captive Greece took captive her rude conqueror." § 14. The first author of whom we hear as presenting a finished drama to a Roman audience was a Greek named Andronicus. He was taken prisoner at the capture of Tarentum in 272 b.c, and became the slave of M. Livius Salinator. Afterwards he was set free, when (according to custom) he adopted the two first names of his late master, adding his own name as a family appel- lation. Thus he became known as M. Livius Andronicus. His first piece was represented about thirty years later, in which time he had mastered Latin completely, and added to it the polish of his native Greek. His plays continued to be read in the times of Cicero and Horace ; and though these authors speak of them with little respect, the fact that they were used as a text-book for boys at the school of Orbilius, when Horace him- self was there, shows that they must have been written in a cleai and grammatical style. Their titles — ^gisthus, Ajax, Helena, and the like — sufficiently show from what source they were bor- rowed. § 15. A brave stand against the new Hellenizing fashion was made by Cn. Najvius, a Campanian by birth. His name shows that he was not a Greek : the fact that he served in the Roman armies during the First Punic War proves that he was a free citizen. In his earlier days he followed ihj example set by An- dronicus, 60 far as to translate Greek Dramas. The names pre- Chap. XXXVII. LITERATURE AFTER FIRST PUNIC WAR. 405 served show that, among the masters of Attic Tragedy, Euripides was his favourite. Naevius, however, was of comic rather than of tragic vein, and he maintained the licence of the old Fescennine songs in attacking the foibles of the great men of his day. He lampooned the conqueror of Hannibal for licentious practices in early youth. Scipio laughed at the libel. But soon after the poet ventured to assail the powerful family of the Metelli, saying that Fato Metelli fiunt Romse Consules. (The Metelli gain their honours not by merit, but by destiny.) The Metelli, or their family bard, retorted in Saturnian verse : Et Naevio poetse, quum saepe Isederentur, Dabunt malum Metelli, dabunt malum Metelli. And they were as good as their word. He was thrown into prison, and remained there long enough to compose two come- dies. He was set free by a Tribune on condition of his abstaining from personal libels. But he could not refrain from fresh attacks on the Senatorial nobility, which at the close of the Second Punic War had become so powerful ; and he was obliged to flee to Utica, where he died about 203 b.c. He employed his latter days in the work which made his name most famous, namely, in a sort of Epic Poem on the First Punic War, with accounts of early Roman his- tory introduced. In narrative or epic poetry Greek thought and metre had not yet established themselves. Even Livius, when he translated the Odyssey, kept to the old Saturnian verse, and Naevius of course did likewise. His poem no doubt incorporated the ancient Lays. It was written in forcible language and lively imagery. Cicero de- clared that he derived from it a pleasure as great as from the con- templation of Mycon's finest statues. Many of the mythological incidents were borrowed by Ennius and Virgil. The loss of this poem of Naevius may be considered as the greatest loss which Latin literature has sustained.* The bold and independent character of Naevius appears from the epitaph he composed for himself. It is in Saturnian verse, and mournfully complains of the predominance which Greeks were daily gaining over the ancient Latin poetry : Mortales immortales flere si foret fas, Flerent Divse Camense Naevium poetam. Itaque, postquam est Orcino traditua thesauro, Oblitei sunt Romae loqui- er Latina lingud. § 16. But at the very time when Naevius, with the ardour of * What Scaliger said of Ennius would be more justly said of Nsevins : " Utinam hunc haberemus integrum, et amississemus Lucanum, Silium Itali- cura, et tons ces gargons IdT 406 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IY. youth, was beginning first to imitate and then to oppose the Greek models introduced by Livius Andronicus, was born the man who fixed the Greek metres and forms of poetry irrevocably in Latin usage, and crushed for ever the old Roman Lays. This was Q. Ennius, a native of Rudiae in Campania, an Oscan probably ^ blood, a Greek by education, whose birth-year is fixed at 2^8 b.c. In early youth he settled, we know not why, in Sardinia, and from this island he was brought to Rome by Cato in 204, when he was now in his thirty-fifth year, just before the death of Nsevius. Here he settled in a small house on the Aventine, and earned a frugal living for fourteen years by teaching Greek to the young nobles. In this period he must have acquired that mastery over the Latin tongue which is so plainly marked in the fragments of his poems which remain. He died in the year before the battle of Pydna (168) at the age of seventy. In his later years he suffered both from poverty and disease, which he bore with fortitude ; the disease was caused by his too great fondness for jovial living. He fulfilled the forebodings of Nsevius : after him the Camenae, or Latin Muses, forgot their descent, and strove in all things to be Greek. The epitaph he wrote, to be placed under his bust, marks consciousness of his triumph : Aspicite, o cives, senis Enni imagiui' fonnam : Hie vestrvrote Chronicles of the Secon \ Punic War ; and both of them prefixed a summary of early Roman History. Cincius seems to have been the most trustworthy : family partialities often misled Fabius. It is particularly to be noted that they both wrote in Greek, which seems then to have established itself as the language of the learned, just as Latin was used by all European writers during the Middle Ages. § 18. If Hellenic forms of thought and speech invaded the do- Uhap. XXXVIL GR^CO-ETRUSCAN art at ROME. 407 main of Literature, much more was this the case with the Arts of Design. There are not wanting examples to show that before this time Sculpture and Painting were held in honour at Rome. The Consul Carvilius (in 293 b.c.) employed part of the spoils taken from the Samnites in setting up a colossal bronze statue on the Capitoline. A Quadriga, executed in terra cotta by an Etruscan artist, is ascribed to the same date. Statues were erected in the Forum to honour divers great men of olden time. Mary temples were built in thanksgiving for victories, most of which were adorned by Etruscan or Greek artists. The Temple of Salus was ornamented about 305 b.c. by paintings from the hand of 0. Fabius, who thenceforward adopted the name of Pictor and trans- mitted it as an honour to his family. The Ogulnii, in their ^dileship (296 b.c.) set up in the Capitol a bronze group repre- senting the Wolf suckling the Twins. A painting of the battle in which the Romans defeated Hiero in 263 adorned the walls of the Senate-House. Of these works, and others not recorded by history, no trace remains except the famous AVolf now preserved in the Capitoline Museum.* The Twins are a later addition, but the animal is probably the original work noticed by Cicero and Livy. It bears the well-known marks of the archaic Greek art in the sharp, rigid forms of the limbs and muscles, the peculiar ex- pression of the face, and the regular knots of hair abouo the neck and head. Here, then, we trace Hellenic artists at Rome. Others of the works mentioned are expressly assigned to Etrus- can artists, and it may be remarked that Fabius, the only native artist of whom we hear, belonged to a family always associated in history with Etruscans.f Now the Art of the Etruscans was probably much modified by Greek artists and Greek models at an early period. Their tombs, we are told, are always national in character, but their painted vases are Hellenic, not only in shape and pattern, but in the mythical subjects with which they are decorated. Indeed, when the vases discovered in the old Etruscan city of Vulci — a city of winch history preserves no trace — are placed by the side of others known to be of Hellenic workmanship, it is only a practised eye that can detect the distinguishing characteristics of each.J; Many of the Etruscan works of art bear a striking resemblance to the archaic forms of Greek art. Even the ancient * See woodcut to Chapt. i. f The settlement of the Fabii on the Cremera shows this. When the great Fabius first crossed the Ciminian Hills, he sent his brother to explore, be- cause he could speak Etruscan. See Chapt. xxii. § 13. X See Dennis's Etruria, vol. i. p. 425. 408 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IT. style of building called Cyclopean appears to have been as much Etruscan as Pelasgian or Hellenic. It may be assumed, then, that the earliest school of Roman art was derived from the Greeks through the medium of Etruscan artists. § 19. But when Rome had conquered Southern Italy, she was brought at once in contact with works of the finest Greeks No coins of old Greece are so beautiful as those of her colonial settlements in the West ; and it is in the coins of Rome that wo first trace the indisputable eff'ect of Greek art. Up to the time when Italy was conquered, the Romans had used only copper money of a most clumsy and inconvenient kind. A pound of this metal by weight was stamped with the rude effigy of a ship's prow, and this was the original As or Libra. Gradually the As was reduced in weight till, in the necessities of the Second Punic War, it became only l-6th of the Libra by weight; yet it retained its ancient name, just as our pound sterling of silver, originally equivalent to a pound Troy-weight, is now not more than l-3rd, or as the French livre is not above 1-2 4th part of that weight.* But even this dimi- nished coin was clumsy for use, as trade increased with in- creasing empire. After the conquest of Southern Italy the precious metals became more plentiful, and the coinage of the conquered cities supplied beautiful models. The first denarius, or silver piece of ten ases, was struck in the year 269 b.c, and is evidently imitated from the coins of Magna Graecia. The Roman Generals who commanded in these districts stamped money for the use of their armies with the old insignia of the conquered cities. The workmanship is, indeed, inferior to the best specimens of Hellenic coins, but far superior to anything Roman, before or after. Gold coins of similar model were not struck till near the close of the Hannibalic War (205 b.c). The great mass of Roman coins which we possess belong to the last century of the Republic. They usually bear the family emblems of the person who presided over the mint, or of the Consuls for wlios3 use they were struck, but the execution always remained rude and unattractive. Afterwards, Roman conquest gave the means of supplying works of art by the easier mode of appropriation. In the con- quest of Etruria, years before, the practice had been begun : from Volsinii alone we read that 2000 statues were brought to Rome. In following years Agrigentum, Syracuse, Corinth, and other famous cities, sent the finest works of Hellenic Art to * When the pound of weight ceased to be the same with the pound of cnu^ rency, the former was usually designated ces grave. Chap. XXXYII. PROGRESS IN THE ARTS. 409 decorate the public buildings and public places of the barbarous City of the Tiber, or in many cases to ornament the villas of the rapacious generals. § 20. In the more intellectual even of the Useful Arts the Romans made no great progress. The contrivances of Archi- medes for the defence of Syracuse struck them with amazement. In Cicero's time they usually carried the sciences of Quantity and Magnitude no further than was necessary for practical arithmetic and mensuration. In 293 b.c. L. Papirius Cursor the younger set up a sun-dial at Rome, and thirty years later another was brought from Sicily by the Consul M. Valerius Messala ; but no one knew how to place them, so as to make the shadow of the gnomon an index of time. A water-clock, resembling our sand- glass, was not introduced till 159 b.c. § 21. Nor were the common conveniences of life in an advanced state. Up to the year 264 the houses were commonly roofed with shingles of wood, like the Alpine cottages of our days ; then first earthen tiles began to supersede this rude material. Agri- culture must have been roughly carried on by men who were as much soldiers as countrymen. The wine of Latium was so bad that Cineas, when he tasted it, said — and the witticism was re- membered — " he did not wonder that the mother of such wine was hung so high ;" alluding to the Italian custom, still retained, of training the vine up elms and poplars, while in Greece it was trained (as in France and Germany) on short poles and exposed to all the heat of the sun. § 22. A form of architecture called the Tuscan was mostly used, which bore an imperfect resemblance to that early Greek style usually called the Doric. But the existing remains of the Republican period are too scanty to allow of any precise state- ments. The true Arts of Rome were, then and always, the Arts of the Builder and Engineer. It would not be wrong to call the Romans the greatest Builders in the world. Some of their mighty works, works combining solidity of structure with beauty of form and utility of purpose, still remain for our admiration, having survived the decay of ages and the more destructive hands of barbarian conquerors. In every country subject to their sway, roads and bridges and aqueducts remain in sufficient number and perfection to justify all praise. We class the roads among the buildings, according to their own phraseology,* and their construction deserves the name as justly as the works upon our own railways. The first great military road and the first aqueduct are due to the old Censor Appius Caecus, and thev * Munire viam, was their phrase. 18 .; , 410 ROME AND CARTHAGE. Book IV. both remain to preserve the memory of the man, often self- willed and presumptuous, but resolute, firm of purpose, noble in conception, and audacious in execution. Other aqueducts and other roads rapidly followed ; and the spade and trowel were as much the instruments of Roman dominion as the sword and spear. By the close of the Punic Wars solid roads, carried by the en- gineer's art over broad and rapid streams, through difficult moun- tain-passes, across quaking morasses, had already linked Rome with Capua in the South, with Placentia and Cremona in the North. Such were the proud monuments of the Appii, the ^milii, the Flaminii. § 23. It may be said that these magnificent works, as well as the vast Amphitheatres and Baths which afterwards decorated Rome and every petty city in her provinces, were due to the in- vention of the Arch. This simple piece of mechanism, so wonder- ful in its results, first appears in the great Cloaca. It was unknown to the Greeks, or at least not used by them.* It may be that the Romans borrowed it from the Etruscans; the Cloaca is attributed to an Etruscan king, and similar works are discovered in ruined cities of Etruria.f But if they borrowed the principle they used it nobly, as witness the noble bridges still remaining, the copious streams carried over the plain for miles at the height of sixty or seventy feet from the level of the soil. If they had little feeling for beauty and delicacy in the use of the pencil or the chisel, their buildings are stamped with a greatness which ex- alted the power of the State while it disregarded the pleasure of the individual. § 24. Their attention to practical utility in draining and water- ing their city is especially noted by Strabo in contrast with the indiff"erence shown by the Greeks in these matters. To the facts already stated may be added their rule, established so early as the year 260 e.g., that no one should be buried within the 'city, — a rule scarcely yet adopted in London. From this time dates the beginning of those rows of sepulchral monuments which the traveller beheld on either side of the road as he entered the Eternal City. It was a gloomy custom, but better at least than leaving graveyards in the heart of crowded cities. § 25. A striking proof of engineering skill is shown in the tunnels cut through solid rock for the purpose of draining off Tolcanic lakes : this art we may also believe to have been ori- ginally borrowed from the Etruscans. The first tunnel of which we hear was that by which the Alban Lake was partially let off * The arch is said to have been invented by Democritus, Posidon ap. Senec, Ep. 80. But it had long existed in Etruria. f See Chapt iii. § 11. Chap. XXXVIl. PROGRESS IK THE ARTS. 411 during the siege of Veii, a work which was suggested by an Etruscan soothsayer.* Other works of like kind still remain, though the time of their execution is not always known. Here shall be added the notice of one work of kindred sort, which happens by a rare coincidence to combine great utility with rarest beauty. The famous M' Curius Dentatus, when Censor in 272, cut a passage through the rock, by which the waters of Lake Velinus were precipitated into the Nar. By this means he recovered for his newly-conquered Sabine Clients a large portion of fertile land, and left behind the most lovely, if not the most sublime, of all waterfalls. The Falls of Terni, such is the famous name they now bear, were wrought by the hand of man. " Thou- sands of travellers visit them," says Niebuhr ; " how few knOw that they are not the work of Nature !" § 26. It will be something gained if from these imperfect chapters the young student shall have learned to look upon the early Romans as they were — men of strong wills and rigid morals, who cared little for the elegancies of life, but much for its free- dom and order ; who scorned the credit to be derived from ori- ginality compared with the practical uses of an invention ; who were trained by education and discipline to rule themselves; and were thus carried on from conquest to conquest by an in- satiable desire to rule others. The Roman of this time has his own virtues — simplicity and good morals, joined indeed with roughness and want of feeling. In a later age he lost the virtues without losing the defects. The Roman, as we shall find him at the end of his career of conquest, without simplicity of man- ners and morality of life, corrupted by wealth and luxury, yet coarse and unfeeling as ever, is a being who does little honour to humanity. * See Chapt. xiii § 6, with the note. Coin of Ptolemy Philadelphus. BOOK Y. ROME AND THE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. (B.C. 201—132.) CHAPTER XXXVIII. INTRODUCTORY : STATE OF THE EASTERN WORLD. § 1. Tlie East and West. § 2. The East from the death of Alexander to the Battle of Ipsus, § 3. Egypt at the present time. § 4. Syria. § 5. Per- gamus. § 6. Rhodes, g 7. Macedon. § 8. Athens. § 9. Sparta. § 10. Commencement of the i^chsBan League: its rapid rise under Aratus: unable to conquer Sparta, he makes the League subject to Macedon. § 11. The ^tolians. § 12. War between the ^tolians andAchseans: Philip y. of Macedon assists the latter: his successes. § 13. His imagi- nation fired by the news of Trasimene and Cannae : Demetrius of Pharos : § 14. Philip's treaty with Hannibal. § 1. So far, the countries round the Mediterranean had been divided, as it were, into two worlds, the Western and the Eastern : the Western, in which Rome and Carthage were strug- gling for mastery ; the Eastern, in which the Macedonian suc- cessors of Alexander the Great were wasting their strength in wars. But from the moment that Philip V. of Macedon entered into alliance with Hannibal, the line of separation had been broken ; and Rome only waited her time to break in upon the enervated nations of the East. That time came when the battle «f Zama had delivered her from the fear of Hannibal. § 2. At the death of Alexander in 323 b.c, his vast Empire fell into distinct portions. The Generals of the Great King at first governed these provinces as Viceroys of Alexander's infant son. But this child was set aside ; and within twenty years of Chap. XXXVIII. STATE OF THE EASTERN WORLD. 413 the King's death these Imperial Governors assumed the title of Sovereigns. Ptolemy became King of Egypt; Seleucus, of Baby- lonia and the East; Antigonus, with his son Demetrius, of Syria and Asia Minor; Lysimachus, of Thrace; Cassander, of Macedonia, with authority over the whole of Greece. Of these soldier- kings, the most ambitious of all were the Kings of Syria, Antigonus and Demetrius; and the year 305 b.c. sa V the other sovereigns combined against these two. A general war followed; and in 301 b.c, the battle of Ipsus made a con- siderable change in these Macedonian monarchies. Seleucus became master of the greater part of Asia Minor and of northern Syria ; Phoenicia and Coele-Syria fell into the hands of the King of Egypt. We must add a brief account of these kingdoms down to the period of the second Punic War. § 3. Egypt enjoyed long tranquillity. In the course of the eighty years which followed the battle of Ipsus, the Kings of Egypt quietly extended their sway over parts of Arabia and Libya, as well as Lower Syria, and became Masters of Lycia and Caria, of .Cyprus and the Cyclades. The flourishing Republic of Rhodes was their ally. Trade flourished ; art and literature reached a height unknown since the best days of Athens : the natural sciences were cultivated with unexampled success. Alexandria increased daily in wealth and population, and became (as its great founder intended) the chief seat of trade between the East and Wost. Yet this prosperity was not long-lived^ The decline of the monarchy may be dated from the accession of , the fourth Ptolemy, surnamed Philopator; and so rapid was it, that whea ue died, towards tho close of the Second Punic War* (205 B.6.), the ministers of iiis infant son Epiphanes were obliged to look around for some poweful patron to defend the inherit- ance of their master irom the -Kings of Macedon and Syria, who had impudently agreed to divide it between them. In the year 273 b.c, Philadelphus formed an alliance with Rome (chapt. xxiii. § 3); and her attitude of superiority after the struo^orle with Carthao-e attracted the notice of all the Mediter- ranean nations. The Senate, therefore, were requested to become guardians of the boy-king, and they accepted the office. § 4. After the death of Seleucus, the monarchy of Syria fell into decay. His son, Antiochus I., shifted the seat of the monarchy from Babylon to his new city of Antiocheia (Antioch) on th(^ Orontes, and thus the Eastern Provinces were left open to the inroads of the Parthians. ^ Asia Minor was lost t5 the monarchy. The kings of Macedon gained a footing in Mysia and Ionia; Caria and Lycia fell into the hands of the Egyptian sovereigns; 414 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. BookY. Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Pontus became independent princi- palities; Northern Phrygia was occupied by hosts of vagrant Gauls, who gave name to the district called Galatia; a Greek eunuch, named Philetaerus, Treasurer of Lysimachus, King of Thrace, gained possession of the city of Pergamus. He trans- mitted his principality to his nephew Eumenes, and Attains, another nephew, succeeding to Eumenes, took the title of King. Most of the Greek cities on the coast, with the islands of Lesbos, Chios, and Samos, became independent. Such was the con- dition of things in 223 e.g., when Antiochus III. ascended the throne, and turned his arms against the Parthians with so much success that he assumed the title of the Great. § 5. Attains, King of Pergamus, saw his advantage in siding with Rome. Threatened by the King of Macedonia on the north, and by the King of Syria on the south, he at once threw Jiimseif into the arms of this powerful ally, and was of no small use to the Roman commanders. § 6. The Republic of Rhodes rapidly recovered from the ter- rible siege which it had sustained from Demetrius Poliorcetes.* After Alexandria, Rhodes was the chief commercial place irr the Eastern part of the Mediterranean. The government was conducted^. on upright principles; her citizens commanded the respect of all who had dealings with them. They would gladly have stood aloof from the Roman wars. But their old ally, the King of Egypt, was too weak to support them ; and the brutal conduct of the King of Macedonia forced them into alliance with Rome. ^ § 7. It remains to take a view of Macedon itself. A very short time after Demetrius the Besieger fled from the field of Ipsus, discrowned and helpless, we are surprised to find him in possession of the sceptre of Macedon and lord of Greece. After reiging at Pella for seven years, he was expelled from his new kingdom by a second coalition, headed by Lysimachus, the veteran King of Thrace, and Pyrrhus, the young King of Epirus. He made one more desperate attempt to recover his Asiatic domi- nions, when he fell into the hands of Seleucus, and died in captivity in the year 283 b.c. Soon after, died Ptolemy and Lysimachus. Seleucus, the only survivor of Alexander's generals, ' would have won Macedon also, but in the moment of conquest he fell by th3 knife of an assassin. This assassin was Ptolemy Ceraunus, eldest son of the deceased King of Egypt. For a brief period, this savage became King, and lent aid to Pyrrhus in his Italian campaigns. But Ceraunus did not long enjoy his ill-gotten spoil. * Dr. Smith's Greece, p. 562. Chap. XXXYIIL STATE OF THE EASTERN WORLD. 415 He lost his life in endeavouring to stay the course of the Gauls who barnt Delphi. A period of confusion followed. The Gauls, expelled from Europe, settled in Asia Minor; and when Pyrrhus returned from Italy in 274 B.C., he found that the sceptre of Macedon had fallen into the hands of Antigonas Gonatas, son of Demetrius, who transmitted the sceptre of Macedon to his son Demetrius II. When this prince died, he left his son Philip, a child of eight years old, to the charge of his cousin Antigonus Doson,* who took possession of the throne for himself, but in other respects acted with honour and good faith towards his young charge. He gave him a good education ; and at his death, in 221 B.C., he took care that Philip should be proclaimed King to the exclusion of his own children. Such an example of good faith deserves notice in this age of selfishness and corruption. When Philip succeeded to the throne, he found the kingdom in a flourishing state. No foreign enemy threatened his shores ; and unhappy Greece, torn by discord, was ready to welcome him as a protector. § 8. The mere mention of the name of Greece excites some interest in the mind of the most indifferent reader; and when Greece is mentioned, the first name that memory recalls is that of Athens. But there was little left of that glorious spirit which enabled Athens to throw back the Persian invader from her shores. After the last struggle for independence, when the name of Demosthenes sheds a dying glory over Athens, the people surrendered itself quietly to the protection of the Kings of Macedon. Art, indeed, and literature still remained in their old abode. Even now the silken chains were being woven, which, at a later time were to bind her Roman conquerors. Zeno the Stoic and Epicurus were establishing the rival doctrines which afterwards divided the Roman mind between them. Menander and Philemon and Diphilus were bringing on the stage those dramas of the New Comedy, which not long after delighted the Romans in the imperfect versions of Plautus and Terence. Yet, for all this, Athens, the star of Greece, had lost her brightness. An Athenian and a sycophant became convertible terms. § 9, In Sparta, the old Dorian nobility had dwindled away to a few families, who engrossed the land, and exercised tyrannical rule over the people. In the year 241 b.c, Agis IV., one of the Kings, a young man of noble spirit, endeavoured to bring about a reform of the State, by abolishing all debts, and admitting to the Spartan franchise a number of the Lacedaemonians, among whom * AwCTwv, intending to give; for he did not give up the throne to Philip till his death. 416 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. all lands were to be divided anew according to the system of Lycurgus. But the old burgesses, led by the Ephors and the other King, opposed him vehemently ; and Agis was put to death. Then followed a re-action. Cleomenes III., son of the King who had opposed Agis, succeeded to the crown and re- sumed the projects of that unhappy prince. But he showed more prudence in the execution of them ; and for a time some appearance of vigour was restored to the enfeebled frame of the Spartan constitution. § 10. But at that period chief notice belongs to a people who had hitherto played a very subordinate part in the history of Greece, the people of Ach^a. From the time when the "long- haired Achaeans" fought against Troy, their name had almost vanished from the pages of history. All we know of them is, that they were a relic of that ancient people who formerly possessed Peloponnesus, and were driven by the conquering Dorians to a narrow strip of land on the sea-coast. It was in the year 280 b.c, when the irruption of the Gauls filled all hearts with fear, that four towns of this obscure district united for mutual defence. Such was the beginning of that Confederation, which became famous under the name of the Achsean League. Yet it was not to themselves, but to a foreigner, that this fame was due. Aratus was born at Sicyon about the time when Pyrrhus came to his ignoble end. Scarcely had he reached the age of twenty, when he formed the plan of delivering his native city from the Tyrant who oppressed her. Success justified his audacity ; and Sicyon, by the advice of Aratus, joined the Achaean League (251 b.c). Not many 'years after, he was elected General-in-chief, and formed the design of uniting al) Peloponnesus under the League. He set Corinth free from her Macedonian garrison, and this important city joined the Fede- ration. Her example was followed by Megalopolis and by Argos* and' by the year 227 b.c. the Achaean League had become the chief power of Peloponnesus. But Sparta still stood aloof; and Cleomenes had no mind to let his country become a province of the League. Aratus endeavoured to compel him. But he was an unskilful general, and Cleomenes possessed great talents for war. It soon appeared that Sparta was more likely to become master of the Achaeans, than the Achaeans of Sparta. In this state of things, Aratus scrupled not to undo the work which he had spent his best years in executing. He called in the aid of Antigonus Doson, or, in other words, he made the Achaean League subject to Macedon. The army of Antigonus, united to the forces of the League, wa§ too much for Cleomenes. He was utterly defeated at the battle of Sellasia (222 b.c), and died an Chap. XXXYIII. STATK OF THE EASTERIT WORLD. 417 exile in Egypt. Sparta fell into the hands of bloody Tyrants', and Aratus henceforth appears as Lieutenant of the King of Macedon. § 11. There was yet another warlike State always ready to take advantage of the weakness of its neighbours. In the best times of Greece the JEtolians make little more figure than the Achaeans. From the time when " yellow- haired Meleager" slew the boar of Calydon, we hear little of them. Dwelling in a mountainous district, they were a nation of freebooters, a sort of land-pirates, caring for nothing but plunder. They owned no king ; but before this time their several tribes had formed a sort of League ; and deputies met every year at Thermon, their chief city, to elect a Captain- General (aiQuiriyog). They had thriven on the weakness of their neighbours. Ambracia, the capital of Pyrrhus, was theirs; so was Naupactus, once the chief station of the Athenian navy in the Gulf of Corinth. Thermon rose to be a splendid city, and here the ^tolian chiefs lived in great magnificence. But they continued their marauding habits on a larger scale and in a Tiore regular manner. It was chiefly by their selfish policy that the Romans were enabled to become masters of Greece. § 12. The ^tolian chiefs thought that the death of Antigonus Doson presented a good opportunity for a foray^ into Pelopon- nesus. The time was well chosen. Philip was too young, they thought, to act with promptitude ; Aratus was too unskilful a general to alarm them. For one year the marauders ravaged Arcadia and Argolis at will. But when they repeated their inroad in the following season, Philip came to aid the League, and the tide of war turned against the ^tolians. The young King of Macedon showed great vigour. Not only did he expel the invaders from Peloponnesus, but broke into their own country and surprised Thermon, where all the trea- sures of the nation w^ere deposited. Here he made the fierce chiefs his enemies for ever ; for he carried off their treasure, destroyed their houses, and burnt down their temples. At this moment, Philip's attention was attracted by events which made his successes in JEtolia look pale and trifling. These events were Hannibal's first victories in Italy. § 13. It was in the winter of 21*7 b.c, when the Achseans and their allies were assembled at Argos under Philip's presidency, that their deliberations were suspended by the tidings of the battle of Trasimene. The young King's mind was fired with eager desire to take part in this more splendid drama. He made peace with the vEtolians on terms very favourable to the Achaeans; and thus ended what was called the last Social War. 18* 418 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. Nothing could be more imprudent than Philip's desire to take part in Western politics. His position at home was most ad- vantageous. His army was well disciplined, his fleet consider/ able ; his finances in good order. The King of Egypt was too feeble to thwart him ; the King of Syria and the Republic of Rhodes were willing to be his allies : the Greek states of Asia and Europe were ready to own him as protector ; the malcontent ^Etolians had just felt his power. With prudence he might have formed an Eastern confederation, which would have ofi'ered a formidable front to Rome. But his imagination was influenced by Hannibal's glory; in sleep his dreams transported him to Italy ; and when the news of the great victory of Cannae followed that of Trasimene, he de- termined no longer to stand aloof. It must be added, that his natural ambition was urged on by a person whom he had just admitted into his councils. This was Demetrius of Pharos, who by treachery had lost the Illyrian Principality given him by Rome. He took refuge with Philip, and in the autumn which followed the battle of Trasimene, the Senate had sent to demand the surrender of his person. But at that moment, to be an enemy to Rome was to be the friend of Philip ; and Demetrius became the King's chief adviser. His acquaintance with Roman politics recommended him ; his unscrupulous advice suited the temper of Philip better than the cautious policy of Aratus, who ceased henceforth to have any weight in the counsels of Philip. § 14. It has been above mentioned that as soon as the news of the battle of Cannae arrived, Philip V. King of Macedon sent oflf ambassadors to offer terms of alliance to Hannibal ; that the messengers fell into the hands of the Romans, and that conse- quently the treaty was not concluded till late in the year 215 b.c. In this treaty, it was stipulated that Philip should send an army to support Hannibal in Italy ; and that, in the event of a suc- cessful issue of the war, Illyria should be given to Demetrius, while the Roman possessions in Epirus were handed over to Philip. The result of this treaty was the First Macedonian War. Coin of Philip V., King of Macedon. CHAPTER XXXIX. FIRST AND SECOND MACEDONIAN WARS : SETTLEMENT OF GREECE BY FLAMININUS. (214 194 B.C.) S \. Conduct of Philip. § 2. League formed by Laevinus with ^tolians. § 3. Activity of Philip: Laevinus succeeded by Galba: ^gina taken, § 4. Danger of Philip in the year 208 : his vigilance and successes. § 5. End of the First Macedonian War. § 6. Philip assists Hannibal at Zama : Embassy to Rome. § 7. His impolitic conduct towards the Achaeans. His outrages ua Asia Minor. § 8. Athens revolts from Philip : complaints laid before the Senate. § 9. Difficulty in declaring war against Philip. § 10. Conquests of PhUip in Thrace. § 11. The Romans burn Chalcis: the Achaeans refuse aid to Philip, § 12. Galba enters Macedonia by the North-west: . his fruitless campaign. § 13. Second Campaign : L. Villius, Consul, attempts to enter Thessaly. § 14. T. Quinctius Fla- minius supersedes ViUius: he forces the pass of the Aoiis. § 15. His operations inG-reece: dissensions in the Achaean League. § 16. Conference during winter between Philip and Flamininus. § 17. Third Campaign: Flamininus continued in command as Proconsul: Romans dominant in Greece. § 18. Battle of Cynoscephalae : complete defeat of Philip. § 19. Terms offered by Flamininus to Philip: Peace. § 20. Declaration of independence at Isthmian Games. § 21. Proceedings of Antiochus, King of Syria. § 22. Nabis, Tyrant of Sparta: siege of Sparta. § 23. Policy of Flamininus. § 24. Address of Flamininus to the Greeks at Corinth. § 25. His departure, and Triumph. § 1. No doubt Philip's wisest course would have been to abstain from mixing himself up with the affairs of Italy ; but, having done so, he ought to have engaged heartily in the war. In 212 b.c. Han- nibal became master of Tarentum. Then, if ever, would have been the time for the King to have dispatched his Macedonian phalanx to support the Carthaginian in Italy. His inactivity is the more remarkable, because about the same time he delivered himself 420 CONQUEST OF THE WOLRD. Book Y. so entirely to the counsels of Demetrius that he did not hesitate to disembarrass himself of the troublesome remonstrances of Aratus by poison. Thus was the patriotic founder of the Achaean League, so long the faithful servant of the Kings of Macedon, requited for his services. § 2. On discovering Philip's negotiations with Hannibal, the Senate dispatched M. Valerius Lsevinus, with a small squadron, to watch his proceedings. This enterprising officer succeeded in checking Philip's feeble efforts ; but he took no forward step till the year 211 b.c, when he entered into negotiations with the ^tolians, and soon found means to induce their greedy chiefs to form a treaty with Rome on terms that reveal their selfish policy. They were to join Rome in war upon Philip : all cities taken by the confederate forces were to be handed over to the ^tolians, but the inhabitants and moveable property were to be left to the Romans. § 3. The news of this treaty roused Philip to something of his former activity, and he baffled the assault of his enemies on every side. Lsevinus, however, succeeded in taking the strong city of Anticyra in Locris, which was treated in the manner prescribed by treaty. His successor was P. Sulpicius Galba, who was ordered to send home the legion which had hitherto been employed in Greece. The Senate were of opinion that a squadron of ships, supported by Attains at sea and by the JEtolians on land, was sufficient to hold Philip in check. Galba, thus hampered, was unable to do more than seize the island of JEgina. Here, as at Anticyra, the inhabitants were sold as slaves for the benefit of the Romans, while the place was left to the JEtolian chiefs, who handed it over to Attains for 30 talents. This monarch had lately joined the allies with a squadron of 35 Pergamese ships, and Jfegina henceforth became his head-quarters. The Achseans, notwithstanding the suspicious death of Aratus, preferred maintaining their alliance with Philip to uniting them- selves with greedy freebooters like the ^tolians. But the Lace- daemonians and Eleans joined the ^tolian League. § 4. In the next year (208 b.c.) Philip with the Achaiar.s had to enter upon a conflict with the Romans and Attains at sea, the ^tolians and Lacedaemonians by land, while the Illyrians threatened the northern frontiers of Macedonia, and the Thra- cians broke into the eastern districts. To meet these multiplied enemies, Philip exerted a vigour and activity worthy of his best days. Fixing his head-quarters at Demetrias (a strong fortress in the south of Thessaly, erected by Demetrius Poliorcetes to commsind the passage from Macedonia Chap. XXXIX. SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR. 421 into Greece), he sent troops to defend his allies from the attacks of the ^tolians. Attains was happily detached from the League by an incursion made by Prusias of Bithynia into his kingdom of Pergamus; and Galba, left alone with a feeble squadron, was obliged to retire to ^gina. In the two following years fortune declared positively for Philip. In the Peloponnesus, Philopoemen, the new general of the Achaean League, gained a decided superiority over Laceda- mon. The King invaded ^tolia, and again committed Thermon to the flames. § 5. The ^tolians finding themselves left to bear the brunt of the war, were glad to conclude a peace on terms favourable to Macedon. Scarcely was the peace concluded, when P. Sempro- nius Tuditanus arrived at Dyrrhachium, and Philip hastened over the mountains to attack him. But before any decisive action, the Epirotes offered their mediation, and a treaty of peace was signed between Philip and Rome (205 b.c.) Thus ended what is commonly called the First Macedonian War. The object of the Romans had been simply to prevent Philip from assisting Hannibal in Italy, and in this they had succeeded at a very small expense to themselves either in men or money. § 6. That Philip entertained few thoughts of a lasting peace, is shown by the fact that on Hannibal's return to Africa, he sent him 4000 men, commanded by Sopater, a nobleman of the highest rank at the Macedonian court, to assist in maintaining the war against Scipio. These men took part in the battle of Zama, and their commander with many of his men became pri- soners. Philip had the impudence to send envoys to Rome, to demand their liberation. His envoys were dismissed with the stern answer, that "if Philip wished for war, he should have it." § v. Meantime the King of Macedon had been displaying a most unfortunate activity in the East and in Greece. On the death of Ptolemy Philopator in the very year of the Peace of Dyr.rhachium, Philip made a bargain with Antiochus King of Syria to divide the dominions that had devolved on the boy-king of Egypt, Ptolemy Epipli^nes. This was the unprincipled Treaty of Partition which drove the ministers of young Ptolemj to place him under the guardianship of Rome. In Greece the tyrannical disposition, which Philip had dis- closed ever since Demetrius of Pharos became his chief counsel- lor, exhibited itself more and more. This man was killed in battle soon after the Peace of Dyrrhachium, and was succeeded in the king's confidence by still more unscrupulous knaves, Heraclides, 422 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. a Tarentine pirate, and Dicsearchus, an JEtolian exile. At their instigation Philip now attempted to take off Philopoemen as he had taken off Aratus, but without success; and the Achaean patriots, though they dreaded the ^tolian marauders, yet would not brook the oppressive tyranny of Philip. It was as yet uncer- tain what part they would take in the war. In Asia Minor his conduct was so outrageous, that the Rhodian fleet combined with that of Attains, took the sea, and blockaded him in Caria so closely, that it was not till the spring of 201 b.c. that he effected his escape into Europe. § 8. The Rhodians and Attains now passed over to Greece, and promised the Athenians support if they would throw off the Mace- donian yoke. Philip dispatched an army to overawe Athens, while in person he laid siege to Abydos. But, meantime, the injured powers had sent to complain at Rome; and three Roman envoys, who were then just starting to assume the guardianship of the young King of Egypt, were ordered to visit Philip on their way, and remonstrate on his pro- ceedings. They were all men of note, — Claudius Nero the con- queror of Hasdrubal, P. Sempronius Tuditanus the author of the Peace of Dyrrhachium, and M. ^milius Lepidus a young Senator of high and generous spirit, who afterwards rose to be the first man at Rome. Laevinus was dispatched anew to Greece with the fleet that had during the Punic War been employed on the coast of Sicily. But no proposal to declare war was made till the next year (200 b.c). § 9. On the Ides of March, the day on which at that period the Consuls entered upon office, these magistrates summoned the Senate. Dispatches had just arrived from Laevinus, detailing in full the late conduct of Philip, and urging the necessity of an im- mediate declaration of war. The three envoys had found Philip at Abydos, and ^milius had remonstrated in plain and open lan- guage. " You speak thus," replied the King, " because you are a young man, a handsome man, and — a Roman. If," he added, " you wish for war, I am ready." The Consul P. Sulpicius Galba, who had before succeeded Laevinus, was again appointed to con- duct the Macedonian war, and prepared to bring in a bill for the purpose before the Assembly of the Centuries. Great pains had been taken to prepare the minds of the People for ready acquiescence. At the conclusion of the Hannibalic War, the victories of Rome had been celebrated with games of extraordinary pomp by the JEdiles, one of whom was T. Quinctius Flamininus, the future conqueror of Philip. The poorer class of citizens had been invited to purchase at a low rate the large supplies of grain sent over by Scipio from Africa. Portions of Chap. XXXIX, SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR. 423 the Pablic Land in Apulia and Samnium were distributed to the veterans of Scipio. There was, however, a general disinclination to make the sacri- fices required by a new war. The citizens of Rome, as well as the Latins and Italians, were all liable to be drawn for service, unless they were past the military age, or had already served their time. Every family had for years seen its best and strongest males withdrawn from rustic labour to bear arms against Carthage ; all were anxious to avoid any return of the miseries which they had endured during Hannibal's occupation of Italy. The declaration of war was rejected by the vote of almost every Century. But the Senate was not to be thus discouraged. The Consul was ordered to summon the Centuries to a second vote. Before the question was put, he addressed them in a set speech, in which he argued that the point of decision was, not whether they would go to war with Philip or not, but whether they would have that war in Italy or across the sea. The yeomen of the Tribes, terri- fied at the thoughts of a new invasion, believed his arguments, and reversed their vote. In consequence of these delays, Galba was not able to reach Apollonia till near the end of the season ; but he at once dis- patched C. Claudius Centho to relieve Athens. § 10. Meantime Philip had been pursuing a very successful career in Thrace. Abydos alone held out with heroic bravery : rather than yield to Philip, they said they would destroy every living soul within the city. " Well," remarked the King, with the reckless wit for which he was famous, "we will suspend the siege, and give them three days to kill themselves in." At last it fell ; and Philip heard that the Romans were in Epirus and at Athens. § 11. At once he crossed over to Demetrias. While he lay here, Claudius made an inroad into Euboea, and surprised the strong city of Chalcis. Philip crossed the Euripus; but, too late to save the place from plunder, he resolved to take ven- geance upon Athens. Claudius was not strong enough to meet him in the field, and Philip wreaked his barbarous rage on the sacred groves and buildings round the city, which his generals had hitherto spared. The Achaeans were exasperated by this conduct, and were still less inclined to take part with the reckless tyrant. § 12. Early in the next year (199 b.c.) Galba moved. Under the guidance of Pleuratus, a young Illyrian chief, he advanced through the rugged and woody districts to the west of the Axius (Vardar), then called Eordsea and Elymiotis, but avoided a 424 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V descent into the level plain ; and Philip, not choosing to risk a battle on ground unfavourable to the action of the phalanx, con- tented himself with watching the enemy. Galba at length re- turned to Apollonia by the valley of the Apsus. He had effected nothing, and his army suffered greatly in its bootless campaign. When he first landed at Corcyra, he wrote word to the Senate that a laurel with which his ship's stem was decked had budded —a sure omen of victory ; but no laurel wreath adorned the Con- sul's brow. § 13. Galba's campaign took place after his successor P. Villius Tappulus had entered upon office ; but the latter did not arrive at Corcyra till late in the season, and during the winter he was occupied with quelling a mutiny. In the spring of 198 b.c. he took the field, but did not attempt the northern passes as Galba had done. He had the merit of perceiving that Philip was most vulnerable in Thessaly ; that the army, supported by the fleet, might by its presence in that country deprive Philip of all in- fluence in Greece. With the aim of penetrating into Thessaly, therefore, he marched up the valley of the Aoiis ; and in a narrow defile of this valley he found Philip strongly posted. While he was considering his next move, he received news that T. Quinctius Flamininus, the Consul of the year, had arrived at Corcyra to take the command. , § 14. Flamininus is as much the hero of the Macedonian war as is Scipio of the war with Hannibal. He also was a Patrician, and was elected to the Consulship at the age of thirty. Unlike Galba and Villius, he left Rome soon after the Ides of March, in- stead of allowing himself to be detained at Rome till it was time to go into winter-quarters. His brother Lucius accompanied him to take the command of the fleet. The position occupied by Philip was at a point where the valley closes in to a narrow gorge, which the Macedonians had occupied so skilfully that Flamininus hesitated to attempt a direct attack.* Both armies lay confronting each other for about six weeks, when an attempt was made to settle matters by negotia- tion. But Flamininus demanded that "the King should with- draw his garrisons from all Hellenic cities, making restitution for injuries past, and leave them independent for the future," and Philip broke oft" the conference, exclaiming that " no harder terms could be asked if he were beaten." It is probable that the Romans might have been altogether foiled, had not an Epirote chief named Charops betrayed a path by which the enemy's position might be turned. The Macedonians beat off * The place seems to have been a httle below Klissoura, where a ridge strikes across the gorge, and leaves a very narrow passage for the stream. Chap XXXIX. SECOND MACEDONIAN" WAR. 425 the Roman assaults gallantly till they found themselves attacked in rear. Then they fled precipitately up the pass, past the present town of Metzovo; and Philip, after throwing garrisons into the strongest fortresses of Thessaly, withdrew to Pella. § 15. Flamininus attempted not to pursue him, but remained in Epirus, where he secured the goodwill of the people by his mild treatment. From Epirus he marched through Thessaly, and passed southward into Locris, where the seaport of Anticyra served as a basis of operations. He then laid siege to Elateia, a strong fortress which commanded the chief pass leading from Boeotia northwards. Meanwhile the Roman fleet, under the command of the general's brother, anchored at Cenchreae, the eastern haven of Corinth. The purpose of L. Flamininus was to influence the Greneral Assembly of the Achaean League, which had met at JEgium. The question for decision was whether they were to take part in the war, and if so, what part. Opinion had gra- dually been becoming more positive in favour of the Romans, and the leader of the Macedonian party had been banished; yet there was a third party, headed by Philopoemen, which desired neutrality. Great was the perplexity of the Assembly. If they declared in favour of the Romans, they would find themselves leagued with the barbarous ^tolians; if they re- mained neutral, they might find themselves left in a perilous state of isolation. It is probable that the neutral party would have carried the day, had not Philopoemen been absent. After hearing the envoys of both powers, they sat a whole day silent or murmuring. Next day a tumultuous debate followed; on the third day the majority voted for alliance with Rome, but the representatives of some States withdrew under protest ; Argos admitted a Macedonian garrison; and Megalopolis stood aloof. The League was in fact broken up ; but the vote of the Assembly enabled Flamininus to declare himself Protector of the liberties of Greece. § 16. Daring the winter, both powers were active in negotiation, Philip was alarmed at the success of Flamininus. Flamininus was fearful of being superseded in the command. Both parties therefore agreed to a conference, which was held near the Pass of Thermopylae. The King approached the ap- pointed place in his state galley, attended by the banished Achaean leader, and two Macedonian officers. Flamininus stood upon the shore surrounded by his allies, Amynander Prince of the Athamanians, the envoy of Attains, the Rhodian admiral, the chiefs of the Achaean League, and Phaeneas the one-eyed captain of the ^tolians. The Roman began by demanding ihaX 426 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V "Philip should restore freedom to the cities of Greece, and make restitution for injuries." He was followed by his several allies, who urged their own claims not without vehemence. Philip kept his patience till the JEtolian chief broke in by saying, that " this was no question of words : the long and short of it was that Philip must conquer or obey." "Ay," retorted the King in his sarcastic vein, " one may see that with half an eye." So closed the first day's conference. Next day Flamininus persuaded the allies to allow him to conduct the negotiations alone. On the third day proceedings closed with a proposal that both parties should send envoys to the Senate at Rome. When Philip's envoy began a set speech before the Senate he was cut short by the question, " Whether the King was prepared to withdraw the garrison from the three fortresses which (in his biting way) he used to call the Fetters of Greece — Demetrias, Chalcis, and Corinth ?" The envoy had received no instructions on this point, and was ordered to leave Rome. § 17. Both parties therefore prepared for a decisive conflict. Flamininus was continued in the command as Proconsul. All Greece between Thessaly and the Isthmus was with him, except Acarnania and Boeotia. Acarnania might safely be neglected, but it was of high importance to secure Boeotia. An assembly was held at Thebes to discuss the propriety of submission, at which Attains, now an old man, spoke with so much warmth that he fell down in a fit, and died not long after. During the debate the Consul introduced a body of soldiers into Thebes, and the Assembly voted for alliance with Rome. Still more mortify- ing to Philip was it to see Nabis, Tyrant of Lacedasmon, follow the general current. He had stooped to court the favour of this monster, and as an earnest of goodwill put Argos into his hands. Nabis took the bribe, and then concluded an alliance with Flamininus. § 18. In 197 B.C., therefore, Flamininus advanced from Elateia to Thermopylae with all Greece at his back. Here he pa\ised till he was joined by a division of JEtolian cavalry. Philip had alreadv passed through the Vale of Tempe into Thessaly. Constant wars had so drained the population of Macedonia that the levies in- cluded veterans past the time of service, and boys of the terder age of sixteen. The phalanx, as usual, consisted of two divisions, each 8000 strong; and to this were added about 7000 light troops and 2000 horse. The Romans had about the same number of foot, but the JEtolian cavalry gave them a great advantage in this arm. After some manoeuvring, Philip fell back upon Scotussa, where plains of waving corn, then just ripe, supplied forage. Flamininus followed ; and the two armies encamped, unknowingly, Chap. XXXIX. SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR. 427 on opposite sides of the same low range of hills, which from their appearance were called Cynoscephalse, or the Dogheads. The next day was stormy, and the air so darkened by mist and rain that the men could only see a few yards before them. Philip, however, detached a body of light troops to occupy the ridge : and at the satoe time a Roman reconnoitering party ascended the opposite slope. The Romans, being the weaker, were driven down the hill towards their camp, where they were supported by fresh troops, and the Macedonians were obliged to retire to the summit of the ridge. The mist now cleared off. The Mace- donians, reinforced in their turn, again forced the Romans down the slope, and would have cut them to pieces had not the ^tolian cavalry held them in check. Flamininus now drew out the Legions, and advanced with his whole line of battle ; while the Macedonian officers sent off message after message to the King, exaggerating their success, and urging him to bring up the Phalanxes and secure the victory. Philip was a good general, and had no mind to entangle his columns in uneven ground, but he suffered himself to be persuaded against his better judgment. The King himself led one Phalanx on the right, while Nicanor was to follow with the other on the left. On ordinary occasions the Phalanx was drawn up sixteen men in file ; but on this day Philip threw his division into a much deeper column. Its weight was thus much increased ; and as it bore down upon the Roman left with levelled lances, ten points against each soldier, its charge was irresistible. The Legions gave way before it. But while this was taking place on the Roman left, Flamininus upon the right observed Nicanor's Phalanx still upon the brow of the hill, broken by the rough ground. He immediately sent up his elephants, and following with his Legionaries charged before the enemy had time to form. The left Phalanx, attacked in this helpless condition, were driven over the hill in utter confusion. Philip saw that all was lost, and left the field. Not fewer than 8000 Macedonians were killed ; VOOO were taken prisoners. The army was annihilated. § 19. When the Romans reached the Macedonian camp, they found that their light-fingered allies the ^tolians had already plundered it. If this disgusted the soldiery, Flamininus himself was provoked by the arrogance with which their chiefs claimed the chief share in the victory of Cynoscephalae. Their cavalry had doubtless done good service ; but it was too much for Roman pride to hear an epigram recited, in which it was said that " Philip had been conquered by the ^tolians and the Latins."* * \Itu1C>v S/iTjOevTeg vir' 'Apeof ijdi AaTLvcov. The epigram was written by Alcaeus of Messene. See Plutarch, Yit. Flamin. c. 9. 428 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. The ^tolians had now ceased to be useful to the Romans, and from this time forth we find little harmony between them. Flamininus held a conference with Philip at Tempe ; and the ./Etolians were furious to find that the politic Roman oft'ered Philip the old conditions of peace, whereas they wished for nothing less than to deprive him of his crown. Philip gladly accepted the offer of the General : he paid down 200 talents caution-money, and gave up his son Demetrius and other hostages, who were to be restored in case the Senate refused their assent to the treaty. Bat Flamininus was at this time completely trusted ; and ten Commissioners were sent with a Decree of the Senate, which pre- scribed the basis on which the settlement of Greece was to be made. All the engagements of the Proconsul were sanctioned ; but Philip was required to pay 1000 talents, half at once and half in annual instalments for ten years. On the arrival of the Commissioners, rumours became rife of the intentions of the Senate. The ^tolians eagerly caught up these rumours, and endeavoured to raise the indignation of the Greeks. " The freedom promised was," they said, " an illusion. Greece would only find a change of masters. Macedonian garri- sons will be replaced by Roman. The Fetters of Greece would only be clasped tighter by a stronger hand." Flamininus exerted himself to weaken the effect of these representations ; and the Greeks waited anxiously but quietly for the promulgation of the Decree. § 20. The Commissioners repaired to Corinth, and it was generally known that their resolutions would be publicly announced at the approaching Isthmian Games. That city of old renown was thronged by the assembled Greeks, who came not so much to witness the national festival, as to learn their country's fate from the lips of the conqueror. The day arrived. Flamininus took his seat in the Amphitheatre. Amid the expectation of all men, a trumpet sounded, and a crier advanced into the arena, who proclaimed that, the Roman Se- nate AND T. QuiNCTIUS THE GeNERAL, HAVING CONQUERED KiNG Philip and the Macedonians, declared all the Greeks who HAD been subject TO THE KiNG FREE AND INDEPENDENT. The glad news was more than men could believe ; they gazed incre- dulously on each other; they asked their neighbours whether they had heard aright. Then a general cry arose that the pro- clamation should be repeated. And now, when doubt gave way to certainty, a deafening shout of joy burst from the assembled multitude. Men's minds were too much absorbed with serious topics to be interested by shows ; the games were hurried over. When the Roman General rose to leave the Amphitheatre, the Chap. XXXIX. SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR. 429 crowd pressed so closely round him, eager to touch his hand and wreathe his head with garlands, that he was well nigh smothered under their tumultuous greeting. This memorable event took place in the summer of 196 b.c, about a year after the battle of Cynoscephalse. § 21. Flamininus remained nearly two years in Greece after the day of the Proclamation. Already the seeds of a new war were sown. Envoys had arrived from Antiochus, King of Syria, a rash and selfish monarch, who had some reason for alarm. We have related how he had proposed to divide with Philip the possessions of the King of Egypt. But no sooner was Philip engaged in a war with Rome than Antiochus seized the oppor- tunity to occupy Asia Minor, and he was now preparing to cross the Hellespont. Hitherto, Flamininus had abstained from every step which could irritate a new enemy; but now he cared not any longer to humour the King of Syria. He dismissed the Envoys with peremptory orders for Antiochus "to restore the Greek cities in Asia to independence, and on no account to set foot in Europe." At the same time he promised that Commissioners should be sent to acquaint him more explicitly with the pleasure of the Senate. § 22. Some things in Greece required the immediate attention of the General. It was necessary to secure the peace and safety of Peloponnesus by putting down Nabis, Tyrant of Lacedsemon. No peaceful community could subsist by the side of this barbarian. How he gained his power we know not. He con- firmed himself in it by a caricature of the reforms of Cleomenes, and distributed the lands among a number of enfranchised Helots. The rich and respectable citizens he banished or put to death ; those who were suspected of wealth were put to the torture. His favourite engine for this purpose was a wooden figure representing his wife Apega, which clasped the unhappy recusant to breasts furnished with sharp spikes in place of nipples. He maintained a considerable fleet and army, which were em- ployed in piracy and plunder. The Roman general had no pretext for war against him. He had admitted him into alliance just before the battle of Cynosce- phalae, and Nabis had not broken the terms. Flamininus, there- fore, resolved to act merely as the agent of the Achseans, who had abundant grounds for complaint against the Tyrant. He led the allies against Sparta, which, though formerly unwalled, was now strongly fortified ; and the desperadoes who formed its garrison defended their last hope bravely. But the Tyrant must have yielded at discretion, had not Flamininus, whose departu**? 430 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. from Greece was now fast approacliing, granted him fair terms. The Achseans murmured, but in vain. Nabis was deprived of the southern portion of Laconia, which was declared free ;* and was required to give up his fleet and disband his army. § 23. Flamininus employed the few months that remained before his departure in making a tour of Greece, and settling the government in Thessaly and other newly-emancipated places. Everywhere he gave preponderance to the aristocratical or Roman party, and attempted to create such a balance of power, that each state should be afraid of going to war. He spared Philip in the North to check the power of the JEtolians, and Nabis in the South to be a thorn in the side of the Achseans. He intended that no state in Greece should be strong enough to prevail over the rest, but that all should maintain a species of in- dependence under the protection of Rome, which was to occupy the place filled by Macedon since the battle of Sellasia. § 24. The spring of the year 194 b.c. now came on, and Flamininus prepared for departure. He assembled his Grecian allies at Corinth, and addressed them in a parting speech. He declared he had been actuated in all his measures by a sincere desire of promoting their good ; he had spared Nabis only because he could not put him down without destroying the ancient city ol Sparta ; " his last act," he said, " should prove whether the word of Romans or of ^tolians were more trustworthy. He would show that the freedom of Greece was to be no illusion. He would withdraw the Roman garrisons from all the cities, even from those famous strongholds which were called the Fetters of Greece. Corinth, Chalcis, and Demetrias should be pledges of his sincerity. And now," he added, " now that you have perfect liberty, show that you understand its value by maintaining peace and goodwill among yourselves. Let the Roman People know that you are worthy of the gift they have bestowed." These words so touched the hearers, that with the excitable temper of a Southern people they burst into tears; and the General himself was so affected, that he was for a time unable to go on. After a pause he asked as a personal favour, that all Roman citizens who were in slavery among them should be set free, and allowed to attend his triumph. The request was granted by acclamation ; and the Achseans alone redeemed 1 200 Roman slaves at the expense of the State. § 25. Two months after this memorable scene, Flamininus set sail from Oricum, after an absence of nearly five years, during three of which he had been almost the absolute Sovereign of * Hence this district was named The Eleuthero-Lacones, Chap. XXXIX SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR. 431 Greece, He landed at Brundusium with his army, and marched in a sort of festal procession along the Appian Way to Rome. The Senate met him outside the walls, and granted the Triumph he had justly earned. The Triumph lasted three days. The first two were taken up with processions of cars, carrying the spoils taken from Philip and Nabis. On the third day, the General himself ascended to the Capitol, preceded by his pri- soners and hostages, among whom were two King's sons, Deme- trius son of Philip, and Armeues son of Nabis. After him came his soldiers, all enriched by the war; and, lastly, the liberated slaves, forming the most glorious part of the whole. Not Scipio himself had enjoyed a more splendid triumph. The character of Flamminus, indeed, could not challenge comparison with the heroic proportions of Scipio : yet there was no other Roman who could be compared with Flamininus. Ooin of the Quinctian Gens, bearing the head of Flamininus. Coin of Antiochus the G-reat. CHAPTER XL. WAR WITH ANTIOCHUS, AND SETTLEMENT OF EASTERN AFFAIRS (192—188 B.C.) § 1. Antiochus ordered to quit Europe. § 2, His court at Ephesus visited by Hannibal : how this happened. § 3. Hannibal's plan. § 4. Intrigues of ^tolians in Greece : death of Nabis : Sparta joins Achaean League § 5. Flamininus dispatched to Greece : Thoas the ^tolian persuades An- tiochus to cross over into Greece. § 6. Antiochus lands at Demetrias? welcomed by the northern Greeks. § 7. Opinion of Hannibal : frivolity of Antiochus. § 8, Next spring, Antiochus advances into Acarnania : retreats to Thermopylae. § 9. The pass of Thermopylae forced by the Consul Gla- brio; Cato. § 10, Advice of Flamininus to Glabrio, not to crush ^tolians. § 11. Flamininus puis all Peloponnesus under the Achaean League:^ his warning. § 12. Next year, L. Scipio, with his brother Publius as Legate, takes the command against Antiochus. § 13. Operations by sea: Battle of Myonnesus. § 14 Great army of Antiochus. § 15, Battle of Magnesia: utter defeat of the Sy r i ans. § 16. Terms of peace dictated by Scipio. § 17, Effects at Rome of the Syrian triumph. § 18. M. Fulvius Nobilior reduces .^Etolians. Flamininus again interferes. § 19. Cn. Manlius Vulso makes war, without authority, upon the Galatians. § 20. Distribution of the Asiatic possessions of Antiochus. § 21. Fruits of the Galatian War. § 1. Notwithstanding the warning of Flamininus, Antiochus crossed the Hellespont (192 b.c). Abydos yielded to him. Ly- siraacheia, destroyed by Philip, he ordered to be rebuilt; and here he was found by the Commissioners of the Senate. They told him not to imagine that the Romans had spared Philip for him to conquer, and required him to quit Europe at once and to give up all the cities of Asia Minor which he had taken. An angry argument followed, which was broken off by a false report of the death of young Ptolemy. The Syrian King returned m haste to Asia, that he might be ready for all contingencies. Chap. XL. SYRIAN WAR. 433 § 2. At this crisis the court of Antiochus was visited b}' a man whose counsels, had they been followed, might have changed the history of the world. After the conclusion of peace with Rome, Hannibal applied all his energies to the reform of the State. His first step was to put down the selfish oligarchy which had crippled his enterprises in Italy. He had carried safe from the field of Zama the greater part of his veterans, and their swords made him master of the State. He found that the finances had been shamefully maladministered by the Council of One Hundred. He at once ordained that this Council should be re-elected, wholly or in part, every year, not by themselves, but by the people. He published a statement, by which it appeared that the present revenue, properly administered, would amply suffice to defray all the expenses of the Government, as well as the tribute due to Rome. The old oligarchy could not brook to lose the gains of office without a struggle. They sent messages to the Senate accusing Hannibal of forming secret treaties with Antiochus and others. As soon as the Macedonian War was ended, the Senate sent commissioners to inquire into the truth of the accusations. Hannibal felt that he was already condemned by these prejudiced judges, and fled from Africa. He reached Tyre in safety, and thence repaired to the court of Antiochus at Ephesus. Here he exerted all his abilities to widen the breach between Rome and the Syrian monarch. § 3. Antiochus had made up his mind to war, and Hannibal was welcomed and consulted. His plan of operations was this. He asked for 10,000 men and 100 ships of war, with transports. With these he would sail to Carthage and make her declare war against Rome. He would then invade Italy, while Anti- ochus, with an overpowering force, should cross over into Greece and raise all the country against Rome. § 4. The time was favourable. The Romans were engaged m desperate conflicts with the Spaniards, as well as with the Ligu- rians and the Gauls of Northern Italy ;* and the presence of Hannibal might have revived a contest as fierce as in the Great Punic War. In Greece the discontent of the ^tolians had laid a train of fresh troubles. No sooner had Flamininus turned his back than they began their intrigues, and determined to set Greece in a flame. At the suggestion of Thoas, their Chief, envoys were sent to Antiochus, Philip,, and Nabis, urging these monarchs to war. Philip at once refused; he had suff'ered too much ; he detested the ^tolians, and was little satisfied with * See the next Chapter. 19 434 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Bouk V. the selfish conduct of Antiochus. Nabis wanted little incite- ment : he flew to arms, assassinated all the Roman partisans in Lacedaemon, and sent marauding parties into the territory of the Achaean League ; but he was soon compelled by Philopoemen to retire behind the walls of Sparta. Antiochus sent back Thoas with promises, and the ^tolians resolved at once to commence their movements. On a given day they attempted to gain possession of Chalcis, Demetrias, and Sparta. At Chalcis they failed ; Demetrias was betrayed by its inhabitants. Their per- fidious attempt on Sparta was defeated ; Nabis himself was killed ; the most respectable citizens hastily sent for Philo- pcEmen, and declared Sparta a member of the Achaean League. § 5. These things took place in the summer of 192 b.c. On hearing of the first disturbances, the Senate had dispatched Flamininus to Greece at the head of a Commission. Flami- ninus remained there, while he sent on the other Commissioners to warn Antiochus against taking part with the ^tolians. But Thoas had just returned to Ephesus with news of the capture of Demetrias. If the King would but show himself, he said, Macedonia and all Greece would rise to welcome him ; but he uiist come at once, or the Romans would be upon them. The only forces which Antiochus had ready were the 10,000 men whom he had assembled to execute the plan of Hannibal. The great Carthaginian had overcome the King's jealous feelings by the tale of his boyish oath to bear eternal enmity against Rome ; and for a time Antiochus followed all his counsels. But the flattering words of Thoas once more estranged the King's mind from the great general; and the lying ^tolian obtained absolute influence at court. Notwithstanding the pleadings of Hannibal, notwithstanding the warnings of the Roman Com- missioners, Antiochus determined to set sail for Europe, and thus virtually declared war against Rome. § 6. He offered a solemn sacrifice at Troy, and in a few days landed at Demetrias. Here he was welcomed with loud accla- mations. The Boeotians, eager to satiate their hatred of Rome, received him joyfully ; the people of Elis, old enemies of the Achaean League, sent him favourable answers ; the Epirotes pro- mised to join him as soon as he should appear; and Amy- nander, the Athamanian, was persuaded to desert his old allies and join Antiochus. The Achaeans, however, unanimously de- clined his off'ers. Presently, he held a council of war at Demetrias. The ^tolians advised that the first thing needful was to secure possession of all Thessaly. All the rest approved except Hannibal, who sate silent. The King asked his opinion. He Chap. XL. SYRIAN WAR. 435 — said that " his opinion was unchanged. He had thought before, and he thought still, that all the time spent in gaining the support of the Greeks was thrown away. They must side with the strongest, and if the King were victorious would join him as a matter of course. It was ill-advised to have believed the false reports of the ^tolians, and to have ventured into Greece with so small a force ; but now the best thing to be done was to force Philip to take part with them, by ordering Seleucus, the King's son, to advance into Macedonia : to send for reinforcements without delay ; to station the fleet at Cor- cyra, and concentrate all the forces in Epirus, so as to meet the Romans there or (if possible) to invade Italy." § v. But this plan was too great for the petty mind of the King and his advisers. He spent the summer in Thessaly, and as winter approached retired to the fortress of Chalcis in Eubcea, which had opened its gates at his approach. Here the senseless monarch gave himself up to enjoyment. He married a fair daughter of the place, and celebrated his marriage with Oriental splendour. His officers and their men followed the royal ex- ample; all bonds of order and discipline were relaxed. The Syrians passed the winter in idling and drinking, and Philo- poemen regretted that he was no longer General of the League, or he would have cut off the whole army in detail. Meanwhile the Senate were busily engaged in preparing for war. The conduct of Antiochus had so completely thrown the game into their hands that it was easy to represent the war as one of simple defence. No one could say that they had pro- voked it. The Achseans regarded them as their champions. § 8. In the spring of the next year (191 b.c.) Antiochus roused himself and advanced into Acarnania. His prospects suddenly darkened. At the same moment he heard that Philip, with the authority of the Romans, was fast reconquering the Thessalian cities which had submitted in the previous year, and that the Consul, M' Acilius Glabrio, had also entered Thessaly. The ^tolians, after all their promises, brought but 4000 men into the field. Antiochus retraced his steps to Chalcis, and . sent urgent messages for additional forces, but in vain. The Roman Consul was approaching Thermopylaj from the north, and unless he were checked here, Boeotia and Euboea, as well as Thessaly, would be lost. § 9. The Pass of Thermopylae is formed, as is well known, by a spur of Mount Q^ta, which comes close down upon the sea. The King intrenched himself in the narrowest place, like Leonidas of old, but not in the spirit of Leonidas. The mountain- path, by which the Persian troops had found a way to the rear 436 CONQUEST OF THE WOLRD. Book Y. of the Greeks, was now committed to the charge of the -^tolians ; but these freebooters sent a small detachment only on this service, while they employed their chief force in seizing the neighbouring city of Heraclea. The Consul encamped in front of the Pass ; but before commencing the assault he sent his lieutenants, L. Valerius Flaccus and M. Porcius Cato, to force their way over the mountain to the rear of the enemy. The Syrians defended their entrenchments well, but as soon as they found themselves attacked in rear, they threw down their arms and fled with precipitation. Antiochus himself was wounded in the mouth by a stone, and escaped with only 500 men to Chalcis. The Consul embraced Cato before the whole army, and, declaring that the whole merit of the victory lay with him, sent him home with news of the victory. He tra- velled with the greatest speed, landed at Tarentum, and in five days more announced to the Senate that Greece was delivered from the Syrians. When the Consul advanced into Boeotia, the King re-embarked for Ephesus, taking with him his bride, the only conquest which he retained. § 10. Glabrio soon reduced the strong places which had joined the enemy, and then laid siege to Naupactus, the chief station of the ^tolian navy. While he was thus engaged, Flamininus arrived in his camp. He immediately pointed out to the Consul that it would be an error to crush the ^tolians alto- gether, and thus to leave Philip, who had by this time recon- quered Upper Thessaly, without any people strong enough to balance his power in Upper Greece. Glabrio acquiesced, and Naupactus was left to the ^tolians. § 11. On his way to the Consul's camp, Flamininus ordered the Messenians and Eleans to give in their adhesion to the Achaean League. Thus at length all Peloponnesus was combined into one Federate State, and the darling project of Aratus seemed to be fulfilled. But Philopoemen and the patriots looked sadly on. They felt that this consummation was due to foreign force, and was, in fact, a proof of weakness. This weakness appeared still more palpably before the departure of the Romans. The Achseans laid claim to the island of Zacynthus, which had lately belonged to Philip. " Take care," said Flamininus, " what you do. Your League is like a tortoise, safe while it keeps its head within Peloponnesus, but in danger as soon as it ventures beyond." The League needed no further hint. It drew in its head, and Zacynthus passed into the hands of the Romans. § 12. As soon as Antiochus had left Europe, he thought he was secure from the Romans. But Hannibal, who had prophesied the event of tbe last campaign, ^nd had now regained some measure Chap. XL, SYRIAN WAR. 437 of credit with the arrogant monarch, told him he only wondered they were not already in Asia. The Consuls for the new year (190 b.c.) were L. Scipio the elder brother, and C. Lselius the bosom friend, of the great Africanus. L^elius was anxious for the command in the East, and the Senate were disposed to confer it on him ; but Africanus rose in the Senate- house and said, that if they would give it to his brother, he would himself accompany him as lieutenant. This decided the question, aid the two Scipios left the city as early as possible for Greece, They found Glabrio still engaged in the siege of petty fortresses. Africanus had taken care that a number of his own veterans should be enlisted in his brother's army ; and they both agreed that the war should be carried as soon as possible into Asia. L. Scipio therefore granted a fresh armistice to the ^tolians, and sent an envoy to Philip to demand a free passage for the army through Macedonia and Thrace. Philip, eager to retain his conquests in Thessaly, showed great alacrity in the Roman service. He repaired the roads and bridges, laid in stores for the army along the line of march, and attended the Consul in person to the Hellespont. § 13. The march of the Romans eastward convinced Antiochus that Hannibal was a true prophet. He immediately ordered a force to be collected so vast as to insure victory over the rash invaders, and dispatched Hannibal into Phoenicia to bring up reinforcements for the fleet. But the Roman commander ordered a Rhodian fleet to the coast of Caria to intercept Hannibal, and the brave islanders performed this service with complete success : Hannibal's Phoe- nician squadron was dispersed, and the Rhodians, combined with the Roman ships, attacked the Syrian fleet. A sharp conflict ensued off" Myonnesus, a promontory of Lydia, in which the Syrian Admiral lost more than half his fleet, and left the sea at the command of the enemy. § 14. The King had collected a vast army from all quarters. Besides his own people, he gathered levies from North and South. All kinds of men appeared in his ranks : Scythian and Galatian horsem3n ; Persian riders clad in complete armour, man and horse ; scythed cars like those of the Western Celts ; Cretan slingers ; Arabian archers mounted on dromedaries ; Indian elephants to the number of forty-four.* Sixteen thousand men bore the redoubted name of the Phalanx ; and the elite of the army, like that of Alexander, were called Argyraspids; but * The Romans had a few Afncan elephants, an inferior kind. They first used elephants in the Macedonian war (Liv. xxxi. 36), but they never relied much on these animals. 438 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y though the names and arms were Macedonian, the men were the men of Xerxes and Darius. With this host Antiochus ravaged the plains of Mysia and Lydia. Pergamus was bravely defended by Attalus, the young King's brother, Eumenes himself being with the Roman army. Africanus, who was one of the Salian Priests of Mars, stayed in Europe for the due performance of certain solemn rites, while the army crossed the Hellespont. Soon after this, he was taken ill, and obliged to remain at Elsea, the seaport of Pergamus, ■while the army advanced towards the King's quarters at Thyatira. At the approach of the Romans, Antiochus fell back across the Hyllus, and encamped at Magnesia under Mount Sipylus. He was closely followed by the Consul, who also crossed the river, and took up a position within three miles of the King's camp. Still Antiochus declined an engagement, till he found that the Romans were preparing to attack him in his entrenchment. Then he drew out his vast army in battle order. § 15. It is needless to give a detailed account of the battle. The Syrian army was three or four times as numerous as that of Scipio, who had invaded Asia with a common Consular army, supported by 3000 Achaeans, 800 men from Pergamus, and a few volunteers from Thrace and Macedonia ; but they were more than enough to defeat the Syrians. The King fled, leaving 53,000 men upon the field. The Romans, it is said, lost no more than 400. § 16. By the single battle of Magnesia, Antiochus the Great lost all his conquests in Asia Minor. He did not deem himself safe till he reached Apamea, in the south of Phrygia, where he was joined by his son Seleucus and his chief counsellors. Hence he sent ambassadors to the Consul to treat for peace. L. Scipio was at Sardis with his brother Africanus, who now took upon himself to dictate the terms. Antiochus was to give up all his possessions north of Mount Taurus; and pay down a sum of 3000 talents, with a tribute of 1000 for twelve succeed- ing years. All his ships of war and elephants were to be given up for ever ; he was to abstain from all interference with European matters; he was not even allowed to hire mercenaries in Europe. The persons of Hannibal the Carthaginian and Thoas the ^tolian, with some others, were to be surrendered to the Romans. § lY. L. Scipio repaired straightway to Rome to enjoy his splendid but easy triumph. In imitation of his brother, he assumed the after-name of Asiaticus. The booty he had made was great beyond example, the sums he paid into the treasury enormous. The Macedonian and Syrian wars laid the foundation of those prodigious fortunes which afterwards distinguished the Chap. XL. SYKIAN WAR. 439 Roman nobles, and introduced that gorgeous but barbaric luxury which corrupted the manners of the whole people, and led to in- curable evils in the State. § 18. The Senate now had leisure to punish the JEtolians. Soon after the departure of the Scipios for Asia, false reports reached Greece of successes gained by Antiochus, and the ^to- lians, flying to arms, drove Philip from his late conquests to the west of Mount Pindus. On this news the Senate ordered M. Fulvius Nobilior, one of the Consuls for the year 189, to take the command in Greece, while his colleague. On. Manlius Vulso, succeeded L. Scipio in Asia. Fulvius immediately laid siege to Ambracia, while Perseus, the son of Philip, invaded JEtolia from the north, and the Achaeans from the south. Ambracia, a noble and well-fortified town, the ancient capital of Pyrrhus, was bravely defended ; but the ^tolian chiefs, finding their con- dition desperate, hastened to send a new embassy to Rome with full submission. Philip was now as anxious to annihilate the ^tolians, as the ^tolians had formerly been eager to destroy him ; but Flamininus had saved Philip from the ^tolians, and he now interfered to save the ^Etolians from Philip. The Senate listened to his arguments, and allowed them to become the vas- sals of Rome. The Roman wars in Greece were now ended for some years. § 19. Manlius, on arriving in Asia, was much disappointed by finding that the war had been finished by the battle of Magnesia, and that nothing remained but for the Commissioners of the Senate who accompanied him to confirm the peace dictated by Africanus. But he was too anxious for plunder and a triumph not to seek for war, and an occasion presented itself in the circum- stance that the Galatians had served in the ranks of the Syrian army at Magnesia. It has before been mentioned that Galatia was a district of Northern Phrygia, which had been seized by a host of Gauls, who had been driven out of Greece about a century before. In the heart of Asia they retained their Celtic habits and names. By continual plundering they had amassed great stores of wealth. When the Consul advanced into the country, the Galatians re- tired into their mountain fastnesses, but without avail. In two great battles they were defeated by the Romans, and obliged to give up all their riches. From this time these Asiatic Gauls gradually became assimilated to the Greeks. § 20. Manlius spent a second year as Proconsul in Asia Minor. In company with the ten Commissioners of the Senate, he re- ceived ambassadors from the various States, and distributed the possessions of Antiochus in Asia Minor according to a decree of 440 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V the Senate. Eumenes of Pergamus was rewarded by the gift of Mysia,Lydia, Phrygia,and part of Caria, with those Thracian towns which Antiochus had abandoned. The rest of Caria, with Lycia and Pisidia, was given to the Rhodians. Caria and Lycia rightly belonged to Ptolemy Epiphanes, but that prince had offended the Senate by marrying a daughter of King Antiochus. § 21. The Galatian war, insignificant as it was, became the root of great evils. It was the first time that a Roman General had ventured to make war without the authority of the Senate. Nay, the ten Commissioners had expressly forbidden the enterprise; and when Manlius applied for a triumph, one of the ten opposed it warmly ; but there were too many young oflicers in the Senate who looked forward to like opportunities, and the Consul was al- lowed to celebrate his triumph over the Galatians. His example was followed too often in after times. CHAPTER XLI. WARS tN THE WEST CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH THE MACEDONIAN AND SYRIAN WARS. (200 ill B.C.) § 1. "Wars in Northern Italy : the Ligurians. § 2. Conquest of the Boians: Placentia and Cremona peopled anew : Colony of Bononia founded. § 3. Conquest of the ItaUan Ligurians. § 4. -^milian Road: Colonies of Mu- tina, Parma, and Lucca : new Province of Cisalpine Glaul. § 5. Condition of the Spanish Peninsula. § 6. Conquest of Northern Spain by Cato. § 1. Services and triumph of Cato. § 8. Continued troubles in Spain to tha Prastorship of Tib. Gracchus, § 9. Reduction of Sardinia by Gracchus; Sardi vencdes. §10. Conquest of Istria : Colony of Aquileia. § 1. While two or three Consuls were winning riches and hon. ours in the East at ah easy rate, others were engaged in the West with far more stubborn adversaries. Tedious wars with the bar- barians in Northern Italy, and with the brave tribes of Central Spain, offered little to attract greedy or ambitious Senators ; and yet in these districts many generals were compelled to keep watch and ward for years. It was about the year 200 B.C. that the Senate received news of a general rising in Northern Italy. The Gauls, who took part in the movement, were the old enemies of Rome — the Boians south of the Po, with the Insubrians and Cenoraannians on the far side of that great river. A new enemy was behind, the Ligurians, a wild people of uncertain race, who occupied the mountainous dis- trict of the Maritime Alps and Upper Apennines, from near the Rhone to the confines of Etruria. § 2. Three campaigns sufficed to reduce the Gallic tribes beyond the Po ; and the Boians, being left to carry on the con- flict single-handed, excited the Ligurians to renew their inroads. In 193 B.C., bands of these marauders appeared before Pisa and Placentia at once. But in 191, when Glabrio was forcing the Pass of Thermopylae, his colleague, P. Scipio Nasica, received the final submission of the Boians. They purchased peace at the price of half their territory ; but the half which remained was more than enough for their numbers, diminished by nine year^ deadly war with Rome. In the next year (190), C. Laelius, dis- appointed of the command against Antiochus, was employed in settling the conquered country. The colonies of Placentia and Cremona, which had suff"ered greatly since the time of Hannibal's first appearance in Italy, were re-peopled by 6000 families of Roman and Latin citizens. Part of the confiscated 19* 44*2 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V lands were assigned to a new colony at Felsina, which assumed the name of Bononia, or (as it is now called) Bologna. § 3. But to subdue the Ligurians in their mountains required long years of desultory warfare. These nimble mountaineers, lean and sinewy in form, inured to hardship, unincumbered with bag- gage, acquainted with every bye-path and fastness in their native hills, carried on a sort of guerilla warfare, which the Romans found as difficult to deal with as regular armies have always found in similar cases. Whenever the enemy presented a front, they were sure to be defeated ; but even then the bulk of the force escaped by mountain paths, and met again in some well-known resort. Often they surprised careless or over-confident commanders, and cut off large bodies of Roman troops. But year after year the Roman columns penetrated further and further into the Ligurian fast- nesses. One tribe after another submitted. L. JEmilius PauUus, son of him who fell at Cannae, himself destined to become one of Rome's most famous men, remained in Liguria with proconsular command for several years. In 180, he received the submission of two of their bravest tribes, the Ingaunians and Apuans ; and the last-named people, who marched with Etruria along the Macra, were transplanted into Samnium to the number of 40,000 souls, and their lands confiscated to the use of the Roman People. The war was virtually at an end. § 4. The submission of Northern Italy was no doubt hast- ened by the construction of military roads. M. JEmilius Lepidus, Consul for the year 180 b.c, the same who irritated Philip by his peremptory manner, constructed the great road which bore his name through the new colony of Bononia to Placentia, being a continuation of the Flaminian Way, or Great North Road, made by C. Flaminius in 220 from Rome to Ari- minum ; while Flaminius, the son, being the colleague of Lepidus, made a branch road from Bononia across the Apennines to Arre- tium. Soon after, on the line of the -^milian Road, between Bononia and Placentia, the Senate planted the colonies of Mutina (Modena) and Parma. The confiscated territory of the Apuans was assigned to the new colony of Lucca. Thus did Rome secure her conquests in the North as in the South. It was soon after these wars that the whole of Cisalpine Gaul with Italian Liguria was formed into a great Province, which was always treated with favour, and proved one of the most valuable possessions of the Roman Empire. The Gallic towns became Latin in language and feeling, as well as in government; and some notable Romans of later times, among whom may be named Livy the Historian, a Paduan by birth, sprang from the loins of these Latinised Celts. Chap. XLl. SPANISH WARS. 443 § 5. We must now follow the tide of Roman conquest in the Spanish Peninsula. That part of Spain which had been con- quered by Scipio was divided into two Provinces, known as His- pania Citerior and Ulterior, each being ruled by a Praetor or Proconsul. But these Provinces in fact included only a small portion of the Peninsula. Hither Spain ran along the coast south- ward to a point beyond Carthagena, its western boundary being as yet indeterminate : Further Spain contained little more than modern Andalusia. The rest of Spain was still unconquered. The Celtiberians, a brave race, who inhabited the chief parts of Cas- tille, dwelt in numerous cities strong both by nature and art. The Lusitanians, who occupied the mountainous districts of Western Spain and Portugal, between the Douro and Guadiana, were shep- herds or guerillas as the case required ; now tending their flocks on the hill-sides, now making armed forays into the heart of the Further province. The Gallaecians and Cantabrians, between the Douro and the Bay of Biscay, had as yet scarcely heard of the Roman name. § 6. The formation of Spanish Provinces took place apparently in 198 B.C., when we first hear of six Praetors, two being destined to govern Spain. A general outbreak followed, and may be attri- buted to the fear entertained by the Spaniards that the Romans meditated the eventual conquest of all their tribes. When M. Por- cius Cato, Consul in the year 195 b.c, entered on office, he was dispatched at once to the Hither province to subdue the insurrec- tion. This remarkable man had already distinguished himself as a Legionary Tribune under Fabius in the Hannibalic War, and had served as Quaestor under the great Scipio in Sicily. We have also recorded, by anticipation, the glory he^won by turning the Pass of Thermopylae in the campaign of Glabrio. But his military fame chiefly depends upon his operations in Spain. When he landed at Emporiae (Ampurias), he found the whole country, up to the very walls of this place, in arms ; nay, the Spaniards of Emporiae itself were only prevented by the presence of a Roman garrison from joining their countrymen. He gave proof of his determined temper by dismissing the speculators who usually contracted to supply the army with victuals ; " for," said he, " I will make the war support itself." He spent some time in training his troops for the desultory warfare of the Spaniards, oc- casionally dashing into the country occupied by the enemy, and inuring his men to every hardship. He shared all privations with the common soldiers, and won their aflfection by his blunt man- ners and rough jests. Sometimes he rode through the ranks, armed with a rude countryman's javelin, called sparus, and chas- tised offenders not over gently with his own hand. 444 CONQUEST OP THE WORLD. Book Y. When this training had lasted long enough to give the General and his men confidence in each other, Cato led them forth to attack the Spaniards, who were encamped in force near Emporiae. He fell unexpectedly on their rear, and defeated them with great slaughter. Profiting by the terror thus inspired, he penetrated into all the mountain valleys from the Ebro to Carthagena, and executed merciless vengeance on those who resisted. To the rapid military movements by which he terrified his opponents, he added a diplomatic trick, which shows the disconnected condition of the tribes he had to deal with. To the chiefs of every strong place in Northern Spain he addressed letters, commanding them, on pain of suff'ering Roman vengeance, to dismantle their fortifica- tions, and took care that every letter should be delivered on or about the same day. Each chief supposed the order was addressed to himself alone ; and each, fearing Cato's severity for himself, obeyed the order. § 7. Thus in a few weeks Cato reduced the whole Northern province to submission. No doubt he committed great atrocities. Numbers fell by the sword ; more still were taken and sold as slaves : many, to avoid this fate, put themselves to death. But no Roman General hesitated to use harsh measures ; no one thought of censuring him for doing so. After his operations in the North, he made an excursion into the Southern province, and by his presence assisted the Praetor in repelling the assaults of the Lusitanians, so that Cato had some reason for his boast, that he had pacified the whole of Spain. He returned to Rome laden with booty and honour. It must be men- tioned to his credit, that he reserved no large share of plunder for himself, though he bestowed a handsome largess on each of his soldiers. " Better," he said, " that many men should have plenty of silver, than that one man should have plenty of gold." The Senate were so well satisfied with his successes that they decreed a Thanksgiving of Three Days ; and the triumph which he celebrated was the first which Rome had witnessed since the triumph of Scipio over Hannibal. It was happy for Cato's vanity that Flamininus returned home a few weeks later, or the glory of the Spanish triumph would have been eclipsed by the greater splendour of the Macedonian. § 8. It is however probable that the measures taken by Cato for the future government of the Spanish provinces sowed the seeds of future evil. He laid regular taxes and imposts on the Spanish subjects of Rome, and confiscated as State-property the mines of silver and gold, which in those days made Spain an object of contention. It was foreseen by Scipio that the mea- sures of Cato would irritate the Spaniards; and his apprehen- Chap. XLI. LIGURIAN AND GALLIC WAR. 446 sions were justified. For the next sixteen years Rome was en- gaged in continual wars with the Spaniards. But in the year 179 B.C., sixteen years after the Consulship of Cato, the limits of th Upper Province were settled, and a general pacification brought about. This happy result was due to Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, father of the famous Gracchi. He was himself a man of ability and courage, and ruled with a moderation little known and less valued among Romans. Many communities who had been deprived of home and land, received new settlements, for which they were required to pay certain yearly dues, and to per- form military service at the order of the Roman Governor. No city was henceforth to fortify itself without the consent of Rome. In other respects they were allowed to govern themselves without interference. Such is all that we know of the famous pacification of Gracchus. § 9. Here may be added a notice of some other conquests made by Rome in this same period. The Sardinians and Corsicans, who had first risen against Rome in the Second Punic War, again ap- peared in arms about the year 181 B.C., for what cause or with what justice we know not. This petty war continued, till after his return from Spain Tib. Gracchus obtained the Consulship. His vigorous hand soon checked the insurrection ; and after an absence of two years he celebrated a triumph over the islanders. His mea- sures do not seem to have been marked with the same forbearance which distinguished him in Spain ; for so great was the number of prisoners brought home and sold that the slave-market was glutted, and " Sardinians for sale" became a proverbial expression for anything that was cheap and common.* § 10. The conquest of the northern shores of the Adriatic took place about the same time. In the year 183 b.c, a son of the great Marcellus, being Consul for the year, had occasion to march into Venetia to repel a threatened irruption of the Celtic tribes from the north. Having eft'ected his purpose with little dif- ficulty, he wrote to the Senate to point out the great advantage which the Republic would derive from the possession of the penin- sula between the modern towns of Trieste and Fiume, which then as now bore the name of Istria ; and without waiting for a reply from the Government, he invaded the country. The Senate sanc- tioned his unprovoked attack; and, soon after, possession was secured by the Latin colony of Aquileia, which became a place of great importance as a barrier against the northern barbarians. When it was destroyed by Attila, from its ashes rose the famous city of Venice. * " Sard^ Tomb of the Scipios, as restored by Canina. CHAPTER XLII. CIVIL HISTORY DURING THE MACEDONIAN AND SYRIAN WARS : COR- RUPTION OF MANNERS : SENATORIAL PREDOMINANCE ! SCIPIO AND CATO. (200 169 B.C.) § 1. General inclination to War caused by the conquests in the East. § 2. Change in the character of the Roman armies. § 3. Evil effects of war on the social condition of Romans. § 4. Rapid rise of the new NobiUty of wealth : its oUgarchical tendency. § 5. Evil effects of sudden wealth on manners and morals. §6. Bribery. §7. Evidence of profligacy : L. Elamininus: Bacchanalia : Poisoning by women. § 8. State of parties in the Senate : Scipio. § 9. Cato leader of the attack on Scipio : his previous life. § 10. Cato's bitterness against Greek fashions. § 11. L. Scipio required to pro- duce his accounts : conduct of P. Scipio : he is indicted before the People : his reply. § 12. New attack upon P. Scipio, diverted to Lucius: arrest of the latter prevented first by the armed interference of his brother, then by the intercession of Tib. Gracchus. § 1.3. Retirement and death of Scipio. § 14. Death of Hannibal in the same year. § 1 5. Cato turns upon the Senatorial party: his election to the Censorship. § 16. Severity of his Censorial administration. § 17. Character. § 1. Though it was with great difficulty that the citizens were induced to consent to the Macedonian War, to the Senators war Chap XLII CHANGE IN CHARACTER OF ARMIES. 447 was welcome even at that time of extreme depression. By commands, embassies, and commissions to foreign courts, they expected to find means of repairing their past losses and enrich- ing themselves; and they were not mistaken. And after the wars in the East a great change seems to have wrought in the feelings of the People also. The yeomen of Italy saw theii brethren returning home laden with booty. A royal road t( riches is always thronged, and we hear no more of disinclinatioi' tc declare war. It was seldom necessary to resort to the Census- roil for compulsory enlistment. The Legions were filled by volunteers. § 2. A great change now began to be introduced into the con- stitution of the Roman armies. During the Punic Wars, it had often been found impossible to dismiss the Legions levied for the year after the year's campaign was over. And what had hitherto been the exception now became the rule. A general usually kept the men who first took service under him during his whole command, and often handed them over to his successor. Thus the old militia of the Republic changed its character, and a race of professional soldiers came into being. There was not, indeed a standing army in our sense of the word. The soldiery werv not so much servants of the State, as attached to the person of a successful general, whom they regarded as their patron. This new state of things reached its height under Marius and Cassar ; but it took its origin with Scipio. Scipio was refused by the Senate the levies which he deemed necessary for the invasion of Africa, and he raised volunteers on his own credit. These men were rewarded with grants of land in Southern Italy. But theii swords were at the command of any leader who oftered a chance of fresh booty. Many enlisted for service in the Macedonian and Syrian Wars. This tendency to regard a soldier's business as a profession, rather than as the occasional duty of a citizen, received a great impulse from the invasion of Galatia by Cn. Manlius Vulso. From this time Livy dates the greedy and licentious spirit which marked the Roman soldiery of his own time, as it has marked soldiers of fortune in all times. § 3. Thus the lust of conquest became general. The Senate had now no difficulty in carrying war-votes. Wars were no ibnger defensive, even in pretence. Increase of empire was the hardly-concealed motive of action. The most detestable practices were employed to create intestine dissensions in all countries, to encourage one potentate against another, to provoke quiet and independent States by acts of intolerable arrogance, to bring about by what means soever an appeal t Roman arbitration. Senatorial commissions were continually 448 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. crossing the sea to Greece and Asia, to Carthage and Egypt. Diplomatic acts of the basest kind were becoming part of the profession of Senator. The rude simplicity of the old Roman character was degenerating into brutal arrogance, or was used as a cloak for the meanest and most hypocritical ends. § 4. The Senate itself was every day becoming more confined :ind oligarchical. We have before shown how the superior offices of the State were barred against men of moderate fortune. The old distinctions of blood had ceased: in the year 173 b.c. both Consuls were Plebeian. But a new Nobility was rising, consist- ing of the wealthy Senatorial families. Here wealth was the mother of wealth : a family once ennobled by oftice had so many opportunities of making money, that every day it became more difficult for an upstart or New Man (as persons were called whose progenitors had not held office) to make his way to the Consulship, or even into the Senate. Those who could place in their vestibules or carry out to funerals the greatest number of the images of ancestors distinguished by office were the most loble. The Senate was fast becoming an oligarchical council, almost hereditary in certain families. § 5. It will readily be perceived how fatal must have been the influence exercised on manners and morals by these changes. It has been said with melancholy truth that at the moment when the history of the Republic begins to extend itself so as to embrace the whole civilised world, it loses all its moral in- terest. The Romans before their conquests were (as we have seen) a hardy, thrifty, self-denying, and religious race, but withal ignorant, rude, destitute of common charity and humanity in their dealings with foreigners. When enormous wealth and power are suddenly placed in the hands of such a people, the results are certain. The proverbs of every nation testify to the arrogance and vices of rich upstarts ; and the Romans were no exceptions to the rule. They were much in the condition of savages exposed to the first influences of civilisation, who eagerly imbibe its new vices, and retain their own grossness. The Roman historians with one voice concur in these repre- sentations. "The great Scipio," says Velleius with pregnant brevity, " opened the way to empire ; his brother to luxury." " The Asiatic army," says Livy, " first introduced among us couches of rich workmanship, cloths of delicate texture, and all kinds of costly furniture. They set the fashion of sumptuous banquets, at which the guests were at once regaled with the choicest viands and charmed with voluptuous music. Cooks, who had formerly been the cheapest kind of slave, now became the most" valuabl<»." Ohap. XLIl. DEPRAVITY OE' WOMElT. . 443 § 6. The effect of the rapidly increasing wealth on political morality is proved by the frequent laws against Bribery at Elec- tions, which may be dated from the year 181 B.C.* § 1. Some incidents have been preserved which prove the rising profligacy. Lucius Flamiiiinus, brother of the famous Titus, was elected Consul in 192 b.c, and sent to Cisalpine Gaul. He had lately bought a beautiful Carthaginian boy, who indulged in loud complaints at being taken away from Rome just before the exhibition of the great gladiatorial games. Soon after the Consul reached his province, a Gallic chieftain fled with his family to seek for protection in the Roman camp. The fugitive was brought to the Consul's tent, where he was feasting with his unworthy minion. " Now," said Lucius, " you shall be re- warded for not seeing the gladiators ;" and, at a sign, one of the attendants stabbed the suppliant, that his dying agonies might amuse the cruel boy. A sure sign of corruption is to be found in the dissolute manners that were discovered among the women. In 186 b.c, the Consul Posthumius was accidentally informed that there were not only in Rome, but in many Italian towns, secret societies, in which young men and women were dedicated to Bacchus ; and that, under the cloak of religious ceremony, every kind of licence and debauchery was practised. The Senate issued a stringent Decree for the repression of Bacchanalian orgies. Numbers of men were put to death ; the women were handed over to the heads of their respective families, for the law did not permit the public execution of a female. § 8. The state of parties in the Senate in the earlier part of this period is singular. When Scipio returned to Rome as the conqueror of Hannibal, he was saluted by the people as the saviour of Italy. He might then have put himself at the head of a popular party, and crushed the ascendancy lately gained by the Senate. He had been elected Consul against the will of the Senatorial majority; he had won his Triumph by setting their known opinion at defiance. He was the idol of the People. It was proposed to set up his statue in the Forum, in the Comi- tium, in the Senate-house, on the Capitol, in the very Temple of Jupiter. Nay, there was a general wish to make him Dictator for life, in the hope that by the same vigour and address which had marked his military career he might put an end to the social evils, the debt, the misery which followed the dreadful Hannibalic War. * There were earlier laws de Arnbitu ; but these were intended by the Nobility to check the New Men from canvassing. Now canvassing and bribery bec-ime synonymous, and were expressed by the same word — Arrdntus. 450 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD= Book V. Scipio was still in the prime of life, not more than thirty-five years of age. But he had no taste for the cares and toils of a party-leader. He put aside the honours offered him with the same calm disdain with which he had declined the crown oflfered him by the Celtiberians. It is always difficult for a soldier who from early years has held high command to acquire the tact necessary for managing the war of parties. Hannibal, indeed, had shown himself as able in statesmanship as in war ; but it ■was by the despotic method of the camp. He was backed by his veterans ; by their aid he made himself master of Carthage, and ruled it with imperial sway. Scipio might perhaps have done the same at Rome. But he was not like Hannibal. He used to say, that "he was never less alone than when alone," so fond was he of literature and art. Those who were intimate with him loved him dearly. But he never concealed a ^.ertain proud indifterence for opinion, whether of the Senate or the people, which soon dimmed his popularity. He cared not for this. He preferred the society of the poet Ennius to the applause of the people or the favour of the Senate. In 199 B.C., he was chosen Censor; his friendly colleague, Q. ^Hus Psetus, named him Chief of the Senate, and he retained this high rank till the Censorship of Cato in 184, one year before his death. In 193, he held the Consulship for a second time, and his popularity received a mortal blow from his own hand. The Censors of that year proposed to appropriate the front places in the Theatre to the Senatorial Order, and Scipio supported the proposal. But it was not till after his return from Asia that his enemies ventured to attack him openly. Those enemies were no doubt the leaders of the old Senatorial party. But the person who led the assault bore the famous name of Cato. § 9. M. Porcius Cato was born at the provincial town of Tus- culum in the same year with the great Scipio : they were both seventeen years of age when Hannibal crossed the Alps. Cato's patrimony lay in the Sabine country, near the humble dwelling once occupied by the great Curius Dentatus. The youth looked with reverence on the hearth at which Curius was roasting his radishes when he rejected the Samnite gold, and resolved to make the rustic hero hi-s model. He used to work with his slaves, wearing the same coarse dress, and partaking of the same simple fare. His natural power of speaking he exercised by pleading in the law-courts of the neighbouring town. His shrewd remarks passed current in the country ; and the fame of the youthful orator reached the ears of L. Valerius Flaccus, a joung nobleiran of the neighbourhood, himself a determined Chap. XLII SCIPIO ATTACKED BY CATO. 451 friend of the ancient Roman manners. Flaccus had discern- ment enough to see what was in Cato ; he became his friend, and persuaded him to go to Rome, there to enter on a public life. The honourable intimacy thus begun continued throughout life. Flaccus and Cato were colleagues in almost every office of State. Cato at once attached himself to the party of Fabius, who at that time dispensed all the honours of the Republic. He served under the old General at Capua and at Tarentum : and being elected Quaestor in 205 b.c, was sent with Scipio to Sicily. When Cato returned to Rome, the favour of the old Senatorial party, and the popularity he had won by unabashed self-con- fidence, blunt bearing, and caustic eloquence, enabled him to gain the highest honours with little difficulty. He was Praetor in Sardinia in 198 b.c, at the age of thirty-seven, and gained credit by the uprightness of his administration, though he was thought too severe against the practice of usury. He was Consul in his fortieth year ; and we have already followed his able conduct of the Spanish war. Four years later he returned to Rome with the dispatch announcing the victory of Thermopylae, which he himself had mainly contributed to gain. § 10. Such was the man who, in the year 187 b.c, led the attack upon Scipio. From his first connexion with Fabius, he had formed an inveterate hatred against his patron's rival ; and as Scipio was the leader of the new Hellenic manners, so Cato constituted himself as the protector of the old Roman life. Cato seems to have thought that all evil was due to the introduction of Greek customs. No doubt Greece was at that time fast verging to that miserable state in which she still lies. But the corruption of Rome would have followed, if there had been no Greece to corrupt. The vices for which Romans became notorious were not Hellenic. It was not part of the nature of Greeks to spend large sums in glut- tonous eating and coarse sensuality. Pericles boasted that his countrymen cultivated their taste for the beautiful without extra- vagance :* and the same might be said of their pleasures ; they are and were a frugal race. No doubt the quick-witted and un- scrupulous Greeks who, as slaves or freedmen, thronged the houses of the Roman nobles, were more adroit ministers of vice than the duller natives of other lands ; but they obeyed rather than guided the propensities of their masters ; and it must not be forgotten that the philosophers, statesmen, and artists of Greece flocked to Rome, as well as her parasites and pandars. Those who cultivated Greek letters and art were the noblest * fi7i,oKaXovju£v utr' evre^eiag, Thuc. ii. 40. 452 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V sons of Rome. — Scipio himself, Lepidus, Paullus, and the like. The second Scipio, was, as we shall see, trained by the precepts and friendship of a Greek statesman. § 11. The first attack upon Scipio was judiciously made through his brother Asiaticus, who was required by the Tribune Petillius to produce an account of receipts and expenditure during his Asiatic command. Africanus bade his brother fetch the books, and then taking them from his hands tore them in fragments before the Senate, saying that " it was unworthy to call a man to account for a few thousands who had paid millions into the Treasury." This contemptuous disregard of opinion and law was now made the ground of accusation against Scipio himself On other occasions he had been guilty of similar acts of arrogance. When the Quaestors refused to pay him certain moneys without an order from the Senate, he had taken the keys by force, saying that " one who had closed the Trea- sury by his successes had the best right to open it." These and other instances of contempt were brought before the People. Scipio rose to answer. He took no notice of the charges laid against him, but gave a simple history of his life and ser- vices. The glory of the man revived; the memory of old times returned ; all hearts yearned again towards him who had driven the fell African from the shores of Italy ; the sun set before the Assembly had passed to a vote. Next day was the anniversary of the battle of Zama. Scipio appeared in a festal robe, escorted by a splendid retinue of friends and followers. " Romans," he said, " on this day I defeated Hannibal. I am on my way to the Capitol to render thanks to the great gods of the city. Follow me, Romans, and pray to those gods that you may always have leaders such as I am." The effect of these words was electrical. The multitude rose with one accord, and followed the hero up the Sacred Ascent. The Tribune was left alone with his at- tendants. § 12. This was the last day of Scipio's greatness. The cool animosity of Cato pursued him with untiring zeal, and another Tribune was urged to renew the prosecution. On the day appointed the great man did not appear : he had left Rome. His brother Asiaticus alleged sickness as the cause of absence, and prayed for an adjournment. After some question, the plea was allowed ; but the accusers turned upon the advocate. This was politic. It is not likely that a vote of condemnation could have been obtained against Africanus : his character was un- blemished, and late events had shown that the memory of the past was not dead ; but Asiaticus was not above suspicion. It was said that of the Syrian spoils a large sum due to the Trea Chap. Xi^II. CATO. , 453 sury had found its way into his private coffers, and the scene in the Senate-house confirmed the belief. So soon as Africanus heard of the proceedings against his brother, he hastened to Rome, and reached the Forum in time to see his person seized by the officers of the Tribune. He was followed by an armed retinue, and rescued Lucius by force from their custody. It seemed as if now there was to be a beginning of those bloody frays which disgraced the city in later times ; bat this dire extremity was averted by a Tribune who had as yet taken no part in the business. This was Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, whom we have already seen so honourably distin- guished for humanity in Spain. " He did not interfere," he said, " from any wish to thwart the action of law. He was still, as he had ever been, an enemy of the Scipios ; but rather than per- mit domestic war, he would himself bar the arrest of L. Scipio. It was better that the will of the People should be frustrated by one of their own Tribunes than by the arrogance of a private citizen." He then forbade all further attempts to seize the person of Asiaticus. § 13. The great Scipio felt that his name could no longer work like a spell upon the people. He retired to his villa at Liternum, where he lived some years longer in retirement ; and when he found his end approaching, he ordered himself to be buried there. " Ungrateful city !" he said, " thou shalt not even have my ashes." The three statues of himself, his brother, and the poet Ennius, which stood outside the Capuan Gate at Rome, were placed over a sepulchral vault built by the heir of his name and fame, the younger Africanus. He died in the year 183 b.c, in the fifty- fourth year of his age, though the fine bust still preserved bears the appearance of an older man.* He was too lordly to be the useful citizen of a Republic, too generous to become her master. His later career threw a shadow over services which were worth more to Rome than those of any other of her sons. § 14. In the self-same year Hannibal breathed his last. After the loss of his last hope by the destruction of the Syrian host at Magnesia, he wandered from land to land till he found a resting- place at the Court of Prusias of Bithynia. The Senate could not breathe while their great enemy lived ; and Flamininus was sent to demand from Prusias the person of his illustrious guest. The King dared not say nay, and gave Hannibal to understand that he must be surrendered to Flamininus; but the great Carthaginian, to avoid falling into the hands of his implacable * It was discovered with that of Ennius, in the Tomb. The Tomb is figured at the head of this Chapter, the bust of Scipio at the head of Chapt Yxxiv., that of Ennius at the end of Chapt. xxxviL 454 - CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. foes, swallowed a dose of poison, which, according to the com- mon story, he carried with him constantly in the hollow of a ring. He was sixty-three years of age. Life had long ceased to be valuable to him, because opposition to Rome had become hope- less. He died, as he lived, faithful to the service of that aveng- ing deity to whom he had been bound in boyhood by his father Hamilcar. § 15. The fall of Scipio threw all power into the hands of the old Senatorial party. The names of. the Gentes friendly to Scipio nearly disappear, for a season, from the Fasti. The noble ^milius PauUus, who had rendered signal services to the State in Liguria and in Spain, was unable to obtain the Con- sulship till a late age. But Cato no longer held by this party. His first connection with them arose from the fact that they represented his old patron, Fabius. They had supported Cato up to his Consulship, because he was a useful hound to run down Scipio ; but when he offered himself for the Censorship in 189, they used all their influence against him, and he was defeated. They knew well that he was a sworn friend of the old Roman rusticity, and would not tolerate their vulgar luxuries any more than the refined elegance of Scipio ; and now that his personal animosity to that great enemy was gratified, they apprehended that he might turn and rend them. This was the period of Cato's greatness. The Forum rang with his voice; his bitter gibes and caustic sarcasms were repeated everywhere ; th*^ People began to recognise him as their champion. At the next election of Censors (185), he again came forward, with his friend Flaccus by his side ; and though they were opposed by seven distinguished candidates, the favour of the People prevailed, and the two friends were elected. § 16. Cato was now in full possession of the immense arbitrary powers wielded by the Censor, and determined to put down luxury with a strong hand. He had thundered against the repeal of the Oppian law during his Consulship, but in vain, — the ladies were too strong for him. But now it was his turn. Hitherto no property had been included in the Censor's register, except land and houses. Cato ordered all valuable slaves to be rated at three times the amount of other property, and laid a heavy tax on the dress and equipages of the women, if they exceeded a certain sum. He struck seven Senators ofi" the list, some for paltry causes. Manilius was degraded for kissing his wife in public; another for an unseasonable jest ; but all honest men must have applauded when L. Flamininus suffered. At the great review of the Knights he deprived L. Scipio of his horse. In the management of public works, Cato showed judgment Chap. XLTI. CATO. 455 equal to his vigour. He provided for the repair of the aqueducts and reservoirs, and took great pains to amend the drainage of the city. He encouraged a fair and open competition for the con- tracts of tax- collection, and so much oftended the powerful com- panies of Publicani, that after he laid down his office he was prosecuted, and compelled to pay a fine of 12,000 ases. § 17. It is manifest also that Cato had given quite a new sig- nificance to the Censorial office. The fearless onslaught made by him on all abuses had stirred up a nest of hornets. Forty- four times he was accused before the people, yet except on one occasion he always came off free. More familiar to us than almost any of the great men of Rome, we see him with his keen gray eyes and red hair, his harsh features and spare athletic frame, strong by natural constitution and hardened by exercise, clad even at Rome in the coarsest rustic garb, attacking with plain but nervous eloquence the luxury and corruption of the Nobles. Yet Cato was no demagogue ; indeed, in his way he was as haughty as any noble in the land. His mind was of that hard and narrow kind, that when he had formed opinions or conceived prejudices, nothing could move him. In private business he was ruled by calculation solely. He was a great farmer : his book on agriculture is still in our hands, and contains a curious mixture of shrewd sense, calculating selfishness, and superstitious fancies. He encouraged pasturage as the most profitable employment oi land in Italy. He condemned usury as a crime only less bad thau murder, and yet evaded the law which forbade Senators to engage in trade by lending his money to the trading companies. He advised a farmer to sell off such of his slaves as might become useless from age or infirmity. His self-sufficiency was intolerable. He was one of those men who having done everything for them- selves, have come to think themselves infallible. The Sabine farmer made himself a perpetual Censor, and would fain have laid down the law for every one. Coin of Perseus. CHAPTER XLIII. THE THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR, OR WAR OF PERSEUS. (180 168 B.C.) § 1. Prudence and energy of Philip. § 2. A Commission sent to check Philip. § 3. His son Demetrius sent to Rome: Philip forgiven "for his son's sake." § 4. Imprudence of Demetrius : Perseus. § 5. Philip's pre- parations and plans. § 6. Murder of Demetrius and death of Philip: Perseus. § 7. Measures of Perseus. § 8. Eumenes accuses him at Rome: attempt upon the liie of Eumenes. § 9. War declared against Perseus: he is deceived by Philippus. § 10. Resources of Perseus. § 11. First and second campaigns: end in favour of Perseus. § 12. Discontent through- out Greece. § 13. Third Campaign: Q. Marcius Philippus: vreakness of Perseus. § 14. Fourth Campaign: L. ^milius Paullus. § 15. Severe measures of Paullus in the army. § 16. Perseus falls back to Pydna: Eclipse of Moon. § 17. Battle of Pydna. § 18. Perseus surrenders. § 19. Settlement of Macedonia. § 20. Greece: Massacre of Epirotes. § 21. Triumph of Paullus. § 22. Death of his sons. § 23. Great increase of Revenue. § 24. Fate of Perseus. § 1. Philip had of late shown complete submission to Rome; but he was secretly engaged in improving the internal resources of Macedon. For a time his ungovernable temper was controlled by prudence. He organised an improved system of taxation .* he established a regular mode of working the gold mines of Mount Pangaeus, which had supplied treasure to his great predecessor Philip the Second.* He replenished his wasted population by large draughts of brave barbarians from Thrace. He formed an alliance with Prusias of Bithynia, the enemy of Eumenes. He ventured to seize ^nos and Maroneia, two Thracian cities lately evacuated by Antiochus. * See Dr. Smith's History of Greece, Chapt. xlii, § 7. UHAP. XLIII. THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR 457 § 2. Reports of this activity were soon transmitted to Rome by Eumenes, and the Senate sent a Commission of inquiry. Philip was summoned to appear before them at Tempe, and the proud monarch complied. But when he found that he was to be stripped of all his Thessalian possessions, his assumed calmness gave way, and he broke into an angry threat. " The sun," he said, " had not quite set yet." The complaints of JEnos and Maroneia were reserved for the judgment of the Senate. Philip, however, feeling very sure what that judgment would be, resolved to gratify his vengeance, and ordered a general massacre of the wretched Maroneians. The king was immediately desired to send the authors of the massacre for trial at Rome. He be- came much alarmed, and despatched his younger son Demetrius, who had lived for four years as a hostage at Rome, to make inter- cession in his behalf. § 3. The mission of Demetrius was the beginning of great misery to his father. The young man was received by the Senate in the most flattering manner. But, at the same time, they encouraged every complaint against Philip. Fugitives (detailed the horrors of the massacre at Maroneia. And when Demetrius stood forth in the Senate-house to offer a defence for his father, the Chief of the Senate cut him short by asking whether he had no written instructions. The young prince incautiously produced papers, drawn up with the freedom which Philip was likely to use in a confidential memorandum. Upon this, the Senate at once gave judgment against him; "but," it was added, " they would forgive him for the sake of Demetrius. Tliey would only require that he should withdraw from Thessaly and Thrace ; but he must remember that he owed this forbearance entirely to the young prince his son." § 4. The rest of Philip's life was embittered by family in- trigues. Demetrius was the favourite of the Macedonians ; and even where there is no positive reason, suspicion is apt to grow up between an aged king and the popular heir to the crown. Such suspicion was, not without cause, aggravated by the honours paid to Demetrius at Rome, and by the foolish fondness shown by the young prince for everything Roman. There was, more- over, an eye watching the young prince with more of jealousy than even Philip was likely to feel. Perseus, the King's elder son, was born of a concubine. He was reserved in manner, and far less popular than Demetrius. He gained his father's ear, and led him to believe that Demetrius was endeavouring to antici- pate the course of nature in gaining possession of the crown. The young prince was committed to the custody of Didas, Governor of Paeonia; and two confidential ministers were «ent 20 458 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book T. to Rome in order to ascertain the truth of the suspicions raised by Perseus. § 5. Meanwhile, the King silently continued his preparations. Every day, it is said, he had the treaties he had signed with Rome read over to him, to remind him of the duty of revenge. Filled with jealousy and suspicion, he put many of his great nobles to death, and imprisoned their sons, quoting the line of Homer, which says, that it is but foolish work to slay the father and spare the child.* He endeavoured to balance. the suspected fidelity of the Macedonians by transporting whole families into Emathia, and replacing them by Thracians, who held their lands by military service. He formed a bold scheme for employing Rome, by inducing the Bastarnians, a people who inhabited the country afterwards called Moesia, to exterminate the Dardanians and seize their territory, and then, leaving their families there, to pour into Italy by the northern end of the Adriatic. It was no doubt in connection with this great plan, that he made a tour to the passes of Hsemus (the Balkan), of which Livy speaks in language that we might use of a person visiting the regions of Siberia. § 6. On his return gloomy news awaited him. Didas, under pretence of sympathy, had led Demetrius to form and to confess a scheme for flying to Italy and claiming the protection of the Senate. The envoys had come from Rome with what seemed to confirm all that Philip or Perseus had suspected ; they were the bearers of letters purporting to be written by Flamininus, and urging the young prince to the worst extremities of treason. The unhappy father, who had long wished to disbelieve, signed an order for his son's death. Didas attempted to take him off by poison ; but the unfortunate young man detected the attempt, and was suflPocated with brutal violence. This event took place in 179 b.c. The old King did not long survive. He discovered that the letters of Flamininus were forged, and it is said that he meditated disinheriting Perseus. But mortal sickness overtook him at Amphipolis. Perseus, informed of his father's state, hastened to Pella, and was pro- claimed King before others knew of Philip's death. The great abilities possessed by Philip were always shown on emergencies. But ordinarily his savage passions deprived him of the advantages he might have gained, and it was the popular belief that the misery of his latter days was a divine retribution for. the crimes of his life. Perseus had neither the same abilities nor the same passions. In manner he was dignified and i;*- ''' VTJTTiog, Of Trarepa Kreiva^ Tialda^ KaTci?ieiKOiy Chap. tLlll. THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR. 469 served; in government he was generally pradent and temperate. But ho liad two defects, which in his position were almost more fatal than his father's ferocity, — avarice and timidity. § 7. The first measures of his reign were marked by prudence' and moderation. After regulating the affairs at home, he visited Greece and won golden opinions by his gracious manners. The patriotic party was inclined to join him against the Romanising tyrants who were raised to power in every State, as formerly the same party had been fain to accept the aid of Rome against the tyranny of Philip. § 8. The Senate had their eye upon the movements of Per- seus ; but it was not till the year 172 b.c. that incidents occurred which brought on immediate hostilities. It had been their policy in Asia to increase the power of Eunienes of Pergamus, as a balance to the power both of Macedonia and Syria. Eumenes was anxious also to extend his possessions in Greece ; but the Achaean League, supported by Perseus, baffled all his endeavours ; and he appeared at Rome as the formal accuser of the King of Macedon. He was heard with favour ; and after a secret debate, the Senate called in the envoy sent by Perseus to offer explanations. This man perceived that the matter had been prejudged. "His master," he said, " was ready to explain ; but if they were bent on war, for war he was also prepared." He then hastened home to warn Perseus that hostilities must soon begin. Matters were precipitated by an attempt on the life of Eumenes. At Rome he had been rewarded with the gift of a curule chair and ivory staff, the highest honours which the Re- public could bestow upon a foreigner ; and, on his return home- wards, he landed at Cirrha to pay a devotional visit at Delphi. He was ascending the steep road which led to the Temple, when he was knocked down by some large stones thrown from a wall which skirted the road. He was taken up for dead ; but was carried to vEgina, where he recovered. The assassins had escaped. But it was said that they bore letters of introduction from Perseus; and a chief citizen of Brundusium came forward to state that he also had been offered bribes from the King to poison some of the Roman Senators. It is difficult to say how much of these accusations was true. But the Senate gave ready credence to the informers, and imme- diate war was determined upon. § 9. On the very day on which the Consuls for 171 b.c. entered on office, a decree was framed for obtaining from the Centuries a declaration of war; and this time the vote passed in the affirmative without demur. The command fell to P. Li- 460 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V cinias Crassus. While he was preparing for his expedition, Commissioners were sent to different parts of Greece to intimi- date the States and prevent them from taking part with Perseus. The chief person among them was Q. Marcius Philippns, a former friend of Philip, who had borrowed a new family name from that monarch, Perseus invited him to a conference, which was readily- accepted by the Roman envoy, for he knew that the Senate wished to gain time. Some dispute arose as to the etiquette of crossing the Penetis, where they met. The Roman decided it in his ov/n favour by an indifferent jest. " It is meet" said he, "that the son should come to the father.''^ The plausible manners of Philippus beguiled Perseus. He prayed for an armistice in order to send an embassy to the Senate, which Philippus granted with apparent unwillingness. He then returned to Rome, and had the impudence to boast in open Senate of the successful fraud by which he had gained time; and the Senate, with the exception of a few honourable men, had the effrontery to approve conduct which much resembled swindling. Phi- lippus was sent back to Greece as the diplomatic representative of Rome. § 10. It was with reason that the Romans were anxious to gain time. The resources of Macedon had been steadily in- creasing daring a peace of nearly thirty years : the Treasury was full. Perseus had a well-appointed army of 40,000 foot and 4000 horse, besides the troops of his Thracian allies. The phalanx, raised to 20,000 men, was formed, as of old, in two divisions, — the Silver Shields and the Brass Shields. To oppose this force, Crassus landed in Epirus late in the season with 28,000 foot and 2000 horse, for the most part raw troops. § 11. When Perseus discovered the fraud that had been prac- tised upon him, he formed an entrenched camp on the western slope of Ossa, favourably situated for foraging in the plain of the Peneiis, and for commanding his communications with Macedon by the Pass of Tempe. Meanwhile Crassus had threaded the passes of Western Thessaly without molestation and advanced to Larissa, where to his joy he found Eumenes, now recovered from his wounds, with his brother Attains, at the head of 4000 foot and 1000 horse. These additions to his force, with Achaean and -^tolian auxiliaries, and some Numidian horse, made his army nearly equal in number to that of Perseus, though it was much inferior in quality. The Consuls felt this, and steadily declined battle, till Perseus advanced to the very gates of the Roman camp, and drove the Romans in. He did not, however, venture to attack the camp, Chap. XLIII. THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR. 461 and Crassus decamped across the Peneus. The blame of the defeat was laid upon the JEtolians ; and five chiefs of that nation were sent to be tried before the Senate. Perseus sued for peace on the terms of the treaty of Flamini- nus ; but the Consul obstinately refused all terms short of abso- lute submission. Even this defiance failed to rouse the spirit of the King. He sent a second message, off'ering to increase the tribute paid by his father ; but the same contemptuous reply met his advances. The new Consul Au. Hostilius Mancinus arrived early in the season to take the command (IVO b.c). He made an attempt to force the Cambunian passes, but was repulsed at every point. § 12. The success of the Macedonians had given life to the smouldering discontent of Greece. The presence of the Roman fleet at Chalcis alone prevented Boeotia from rising in a mass. Epirus, hitherto devoted to Rome, reaped no benefit from her submissive conduct. Cephalus had long held the govern- ment ; and though in his heart he hated Italian dominion, he had scrupulously observed every obligation laid upon him. But the ear of the Senatorial Commissioners was gained by Charops, grandson of that Charops who had assisted Flamininus to turn the Pass of Klissoura. Cephalus felt that his turn would come next ; and he engaged with Perseus to raise Epirus against Rome. § 13. The Consul who followed Hostilius was Q. Marcius Phi- lippus, the cajoler of Perseus. Philippus, though he was past sixty and of unwieldy corpulence^ displayed more vigour than his predecessors. Avoiding the gorge of Tempe and the Cambu- nian Passes, he carried his army by a difficult path over the north-western shoulder of Mount Olympus, and appeared within a few miles of Dium, where Perseus was lying in fancied security. The King, panic-stricken, ordered a precipitate retreat to Pydna, and sent off two of his confidential ministers, — one to Pella to throw his treasure into the sea, the other to Thessalonica to destroy his naval stores. Philippus, astonished at his own success, pursued the King : but he could obtain no provisions, and was obliged to retreat to Tempe. On his retreat, Perseus returned to Dium. Ashamed of his own pusillanimity, he censured his officers for suffering the Romans to pass over Mount Olympus ; and ordered the ministers whom he had commissioned to destroy his arsenal and sink his treasure to be put to death, in the idle hope that the truth might be concealed. § 14. The only substantial success gained by the Consul Phi- lippus was the opening of the Pass of Tempe. Public feeling at 482 CONQUEST OP THE WORLD. Book Y. Rome began to show signs of impatience. The Senate perceived that they must no longer dally with the war, and resolved to promote the election of L. ^milius Paullus to the Consulship. This eminent man, the son-in-law of Scipio, had lived in retire- ment since the fall of his great kinsman. He was now past sixty, and had always been rejected as a candidate for the Consulship, but in the hour of need was appointed to the command by a special decree of the Senate. He resolved, however, first to make the present state of things fully known. He therefore insisted on sending Commissioners to report on the condition of both the armies. This report was not encouraging. Perseus was still at Dium with all his forces round him. The Consul could not stir from Tempe. Epirus was in full insurrection. The fleet was as ill oflf as the army. Eumenes had withdrawn. Both he and the Rhodians had shown symptoms of disaffection to Rome. Genthius, King of Illyria, was expected to join Perseus. § 15. Paullus deemed the occasion worthy of all attention. No Legionary Tribunes were appointed but men of proved experi- ence. The army was made up to more than 30,000 men. One Praetor, Cn. Octavius, took the command of the fleet. L. Anicius, the Praetor Peregrinus, was dispatched with 10,000 foot and 800 horse to attack Genthius at home. An army of reserve was formed in Italy. The commanders left Rome early in April of the year 168 b.c. Paullus, accompanied by his two sons, and by young Scipio Nasica, son of the "best man" (Chapt. xxxiv. § 16), travelled post-haste to Brundusium, crossed to Dyrrhachium in one day ; in five days more reached Delphi, where he stayed to offer sacri- fice to Apollo ; and in five days more joined the army at Tempe. A few severe examples checked disorder, and strict regulations restored discipline. The fame of the new Consul alarmed the feeble Perseus. Nor was his alarm lessened by hearing that the Prsetor Anicius had pursued Genthius from Lissus to Scodra, and had compelled the chief to surrender at discretion. § 16. Yet the defensive measures taken by Perseus were good. He had drawn entrench'ments along the deep bed of the Enipeus from the base of Mount Olympus to the sea; and Paullus thought the Macedonian position too strong to be assailed in front. Ha therefore sent Nasica round the mountain, while he amused the enemy by a feigned attack upon his lines. Nasica, after an arduous march, turned the right flank of the Macedonian lines ; and Perseus fell back to the plain of Pydna, which was well adapted for the movements of the Phalanxes. Paullus followed close, but resolved not to risk a battle till he had secured his Chap. XLIII. THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR. 463 camp. On the evening of his arrival, C. Sulpicius Gallus, one of the Legionary Tribunes, gave out that there would be an eclipse of the moon that night, and thus prevented the alarm which this supposed portent would have caused to the Romans. The Macedonians, on the other hand, were horror-struck : the eclipse seemed to threaten the fall of the monarchy.* § 17. The next day a decisive conflict was brought on by acci- dent, as at Cynoscephalse. About three in the afternoon a Roman horse broke loose, and was followed by a few soldiers into the bed of the small stream which separated the two armies. The horse was seized by an outpost of Thracians; a scuffle ensued, and so many men came up on both sides to take part in the fray, that both King and Consul drew out their whole armies in battle order. The Macedonians attacked. The two Phalanxes, the Brass and Silver Shields, formed the main body, flanked by the light troops and cavalry, with a formidable body of Thracian auxiliaries. Paullus rode, unhelmeted, with his gray hair loose, along their line, and looked, as he afterwards said, with alarm at the formidable mass of bristling pikes. The battle began. In vain the Italian soldiers showed more than their accustomed bravery. The weight of the Phalanxes was irresistible ; and the Legions fell back, but so as to draw the enemy to the base of the hills which skirted the plain. As the ground became less even, the compact masses of the Phalanxes began to show gaps here and there. Into every chink that opened, Roman soldiers penetrated. Once more the Phalanx was tried against the Legions and failed. The heavy infantry, encumbered by their long pikes, were cut down man by man ; not less than 20,000 fell, and 11,000 were made prisoners. The Macedonian army was annihilated. § 18. After the disastrous day of Pydna, Perseus fled to Pella, his capital, which he reached at midnight. Next day, he con- tinued his flight to Amphipolis, where he stayed only to see his beloved treasures put on board ship. Then, with his children he made straight for the sacred asylum of Samothrace. His only followers were Evander, a Cretan, and two Greek exiles. Paullus followed the King to Amphipolis, but was too late, and dispatched Octavius with the fleet to Samothrace. On the arrival of the Romans, the wretched King was deserted by his last followers, who carried ofl" on board ship the gold which he loved more than life. His children were betrayed by their keepers to Octavius. Then, deserted by every one, he surren- * Modem calculations have fixed this eclipse to the 21st of June of our calendar ; but according to the Romans it was late in August or early in Sep- tember. So far was their calendar from the true time. 464 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y dered, and was conveyed to the Consul's quarters at Amphipolis. He was received by Paullus with distant courtesy, but he wa& given to understand that the Macedonian monarchy had ceased to exist. § 19. Great was the joy at Rome at news of the decisive vic- tories won by Anicius in Illyria, and by Paullus in Macedonia. Paullus remained in Greece during the winter, and in the spring was visited by Commissioners bearing the orders of the Senate ^^ith regard to Macedonia. The people crowded eagerly to Amphipolis, as on a former occasion the Greeks had crowded to Corinth, but with hopes and feelings far different. In the midst of a dead silence, Paullus recited the ordinances in Latin ; Octavius repeated them in Greek. " The whole country was to be divided into four districts : — one between the Nestus and the Strymon, the second between the Strymon and Axius, the third between the Axius and Mount Olympus, while the fourth included the inland districts bordering on Epirus and Illyria. The capital cities of each respectively were to be Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, Pelagonia. Each district was to constitute a separate Republic, but the citizens of each were forbidden to enter into any connubial or commercial relations with those of another. The tribute paid to Rome was to be only half what they had hitherto paid to the King. They were prohibited from working their gold and silver mines, or to make salt in the country." The isolation of Macedonia was thus effectually provided for, while the people were amused with a show of liberty, and pleased by a remission of taxes. Paullus drew up, for the government of the four Republics, a clear and impartial code of laws. The administration of each was placed in the hands of a Senate ; but as all who had hitherto taken part in the government were trans- ported to Italy, the persons who held rule were helplesij and ignorant, and the country fell into utter disorganisation. § 20. The Greeks laid their complaints at the feet of Paulius ; but the Senatorial envoys turned a deaf ear to all prayers. Full power was left in the hands of the Romanizing Tyrants. In Epirus, a shocking work still remained to be done ; the Epirotes were to be punished for their insurrection. Cephalus and the ringleaders had sought a voluntary death ; but this did not satisfy the Senate. By their express orders, Paullus met Anicius in Epirus. Here he announced the will of the Senate, that all Epirotes should hereafter be free and independent, and that all their gold and silver should, by a given day, be deposited in the treasury of seventy towns specified by name. On that day seventy detachments of his army entered each of the Chap. XLIII. THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR. 465 seventy towns, seized the precious metals and all free inhabit- ants. The walls of every town were demolished, the wretched captives, to the number of 150,000, were sold as slaves, and the money was distributed to the soldiery. It is grievous to have to relate such an act of ^Emilius Paullus. It may be imagined, what must have been the public feeling of a nation, when the Government could deliberately issue such an order, when the best of its citizens thought himself bound to execute it without hesitation or reserve, when no historian speaks of it with so much as a word of censure. § 21. The close of the year 167 b.c. witnessed the return of the conquerors. Paullus sailed from Oricum in a splendid galley of seventeen banks of oars, laden with trophies. He passed up the Tiber amid the acclamations of the multitude who lined the banks, followed by Anicius and Octavius. His triumph took place in the last days of November. It was the most gorgeous spectacle which had yet feasted the eyes of the Roman populace. The Forum was fitted out with rising seats like a theatre, that all might see the processions as they passed. On the first day the statues and paintings taken were exhibited on 250 waggons ; on the second, the splendid arms and accoutre- ments of the Macedonian officers, suspended from the long pikes of the phalanx-men, passed, along the Sacred Way : then fol- lowed 3000 men, walking four abreast, each of whom carried a vase full of silver coin : and the procession closed with another set, who bore the silver plate used at the tables of Perseus and his nobles. On the third and great day the procession began with a body of trumpeters, followed by twenty youths, each leading a milk-white bull, with his horns gilded, garlanded with ribands and flowers. Then came men carrying gold coin in vases, and the gold plate and the precious stones. Next followed the royal car of Perseus, laden with his armour and surmounted by the diadem of Macedon. After it came the children of Perseus — two boys and a girl with their attendants, — and Per- seus himself, with his queen, stupefied with grief. Last of all was seen the triumphal car of the Proconsul, preceded by men bearing 400 crowns of gold, the gifts of the cities of Greece, followed by his two eldest sons on horseback, together with all his army in its order. § 22. But Paullus, amid all this glory, was reminded that he was mortal. The two sons, who shared his triumph, had been adopted into other families; the elder by Q. Fabius Maximus, son of the old Dictator, the second by P. Scipio, the son of Africanus. But he had two younger boys still left to brighten his home, when he returned to the City. Of these, one died 90* 466 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. five days before his Triumph, the other three days after. The stern father was moved as such men are wont to be moved by heavy calamities ; but with the true feeling of a Roman he lightened his private woe by representing it as a public good. In a speech which he made to the People, according to custom, on surrendering his command, he recounted his successes ; "but," he said, "at every new success he had dreaded the wrath of Nemesis, and he thanked the gods that the blow had fallen upon himself, and not upon his country. No one was left to bear the name of Paullus. But he repined not at this do- mestic sorrow ; he rejoiced that Rome was happy, though he was miserable." § 23. The treasure taken in the Macedonian war paid all debts contracted in its progress ; and the tribute annually exacted from Macedon, added to the revenues of other Provinces, enabled the Government to dispense with all direct taxes upon Roman citizens in future wars. Such tax was only once imposed anew, at a disas- trous crisis. § 24. The captive monarch was kept in durance at Alba : his two other children died soon after the triumph. It is gratifying to know that Paullus interfered to procure the liberation of Per- seus from a loathsome dungeon to which he had at first been con- signed. The unhappy King did not long survive his degradation. His surviving son, Alexander, was set free after a while, and lived long at Rome in the condition of a public clerk. Such was the destiny of the last heir of the monarchy of Macedon. (iatii of Lepidus, representing Paullus triumphing over Perseus and his Children. Coin of Attalus I. CHAPTER XLIV. GENERAL HISTORY BETWEEN THE WAR WITH PERSEUS AND THE LAST WARS WITH GREECE AND CARTHAGE. (166 150 B.C.) § 1. Imperious bearing of Rome in the East: Antiochus Epiphanes invades Egypt : " Circle" of Popillius. § 2. One Thousand chief Achseans detained in Italy. § 3. Base treatment of the Rhodians. § 4. Attempts against Eumenes : he^ is succeeded by Attalus II. § 5. Meanness of Prusias. § 6. War of Antiochus Epiphanes with the Jews : the Maccabees : his nephew Demetrius obtains the crown. § 1. Egypt. § 8. Wars in Southern Gaul and Dalmatia. § 9. Death of ^milius Paullus: his frugality. § 10. Cato: Embassy of Carneades. § 11. Complaints of the Spaniards: trial and exile of two Governors: Calpurnlan Law. § 12. Outbreak of war in Spain: patriotism of Scipio the son of Paullus. § 13. Base treachery of Galba to the Lusitanians : his trial and acquittal. § 14. Early life and character of Scipio the son of Paullus. § 1. The years which followed the fall of Macedon present little to interest the reader ; yet in that time the seeds were sown for future oonquests. The reduction of Carthage, Greece, and Ma- cedon to the condition of Roman Provinces was the consequence of the diplomatic art, which senators learned every day to practise with more unscrupulousness. In the East the Senate assumed a more imperious tone : kings bowed down before them and became their vassals. In Greece every state was subject to tyrants \<^ho ruled under the patronage of Rome. Athens alone was left untortured, for she bad ever been the submissive servant of the Senate. Meantime Antiochus Epiphanes, the half-mad King of Syria, took occasion of a disputed succession in Egypt to mvade that famous country. His progress was arrested in a summary fashion. When the Senate heard of the movement of Antiochus, 468 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. ' Book V. C. Popillius Laenas had been dispatclied to stop him. He found the King on the borders of Egypt ; he demanded and obtained an immediate audience. Antiochus advanced graciously with extended hand, but tlie Roman Envoy held out a written decree of the Senate, by which the King was required to leave Egypt at peace. The King demanded time for deliberation, upon which the insolent Roman drew a circle round him with his staff, and told him that before he stepped out of that circle an answer must be given. Confounded by this abruptness, Antiochus submitted, and withdrew his troops. § 2. After the death of Philopoemen in 183 b.c, Lycortas be- came Chief of the Achaean League. He would willingly have pursued the bold policy of Philopoemen. But his son Polybius, with the other patriotic leaders, felt their real weakness; and an agreement was made with the leaders of the Roman party to send an embassy to Rome (b.c. 180). In this embassy was Callicrates, who at once sold himself to the Senate, and assured them that so long as Lycortas, Polybius, and the popular Chiefs were in power, the League would never act in the interests of Rome; that if they would lend the weight of their influence to place him in power, he would undertake that the Achaians should give them no more trouble; and that similar policy might be pursued with advantage in every state of Greece. After the battle of Pydna, Commissioners were sent to the Assembly of the Achaean League, to declare that the Senate had received information that certain leading Achaean statesmen had supported Perseus; they now demanded that the Assem- bly should pass a vote of condemnation on all such .persons ; — the names should be made known when the vote was passed. The President refused to put this iniquitous question to the vote, insisting that the names of the accused should first be stated. After some hesitation the Commissioners named all who had held the office of Captain-General for some years. Xenon rose and indignantly offered to prove his innocence before the Senate. With this incautious offer the Commissioners eagerly closed, and Callicrates drew up a list of 1000 suspected persons, including Polybius (his father, Lycortas, was dead), and every man of note in the cities of the League. But the Senate had no intentioti of bringing them to trial. They were distri- buted among the cities of Etruria, to be kept in close custody, all except Polybius, who was allowed to reside in the house of ^milius Paullus. CaUicrates was now absolute ruler of the Peloponnese. § 3. The treatment of the Rhodians was most dishonourable to Rome. The islanders had ventured to reduce their insurgent Chap. XLIV. TYRANNY OF ROME OVER THE EAST 469 subjects, the Lycians and Carians, to obedience. The Senate now encouraged these people to appeal, declaring with shameless eflrontery that they had never intended to make them subjects, but only allies, of Rhodes. During the war with Perseus, the wily Philippus suggested to the Rhodians to offer their mediation. The ambassadors charged with this business arrived in Itah^ about the time that PauUus was setting forth. They were not admitted to an audience till the news of the battle of Pydna arrived, when they were dismissed with a contemptuous reproof. Soon after they were deprived not only of Lycia and Caria, but also of other cities which they had purchased ; and a fatal blow was aimed at their commerce by declaring Delos a free port under Roman protection. By this single act their custom-dues fell from 1,000,000 drachmae per annum to 150,000. § 4. Nor did the Kings fare better than the free States. Eumenes of Perganms, so long the favourite of the Senate, had shown some coolness to Rome" in the war with Perseus. His brother Attains, however, had remained in the Roman camp, and was sent to Rome with congratulations after the battle ol Pydna. The leaders of the Senate now insidiously advised him to demand a portion of his brother's dominions for himself. Attalus was a vain but not ill-disposed prince, and he shrunk from such disloyalty. The Senate then secretly urged Prusias of Bithynia to lay complaints against the King of Pergamus ; but all their insidious arts were baffled, and Eumenes died upon the throne four years after. He left an infant son, who ultimately succeeded to the throne, but his immediate successor was his brother, who took the name of Attalus Philadelphus. Polybius gives a high character of Eumenes ; it is to the credit of all con- cerned that his brothers, notwithstanding all temptations, con- tinued to act as his faithful ministers. § 5. Prusias of Bithynia was among the first to offer congra- tulations after the battle of Pydna. This mean-spirited Prince appeared at Rome with his head shaven, and dressed like a slave who had just received his liberty. The Senate were not dis- pleased at this abject flattery. But though they had encouraged him to quarrel with Attalus, — when he- ventured to make war, and was at the gates of Pergamus, they imperiously compelled him to make peace. § 6. The mad King of Syria, prevented from his attempts on Egypt by the famous circle of Popillius, found employment nearer home. He had before this time conquered Judaea, and had insulted the religious feelings of the people by offering swine's flesh on the altar of Jehovah. His gross and outrageous tyranny at length roused the shrinking energies of the Jews. 4 'TO CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. Mattathias and his seven heroic sons raised the standard of the Maccabees about the year 168 b.c, and unaccustomed lustre was shed upon the arms of Israel. Antiochus Epiphanes died in 164, and left the heritage of this war to his infant son Antiochus Eupator. But there was a competitor for the throne, whose claims were in every way superior. This was Demetrius, son of Seleucus the elder brother and predecessor of Epiphanes. He was at that time a youth of twenty-five years, and had been long detained at Rome as a hostage. On the death of his uncle, he applied to the Senate for his rightful inheritance. That astute Council preferred to have an infant on the throne of Syria, and sent Octavius to assume the guardianship of the child Antiochus. But Lysias, a kinsman of the royal family, suspected the Senate, and hired an assassin to murder Octavius on his landing. At that moment Demetrius appeared in Syria and was proclaimed King. The soldiery acknowledged him, and murdered both the infant King and his guardian Lysias ; and the Senate thought it best to confirm Demetrius in possession of the throne. He endeavoured to propitiate their favour by every means. But the Senate secretly encouraged the eff'orts of Judas Maccabseus, who was now the leader of the Jews, and in the year 161 b.c. con- cluded a formal covenant with him. They did not, however, lend him any open assistance ; and the Jews finally sunk under the power of the Syrian monarchy. § 7. In Egypt, also, the Senate endeavoured to profit by pro- moting the dissensions which first led Antiochus Epiphanes to his attempt upon Egypt. But in no long time Ptolemy Physcon (Fat-paunch) succeeded to the monarchy. The low state to which Egypt had now sunk is aptly typified by the name of its King. Thus, without using actual force, the Senate weakened every government in the East. It was needless to employ the Legions and to spend money in crushing governments which were so weak and so divided. When " the pear was ripe," it was sure to fall into the ready hand of Rome. Her emblem at this time ought to have been the Serpent rather than the Eagle. § 8. Neither were her arms much more actively employed in Western conquest. In 166 b.c. the Consuls C. Sulpicius Gallus, the predictor of the eclipse, and M. Marcellus pushed the Le- gions for the first time across the Maritime Alps, and obtained a double triumph over the Gauls and Ligurians, who peopled the western slopes of the range. And twelve years later (154) the Consul Q. Opimius was sent to drive back the Oxybians, a Ligurian tribe, who had descended to the coasts of the Mediterranean and assaulted Antipolis and Niaaea (Antibes and Nice), two cities Chap. XLIY. ^MILIUS PAULLUS— CATO. 4Vl subject to Massilia, then and always a faithful ally of Rome. Such were the first steps towards the conquest of Gaul. Two years before this last campaign, the Dalmatians, an Illyrian tribe, who occupied the coast-land between Istria and Illyria Proper, incurred the anger of Rome by making inroads into the country about Scodra. Scipio Nasica, the friend of ^milius Paullus, brought this petty war to a triumphant conclusion in 155 B.C. The whole coast of the Adriatic was now subject to Romaa power. § 9. The same period is not marked by any remarkable inci- dents at home. ^milius Paullus held the office of Censor three years after his triumph ; and five years later he was gathered to his fathers, having completed his three score years and ten. His funeral wa£ honoured with splendid games, and with the first perform- ance of the Adelphi of Terence, in which it is said that the poet was assisted by the son of the deceased, young Scipio, who was then in his twenty-fifth year. Paullus left behind him a name unspotted, except by the devastation of Epirus. He professed the austere philosophy of the Stoics, wliich he applied to main- tain the simplicity of the old Roman manners, — so far was it from true that in all cases corruption flowed from Hellenic sources. At his death, it appeared that his whole property amounted to no more than sixty talents, little more than the great Scipio had bestowed upon each of his two daughters. § 10. Old Cato still maintained the battle against luxury. He warmly supported several Sumptuary Laws, which were passed at this time to limit the expenses of banquets. He buried his only son with austere frugality. This son had married the daughter of ^Emilius Paullus, and thus the old man had been drawn into connection with the Scipios. This connection, together with age, seems to have exerted a softening influence upon the old Censor. In his latter days he had extended the love which he had always shown for Roman literature to that of Greece. The language of Homer and Demosthenes could boast no more signal triumph than that it conquered the stubborn pride of Cato. Yet the old Censor continued to wage war against the fashion- able learning. His notion of education was, that the youth should engage as early as possible in the active struggles of the Forum ; all speculative studies were, in his belief, calcu- lated to unfit men for practical life. In 161 b.c, the Senate, at his advice, authorised the Praetor Pomponius to banish all phi- losophers and rhetoricians from Rome; and six years later (155), A notable occasion off'ered itself for enforcing his principles. In 472 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. that year the Athenians sent an embassy to Rome to pray for the remission of a fine imposed upon their city by the Senate for certain depredations committed in the Oropian territory. To add weight to their prayers, they named as the envoys the chiefs of the three great schools which then divided the philo- sophic world, — Diogenes the Stoic, Critolaus the Peripatetic, and Carneades the famous founder of the New Academy. These ingenious reasoners were welcomed by the younger members of the Roman nobility. C. Acilius, a Senator, himself acted as their interpreter. Crowds of young Romans came to hear the acute logic of Diogenes, the persuasive rhetoric of Critolaus, and the subtle speculation of Carneades, whose philosophy was so un- biassed that he was ready not only to maintain either side in any argument, but was never known to betray an opinion of his own. Old Cato, though he cared little for justice when the questions lay between Rome and foreigners, could not brook to see the principles of right and wrong treated as indifferent questions, and was alarmed lest the practical principles and habits of Roman youth might give way to a taste for sophistical trifling. The Senate remitted the fine ; but, at Cato's instance, ordered the ingenious strangers to quit Rome immediately. § 11. After the uneventful period of which we have been speaking, war broke out in Spain, speedily followed by others in the Carthaginian territory, in Macedonia, and in Greece. These last we will reserve for separate chapters ; but of the first it will be convenient to speak here. The treaty of Tib. Gracchus in 1*79 b.c. was followed by a long tranquillity : yet there was much reason for discontent. The oppression of the Praetors, and the extortion of the tax- collectors, were constant; and, after eight years, envoys from both Provinces appeared with formal complaints before the Senate. At that time the war with Perseus was just beginning, and, therefore, there was no disposition to provoke the hostility of the Spaniards. Five Senators were named as Judges, and the Spanish envoys were left to name their own advocates. Those of the Hither Province chose Cato and Nasica ; those of Further Spain, ^milius PauUus and Sulpicius Gallus. The first Governor indicted before this Court was acquitted. So were the next two. But the advocates declared that they would apply for fresh trials, and the accused sought safety in voluntary exile. In this Senatorial Court we may recognise the germ of the famous Law of L. Calpurnius Piso de rebus repetundis, that is, the Law for the recovery of undue exactions on the part of Pro- vincial Governors. It was passed about twenty years later (149 B.C.) Chap. XLW. WAR IN SPAHS". 473 § 12. About eighteen years after this imperfect attempt at redress, the smouldering fire of war broke out. A Celtiberian city named Segeda, in the upper valley of the Tagus, began to rebuild their walls, contrary to an article in the treaty of Gracchus. To resist the Consul M. Fulvius Nobilior,* the Segedians formed an alliance with the people of Numantia, a brave tribe which occupied the mountainous country in which the Douro takes its rise. Fulvius handed over his command to Marcellus after an inglorious campaign. The new Commander, who was grandson of the famous Marcellus, assumed the offensive with so much vigour that the enemy sued for a renewal of the treaty of Gracchus. But the Senate ordered Lucullus, the new Consul, to make fresh levies for the war. A scene now followed, which might have shown the Senate that their power was not destined to be perpetual. When Lucullus held his levy, none were willing to enlist, and the Tribunes of the Plebs committed both Consuls to prison for enforcing enlistment. In this difficulty, voung Scipio, the second son of Paullus, who had lived up to the age of thirty-three in retirement, came forward as a mediator. He had been just offered a lucrative mission to Macedonia ; but he declined it, and said that he would serve however and wher- ever the Senate thought fit. This patriotic conduct had its effect. Scipio was elected one of the Legionary Tribunes, and the levies were concluded. Lucullus made an unprovoked inroad into the country of the Vaccseans, who lay to the west of Numantia. The town of Cauca capitulated ; but Lucullus, with scandalous ill-faith, put all the in- habitants to the sword. He then attacked a strong fortress not far from Valladolid. Here a tall Spaniard, splendidly armed, rode forth and challenged any Roman to single combat. Scipio accepted the challenge, and slew his gigantic adversary. § 13. Meanwhile, the Lusitanian shepherds had resumed their inroads into the Further Province. While Lucullus was wantonly assailing the Vaccseans, the Praetor Sergius Galba invaded Lu- sitania. The mountaineers dispersed before the Legions, but fell upon the Praetor at a disadvantage, and so effectually routed him, that he escaped only with a few horse over the mountains into Baetica, and passed the winter meditating vengeance. Early in the next spring he again entered Lusitania from the south, while Lucullus advanced from the north, wasting the coun- try with fire and sword. The people oftered submission. Galba * Consul for the year 152 B.C. In this year the Consuls first entered office In the Calends of January, instead of the Calends of March, which had hitherto been the first day of the official year. 474 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. answered with apparent kindness. " He was grieved," he said, " to see the poverty of the country. If the inhabitants would meet him in three divisions, at places specified, he would assign lands and cities to each, as Gracchus had done." The simple people believed him. But Galba fell on each body separately with his whole force and cut it to pieces. This infamous piece of treach- ery crushed the spirit of the Lusitanians. But retributive justice waited her time. Among those who escaped the sword of Galba was a young shepherd, named Yiriathus, of whom we shall hear another time. Galba was brought to trial, not so much for treachery to the enemy, as because he divided so small a portion of the booty, and kept back the larger share for himself. Old Cato spoke with honest indignation against the un-Roman perfidy of the Gover- nor. But Galba was extremely eloquent and extremely rich. The Centuries made themselves partakers in his infamy by a vote of acquittal, and six years after he was elected Consul by their votes. Corruption was descending to all orders and degrees of men. § 14. We will here add, by way of contrast to Galba's baseness, some account of the man who in the next few years played the most important part among the generals of Rome. P. Scipio, sometimes called ^Emilianus to distinguish him from his great namesake, has already been mentioned more than once. His youth is remarkable for his intimacy with an exile, Polybius, the Achaean statesman, the historian of Roman conquest. The Greek had become acquainted with Paullus and his sons during the Macedonian War ; it was at the request of the young man, that he was allowed to reside in the house of Paullus, while his fellow-exiles were buried in Etrurian prisons. Polybius was at this time not less than forty years of age ; Scipio was but eighteen. The youth's habits were re- served and shy. He was fonder of field-sports than of the Forum. When the Achaean exile first came to Rome, he attached himself chiefly to Fabius, the elder brother, whose manners were more frank and cordial. But one day, when Fabius had gone (as usual) to the Forum, Scipio, with an ingenuous blush, complained of the neglect shown to himself. " And yet," said he, " I am myself to blame. Men think me indolent, because I love not the strife of the Forum, and deem me unworthy of the great name I bear." Polybius perceived that he had mistaken the character of the young man (it is from himself that we learn the facts), and offered his best services in advancing his educa- tion. " Book-learning you and your brother may get from any ©f my countrymen. But for the lessons of practical life, my Chap. XLIV. SCIPIO ^MILIANUS. 4^5 experience may enable me to serve you." Young Scipio seized the hand of his new friend, and passionately exclaimed : " If you will but make me your chief care, I shall prove unworthy neither of my great father, nor of him whose adopted name I bear." Polybius undertook his work not without fear, for he saw the temptations which would beset a young man so noble and so wealthy. But the seed was sown on no ungrateful soil. ' Young Scipio followed his father in adopting the practical philosophy of the Stoics, and resisted the besetting sins of the day, — selfishness and sensuality. If he seldom set foot in the Forum, he shunned no laborious exercises : many hours he spent in hunting the boar or the deer on the Alban Hills, accompanied by Polybius, who shared his ardour for the chase. The wife of the great Scipio, his aunt by blood and grandmother by adoption, had used a costly equipage and large retinue. At her death, Scipio, with thoughtful generosity, gave it all to his mother Emilia. At the same time, he was called on (as heir to the great Scipio) to make up half the dowry of his two daughters, which had been left unpaid. The law allowed him three years for payment ; but he paid down the whole fifty talents at once, to the surprise of Nasica and Gracchus, husbands of the ladies. At the death of his natural father, he inherited a moiety of his fortune, which he at once relinquished in favour of his less wealthy brother Fabius, and undertook of his own accord to bear the expense of the gladia- torial show, which Fabius, as the eldest son, was called on to ex- hibit. "These things," says Polybius, "would be excellent any- where ; but at Rome, where no one gives anything without need, nor pays a talent before the time prescribed by law, they were perfect miracles." CHAPTER XLV. THE LAST WARS WITH MACEDON AND GREECE : FALL OF CORINTH. (151—146 B.C.) § 1. Liberation of the Achaean captives. § 2. Violent Counsels of these men. § 3. Appearance of a Pretender in Macedonia. § 4. The Achaeans revolt : Q. Metellus recovers Macedonia, § 5. War declared against the Achaeans.' § 6. Metellus defeats Critolaus and advances towards the Isthmus. § 7. Superseded by L. Mummius, who defeats Diseus before Corinth : Sack of Corinth. § 8. Mummius sends home the Statues and works of Art. § 9. G-reece formed into the Roman Province of Achaia : good offices of Polybius. § 10. Macedonia and Epirus formed into another Province : also lUyria. § 11. Triumphs of Metellus and Mummius. § 1. In the same year in which Lucullus and Galba took com- mand in Spain, the Senate was induced to perform an act of tardy justice in the release of the Acha3an captives. The abduction of the best men in every state of Greece gave free scope, as has been said, to the oppressions of the tyrants favoured by Rome. In the Achaean Assembly alone there was still spirit enough to check Callicrates, who never ventured to assail the persons and property of his fellow-citizens. Meantime years rolled on; the captives still languished in Etruscan prisons; hope deferred and sickness were fast thinning their numbers : the Assembly asked that only Polybius and Stratius might return, but the request was met by a peremptory negative. At last, when Scipio returned from Spain, he induced Cato to inter- cede for these unhappy men. The manner of the old Censor's intercession is characteristic. The debate had lasted long and the issue was doubtful, when Cato rose, and, without a word about justice or humanity, simply said : " Have we really nothing to do but to sit here all day, debating whether a parcel of old Greeks are to have their coffins made here or at home ?" The question was decided by this unfeeling argument, and the pri- soners, who in sixteen years had dwindled from 1000 to 300, were set free. But when Polybius prayed that his comrades might be restored to their former rank and honours, the old senator smiled, and told him " he was acting like Ulysses, when he ventured back into the cave of the Cyclops to recover his cap and belt." § 2. The men released in this ungracious way had passed the best part of their lives in captivity. The elder and more ex- Chap. XLT. LAST MACEDONIAN WAR. 477 — perienced among them were dead. The survivors returned ^rith^ feelings embittered against Rome ; they were rash and ignorant, and, what was worse, they had lost all sense of honour and all principle, and were ready to expose their country to any danger in order to gratify their own passions. The chief name that has reached us is that of Diaeus. Polybius did not return at first, and when he reached Greece he found his countrymen acting with such reckless violence that he gladly accepted Scipio's invi- tation to accompany him to the siege of Carthage. Callicrates, by a strange reverse, was now the leader of the moderate party. Diaeus advocated every violent and unprincipled measure. On an embassy to Rome the former died, and Diaeus returned as chief of the Achaean League. § 3. Not long after (in 148 b.c.) a pretender to the throne of Macedon appeared. He was a young man named Andriscus, a native of Adramyttium, who gave himself out as Philip, a younger son of that luckless monarch. The state of Macedonia, divided into four Republics, each in a state of compulsory excommuni- cation, was so distracted, that, in the year 151, the people sent an embassy to Rome, praying that Scipio might be sent to settle their affairs, and he had only been prevented from undertaking the task by the self-imposed duty of accompanying the army of LucuUus into Spain. The Pretender, however, met with so little success in his first attempt that he fled to the court of Demetrius at Antioch, and this Prince sent him to Rome. The war with Carthage was then at its height. The Senate treated the matter lightly, and the adventurer was al- lowed to escape. Some Thracian chiefs received him, and with troops furnished by them he penetrated into Thessaly. The Ro- man Praetor, Juventius Thalna, was defeated and slain by the Pretender. § 4. The temporary success of Pseudo-Philippus (as the Romans called him) encouraged Diaeus to drive the Achaeans into a rup- ture with Rome. The haughty Republic, he said, was at war with Carthage and with Macedon ; now was the time to break their bonds. Q. Metellus, who had just landed in Greece with a considerable army, gave the Achaeans a friendly warning, but in vain. Metellus soon finished the Macedonian war. At his approach the Pretender hastily retired from Thessaly, and was given up to the Roman Praetor by a Thracian chief whose protection he had sought. § 5. Meanwhile, a Commission had already arrived at Corinth, headed by M. Aurelius Orestes, who summoned the chiefs of the League to hear the sentence of the Senate upon their recent 47a CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. conduct. He informed them that they must relinquish all claims of sovereignty over Corinth, Argos, and Lacedsemon — a doom which reduced the Achaean League nearly to the condition from which Aratus first raised it. The chiefs reported what they had heard to the Assembly. A furious burst of passion rose, which Diaeus did not attempt to restrain. Orestes and the Romans hardly escaped personal violence. Orestes instantly returned to Rome ; and the Senate, preferring diplomacy to force, sent a second Commission headed by Sext. Julius Caesar, with instructions to use gentle language, and merely to demand the surrender of those who had instigated the violent scenes lately enacted at Corinth. A contemptuous answer was returned, upon which Caesar returned to Rome, and the Senate declared war against the Achaeans. * § 6. Metellus hoped to win the glory of pacifying Greece, as well as of conquering Macedonia. He sent some of his chief officers to endeavour to bring the Achaeans to their senses. But their leaders were too far committed ; and at the beginning of 146 B.C. Critolaus, a friend of Diaeus, who was General for the year, advanced into Thessaly, and was joined by the Thebans, always the inveterate enemies of Rome. Metellus had already heard that the Achaean war was to be conducted by L. Mummius, one of the new Consuls ; and, anxious to bring it to a close before he was superseded, he advanced rapidly with his army. On this the brag- gart chiefs of the Achaeans retreated in all haste, not endeavouring to make a stand even at Thermopylae. Their army dispersed almost without a blow. Metellus pushed straight on towards the Isthmus. Thebes he found deserted by her inhabitants: misery and desolation appeared everywhere. § 7. Diaeus prepared to defend Corinth. But popular terror had succeeded to popular passion ; few citizens would enlist under his banner : though he emancipated a number of slaves, he could not muster more than 15,000 men. When Metellus was almost within sight of Corinth, Mummius landed on the Isthmus with his legions, and assumed the command. The Romans treated the enemy with so much contempt that one of their outposts was surprised ; and Diaeus flushed with this small success, drew out his forces before the city. Mummius eagerly accepted the challenge, and the battle began. The Achaean cavalry fled at the first onset ; the in- fantry was soon broken, and Diaeus fled into one gate of Co- rinth and out of another without attempting further resistance. The Romans might have entered the city that same day ; but seeing the strength of the Acropolis, and suspecting treachery, Mummius held back, and twenty-four hours elaped before he Chap. XLY. MUMMIUS— POLYBIUS. 479 took possession of his unresisting prey. But the city was treated as if it had been taken by assault ; the men were put to the sword, the women and children reserved to be sold by auction. All treasures, all pictures, all the works of the famous artists who had moulded Corinthian brass into efhgies of living force and symmetry, were seized by the Consul on behalf of the State; then, at a given signal, fire was applied, and Corinth was reduced to a heap of ashes. § 8. Mummius, a New Man was distinguished by the rude- ness rather than by the simplicity of an Italian boor. He was not greedy, for he reserved little for himself; and when he died, his daughter found not enough left for her dowry ; but his abstinence seems to have proceeded from indifterence rather than self-denial. He cared not for the works of Grecian art. He suffered his soldiers to use one of the choicest works of the painter Aristides as a draft-board ; but when Attains offered him a large sum for the painting, he imagined it must be a taJisman, and ordered it to be sent to Rome. Every one knows his speech to the seamen who contracted to carry the statues and pictures of Corinth to Rome. "If they lost or damaged them," he said, " they must replace them with others of equal value." § 9. In the autumn ten commissioners arrived, as usual, with draughts of decrees for settling the future condition of Macedon and Greece. Polybius, who had returned from witnessing the conflagration of Carthage just in time to behold that of Corinth, had the melancholy satisfaction of being called to their coun- sels, — a favour which he owed to the influence of Scipio. A wretched sycophant proposed to the commissioners to destroy the statues of Aratus and Philopoemen ; but Polybius prevented this dishonour by showing that these eminent men had always endeavoured to keep peace with Rome. At the same time he declined to accept any part of the confiscated property of Diaeus. Politically he was able to render important services. All Greece south of Macedonia and Epirus was formed into a Roman Pro- vince under the name of Achaia. The old republican govern- ments of the various communities were abolished, and the con- stitution of each assimilated to that of the municipal cities of Italy. Polybius was left in Greece to settle these new con- stitutions, and to adjust them to the circumstances and wants of each place. His grateful countrymen raised a statue to his honour by the side of their old heroes, and placed an inscription on the pedestal, which declared that, if Greece had followed his advice, she would not have fallen. Such was the issue of the last struggle for Grecian liberty. It 480 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. was conducted by unworthy men, and was unworthy of the name it bore. Polybius had always opposed attempts at useless and destructive insurrection. He considered it happy for Greece that one battle and the ruin of one city consummated her fall. Indeed it was a proverb of the day that "Greece was saved by her speedy fall." § 10. The ten commissioners passed northwards into Mace- donia, and formed that country, in conjunction with Epirus,- into another Province, with institutions for municipal government much the same as those which had been established in Greece. It is probable that Illyria also was constituted as a Province at the same time. § 11. Metellus and Mummius both returned to Rome before the close of 1 46 b.c, and were honoured with triumphs not long after Scipio had carried the spoils of Carthage in procession to the Capitol. In memory of their respective services, Metellus was afterwards known by the name of Macedonicus, while Mummius, who appears to have had no third name of his own, was not ashamed to assume the title of Achaicus. CHAPTER XLVI. THIRD PUNIC WAR : FALL OF CARTHAGE. (150 146 B.C.) § 1. Flourishing trade of Carthage: the Senate encourages Masinissa to attack her. § 2. The popular party prevails at Carthage: Commission headed by Cato : delenda est Carthago. § 3. Masinissa restores the oligarchy at Carthage : the Senate declares War against Carthage. § 4. The Consuls land in Africa : treachery by which Carthage is induced to strip herself of all means of defence. § 5, Popular indignation : preparations for a des- perate defence. § 6. Policy of Masinissa. § 7. Description of Carthage § 8. Ill success of Manilius and Censorinus. § 9. Death of Masinissa. distribution of his kingdom. § 10. Hamilcar Phamseas deserts to Romans. § 11. Second Campaign: continued ill success. § 12. Scipio elected Consul. § 13. Third campaign: Scipio carries the suburb of Megara. § 14. Great siege- works. § 15. Fourth campaign: Sack of Carthage. § 16. Surrender of Hasdrubal and the Citadel: Scipio's reflexions, § 17. Fufure of Carthage. § 1. Before Corinth fell, Carthage also had ceased to exist. We saw Hannibal reform the corrupt administration of his native city, and put her in the way of recovering even from the heavy blow which she had suffered after the defeat of Zama. We saw him compelled to leave Africa at the instance of the Roman Senate. But his acts lived after him. The trade of Carthage revived rapidly, and the disturbed condition of the East threw a large commerce into the hands of her merchants. The Senate could not look with equanimity on this state of affairs ; and Masinissa was given to understand that he would not be prevented from enriching himself at the expense of his neighbours. The unscrupulous Numidian did not require a second hint. He overran and plundered the most fertile pro- vinces dependent upon Carthage ; and the Carthaginians, find- ing the Senate deaf to all complaints, at last prayed to be allowed to plead their cause before some fair tribunal, or, if not, to use arms in self-defence. " The Carthaginians," they said, " would rather be the slaves of Rome than subject to the depredations of Masinissa. Better die at once than live at tit jaercy of that Numidian robber !" Nevertheless they were again put off with promises and delays. § 2. It appears that at this time parties ran high at Carthage. The old oligarchical party, which had expelled Hannibal, was dis- posed to maintain peace at any price. But about the year 151 B.C., the popular party got the upper hand, and the now Govern- 21 482 CONQITEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. ment resolved openly to oppose the encroachments of Masi- nissa. It was at this time that Cato, now eighty-four years of age, was seized by a sort of fanatic desire for the destruc- tion of Carthage. So long as the hateful rival flourished, he contended there could be no safety for Rome. Scipio Nasica, who for his prudence and sagacity had received the name of Corculum, opposed this opinion with all his eloquence, and sc far prevailed that before declaring war a Commission was sent to Africa, headed by Cato himself, with full powers to settle all disputes between Carthage and Masinissa. The Commis- sioners began by requiring that both parties should enter into a bond to submit absolutely to their decisions. Masinissa of course consented; but the Carthaginians naturally demurred to throw themselves on the mercy of Cato, and the Commissioners returned to Rome. Once more Cato rose in the Senate, and gave a glow- ing description of the power and wealth of Carthage. Unfolding his gown, he produced some giant figs, which he held up, and said, " These figs grow but three days' sail from Rome. Every speech," he added, " which I make in this house shall finish with the words, — ' my opinion is, that Carthage must he destroyed — delenda est Carthago^ " From that day the doom of Carthage was fixed. § 3. An opportunity soon off'ered for interference (150 B.C.). The banished oligarchy sought the aid of Masinissa, and the old Chief promptly led a large army into the territory of Carthage. The new Government had levied a considerable force, which they put under the command of an officer named Hasdrubal. It was not long before a battle was fought, in which the Numidians won the day. It happened that young Scipio had just then been sent by Lucullus from Spain to obtain a supply of elephants from Masinissa; and he was a spectator of the battle from a neighbouring eminence, — "a sight," as he told Poly bins, "that no one had enjoyed since the time when Jupiter looked down from Ida upon the battle of the Greeks and Trojans." It must have been a remarkable sight to behold old Masinissa, then past ninety years of age, charge like a boy of nineteen at the head of his wild Numidian horse. Masinissa soon reduced the army of the enemy to such straits that the Government of Carthage was compelled to yield. The popular party was once more deprived of power ; and the wealthy merchants, who now recovered the government, pre- pared to make submission to the Senate. They proclaimed Has- drubal and the leaders of the war party guilty of high treason, and sent envoys to Rome with humble apologies ; but they were too late. The Consuls elect for the year 149 b.c, L. Censorinu* Chap. XLTL . THIRD AND LAST PUNIC WAR. 483 and M. Manilius, began to hold their levies before the Carthagi- nian envoys arrived. The latter knew not well how to act, but at length resolved to place Carthage and all her possessions at the absolute disposal of the Senate. It was answered that they had done well. The Fathers pledged their word that Carthage should be left free, if 300 of the noblest youths were sent as host- ages to meet the Consuls at Lilybseum; from them the Government should learn the further commands of the Senate. § 4. The Carthaginian Government complied with the demand, not without secret alarm as to what these " further commands" might be. A heart-rending scene ensued when the 300 hostages were torn from their parents' arms. At Lilybaeum the Consuls received those pledges of submission, coldly signifying that they should land their army in Africa within a few days, and would then declare the will of the Senate. Accordingly the poor boys were sent to Rome, and the fleet anchored in the harbour of Utica, while the legions took up their quarters in the old camp of Scipio at the mouth of the Bagradas. Here another deputation from the trembling Government of Carthage appeared before the Consuls, who received them sitting on their chairs of state, with their officers around them, and the army drawn out in order. The deputies recapitulated the acts of submission which Carthage had made, and humbly asked what more could be required. Censo- rinus replied, that, " as Carthage was now under the protection of Rcvme, they would no longer have occasion to engage in war : they must therefore give up all their arms and engines without reserve." This hard condition also was accepted. The force of the City may be in some measure estimated from the fact that 200,000 stand of arms and 2000 catapults were delivered up to Scipio Nasica, who conveyed them to the Roman camp, fol- lowed by the chiefs of the Government, who imagined that they had drained the cup of humiliation to the dregs. They were grievously mistaken. The Consuls thought that the City was now wholly disabled, and they let drop the mask. Censorinus calmly informed the unhappy men, that "so long as they pos- sessed a fortified city near the sea, Rome could not feel sure of their submission : therefore it was the will of the Senate that they must remove to some point ten miles distant from the coast : Carthage must he d^stroyedT On hearing their final doom, the wretched Carthaginians fell stupefied to the ground ; and when they found utterance, broke into passionate exclamations against the perjured Senate. The Consuls waited in stern silence till these paroxysms were past ; and when the miserable men represented, in terms of penitent humility, " that the Senate bad guaranteed the freedom of Carthage, that such ?i measure 484 CONQUEST OP THE WORLD. Book Y. must destroy this freedom by destroying her commerce and her means of subsistence," Censorinus replied, with the same cold brevity as before, that " the guarantee of the Senate referred to the people of Carthage, not to her houses. In short, the will of the Senate was as he had declared it : it must be done, and done quickly." § 5. The envoys, being also the chiefs of the Government, feared to carry back these ill-omened commands. Some of them absconded; the rest approached the city, and found every avenue lined with people eager to learn their destiny. They spoke no word, but their downcast looks and gloomy silence proclaimed them mes- sengers of evil. The crowd followed to the Council-chamber, where they delivered their report with closed doors. A cry of horror burst from the assembled Councillors, and the crowd, im- patient of delay, broke open the doors, and demanded to know the fatal news. It was impossible to conceal the truth. The popular fury knew no bounds. The members of the Government who had made submission to Rome were obliged to flee for their lives. All Italians found within the city were massacred. Once more the popular party seized the government ; and the residue of the Council voted to defend themselves to the uttermost, rather than die the lingerino; death to which the Romans had condemned them. Hasdrubal, lately proclaimed a traitor, had levied a force of 20,000 men, with whom he was plundering the territory of Carthage on his own Account : he was now invited to become the General of the Republic. Another Hasdrubal, a kinsman of Masinissa, was invested with command within the city. A message was sent to the Consuls, requesting an armistice of thirty days, in order to send an embassy to Rome : this was re- fused. Despair gave unnatural courage. The temples and public buildings were converted into workshops; men and women worked day and night manufacturing arms; every day 100 shields were turned out, 300 swords, 500 pikes and javelins, 1000 catapult-bolts. The women cut off their long hair to be twisted into strings for the new catapults. Corn was assiduously collected from every quarter. § 6. The Consuls, who were men of the Forum rather than the Camp, were not a little disappointed at this turn of affairs. They dallied for a time, hoping that on reflexion the Carthagi- nians would give up all thoughts of an armed defence. The conduct of Masinissa contributed to their irresolution. The wily old chief had no mind that, after Carthage had been weakened by his arms, Rome should come in and take the lion's share. At first the Consuls had not thought it necessary to ask for his cooperation : it is plain that they expected to take Chap. XLVI. THIRD AND LAST PUNIC WAR. 485 the city without stroke of sword. But now the case was altered, and when they applied to Masinissa, he hung back. § 1, When it became clear that Carthage must be formally besieged, the Consuls still no doubt expected an easy triumph ; but the defence that followed was one of the most heroic that the world has seen. In order to understand its details, it will be necessary to describe briefly the site of Carthage. A Inner Port. B Outer Port. C Supposed Outlet to Sea. D Scipio' 8 Mole. E New Outlet cut by Carthaginians. F Cothon. G Forum and Temple of Apollo. H Temple of Esculapius. I Roman Lines. T r Remains of Roman Cisterns, Temples, &c OF TYRIAN CARTHAGE Tyrian Carthage (as it may be called, to distinguish it from the later Roman Colony) stood on a peninsula which was joined to the mainland of Tunis by an isthmus. The city itself measured about twenty-three miles round, but did not occupy the whole peninsula. The portion occupied by the city seems to have been the northern end ;* the southern part being a suburb, called Megara, chiefly occupied by gardens. The city itself was divided into two quarters, — the Citadel, which was called Bosra, and Cothon, or the harbour-quarter. It appears almost certain * This is inferred from the fact that the Roman remains now existing, near the Arabic village of El Mersa, occupy the southern part. But, as Scipio pro- nounced a cur^e on tlie site of Tyrian Carthage, it is no less certain that the Roman Colonists avoided this site : indeed Appian expressly asserts it. The annexed plan is formed upon this hypothesis. Most writers suppose that Tyrian and Roman Carthage were identical 486 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V that the harbours, two in number, lay on the north side of the isthmus, and are to be identified not with the shallow lake now called the Bay of Tunis, but with the salt-pits on the northern side. The outermost was the merchants' harbour, protected from the sea by a broad pier or mole, and furnished with a spacious quay. Inside this, and so much in the heart of the city as to be concealed from the view of the outer haven, lay the harbour of the navy. In its centre was a small island. Both island and harbour were surrounded by docks for the reception of 220 ships, all furnished with Ionic columns, so as to give the whole the appearance of stately colonnades. The admiral resided in the island. The entrance of this basin was only 70 feet broad, and was kept closed by strong chains drawn across it. The cita- del was of course the highest and strongest part of the city. It measured about two miles round ; and on the side towards the isthmus was defended by three walls, each 30 cubits high and consisting of two stories, flanked at intervals by towers rising two stories above the wall. Along these walls were stalls for 300 ele- phants and 4000 horse, with barracks for 20,000 men. The suburb of Megara was defended by a comparatively feeble wall ; for it was edged by a low cliff, naturally defensible. § 8. The Consuls divided their army ; Manilius assaulting the triple wall abutting on the isthmus, Censorinus directing his attack at the end of the pier, where the city wall seemed least strong. But all their assaults were gallantly repelled. The season was passing, and the hot weather caused the army to suffer greatly. Censorinus returned home to hold the Comitia; and the army, commanded by Manilius, was only saved from Hasdrubal's assaults by Scipio, who was serving under the Consul. § 9. The Senate began to repent of having neglected Masinissa, and sent ambassadors to beg for his assistance. But the old chief was dead before they arrived. His character will have shown itself sufficiently from the facts already mentioned. He showed no scruples in acquiring territory ; but it must be added to his credit, that he did much towards humanising the wild tribes who owned his sway, and turned many uncultivated tracts into fruitful fields. In following years Italy imported much of her corn from these districts. Of his numerous offspring only three were legitimate. On his death-bed he sent for Scipio, to whom he was attached as the heir of the great Africanus, and left the settlement of the succes- sion to his judgment. Scipio gave the sceptre to Micipsa, the eldest son ; Golossa, the second, was to be General ; the adminis- tration of justice was committed to the youngest, Mastanarbal. Golossa joined the Romans at the head of a body of troops ; and Chap. XLYI. THIRD AND LAST PUNIC WAR. 487 thus freed the Consul from the fear of seeing the Numidians take part with Carthage. § 10. Before the winter set in, Hamilcar Phamseas, commander of the cavalry, the terror of the Roman foraging parties, finding that the Numidians had joined Rome, determined to make a merit of timely submission to Rome ; and Manilius was overjoyed to see this redoubted foe ride into camp in company with Scipio, followed by a squadron of African horse. Tidings now came that L. Calpurnius Piso, Consul for the next year, was on his way to supersede him ; and Manilius sent off Scipio, with Phamseas as a trophy of success to Rome. The army escorted their favourite officer to the coast, and prayed him to come back as Consul; for all were persuaded that none but Scipio was destined to take Carthage. The Senate received Scipio with high distinction, and rewarded the traitor Phamseas with splendid presents. His desertion was the only piece of success which two Consuls and a great army had won in a whole campaign. § 11. The next year (148 B.C.) passed still less prosperously. Piso did not attempt to assault the city, but employed his fleet and army in buccaneering expeditions along the coast. Discon- tent and disorder spread amongst the soldiery ; and the Consul went early into winter-quarters at Utica. Meantime the spirits of the Carthaginians rose. Their bitter enemy, old Cato, had just died, at the age of 85. Bithyas, a Numidian chief, deserted from Golossa with a large body of cavalry. The Numidian Hasdrubal, who commanded the garrison, being suspected of intriguing with his cousin Golossa, was put to death, and the other Hasdrubal took command in the city. News also arrived of the Macedonian war; and it was hoped that the Romans might be altogether baffled. § 12. Meanwhile discontent arose high at Rome. Both Senate and People had expected to reap a rich booty at Carthage with little trouble, and the faineans who had disappointed them could hardly appear in public. It was well known that Scipio was the darling of the army. Old Cato had said of him, in a line of Homer, that " Only he has living force, the rest are fleeting shades." * The People clamoured for his election as Consul, though by the Lex Annalis he was not eligible, for he was but thirty-eight years of age, and was now a candidate for the ^dileship. He was, however, elected Consul at the Comitia; and the Senate yielded. § 13. Early in the next year (147 b.c.) Scipio set sail for Utica * olog TTenvvTat, toI di aKLOi utaaovaL, Horn. Od. xi. 10 ; a quotation which showa that the old man had made progress in his late lore. 488 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. with new levies, attended by Poly bins. C. Laelius, son of that Laelius who had enjoyed the confidence of Africanus, had com- mand of the fleet. The Consul fixed his head-quarters in a camp commanding the Isthmus of Carthage ; and here his first business was to restore discipline in the disorganised army. He ordered the crowd of idlers and hucksters, who were following the camp for plunder or petty traffic, to leave it immediately ; and enforced strict discipline. He then directed an attack against the suburb of Megara. Planks were laid from a detached tower to the wall ; and thus a party of soldiers descended into the place, and threw the gate open to their comrades. Tib. Gracchus the younger, destined to become famous in Roman history, was the first who mounted the wall. The loss of this suburb of gardens must have been of great moment to the Carthaginians; for it deprived them of a great source of provisions. Hasdrubal showed his vexation by putting his prisoners to death in sight of the Romans. In vain the Council endeavoured to restrain him : the savage soldier was now lord of Carthage, and determined to commit himself and his men to a desperate defence. He was a greedy tyrant, who fed his gross corpulence by luxurious living, while others were starving ; and affected the pompous demeanour of an Oriental despot, rather than the simplicity of a patriot soldier. His men alone shared the provisions, which now began to come scantily into the city. The unhappy townsmen began to feel the miseries of want. § 14. For not only had Scipio taken Megara ; he had drawn strong lines across the isthmus so as to cut off the city from all land supplies ; and the fleet blockaded the harbour, so as to make it difficult to send in provisions by sea. Still, light vessels contrived to press into the harbour under full sail, when the wind blew strongly landwards and prevented the Roman ships from keeping the sea. Scipio determined to cut off even these precarious supplies by throwing an embankment across the mouth of the harbour.* The work was one of infinite labour, and made but slow progress. The Carthaginians, however, saw that it must ultimately succeed, and began to cut a canal from the inside, so as to open a new entrance from the sea into their harbour. Before the end of the year this work was com- pleted, and, moreover, a fleet of fifty ships had been secretly built in the inner port. By the time Scipio's embankment was finished, the Romans had the mortification to see this new fleet sail out by the new entrance ; so that it seemed as if all their * This embankment no doubt assisted in choking up the harbour and reducing it to its present condition. Chap. XLVI THIRD AND LAST PUNIC WAR. 489 labour had been thrown away. For two days they allowed the Carthaginian fleet to insult them with impunity. But on the third they attacked it with all their ships. The battle lasted till evening with some advantage to the Carthaginians. But as the latter fell back to the new entrance, they found the passage im- peded by small craft ; and in the confusion which ensued, the Romans succeeded in destroying the greater part of the new fleet. § 15. At the beginning of spring (146 b.c), Scipio resumed the oft'ensive. While he made a feigned attack upon the walls of Cothon, Lselius succeeded in forcing an entrance on the other side of the city, and at evening the Roman legions bivouacked in the Marketplace of Carthage. But a long and terrible struggle was still before them. From the Marketplace three streets con- verged towards the Citadel. These streets were all strongly barricaded ; and the houses on each side rising to the height of six stories, were occupied by the Carthaginians. A series of street-fights ensued, which lasted several days. The Romans were obliged to carry the first houses on each street by assault, and then to force their way by breaking through from house to house, and driving the enemy along the flat roofs. The cross streets or lanes were passed by bridges of planks. Thus they slowly advanced to the wall of Bosra. When they had reached this point the city was set on fire behind them. Six days and nights the flames continued to rage ; and as they slackened, the Roman legionaries were employed as pioneers to clear thorough- fares for the free passage of men and horses. § 16. During the great labour of the last days Scipio alone sought no rest. At length, worn out by anxiety and fatigue, he lay down to repose on an eminence commanding a view of the Temple of Esculapius, which, with its gilded roof, crowned the heights of Bosra. He had not long been here, when the Cartha- ginian garrison, seeing no longer any hope, off'ered to surrender the Citadel, on condition of their lives being spared. Scipio con- sented for all, except Roman deserters ; and 50,000 men defiled out of the gates of Bosra as prisoners of war. Then Hasdrubal and his family, with 900 deserters and other desperadoes, retired into the Temple of Esculapius, as if to make a brave defence. But the Commandant's heart failed him ; and, slipping out alone, he threw himself at the feet of Scipio, and craved for pardon. His wife, standing on the base of the temple, was near enough to witness the sight, and reproaching her husband with cowardice, cast her- self with her children into the flames, which were now wrapping the Citadel round on all sides. Hasdrubal's life was spared to grace the triumph of the conqueror; most of the deserters 21* 490 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. perished in the flames ; those who escaped, or were taken else- where, were trampled to death by elephants. It was during these scenes of horror, that Scipio, with Polybius at his side, gazed upon the burning city, and involuntarily vented his high-wrought feeling in two well-known verses of Homer ;* " The day shall come, when sacred Troy shall be levelled with the plain, And Priam and the people of that good warrior slain." "Assyria," he said, "had fallen, and Persia and Macedon. Car- thage was burning. Rome's day might come next !" For five days the soldiery were allowed to range the ruinec city, glutting their wild passions. Yet enough of statues and valuables of all sorts fell into the hands of the Proconsul, to adorn a triumph little less magnificent than that in which he had followed his father Paullus one-and-twenty years before. Before he left Africa, he celebrated magnificent games, in which all the spoil was displayed to the army, as had been done by Paullus in Macedonia. § 1*7. Scipio had written laconically to the Senate, that "Car- thage was taken, and the army waited for further orders." Amid the exultation of all classes, a Decree was passed that the walls should be destroyed, and every house within them levelled to the ground. A solemn curse Avas pronounced by Scipio on any one who should rebuild a town on the same site. Not many years after, C. Gracchus was sent to found a colony on the site of Carthage, — a design which failed ; and its failure was attributed to the curse of Scipio. But the same design was renewed by the great Julius, and accomplished by Augustus. This Colony, which rose to be a noble city, and in the second century of the Christian era might be regarded as the metropolis of Western Christendom, stood (as stated above) at the southern end of the Peninsula, where the Moorish fortress of Goletta now commands the entrance of the Bay of Tunis. Utica, for her timely submission, was rewarded with a portion of the dominions of Carthage. The remaining territory wa- formed into a province under the name of Libya, and places: under the government of a Roman Magistrate, being the fourth Province added to the empire in this one year. Such was the end of Carthage, after an existence of more than seven centuries. * H. iv. 164: lacerai rjfiap, orav ttot' 6^6Xg 'I'Aio^ Ipfj, Koi UpcEa/iioc Kal Aabg Ivju/ieXiu Ilptu/xoie. CHAPTER XLVII. SPANISH WARS : FALL OF NUMANTIA. (149 133 B.C.) 1. War with the Lusitanians under Yiriathus, and with Numantia. § 3. Celtiberian War: Metellus Macedonicus: Treaty of Mancinus. § 3* Lusitanian War : Treaty of Q. Fabius Servilianus, broken by Q. Servihus Csepio: Murder of Yiriathus. § 4. Discussion on tlie Treaty of Mancinus: he is given up to the Numantians: their conduct. § 5. Dec. Brutus carries Roman arms into Gallaecia : surnamed Callaicus. § 6. Scipio : his life since the Fall of Carthage. § T . His popularity : elected Consul for the Numantian War. § 8. Measures for restoring discipline. § 9. He appears before Numantia: lines of investment. § 10. Misery of the Numantians. § 11. Surrender and destruction of Numantia. § 1. While Kome was engaged in war with Carthage, the Lusi- tanians resumed their inroads under the conduct of the gallant Viriathus, who had escaped from the massacre of Galba. No Roman general could gain any positive advantage over this indefatigable enemy, and in the year 143 b.c. the war assumed a much more serious aspect. The brave Celtiberian tribes of Numantia and its adjacent districts again appeared in the field. For several years we find two Roman commanders engaged in Spain, as before the Treaty of Gracchus : one opposed to the Numantians and their Celtiberian allies in the North, the other carrying on an irregular warfare against Viriathus and the Lusi- tanians in the South. § 2. The conduct of the Celtiberian War was committed to Q. Metellus Macedonicus, who had been elected Consul for the year 143. He remained in command for two years, and was so successful in his measures that by the close of the second cam- paign he had compelled the enemy to shut themselves up in their strong cities. But he was disappointed, as in Greece, by finding anticipated triumph snatched from his grasp by Q. Pompeius, Consul for the year 141 b.c. Pompeius and his successors could make no impression upon the Numantians. Nay, C. Hostilius Mancinus, Consul for the year 13V, suffered a memorable reverse. Mancinus set out for his province amid general alarm, excited by the unfavourable omens at his inaugural sacrifices. He was attended as Quaestor by young Tib. Gracchus, who had already distinguished himself at the siege of Carthage. Mancinus found the army before Numantia in a state of complete disorganisation, and deemed 492 COITQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. it prudent to retreat from his position in front of that city. The Numantians pursued and pressed him so hard that he was obliged to entrench himself in an old camp, and send a herald with offers to treat on condition that his army should be spared. The enemy consented, but only on the understanding that young Gracchus was to make himself responsible for the execution of the treaty. Articles of peace were accordingly signed by Mancinus himselfj with Gracchus and all the chief officers of the army. Before we notice the sequel of the famous Treaty of Mancinus, it will be well to follow the Lusitanian War to its conclusion. § 3. Here also the fortune of Rome was in the decline. Q. Fabius Servilianus was surprised by Viriathus in a narrow defile, and so shut up that escape was impossible. The Lusitanian cap- tain offered liberal terms, which were gladly accepted by the Pro- consul. This peace was approved by the Senate, and Viriathus was acknowledged as the ally of Rome. But Q. Servilius Caepio, brother by blood of Servilianus, was little satisfied by the prospect of an inactive command. By impor- tunity he wrung from the Senate permission to break the peace so lately concluded by his brother, and ratified by themselves, — a permission basely given and more basely used. Caepio assailed Viriathus, when he little expected an attack, with so much vigour that the chief was fain to seek refuge in Gallaecia, and sent envoys to ask Caspio on what ground the late treaty was no longer observed. Caepio sent back the messengers with fair words, but privily bribed them to assassinate their master. They were too successful in their purpose, and returned to claim their blood-money from the Consul. But he, with double treachery, disowned the act, and referred them to the Senate for their reward. The death of Viriathus was the real end of the Lusitanian War. He was (as even the Roman writers allow) brave, generous, active, vigilant, patient, faithful to his word ; and the manner in which he baffled all fair and open assault of the disciplined armies of Rome gives a high conception of his qualities as a guerilla chief. His countrymen, sensible of their loss, honoured him with a splendid military funeral. The Senate, with a wise moderation •which might have been adopted years before, assigned lands to » portion of the mountaineers within the Province, thus at length making good the broken promises of Galba. § 4. Such was the discreditable termination of the Lusitanian War. We must now return to Mancinus and his Treaty. He returned to defend his conduct before the Senate. He pleaded that the army was so demoralised that no man could wield it with effect, and admitted that he had concluded a treaty Chap. XLYII. NUMANTIAN WAR. 493 — with Numantia without the authority of the Senate and People ; as that treaty was not approved, he declared himself ready to support a bill for delivering up the persons of himself and all who had signed it to the Numantians. Such a bill was accord- ingly brought before the Tribes. But young Gracchus upheld the treaty, and Scipio, his brother-in-law, made an eloquent speech in his behalf. But the people, always jealous of defeat, voted for delivering up Mancinus alone as an expiatory offering. Accordingly a person, consecrated for this special purpose, car- ried him to Numantia. But the Spaniards, like the Samnites of old, refused to accept such a compensation ; one man's body, they said, was no equivalent for the advantage they had lost. Mancinus, therefore, returned to Rome. But when he took his place in the Senate, the Tribune Rutilius ordered him to leave the Curia, because, he said, one who had been delivered over to the enemy with religious ceremony was no longer a citizen of Rome, and could not recover his rights by simply returning to his country.* A special law was introduced to restore Mancinus to his former position.f § 5. Dec. Junius Brutus, Consul for 138, an able officer, was entrusted with the pacification of Lusitania : the town of Valentia owes its origin to a colony of this people planted there by him. After finishing this business, he carried his arms northward across the Tagus, the Douro, and the Minho, and received homage from the Tribes of the Western Pyrenees. He was the first Roman who reached the shores of the Bay of Biscay, and saw the sun set in the waters of the Atlantic; and he was not unjustly honoured with the name of CallaicusJ for his successes. § 6. But Numantia still defied the arms of Rome. Men began to clamour for a Consul fit to command ; and all eyes fell upon Scipio. His qualities as a general had been tested by success at Carthage, and circumstances had since occurred which raised him to great popularity. After his triumph in 146 B.C., Scipio had continued to lead the simple life in which he had been bred, and which not all the wealth he inherited from his adoptive father induced him to abandon. He affected an austerity of manners, which almost emulated that of Cato, though he was free from the censorius dogmatism and rude eccentricities of that celebrated man. In * Su(3h a recovery of rights was called Postliminium. For the legal opinions on both sides see Cicero de Or at. i. 40, de Off. iii. 30, pro Ccecina, 34. f The rights of the question have already been discussed in speaking of the similar transaction at the Furculae Caudinae. Chapt. xxii, § 8. X From Callsecia or Gallascia, the ancient nam'^ f^f tb*^ district in the N.W of Spain, still called Gallicia. 494 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. 142 B.C. lie was elected Censor in conjunction with Mummius, who so thwarted all the efforts of his colleague to promote reforms that the latter publicly exclaimed, " I should have been able to do my duty, either with a colleague or without one." Scipio had gained a clear conception of the unsound state of things, which long-continued wars and Senatorial government had pro- duced. In the prayer, which he offered on entering upon the Censor's office, he altered the usual form ; and instead of asking that " the gods would increase and magnify the power of Rome," he said, " I pray that they may preserve it ; it is great enough already." § 7. His frugal life carried with it a guarantee of honesty and devotion to public interests, which, would alone have secured him public favour. But several of his acts gained him more direct popularity. The son of his kinsman Nasica, nicknamed Serapio, had joined the high oligarchical party. But the son of ^milius Paullus, on the few occasions on which he appeared in public, took the popular side. In 137, the Tribune Cassius proposed the first law for taking votes by secret Dallot,* with the intention of neutralising the undue influence of the Senators. Scipio came forward and addressed the people in favour of this law. As his popularity was increased, his favour with the Senate proportion- ably fell. Six years before, when he was canvassing for the Censorship, App. Claudius, seeing the motley crowd which fol- lowed him, exclaimed : — " Ah, ^milius, it would trouble thy spirit to see thy son followed by such a crew." Yet he courted not popularity : he seldom even visited the Forum, though he spoke with force and eloquence when he chose. When the same Appius boasted that he knew all who frequented the Forum by name, Scipio replied : — " True, I do not know many of my fellow- citizens by name, but I have taken care that all should know me." Popularity came unasked, and the People cast their eyes upon him to retrieve the dishonour of the Roman arms in Spain. Legally he could not hold the Consulship, for a law had been lately passed forbidding a second election in any case. But Scipio received the votes of every Century, though he was not a candidate. § 8. He was now fifty-one years of age, and he proceeded to execute his commission with the same steady vigour which dis- * These Leges Tabellarice (as the Romans called them, tabella being their word for a ballot) were four in number: 1. The Gabinian (139 B.C.), intro- dueing'the use of the Ballot at Elections. 2. The Cassian (137), introducing it in all state-trials, except in the case of high-treason (perduellio). 3. The Papirian (131), introducing it into the Legislative Assembly. 4. The Gadian (107), which cancelled the single exception made by the Cassian Law. Chap. XLYU. NUMANTIAN WAR. 495 tinguished him on other occasions. He found the demoralisation of the army not less than it had been described, and he applied himself to correct it with the same severity that his father had used in Macedonia, and he himself had used before Carthage. All courtesans and hucksters, together with fortune-tellers who drove a lucrative trade in the dispirited army, he commanded to quit the camp. Ail carriages, horses, and mules he ordered to bo sold, except those that were needed for actual service. No cook- ing utensils were allowed except a spit, a camp-bottle, and a drinking-cup. Down beds were forbidden : the general himself slept upon a straw pallet. § 9. After some time spent in training his army, he led it to Numantia by a difficult and circuitous route, in order to avoid a battle. As he approached the place he was joined by young Ju- gurtha, a bastard son of Micipsa, who came from Numidia with twelve elephants and a large body of light cavalry. By this time the season for war was nearly over, and he ordered two strong camps to be formed for winter-quarters. In one he fixed himself, the other he put under the command of his brother Fabius. With the beginning of spring (133 b.c.) he began to draw lines of circumvallation round the city, and declined all attempts made by the Numantians to provoke a general action, — a circumstance which is rather surprising, if it be true that the available troops of the Spanish city amounted to no more than 8000 men. § 10. Numantia lay on both sides of the Douro, not far from its source. The blockade was so strict, and the inhabitants were so ill provided, that in no long time they were reduced to feed on boiled leather, and at length (horrible to tell) on the bodies of the dead. In vain those who retained sufficient strength attempted sallies by day and night ; Scipio had established so complete a system, that additional troops were always ready to strengthen any weak point which might be assailed. In vain did the young men of Lubia endeavour to relieve their brave neighbours. Scipio promptly marched to that place with a division of light troops, and, having compelled the government to surrender 400 of the most active sympathisers, he cut oft* their right hands and returned. Such was the cruelty which the most enlightened men of Rome permitted themselves to use towards barbarians. Nor does any ancient historian whisper a word of reproach. § 11. The wretched Numantians now inquired on whatjterms they might be admitted to surrender. The reply was, that on that very day they must lay down their arms, and on the next appear at a given place. They prayed for time to deliberate. In the interval a certain number of brave men, resolved not to submit on any terms, put themselves to death ; the remnant came forth 496 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. from the gates. Their matted hair, squalid apparel, and wasted forms made even the Romans turn away in horror from their own work. Scipio selected fifty to walk in his triumphal procession, and sold the rest. The town was so effectually destroyed that its very site cannot be discovered. Such was the destructive, but not glorious work, which earned for Scipio the name of Numantinus, as the ruin of Carthage had given him a better title than adoption to that of Africanus. Commissioners were sent, according to custom, to re-organise the Spanish Provinces. The conquests of Scipio and of Dec. Bru- tus were comprehended in the limits of the Hither Province, and for some years Spain remained in tranquillity. There was no enemy now left on the coast-lands of the Medi- terranean to dispute the Sovereignty of Rome. Nine Provinces, each fit to be a kingdom, owned her sway, and poured yearly taxes into her revenue. The kings of Asia Minor, of Syria, of Egypt were her obedient vassals. CHAPTER XLVIII. FIRST SLAVE-WAR IN SICILY. (133 131 B.C.) § 1. Increase of Slaves. § 2. Fondness of the Romans for agriculture : decline of agriculture. § 3. Immense numbers of Slaves brought to market. § 4. The Slaves of Apulia become banditti. § 5. Similar state of things in Sicily : insurrection breaks out near Enna. § 6. King Eunus. § 7. Enna taken by the Slaves: dreadful scenes. § 8. Cleon heads another rising near Agrigentum. § 9. Defeat of a Roman Praetor : spread of the Insur- rection. § 10. The War concluded by Rupilius : fate of the Slave-chiefs. § 11. Propitiation of Ceres. § 12. Laws of Rupilius for improving the state of Sicily. § 1. While Numantia was yet defying the Roman Generals, a war broke out near home of a more dreadful kind than any distant contest with foreigners could be, — the insurrection of the Slaves in Sicily. Some remarks have already been made on the rapid increase in the number of Slaves which attended the career of Roman conquest ; and it was observed that, while domestic Slaves usually were well treated, the agricultural Slaves were thrust down to a condition worse than that of the oxen which laboured on the land.* The evils which such oppression might engender were now proved by terrible experience. § 2. Every one knows that in the early times of Rome the work of the 'farm was the only kind of manual labour deemed worthy of a free citizen. This feeling long survived, as may be seen from the praise bestowed on agriculture by Cicero,t whose enthusiasm was caught from one of his favourite heroes, old Cato the Censor, whose Treatise on Agriculture has been noticed. The taste for books of farming continued. Varro the antiquarian, a friend of Cicero, has left an excellent treatise on the subject. A little later came the famous Georgics of Virgil, followed at no long interval by Pliny's notices, and then by the elaborate Dissertations of Columella, who refers to a great number of Roman writers on the same subject. It is manifest that the subject of agriculture possessed a strong and enduring charm for the Roman mind. But, from the times of the Hannibalic War, agriculture lost * Chapt. xxxvii. § 5. f " Omnium autem rerum ex quibus aliquid acquiritur nihil est agri cul- ture melius, nihil uberius, nihil dulcius, nihil homine hbero dignius." — Be Off. i. 42, fin. 498 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. ground in Italy. When Cato was asked what was the mosl; profitable kind of farming, he said, " Good grazing." What next? " Tolerable grazing." What next ? " Bad grazing." What next? "Corn-growing."* Later writers, with one accord, deplore the diminished productiveness of land. This result was due in part, no doubt, to war, but much more to other causes. Corn could be imported with facility from the southern lands of Sicily, from Egypt, and from Numidia, while » great part of Italy was little suited for the production of grain-crops. These causes found a powerful assistant in the growth of large estates, and the profitable tmployment of Slaves as shepherds and herdsmen. § 3. A few examples will show the prodigious number of Slaves that must have been thrown into the market after the Second Punic War. To punish the Bruttians for the fidelity with which they adhered to the cause of Hannibal, the whole nation were made Slaves; 150,000 Epirotes were sold by -^milius Paullus; 50,000 captives were sent home from Carthage, These numbers are accidentally preserved ; and if, according to this scale, we calculate the hosts of unhappy men sold in slavery during the Syrian, Macedonian, Illyrian, Grecian, and Spanish Wars, we shall be prepared to hear that Slaves fit only for unskilled labour were plentiful and cheap. There was also a Slave-trade regularly carried on in the East. The barbarous tribes on the coasts of the Black Sea were always ready to sell their own flesh and blood ; Thrace and Sarmatia were the Guinea Coast of the Romans. The entrepot of this trade was Delos, which had been made a fi'ee port by Rome after the conquest of Macedonia.f Gtrabo tells us that in one day 10,000 slaves were sold there in open market. Such were the vile uses to which was put the Sacred Island, once the treasury of Greece, when her states were banded together to secure their freedom against the Persian. § 4. It is evident that hosts of slaves, lately free men, and many of them soldiers, must become dangerous to the owners. Nor was their treatment such as to conciliate. They were turned out upon the hills, made responsible for the safety of the cattle put under their charge, and compelled to provide them- selves with the common necessaries of life. A body of these wretched men asked their master for clothing : " What," he asked, " are there no travellers with clothes on ?" The atrocious hint was soon taken : the shepherd slaves of Lower Italy became banditti, and to travel through Apulia without an armed retinue * Cicero de Offic. ii. 25, 5. f Chapt. xliv. § 3. Chap. XLYIII. FIRST SLAVE-WAR 49& was a perilous adventure. From assailing travellers, the ma- rauders began to plunder the smaller country-houses; and all but the rich were obliged to desert the country and flock into the towns. So early as the year 185 b.c, 7000 slaves in Apulia were condemned for brigandage by a Praetor sent specially to restore order in that land of pasturage. When they were not employed upon the hills, they were shut up in large prison-like buildings (erffastula), where they could talk together of their wrongs, and form schemes of vengeance. § 5. The Sicilian landowners emulated their Italian brethren ; and it was their tyrannical conduct that led to the frightful insur- rection, which reveals to us somewhat of the real state of society which existed under the rule of Rome. In Sicily, as in Lower Italy, the herds are driven up into the mountain pastures during the summer months, and about Octo- ber return towards the plains. The same causes which were at work in Italy were at work, on a smaller scale, in Sicily. The city of Enna, once famous for the worship of Demeter, had be- come the centre of a pastoral district, and of the neighbouring landowners, Damophilus was the wealthiest. He was famous for the multitude of his Slave-herdsmen, and for his cruel treatment of them, and his wife Megallis emulated her lord in the barbarities which she practised on the female Slaves. At length the cup was full, and 400 of his bondsmen, meeting at Enna, took counsels of vengeance against Damophilus. § 6. At Enna there lived another rich proprietor, named Antigenes; and among his Slaves was a Syrian, known by the Greek name of Eunus (F.vvovg). This man was a kind of wizard, who pretended to have revelations of the future, and practised a mode of breathing fire, which passed for a superna- tural power. At length he gave out that his Syrian gods had declared to him that he should be king hereafter. His master treated him as a jester, and at banquets used to call him in to make sport for his guests ; and they, entering into his humour, used to beg him to remember them when he gained his sceptre. But to the confederate Slaves of Damophilus, Eunus seemed in truth a Prophet and a King sent to deliver them. They prayed him to become their leader, he accepted their offer; and the whole body entered the city of Enna, with Eunus at their head breathing fire. § 7. The wretched city now felt the vengeance of men brutalised by oppression. Clad in skins, armed with stakes burnt at the end, with reaping-hooks, spits, or whatever arms rage supplied, they broke into the houses, and massacred all persons of free condition, from the old man and matron to the infant at the 500 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book Y. breast. Crowds of Slaves joined them ; every man's foes were those of his own household. Damophilus was dragged to the Theatre and slain. Megallis was given over to the female Slaves, who first tortured her, and then cast her down the crag on which the city stands. Eunus thus saw the wildest of his dreams fulfilled. He as- sumed the diadem, took the royal name of Antiochus, and called his followers Syrians. The ergastula were broken open, and numbers of Slaves sallied out to join him. Soon he was at the head of 10,000 men. He showed no little discretion in the choice of officers. Achseus, a Greek, was made General of the army,' and he exerted himself to preserve order and moderate excesses. § 8. A few days after the massacre a': Enna, Cleon, a Cilician Slave, raised a similar insurrection near Agrigentum. He also was soon at the head of several thousand men. The Romans in Sicily, who had looked on in blank dismay, now formed hopes that the two leaders might quarrel, — hopes soon disappointed by the tidings that Cleon had acknowledged the sovereign authority of King Antiochus. § 9. There was no Roman magistrate present in Sicily when the insurrection broke out. The Praetor of the last year had returned to Italy ; and his successor now arrived, ignorant of all that was passing. He contrived to collect 8000 men in the island, and took the field against the Slaves, who by this time numbered 20,000. He was utterly defeated, and the insurrection spread over the whole island. The consternation at Rome was great. No one could tell where the evil would stop. Movements broke out in various parts of the empire ; but the magistrates were on the alert, and all attempts were crushed forcibly. At Rome itself one hundred and fifty Slaves, detected in organising an outbreak, were put to death without mercy, § 10. The insurrection seemed to the Senate so serious that they dispatched the Consul, Q. Fulvius Flaccus, colleague of Scipio in the year 133 b.c, to crush it. But Flaccus ob- tained no advantage over the insurgents. In the next year L. Calpurnius Piso succeeded in wresting Messana from the enemy, and advanced to Enna, a place strongly defended by nature, which he was unable to take. His successor, P. Rupilius, a friend of Scipio, began his campaign with the siege of Tauro- menium. The Slaves offered a desperate resistance. Reduced to straits for want of food, they devoured the children, the women, and at length began to prey upon each other. Even then the place was only taken by treachery. All the Slaves Chap. XLVIII. FIRST SLAVE-WAR. 601 taken alive were put to the torture and thrown down a precipice. The Consul now advanced to Enna, the last stronghold of Eunus. The fate of the insurgents was inevitable. Cleon of Agrigentum chose a soldier's death, and sallying forth with all who breathed the same spirit as himself, he died fighting valiantly. Of the end of Achseus we are not informed. Eunus, with a body- guard of 600 men, fled to the neighbouring hills ; but, despairing of escape, the greater part of the wretched men slew one another. The mock king himself was taken in a cave, with his cook, baker, bathing-man, and jester. He showed a pusillanimity far unlike the desperate courage of the rest, and died eaten by vermin in a dungeon at Murgantia. § 11. Thus was crushed for a time this perilous insurrection, the result of the Slave-system established by Roman conquest. The well-being of Sicily had even now been so seriously impaired that extraordinary measures were deemed necessary for restoring order. The Sibylline Books were consulted. The oracular page ordered the propitiation of " Ceres the most ancient ;" and a solemn deputation of priests proceeded to the august Temple of the Goddess in the city of Enna. This circumstance, seemingly unimportant, becomes significant, when it is considered that the war really originated in the neglect of agricultural labours, and was at its height during the notable year in which Tib. Gracchus was bringing to all men's knowledge the reduced condition of the farmers of Italy. § 12. Ten Commissioners were sent to assist Rupilius in draw- ing up laws for the better regulation of the agricultural districts. The code formerly established by Hiero at Syracuse was taken as the basis of their legislation, a measure which gave great satisfac- tion to all the Greek Communities. The whole land was required to pay a tithe of its produce to the Romans except the five free cities and some others which were allowed to pay a fixed annual sum. The collection of these tithes was to be let to Roman contractors. But to prevent extortion, Courts of Appeal were provided. All disputes between citizens of the same town were left to be decided in the town courts; those between citizens of diff'erent towns, by judges drawn by lot under the eye of the Praetor ; those between a town-community and an individual, by the Senate of some other city ; those between a Roman citizen and a Sicilian, by a judge belonging to the same nation as the defendant. There can be no doubt that the general condition of the Sicilian landholders was considerably improved by this system ; and agriculture again flourished in Sicily as it had done in forme i times. Tomb on the Appian Way, CHAPTEE XLIX. THE CONDITION OF ROME AND HER PEOPLE AT THE CLOSE OF THJ PERIOD OF CONQUEST. § 1. Rise of a New Nobility. § 2. Control of Public Purse now in hands of Senate. § 3, Precariousness of Senatorial power. § 4. Growth of a wealthy Class, not noble. § 5. Knights equo publico et privato: new Equestrian Order created by C. Gracchus. § 6 The free citizens con- sumed by the wars. § 7. Those who returned migrated to the towns. § 8. Increase of large estates. § 9. How these estates were furnished with labour: Metayers. § 10. Growing division between the City and the Rural Tribes: what was meant by "Men of the People" a\ Rome. § 11. Influence of the Nobility in the Comitia. § 1. An attempt was made to review the condition of Rome and her subjects at the point of time when she had just passed through the terrible ordeal of the Hannibalic AVar. Since that we have followed her, for more than a century and a half, in her rapid ascent to absolute dominion. And here again we may pause to note the changes that had taken place in her political and social system. For though no violent changes are recorded, yet silently and surely great alterations had been wrought in almost all sorts and conditions of Roman citizens. OiiAf . J.UX. SENATORIAL POWER. 503 We have had continually to recognise the increasing power of the Senate and the growth of a New Nobility, as compact as the old Patrician Oligarchy, and wielding a mightier power. The mark of Nobility was not now, as of old, birth within the pale of the Patriciate, but birth within the number of those families who could count up successive honours for generations. Those were now most noble who possessed the longest file of images, that is those whose ancestors had held the greatest number of Curule offices. § 2. That which secured political supremacy to the Senate wag what is familiarly called the power of the Purse. No people can be free unless they have some control over the expenditure of public money ; and at Rome all financial matters were, as we have seen, wholly in the hands of the Senate. In earlier times this great Council was obliged to levy a war-tax upon the People, which served as a check upon its power. But the large sums which poured into the treasury for the next few years made this tax lighter every year, till with the conquest of Macedon it ceased altogether. Henceforth, therefore, there was not even an indirect control over the public purse, and no hindrance was offered to a vote for declaring war. Even Cato, m his deter- mination to destroy Carthage, lent himself to the policy of his Order. All lucrative employments were seized by the members of the great Senatorial families. It was only when difficult ser- vices were required, such as the conquest of Macedon, or the reduction of Carthage and Numantia, that the Senate were obliged to resort to the services of independent men like JEmilius Paullus or his son Scipio. § 3. But while the Senatorial Nobility seemed to be in secure possession of nearly all honours, there were not wanting signs to show that this possession was precarious. In the first place there had grown up of late years a body of wealthy families who were debarred from political honours ; and in the second place, the condition of the Rustic Population was every day becoming so bad as to excite the sympathy of the generous, and to alarm the fears of the selfish. § 4. The wealthy class of which we speak was chiefly composed of the tax-collectors, public contractors, and other persons engaged in commercial pursuits. Just before the second Punic War a law had been passed to make it illegal for Senators to engage in any kind of commercial adventure; and to supply the constant demand caused by the wars that followed. Companies were formed, with a sufficient capital to undertake contracts for supplying the army and navy„ When one province after another was conquered, similiar Companies contracted to collect the im- 504 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V posts laid upon the new subjects of Rome, and this soon became a large and profitable businesSo The provincial imposts were put up to public auction ; the Company which offered the largest sum, if they could give proper security, received the contract; they paid into the Treasury the sum which they had offered, and all that they collected over and above this sum they divided among themselves : a system well contrived to encourage extortion. It was from this wealthy class of contractors and commercial men that C. Gracchus created a new order of citi^ zens to balance the Senators. This was the Equestrian Order, the members of which were called Equites or Knights, — a new application of an old name which demands explanation. § 5. It has been noticed that by the institutions attributed to King Servius the Equites were raised to the number of 3600. They were the wealthiest men at Rome, and formed a real body of Knights or Chivalry, who served on horseback in the army of the city, as all the other Centuries served on foot. They were furnished with a horse at the public expense, or rather by a special tax laid on the property of widows and orphans, who were exempt from all other dues. As the City increased in power there were many citizens who were as wealthy as the Equites,* and yet were not of their num- ber; and at the siege of Veil many of these citizens came forward and offered to serve as horse-soldiers at their own expense. Hence arose the distmction of Knights with a Public and Knights with a Private Horse. After this time, the Cavalry seem to have been regularly furnished by families of a certain amount of property ; and the horse bestowed by the State became a badge of honour, which was retained by Senators and Consulars, though they were no longer liable to serve in the army. The whole system was remodelled, as it appears, in the Censorship of Fabius and Decius, who were commissioned to counteract the measures of Appius Claudius. It was then ordained that on the day of the battle of Regillus the Knights who had a public horse, clad in purple and wreathed with olive, should ride in procession from the Temple of Mars outside the city, to the portico of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum, and there dismounting should lead their horses past the Censors, who had power to deprive any man of his rank by taking away his horse. Such a punishment was inflicted on Livius and Nero, the conquerors of Metaurus, each upon the other, and upon L. Scipio by Cato. In process of time the distinction between * The Census of the Equites in earlier times is not known, but was (it may be presumed) larger than that of the First Class. Augustus fixed it at 400,000 sesterces (about 3500Z,) ; see Horace, 1 Epist. i. 58 Chap. XLIX. RURAL POPULATION. 605 the titular Equites and the horse-soldiers of the army became more and more pronounced, and the possession of a public horse became q, sort of honorary distinction held in high esteem. The Cavaliers became distinct from the Cavalry. But a great and complete change took place when C. Gracchus raised to the Equestrian Order all who possessed a certain Arr^.ount of property, and thus created a sort of Lesser Nobility to counterbalance the Senate. After this, as it seems, a man lost his place in the Equestrian Order by becoming a Senator; and the Equites were either wealthy contractors and merchants, or young men of Senatorial families, who had not themselves reached Senatorial dignity. The antagonism of the Equites and the Senate forms one of the most striking points in the internal history of Rome for the next fifty years. And here we find one of the quarters from which the dominion of the Senate was threatened. § 6. More immediate danger was to be apprehended from the state of the Rural Population, not only in the Roman territory itself, but throughout the allied cities of Italy. In the early times of Rome military service was a privilege, confined to persons of a certain property. Citizens with a fixed yearly income of smaller amount than gave a position in the Classes were employed on board the ships ; but those who had no appreciable property were used only as slingers and archers to skirmish in front of the regular battalions of the Legion. And the same practice seems to have prevailed in the Italian Communities, who always furnished more than half the Roman armies. In the great defeats of the Hannibalic War, therefore, the losses fell not on mercenary armies ; but on the substantial burgesses of the towns and the stout yeomen of *he country. There can be no doubt that in this dreadful war the rural inhabitants of the Roman Territory, and of Italy generally, must have been more than decimated. And it was probably due to this cause that, from the time of Flamininus, Proletarians began to be enrolled in the legions along with the wealthier citi- zens.*' Italy was drained of her best blood, and many a farm lost the stout limbs of its proprietors. § 7. To this must be added that the wars, being now carried on beyond seas, drew off* the legionaries from their country work much more completely than the Italian wars. The men could no longer return home when the campaign was over, but were kept for several years in foreign lands ; and even if they returned to their country they had often contracted licentious tastes and formed * That Flamininus originated the practice appears probable from Plu- tarch. Vit. Flamin. c. 18. 22 506 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. irregular habits which ill suited the frugal life of an Italian hus- bandman. Those, therefore, who had small estates were eager to turn them into money, that they might enjoy the irregular pleasures of the City ; those who had nothing to sell migrated without hindrance. Thus the Rural Population was more and more thinned, while the towns,* and Rome most of all, swarmed with needy and reckless men, ready for outrage. § 8. The small proprietors found it extremely easy to part witb their estates and holdings. For the great Senatorial families were every day growing richer by the commands and governments which were multiplied after every successive war; and, being prohibited from commerce, they were glad to invest their gains in buying up land in the neighbourhood of their own estates. From this time forth began those Latifundia or Great Estates which Pliny believed to be the real cause of the depopulation and decay of Italy. § 9. It might appear, indeed, that these estates, being stript of their labourers, would not be very valuable. But this was compensated by the great abundance and cheapness of Slaves, — a point which has been sufficiently illustrated in our account of the Sicilian Slave-war. Whole districts were thrown into pas- turage because free labourers were wanting, and their place was supplied by wretched captives, who, though unequal to the labours of the plough or spade, were able to watch flocks and tend herds. Even when tillage was still found profitable in Italy, it changed its character. It was then, probably, that what is called the metayer system, which prevails so largely there at the present day, first took its rise ; the system, that is, in which the tenant and landlord are partners in the crops,* the landlord furnishing land, farm-buildings, and seed, the tenant supplying the farm- implements and the labour. Here, then, was a second cause of discontent, which rendered the established order of things insecure, and might at any time cause peril to the government of the Senate. § 10. Meantime, with the decline of the Rural Population, the Population of the City had constantly been increasing. Even in the time of the Samnite Wars the Censor Appius had found the Freedmen sufficiently numerous to form a powerful support of the Patricians against the Plebeians. So we shall find them in the next half-century generally taking part with the Nobility against the champions of the Rural Population, — a fact of great importance in estimating the relation of parties at Rome. The people of the city, contemptuously called the Forensic Mob, were mostly con- * Metayer properly means Partner. The Latm term was Partiaritts. Chap. XLIX. INFLUENCL OF NOBILITY IN OOMITIA. 507 fined to four votes out of thirty-five, and therefore in a general way they had little weight against the country people, who had thirty-one votes out of thirty-five. It is, therefore, the Country Tribes which in Roman history are commonly known by the name of " the People," and it is this part of the nation which supported the patriotic statesmen who endeavoured to restore the old yeomanry of Italy ; while the haughtiest of the aristo- cracy are allied with the Tribes of the City. It was Appius, the proud Patrician, who endeavoured to spread the latter over all the Tribes ; it was by the popular Censors, Fabius and Decius, that they were thrown back into the Four City Tribes. When they had again broken these bonds, the rule of Fabius and Decius was renewed by a man branded by Livy with the name and charac- ter of demagogue, namely C. Flaminius, who fell at the Lake Trasimene ; and it was the father of the Gracchi who confined them even to a single Tribe. Cato, the most popular man of his day, was all in favour of the rural population, and it was their sufferings that first awakened the sympathies of Tib. Gracchus. We must not, then, import our notions of "popular men" into this portion of Roman history. By "popular men" we mean those who favour the people of the towns ; at Rome the term meant those who supported the people of the country. There was, properly speaking, no large and independent Middle Class, consisting of shopkeepers and small traders of all kinds, such as are found in all parts of Western Europe ; for these crafts were filled by the Freedmen and dependents of the rich. The conflict lay, therefore, between the Nobility and the country voters, though in a few years the Equestrian Order stepped in as a New Nobility to embroil the strife. § 11. An important consequence of this relation of parties was that by dexterous management the Nobility were able to obtain great influence in the Comitia. Popular choice was already much limited by the fact that wealth was required for the discharge of public office. It was further limited by the fact that at many seasons of the year the country people of the more distant Tribes could not leave their harvesting to give their votes at Rome. In this case the great Landowners, and all who were not obliged per- sonally to labour on their estates, represented the country tribes. Thus we may understand why, at some seasons, the Nobility car- ried elections against the will of the popular party, while at other times this party obtained easy victories over the Nobility. Medallion of Terence. CHAPTER L. MANNERS AND MORALS : LITERATURE AND ART. § 1. Vain attempts to check immorality by the Censorship, and by Law. § 2. Religioa § 3. Public opinion : Literature. § 4. Ennius. § 5. Comedy. § 6. Plautus and Terence. § 7. Characteristics of their Plays. § 8. Csecilius and Afranius, § 9. Tragedy : Pacuvius and Attius. § 10. Reasons why the Drama had little success at Rome. § 11. Satire : Luci- lius. § 12. Prose Writers. § 13. Study of Law and Oratory. § 14. Art. § 1. Enough has been said in more than one chapter of the fore- going Book to prove the rapid decline in morality which followed the Punic Wars. The rankness of vice was felt by all Romans of better feeling and truer patriotism. In consequence of the growing corruption of the age, an attempt was made to check the evil in a manner characteristic of the Roman mind, namely, by the moral superintendence of the Censors. Cato, the very type of a Roman, wielded this enormous power without com- promise ; and if penal Edicts could have arrested social changes or enforced moral obligations, the Censorial power in the hands of such a man as Cato must have done it. But though his spirit descended, in some measure, upon succeeding Censors, the undertaking proved vain. Sumptuary Laws, Laws against Bribery, and the like, were also tried by those who still clung to the hope of reviving the old Roman simplicity. The history of all nations, or rather the history of human nature, would teach us the vanity of such en- deavours. They were not more successfnl at Rome than they have since been in other lands. Chap. L. LITERATURE. 509 § 2. It must not, however, be imagined that there were no exceptions to the rule of corrupt and licentious living, which began to prevail at Rome in this period. In the foregoing chap- ters many such have been specified, and if the records of the time were more complete, names now forgotten might be added to the list. But in the most upright Romans, such as Cato, there is something harsh and repulsive ; and now, more remarkably than ever, was their acknowledgment of social duties confined to the circle of their own countrymen. Nothing can be more detestable than the public morality of Rome through- out her career of conquest. No arts were too base to be used by her statesmen and generals. In the fulfilment of positive contracts, indeed, their good faith was much greater than the Greeks were accustomed to ; and Polybius, in a passage already cited, gives them high praise in this particular. But the re- ligious feelings which he attributes to them were fast decaying. Those who lived in open profligacy could know nothing of religion but its formalities, which it was necessary for every Roman to observe, because they were inextricably entangled with political business and military enterprises. Men of edu- cation sought a substitute in Greek Philosophy ; and here it may be noticed that the best Romans, such as JEmilius Paullus and the younger Scipio, professed the stern and practical doc- trines of the Stoic school. § 3. Nor was the progress of corruption checked by the great Censor of modern times, Public Opinion. This force can never fiilly operate in large communities except through the Press. Whatever be the abuses of the Press, and they are great, its uses are greater far. At Athens the place of this potent instrument was in some measure supplied by the free and vigorous satire of the Comic Poets. But at Rome even this was wanting. The rude Roman took little pleasure in exquisite poetry and keen wit, such as that with which Aristophanes or Eupolis enchained the ear of an Athenian audience; nay, the wild buff*oonery with which even Attic poets were obliged to amuse the multi- tude, failed to please those whose youth had been spent in the camp and on the battle-field. Yet there was a Literature at Rome, and we will here resume the account of it from the point at which we before broke oft. § 4. It was said that the native poetry of Rome suddenly gave way to an invasion from Greece ; and that Naevius, though he piade a brave stand against the prevailing taste, yet lived to see the triumph of Ennius, an avowed Hellenist. The vigour and force with which the new poet used the heroic metre of Homer may be seen from a few specimens, which Virgil borrowed and 510 COUQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. incorporated with slight alteration in his great Epic* Ennius, like Livius and Naevius, wrote Tragedies and Comedies, which he translated from the Greek. But the work on which his fame rested was his great Epic poem entitled the Annals of Rome, in eighteen books. The first six of these contained a rapid nar- rative of the early History : the seventh began with the Second Punic War, so that to this great theme the bulk of the Poem was devoted. He boasts that he was the first who abandoned the rude metre used "by Fauns and Bards," and studied the elegancies of style; and he is acknowledged by Lucretius as the poet Who first from lovely Helicon brought down The leaves of an imperishable crown, For all Italia's sons to hold in high renown. Nor was his boast empty. It is manifest that Ennius, by his Poem on the Punic Wars, formed and settled the Latin language, much as Shakspere and the Translators of the Bible formed and settled English. No doubt Virgil culled the fairest flowers ; but even the fastidious taste of Horace could recognise true poetic spirit in some lines of Ennius, though, at a later period of his life, he sneered at the old bard's pretensions.f The devotion of Cicero to Ennius is absolute. So long did his popularity last, that Seneca, writing in the time of Nero, calls the Roman People Populus Ennianus, and portions of his poems were commonly recited in the theatres down to the time of the Emperor Aurelius. § 6. Meantime, besides Tragedy, of which we have spoken, there had arisen at Rome a Comic Drama, of high excellence. Comic entertainments of a rude kind had prevailed from early times. But the Fescennine Dialogues and the Atellane Mimes, of which we spoke in a former page, had no relation to what wa. called Comedy at Rome. This, like Tragedy, was merely * As, " Postquam Discordia tetra Belli ferratos postes portasque refregit." — Ennius. " Impulit ipsa manu portas, et cardine verso Belli ferratos rupit Saturnia postes." — Virgil. " Qui coelum versat stellis fulgentibus aptum." — Ennius. " Axem humero torquet stellis ardentihus aptum." — Yirgil. Quae neque Dardaniis campis potuere perire, " Nee quum capta capi, nee quum combusta cremari." — Ennius. " Num Sige'is occumhere campis, Num capti potuere capi ? num incensa cremavit Troja viros?" — Virgil. \ He recognises the poetic spirit in 1 Serm. iv. 60 sq.; he adopts a depre- ciatory tone in 2 Epist. i. 50 sq. Chap. L LITERATURE. 511 transplanted from Greece. Probably all the old poets from Livius Andronicus to Ennius, who translated Greek Tragedies for the Roman stage, also translated Greek Comedies. Nsevius, as we have seen, tried a more independent course, and was per- secuted for his pains. The Comedies, in which he attacked the Metelli and others, must have rather resembled the Old Comedy of Athens, in which it was usual to indulge in the most open personalities; while the Roman Comic Dramas known to us are borrowed from the New Comedy of Meander and Diphilus, in which the characters represent not particular persons, but whole classes of society. It is evident, at once, that such dramas would have little eifect, as will appear when we have given some ac- count of the chief Comic Poets and their works. § 6. T. Maccius Plautus was a native Italian, having been born at Sarsina, a petty town of Umbria, near the close of the First Punic War. His father was a Freedman : he led a careless, jovial life, frequenting taverns, and entering into the humours of the people, rather than seeking the patronage of the great. His plays were not without reward ; but he was sometimes obliged to labour like a slave for his daily bread. He died in 184 b.c. at a good old age. Twenty of his comedies still remain. P. Terentius Afer appears to have been born at Carthage about the year 195 b.c, and was therefore some half-century younger than Plautus. In his youth he was the slave of a wealthy Roman, named P. Terentius Lucanus, whose first names he adopted (according to custom) on obtaining his freedom. His first play was the Andria, which he finished in his twenty- seventh year, and it won him the acquaintance and patronage of Scipio ^milianus and Laelius, who were then young men, study- ing Greek under Polybius. His Adelphi was acted (by a strange abuse) at the funeral games of ^milius Paullus, and the charge that he was assisted in translating from Diphilus by his young patrons is at least not discountenanced by the poet.* He died at the early age of thirty-four; and probably the six comedies which we still possess entire were all that he ever wrote. § 7. The characteristic excellences of the two poets correspond with the manners of their lives. As far as the plots go, there is little to praise. The same generic characters appear and reap- pear in every play. Both Plautus and Terence content them- * For he says in the Prologue : — " Nam quod isti dicunt malevoli, homines nohiles Eum adjutare adsidueque una scribere. Quod illi maledictum vehemens esse existimant, Earn laudem hie maximam ducit," &c. 512 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. selves with giving us, at second hand, weak fathers who leave their sons to the care of roguish slaves; and represent the sons as determined to woo and win penniless girls, in which aim >hey were aided by the clever knavery of the slaves. In the end, a reconciliation is brought about by the discovery that the dreaded mistress is the lost daughter of a brother or some par- ticular friend of the father-, so that the young man gains his point, and the slave, instead of being punished for his trickei;*^ is rewarded for his adroitness. Sometimes a Captain Bobadl/, such as in Greece were common after the Macedonian Wars, stupid, braggart, and rich with plunder, is made a butt for all kinds of jokes, verbal and practical, and he is attended by a Parasite, who flatters him extravagantly, and is rewarded (as his name shows) by a place at the Captain's table. But the tone and manner in which these unpromising charac- ters were employed by the two writers are extremely different. Plautus, coarser and more free-spoken, admits much of broad Roman humour, and introduces many Roman customs into his scenes. Terence, veiling even immoral thoughts in a style polished almost to coldness, keeps closer to his Attic original, and seldom ventures to mar its unity by foreign admixture. The Parasite in Plautus tickles his master's vanity by a coarseness of flattery that would have put Falstaff" to the blush : the Parasite of Terence falls into his lord's vein with such easy assentation, that a less stupid man might be deceived.* The Son of Plautus, thwarted in his desires, prays for his father's death, that he may bestow the inheritance on his mistress :\ the Son of Terence, grieved for the deceit he has practised upon his father, breaks into passionate self-reproach.J There is a racy freshness in the style of Plautus which well deserves the praise bestowed by Cicero, and was so admired by some Roman critics, as to draw from them the extravagant praise, that, " if the Muses spoke Latin, they would * In the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus, the Parasite flatters Pyrgopoliniees thus : — " You broke," he says. And In India with your fist an elephant's arm." again: I do remember — ^let me see — ^an hundred Cfyphiolathronians, and thirty Sardians, And threescore Macedonians — that's the number Of men you slaughtered in a single day. Pyrgop. What's the sum total of the men ?" Parasite. Seven thousand T The Parasite in the Eunuchus of Terence is much more delicate in his flflttery JMostellaria, Act i. Sc. 3, 1. '76. As Pamphiius in the Andria, Act v. Sc. 3. Chap. L. LITERATURE. 613 use the tongue of Plautus :" and if Horace speaks slightingly of him, as of Ennius, it must be said that he was provoked by the fashion which in his day prevailed of over-rating the old Roman writers. The style of Terence is a very model of precision, elegance, and purity, as is testified by Cicero and by Caesar, though the latter laments a certain deficiency of comic vigour, which made him only " half a Menander."* § 8. Besides these two famous writers, may be mentioned Q. Csecilius, a Comic poet, who died about two years before the Andria of Terence was acted, and who was coupled with Terence in a manner that implies his excellence.! He was a Milanese by birth, and, like Terence, came to Rome as a slave. Another Comic poet of somewhat later date deserves particular notice. This was L. Afranius, who ventured, like Nsevius, to write Comedies on Roman subjects, though he still seems to have drawn upon Menander for his dialogue.]; § 9. To those short notices of the Comic Poets, we may add a still shorter account of the two Tragic writers who flourished at the same time. Pacuvius, sister's son of Ennius, was born in the year before Hannibal crossed the Alps, and lived to the age of eighty, so that he died about the same time with Terence. Most of his Tragedies, like those of his predecessors, were borrowed from the Greek. But he wrote one play named Paullus, of which the hero was the conqueror of Macedon. Attius, or Accius, began to bring forward plays in the year of the death of Pacuvius (139 B.C.). He also, besides his Greek trans- lations, produced two plays with Roman arguments, The Brutus and The Decius. The subjects were the Delivery of Rome from the Tarquins, and the Self-sacrifice of that Decius who fell at the battle of Sentinum. They were produced, as the name of the first testifies, under the patronage of Dec. Brutus Callaicus, who carried the Roman arms to the verge of the Atlantic, and who entered * " Quicquid come loquens atque omnia dulcia dicens." — Cicero, Fragm. " Tu quoque, tu in summis, o dimidiate Menander, Poneris, et merito, puri sermonis amator. Lenibus atque utinam scriptis adjuncta foret vis Comica, ut aequato virtus polleret honore Cum Graecis, neque in hac despectus parte jaceris." — Caesar ap. Sueton. •j- " Vincere Csecilius gravitate, Terentius arte." — Horat. 2. Epist. i. 59. This was the popular opinion, not Horace's. \ " Dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menander," says Horace (2 Epist. i, 57). Comedies in which the Dramatis Personae were Roman, and wore Roman dresses, were called Fahulm Togatce^ while those in which the Greek names and dresses were retained, which was usually the case, were called Palliata. 22* 614 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. into a generous rivalry with Scipio in patronage of Poetry.* The few remains of Attius are terse and vigorous ; and the loss of his historical plays cannot but be matter of regret.f § 10. Enough has been said to show that this literature can have produced very little effect upon the manners and morals of Rome. It was wholly of foreign growth. What interest could the people at large take in the Grecian dramas ? " What was Hecuba to them, or they to Hecuba?" The Roman Drama was an exotic, which subsisted by the patronage of the great men, who spoke Greek as readily as Latin. The Roman Dra- matic Poets were mostly Slaves or Freedmen, whose object was to please the great family to which they were attached. When any one, as Naevius, attempted to tread a freer course, his mouth was stopped by persecution. The common life and interests of a Roman citizen every year made him less disposed for intellectual amusements. From childhood he was used to the splendid games, which every suc- ceeding ^dile tried to make more splendid. Triumph after triumph raised a love of gorgeous exhibitions, which was ill- satisfied by the poetry and action of the Stage. Above all, the bloody sports of the gladiatorial combats, which were first exhibited at the funeral games of a Brutus (264 b.c), created a craving for strong and real excitements, which no dramatic illusions could supply. This tendency in the vulgar was seconded by the old Roman spirit, which regarded the Drama as a foreign innovation, calculated to enervate and corrupt. Dramatic repre- sentations at Rome were but occasional, and the Theatres were but temporary booths, removed when the festival-time was past. In the year 155 b.c. the Censor Cassius wished to per- petuate the memory of his office by building a stone Theatre ; but the Consul P. Scipio Nasica, a rigid stickler for old Roman * These Historical Plays were no doubt the di-amas known under the name of the Fahulm Prcetextatce, because the chief persons wore the Prcetextot or State-robe of Senators. f Popular opinion represented Pacuvius as the Euripides, Attius as th« Sophocles of Roman Tragedy : — " Aufert Pacuvius docti famam Senis, Attius alti" — Horat. 2 Epist. i. 66. Horace commends the fashion of plays on subjects of Roman history : — " Nee minimum meruere decus, vestigia Grseea Ausi deserere, et celebrare domestica facta." — Ars Poet. 286. One of the vigorous sayings of Attius is the famous Tyrant's maxim, " Oderint dum metuant." The pithy line — " Virtute sis par, dispar fortunae patris" — has been amplified by Virgil into — " Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem, -I'^ortimam ex aliis." Chap. L. LITERATURE. 516 customs, interfered to prevent the work; nor was any stone Theatre erected at Rome till the second Consulship of Pompey the Great, exactly one century later. But the Theatres, such as they were, were not so much used for dramatic purposes in the proper sense of the word, as for the representation of gorgeous spectacles and magnificent processions. In a tragedy, whose subject was the Fall of Troy, it was not the fate of Priam or the sorrows of Andromache that touched the hearts of the audi^ ence, but a host of soldiers in foreign arms and strange apparel that amused their eyes. In Horace's time this corruption of taste had reached its height. The taste of the people, he says, is all for bear-baiting and boxing-matches. Nor could the educated classes boast of a better taste. The love of military shows and spectacles had overpowered all merely intellectual pleasures.* § 11. One species of Poetry remains to be mentioned, which arose in the same period, and for which alone the Romans can claim the merit of original invention, — that, namely, which Horace and Juvenal have made so well known under the name of Satire. It originated, doubtless, with those rustic effusions called the Fescennine Dialogues, which had served from early times to attack the foibles and fashions of the day. This rude instru- ment was taken up by a great poet, who used it so as not only to assail and censure, but also to convey positive instruction.f This Poet was named C. Lucilius. He was born at Suessa Aurunca in 148 b.c, served in the Equites under Scipio in the Numantine war, and continued on intimate terms with the younger Laelius, after the death of his more illustrious friend. He died about the year 103 b.c. at Naples, to which place he had retired from the civil broils which disturbed the City. The muse of Lucilius was very fluent. Of his numerous Satires only fragments now remain ; but many of these show that he pos- sessed a vigour of thought and pungency of style not unworthy of the master of Horace and Juvenal. In the Augustan age, indeed, the admiration for Lucilius was so great, that Horace thought it necessary to moderate the fervour of his admirers, and gave so much offence that he was obliged to enter into an * See Hor. 2 Bpist. i. 185 sqq. f Its originality is expressly asserted by Horace, who calls Lucilius "Greeds intacti carminis auctor" (1 Serm. x. 68). Juvenal's definition of Satire is well known : " Quicquid agunt homines, — votura, timor, ira, cupido, Gaudia, diseursus, — nostri est farrago libelli." — Sat. i. 86. The word Satira or Satura is said to mean a medley, — a sense well suited to this definition. 516 CONQUEST OF THE WORLD. Book V. explanation of the Satire which he had written upon the first writer of Satires.* § 12. Little need here be added with respect to Prose Litera- ture. It became a fashionable employment for Romans of high family to compose narratives of portions of Roman history, after the example set by Fabius Pictor and Cincius Alimentus. The instruction of the people could but little be consulted, when books were all written by hand, and were, therefore, both scarce and costly. But any such purpose was disavowed by the fact, that most of these chroniclers wrote in Greek, just as the English, French, and German authors of the Middle ages wrote in Latin. § 13. The study of law had before this begun to be common at Rome, and men little fitted for military life courted popular favour by giving legal advice to numerous clients. But this subject belongs properly to the succeeding age. Men of the Forum were still expected to take the command of armies, even when their inefficiency was certain. Such was the case with the Consuls who began the Third Punic War. But there was a kindred pursuit, which already brought fame and profit to those who professed it, namely, the art of Public Speaking. The practice of indicting great off'enders before the people, or prosecuting them in the Law-courts, encouraged Fo- rensic Oratory. Deliberative or Parliamentary speaking found an open field, not only in the Senate, but in the great Assemblies of the People. And the faculties of the Romans seem to have readily adapted themselves to the requirement. In his work on the Orators of Rome,f Cicero enumerates some even of this early date, whose speeches were still thought worth reading. Such was Appius Claudius the Censor, whose dying eloquence led the Senate to reject the persuasive offers of Cineas; such was Sergius Galba, whose pathetic language procured his own acquittal from the charge of oppression in Spain ; such was old Cato, for many years the favourite orator of the Forum. The study of the art of Speaking was, indeed, the chief part of a young Roman's education. When he had gone through some grammatical teaching, and read some of the old poets, he passed into the school of a Rhetorical master, and learned to repeat famous speeches, such as those of Galba, and to frame speeches of his own on imaginary subjects. But the old Romans objected to these novel practices. Greek Rhetoricians were their chief abomination. In the year 161 b.c, a Decree of the Senate was launched even against Latin Philosophers and Rhetoricians ; and * The first attack was in 1 Serm. iv. 8 sq. The explanation is 1 Serm. x. 1 sq. " Nempe ineomposito, Ac." f Entitled Brutus, sive de Claris Oratoribus Libellus. Chap. L. ORATORY— ART. 517 the Praetor Pomponius was instructed to see that no such persons remained at Rome. Of the prompt measures taken by Cato to remove Carneades six years later we have spoken. But the fashion was gradually tolerated and finally prevailed. § 14. Roman Art became more and more a mere name, except so far as engineering and building came into that province. We have nothing to add here to the remarks made in a former chapter. The story of Mummius and the Corinthian statues is, in a some- what grotesque form, an epitome of genuine Roman taste and feeling in respect to the Fine Arts. Bust ef Siuiius. The Forum from the Capitol. BOOK VI. FIRST PERIOD OF CIYIL WARS. CHAPTER LI. TIBERIUS GRACCHUS. (133 B.C.) § 1. Necessity of Reform. § 2. Youth and education of Tib. Gracchus. § S. Elected Tribune. § 4. The Country Citizens chiefly interested in an Agrarian Law. § 5. Provisions of the Law proposed by Gracchus. § 6. Opposition to the Law : question as to its justice. § 7. Feeling in its favour: Octavius, a Tribune, undertakes to bar it. § 8. Proceedings at th« First Assembly. § 9. Efforts of both parties. § 10. Proceedings at Chap Ll. TiBERlUri GRACCHUS. 519 the Second Assembly. § 11. The Third Assembly : Octavius deposed, the Law passed, Three Commissioners elected, § 12. Bequest of Attains: Gracchus proposes to employ it in stocking the new allotments. § 13. Accusations against Gracchus in the Senate : decrease of popularity. § 14. He defends his own conduct. § 15. Oifers himself for re-election*, brings forward popular measures. § 16. The Comitia adjourned: prepa- rations for a struggle. § 1*7. Tumult : death of Gracchus. § 18. Esti- mate of his character. § 1. It appears that before the time of Scipio's election to con- duct the Numantian War, it had become a prevalent opinion that some measures were necessary to arrest the social evils of which we have spoken above. The frightful excesses of the Servile War called attention still more strongly to the subject ; and in the year that Scipio achieved the conquest of Numantia a leader appeared who was endowed with courage, firmness, self-confi- dence, ability, eloquence, and every requisite for political success, except a larger experience and a larger share of patience and self- control. § 2, Ti. Sempronius Gracchus was son of one of the few Romans in whom public spirit prevailed over the spirit of party. Though personally hostile to the great Scipio, we saw him interfere be- tween him and his foes. After the death of Africanus, the chiefs of the party off"ered him the hand of Cornelia, the only surviving daughter of the hero ; and from this marriage twelve sons and one daughter were born in rapid succession. The eldest, Ti- berius, saw the light about 166 b.c, but the father died before his eldest son reached man's estate, and Cornelia was left a widow with her children. The daughter lived ; but of all the twelve sons only two grew up, — Tiberius, and Caius who was nine years younger. To the education of these precious relics Cornelia devoted all the energies of her masculine mind. She even refused an offer to share the throne of the King of Egypt. Her dearest task was to watch the opening capacities of her boys. Such was her hope of their greatness that she used to say she would be known not as the Daughter of Scipio, but as the Mother of the Gracchi. According to the fashion of the day, Greek teachers were called in to educate the boys. Blossius of Cumae, and Diophanes a Mitylensean exile, are mentioned as the instructors, and in later life as the friends, of Tiberius. Scarcely had Tiberius assumed the garb of manhood when he was elected into the College of Augurs. At the banquet given to celebrate his installation, App. Claudius, the Chief of the Senate, offered him his daughter's hand in marriage. When the proud Senator returned home, he told his wife that he had that day betrothed their daughter. 520 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD. Book VL " Ah !" she cried, " she is too young : it had been well to wait a while, — unless indeed young Gracchus is the man." Soon after his marriage he accompanied Scipio to Carthage, where he was the first to scale the walls. The personal importance of Gracchus was strengthened by the marriage of Scipio with his only sister. But this marriage proved unhappy. Sempronia had no charms of person, and her temper was not good; Scipio's austere manners were little pleasing to a bride ; nor were children born to form a bond of union between them. § 3. It was when Gracchus was about thirty years old (137 b.c.) that he served as Quaestor in Spain. Before this, when he tra- velled through Etruria to join the army, he had noted her broad lands tilled not by free yeomen as of old, but by slaves. Soon after this the Slave War broke out. He spoke his sentiments freely, and public opinion designated him as the man who was to undertake the thankless office of Reformer. In all places of public resort the walls were covered with inscriptions calling on Gracchus to vindicate the rights of all Roman citizens to a share in the State lands. He presented himself as a candidate for the Tribunate, and was elected. § 4. In the beginning of 133 b.c. he entered upon office. He had already prepared men for his projected legislation by elo- quent speeches, in which he compared the present state of Italy with her olden time, deplored the decay of her yeomen and farmers, and the lack of free men to serve in the legions. All his arguments pointed towards some measures for restoring the class of small landed proprietors who were dwindling fast away. § 5. In a short time his plan was matured and his Bill brought forward. He proposed to revise the Licinian Law of 364 b.c, by which it was enacted that no head of a family should hold more than 500 jugera (nearly 320 acres) of the Public Land ; but to render the rule less stringent, he added that every son of the family might, on becoming his own master, hold half that quantity in addition. Whoever was in possession of more was to give up the excess at once to the State ; but to obviate complaints of injustice, he proposed that those who gave up possession should be entitled to a fair compensation for any improvements they had made during the term of their possession. All Public Lands were to be vested in three Commissioners [Triumviri), who were to be elected by the Tribes. Their business was to distribute the Public Lands to all citizens in needy circumstances : and to prevent lands so distributed being again absorbed into the estates of the rich Landowners, the sale of the new allotmente was altogether prohibited. Chap. LL TIBERIUS GRACCHUS. 52 ^ § 6. The greater part of these Public Lands had fallen into the hands of the rich Landowners. They had held them on pay- ment of a small yearly rent, for generations : and many of these persons had forgotten perhaps that their possession could be disturbed. After the first surprise was over, the voices of these Landholders began to be heard ; but as yet the majority of the Senate showed no disfavour to the law of Gracchus.* The per- sons interested alleged that the measure, though it pretended only to interfere with State lands, did in fact interfere with the rights of private property ; for these lands were held on public lease and had been made matters of purchase and sale, moneys were secured on them for the benefit of widows and orphans, tombs had been erected on them : if this law passed, no man's land could be called his own. If Gracchus had proposed a forcible and immediate resump- tion of all State lands, without compensation for moneys spent on them, these arguments would have had more weight. Rights arise by prescription ; and if the State had for a long course of time tacitly recognised a right of private property in these lands, it would have been a manifest injustice thus abruptly to resume possession. But the Licinian Law was evidence that the State claimed a right to interfere with the tenure of the Public Lands. That the Romans felt no doubt about the right is shown by the fact that in framing his law Tiberius was assisted by his father- in-law App. Claudius, the Chief of the Senate, and by P. Mucins Scsevola, Consul of the year, the best lawyer at Rome, and a man of unquestionable integrity. The right was clear : the only question was as to the expediency of the measure. ^ 1. It is certain that the Law would be carried in all the country Tribes, because it was precisely in these Tribes that the strength of Gracchus lay, and all his arguments show that he knew it. It was to the country people, who had lost or were afraid of losing their little tenements, that he spoke. " The wild animals oi Italy," said he, " have their dens and lairs : the men who have fought for Italy have air and light, — nothing more. They are styled masters of the world, though they have not a clod of earth they can call their own." One course only remained open to the Landholders for thwarting the bold Tribune, and this was to gain over one of his brother Tribunes to interpose the fatal veto. They fixed on M. Octavius. For a time he was inexorable, but at length he gave way to their arguments ; and on the night before the day on which the Law was to be * Appius calls his opponents not Senators {jiovTiEVTai or yipovrec), but ol KTrj/xaTtKol or ol TtAovatot, Lat. Possessores, — wealthy Landholders. 522 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD. Book VI. proposed, the holders of Public Lands went to rest with lightened hearts. § 8. The morning came. The Forum was crowded with people expecting the completion of the great measure which was to re- store some share in the broad lands of Italy to the sons of those who had won them. Strange faces were seen everywhere : vine- dressers from Campania and the Auruncan hills, peasants from the Sabine and ^quian valleys, farmers of valley and plain from the Clanis to the Vulturnus. Gracchus rose. His speech was received with loud applause by the eager multitude. When he had ended, he turned to the clerk, and bade him read over the words of the Law before it was put to the vote. Then Octavius stood up and forbade the man to read. Gracchus was taken by surprise. After much debate he broke up the Assembly, declaring that he would again bring on his defeated Bill upon the next regular day of meeting. § 9. This intervening time was spent in preparing for the con- test. Gracchus retaliated upon the veto of Octavius by laying an interdict on all public functionaries, shut up the courts of justice and the offices of police, and put a seal upon the doors of the Treasury. Further, he struck the compensation clauses out of his Bill, and now simply proposed that the State should resume possession of all lands held by individuals in contraven- tion of the Licinian Law. § 10. On the day of the second Assembly Gracchus appeared in the Forum escorted by a body-guard. Again he ordered the clerk to read the Bill ; again Octavius stood forth, and barred all pro- ceedings. A violent scene followed, and a riot seemed inevitable, when two Senators, friends of Gracchus — one named Fulvius Flaccus — earnestly besought him to refer the whole matter to the Senate. Gracchus consented. But his late impatient con- duct had weakened whatever influence his name possessed in the great Council, and his appearance was the signal for ^ burst of reproaches. He hastily left the House, and returning to the Forum gave out that on the next day of Assembly he would for the third time propose his measure ; and that, if Octavius persisted in opposition, he would move the People to depose their unfaithful Tribune. § II. As the day approached, Gracchus made every effort to avoid this desperate necessity ; but Octavius repelled every ad- vance, and on the morning of the third Assembly, Gracchus rose at once and moved that Octavius should be deprived of the trust which he had betrayed. The country Tribe, which obtained by lot the prerogative pf voting first, was called, and its suffrage was unanimous for the Chap. LI. TIBERIUS GRACCHtTS. 623 deposition of Octavius ; sixteen Tribes followed in the same sense ; the eighteenth would give a majority of the thirty-five, and its vote would determine the question. As this Tribe came up to vote, Gracchus stopped the proceedings, and besought- Octavius not to force on the irrevocable step. The Tribune wavered : but he caught the eye of one of his rich friends, and turned coldly from Tiberius. Then the eighteenth Tribe was called, and by its vote Octavius was in a moment stripped of his sacred office. The Bill itself was then passed by acclamation, and three Commissioners destined to execute its provisions were elected, — Tiberius himself, his father-in-law App. Claudius, his brother Caius, then a youth of twenty, serving under Scipio in Spain. The Law was not deemed safe unless it was intrusted for execu- tion to Tiberius and his kinsmen. § 12. In a few weeks Gracchus had risen to the summit of power. He seldom stirred from home without being followed by a crowd. The Numantian War and the Servile War still lin- gered, and the government of the Senate was not in a condition to defy attack. That body now was thoroughly alarmed, and Gracchus soon proceeded to measures which touched them in their tenderest point. Attalus Philometor, King of Pergamus, the last of the line of Eumenes, was just dead, and had bequeathed his kingdom with all his lands and treasure to the Roman People. In ordinary times the Senate, as the administrator of all foreign and financial aff"airs, would at once have assumed the disposition of this bequest ; but Gracchus promptly gave notice that he would propose a Bill to enact that the moneys of Attalus should be distributed to those who were to receive allotments of Public Land, in order to assist them in purchasing stock, in erecting farm-buildings, and the like ; and he added that he would bring the subject of its future government before the People without allowing the Senate to interfere. He thus openly announced a revolution. § 13. When Gracchus next appeared in the Senate-house, he was accused of receiving a purple robe and diadem from the envoy of the late King of Pergamus. T. Annius, an old Senator, who had been Consul twenty years before, openly taxed the Tribune with violating the Constitution. Gracchus, stung to the quick by this last assault, indicted the old Consular for treason against the majesty of the People. Annius appeared ; but before Gracchus could speak, he said : " I suppose, if one of your brother Tribunes off'ers to protect me, you will fly into a passion and depose him also." Gracchus saw the eff'ect pro- duced upon his hearers, and broke up the Assembly. Moreover, many of his well-wishers had been alarmed by a 624 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL Law, by which he had made the Triumviri absolute judges, without appeal, on disputed questions with regard to property in land. Many allotments of Public Land had been granted, of which the titles had been lost ; and every person holding under such condition saw his property placed at the mercy of irresponsible judges. § 14. Gracchus felt that his popularity was shaken, and at the next Assembly he thought it necessary to make a set speech to Tindicate his conduct in deposing Octavius. The sum of his arguments amounts to a plea of necessity. It is true that the Constitution of Rome provided no remedy against the abuse of power by an officer, except the shortness of time during which he held office and his liability to indictment at the close of that time. The Tribunician authority, originally demanded to protect the People, might have turned against the People. But was not it open to Gracchus to propose a Law by which the veto of a single Tribune might be limited in its effect ? Or might he not have waited patiently for the election of new set of Tribunes, and taken care that all were tried friends of his Law ? Instead of this he preferred a coup-d'etat, and thus set an example which was sure to be turned against himself. § 15. The violent language of Nasica and his party made it plain that in the next year, when his person was no longer pro- tected by the sanctity of the Tribunician office, he would be vigorously assailed. He therefore determined to offer himself for reelection at the approaching Comitia of the Tribes. But his election was far from secure. Harvest-work occupied the country voters ; many had grown cold ; the mass of those who resided in the city were clients and dependents of the Nobility. It was to regain and extend his popularity that he now brought forward three measures calculated to please all classes except the Senatorial families. First, he proposed to diminish the necessary period of Military Service. Secondly, he announced a reform of the superior Law-courts, by which the juries were to be taken not from the Senators only, but from all persons pos- sessing a certain amount of property, — a measure which was* sure to please the wealthy contractors and tax-collectors. Thirdly, he provided an Appeal in all cases from the law-courts to the Assembly of the People. V These measures, which in altered forms were afterwards carried by his brother Caius, were only brought forward by Tiberius. But this was enough. His popularity returned in full tide. § 16. When the day of the election came, the Prerogative Tribe gave its vote for Gracchus and his friends; so also the next. But it was objected that the same man could t^of b^ Chap. LI. TIBERIUS GRACCHUS. 525 chosen in two successive years ; and after a hot debate the Assembly was adjourned till next day. It wanted yet some hours of nightfall. Gracchus came forth into the Forum, clad in black, and leading his young son by the hand. In anticipation of his untimely end, he committed his precious charge to his fellow citizens. All hearts were touched. The people surrounded him with eager gesticulations, and escorted him home, bidding him be of good cheer for the mor- row. Many of his warmest adherents kept guard at his doors all night. § 17. The adjourned Assembly met next morning upon the Capitol, and the area in front of the Temple of Jupiter was filled chiefly by the adherents of Gracchus, among whom the Tribune was himself conspicuous, in company with his Greek friend and preceptor Blossius of Cumse. The Senate also assembled hard by in the Temple of Faith. Nasica rose and urged the presiding Consul to stop the reelection. But Scaevola declined.* On this, Fulvius Flaccus left the Senate, informed Gracchus of the speech of Nasica, and told him that his death was resolved upon. Then the friends of Gracchus girded up their gowns and armed themselves with staves, for the purpose of repelling force by force. In the midst of the uproar Gracchus raised his hand to his head. His enemies cried that he was asking for a crown. Exaggerated reports were carried into the Senate-house, and Nasica exclaimed, " The Consul is betraying the Republic : those who would save their country, follow me !" So saying, he drew the skirt of his gown over his head, after the manner used by the Pontifex Maximus in solemn acts of worship. A number of Senators followed, and the people respectfully made way. But the Nobles and their partisans broke up the benches that had been set out for the Assembly, and began an assault upon the adherents of Gracchus, who fled in disorder. Gracchus abandoned all thoughts of resistance : he left his gown in the hands of a friend who sought to detain him, and made towards the Temple of Jupiter. But the priests had closed the doors ; and in his haste he stumbled over a bench and fell. As he was rising, one of his own colleagues struck him on the head with a stool ; another claimed the honour of repeating the blow ; and before the statues of the old kings at the portico of the Temple the Tribune lay dead. Many of his adherents were slain with him : many were forced over the wall at the edge of the Tar- peian Rock, and were killed by their fall. Not fewer than three hundred lost their lives in the fray. * Piso, the other Consul, was employed in evtinguishing the Slave-war in Sicily.— Chapt. xlviii. § 11. 526 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book YL Caius had just returned from Spain, and asked leave to bury his brother's corpse. This was refused. The triumphant party ordered the bodies of Tiberius and his friends to be thrown into the Tiber before morning. Thus flowed the first blood that was shed in civil strife at Rome. § 18. Tiberius Gracchus must be allowed the name of Great, if greatness be measured by the eff'ects produced upon society by the action of a single mind, rather than by the length of time during which power is held, or the success that follows upon bold enterprises. He held office not more than seven months ;* and in that short time he so shook the power of the Senate, that it never entirely recovered from the blow. His nature was noble ; his views and wishes those of a true patriot. But he was impatient of opposition, and by his abrupt and violent con- duct provoked a resistance which he might have avoided. When the moment of action came, his temper was too gentle, or his will too irresolute, to take the bold course which his own conduct and that of the Senate had rendered necessary. When Scipio, in the camp before Numantia, heard of his kins- man's end, he exclaimed in the words of Homer : — " So perish all and every one who dares such deeds as he !" But the sequel will show that it was not so much of the political measures of Gracchus that Scipio disapproved, as of the impa- tience which he had shown and the violence which he had used in carrying them. Such defects of character were of all most displeasing to a soldier and a Stoic. * For the Tribunes entered on office on the IV. Id. Decembr. — thfi lOth of December ; and the new (election was held in the July following, f 6>f aTTo/lotro KOl dl/iog, one Toiavrd ye f)i^oi. — Od. i. 47. Tomb on the Appian Way. CHAPTER LII. RETURN AND DEATH OF SCIPIO THE YOUNGER. (133-129 B.C.) § 1. Prevalence of the moderate Party in the Senate : P. Crassus elected 1'riumvir to succeed Tib. Gracchus : Nasica obliged to quit Rome. § 2. A Commission issued to try the accomplices of Gracchus. § 3, Scipio returns from Spain : his sympathies with the Italian yeomen. § 4, His opposition to the Citv populace. § 5. Scipio and Crassus competitors for command : Crassus elected : Censorship of Metellus and Pompeius, two ' Plebeians. § 6. Death of Crassus in Asia, and of App. Claudius : Fulvius Flaccus and Carbo elected Triumviri in their stead. § 7. Proceedings of Carbo to give effect to the Agrarian Law. § 8. Arbitrary decisions on tenure of Public Lands : great offence given to the Italians. § 9. They entreat Scipio to tmdertake their cause: failure of his scheme. § 10. Speech of Scipio in the Senate : intention to speak in the Forum next day : he is found dead in his bed. § 11. Suspicions of murder. § 12. Character of Scipio. § 1. The struggle had now commenced between the Oligarchy and Democracy. This struggle was to last till the Dictator Sylla for a time restored the Senate to sovereignty, which was wrested from them again by a Dictator yet more potent than Sylla. But we should be wrong to assume that the Senate and the Oligarchy 528 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD, Book Vi. were always identical. At times they were so, for at times the violent party among the Nobles were in command of a majority in the Senate ; but a moderate party always existed, who stood between the Nobility and the Democracy. It was the violent party, headed by Nasica, not the body itself, which was respon- sible for the death of Gracchus. The Senate did not support them. The People were allowed to proceed quietly to the election of a new Commissioner in the place of Gracchus, and their choice fell on P. Licinius Crassus, brother by blood of the Consul Scaevola, who had been adopted into the family of the Crassi. His daughter had lately been married to young Caius Gracchus, and he now became the acknowledged leader of the party. Nor did the Senate attempt to shield Nasica from popular indignation. He was branded as the murderer of Gracchus, and his friends advised him to quit Italy, though, as Chief Pontifex, he was prohibited from doing so. Not long time after he died at Pergamus, and Crassus succeeded him in the Pontificate. § 2. But in the course of the next year (132 b.c.) the Senate was induced to give the new Consuls a Commission to inquire into the conduct of those who had abetted Gracchus. They began their proceedings by associating with themselves C. L?elius, a man of known moderation. Before the inquiry com- n uijced, Laelius sent for Blossius, and questioned him privately as to his part in the late disturbances. He excused himself on the ground that he had only followed the Tribune's orders " That," said Laelius, " is no expuse. What would you have done if he had ordered you to set the Capitol on fire?" "Gracchus," replied Blossius, "could never have given such an order." "But if he had?" insisted Laelius. "Then," said Blossius, " I would have done it." This bold partisan, however, was suffered to escape. Diophanes of Mitylene, another of the preceptors of Gracchus, was arrested by the Consuls and put to death. Others also lost their lives, and some escaped death by exile. These whole proceedings were in violation of the Laws of Appeal ; for the Consuls had no legal power to try and con- demn within the City. § 3. It was not probably till the autumn of this year that Scipio celebrated his Numantian triumph. It was not gorgeous with spoils and a long train of captives, for the Numantians had buried themselves and their possessions beneath the ruins of their city. But the presence of Scipio, at this moment, was or might be pregnant with results ; and as he passed in procession to the Capitol, many eyes turned to him with expectation. It might be thought that his approval of the death of Gracchus Chap. LII. SCIPIO AND CRASSUS. 6^C sufficiently indicated what part he intended to take. But it was possible for him to disapprove of the conduct of Gracchus with- out disapproving of his purpose. The countrymen of Latium and Italy had fought under him at Carthage and at Numantia. It was known that among the rest he had shown especial honour to a young soldier of Arpinum, of humble birth and rude man- ners. On one occasion he had invited this youth to supper, and placed him by his side; and when some flatterer asked where a general could be found to succeed him, " Perhaps here," h« said, laying his hand on the young soldier's arm. The name of the youth was C. Marius. § 4. Whatever doubt might rest on Scipio's intentions, he soon made it clear that he had no intention of holding out a hand to the Civic Populace. One of the partisans of Gracchus, by name C. Papirius Carbo, a man of ready wit, but in character turbulent, reckless, and unprincipled, hoped to raise himself to importance by means of this rabble. He was Tribune for the year, and had carried a law for extending the use of the ballot into the legislative assemblies of the People. He now brought forward another bill, making it legal to reelect a Tribune to a second year of office. Scipio and Lselius opposed the measure, and the former spoke so warmly against it, that it was rejected by the Tribes, though young C. Gracchus made his first public speech in its favour. It was then that Carbo publicly demanded of Scipio what he thought of the death of Gracchus. " That he was rightly put to death," Scipio promptly replied. At these words an angry shout was raised. Scipio turned sternly to the quarter from which it came, — " Peace," he said, " ye stepsons of Italy : remember who it was that brought you in chains to Rome." § 5. Early in the following year, however (131 b.c), an incident occurred which also parted Scipio from Crassus. The Consuls for the year were Crassus himself and-L. Valerius Flaccus. The former was Pontifex Maximus, the latter was Flamen of Mars. It happened that one Aristonicus, a bastard son of the last Attains, had raised an insurrection in the mountain-districts near Pergamus, and matters had become so serious, that a Consular army was required. Both Consuls were eager for command; but by reason of their sacred offices they were both legally unable to leave Italy, and Scipio's tried skill in war pointed him out as the fittest man for command. Yet such was the popu- larity of Crassus, that out of thirty-five Tribes, two only voted for Scipio and the rest for him. Considering a vote of the People as superior to the law, he completed his levies and set out for Pergamus, never to return. Scipio retired from Rome in disgust. 23 530 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD. Book VL In this same year the Censorship was held by Q. Metellus and Q. Pompeius, — an event noted by all the historians as memor- able, since now for the first time two men of plebeian blood were elected to the most august magistracy of the State. It is rather matter of wonder that an artificial distinction, which for all practical purposes was obsolete, should have been so long retained in the Censorship, than that it should now have ceased. § 6. If Crassus had returned, he might have taken more active steps to diminish the violence which the democratic leaders were beginning to encourage. But early in the year 130 b.c. he was defeated by Aristonicus in a pitched battle, and taken prisoner. The Roman statesman and jurist, deeming slavery intolerable, purposely struck the barbarian who had captured him in the face with his sword-belt, and was instantly cut down. His head was carried to Aristonicus : his body interred at Smyrna. About the same time died App. Claudius. The natural leader of the Gracchan party would now have been C. Gracchus. But this young man had withdrawn from public life at the advice of his mother Cornelia. Consequently fresh power fell into the hands of the reckless Carbo, who was supported by Fulvius Flaccus ; and the whole character of the party became more positively democratic. § 7. These leaders sought to recover their popularity with the country Tribes by calling the Agrarian Law into fresh life. Of the three Commissioners elected for the year C. Gracchus still appeared on the list ; the vacancies made by the deaths of Crassus and App. Claudius were filled by Carbo and Flaccus. The rich Landholders had endeavoured to baffle the law by passive resistance. To foil this policy, Carbo and his colleagues issued a proclamation, calling for informations against all who had not duly registered themselves as holders of Public Land. The call was readily obeyed, and the Triumvirs were soon over- burdened with names. The next step was to decide on the rights of the present holders, and to determine the boundaries between the private and the public lands in each estate. This was a task of extreme delicacy, and here the loss of Crassus was sensibly felt. The ignorant and reckless Carbo raised up a host of formidable opponents. § 8. Portions of the Public Land had often been alienated by ^ant or sale. The holders were now, in consequence of Carbo's proclamation, suddenly called upon to produce their title-deeds, which in many cases were missing ; so that a vast number of these holders were liable to be stripped of lands which were undoubtedly their own. Further, in cases where persons held property partly public and partly private, there were often no Chap. LII. SCIPIO. 531 documents to show which part was public and which private. The Commissioners acted in the most arbitrary way, and exas- perated a vast number of persons throughout all Italy ; and thus a new popular party was called forth, which exer- cised a most important inftuence on the events of the next fifty years. In Carbo's rash haste to win the Roman coun- trymen he recked not of the hostility of Latins and Italians ; 'and those who had lately worshipped Gracchus now rose )ike one man to oppose those who now pretended to represent Gracchus. § 9. These new opponents of the Agrarian Law had no mind to join the Roman oligarchs, but turned to Scipio and suppli- cated him to undertake their cause. They had claims upon him, for they had volunteered to fill his army when the Senate had no money to give him, and he had always manifested sym- pathy with them. Averse as he was from party politics, he did not shrink from the task, and the moderate party in the Senate welcomed his return. He began by moving that a Decree should issue for withdrawing from the Triumvirs the judicial power with which they had been invested by Gracchus, and transferring the jurisdiction to the Consuls. The Decree passed, and the task was committed to C. Sempronius Tuditanus, a man of refined taste, fonder of art and literature than of business. But news came of a movement among the lapydes, a people on the Illyrian frontier; and Tuditanus eagerly seized this excuse for hastening to Aquileia, feeling confident that he could better cope with barbarous enemies than with the more barbarous perplexities of the law. All proceedings were thus cut short. The Senate had taken away jurisdiction from the Triumvirs; the Consul to whom it was committed had fled. General discontent arose. Scipio was accused of having betrayed Roman interests to the Italians. His enemies spread reports that he had sold himself to the Oligarchy, that he intended to repeal the Sempronian Law by force, and let loose his Italian soldiery upon the People of Rome. § 10. Scipio felt that it was necessary to explain his motives, and announced his purpose of delivering set speeches, one day in the Senate, and the day after in the Forum. The first only of these purposes was fulfilled. By his speech in the Senate he pledged himself to maintain the rights of the Latins and Italians against the Triumvirs,' and to prevent the unjust assumption of the lands that had been granted to them. The Senate loudly applauded ; and Scipio was escorted home by the mass of the Senators with a jubilant crowd of Italians. Many thought this the most glorious day of his life. 632 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL He retired to rest early, in good health. In the morning he was found dead in his bed. By his side lay the tablets on which he had been noting down the heads of the oration which he had intended to make next day. § 11. The death of Scipio struck consternation into the hearts of the Senators. Metellus exclaimed that he had been murdered. It is said that on the neck marks as of strangulation appeared; and when he was carried out to burial the head was covered, contrary to custom. At the moment suspicion attached to C. Gracchus, and to his sister Sempronia, the wife of Scipio. But these unfounded rumours soon passed over; and it was confidently affirmed that Carbo was the murderer. Cicero speaks of it as an undoubted fact ; the character, as well as the subse- quent history, of the man justifies the belief. § 12. Thus died the younger Africanus. No public honours attested his public services. The funeral feast was furnished in the most thrifty manner by his nephew Q. Tubero, a rigid Stoic, who was glad thus to remind the people of their ingratitude. Scipio possessed no lofty genius like the great man whose name he bore ; yet there was at Rome no one of his own time to be com- pared with him. To say that he was the best general of the day is little praise, for military talent was at that time scarce ; but no doubt his abilities for war would have won him glory in the best times of the Republic. His disinterested generosity has been already noticed ; at his death he was found to be no richer than when he succeeded to the inheritance of the great Scipio. His love of the country and his habitual reserve led him to shun public life. But the austere manner and severe gravity which he commonly aff'ected gave way among his friends; and there is nothing that more raises our esteem for Scipio than the warm attachment borne to him by such men as Polybius, as well as Lselius, Rupilius, and others, whom Cicero has introduced into his beautiful dialogues.* Scipio has usually been represented as a stift' adherent of the Oligarchy, but the facts of history dis- prove this opinion. He might have lived some years to mo- derate the fury of party strife, to awe the factious, and to sup- port just claims ; for at his death he numbered no more than six-and-fifty years. His death at this moment was perhaps the greatest loss that the Republic could have suffered. * The Laelius (de Amicitia), and the Republica. The time at ^?'hich the latter is supposed to be held is just before the death of Scipio. Walls of Rome, from the inside. CHAPTER LIII. CAIUS GRACCHUS AND HIS TIMES. (128 121 B.C.) 1. General calm: Project for reconciling Romans Avith Italians: Law of Pennus for expelling Italians from Rome. § 2. C. Gracchus Quaestor in Sardinia. § 3. Fulvius Flaccus : his Bill for enfranchising Italians : he is sent into Transalpine Gaul. § 4. Revolt of Fregellae, quelled by Opimius. § 5. Attempt to detain C. Gracchus in Sardinia : he is elected Tribune. § 6. Former and present character of Caius : his eloquence. § 7. Laws against his brother's enemies. § 8. Measures to improve condition of People: — (1.) Agrarian Law. (2.) Law for selling corn cheap to Popu- lace. § 9. Measures to abridge power of Senate : — (1.) Transference of Judicial Power from Senators to Equites, (2.) Assignment of Consular Provinces before Election. (3.) Public works. § 10. Purposes and Re- sults of Sempronian Laws. § 11. Election of Fannius as Consul: 0. Gracchus reelected to Tribunate. § 12. Bill for enfranchising Italians. §13. Unpopularity of proposal to enfranchise Italians : Fannius : Drusus. § 14. Addition to Agrarian Law by C. Gracchus : Drusus outbids him. § 15. Colonies in Provinces : proposal to colonise Carthage : Gracchus and Flaccus sent to found it. § 16. They return to Rome in tim« for 534 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI Consular Elections: Opimius Consul. §17. Ill report from Carthage -. Assembly of Tribes on Capitol : tumult : during night Opimius collects an armed force upon the Capitol: Flaccus occupies Aventine. § 18. At- tack on Aventine : death of Gracchus and Flaccus. § 19. Persecution: Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi. § 1. The sudden death of Scipio was followed by a calm. The turbulent Carbo vanished from the scene, till nine years later he re-appears' as a champion of the violent oligarchical party. C. Gracchus was still living in retirement. Fulvius Flaccus was content to let the Agrarian Law sleep in face of the portentous difficulties created by the measures of the Triumvirs. Nor was there anything in foreign affairs ta ruffle the general calm. But under this external tranquillity a leaven of agitation was at work. It was not to be expected that the new-born jealousy v/hich had sprung up between the Romans on the one side and the Latins and Italians on the other, would fall asleep. Proposals, however, were set afloat for reconciling these two opposing inter- ests. The Italians were led to hope that they might be made citizens of Rome, on condition that they should not resist the execution of the Agrarian Law. But the burgesses of Rome soon perceived that the admission of the Latins and Italians to the Roman franchise would reduce them to comparative insignificance. All the benefits now de- rived from the Provinces by Romans exclusively must then be shared with a vastly increased number of citizens, and the profits as well as the power of a Roman must be materially diminished. In the year 126 b.c. a large number of Italian strangers flocked to Rome, eager for the promised boon. But by this time public opinion at Rome was so far changed that M. Junius Pennus, one of the Tribunes, brought forward what we may call a severe Alien- Act, by which all strangers were compelled to quit Rome. The successors of Gracchus, however, remained constant to their new policy, and Caius himself was induced to speak in public for the second time. But he was unsuccessful. The Law of Pennus was passed ; and from this time may be dated that angry con- test of feeling between Romans and Italians which after thirty- eight years found vent in a bloody war. § 2. When Caius delivered this speech he was Quaestor- elect for the next year. He was appointed to serve under the Consul L. Aurelius Orestes, when this officer undertook to reduce the Sardinian mountaineers, who had been subjugated by the father of young Gracchus fifty years before.* After the first year's operations Orestes was at a loss for supplies and clothing ; and from this difficulty he was relieved by his Quaestor, who by the * B.C. 177. See Chapt. xli. § 9. Chap. LIII. G. GRACCHUS. N5. C^; _.:, 535 memory of his father and his own persuasive eloquence induced the Sardinian colonists to give voluntarily what the soldiers wanted. Shortly after, envoys arrived at Rome from Micipsa, Bon of Masinissa, offering, from respect (as they said) for the name of Gracchus, to send supplies of corn to Sardinia. The Senate angrily dismissed the embassy. Orestes was directed to remain as Proconsul in his Province, and his Quaestor was ordered to continue in office for a second year. § 3. Meanwhile the country party had succeeded in carry- ing the election of their present chief, Fulvius Flaccus, to the Consulship for 125 B.C. He was a man with little force of oratory, but his activity and audacity gave him power, and his unchangeable attachment to the memory of Ti. Gracchus made him respectable. No sooner was he in the Consul's chair than he gave full proof of his headlong temerity by giving notice of a bill for extending the Franchise to all the Latin and Italian Allies. It was a Reform Bill sweeping beyond all example. No addition had been made to the Roman territory or the number of Tribes since 241 b.c, a period of one hundred and sixteen years, and now at one stroke it was proposed to add to the register a population much more numerous than the whole existing number of Roman burgesses. The Tribes felt their interests to be at stake, and the measure of Flaccus was highly unpopular at Rome. At this moment, the Senate adroitly contrived to detach Flaccus upon foreign service. The people of Massilia, old allies of Rome, sent to demand protection against the Salluvians, a Ligurian tribe of the Maritime Alps, and Flaccus was ordered to take command of the army destined to relieve them. He remained in Gaul for more than tvvo years, and was honoured with a triumph m the year 123 b.c. Meantime his great mea- sure for extending the Franchise fell to the ground. § 4. But the hopes excited by the impetuous Consul were not easily relinquished. The excitement was great throughout Italy, and in one of the Latin Colonies the smouldering fire burst into flame. Fregellae was a large and flourishing city on the Latin road. It was one ef the eighteen Colonies which had remained faithful to Rome in the Hannibalic War. It had seen the full Franchise conferred on its neighbours at Formise, Fundi, and Arpinum at the close of that war. And now the cup was dashed from the very lip. Fregellae flew to arms, without concert with any other towns; and L. Opimius, one of the Praetors, a man of prompt resolution and devoid of pity, was ordered by the Senate to crush the insurrection. The gates were opened to him by trea- chery. Opimius took his seat in the Forum, and exercised a 536 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI fearful vengeance on the inhabitants, for which he was rewarded by the Senate with a triumph. The walls were pulled down, and the Colony, stripped of all its rights, was reduced to the con- dition of a mere market-town (conciliahulum). The example of Fregellae for a time silenced the claims of the Italians. § 5. Thus triumphant, the Senate determined to keep the chiefs of the Gracchan party absent from Rome. Flaccus had not yet finished his Gallic wars ; and an order was sent to detain C. Gracchus for a third year in Sardinia. But the young Quaestor perceived the drift of this order, and returned to Rome about the middle of the year 124 b.c, to the no small consterna- tion of the Senate. He was instantly summoned before the Censors then in office to account for his conduct, in order that he might be branded with a public stigma, and thus disqualified from taking his seat in the Senate-House. He made his de- fence to the people in a set speech, in which he declared that the Senate had no right to keep him employed as Quaestor for more than one year. " No one," added he, " can say that I have received a penny in presents, or have put any one to charges on my own account. The purse which I took out full I have brought back empty; though I could name persons who took out casks filled with wine and brought them home charged with money." He was triumphantly acquitted, and at once came forward as candidate for the Tribunate. The Senate exerted all their influence to prevent his election, and succeeded so far that his name stood only fourth on the list. But as soon as he en- tered office, no one disputed his title to be first. § 6. The die was now cast. For ten years he had held back from public life ; but the vexatious course pursued by the Senate roused him to action ; the pent-up energy of his passionate nature burst forth, and he threw aside all restraints both of fear and of prudence. Hitherto there had been no proof of the young speaker's powers. Twice only had he spoken in public, and both times he had been on the losing sidfc. But years of diligent study had passed ; and he became the greatest orator that Rome had yet seen. Much as Cicero disliked Gracchus, he speaks with lively admiration of his genius, and laments the loss which Latin literature had sustained by his early death. The care which the young orator bestowed on preparation was extraordinary : he was the first that used regular gesticulation : in his most fiery out- bursts his voice was so modulated as never to oftend the ear.* * The story was that he always had a slave at his elbow who gave him the right note by a pitch-pipe. — Cicero de Oratore, iii. 61. But Cicero himself is puzzled by this curious device, — " cujus ego nondum plane rationem intelligo." Ohap. LIII. C. GRACCHUS. 537 § 7. His first measures are marked by that which was the ruling passion of his life, — a burning desire to avenge his brother's death. Nasica was beyond his reach. But others, who had persecuted the friends and followers of Tiberius, were yet alive, and he inveighed against their cruel severity on all occasions. "Your ancestors," he exclaimed, "suffered not their Tribunes to be trampled down. But you, — you let these men beat Tibe- rius to death, and murder his friends without a trial !" Accordingly he brought a bill before the Tribes aimed at Popillius, who had been the head of the special Commission appointed after the death of Tiberius. It declared any magis- trate guilty of treason who had punished a citizen capitally without the consent of the People. Before it passed, Popillius left Rome; and the Tribes, on the motion of Caius, banished him from the soil of Italy. The young Tribune next moved that any one who should have been deprived of office by a vote of the People should be incapable of holding any other office, — an enactment evidently pointed at his brother's old opponent Octavius. Fortunately for the honour of Gracchus, he was stopped in his career of vengeance by the intercession of his mother. § 8. Hg now turned his thoughts to measures of a public nature, and brought forward a series of important bills, long known as the Sempronian Laws, so sweeping in their design, as to show that he meditated no less than a revolution in the government of Rome. They may be divided into two classes : first, those which were intended to ameliorate the condition of the People ; secondly, those which aimed at diminishing the power of the Senate. (1.) Foremost in the first class we may place a bill for renew- ing and extending the Agrarian Law of his brother, which was coupled with a measure for planting new Colonies in divers parts of Italy, and even in the Provinces. As the execution of this law was deferred till the next year, we will defer further mention of it here. This enactment was evidently intended to conciliate the country Tribes. (2.) The second Sempronian Law was the famous measure by which the State undertook to furnish corn at a low price to all Roman citizens. It provided that any one possessing the Roman franchise should be allowed to purchase grain from public stores at 61 ases the modius, or about 25 ases the bushel ; the losses incident to such sale being borne by the Treasury. Public measures for distributing corn in times of scarcity had long been familiar to Roman statesmen ; and individuals had more than once sought popularity by doles to the poor. But 23* 538 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD. Book VL now, for the first time, was a Right established by Law. The necessary results of such a measure must have been, and were, very fatal. Fifty years later, it was found necessary to limit the quantity sold to five modii (1} bushels) a month for each person; and 40,000 citizens were habitual purchasers. Successive dema- gogues reduced the price, till the profligate Clodius enacted that these 1| bushels should be given away without any payment. The Dictator Caesar found «o fewer than 320,000 citizens in the monthly receipt of this dole. He reduced the number to 150,000 : and Augustus fixed it at a maximum of 200,000 souls.* Such was the mass of paupers saddled upon the Imperial govern- ment by the unwise law of Gracchus. § 9. We now pass on to the measures which aimed at de- priving the Senate of the great administrative power which of late years it had engrossed. (1.) The first of these touched their Judicial power. It has been mentioned, that by the famous Calpurnian Law (149 b.c.) all Provincial Magistrates accused of corrupt dealings in their government were to be tried before the Praetor Peregrinus as presiding Judge, and a Jury of Senators. This was the first regular and permanent Court of Justice established at Rome.f The principle of the Calpurnian Law was gradually extended to other grave offences ; and in all the superior courts the Juries were composed of Senators. These Courts had given little satisfaction. In all important cases of corruption, especially such as occurred in the Provinces, the off'enders were themselves Senators. Some of the Judges had been guilty of like offences, others hoped for opportunities of committing like offences ; extortion was looked upon as a venial crime ; prosecutions became a trial of party strength, and the culprit was usually absolved. Gracchus now took the Judicial power altogether out of the hands of the Senate, and transferred it to a body of Three Hun- dred persons, to be chosen periodically from all citizens who possessed the Equestrian rate of property.^ By this measure he smote the Senate with a two-edged sword. For not only did he deprive it of the means of shielding its own members, but he also gave a political constitution to a rival Order. The Eques- trian Order, as a political body, entirely distinct from a mere military class, now first received distinct recognition. * 200,000 persons, receiving monthly 1|- bushels, would receive in the year 376,000 quarters. Taking wheat at 50s. the quarter, the corn-bounty Would cost, in our money, 937,500^. per annum + Hence these permanent courts were called Qucectiones perpetita. ij: This Register was called the Album Judicum Chap. Lilt C. GRACCHUS. 539 It is doubtful whether this measure of reform was followed by the good effects intended by Gracchus. If the governors of Provinces were Senators, the farmers of the taxes were Equites, The new Juries had their personal reasons for acquitting cor- rupt magistrates ; for without the countenance of these magis- trates they could not demand money from the Provincials be yond what was strictly legal. The constitution of these Jurie^^ formed a chief ground of political contest for the next fifty years. (2.) Another measure which fettered the power and patronage of the Senate was the Sempronian Law for the assignment of the Consular Provinces. Hitherto the Senate had refrained from determining these Provinces till after the elections ; and they thus had a ready way of marking displeasure by allotting unpro- fitable governments to Consuls whom they disliked. But Grac- chus now ordained that the two Consular Provinces should bo fixed before the elections, and that the new Consuls, immediately upon their election, should settle between themselves what Pro- vinces each was to administer, either by lot or by agreement (sortitio or comparatio). It was a wise and equitable provision, which remained in force as long as the Republic lasted, (3.) A great blow was given to Senatorial power by a measure for improving the roads of Italy. Public works of all kinds had hitherto been left to the Censors, subject to the approval of the Senate. Gracchus now transferred the business to the Tribunes. § 10. This account of the chief Sempronian Laws shows the spirit which animated Gracchus. It is plain that his main pur- pose was to diminish the increased and increasing power of the Senate. It was no doubt a confusion between the purposes and the results of the Sempronian Legislation that swelled the cry against Gracchus in after times. It is clear, however, that he had no chance of amending the corrupt government of the. Senatorial Oligarchy, unless he first weakened their power ; and if he fancied that administrative functions might safely be controlled by a large and fluctuating popular Assembly, something may be forgiven to political inexperience. Representative bodies are a modern indention; and the wisest of the ancients found no h-alting-place between Aristocracy and Democracy. Gracchus was not without misgivings as to the eflfects of his legislation. But it was too late to draw back ,• and his zeal was quickened by the return o^ Fulvius Flaccus from Gaul. §11. By his measures Gracchus had so won all suffrages, that he and his friend Flaccus were absolute masters of the Comitia. The elections of Curule officers for the next year were at hand, and Gracchus told the People he had a favour to ask. Everjf S40 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI. one expected that he would demand his own election to some high office : but to the surprise of all he proposed as Candidate for the Consulship C. Fannius, an old comrade of his brother. Fannius was elected as a matter of course, to the rejection of L. Opimius, the Senatorial Candidate. The Tribunician elections followed. Flaccus, though he had been Consul, appeared as Candidate for an office that had been raised by the Gracchi to sovereign power. But Gracchus was not by his side ; for it had been made illegal that the same man should be reelected Tribune. However, there were not can- didates enough for the ten places ; and the People, exercising the absolute right of choice which in this contingency was allowed, reelected Gracchus by a unanimous vote. Not more than seven months of his first year's Tribunate were over ; and he was secure of power for the next seventeen months at least. He now put forth all the tremendous power of the office. The Senate sate powerless, and Caius Gracchus became for a time the virtual sovereign of the Empire. § 12. Immediately on reelection, Gracchus came forward with a Bill for extending the Roman Franchise, certainly to the citi- zens of all Latin Colonies, probably to all free Italian commu- nities. Here we recognise the hand of Flaccus, who had in his Consulship raised this momentous question, and resumed the project on the first opportunity after his return. There can be no doubt that some change in this direction was necessary. The admission of the Latins and Italians to full citizenship would infuse a quantity of new blood into the decay- ing frame of the Roman People ; and, by extending to all Italians the benefits of the Agrarian law, there was really a good hope of reviving that hardy race of yeomen who were regretted by all Roman Statesmen. Scipio had induced the Senate for a moment to take up this cause ; but after the revolt of Fregellae, all thoughts of an extension of the Franchise had been dropped. The difficulty was how to favour the Italians without provoking the Roman Tribesmen. It is manifest that the project was still unpopular in the Forum, for Gracchus laboured to show that the Roman People and the Italians had one grievance in com- mon, namely, the tyranny of the Senatorial Oligarchy. " The ^ther day," he told them, " the magistrates of Teanum had been stripped naked and scourged, because the Consul's lady com- plained that the public baths there had not been properly cleaned for her use." ..." How great is the insolence of the young Nobles, a single example would show. One of them was travelling through Apulia in a litter, and a countryman, meeting the bearers, asked whether they had got a dead man inside. For Chap. LIII. C. GRACCHUS. 541 this word, the young lord ordered the poor man to be beaten to death with the cords of the litter." § 13. The chiefs of the Senate perceived that the proposal to enfranchise the Italians had sapped his popularity at Rome. The Consul Fannius, notwithstanding the part Gracchus had taken in his election, vehemently opposed the measure. He declared that he would again bring forward the Alien-Act of Pennus, and expel all foreigners from Rome. The Senate soon after ventured a step further. One of the new Tribunes, M. Livius Drusus by name, a young man of high birth, rich, elo- quent, ambitious, and determined, undertook to thwart the progress of his great colleague, and he put a veto on the law for enfranchising the Latins. § 14. We must now return to the Agrarian Law. In further- ance of this Law, Caius proposed to plant Colonies in divers parts of Italy ; Capua and Tarentum were fixed upon as the first of these new settlements; but here he showed no democratic tendencies; for no allotments were given to citizens, however poor, unless their character was respectable; and only a small number of colonists were to be sent to each place. Drusus was not slow to take advantage of these unpopular provisions. He resolved to outbid Gracchus, and the agent of the Nobility became a demagogue. He proposed to found no fewer than twelve Colonies at once, each to consist of 3000 families, to be chosen without respect to character. All these Colonists were to hold their allotments rent-free. Drusus openly avowed that he made these propositions in favor of the poor on the part of the Senate; and declared in significant terms that he would not himself accept any part in the honour or emo- lument to be derived from the office of foundmg these Colonies, whereas Gracchus had himself superintended all the public works which he had originated. § 15. At this time, plans were on foot for extending the Italian system of colonisation to the Provinces. In this very year, C. Sextius Calvinus, who had succeeded Flaccus as Proconsul in Gaul, founded the town of Aquae Sextise, still called Aix, in Southern Gaul ; four years later Narbo Marcius, or Narbonne, was planted further westward in the same country. But Grac- chus himself was the first who had proposed to plant a Colony beyond the Italian Peninsula ; and the place he fixed upon was Carthage. The plan was taken up by the Senate. The new Colony was to be called Junonia, and it was dexterously con- trived that Gracchus himself, with Flaccus and another, should be the Commissioners for distributing the lands and marking the limits of the settlement* In this way, the formidable Tri- 542 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI bune and his most active supporter were obliged to quit Rome just when their presence was most needed to revive their drooping popularity. § 16. The Commissioners applied themselves to their task with so much assiduity that they returned to Rome in time for tiie Consular elections. The ruthless Opimius was again candidate, and Gracchus exerted himself to the utmost to reorganise his party, but in vain. Popular feeling was strongly marked by the triumphant election of Opimius to the Consulship, in company with Q. Fabius, son of Scipio's elder brother, a man personally hostile to Gracchus. The Tribunician elections followed, and were equally signi- ficant of the temper of the People. Neither Gracchus nor Flaccus was reelected. The remainder of the year indeed passed by quietly. But at the beginning of the year 121 b.c. Opimius became Consul, and it was evident that danger was at hand. §17. Gracchus and his friends prudently refrained from all offensive steps ; but as he would give no grounds for pro- ceeding against him, Opimius resolved to make them. News arrived from the new Colony at Carthage to the effect that it had been planted on the ground cursed by Scipio : the wrath of the gods had been shown by the fact that wolves had torn down the boundary-posts. The Senate met, and on the motion of Opimius ordered the Tribunes to call a meeting of the Tribes upon the Capitol, to rescind the law for colonising Carthage. The place was ominous, for there Ti. Gracchus had been slain. On the appointed morning the impetuous Flaccus appeared with a large retinue armed with daggers. Gracchus followed with a considerable suite. Flaccus spoke vehemently to the Tribes, while Gracchus stood aloof in the portico of the Temple, in which Opimius was offering sacrifice. Here he was encoun- tered by a retainer of the Consul, who insolently pushed Gracchus aside, crying, "Make way for honest men." Gracchus cast an angry look upon the man, who presently fell stabbed to the heart by an unknown hand. A cry of murder was raised, and the crowd fled in alarm to the Forum. Gracchus retired to his house, regretting the rash imprudence of his followers. Mean- time the body of the slain man was paraded before the eyes of the terrified People. The Senate armed the Consuls with i Decree, by which Gracchus was proclaimed a public enemy* and Opimius took station during the night in the Temple of Castor, by the side of the Forum. He summoned the Senate to a special sitting early next morning ; and also sent to all on whom he could rely, desiring them to come armed to the Forum, pind each man to bring two armed slaves, W^ith thig force he Chap. LIII. C. GRACCHUS. 543 occupied the Capitol at daybreak, and prepared to execute the will of the Senate. Gracchus was irresolute ; but Flaccus summoned to his house all who were ready to resist Senatorial authority. Here he armed them with the Celtic weapons which he had brought home from his Gallic campaigns, and kept up their courage by deep pota- tions of wine. Early in the morning he occupied a strong po- sition on the Aventine, where he was joined by Gracchus, who sighed over the necessity of using force. § 18. When the Senate met, the popular leaders were sum- moned to attend in their places, and explain the proceedings of the previous day. They answered by proclaiming liberty to all slaves who should join them. Nothing could more show the desperate aspect which the struggle had assumed. Yet before blood flowed, Gracchus insisted on trying negotiation, and Q. Flaccus, a handsome youth of eighteen, son of the ex-Tribune, was sent. But already the Senate had invested Opimius with dictatorial power. The only answer the Consul returned was that the leaders must appear before the Senate, and explain their conduct ; and when young Quintus came back with a fresh mes- sage, Opimius arrested him. He now set a price on the heads of Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus, and ordered an immediate at- tack upon the Aventine. Under arms appeared the noblest men at Rome, P. Lentulus, Chief of the Senate, old Metellus Mace- donicus, and many others. For their leader they chose not the Consul, but L. Junius Brutus, the Spanish conqueror. The attack was opened under cover of a shower of arrows from a body of Cretan bowmen. Little or no resistance was offered. Flaccus fled with his eldest son. Gracchus retired into the Temple of Diana, where he was hardly prevented from putting an end to his own life by two faithful friends, the Knights Pomponius and Laetorius. Urged by them to flee, he threw himself on his knees, and prayed the goddess to punish the unworthy people of Rome by everlasting slavery. All three then took their way down to the Porta Trigemina, hotly pursued. Pomponius made a stand in the gateway to cover his friend's escape across the Sublician Bridge, and fell pierced with many wounds. Laetorius showed no less devotion by gallantly turning to bay upon the bridge till he knew that Gracchus was safe over, when he sprang into the river and perished. Gracchus with a single slave reached the Grove of the Furies, and here both were found dead. The faithful slave had first held the sword to. his master's heart, and then fallen upon it himself. One Septimuleius cut off" the head of Gracchus, and was rewarded by the fierce Opimius with its weight in gold, 544 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI. Flaccus and his eldest son had found shelter in the bath- house of a friend. The Consul's myrmidons tracked them, and threatened to set fire to the house. The owner, alarmed for his property, allowed another to disclose the secret, though he did not choose to speak the word himself. They were dragged forth and slain with every mark of indignity. The handsome youth who had been arrested before the assault commenced was allowed to put himself to death. § 19. Great numbers of the partisans of Gracchus were thrown into prison, and put to death without trial. The stream of Tiber flowed thick with corpses. The inconstant mob plundered their houses without molestation. The widows and friends of the slain were forbidden by Consular edict to wear mourning. When the bloody work was done, the City was purged by a formal lustration ; and the Consul, by order of the Senate, laid the foundations of a Temple of Concord. Under the inscription placed on it by Opimius was found next morning another to this effect : — Workers of Discord raise a shrine to Concord.* But none dared openly avow themselves friends of the Gracchi. The son of Caius died soon after ; and except Sempronia, the widow of Scipio, none of the race remained. Cornelia retired to Misenum, where she lived for many years, not so much sorrowing for the loss of her sons as dwelling with delight on the memory of their acts. Many visited her in retirement, chiefly learned Greeks, to hear the story of the bold Reformers. Calmly and loftily she told the tale, declaring that her sons had found worthy graves in the Temples of the Gods. In after days her statue in bronze was set up in the Forum, with the Greek sandals on her feet which had been made a reproach to her illustrious father. Beneath it were placed these words only : — To Cornelia, thk Mother of the Gracchi. * ipyov (iTTovoiac vaov ofiovoiag ■kolu. — Plut. Vit G. Gracchi, c. 17. CHAPTER LIV. JUGURTHA AND HIS TIMES. (120 104 B.C.) (] 1. Danger of delayed Reformation. § 2. Indictment of Opimius • suicide of Carbo. § 3. The nobler sort in the Senate: the Metelli: Scaurus, § 4. Conquest of Balearic Isles : Wars in Gaul : Fabius Allobrogicus. § 5. Jugurtha. § 6. Murder of Hiempsal : Numidia divided by Senate between Adherbal and Jugurtha. § 1. Murder of Adherbal. § 8, The Tribune Memmius forces the Senate to proclaim War. § 9. Futile campaign of Bestia : Jugurtha summoned to Rome. § 10. Jugurtha procures murder ofMassiva: is ordered to quit Rome. § 11. Metellus appointed to com- mand. § 12. Commission of inquiry: Bestia, Albinus, and others put to death. § 13. Severity of Metellus : his legate C. Marius. § 14. First campaign of Metellus. §15. Jugurtha offers to treat: diplomacy of Metellus. § 16. Marius depreciates Metellus : he is elected Consul. § 17. Second campaign of Metellus : Cirta taken : Jugurtha takes refuge with Bocchus, § 18. Command transferred by People to Marius. § 19. Return of Metellus to Rome. § 20. Marius completes the conquest of Numidia : Sylla : his early life. § 21. Sylla sent to the court of Bocchus to obtain the person of Jugurtha: Jugurtha betrayed: Sylla's arrogance, § 22. Triumph and reelection of Marius. § 23. Miserable end of Jugurtha. § 1. The cruel times which followed made the best men of both parties regret the untimely end of those who had sacrificed wealth, rank, tranquillity, in the hope of reforming the State by peaceful methods. It is not the less true because it is an epi- gram, " that the blood of the Gracchi was the seed sown, and Marius was the fruit." But Marius, though the most ruthless, was not the worst of the successors of the Gracchi. So savage were the party quarrels which followed, that good men shrank in despair from the cause of Reform, and the conduct of the popular party was abandoned to needy demagogues. Such is the common course of Revolutions. They begin with noble aspira- tions ; they end in reckless violence. At length public spirit is lost, and all men, sighing for tranquillity, seek it in the strong rule of an armed soldier. It is a thrice-told tale. § 2. As the murder of Tiberius had been avenged upon Nasica, so there was even now found a Tribune bold enough to indict Opimius. The accuser bore the time-honoured name of Decius ; the defender was that Carbo who was more than suspected of Scipio's murder, and who was now Consul (120 b.c.) : his elo- quence and the terror that prevailed procured an acquittal. But 646 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book Vt Carbo, though he earned the gratitude of the Nobility by de- fending their champion, did not find his eloquence equally effectual in defending himself. It was at that time the practice of young Romans who aspired to distinction to attract public notice by indicting some great offender before the People. L. Licinius Crassus, son of Crassus the Pontifex, and brother- in-law of C. Gracchus, though only one-and-twenty years of age, felt within him that power of speech which in later days gained him the appellation of the Orator ; and he singled out Carbo for attack. So fierce was the invective of the young accuser that Carbo put an end to his own life by poison. § 3. The Nobility probably cared little for the life of a worth- less renegade. The best men in the Senate, indeed, regretted what they considered the necessity of taking up arms against Gracchus. First among these was. old Metellus Macedonicus, who died full of honours and years seven years after the death of C. Gracchus. He left four sons. Before his death three of them had been Consuls ; the fourth was candidate for the Con- sulship at his father's death ; but his two nephews, sons of his brother Calvus, were more distinguished than his own offspring. Qnintus the younger, under the title of Numidicus, shortly after- wards became the most eminent man in the ranks of the Nobility. In the course of twenty years the Metelli enjoyed six Consulships and four Censorships, besides five triumphs. Such an aggre- gation of honours in one family was without example. Tb^ worst ^lult of the Metelli was pride ; but if they were not be- loved, they were at least respected by the People. A person who plays a large part in the events of the next years was M. .^milius Scaurus, a man of more dubious charac- ter. Horace names him with some of the greatest men of olden time;* Sallust represents him as disgracing high qualities by an inordinate love for money. The facts we shall have to re- cord will show that in his earlier days he was infected by the corruption of his compeers, while in later life his prudence was so great as to stand for principle. lie was born in 163 b.c, so that at the fall of C. Gracchus he had reached that ripe age which was required for the Consulship. Though he belonged to a great Patrician Gens, his family was so obscure that he was accounted a New Man. His father had been a charcoal merchant, and left his son so poor that the future ruler of the Empire had at one time contemplated following the trade of a money-changer. But he was encouraged to try the chances of * Regulum, et Scauros, animaeque magnae Prodigum, Poeno superante, Paullum, — 1, GarDi. iii. 37. CHAr. LIV. JUGURTHA. 547 political life; and in 115 b.c. he reached the Consulate. By his ability and discretion he so won the confidence of the Senate that at the first vacancy he was named Princeps. He was a man less seen than felt. His oratory wanted fire ; but his talents for business, and his dexterity in the management of parties, made him the most important person in the field of politics from the fall of Gracchus till the rise of Sylla. The more prudent or more severe among the Senators be- lieved that reform in the State might be averted by a reformation of Manners. But in vain. The business of Jugurtha brought into full light the venality and corruption of the dominant statesmen. § 4. We have said little of the Wars of Rome since the fall of Numantia and the termination of the Servile War. They were not considerable. The kingdom of Pergamus had formed the tenth Province. The eldest son of old Metellus earned the title of Balearicus for subduing the Balearic Isles (121 b.c); his eldest nephew that of "Delmaticus for putting down an outbreak of the Dalmatians (117 b.c.) More attention was excited by wars in the South of Gaul, ana more permanent effects followed. The success of Fulvius Flaccus, the friend of the Gracchi, in defending Marseilles, has been already noticed. C. Sextius, who succeeded Flaccus in 123 B.C., secured his conquests by founding the colony of Aquae Sextiae, which under the name of Aix still attracts visitors for the sake of its hot springs. These conquests brought the Romans in contact with the Allobrogians, between the Rhone and the Isere ; and this people threw themselves on the protection of Bituitus, chief of the Arvernians (Auvergne). Q. Fabius, while Opimius was crushing C. Gracchus, crossed the Isere. A desperate battle ensued, in which the Proconsul, with 30,000 men, is said to have so completely routed 200,000 Gauls, that in the battle and pur- suit no less than 130,000 fell. Fabius was suffering from a quartan ague, but in the heat of conflict shook off his disease. He assumed the title of Allobrogicus with better right than many who were decorated with these national surnames. The war was now carried into the Arvenian country, and the great triumphs of Caesar might have been anticipated by some Sena- torial Commander, when it was brought to a sudden end. An enemy, formidable alike to Romans and Gauls, well known a few years later under the dreaded names of Cimbrians and Teutons, had appeared on the north-eastern frontier of Gaul, and threatened to overrun all southern Europe. But circum- stances deferred for a time the conflict between Italy and those barbarous hordes, and for the present the dominion of 548 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD, Book VL Rome was firmly established in the southern angle of Gaul, between the Alps and Pyrenees, a district which still preserves its Roman name, " the Province," in the French Provence. The whole northern coast of the Mediterranean, from the Pillars of Hercules to Syria, now owned the sovereignty of Rome. § 5. Attention was now for a time riveted upon the affairs of Africa. The kingdom of Masinissa, as we said, had been divided among his three sons, Micipsa, Mastanarbal, and Golossa. The Jast two had died, and left Micipsa sole King of Numidia. The old friendship between this country and Rome was cemented by the flourishing corn-trade that grew up there, which supplied the failing crops of Italy. Micipsa died in 118 b.c, leaving two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal. By their side stood their cousin Ju- gurtha, a bastard. This young man was considerably older than his cousins. Sixteen years before he had served with credit under Scipio at Numantia. The young nobles of Scipio's camp suggested to the African Prince that, at the death of Mi- cipsa, he should purchase the support of Rome and seize the Numidian crown. " At Rome," they said, " all things might be had for money." The intriguing character of Jugurtha escaped not the discernment of Scipio. At parting, he said : " Trust to your own good qualities, and power will come of itself Seek it by base arts, and you will lose all." Old Micipsa left Ju- gurtha as Regent and guardian of his two young sons. § 6. It is possible that if the two Princes had submitted pas- sively, Jugurtha might have been contented with the substance without the title of sovereignty ; but Hiempsal showed a spirit impatient of control. When Jugurtha proposed that the decrees made by Micipsa in the last five years of his dotage should be abrogated, the young Prince gave a ready assent ; " for," said he, " with these will fall the ordinance by which you claim the Regency." The unscrupulous Jugurtha ordered Hiempsal to be assassinated ; and Adherbal, in alarm, took up arms. The people were with him, but the soldiery were with Jugurtha ; and Ad- herbal was obliged to fly into the Roman province of Libyn, whence he took ship to plead his own cause before the Senate. General feeling was strong in his favour ; but the wily Jugurtha bethought him of the advice tendered by his Roman friends, and sent envoys to Rome laden with gold. Adherbal was heard with cold attention, while many Senators supported the claim of Jugurtha. It was decided that a Commission of Ten should be sent to Numidia, with instructions to divide the kingdom be- tween Adherbal and his unscrupulous cousin. L. Opimius, a fit instrument for such work, was placed at the head of the Com- mission. The western half, which had been the patrimony of Ohaf. LIV. JUGURTHA. 549 Masinissa and supplied the famous Numidian cavalry, was assigned to Jugurtha. The eastern portion, conterminous with the Roman Province, and formerly subject to Syphax, was given to Adherbal. § 7. Jugurtha was not slow in using his advantage. His rival was obliged to shut himself up in Cirta, the almost impregnable city which formed his capital ; but the Italian mercenaries, on whom he mainly relied, forced him to surrender on condition that his life should be spared. No sooner had Jugurtha got possession of his cousin, than he ordered him to be put to death by torture. § 8. So great was the power of Jugurtha's gold, that the matter would have been hushed up, had not C. Memmius, Tri- bune-elect, come forward in the Forum, and boldly exposed the iniquities of Jugurtha. The conscience-stricken majority of the Senate shrunk back; war was declared against tlic faithless Numidian Prince, and the command fell by lot to L. Calpurnius Bestia, one of the Consuls-elect for the next year (111 b.c). § 9. The first campaign was conducted with so much remiss- ness, that it was universally believed that the commanders had received bribes. Memmius promptly brought in a bill, by which the Praetor L. Cassius was commissioned to bring Jugurtha to Rome under a safe-conduct, in order that he might give evidence against the persons accused of corrupt dealings. Jugurtha did not hesitate to attend Cassius to Rome, where he appeared in the garb of a suppliant. The People would have executed sum- mary vengeance on the culprit, had not Memmius interfered to maintain the sanctity of the safe-conduct. But he ordered Jugurtha to stand forth, detailed at length the crimes with which he was charged, and concluded by urging him to place his hopes of safety in a simple confession of the truth. When Memmius resumed his seat, one of his colleagues, C. Baebius by name, rose and forbade Jugurtha to reply. It was manifest that this Tribunician veto had been purchased by African gold, and a terrible storm arose in the Forum. But Bsebius stood firm, and the sanctity of his office was allowed to protect his un- worthy client. § 10. But it was found impossible to obtain the votes of the People to any peace with Jugurtha, and the conduct of the war for the next year (110 b.c.) was allotted to Sp. Posthumius Albi- nus. Albinus had already entered into negotiations with Mas- siva, son of Golossa, the third son of Masinissa. Jugurtha dis- covered the intrigue, and procured the assassination of the young Prince. This piece of efl^rontery was too much even for the Senate. Jugurtha received an order to quit Rome instantly. 550 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI. He obeyed ; and as he passed out of the gates, he looked back and said : " A city for sale if she can find a purchaser !" § 11. Albinus was baffled at every point by the dexterous African. His brother Aulus suffered himself to be surprised by Jugurtha, and only saved his army by allowing it to pass under the yoke and agreeing to evacuate Numidia. But the Senate hastily repudiated the engagements made by Aulus, and the command for the next year (109 b.c.) was conferred upon Q. Metellus, nephew of old Macedonicus. § 12. It was time for the Senate to show that they had up- right and capable men in their ranks. The scandal caused by the conduct of Numidian affairs was so great, that before the departure of Metellus, C. Manilius, Tribune of the People, brought forward a bill for appointing a Commission of Three, to inquire into the conduct of all who had been concerned in the two last campaigns. Scaurus was placed at the head of this Triumvirate. Several of the leading Senators were found guilty of high treason, and put to death without mercy. Among them were Bestia and Albinus, the two Consuls who had conducted the war, and one whose fate can excite no commiseration, — the cruel and corrupt L. Opimius. § 13. Metellus was obliged to devote much time to restoring habits of discipline by the same severe methods which had been employed by Scipio. In this work he was much assisted by his chief lieutenant, a man who soon after became famous wherever the name of Rome was known. Caius Marius had already reached the age of fifty. He was a citizen of Arpinum, a Volscian town, which had been incorpo- rated into the Roman Tribes. His family was old and respect- able, but he was the first who obtained imperial honours. In his rustic origin and habits he may be compared to Cato ; but he had none of the intellectual ambition which distinguished that singular person. He scorned the custom which led young Romans to study Greek and cultivate the art of rhetoric as the readiest way of rising to honours. " Greek," he said, " was the language of slaves : he would none of it." His rough temper and coarse manners unfitted him for political life. For war he possessed an instinctive genius. At twenty -four he had been designated by Scipio as the future general of Rome.* But the predominance of the Senatorial families, and his own poverty, made it difficult for him to rise. In 119 b,c., when he was thirty-eight years old, he was chosen Tribune, and had an oppor- tunity of showing his audacity. He had brought forward a bill * Chapt. lii. § 6. Chap. LIV. JUGURTHA. 561 for taking tlie votes more easily in the Centuriate elections, which was opposed by the Consul Metellus, elder brother of that Metellus who now commanded against Ju^irtha. The family of Marius was dependent upon the Metelli ; but the dauntless Tri- bune ordered the Consul into custody, and the Senate was com- pelled to allow the bill to pass. To choose such a man for his lieutenant is a proof of the integrity and the discernment of Metellus. It is true that he had lately allied himself to the oligarchy by a marriage with Julia, an aunt of the great Caesar. But the affront put upon the Consul's brother by Marius ten years before, was not of a kind to be forgotten ; and the proud noble can have had little in common with the rough soldier, except determination to con- duct the war with honest energy. § 14. Late in the year Metellus took the field. The ready wit of Jugurtha soon told him that he must now meet force by force, and by a skilful disposition of his troops he succeeded in sur- prising the Romans on their march. But after a long and harass- ing series of assaults, the Numidians were beaten off, and left forty elephants dead. This was the only engagement like a battle on which Jugurtha ventured during the war. He henceforth relied entirely upon his fortresses, of which Cirta, his capital, now well known as Constantine, in Algeria, was among the strongest. The advance of Metellus was checked by the fortress of Zama. The season was too far advanced for a siege, and Metellus retired for winter-quarters into the Roman Province. § 15. Jugurtha saw that his cause was hopeless. Personally he might long elude capture. But the Romans were sure to gain possession of all his kingdom and all his strongholds, and he would be reduced to the condition of a homeless wanderer. He therefore offered to treat; and Metellus, though his term of command had been prolonged to another year, was not unwilling to listen to overtures. He demanded that the Prince should give pledges of good faith, by paying down 200,000 pounds of silver, by giving up all his elephants and a quantity of horses, and by surrendering all deserters. These demands were com- plied with, and then Metellus required the surrender of Jugur- tha's own person. It was evident that the worst defeat could hardly reduce him to greater extremities. He at once put aside counsels of peace, and disappeared from sight. § 16. Meanwhile the conduct of Marius began to excite dis- trust in the mind of the general. When he named the rude soldier his lieutenant, he expected doubtless that the honour of serving under a Metellus would be honour sufficient. But the military talents of Marius had become manifest, and he had be- 552 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book Vt come a favourite with tlie soldiery. " If he had half the army," he used to say, "he would soon send Jugurtha in chains to Rome." He gave out that he meant to offer himself as candi- date for the Consulship, and requested leave of absence as soon as he could be spared. " It will be time for you to seek the Consulship," said Metellus, " when my son (a youth of twenty ' years old) can be your colleague :" — ungenerous words, that rankled for ever in the heart of Marius. The next year's campaign had begun before Marius obtained leave to repair to Rome. The elections were to come on in twelve days. In less than a week he reached Rome, and there he used the same language which the camp had been accustomed to hear : " Make me Consul, and you shall soon have Jugurtha, dead or alive, at Rome." He was elected by an overpowering- majority. The death of Gracchus had been avenged. The people exulted in raising to the chief magistracy one whose chief claim was that he was a New Man and the best soldier of Rome. § 17. The second campaign of Metellus was conducted with vigour. Marius being absent, it was manifest that the general was not wholly indebted to his lieutenant. Cirta surrendered. Jugurtha, afraid of the treachery of his friends, put confidence in none, changed his quarters daily, and suffered no one to know where he was to pass tli^ next night. At length he fled to the Court of Bocchus, king of Mauritania, whose daughter he had married. It was not long before Metellus heard that Bocchus was advancing with a large army to Cirta, and he prepared to meet this new enemy. At this crisis he received the unwelcome news that Marius was on his way to supersede him. § 18. After the election of the popular favourite, the Senate had decreed that Metellus should continue in command till the Ju- gurthan War was ended. But the Tribune Mancinus, encouraged by the success of his predecessors Memmius and Mamilius, moved in the Assembly of the Tribes that the command should be transferred to Marius ; and the measure passed by acclamation. Marius immediately set about his prepa^tions. He harangued the People with expressions of vehement scorn against all the Senatorial commanders, " men of old pedigree, but ignorant of war ; who never saw an army till they became generals, and then set about studying Greek books of tactics.* He was a New Man; he had no images to show ; he knew no Greek, and was unfit to figure at the banquets of the great ; he did not esteem a stage- . player or a cook better men than an honest yeoman : but he had images of his own, — spears, trappings, standards, prizes woa by valour, and scars upon his breast." * " Praeposteri homines." Sallust, Bell. Jug. 86. Chap. LIV. /UGHRTHA. 553 He did not, nowever, confine himself to words. Though he had spoken of only needing half the army of Metellus, he made levies on a large scale ; and here he introduced an innovation which demands special notice. In early times military service was confined to those citizens who had a considerable stake in the country. Only those who were worth 4000 pounds of copper were allowed to enlist. After the Punic War the area of service had been extended by Flamininus. Marius now enlisted eveii those who were entered on the Censor's register as possessing no appreciable amount of property.* Marius shipped the infantry which he had levied at once for Africa, leaving his Quaestor, L. Cornelius Sylla,t to follow with the cavalry. § 19. Metellus shed tears of vexation when he heard that he was to lose the prize ; and not choosing to undergo the humilia- tion of surrendering his command to his late lieutenant, he took ship for Rome. Here he was well received. It could not be concealed that Jugurtha was a fugitive, discrowned and landless, and that the war was virtually ended. Metellus without arro- gance assumed the title of Numidicus. Sallust, a bitter enemy to the aristocracy, allows that he was regarded with equal favour both by Senate and People. § 20. On the approach of Marius, Bocchus retired into his own country. The chief difficulty now remaining was to get posses- sion of the person of Jugurtha. Marius was no adept in diplo- matic arts- and probably would have begun a war with the Mauri- tanians. But he had with him one who was second to none in these arts. L. Cornelius Sylla had just arrived with the cavalry. This person was now thirty-one years old, twenty years younger than the general. His family, though a branch of the great Cornelian Gens, had remained without honours since the days of P. Rufinus, who had been ejected from the Senate by the stern Curius Den- tatus for possessing more than ten ounces of silver plate. Sylla had inherited little from his father, and was reduced to take a mean lodging in the same house with a poor freedman, who in his greatness reminded him of the fact. He made himself master of the Greek literature of the day, and in early years imbibed a taste for dramatic art. His habits were dissolute, as his appearance testified. His complexion, naturally fair, became pallid and blotched ; but his bright blue eyes showed the vigorous spirit within. When he rode into the camp of Marius he had seen no active service, and the stern Consul looked with • The Capite Censi. f More correctly written SuUa, But we retail* fch© form sanctioned by long usage. 24 554 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book Y I. contempt on the effeminate debauchee whom lot had assigned him as a Quaestor. But with happy versatility Sylla adapted himself to the rough manners of the general, and entered with ready zest into the joviality of the soldiery. His aptitude for business was such, that before the end of the campaign he was the chief adviser of Marius. § 21. As the army was retiring to winter at Cirta it was sud- denly assaulted by Bocchus and his Moors. The enemy were beaten off, but by a rapid side march they reached Cirta before Marius. A severe conflict followed, in which the Moors were at length defeated with horrible carnage. Bocchus now began to fear that the next spring might witness an invasion of his own country, and the winter passed in negotiation. Sylla was sent to the Moorish capital, but even his dexterity was baflfled by the arts of Jugurtha, and he returned without result. In a short time, however, Bocchus repented, and requested that Sylla might be sent back again. But the monarch still hesitated. After a long delay, Bocchus sent for Sylla privately by night, and proposed to banish Jugurtha from his kingdom. Sylla replied that he was obliged to insist upon the surrender of Ju- gurtha's ' person. Bocchus still hesitated. It is said that he ' doubted whether he should give up Jugurtha to Sylla, or Sylla to Jugurtha. But the address of the Roman envoy prevailed, and he did not depart from the King's presence till he had re- ceived promises of all that he asked. Next morning, however, the doubts of Bocchus returned. For several days he held secret interviews alternately with Sylla and with the envoy of Jugurtha, giving both of them to understand that he was on their side. But it was necessary for the wavering monarch to choose his part, and fear of Rome prevailed. He bade Jugurtha appear at a specified time and place ; and the Prince came, expecting to triumph. But his retinue was sur- rounded and cut down, his own person secured, and given over to the Roman envoy. Sylla, relieved from the painful anxiety of many days, returned triumphantly to Marius. Sylla was not of a temper to waive any claims of his own in favour of his general. He openly asserted that he was the real conqueror of Jugurtha, and had a signet-ring cut bearing a repre- sentation of the surrender of Jugurtha. The friends of Metellus encouraged this claim ; but the soldiery and the people regarded Marius as the conqueror, and none could deny that he was the greatest general of the day. § 22. It was on the Calends of January 104 b.c. that Marius entered Rome in triumphal procession, and passed before the gazing crowd to deposite in the Capitol the large booty which he Chap. LIY. JUGURTHA. 555 had taken. On the same day he entered upon his second Con- sulate. His reelection was against the law, both because he was absent at the time of his election, and because less than two years had passed since the termination of his first Consulship. The circumstances which justified this double suspension of the law will be given in the next chapter. § 23. Jugurtha was treated in a manner that excites compas- sion for one who little deserves such feelings. When he walked before the triumphal car of 'Marius he seemed sunk in stupor, from which he was roused by the brutal mob tearing off his clothes, and plucking the gold rings by force out of his ears. He was then thrust naked into the state-dungeon at the foot of the Capitoline. " Hercules," he cried, " what a cold bath this is !" Here he was left to starve for six days, when death came to his relief. His kingdom was given to a rival prince of the line of Masinissa. Caius Marius. CHAPTER LV. THE CIMBRIANS AND TEUTONS (105 101 B.C.) I SECOND SLAVE- WAR IN ITALY (103 101 B.C.). § 1. First appearance of the Cimbrians and Teutons. § 2. Defeat of three Roman armies. § 3. Great defeat of Mallius and Csepio on the Rhone : Cimbrians push onward into Spain. § 4. Marius appointed to the com- mand : his stern discipline. § 6, Third and fourth Consulships of Marius: Catulus his colleague in the last. § 6. Return of the Cimbrians from Spain : the Teutons also appear in Gaul, but turn eastward towards Switzerland. § 7. Marius on the Rhone : first battle of Aix. § 8. Second battle : anni- hilation of the Teutons. § 9. Fith Consulship of Marius. § 10. Catu- lus Proconsul : driven back from the Adige by the Teutons. § 11. Catulus joined by Marius : they meet the Teutons near Vercellae. § 12. Battle of 'Vercellae : annihilation of the Teutons. § 13. Triumph of Marius and Catulus. § 14. Second Slave "War in Sicily : its origin : Salvius in the East. § 15. Athenio in the East. § 16. Salvius assume's the title of King and the name of Tryphon : Athenio submits. § 1 7. L. LucuUus, his little success: M'Aquillius ends the war. §18. Strict measures to prevent future risings. § 1. JuGURTHA had been taken prisoner early in 106 B.C., but Marius remained in Africa till the close of the next year. In the course of this year and a half happened the events which justi- fied the election of Marius to his second Consulship. It has been noticed in the preceding chapter that Roman conquest on the Rlione had been checked by the irruption of barbarians from the North. It was a few years before the out- Chap. LV. THE CIMBRIANS AND TEUTONS. 557 break of the Jugurthan war that vast hordes from the North of Europe, impelled probably by want, appeared on the north- eastern frontier of Gaul. The chief names by which these bar- barians were known were those of Cimbrians and Teutons. It cannot be ascertained who or what they were. Probably the Teutons were an association of German tribes under one common name. The Cimbrians must have been of Celtic origin, though with much Teutonic admixture. Their numbers were large; the fighting men are said to have numbered 300,000. The Cim- brians led the way ; many smaller tribes followed or joined them, as the Ambrons from' Germany, the Tectosages from the south- west of Gaul, the Tigurines from the north and west of Switzer- land. § 2. It was in the year 113 B.C. that the Romans first came in contact with a host of Cimbrians on the northern frontier of Istria, and suff'ered a great defeat. But the main body pressed westward and crossed the Rhine at the crisis when war was declared against Jugurtha (111 b.c). At that time they con- tented themselves with ravaging Gaul. Two years later they appeared on the frontier of the Transalpine Province, and de- manded a gift of land. The Consul Silanus, colleague of Metellus, replied by giving them battle ; but he also was defeated. In 107 B.C. the Tigurines pressed down the Rhone from their Swiss valleys, and were met by the Consul L. Cassius Longinus, col- league of Marius. The Helvetian Tribe shunned the conflict; but Cassius pursued them, and as he was incautiously advancing, he fell into an ambuscade. Great part of his army was slain, himself among the number; the rest were made to pass under the yoke. § 3. While Marius was still detained in Africa after the cap- ture of Jugurtha, still worse tidings reached Rome. The suc- cessive defeats just noticed had thoroughly alarmed the Senate, and large levies had been made for the year 105 b.c. Q. Ser- vilius Caepio, the Consul of that year, had held command on the lihone, and gained an evil reputation by the sack of Tolosa (Tou- louse), the chief city of the Tectosages, which he had assailed without provocation. So great was the plunder he took, that "Toulouse gold" became a proverbial expression for ill-gotten /-gains. He was, however, high in the favour of the Senate, and jhe was continued in command as Proconsul ; but the chief com- mand (in 104 B.C.) fell to the new Consul, Cn. Mallius, a man only distinguished for his want of capacity. "When he arrived in the Province, Csepio scornfully refused to join him, till he crossed the Rhone, and was threatened by the barbarians. On hearing of the danger of the Consul, Csepio also crossed the 558 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI. river, but still endeavoured to maintain a separate command. During these bickerings the armies of Mallius and Csepio were surprised and utterly destroyed ; they lost no fewer than 80,000 soldiers and 40,000 camp-followers. This bloody defeat, the most serious that Rome had sustained since the day of Cannae, took place on the 6th of October, which was marked as a black day in the calendar. § 4. After this great victory, the barbarians, instead of pouring at once into Italy, turned southwards, and — a great portion of them at least — passed over the Pyrenees into Spain. Thus Italy was relieved from immediate fear ; and Marius, now Consul for the second time, put forth all his energy in organising a fresh army. The greater part of his troops must have been fur- nished by the lowest class of citizens, and the disorderly re- cruits murmured at the requirements of the Consul. His sternness repelled them, his arbitrary habits offended, and those who submitted patiently were called "the mules of Marius." Sylla, who, notwithstanding the jealousy of the General, had taken service under him as Legate, was of use in smoothing difficulties. The murmurs soon abated, and the nickname became a name of honour. The confidence felt by the old soldiers in the General extended itself to the new levies. It was found that, if he was inflexibly severe, he was no less inflexibly just, — the highest and the lowest received the same measure. His own nephew ofl"ered a brutal insult to a young soldier named Tre- bonius, who resented it by slaying his officer on the spot. Marius brought the youth to trial ; but when he heard his story proved by evidence, he not only directed an acquittal, but placed a crown upon the youth's head as a reward for his Roman virtue. § 5. For the next year Marius was elected Consul for the third time, and in the following year for the fourth time. His col- league was now Q. Lutatius Catulus, one of the most distinguished members of the aristocracy, who had hitherto been an unsuc- cessfal candidate for the Consulship. In the three foregoing years he had been defeated by persons unworthy to be put in comparison with Catulus, whose character stood so high that it was usual to quote his mere word as sufficient authority for a fact : " It must be so, for Q. Lutatius has said it."* In personal integrity Marius was his equal, but in other respects they formed, a marked contrast. Marius rough and stern, without education, scorning accomplishments, but the best general of the day; Catulus, polished in manner, well-informed and witty, the most finished orator of his time,f but untried in war. * " Hoc verum est ; dixit enim Q. Lutatius." — Cicero de Oratore, ii. 40. f " Oratio ejus pura sic ut Latine loqui paene solus videretur.'' — Ibid iii. 3. Chap.lv. the CIMBRIANS AND TEUTONS. 559 § 6. Soon after the election news arrived that the dreaded hour was really at hand : the Cimbrians had been repulsed by the Celtiberians, and had recrossed the Pyrenees. The Teutons, whose name now first appears in the narrative, had by this time entered Gaul from the north-east, and the combined hordes were gathering on the frontier of the Gallic Province. Marius left Rome in haste and crossed the Alps ; the remainder of the year he spent in fortifying a strong camp on the right bank of the Rhone, somewhere between Nismes and Aries. To secure ready access to the sea, he employed his men in cutting a canal from the rear of his camp to the coast, which long remained open, and was known as the Foss of Marius. It was soon found that the barbarian hordes had again sepa- rated. The Teutons, with the Ambrons, remained in Gaul to attack the Roman Province and enter Italy by the Maritime Alps, while the Cimbrians passed up the Rhone and made a long circuit so as to threaten Italy from the n©rth. Marius remained in Gaul to arrest the Teutons ; Catulus, with a second Consular army, was ordered to the plains of Lombardy, there to await the Cimbrians. Marius was exposed to the first assault. Early in the year 102 B.C. the plain in front of his camp was covered by Teutons, who challenged him with hideous cries to come forth ; and his men indignantly asked whether their only task was to be that of digging and delving like slaves. But Marius turned a deaf ear both to the provocations of the barbarians and the murmurs of his own troops. " We have to fight," he said, " not for trophies but for existence ; we will not give battle till victory is secure." This backwardness was in part due to a superstitious regard for divination. As Wallenstein consulted the stars through his astrologer, so the grim Roman carried about with him a Syrian woman named Martha, in whose predictions he placed unbounded confidence. § 7. The Teutons, finding their challenges vain, attempted to storm the Roman camp, but were driven off with great loss. On this, they marched eastward past the lines. For six days the barbarians were defiling before the eyes of the Italian soldiery, scoffingly asking whether they could not carry some message home for them to their wives. As soon as their vast host had crossed the Rhone, Marius followed them leisurely along the Aurelian road, till he came up with the Ambrons near Aquae Sextiae. While the soldiers set to work to entrench the camp, the camp-followers went down with the beasts to seek water, and found the Ambrons ^ere luxuriantly bathing in the hot "Springs which gave name to the place. As soon as they saw 660 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL the Romans they seized their arms, shouting the name of their own tribe as a war-cry. There was in the Roman advanced guard a Ligurian Tribe bearfng a similar name, who returned the cry, and rushed into the stream. Marius, unable to restrain them, drew out the remainder of his army, and the conflict became general. After a severe struggle the Ambrons were driven back to their camp, where their women came out and fell upon fugitives and Romans alike with indiscriminate violence. Darkness stopped the battle, and the Romans drew back to their unfortified camp, where they passed the night under arms, listen- ing to the wild and uncouth wailings with which the Ambrons lamented their dead. No attempt was made to renew the battle the next day, but Marius silently prepared for a decisive action on the morrow. § 8. The Teutons had in the mean time returned to support their comrades ; and when the sun rose, the whole mass of the barbarians stood upon -the plain in front of the eminence where the Romans lay encamped. During the night Marius had sent 3000 men, to form an ambush in the rear of the enemy ; and having drawn out his legions on the sloping ground before his camp, he there awaited the attack. The barbarians charged up the slope with furious cries. The Romans awaited their assault steadily, till they were within spear's throw ; and then, having discharged their heavy javelins with terrible effect, they drew their swords and fell upon the broken ranks of the enemy. The barbarians were driven back across the plain, and at the moment when they were attempting to rally, Marcellus, issuing from the wood, fell upon their rear. A dreadful massacre fol- lowed. So numerous were the slain, that in after-years the people of Marseilles used the bones to make fences for their vineyards, and the whole plain was fertilised by putrescent bodies. The Teutonic host was annihilated , and, on the western side, Italy was saved by the battle of Aix. § 9. Teubocchus, the gigantic Chieftain of the Teutons, accus- tomed (as tales ran) to ride four or six horses at once, was reserved to grace the Triumph. The broken arms and equipages were piled in a huge heap, and Marius himself, waving a chaplet and with his gown girded after the Gabine fashion, was advancing to fire it, when some horsemen were seen galloping along the Toad from Italy. He paused : leaping from their horses, they saluted him as Consul for the fifth time. § 10. During the whole year the Cimbrians had not made their appearance, but towards the close of the season it was ascertained that they had reached the Tyrol, and might be expected to de- scend into Italy next spring by the valley of the Athesis (Adige). Chap. LV. THE CIMBRIANS AND TEUTONS. 561 Catulus, who remained in command for a second year as Pro- consul, concentrated his forces on that river. His camp, strongly fortified, was on the right or western bank ; a bridge was thrown across the stream, defended by a similar camp or tete-du-pont. The barbarians did not wait for the melting of the snows. Early in the next year (101 b.c.) they poured down the Pass of the Brenner, sliding exultingly down the frozen slopes upon their shields. Keeping the left bank of the Adige, they made their way to the point where Catulus was stationed. The Roman soldiers, unaccustomed to the aspect of the barbarians, could not be prevented from deserting the camp in precipitate flight. Happily, the division which was stationed on the left bank de- fended their post gallantly and prevented the Cimbrians from crossing the bridge in pursuit. § 11. Marius had returned to Rome at the close of the previous campaign, where he was received as became the Conqueror of the Teutons, but generously declined the honour of a Triumph, till he could share it with Catulus. As soon as he heard of the descent of the Cimbrians, he set off for the Proconsul's camp, having previously ordered his lieutenants to bring his victorious army from Gaul into Italy. Catulus had succeeded in rallying his troops, and was posted on the south bank of the Po, probably near Placentia. The army which Marius brought to his aid amounted to more than 30,000 men ; that of Catulus was reduced to little more than 20,000. The energy of Sylla had provided well for supplies of provisions and forage, and Marius was obliged to own himself indebted to an officer who had unceasingly pro- voked his jealousy. Between the two Commanders the best feeling subsisted. The Cimbrians had pushed westward in the hope of meeting their friends the Teutons, of whose destruction they had not heard. Marius and Catulus, crossing the Po above the Ticinus, oftered battle. The Cimbrians answered by sending envoys to demand that, when their brethren reached Italy, the Romans should give them lands. " Your brethren," replied Marius, " have already as much land as they are like to need ;" and he sent back some Teuton prisoners, who suflSciently explained the meaning of his words. Boiorix, the Cimbrian Chief, nothing daunted, rode up to the Roman lines, and challenged the Generals to fix the day and place for a pitched battle. " The Romans," retorted Marius, " are not wont to consult the enemy on such points. However, we will humour you. Let the day be the third day hence ; the place the plain of Vercellae." § 12. Here the battle was fought. Catulus commanded the centre ; the troops of the Consul Marius^ in two divisions, flanked 24* 562 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI him on the right and left. The Cimbrian host advanced in one dense column, their front ranks being linked together by chains passed through their belts. This great phalanx was supported by 15,000 horsemen, armed like Germans, with helmets made of the heads of wild beasts, surmounted by tall plumes. The com- bat took place on the 30th day of July ; and the intense heat, to- gether with the dust, impaired the vigour of these northern men. The compact ranks of the enemy, broken by the fire of the terrible pila, and charged by the whole Roman line, were driven back to their camp in disorder, and there received by their own wives as if they had been enemies. A scene of frightful carnage followed. The women alone, from the high waggons which formed the defence of the camp, continued to resist ; till, not choosing to become slaves, they strangled, their children, and sought a volun- tary death either by the hands of friends or by nooses twisted of their own hair. The annihilation of the Cimbrian host at Yercellse was as complete as that of the Teutons at Aquae Sextia?. § 13. Both Marius and Catulus had done their duty in this bloody conflict. Plutarch, indeed, attributes the victory wholly to Catulus. But the accounts of Plutarch are borrowed from the annals of Sylla, a suspicious authority for estimating the merits of Marius. At Rome, all the credit of the Cimbrian, as well as of the Teutonic, victory was given to Marius. He was saluted, with Romulus and Camillus, as the third Founder of Rome. The people loudly expressed their w^ish that he should triumph alone. But Marius, respecting the feelings of the sol- diers, and not devoid of a rough generosity, declared that his noble colleague must share the honour. The opinion of the day was ratified by posterity. Cicero speaks of the Triumph as due to Marius ;* and Juvenal in a well-known line sums up the tra- ditional faith of a later generation.! There can be no doubt that Marius well deserved all his honours. By these great vic- tories he rolled back the tide of Northern immigration for at least three centuries. The battles of Aix and Vercella) may be ranked in the number of. those which changed the course of the World's History. § 14. While the arms of the Republic were thus triumphant in averting external peril, the fertile Province of Sicily was again a prey to the desolating horrors of a Slave War. * " Utrum tandem beatior. C. Marius turn, quum Cimbrinae victoriae gloriam eum collega Catulo communicavit, — paene altero Lselio, an , . , etc." — Tusicul. Qucest. v. 19. The comparison of Catulus with Laelius implies that of Marius with Scipio. f " Nobilis ornatur lauro Collega secundd." — Sat. viii. 253- Chap. LV. THE CIMBRIANS AND TEUTONS. 563 After the former war had been happily concluded by Piso and Rupilius, several indications of similar troubles appeared in Italy itself. At Capua, a spendthrift Knight armed 4000 slaves and assumed the diadem. But by prompt measures the insur- rection was put down. The rising in Sicily might have been checked with no less ease. It originated thus. Marius had been commissioned by the Senate to raise troops in foreign countries to meet the difficulties of tie Cimbrian war. He applied to the King of Bithynia, amorg otlier persons ; but the King answered that he had no soldiers, the Roman Tax-gatherers had made slaves of them all. The Senate, glad to have an opportunity of censuring the Equites, passed a Decree that all persons unduly detained in slavery should be set free. In Sicily the number of such persons was so large that the Praetor suspended the execution of the Decree. Great disappointment followed. A body of slaves rose in insur- rection near Agrigentum, and beat off the Praetor. Their num- bers swelled to 20,000, and they chose one Salvius, a soothsayer, to be their king. This man showed himself fit to command, lie divided his followers into three bodies, regularly officered. He enforced strict discipline. To restrain his men from wine and debauchery, he kept them in the field. He contrived to provide 2000 with horses. When his men seemed sufficiently trained, he laid siege to the city of Murgantia. But the slave- masters of Murgantia offered freedom to all slaves who would remain faithful, and Salvius saw himself compelled to retire. The promise, however, was not kept, and numbers of the deceived men flocked to the insurgent camp. § 15. This success in the East of Sicily gave birth to a similar risiBg in the West, which was headed by a Cilician slave named Athenio, who pretended to read the future in the stars. He soon found himself at the head of 10,000 soldiers, well found with arms and provisions. He gave out that the stars declared his sovereignty : he therefore forbade all robbery ; for, said he, " the property of our masters is now ours." He now rashly laid siege to the impregnable fortress of Lilybseum ; but finding its capture impossible, he drew off, alleging that an impending danger had been revealed to him. § 16. Meanwhile Salvius, who had assumed the name of Try- phon, fixed the seat of his sovereignty at the fortress of Thon cala, which had fallen into his hands, and sent orders to Athenio to repair in person to that place. Athenio obeyed the orders of King Try phon, and appeared at Triocala with 3000 men. The King now occupied himself with adding to the strength of his new capital. He chose a Senate out of his followers. On public 564 CIYIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL occasions he wore the Toga Praetexta of a Roman Magistrate, and was attended by the due number of Lictors. § 17. The Romans seemed unable to make head against the insurgents, till, in 101 B.C., M' Aquillius, the colleague of Marius in his fifth Consulship, took the command. Meanwhile, Try- phon had died, and Athenio had become chief of the insur- gents. Aquillius brought them to an engagement, in which 'he encountered the brave Athenio hand to hand. The Consul was severely wounded, but the slave leader was killed. Aquillius remained as Proconsul in Sicily for another year, in the course of which time he crushed the last embers of the war. After the fall of Athenio, the insurgents dwindled away to a band of 1000 desperate men commanded by one Satyrus, who at length surrendered to Aquillius, and were by him sent to Rome to serve as gladiators. The story of their end is very touching. Being brought out into the arena to fight with wild beasts, they slew one another at the foot of the altars which stood there; and Satyrus, being left alone, fell upon his own sword. It is manifest, from the humanity and discipline observed by these unhappy men in their power, that their chiefs must have been originally men of station and education, reduced to slavery by the horrid practice of ancient warfare. The story of their death presents a picture not flattering to Roman civilisation. § 18. Strict measures were adopted in Sicily to prevent a recurrence of these perils. It was made a standing order, con- firmed by every successive Praetor, that no slave should have a weapon in his possession. Nor was the ordinance suffered to remain a dead letter. Soon after, the Praetor L. Domitius received a fine wild boar as a present. He inquired who had killed it. Find- ing that it was a slave employed as a shepherd, he summoned the man to his presence. The poor fellow came with alacrity, ex- pecting a reward. The Praetor asked him with what he had killed the animal ; and finding that it was with a hunting-spear, he ordered the unfortunate wretch to be crucified. Such were the laws by which the masters of the world were obliged to maintaiu their power. CHAPTER LVI. FROM THE SIXTH CONSULSHIP OF MARIUS TO THE DEATH OF M. LIVIUS DRUSUS. (lOO 91 B.C.) 3 L Seaurus and the Senate form a middle party. § 2. Practice of young orators to indict culprits of high rank : condemnation of Q. Caepio. § 3. Caepio had oflfended the Equites. § 4. Eminent men in the moderate party : the two Scaevolas : Crassus and Antonius, the Orators. § 5. Position of Marius : inaptitude for political arts. § 6. Election of Marius to a Sixth Consulship, Glaucia to the Praetorship, Saturninus to the Tribunate. § 7. Agrarian Law of Saturninus : oath required of Senators. § 8. Trick of Marius : banishment of Metellus. § 9. Extension of the Corn- law prevented by Cn. Caepio. § 10. Glaucia stands for the Consulship: murder of Memmius : Saturninus and his crew outlawed : their end. § 11. Decline of Marius' power. § 12. Return of Metellus. § 13. Visit of Marius to Mithridates. § 14. Praetorship of Sylla : Sylla sent to Cilicia. § 15. Partial verdicts of the Equestrian Juries: cases of Aquillius and Rutilius. § 16. Drusus undertakes to deprive the Equites of Judicial power, but insists on enfranchising Italians. § 17. Measures of Drusus. § 18. His judicial Reform ill received. § 19. Attack of Phi- lippus on the Enfranchisement Bill : death of Crassus. § 20. Assassination of Drusus. § 21. Law of Varius : impeachment of Seaurus. § 1. The power of the Nobility, shaken to its centre by the Gracchi, was for a time restored by force. But the election of Marius to the C onsulate was a signal triumph of the popular paj^if'^mmSimmmgf^p^rchived that the recklefes corruption of the OligafteJi^LjaaLttftk end in ruin, and he put himself at the head of the moderate party. The Senate was now in their hands. § 2. An indirect check was placed upon public immorality, by the increasing love for popular oratory, which followed the transference of judicial authority from the Senate to the Eques- trian Order. The latter were venal enough, but were yet more open to persuasion than the old Senatorial juries, and afforded a greater scope to the powers of youthful orators. The examplo of Cato and the Gracchi showed how men might rise to emi- nence by peaceful arts ; and men even of noble family found a ready way to office by impeaching public officers. Q. Caepio suffered in this way. This man, as we have seen, was gorged with the plunder of Toulouse, and by his quarrel with the Consul Mallius had at least contributed to the great defeat of 105 B.C.* On the news of the defeat being received, the Tribes * Chapt. Iv. § 3. 566 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book V I. passed a vote to deprive Csepio of his proconsular command, and to confiscate all his goods, — a proceeding unexampled in the later annals of the Republic. In the next year, the Tri- bunes introduced a law by which it was enacted that any one who had been so deprived of his command should lose his seat in the Senate. § 3. The attainder of Csepio was the greatest advantage which we know to have been gained by the popular party at this time. It was not solely on the merits of the case that he was so promptly judged. He had, in the year before, when he was Consul, carried a Centuriate Law — the Servilian Law of Csepio — by which the judicial authority was restored to the Senate, and had thus provoked the wrath of the Equestrian Order. This law, however, did not remain in force many months. It was repealed by the Servilian Law of the Tribune C. Glaucia, in the same year that Csepio was condemned : and thus one Servilian law for restoring judgment to the Senate was cancelled by another Servilian law giving it back to the Knights. § 4. Of the moderate party, after Scaurus, none are more noticeable than Metellus and Catulus. But the most distin- guished for purity of life were the two Scsevolas, the Augur and the Pontifex Maximus. Q. Scsevola, the Augur, belonged to a former generation. He is chiefly known for his great legal knowledge, in which he was the worthy successor of his cousins, P. Scsevola and P. Crassus, the friends of Ti. Gracchus.* He married Lselia, the daughter of Scipio's friend. In a corrupt age he escaped all taint of corruption. The fame of Q. Scsevola, the Augur, was sustained by his cousin, Q. Scsevola, the Chief Pontiff. He was the son of that Scsevola who supported Ti. Gracchus, and was the third of his family who had borne the high office of Pontifex Maximus in succession. Like the Augur, he preferred the quiet profession of a jurist to the exciting conflicts of political life. But when- ever he appears in public, he adds honour to the name of his family. He ruled Asia with singular integrity ; and we shall have to notice in a future page the unjust condemnation of his Legate, P. Rutilius Rufus, for endeavouring to prevent the ex- tortions of the tax-collectors. His memory was long preserved by the grateful Asiatics in festal games known by the name of Mucia. The disinterested character of the Pontiff is shown by an anecdote preserved by Cicero. He had bought an estate under its due value ; and though that value had been fixed by the vendor, the conscientious purchaser insisted on paying a * P. Sosevola, Cons. 115 B.C., and Q. Scsevola, Cons. 174, were brothers. Chap. LVL THE LEADERS OF THE SENATE. 567 larger price, — an act which the jurists of the day considered to be incompatible with wisdom.* Here also may be noticed the two great Advocates of the day, M. Antonius and L. Licinius Crassus, each known by the name of " the Orator." At Rome, in those days, a great Advocate could hardly avoid taking part in politics, for all celebrated causes were of a political nature. At Rome, advocacy was not so much a profession as a duty of private or political friendship. Both Crassus and Antonius generally appear as the defenders of Senators before the Equestrian Tribunal, and therefore seldom met as rivals at the bar. In youth, they both courted popular favour : but they soon became steady adherents of the Senatorial Order. Crassus married Mucia, daughter of Q. Scaevola the Augur, and was the close friend of Q. Scaevola the Pontiff. One of his most famous speeches was delivered in favour of the, Servilian law of Csepio for restoring judicial power to the Senators : in the time of Cicero it was regarded as a classical composition : " it could not," remarks the critic, " be improved except by Crassus himself" The oratory of Crassus was often pointed with sarcasm, which made him enemies even in the Senate : that of Antonius was more natural and pathetic. Cicero is unable to adjudge superiority to either. He introduces the two as the chief interlocutors in his celebrated Dialogues on the Orator. He exhausts the Latin language in expressing his admiration of both. Crassus he held to be the greatest orator Rome had ever seen except Antonius, and Antonius the greatest except Crassus. The oratory of Antonius, from its pathetic character, was more fitted for a Jury; that of Crassus for a deliberative Assembly. In their high finish and elaborate pre- paration the orations of Cicero himself may be taken as repre- sentations of the style of Crassus rather than of Antonius. But these men, though they were upright, grave, and dignified, had not energy enough to reform the abuses revealed by the Gracchi ; and thus the stage was left open to profligate dema- gogues. The removal of external danger by the defeat of the barbarians, and the return of Marius to Rome, gave the signal for a renewal of internal troubles. § 5. Marius was now the great man of the day. All parties were disposed to welcome him. He had conciliated the Senate by his bearing towards Catulus : his military glory dazzled the multitude ; the saving of Italy won him the regards of all. The blunt manners of the man gave no off'ence, nay, rather increased his popularity with the multitude. He had become rich ; but to * Cicero de OfHc iii. 15. 568 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD. Book VI gain wealth he had used no means that were reprobated by the usages of Roman society ; his character for integrity stood high. Yet his own nature and long habits of command rendered him incapable of using the arts of the Forum. He is not the only great General that has quailed before the clamours of a popular Assembly : and it was not long before his popularity began to decline. § 6. But he could not bear to descend into private life : all men were surprised, and moderate men were disgusted, when he appeared as candidate for a Sixth Consulship (101 b.c.) There was no excuse for any further violation of the law, and it appeared that his chance of election was doubtful. But agents were ready to assist him ; his money was at their disposal ; troops of dis- banded soldiery thronged the streets of Rome. Metellus came forward as a candidate, not so much hoping to defeat Marius, as to neutralise his power by becoming his colleague. But even in this he was disappointed : L. Valerius Flaccus, a feeble noble- man, was preferred to ,the leader of the aristocracy. The person who was mainly instrumental in procuring this result was L. Apuleius Saturninus, a man of good family, but with the habits of a reckless debauchee. Finding himself slighted by the Senate, he resolved upon revenge. He possessed that kind of eloquence which stirs the populace. What he wanted in rank and character he supplied by attaching himself to Marius. He found a friend and associate in C. Servilius Glaucia, the same who had already foiled the Senate by repealing the judicial law of Ciepio. This man's character was as bad as that of Saturninus. But his ready wit and reckless humour made him a popular favourite, and he was elected Praetor of the City at the same Comitia which made Marius Consul for the sixth time. Having secured the election of these two men, Saturninus now stood forward as a candidate for a second Tribunate. But a man of spirit, named Nonius, rose in the Assembly, and after boldly denouncing the infamous lives of both Glaucia and Saturninus, offered himself as a candidate, and was elected Tribune to the exclusion of the demagogue. A man so reckless as Saturninus was not thus to be defeated. With a party of his adherents he set upon Nonius, and murdered him. Glaucia then called a partisan meeting early next morning, which he declared to be a regular Assembly of the Tribes; and by their votes Saturninus was elected Tribune. § 7. Saturninus at once commenced a career which is a sort of caricature of the public acts of the Gracchi. He began by intro- ducing an iniquitous Agrarian Law, by which it was propose*! to divide among the soldiers of Marius the lands in Gaul recently Chap. LVI. SIXTH CONSULSHIP OF MARIUS. 669 occupied by the Cimbrians ; iniquitous, for these lands were the property of the Provincials who had been dispossessed by the barbarians. He also proposed to found Colonies in various pro- vinces, and to employ the "Toulouse gold" of Csspio as Ti. Gracchus had employed the gold of Attains. For carrying this law Saturninus relied chiefly on the disbanded soldiery of Marius and a mob of Latins and Italians. To intimi- date the Senate it was provided that, in case the law received the assent of the Tribes, every Senator should, within five days, take an oath of obedience to its enactments, and that any recusant should lose his seat in the Senate and pay a fine of twenty talents to the Treasury. § 8. On the day appointed for the vote, the opposite party en- deavoured to break up the Assembly by declaring that it was thundering. " If you do not take heed," said Saturninus, " it will hail also." Stung by his scornful demeanour, the opponents of the law girded up their gowns, and drove the adherents of Saturninus from the Forum. But the veteran soldiers regained possession of the place, and the law passed. On the same day Marius, in the Senate-house, declared that to exact a compulsory oath was an insult to the Order, and Metellus expressed his resolution to stand by the Consul in refusing the oath. But late on the afternoon of the fifth day, when the time for taking the oath was just expiring, Marius hastily convened the Senate, and stated that there was reason to apprehend violence if the oath were not taken ; to appease the mob he proposed that all should submit to take it ; hereafter it might be declared null, as having been taken under compulsion. All saw through this hypocritical artifice : but there was no time for debate ; and Marius himself, rising from his place, went forth to the front of the Temple of Saturn, and there publicly took the oath. The rest of the Senators present followed his example, all except Metellus, who declared that he would submit to any penalty except dishonour. Next day, when the Senate met, Metellus appeared in his place ; and Saturninus ordered him to be removed. The other Tribunes interposed ; upon which Saturninus rushed forth and harangued his partisans, telling them that while Metellus was at Rome they Would never get their promised lands. He then brought forward a Bill to banish Metellus from the soil of Italy. Before the day appointed for the vote, the Roman citizens armed themselves with daggers, and would have used force against the partisans of Saturninus ; but Metellus, with noble patriotism, said that not for him should blood be shed, and forthwith quitted the city. § 9. Saturninus next brought in a Bill designed to win the favour of the Roman Populace. It was a measure for reducing 570 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD. Book VI the price of grain from 6^ ases the modius (the price fixed by C. Gracchus) to 5-6ths of an as.* The Senate were now roused to action. The Quaestor of the City, Cn. Caspio, made a report that the Treasury could not bear the drain which must follow ; and the Senate ordered Saturninus to proceed no further. He persisted ; his colleagues interposed their veto ; but Saturninus scornfully ordered the ballot-boxes to be brought forward, on which Caepio, supported by a strong body of men, broke down the gangways and overthrew the ballot-boxes. The violence of Saturninus could not be arrested but by violence. § 10. The Tribunician Elections for the next year came on before the Consular. Saturninus procured his own reelection ; and, as Marius did not seek a seventh Consulship, the Tribune used all his power to procure the election of his friend Glaucia to this office. But Antonius the Orator and C. Memmius were held sure of their election; and, to prevent this result, Saturninus sent a band of ruffians who positively beat Memmius to death in the Campus Martius. This brutal act broke up the Assembly. The People of the City were wrought up to frenzy, and met next day, vowing that they would have the life of Saturninus. The Tribune, supported by Glaucia and by Saufeius, one of the City Quaestors, assumed an attitude of resistance. The Senate met, and Marius offered himself as mediator. But the Senate issued a decree which charged the Consuls with dictatorial power. Meanwhile the insurgents had seized the Capitol. All the chiefs of the Senate appeared in arms to support Marius, who became the unwilling leader of his political adversaries. It might have been not easy to reduce the insurgents under such a commander ; but some persons cut the pipes which supplied the quarter with water, and as it thus became impossible for the insurgents to hold out, they surrendered in reliance upon the good offices of Marius. The citizens would have slain them on the spot ; but Marius insisted on a regular trial, and shut them up in the Senate-house. The People, however, would not be balked of vengeance. Numbers of them climbed to the top of the building, tore off the tiles, and killed all the prisoners. Thus were slain a Praetor, a Quaestor, and a Tribune, all wearing the ensigns of office. § 11. The proceedings against Sa/urninus were the same as those adopted against the Gracchi. But this demagogue had himself set the example of using force, and his death was due to a burst of popular feeling. Marius had lost all influence by * The particular change of price was caused probably by a jingle of words. By the Apuleian Law corn was to be sold semisse et triente (^ ~|- ^ •-= 5) instead of ^enis et triente (6^), as ruled by the Sempronian Law, Chap. LVI. RECAL OF METELLUS. 571 associating himself with such men. The Senate and People of Rome, who were now allied through fear of the Italians, hated him because he had attempted to save Saturninus. He proved as feeble a politician as he was a bold and'slalful commander. §12. Allorders now desired the recal of Metellus, who had retired to Rhodes. On the death of Saturninus, it was proposed at once to rescind the law by which he was banished ; but one of the Tribunes put a veto on the measure. In vain the friends and kinsmen of the banished Senator sought to bend this man from his purpose ; in vain young Q. Metellus interceded for his father so earnestly that he was known ever after by the name of Pius. But at the beginning of the next year (99 b.c), the law for removing the ban from Metellus now passed by acclamation. His return was a real triumph. The whole City, Nobles and People, met him outside the walls. So many were the greetings which he had to receive and give that it was evening before he entered the gates. He had been absent about a year. § 13. That was a bitter day for the proud spirit of Marius. He left Rome abruptly, and took ship for Asia. The ambassadors of Mithridates had been insulted by Saturninus ; but the King dissembled all anger, and received the great General with every mark of honour. Marius answered the Oriental compliments of Mithridates with rude threats. "King," said he, "you will have to conquer Rome or to submit." Plutarch avers that his purpose was to drive Mithridates to war, in the hope that he might recover in arms that consequence which he had lost in peace. § 14. The popular taste for shows was daily increasing with the increasing wealth of the great families who supplied ^diles to the State. Sylla had relapsed into easy self-indulgence after his Cimbrian campaigns. But he now appeared as candidate for the Praetorship. He had not, however, served as ^dile; and the people expected a magnificent show of beasts from the friend of Bocchus. Sylla therefore lost his election. But in 94 b.c. he spent large sums in bribery, and promised to exhibit as Praetor all that had been expected from him as ^dile. Accordingly in the next year the wondering people saw one hundred lions, the gift of the Moorish King, let loose in the Circus. After his Praetorship, Sylla was sent by the Senate into Cilicia with a commission to watch Mithridates, who had already begun military preparations on a large scale. Wherever Marius went, it seemed as if he were destined to meet Sylla in rivalry. § 15. Of all the measures of Gracchus none had left a deeper sore than that which transferred the judicial power from the Senators to the Equestrian Order. Q. Caepio's attempt to re- verse this measure had succeeded only for a moment : disap- 572 CIYIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD. Book VI. pointment aggravated the soreness of the Senate. But though popular feeling was in favour of the Equestrian rather than the Senatorial juries, yet the Knights, as has before been noted, had their- own motives for corrupt judgment. As Farmers of the Revenue, they were subject to the power of provincial magis- trates ; and, accordingly as a provincial magistrate favoured or hindered their exactions, it was probable that he would be treated with leniency or severity at their tribunal. Two celebrated causes had lately occurred which proved this point to demonstration. M' Aquillius had quelled the Second Slave-war in Sicily. His father had been noted for rapacity in Asia : the son followed too faithfully the example of his sire. His advocate, Antonius, pleaded his good services as a set-off against the corrupt practices by which he had amassed a large fortune. The orator concluded a pathetic appeal to the feelings of the jury by tearing open the tunic of the old soldier and displaying the scars which seamed his breast. The effect was such that the whole audience sobbed aloud, and iron tears were seen to roll down the cheeks of Marius. Aquillius was acquitted. P. Rutilius Rufus had displayed no small military talent as Legate to Metellus in the Jugurthan War. After his Consulship he had accompanied his friend Q. Scsevola the Pontiff as Legate to Asia. The severe spirit of justice which regulated his whole conduct could not tolerate the rapacity displayed by the Eques- trian Farmers of the Revenue, and he exerted himself to protect the helpless Provincials from their exactions. On his return, a person of indifferent character was induced to indict him before the Equestrian Court for impeding public officers in the execution of their duty. Rutilius had, like Scipio, been a disciple of the great Stoic teacher Pansetius, and he practised the rigid philo- sophy which he professed. He would not accept the services either of Crassus or Antonius, and prevented even SciB\o]a, who attended him into Court, from using the arts of advocacy. But probably no advocacy would have availed. The complainants and the jury belonged to the same body ; and the Knights proved that they were not more fit than the Senators to be judges in their own case.* § 16. The iniquity of this sentence was so glaring that it gave an opportunity for wresting the privilege of judgment from the Knights. Scaurus cast his eye about for a fitting agent, and it fell on a young man named M. Livius Drusus, son of that Drusus * Cicero, a great patron of the Equestrian Order, declares that, "P. Rutilio damnato, nemo tarn iunocens videbatur, ut non timeret judieia." — Pro Scauro, 1 ; compare In Pison. 39. CuAT. LYI. TRIBUNATE OF DRUSUS. 5lS who had served as the tool of the Senate in outbidding C. Gracchus. His family was good, his wealth great, his life spot- less, his mind cultivated, his eloquence remarkable, his temper fearless, and his will inflexible. The frank simplicity of his nature is well shown by a well-known anecdote. He was building a new house on the Palatine (the same which afterwards belonged to Cicero), and the architect promised so to construct it that no one should be able to overlook him. " Rather," said Drusus, " so arrange it that all my life may be open to all eyes." Scaurus soon found that he had chosen one who would not stoop to be the tool of a party. Several of the Italian towns sent deputies to pray Drusus to undertake their cause, and he eagerly agreed. Scaurus and the Senatorial leaders, to secure him for their own service, were obliged to support his foreign policy. § 17. Drusus began his Tribunate like C. Gracchus and Sa- turninus. He resorted to the old expedient of an Agrarian Law, by which Colonies were to be largely planted on the Public Lands of Italy and Sicily, and he proposed an extension of the Law for selling corn cheap. § 18. He next undertook to fulfil the contract he had made with Scaurus. He did not, however, purpose simply to restore judicial power to the Senate; but devised a compromise, by which this power might be shared between its old and its new possessors. The number of the Senate was to be doubled by the addition of 300 members, to be chosen from among the Knights; and from these 600 Senators the Judges were to be chosen. But this plan failed to satisfy either party. The Knights, as a body, had no wish to transfer the privilege they now possessed to 300 of their Order, and the Oligarchy were loud against Scaurus for betraying his Order. § 19. The Oligarchy was even more irritated by the proposal to enfranchise the Italians. They won over the Consul Philippus, a cross-grained man of ready speech, who appeared in the Forum to oppose the Law. But Drusus ordered the Consul to be removed, and the order was executed with so little regard that blood burst from his mouth. On this Philippus declared in opon Forum, that " with such a Senate as they now had it was impossible to carry on the Government." Next day, the Tribune rose in the House to complain of the attack made by the Consul on the Senatorial Order. He was seconded by Crassus in a speech so eloquent that he was thought to have surpassed himself. Philippus replied in a furious invective, and declared that he would exact pl( dges for good conduct from the Orator. This called up Crassus again, and he attacked the Consul in a strain of indig- nation unusual to him. " Do you expect," he exclaimed, " to 574 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book YL frighten me by pledges ? You must first cut out this tongue ; and even then love of liberty will find means to testify against depraved license." The great Orator sat down amid general applause ; but his exertions brought on an attack of pleurisy, and in a week that eloquent tongue was mute for ever. § 20. What might have been the result is impossible to guess ; for all further proceedings were cut short by the assassina- tion of the Tribune. Drusus knew that his life was in danger. For some time he had avoided public places, and received those who came to transact business with him in a covered walk behind his house. One evening, as he was dismissing his visitors, he cried out that he was stabbed, and fell to the ground. A leather- cutter's knife was found planted in his loins. He expired soon after, mournfully saying that it would be long before the Republic would have a servant so disinterested as himself. § 21. The excitement produced by this last disappointment of their hopes was great throughout the towns of Italy. It was greater still when a Tribune named Varius, a native of Sucro in Spain, who had become a Roman citizen, introduced a Law by which it was declared that all who favoured Italian claims had been guilty of high treason against the People of Rome. Under this Law Scaurus and the leading Senators were at once im- peached. Some sought safety in exile. Antonius stood his trial, defended himself in a speech of passionate vehemence, and was acquitted. There was no evidence against Scaurus but the word of the accuser ; and the wary statesman contented himself with saying in defence : " Q. Yarius, the Spaniard, says that M. Scaurus, the Chief of the Senate, has endeavoured to excite the Allies to rebellion. Choose ye, Quirites, which ye will believe." lie was acquitted, and this is the last we hear of a man who for thirty years or more had been the virtual Chief of Rome. Coin of the Eight Italian Nations, joining in an Oath of Federation, with tho Legend Italia. CHAPTER LVIL THE SOCIAL WAR. (b.C. 90, 89.) § 1. Anger of the Italians : outbreak at Asculum. § 2. Organisation of the Italians : Consuls, Praetors, , and Plutarch call it thp Marsian War. Chap. LVII. THE SOCIAL WAR. 577 point nearer the sea. No sooner had Rutilius crossed the river with negligent haste, than he was assaulted by Pompaedius. The Roman army was utterly defeated, the Consul himself slain, and Marius apprised of the Consul's defeat only by the number of dead bodies that came slowly floating down the Liris. The old General immediately crossed the river and drove back tli8 victorious enemy. The body of the Consul was recovered and sent to be interred publicly at Rome. But the consternation which prevailed there was raised to its height by this fatal spec- tacle, and the Senate issued a Decree ordering that the bodies of the slain, however illustrious, should be buried in the place where they had fallen. Marius himself maintained his reputation only by foiling the enemy in all attempts to force on a battle. Pompaedius, flushed with success, called on him, — " If he were the great General he was reported, to come out and fight." " Nay," retorted Marius, " if you are the great General you would fain be thought, make me come out and fight." Plutarch attributes his inactivity to his age (he was now sixty-five), his corpulence, and the luxurious habits he had of late adopted. But subsequent events showed that he could be active enough when he pleased ; and it is more than probable that Marius purposely abstained from acting with energy against the Italians, who had fought his battles in the field and supported his political agitation in the City. § 4. The Consuls chosen for the next year were, Cn. Pompeius Strabo. father of Pompey the Great, aud L. Porcius Cato. Pom- peius was a greedy and selfish, but able man ; and he served the Republic well in the ensuing campaign. Cato had just rendered a great service to the State by checking a threatened rising in Etruria. § 5. But the Senate trusted not wholly to military ability. During the autumn serious deliberations were held as to the expediency of a compromise. Statesmen of the school of Scaurus advocated the affirmative side : the actual Consul L. Caesar, and the Consul-elect Cn. Pompeius, were both of this class. Besides the losses in Campania, all Samnium, except the Colony of ^^ernia, was in the hands of the enemy ; in Apulia, even the Colonies of Venusia and Luceria had been taken by Judacilius, and Lamponius had driven the Praetor Crassus, son of the orator, out of Lucania. Unfavourable reports also came in from the North ; it seemed likely that the Sabellian insurrection might spread over the whole of Italy. The Consul Caesar was by the Senate empowered to draw up a Law, called after him the Julian Law, for granting the Franchise to those of the Allies who had either taken no part in the Social War, or had now ceased to 25 578 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL take part in it, on the necessary condition that their respective countries should become integral portions of the Roman Terri- tory. To show that the Law was to be a reality, L. Caesar him- self, with his Legate Crassus, were elected Censors for the year 89 B.C. to enrol the new citizens, though it was but eighteen months since the last Censors had laid down their office* The effect of this timely concession immediately appeared : a division of opinion was created in many of the insurgent Commu- nities. But in others it excited a still more vigorous determina- tion. At first, the coins issued from the Mint of the Confederates bore Latin Legends : but as the contest became embittered, the Oscan character was adopted, as if to show that the language of Rome was to be henceforth disused by the friends of Italy.* § 6. But while the Senate prudently disarmed the wavering or the lukewarm, they made strenuous exertions to crush those who should continue the war. The Samnites, above all, showed no inclination to accept favours from Rome : the deadly hostility of ancient times again broke out ; and they scrupled not to send an embassy to the Court of Mithridates. Desperate reso- lution could not be more strongly shown than by calling in an Asiatic monarch to share in the spoils of Italy. Proclamations were issued in which rewards were offered for the heads of Roman citizens, and freedom promised to all slaves who should join the Italian cause. § T. Early in the spring of the next year (89 b.c.) the cam- paign began. The Consul Pompeius moved northwards into the Picenian territory, while his colleague Cato covered the passes leading down from the Appennines into the Campagna of Rome. But Cato fell at the very outset of the campaign in a skirmish, and the chief command on the south of the Apennines fell to his Lieutenant, Sylla. Sylla now exerted himself to the utmost to eclipse the military renown of his old Commander Marius. He took the field with a small Roman division, supported by a strong auxiliary force of Numidians and Moors, raised by his personal influence in Africa. With these troops he advanced within sight of the enemy's entrenched camp in Campania. A gigantic Gaul came out and challenged any of Sylla's men to single combat. The challenge was accepted by a Numidian, whose adroitness enabled him to lay low his huge antagonist. On this, the enemy's host fled in consternation towards Nola ; and Sylla followed so closely, that the garrison of that city were obliged to close the gates which * It is impossible to say when this change took place. The coin at the end of this Chapter bears the name of Papius in Oscan characters, with only Two of the Allied Nations left. Ohap. LVII. the social WAR. 679 they had opened to admit the fugitives. The active Roman fol- lowed up his first success so vigorously, that the enemy was obliged to leave Campania ; and Sylla, leaving part of his army to invest Nola, entered the Hirpinian country. Its towns sub- mitted ; and Sylla prepared to pass into the Pentrian valleys, the last and strongest holds of Samnite freedom. § 8. Meanwhile, the Consul Porapeius had been pursuing a course no less successful in the North. He had at first been defeated by Judacilius, who left Afranius to hold the Consul in check, while he repaired in person to Apulia. But Pompeius routed Afranius, and invested Asculum, the first seat of the insurrection. As soon as this ill news reached Judacilius, he flew to the relief of his native city, but only succeeded so far as to cut his way through the Roman lines and enter the gates with a few brave men. Pompeius left his lieutenants to blockade the place, which was desperately defended, and himself moved south- wards. Corfinium' fell into his hands, and the seat of the insur- gent government was shifted to Bovianum, the chief stronghold of the Pentrian Samnites. Here then the war was to be decided. While Pompeius de- scended from the North, Sylla was advancing from the South. § 9. At this moment an attempt was made to negotiate. Pom- peius and Scato had an interview, at which Cicero — then a youth of seventeen, served his first campaign in the Consul's army— :;was present. Sextus, the Consul's brother, came expressly from Rome to lend his good offices for promoting peace. " I am," said he to the Samnite Chief, " by choice your friend, your enemy by necessity." But the attempt proved unavailing. Meanwhile, Sylla defeated the Samnite General Papius, and pushed on straight to Bovianum, where he was in correspondence with some persons attached to the Roman interest. The place was betrayed to him. About the same time an answer arrived from Mithridates. He bade the Samnites hold out firmly : he was, he said, at present engaged in expelling the Romans from Asia ; when that work was done, he would cross the sea, and assist them in crushing the she-wolf of Italy. But promises at such a juncture were equiva- lent to refusal. § 10. On all hands, therefore, the fortune of Rome was in the ascendant. Judacilius, finding that he could hold Asculum no longer, raised a funeral pile in sight of his banqueting-hall, and after a sumptuous entertainment given to his friends, drained a poisoned cup of wine to the dregs, ascended the fatal pile, and bade his guests set fire to it. The place surrendered, and the Consul Pompeius treated the citizens with ruthless severity ; the 580 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL richer sort were beheaded ; the rest sold as slaves ; the houses rased to the ground. Among those reserved to grace his triumph was a boy named P. Ventidius Bassus, who afterwards became one of the best officers in the Roman army, and himself enjoyed a triumph for avenging the defeat of Crassus upon the Parthians. The Vestinians and Pelignians yielded to the Consul ; Sulpicius received the submission of the Marrucinians, Murena and Me- tellus Pius that of the Marsians.* The brave Marsian Chie^ Pompaedius, fled into Apulia, pursued by Metellus ; and venturing to give battle, was defeated and slain. Venusia returned to its allegiance. But Canusium in Apulia and Nola in Campania were still held by Samnite garrisons; and the Samnites them- selves in their mountains, with a portion of the Lucanians, stih defied the Roman arms. The successful issue of the war was not purchased without heavy losses on the side of Rome. It is computed that in the whole of this deadly struggle not fewer than 300,000 of the youth of Italy fell. The greater part of them belonged doubtless to the enemy. But when we speak of the enemy, it must be remembered that in every man who fell — whether Roman, Latin, or Italian — the Republic lost a soldier. § 11. When it was too late, the Senate showed themselves forward in concession. In the early part of the second cam- paign, the Tribunes, M. Plotius Sylvanus and C. Papirius Carbo, brought in a Law supplementary to the Julian Law, by which its privileges were granted not only to the Italian allies, but also to the burgesses of all allied cities in the provinces, who were at that time domiciled in Italy, provided that they registered their names before the Praetor of the city within sixty days.f The Consul Pompeius emulated his predecessor by proposing a law for advancing all the citizens of the Gallic communities beyond the Po to the condition of Latin burgesses. § 12. The practical question that remained was the mode of admitting the new citizens. It is evident that there were two distinct ways in which this might be accomplished. First, the number of Tribes might have been retained as it was ; and the Italians might either have been distributed through the whole Thirty-five, or have been confined (like the Freedmen) to a cer- tain number. Of these plans, the former mode would have made the Italians masters of the Comitia on all occasions ; the latter * It must have been after the submission of these four nations that the A.l]ies struck money with four figures instead of eight. The four shortly ifter fell to two. See the coins at the head and foot of this Chapter. f The argument of Cicero in his well-known speech for the poet Archiaa lurns upon the provisions of this law. Chap. LVII THE SOCIAL WAR. 68 J would have looked like an insult and a degradation. Or, seeondly, the number of Tribes might be increased, and the new Tribes reserved for the Italians. This was the plan adopted. The Censors, L. Caesar and P. Crassus, entered on their ofRce during the present year ; and in the course of the year 89 b.c, they created Ten new Tribes for the Italians alone, and prepared to register all their names as Roman citizens of these Tribes. But the Civil War prevented the Censors from finishing their work. § 13. The difficulties attached to the question of enfranchising the Italians showed that it was not a merely factious opposition which had hitherto been oflJ'ered. The Senate indeed had shown an anxious disposition to settle the matter peaceably ; and the passing of the Law to extend the Franchise, before arms were laid down, proves that they gave up the stern maxim of the old Republic, " Spare the submissive, and war down the proud." It was in fact impossible to adapt a Constitution originally fitted for a small Civic Community to a great Country. It was manifest that the Italians would not rest satisfied with the scanty share of direct power granted to them ; and yet it was hardly safe to grant them more, unless, indeed, some statesman in advance of his time had suggested a plan resembling the modern system of Representative Parliaments. But no such plan was thought of. It may be said that the partial admission of the Italians to the franchise annulled the old Roman Constitution, and made an absolute Monarchy almost a political necessity. § 14. During the Social War the High Courts of Justice had been closed. Of the great advocates, Crassus was dead, Anto- nius was absent from Rome, Cotta, who had aspired to succeed to their fame, was in exile. Hortensius, who was fast establish- ing his claim to be considered the first orator of his day, was employed in the first year of the war as a Legionary Tribune, in the second as a Tribune. Sulpicius, another eloquent speaker, had served as a Legate of the Consul Pompeius. Cicero, not yet eighteen, had just imbibed that distaste for a military life which attached him ever after to the Forum, Ck)in of the Two Allied Nations who last held out, with the name of Papius in 08c*o Characters. i CHAPTER LVin. FIRST CIVIL WAR. (88 86 B.C.) § 1. Sylla appointed to the command against Mithridates. § 2. Attempt of the young Nobles to relieve themselves of debt. § 3. The Tribune Sul- picius. § 4. He proposes to distribute the Italians among all the Tribes. § 5. Riots : the law passed, and Marius chosen to supersede Sylla, § 6. Sylla flies to his army at Nola. § 7. Marches upon Rome : joined by the other Consul Q. Pompeius Rufus. § 8. Battle in streets of Rome. § 9. Marius and eleven others outlawed by the Senate. § 10. Death of Sul- picius. § 11- Adventures of Marius: he reaches Africa. § 12. Unpopu- larity of Sylla : Octavius and Cinna, Consuls : oath of Cinna : murder of Pompeius Rufus: Sylla leaves Italy. § 13. Cinna puts himself at the head of the Italians : he is driven out of Rome, and deprived of the Consulship. § 14. The army at Nola declares for Cinna: the Italians rise in arms. § 15. Marius returns to Italy : joins Cinna. § 16. Efforts of the Senate : Pompeius Strabo enters Rome. § 17. Blockade of Rome by four armies. § 18. Death of Pompeius: surrender of Rome. § 19. The Marian Mas- sacre. § 20. Sertorius slaughters the slaves. § 21. Death of Catulus and others. § 22. Seventh Consulship and death of Marius. § 1 . Marius was the cause of the First Civil War ; but the per- son who gave occasion to its outbreak was Mithridates, King of Pontus. We have said that in the second year of the Social War this remarkable man encouraged the insurgents to hope for his support as soon as he had expelled the Romans from Asia. The details of this enterprise will be given in the next chapter. Here we must be content with stating that, before the end of the year 89 B.C., the Senate had determined upon war, and a Commander was to be chosen. In the mind of Marius, this Commander could be none other than himself: he had long fixed his eye upon the East, and had done what in him lay to hasten a rupture. Late events had shown him that Sylla, whom he hated, might become a formidable rival ; and he left the sumptuous villa which he had lately erected at Misenum, for a house adjoining the Forum. He daily frequented that busy place, and, notwithstanding his increasing age and corpulence, again joined in the military exer- cises of the Campus, trusting that thus he should be always in the sight of the People. But the glory won by Sylla in the Social War marked him as the person to whom the command was due ; and, as he was Consul-elect, his appointment was regarded as a Chap. LVIII. FIRST CIVIL WAR. 583 matter of course. In the heart of Marius hatred was made intense by disappointment; and he determined, cost what it might, to secure the command for himself. § 2. Circumstances favoured his design. The business of farming the revenue every day increased the wealth of the Equestrian Order. To them all who needed money resorted. They demanded high rates of interest ; but lavish expenditure was the fashion among the young Nobles. Some of those who were heavily burthened with debt raked up an old law, by which usurious interest was forbidden, and refused to pay more than was by this law allowed. A case was brought before the Praetor Asellio, who allowed the noble debtors to prosecute their cre- ditors for illegal usury. The fury of the Knights rose to the utmost : Asellio was assaulted and murdered. § 3. Among the Tribunes of the year was P. Sulpicius, a master of lofty and pathetic eloquence,* who had been a friend of the unfortunate Drusus, and was animated by bitter enmity against Q. Pompeius Rufus, Sylla's colleague in the Consulship. This was the person whom old Marius now selected as his political agent, as he had formerly chosen Saturninus. Marius held up before his ardent imagination the treasures of Mithridates, promising that, if the command were transferred to himself, he would em- ploy the wealth of the Pontic King to relieve the Roman debtors. Sulpicius caught eagerly at the oft'er. § 4. There was no inclination among the People of Rome to supersede Sylla. But if the Italians could exercise a weight in the Comitia proportioned to their numbers, it was plain that Marius, alway a favourite with the Italian countrymen, would be secure of the appointment. Sulpicius, therefore, boldly gave notice of two measures : one by which the Italians were to be distributed evenly through all the Tribes ; a second, by which all Freedmen who had served in the Italian Wars were to be placed on a level with the Old Citizens. Thus in every Tribe the New Citizens, comprising Italians and Freedmen, would form a majority, and thus the votes of the Tribes would be at the dis- posal of Marius. § 5. It was not to be expected that the Old Citizens would tamely submit to be overridden. As the day for voting drew nigh, battles with stones and staves were of daily occurrence. The Consuls endeavoured to postpone the day of conflict by pro- claiming a Justitium or General Holiday, the effect of which was to suspend all public business. But the Tribune declared his intention to proceed to a vote, just as if the Consuls had issued no proclamation ; and ordered a body of 3000 young men * "Maxime omnium grandis et tragicus Orator." — Cicero Brut. 55. 584 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL to attend him, with concealed daggers, in the Forum ; they were to strike when he commanded, not sparing even the Consuls, if need were. On the appointed day the Tribune rose, and declared the proclamation of the Public Holiday illegal, on the ground that there was no special cause for it.* A loud outcry arose from the Old Citizens ; upon which, at a sign from the Tribune, his adherents drew their daggers. Their opponents fled. Pompeius only escaped by hiding himself: his son, who was married to Sylla's daughter, was ruthlessly murdered. Sylla fled into the house of Marius, which faced the Forum, whence he was obliged to return, and declare the Justitium at an end. The Laws then passed without opposition ; and, as a matter of course, the command in the Mithridatic War was transferred to Marius. §6. Sylla went straight from the Forum to his camp before Nola (for the Samnites had not yet surrendered that town), with the purpose of hurrying to the East. But he had already been superseded ; and two officers arrived in camp bearing a com- mission from Marius to assume the command. Sylla was now compelled to take a decisive part. Either he must submis- sively resign or must vindicate his right by force. The name of Civil War was not yet familiar to Roman ears ; and before he committed himself to actual hostilities, he resolved to sound the inclinations of his troops. He summoned them to the Prse- torium. He enlarged on the insults that had been offered to himself; and gave them to understand that, unless he remained in command, their hopes of booty from the Mithridatic War must end ; and concluded by a hope that they would obey his orders. The men gave a ready interpretation to his last words by calling upon him to lead them to Rome, and proved their zeal by stoning to death the officers sent by Marius. Sylla, fully assured, ordered six Legions to get under arms. The superior officers, however, shrunk from lending countenance to civil war ; and all, save one Quaestor, fled to Rome. § 7. In the City the consternation was great. The Senate, more from fear of Marius than of their own good will, sent to demand of Sylla why he was in arms against his country. " To set her at liberty," was the only answer he vouchsafed. The Praetors then went out, invested with all the ensigns of their office : but the soldiers broke their fasces, and stripped them of their robes. Sylla meantime continued to advance. The officers who had deserted him were replaced by persons of note, who had fled from Rome : above all, he was joined by his colleague and kinsman, Q. Pompeius Rufus ; and henceforth all his acts ran in * A Justitium was proclaimed for some great triumph or disaster, — the former case accompanied by a Supplicatio or Public Thanksgiving. Chap. LVIII. FIRST CIVIL WAR. 685 the joint name of the two Consuls of the year, — a fact which had great authority over men's minds. § 8. The prompt audacity of Sylla took Marius and Sulpicius by surprise. They had not calculated on his daring to march a Roman army against Rome. To gain time, they sent a last em- bassy, in the name of the Senate, requesting the Consuls to stop the march of the army till the Fathers had come to some resolution. Sylla, now about five miles from the gates, pro- mised to comply : but no sooner had the envoys turned their backs, than he despatched two officers with a detachment to occupy the high ground adjoining the Esquiline. They marched so rapidly that they seized the Colline Gate, and pene- trated into the City ; but their progress was stopped by the People, who threw tiles and stones upon them from the house- tops. Meantime the Consuls had come up with their whole force. Pompeius pushed forward with one Legion to support the troops at the Colline Gate ; another Legion seized the Cseli- montane Gate; a third turned the Aventine, and occupied the Sublician Bridge ; a fourth was left in reserve before the walls ; while Sylla with the remaining two entered the City. His opponents, meantime, had assembled a considerable force ; and in the district between the Caelian and the Esquiline, armed soldiers for the first time encountered in the streets of Rome. Sylla's men were beaten back, till, seizing an eagle, he threw himself into the thick of the fray. Meanwhile, his reserve Legion entered the city and attacked Marius in flank from the Suburra. The old General, finding his position turned, retreated to the Capitol, whence he issued a proclamation off"ering liberty to all slaves who would join his banner. But this desperate act only revealed his weakness, and even those who had hitherto sup- ported him dispersed. Marius and Sulpicius, with all their chief friends, sought safety in flight. § 9. Meantime Sylla had marched his Legions in good order down the Sacred Way into the Forum, and restored public con- fidence by inflicting summary punishment upon all plunderers. Next morning he addressed the People in a set speech, de- ploring the extremity to which he had been forced by profligate demagogues. From the Forum the Consuls proceeded to the Senate-house. A Decree was issued, by which twelve persons were proclaimed traitors. Among these, the most eminent were Marius, his son, his son-in law L. Granius, and the Tribunes Sul- picius and Albinovanus. Against this arbitrary Decree no one had courage to raise a voice except Q. Scsevola, the Pontifex. " Never," said the old lawyer, " will I consent to declare Caiua Marius an outlaw." 26* 586 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL § 10. All the proclaimed persons had escaped. But Sulpicius, who had secreted hunself in a villa near Laurentum, was be- trayed by a slave and slain. His head was exposed upon the Rostra, from which his eloquence had so often moved the people to tears, — the first example of a barbarous practice which became common in after years. The treacherous slave was rewarded by Sylla for doing his duty to the State, and then thrown down the Tarpeian Rock for betraying his master, — a perfidious judg- ment, characteristic of a country where slaves are numerous and held in fear. The masters dare not recognise them as free men, even where the public interest is most concerned. § 11. Marius himself ran through a series of adventures strange as ever were coined by the brain of a romancer. He reached Ostia in company with Granius his son-in-law, and a few slaves : hence they proposed to take ship for Africa, where Marius had much influence, derived from the times of the Jugurthan War. When young Marius, who had taken a diff"erent route, arrived at Ostia, he found that his father had put to sea. By a lucky chance, however, he found another vessel sailing for Africa, and reached that Province in safety. Meantime, old Marius was by stress of weather driven to land near Circeii. From this place the party wandered southward along the deso- late shore in great distress, till some herdsmen, who recognised the old General, warned him of the approach of a party of cavalry. Not daring to keep the road, the fugitives plunged into the forest which still covers the coast. Here they passed the night in great misery, and next morning continued their forlorn walk. Marius alone kept up his spirits and encouraged his attendants by assurances that a seventh Consulship was yet in store for him. In the two following days they had dragged their weary limbs over a space of about forty miles direct distance, when they saw a body of horse coming towards them. It happened that two merchant vessels were passing southward close in-shore. The fugitives plunged into the sea, and made for the ships. Granius reached one of them, and was put ashore in the island of Pithecusa (Ischia). So exhausted was Marius, that he was hardly kept above water by two slaves, till the seamen got him on board the other vessel. Meantime, the horsemen rode down to the water's edge, and, calling out to the captain, demanded the person of Marius. With tears the old General besought protection ; and after much wavering the captain continued his course. When they reached the mouth of the Liris, he persuaded Marius to go ashore, as it was neces- sary to *lie to till the land-wind rose. But no sooner had his boat returned, than the faithless captain got under way, and Chap. LVm. FIRST CIVIL WAR. 687 Marius was left absolutely alone upon the swampy beach. He walked wearily to an old man's hut, who concealed him in a hole near the river, and covered him with reeds. Presently the horsemen came up and demanded where Marius was. Afraid of being discovered, the fugitive rose from his hiding-place and dashed into the river. He was perceived and dragged ashore ; and the horsemen conveyed him, nearly naked and covered with mud, to Minturnae. Here he was given over to the magistrates of the town, who had received a circular letter from the Con- suls, ordering them to put Marius to death if he should fall into their hands. But the magistrates, not liking to incur such responsibility, referred the matter to a Town Council. The Council voted that Sylla's orders should be obeyed, and a Gaulish slave was sent with orders to put the old General to death. It was dark, and, as the man entered the room where Marius was lying, he saw the old man's eyes glaring through the darkness, while a deep voice exclaimed: "Fellow, darest thou slay Caius Marius ?" He threw down his sword and fled, crying, " I cannot slay Caius Marius." By the connivance of the Magis- trates, the fugitive escaped to Ischia, where he joined Granius, and a friendly ship was found to convey him to Africa. Hear- ing that his son had already arrived, he was emboldened to land near the site of ancient Carthage. But the Praetor Sex- tilius sent him orders to quit the Province without delay. Marius with silent indignation gazed fixedly on the messenger, till the man demanded what answer he should take back to the Praetor. " Tell him," said the old General, " that you have seen Caius Marius sitting among the ruins of Carthage." Soon after, he was joined by his son, who had endeavoured to gain support from Hiempsal, King of Numidia. The young man had been received with outward kindness, but was in fact detained as prisoner, till he was taught to escape by the com- passion of the King's daughter. After this, Marius remained in Africa without molestation. § 12. Meanwhile Sylla at Rome was not without his diffi- culties. He found both Senate and People so shocked by the intrusion of armed legions within the sacred precincts of the city, that he thought it prudent to send back the troops to their old quarters in Campania, while he remained himself to settle matters in his own favour, before he took his departure for the East. The Senate, on his motion, issued a' Decree by which the laws of • Sulpicius were declared null and void; and thus the Italian voters were again deprived of the advantages granted them by those laws, while Sylla's appointment to the Oriental command resumed its force. But there was no disposition to 588 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VI. favour him, and he was unable to influence the Consular elec- tions. The choice fell upon Cn. Octavius, a feeble nobleman, given to superstitious reverence for astrologers,* and L. Cornelius Cinna. It is plain that the latter was an object of suspicion to Sylla's observant eye ; for before he assumed oflace he was com- pelled by the General to repair to the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter, and there solemnly to swear that he would not disturb tha existing order of things. But Sylla's position was very insecure. Cn. Pompeius Strabo, still serving as Proconsul in Apulia, was superseded by Q. Pompeius Rufus, Sylla's kinsman and late colleague. But no sooner had Strabo left his army, than a mutiny broke out, and Rufus was murdered by the soldiers. The wily Proconsul im> mediately returned to the camp, and, after rebuking the muti- neers with apparent sternness, quietly resumed the command; nor was Sylla strong enough to take notice of this piece of preconcerted treachery. Plots were formed against his life, and the murder of his colleague was a token of what might next be his own fate. Cinna urged one of the new Tribunes to impeach him for bringing an army within the walls of Rome ; upon which the General hastened to Campania, and shipped his troops for Greece, leaving the Aristocracy to fight their own battle. § 13. His departure was the signal for a fresh outbreak of Civil War. Cinna, an ambitious, unprincipled, and reckless man, perceived that he could at once raise himself to importance by putting himself at the head of the New Citizens, or Italian party, who had been left without leaders by the death of Sulpicius and the flight of Marius. He at once gave notice of a Bill for again distributing the Italians and Freedmen through all the Tribes. This measure was warmly opposed by the Senate and by the old Roman citizens. On the day of voting, Cinna's party occupied the Forum, armed with daggers ; and when it appeared that the Tribunes were about to interpose their veto, they drew their weapons upon those officers. The Old Citizens, headed by Octa- vius, opposed force by force ; and a furious battle ensued, which ended in the Italians being driven from the Forum.f Cinna was obliged to quit Rome ; and the Senate immediately deprived him of the Consular ofiice, and conferred it, by their own authority, on L. Cornelius Merula, Flamen of Jupiter, an inoffensive man, who allowed the perilous honour to be thrust upon him. § 14. Cinna was now completely compromised, and he took the bold step of trusting himself to the troops left by Sylla before * " Chaldaeans," as they were called. See Juven. vi. 554. x. 94. f With the loss of 10,000 men, according to Plutarch Vit. Sertor. 4 This period of the Civil War was called Bellum Octavianum by Cicera Chap. LVIII. FIRST CIVIL WAR. 589 Nola, who were discontented at being excluded from participating in the gains of the Mithridatic War. With passionate words he told the soldiery that the Senate had stripped him of the high office which had been conferred by the votes of the People ; and then he rent his robe and threw himself on the ground. The unwonted sight of a Consul in this attitude moved the susceptible feelings of the men. All took the oath of obedience to him as Consul. But Cinna not only addressed himself to the Roman soldiers who were beleaguering Nola ; he also invited the Samnite garrison of Nola to make common cause with him against the old Roman citizens. In a similar strain he declaimed in the towns of Italy which had lately been engaged in the Social "War. Everywhere he was received with enthusiasm. The Social War was revived under a different aspect. A Consul appeared as their leader, and Marius, the greatest General of Rome, was known to favour their claims, Cinna was soon at the head of a formidable army. Among the officers who accepted commissions from him may be named Cn. Papirius Carbo and Q. Sertorius, men who played great parts in the following years. § 15. News of these proceedings soon reached old Marius in Africa, where he assembled about a thousand desperate men, and, landing in Etruria, soon found himself in command of a large force, which was brought into order by his habits of command. He also made himself master of a small but well-appointed fleet. He was now in a condition to treat with Cinna, and offered to accept a commission under him as Con- sul. Cinna's officers advised him to close with this offer, all except Sertorius. This sagacious man, who had served imder Marius in the Cimbrian War, and had gained distinction in the war against the Allies, feared the savage temper of his old general, and advised Cinna not to compromise his cause by uniting it to that of Marius. But when Cinna confessed that he had opened a correspondence with Marius in Africa, Sertorius withdrew his objections. Cinna offered to Marius the rank of Proconsul. But the old man grimly refused all marks of honour. § 16. Meanwhile the Senate had been exerting themselves to raise a force for the defence of the city. They hired mercenaries in Gaul. They sent orders to Pompeius Strabo to bring up his army. They directed Metellus Pius, who was still employed in reducing the Samnites, to make what terms he could with the enemy, and hasten to Rome. Metellus lingered ; but Pompeius advanced to the Colline Gate, where he maintained an obstinate reserve, and seemed uncertain whether he should join the Senate or go over to Marius. But after some fruitless intrigues he at length entered Rome, and united his troops to the scanty force of the Consul Octavius. 590 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOD. Book VL § 1*7. The armies of the assailants now drew close round Rome, so as to invest it on every side. Cinna took his post near the Colline Gate, so as to intercept communications with the north and north-east. Carbo lay on his left, so as to command the roads which approached Rome from the east ; Sertorius on his right, so as to bar all passage from Etruria and the north- west. Marius himself took up his position on the Tiber, across which he threw a bridge, so as to communicate with Carbo on the one side and Sertorius on the other. Thus placed, with large forces at their command, the allied generals calculated on reducing the city by famine. § 18. Pompeius, after defeating an attempt of Marius to take Janiculum, died suddenly, and. a plague broke out which deci- mated the Senatorial army. By this time Metellus had quitted Samnium, and encamped upon the Alban Hills. Here he was visited by some of the soldiers of Pompeius, who entreated him to take the chief command. But he was unable to do more than threaten Cinna's rear. Tired of inaction, great part of his troops deserted or returned home ; and the Senate, left almost defence- less, determined on attempting negotiations. A deputation of Senators arrived in the camp of Cinna, who prefaced all proceed- ings by asking whether they were prepared to treat with him " as Consul." They had no instructions on this point, and re- turned to Rome, while Cinna advanced his camp within a dart's throw of the gates. A second deputation arrived, and humbly saluted him as Consul. He received them sitting in his chair of state, with his Lictors on either side. The Deputies asked nothing more than that before entering the city he would take an oath not to suffer a general massacre. Cinna answered gently, and promised not to anthorise any slaughter; but all hopes inspired by the moderation of his language were damped by the aspect of old Marius. He stood behind the Consul's chair, in mean apparel, with his hair and beard rough and long, for they had been left untrimmcd ever since the day on which he had fled from Rome, and with a sullen frown upon his brow. But the Senate had little room for choice. Hastily they passed a Decree, inviting Cinna, Marius, and their partisans to enter the City. Marius ironically replied, that he had been formally pro- claimed a traitor, and must be formally restored to his rights. But before a second Decree could issue, he had entered the City with the army. § 19. Rome was treated as a conquered city. The soldiers, consisting of slaves and vagabonds of all kinds, combined with Italians smarting from the late war, were let loose to plunder. The unfortunate Octavius, assured by his astrologers, was slain Chap. LVIIL FIRST CIVIL WAR. 691 while seated upon his Consular chair in the Janiculum. His slaughter was but the prelude to a series of horrible butcheries. Marius had returned to Italy full of the memory of his ignomini- ous flight. He was attended everywhere by a band of ruffians, who had orders to strike down any person of rank whom their master passed without the courtesy of a salute. The Senators who had opposed his recall from exile were among his first victims. Q. Lentulus, C. Numitorius, M. Bsebius, and others were cut down, and their bodies dragged through the public places. P. Crassus, seeing his eldest son slain by Fimbria, put an end to his own life. L. Caesar, author of the Law for en- franchising the Italians, and his brother Caius, were murdered in their own houses. Q. Ancharius came in suppliant guise to Marius, when he was sacrificing in the Capitol ; but the relent- less old man ordered the suppliant to be cut down in the very precincts of the Temple and his body cast into the street. The example of Marius was followed by all who had private wrongs to avenge, or debts to cancel. Many Knights were massacred, doubtless by their creditors. Slaves, drunk with passion and licence, wreaked a less discriminating vengeance upon all who fell in their way. But here it must be recorded that many were saved by the devotion of their household slaves. Cornutus was pursued to his house by some of the gang of Marius ; his slaves hung up one of the corpses, which were but too plentiful, with their master's gold ring upon the hand ; and when the murderers burst into the house, these faithful slaves pretended that they had anticipated the deed of blood, and by this pious fraud saved their master. The orator Antonius had incurred the special wrath of Marius by an eloquent speech in which he had opposed his recal to Rome. For some time he was concea;led in a country- house by his slaves. But one of these simple men, in buying wine, told the vintner that he must have good liquor, since it was (he whispered) for the special use of the great orator An- tonius. The treacherous dealer hastened with the news to Marius, who ordered the orator's head to be brought to him and placed it on the table as the chief ornament of the banquet. § 20. Cinna took no part in these atrocities. Sertorius looked on with deep disgust, especially when he saw the enfranchised slaves giving a loose to every licentious passion with a Baccha- nalian glee which excites pity, not only for the sufferers, but also for those who by ill-treatment had been degraded into savages. By the permission of the Consul, Sertorious fell upon them with a body of his own troops, and slew several thousajids. By this rude justice order was in some degree restored. §21. But some persons who had escaped the massacre had 592 CIVIL WARS : FIRST PERIOR Book VL been too conspicuous to remain unpunished, and against them the mockery of legal forms was put in motion. The most emi- nent of these were L. Cornelius Merula, Flamen of Jupiter, and Q. Lutatius Catulus, colleague of Marius in his Cimbric triumph. Merula was a quiet and respectable man, whose only offence was that he had unwillingly superseded Cinna in the Consulship. For this he was indicted ; and knowing that indictment was equivalent to condemnation, he repaired to the great Temple on the Capitol, and opening his veins bled to death. Catulus, like Antonius, had offended Marius by opposing his recal from exile. Some influential friends endeavoured to awaken in the breast of the stern old man some generous memory of the days when he had refused to triumph over the barbarians without Catulus to share his triumph. But in vain. " He must die," was the only answer vouchsafed. Catulus shut himself up in a newly- plastered room, lighted a charcoal fire, and died by suffocation. Sylla himself was beyond reach ; but his house was rased to the ground, his property confiscated, and himself proclaimed a traitor. His wife Cajcilia and his children fled to join him in Greece. Of all Senators put to death in these days of Terror, the heads were exposed upon the Rostra, a ghastly tribute to the manes of the Tribune Sulpicius, who was the first Roman citizen thus dishonoured. The bodies of all were left unburied, to be de- voured by dogs and birds. But it must be observed that the Massacre of Marius differed widely from the Proscriptions of later times. It was a burst of savage passion, which lasted for a few hours, and was not marked by any systematic rules of murder and confiscation. § 22. The short remainder of the year passed in gloomy tran- quillity. News of Sylla's victories in the East from time to time disturbed the satisfaction of the conquerors. But for the pre- sent they were absolute. Cinna remained sole Consul till the Kalends of January of 86 b.c, when Marius for the seventh time, and Cinna for the second, assumed the fasces without election. On the first day of his authority, Marius ordered one Sext. Licinius, a Senator, to be thrown down the Tarpeian Rock, without even the form of a trial. Sad presages arose of what might follow. But Marius, since his return, had given himself to wine and riotous living ; and his iron constitution, worn out by former labours, and especially by his late strange sufferings, sank under an inflammatory fever. The hero of six Consulships died in thirteen days after he had seen his cherished expecta- tions fulfilled by the seventh tenure of that high office, — hated by his enemies, feared even by his friends. Coin of Mithridates VI. CHAPTER LIX. FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR. (88 84 B.C.) ^ 1. Rise of kingdom of Pontus : ancestors of Mithridates^ § 2. His youth, education, and character. § 3. His conquests from Pontus to the Borys- thenes : alliance with Tigranes of Armenia, § 4, Seizes Cappadocia • intervention of Sylla. § 5. Encourages Italians during Social War : seizes Bithynia, while Tigranes invades Cappadocia: Aquillius sent to re- store Nicomedes. § 6. Mithridates invades Roman Province : treatment of Aquillius. § 7. Honours paid to Mithridates : Massacre of Italians. § 8. Athens revolts : Archelaus sent by Mithridates to garrison Pirseeus, § 9. Sylla lands in Epirus : assault and siege of Piraeeus : gallant defence of Archelaus. § 10. Siege of Piraeeus raised: fall of Athens. § 11. Archelaus retires by sea: fall of Piraeeus. § 12. Sylla defeats Archelaus at Chaeronea. § 13. Marches to intercept Flaccus : returns and defeats Archelaus at Orchomenus : winters in Thessaly. § 14. Flaccus murdered by Fimbria at Nieomedia. § 15. Fimbria nearly surprises Mithridates at Pergamus. § 16. Negotiations of Sylla and Archelaus. § 11. Sylla advances into Thrace : meets Mithridates in Troad : Peace concluded, § 18. Attacks Fimbria : his death. § 19. Leaves Murena in Asia : spends remainder of 84 b.c. in Greece. § 1 . It will be necessary to go back in order to gain a clear per- ception of the causes which led to the Mithridatic War. After the battle of Magnesia, Asia Minor was broken up into a number of petty principalities, jealous of one another. Eumenes of Pergamus was rewarded by the addition of Lydia and some other districts to his rule ; but in time the kingdom of Pergamus 694 CIVIL WARS: FIRST PERIOD. Book VL became a Roman Province under the proud title of Asia,* just as the name of Libya or Africa had been bestowed on the Pro- vince formed out of the territory of Carthage. Bithynia to the north, subject to Kings of Macedonian origin, had, since Prusias declared his inability to protect Hannibal, fallen completely under Roman influence. At this time it was governed by Nico- medes II., grandson of Prusias. Cappadocia was subject to a prince named Ariarathes. Galatia, united into one principalit}^ was ruled by a native chief named Deiotarus. But a country beyond these distant realms demands our chief attention. During the weakness of the later Persian monarchy, the Satraps of Pontus, that is, the mountainous country along the south shore of the Euxine from the Halys eastward, had asserted their independence. In the wars between the successors of Alexander, the ruler of Pontus, Mithridatcs by name, raised his principality to a kingdom. His descendants extended their power over part of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia till Mithridates V., called Euergetes, assisted Rome in her war against Aristonicus, and was rewarded with a considerable portion of Phrygia. This Mithridates was assassinated at Sinope, his capital, about the year 120 b.c, and was succeeded by his son Mithridates VI., commonly called Dionysos or Eupator, who was then a boy of about twelve years old.f This was the man who became famous as the competitor of Rome for the sovereignty of the East. § 2. In later times it was remembered that at his birth a comet blazed in the heavens so large in size as to reach from the zenith to the horizon, — a sign of his destined greatness. But during his boyhood the fates seemed adverse. The Senate revoked the gift conferred upon his father. His guardians attempted his life both by poison and the dagger ; but he escaped all perils marvellously. It was commonly believed that his constitution was enabled to defy the attacks of poison by the habitual use of antidotes. What education he received was given by Greek masters at Sinope. So excellent was his memory that he is said to have been master of five-and-twenty languages so as to be able to converse in their own tongue with all the tribes who composed his motley Empire. His appreciation of Hellenic superiority is attested by the employment of Greeks both for military and civil administration ; and his cultivated taste is disclosed by the * Sometimes called Proconsular Asia. Hence it is that persons, being already in Phrygia or Galatia, speak of going into Asia, as in the Acts of the Apostles, xvi. 6; compare xix. 22, 26, 27, epf3ei, k, t. A, — Find. Olymp. ii. 128, sqq. 622 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII consisting partly of proscribed Romans, partly of Spanish Chiefs — a step unparalleled in the provincial government of Rome. All cities in his power he organised after the Italian model ; and at Osca (now Huesca in Catalonia) he established a scliool for the noble youth of Spain. The boys wore the Roman garb, and were taught the tongues of Rome and Athens. Ser- torius is almost the only statesman of antiquity who tried to use education as an engine of government. It cannot indeed bo pretended that his views were merely philanthropic ; no doubt he held the boys as hostages for the fidelity of their sires. His great talents, above all his acknowledgment of equality beween Provincials and Romans, won him golden * opinions. Everywhere the Spaniards crowded to see him, and loudly pro- tested their readiness to die for him. Their enthusiastic reverence for his person was increased by the presence of a white doe, which continually followed him, and was regarded by the simple people as a familiar spirit, by means of which he held communi- cation with heaven. § 5. Metellus in two campaigns found himself unequal to cope with the new ruler of Spain. In the second of these years (11 B.C.) Perperna, who had retired to Gaul with the best troops of Lepidus, entered Spain, and joined the popular leader; and the Senate hastily despatched Pompey to reinforce Metellus. On his march through Gaul, the young General encountered the other remnant of the army of Lepidus under Brutus ; and Brutus, who fell into his hands, was put to death in cold blood. § 6. Pompey's aid, however, did not change the face of affairs. In the first battle the young General was saved by the approach of Metellus, on which Sertorius said : " If the old woman had not come up, I should have given the boy a sound drubbing and sent him back to Rome." At the end of 15 b.c. Pompey wrote an urgent letter to the Senate, representing the insufficiency of his. forces, and two more legions were sent to reinforce him. Mean- time Sertorius himself had reasons for apprehension. Some of his Roman friends, disliking his policy of favouring the Pro vincials, made overtures to the Senatorial commanders; and Sertorius, severe by nature, still further exasperated the ]ioman& of his party by forming his body-guard exclusively of Spaniards. But he still maintained his superiority in the field. Nor was it encouraging to learn that he had received envoys from Mithri- dates, who was about to renew war with Rome. Sertorius agreed to furnish Roman officers to train the soldiers of Asia, while the King was to repay the loan in ships and money. § 1. The despotic power exercised by Sertorius had corrupted his nature. He indulged in the immoderate use of wine, was Chap. LXIL SPARTACUS. 623 impatient of the slightest contradiction, and was guilty of many acts of tyranny. Even the Spaniards began to fall away ; and Sertorius in a moment of irritation ordered all the boys at Osca to be put to death. This cruel and impolitic act would probably have cost him his power and his life, even if it had not been terminated by treachery. Perperna, who had at first joined him against his own inclination, thought that a favourable opportu- nity had arrived for grasping power. , He invited Sertorius to a banquet at Osca ; and the General, having drunk freely accord- ing to his custom, fell an easy prey to the dagger of the assassin (72 B.C.). § 8. But when Perperna had wrought this shameful deed, he found that the name of Sertorius was still powerful among the Spaniards. Many of them, now that their great leader was no more, forgot his faults, and with the devoted enthusiasm of their nation threw themselves into the flames of his funeral pyre. A few days after the death of Sertorius, Perperna attempted to lead the soldiery against Pompey, but he sustained an ignominious dsfeat. His men dispersed, and he was taken prisoner. When brought before Pompey, he endeavoured to gain favour by hand- ing to him letters which had been interchanged by Sertorius with some of the chief men at Rome. But Pompey, with prudent magnanimity, threw the letters into the fire and refused to hear him. In the course of a year the last relics of the Marian party •in Spain were extinguished. Before this was effected, Rome was engaged in conflict v/itr. Mithridates. The history of this war shall be reserved for a separate chapter. But here must be noticed a formidable out- break that took place in Italy, and threatened the very existence of the State. This was the war of the Gladiators. § 9. For the purpose of the barbarous shows which were so much enjoyed at Rome, it was the custom to keep schools for training gladiators, who were let out by their owners to the ^diles. At Capua there was a large school of this kind ; and among the gladiators in training there was Spartacus, a Thracian, who had once led his countrymen against Roman commanders, but now, having been taken prisoner, was destined to make sport for his conquerors. He persuaded about seventy of his fellow-bondsmen to join him in breaking loose : better it was, he argued, to die in battle on the open field, than on the sand of the amphitheatre. This handful of brave men took up a strong position upon Mount Vesuvius, where Spartacus was presently joined by slaves and outlaws of all descriptions. The gladiators, old soldiers like himself, supplied him with officers. QCnomaus and Crixus, the former a Greek, tne latter a Gaul, acted as his lieutenants. He 624 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book Vll enforced strict discipline ; and, so long as lie was able, obliged his followers to abstain from acts of rapine. Two Roman Praetors attacked him, but they were beaten with loss, and the numbers of his army swelled every day. All this happened in 73 b.c, after the Mithridatic War had broken out, and before the Ser- torian War was ended. § 10. In the next year (72 b.c), the same which witnessed the murder of Sertorius, Spartacus had become strong enough to take the oftensive. He had to face a formidable power, for both Consuls were ordered to take the field. But, at the head of more than 100,000 men, he forced the passes of the Apennines and entered Picenum. His subordinates, however, proved un- manageable : and Spartacus, aware that the power of Rome must prevail, bent all his energies towards forcing his way across the Alps, in the hope of reaching some remote region inaccessible to Rome. As he pressed northwards, he was assaulted by both the Consuls, but defeated them both, and made his way to Cisalpine Gaul ; but here he was repulsed by the Praetor Cassius, and obliged by the impatience of his followers to retrace his steps. Still, every other Roman officer who dared to meet him was defeated: at one time the brave Gladiator is said to have meditated a descent upon Rome itself. But he relinquished this desperate plan, and spent the remainder of the year in collecting treasure and arms. Little discipline was now observed. The extent of the ravages committed by the bands under his command may be- guessed from the well-known line of Horace, in which he promised Lis friend a jar of wine made in the Social War, " if he could find one that had escaped the clutches of roaming Spartacus."* § 11. The management of the war was now committed to Crassus, who had really won the Battle of the Colline gate. Ever since the triumph of Sylla he had lived quietly at Rome, profiting by the Proscription to buy up property cheap; and after that period he had been busied in making the most profit- able use of the large fortune which he had amassed. Crassus took the field with six new legions, to be added to the remains of the Consular Armies. The disorganised battalions of these armies he punished by the unjust and terrible penalty of decimation ; but his rigour was successful in restoring disci- pline. He found Spartacus besieging Rhegium, with the view of establishing a connexion with Sicily, and rekindling the Servile War in that Island. The Gladiator had even agreed with a squadron of Cilician Pirates to convey 2000 of his men across the straits; but the faithless marauders took the money and sailed without the men. Crassus determined to shut up the * 3 Oarm. xiv. 19. Chap. LXII CONSULSHIP OF POMPEY AJ^D CRASSUS. 625 enemy by drawing entrenchments across the narrowest part of the Calabrian Peninsula. Twice in one day did Spartacus en- deavour to break through the lines ; twice he was thrown back with great slaughter. But he continued to defend himself with dauntless pertinacity ; and the Senate, hearing that Pompey was on his way back from Spain, joined him in the command with Crassus, and urged him to accelerate his march. § 12. Crassus, afraid of losing his laurels, determined to assault Spartacus ; but the brave Gladiator anticipated him by forcing a passage through the lines, and marching upon Brundusium, where he hoped to seize shipping and make his escape from Italy. But M. Lucullus, brother of Lucius, the commander against Mithridates, had just returned with a force of veteran soldiers from Macedonia to Brundusium. Spartacus, foiled in his intention, turned like a wolf at bay to meet Crassus. A fearful conflict ensued, which remained doubtful till Spartacus was wounded by a dart through the thigh. Supported on his knee, he still fought heroically, till he fell overpowered by num- bers. Most of his followers were cut to pieces; but a strong body of the insurgents drew off in good order to the mountains. A division of 5000 made their way to the North of Italy, where Pompey fell in with them on his way home from Spain, and slew them to a man. About 6000 more were taken prisoners by Crassus, who hung them along the road from Rome to Capua. § 13. To Crassus belongs the credit of bringing this dreadful war to a close. In six months he had finished his work. But Pompey claimed the honour of concluding not only the Sertorian War, but also the war with Spartacus. In fact he had not much cause for boasting in either case. The daggers of Perperna really brought the Spanish contest to an end ; and as to the gladiatorial conflict, the lucky chance by which Pompey intercepted 5000 fugitives was his only claim to credit. But the young General was a favourite with the soldiery and with the People, while Crassus from his greedy love of money enjoyed little popularity. Public opinion, therefore, seconded claims which were put forward without modesty or justice. § 14. Neither Pompey nor Crassus would enter the City; for both desired a Triumph, and their armies lay at the gates to 3hare the honours. The wish of Pompey was at once granted; but to Crassus only an Ovation was ponceded. Before they entered the City, they had both asked permission to offer themselves as Candidates for the Consulship. Both were excluded by the Laws of Sylla. Crassus was still Praetor, and at least two years ought to elapse before his Consulship. Pompey was only in his thirty-fifth year, and had not even been Quaestor. 27 626 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL The Senate, however, dared not refuse Poinpey ; for he would not disband his army, and his tone brooked no refusal. And what was granted to Ponipey could not be denied to Crassus, who also kept his soldiers under arms. Thus, at the demand of two chiefs, each backed by an army, the Senate were, within eight years after Sylla's death, obliged to break his Laws. Pom- pcy was elected by acclamation. Crassus might have been loss successful, had there not been a secret understanding between him and Pompey. On the Calends of January, 10 b.c, Pompey and Crassus entered on their memorable Consulship. § 15. On that day Pompey gave intimation of his intention to pursue a popular course of policy. In a set speech he declared his intention of releasing the Tribunes from the trammels im- posed upon them by Sylla, and of attempting a Reform of the Judicial system. Both of Pompey's announcements were received with shouts of applause. To the former the Senate oft'ered but a feeble opposition. The Tribunes were restored to the exercise of their power, and with their restoration it may be said that the key-stone of the arch erected by Sylla fell. With the resuscita- tion of this popular power revived also the independence of the Tribe- Assembly, and hence followed by necessity a struggle be- tween that body and the Senate. § 16. But the other measure broached by Pompey was one which the Senate determined to oppose to the uttermost. They could not tamely abandon their absolute power over the Law- courts. Yet in the last ten years scandal had been great. Among other persons Caesar had reason to complain. After his escape from Sylla's vengeance, he also, like Cicero, resorted to the schools of Greek Philosophy. On his return, though only in his 23rd year, he indicted Cn. Dolabella for misgovernment in Mace- donia. Dolabella was defended by Q. Hortensius, the first Advocate of the day, a determined adherent of the Senatorial Party, and as a matter of course he was acquitted. It had, however, been remarked that the Knights were little less corrupt than the Senators ; and the law proposed under Pompey's authority by the City-Praetor, L. Aurelius Cotta, was so devised as to establish a Court composed of three elements, each of which might sei-ve as a check upon the other two. In each Jury one- third of the Jurymen was to be furnished by the Senate, one- third by the Knignts, and t^je remaining third by the Tribunes of the Treasury.* Catulus endeavoured to promote a com- * The Trihuni jErarii. Originally they were the Presidents of the Tribes and collectors of the Tributum, but their name hardly ever occurs m Romac authors. It is probable that there was one Tribumis yErarhis for every Cen- tury in the new Comitia Centuriata, and therefore in all 350 in number. Chap. LXII. CONSULSHIP OF POMPEY AND CRASSUS. 621 promise; but Poinpey was resolute, and the Nobles prepared to maintain their privilege by arms. § 17. An event, however, occurred which smoothed the way for Cotta's Law. Cicero, as we have mentioned, after the great credit he had won by his bold defence of Sext. Roscius, had quitted Rome for two years. He returned in 77 b.c, and imme- diately began to dispute with Hortensius the sway which he exercised in the Law-Courts. Except during the year 75 B.C., when he was serving as Quaestor in Sicily, he was employed as a:i Advocate at Rome, llis polished eloquence excited universal admiration; his defence of many wealthy clients brought him in much money and connected him with many powerful families. He was of the same age as Pompey; and, being now a Candi- date for the ^dileship, he began to be eager for political dis- tinction. To obtain this by military commands was not suited to his tastes or talents. But it was possible to achieve it by the public impeachment of some powerful offender. C. Cornelius Verres, a man connected with some of the highest Senatorial families, had for three years been Praetor of Sicily, from which province he had returned after practising extortions and iniquities unexampled even in those days. The Sicilians, remembering the industry and equity with which Cicero had lately executed the functions of Quaestor in their island, begged him to come forward as the accuser of this man; and the Orator, who saw how he might at once strengthen the hands of Pompey, and share the popular triumph of the Consul, readily undertook the cause. The first attempt which the dexterous Advocate of Verres made to elude Cicero's attack was to put forward Q. Csecilius Niger, who had been Quaestor under Verres, to contend that to him belonged the task of accusation. But Cicero exposed the in- tended fraud so unanswerably that even the Senatorial Jurymen named Cicero as prosecutor.* He demanded ninety days for the purpose of collecting evidence in Sicily. But he only used fifty of them, and on ^he 5th of August he opened this famous impeachment. He had in the mean time been elected Jl^dile. But Hortensius had also become Consul-elect; and one. of the Metelli, a warm friend of the accused, was designated to succeed Glabrio, who now presided in the Court as Praetor Peregrinus. It was therefore a great object for Verres to get the trial postponed to next year, when his great Senatorial friends would fill the most important offices in the State. To baffle this design, Cicero contented himself with a brief statement of his case, and at once proceeded to call witnesses. So overpowering was the evidence, that Hortensius threw up his brief, and Verres sought * See the Divinatio in Q. Ccecilium. •J 628 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL impunity in a voluntary exile. To show what he could have done, Cicero published the Five great Pleadings, in which he intended to have set forth the crimes of Verres; and they remain to us as a notable picture of the misery which it was in the power of a Roman Proconsul to inflict. Soon after the trial came to this abrupt issue, the Law was passed, seemingly with little opposition ; and thus a second great breach was made in the Syllan Constitution. § 18. The corrupt state of the Senate itself was made manifest by a step now taken by Catulus and his friends. They restored the Censorial oflice, which had been suspended for sixteen years. The Censors of the year 70 b.c. discharged their duties with severe integi'ity, and sixty-four Senators were degraded. For Catulus they revived the high rank of Princeps, and he was the last independent Senator who held that rank. When it was next called into existence, it served to give a Title to the des- potic authority of Augustus. The review of the Knights was made remarkable by the fact that the Consul Pompey appeared in the procession, leading his horse through the Forum, and submitting himself to the Censorial scrutiny. § 19. The jealousy of Crassus increased with Pompey's popu- larity. Both the Consuls continued to maintain an armed force near the City ; and, though the liberal measures of Pompey had won the Forum, yet the gold of Crassus commanded many fol- lowers. The Senate dreaded that the days of Marius or Cinna might return. But Crassus calculated the risks of a conflict, and prudently resolved to give a pledge of peace. At the close of the year he publicly offered his hand to Pompey, which the latter deigned to accept after the manner of a prince. It did not suit Crassus to disturb credit and imperil his vast fortune by a civil war : Pompey was satisfied so long as no other disputed his claim to be the first Citizen of the Republic. Thus ended by far the most remarkable year that had passed since the time of Sylla. Two generals, backed by an armed force, had trampled on the great Dictator's laws : and one of them had rudely shaken the political edifice reared in so much blood. Behind them appeared the form of one who sought to gain by eloquence and civil arts what had lately been arrogated by the sword. But it was some years yet before Csesar descended into the political arena, Cn. Pompeius Magnus. CHAPTER LXIIL THIRD OR GREAT MITHRIDATIC WAR I POMPEY IN THE EAST. (74—61 B.C.) § 1. Second Mithridatic War. § 2. Preparations of Mithridates. § 3. Third Mithridatic War : the King defeats the Consul Cotta, and lays siege to Cyzicus. § 4. L. LueuUus, the other Consul, relieves Cyzicus. § 5. Drives Mithridates into Armenia. § 6. Sends to demand Mithridates from Tigranes : relieves Asiatics from arrears of debt. § 7. Invades Armenia, and takes Tigranocerta. § 8. Obliged to relinquish his advance upon Artaxata: takes Nisibis. § 9. Mithridates defeats Triarius in Pontus: army of LueuUus mutinies. § 10. Account of Cilician pirates* Gabinian Law, empowering Pompey to put them down. § 11. Brilliant success of Pompey. § 12. Minilian Law, investing Pompey with com- mand over the East. § 13. He drives Mithridates across the Caucasus. § 14. Effect of his victories: further successes : he returns to Pontus. § 15. His campaign in Syria : siege of Jerusalem. § 16. Death of Mithridatea § 17. Pompey's progress through Asia and Greece ; return to Italy. § 1. It has been mentioned that so soon as Sylla's back was turned, Murena assailed Mithridates anew. Archelaus, who had been disgraced by his master, was his secret instigator. Mithri- dates submitted silently, till he found the Roman General pre- paring to repeat his invasion. Then he collected a large force, fell suddenly upon Murena near the Halys, and defeated him. Envoys now arrived from Rome, commanding Murena to desist 630 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII from his rash enterprise : and thus ended what is usually called the Second Mithridatic War. § 2. This reckless attack was enough to provoke a less adven- turous spirit than that of Mithridates. The death of the great Dictator, the outbreak of party quarrels, and the successes of Sertorius, led the King to think that a favourable moment had arrived. It was about the year 15 b.c, that he concluded his Treaty with Sertorius. But the Roman leader's career was cut short, and the Treaty was of no effect. Soon after this, Nicomedes of Bithynia died, and left his king- dom by will to the Roman People. But Mithridates at once led an army consisting of 120,000 foot, armed and trained in the Roman fashion, with 16,000 horse, into Bithynia. A powerful fleet cooperated with this formidable force, and the whole country submitted without a blow. § 3. The Consuls of the year were M. Aurelius Cotta, and L. Licinius Lucullus. Lucullus, eldest son of a Lucullus who had commanded in the Second Sicilian Slave War, and grandson of him who had behaved so treacherously to the Spaniards,* had done good service under Sylla in the First Mithridatic War, and seemed to have earned a right to command in the present out- break. But Cotta had obtained the Province of Bithynia by lot, and Lucullus was destined by this capricious dispenser of patronage to the quiet rule of Cisalpine Gaul. It happened, however, that the Province of Cilicia became vacant, and the Senate conferred it upon him as an extraordinary command. On the arrival of Lucullus in Asia, he heard that Cotta had been obliged to throw himself into Chalcedon, where he was block- aded by the King. Lucullus carried with him no more than two Legions. Besides these he found four in Asia, two of which were the licentious soldiery of Fimbria. But there was no time to pick and choose. He advanced into Mysia with about 30,000 foot and 1,600 horse. Meanwhile, Mithridates had laid siege to Cyzicus, a town which stands on what is now a peninsula, though at that time it was separated from the mainland by a narrow channel. With his large army he cut it off from all communication with the land, while his powerful fleet served at once to blockade the place, and to keep his army well supplied. § 4. Lucullus cautiously advanced towards Cyzicus, and con- trived to post his army so strongly, that on the one hand he was quite secure from attack, while on the other he completely commanded the enemy's lines. Winter was at hand. The Pontic fleet was unable to keep the sea ; and as Lucullus had * Chapt. xliv. § 12. Chap. LXIII. THIRD MITHRIPATIC WAR. 631 intercepted communication with the interior, supplies began to fail. By famine and disease the enemy was at length so weak- ened, that Lucullus closed in upon them, and the besiegers became in their turn besieged. After persisting bravely for some time, Mithridates sent off his sick towards Bithynia, while he showed a bold front towards Lucullus. But the Roman general sent a detachment in pursuit, while he had still force enough to keep his own ground, and u:e wretched fugitives were cut off to a man. The remainder of the Pontic army then broke out from their lines and marched along the coast for Lampsacus. Lucullus followed close, and attacked them at every advantageous point. On the JEsopus, on the Granicus, great numbers fell ; only a shattered remnant of the host arrived at Lampsacus. Here, in company with the Lampsacenes, who dreaded the ven- geance of Rome, they embarked on board the fleet for Nico- media. But the greater part perished in a storm, and the vast army which Mithridates had collected and trained with so much anxious care was annihilated in little more than a year. Mithri- dates himself was indebted to a pirate for his escape to Sinope. For the whole of that year and the next Lucullus continued steadily to advance upon the kingdom of Pontus. At the end of 72 B.C. Lucullus sent letters wreathed in laurel recording his successes to the Senate. § 5. Winter checked not the activity of the Roman com- mander, lie crossed the Ilalys late in the season. Alarmed at the approach of the Romans, Mithridates left Sinope, his capital city, and betook himself to the mountain-fortress of Cabeira, wiMiin reach of the kingdom of his son-in-law Tigranes. To this monarch, who styled himself King of Kings, he sent for aid, as well as to his own son Machares, whom he had made sovereign over the Crimean Bosphorus and its dependencies. The strong town of Amisus, however, held out during the winter ; and in the spring of Vl b.c, Lucullus, leaving Murena (son of him who had earned a disgraceful triumph from the Second Mithridatic War) to continue the siege, advanced against Cabeira. Mithri- dates fled precipitately, and was so hotly pursued, that his cap- ture would have been certain, had not the Roman horsemen stopped to collect a quantity of gold which had fallen from a pack-horse in the King's suite. He took refuge in Armenia. Amisus now surrendered ; Sinope followed its example ; and by the close of the third campaign, all the country from the Halys to the Euphrates was at the feet of Rome. § 6. In the course of the next year (YO b.c.) Lucullus sent App. Clodius to demand the person of Mithridates from Tigranes. The envoy did not return from this mission for some months ,* 632 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII. and Lucullus employed the interval in making a tour of Asia Minor, with the purpose of restoring order in the Province and its contiguous principalities. His mild and generous temper won the favour of the people. It had been formerly his task to collect the tribute imposed by Sylla upon Asia Minor, and he had performed this duty with all the gentleness which its nature permitted. But since his departure, the imposts had been multiplied six-fold by the extortionate interest demanded for taxes in arrear. Lucullus at once fixed the rate of interest at one per cent., struck off the accumulated sums from the capital of the debt, and made other stringent rules for checking the malpractices of the Roman Capitalists. These proceedings made him many enemies ; moreover, by forbidding pillage, he lost the affections of Legions accustomed to license. § 7. Early in 69 b.c, App. Clodius returned with the answer of Tigranes. This haughty monarch had not as yet admitted his unfortunate father-in-law to his presence. But the tone of the Roman Envoy displeased him ; he was especially wroth because he was not honoured with the title of King of Kings, and he refused to give up the person of Mithridates. Lucullus at once crossed the upper Euphrates with a small force, and pushed on through wild mountain districts to Tigranocerta, the Western Capital of Armenia. Mithridates advised Tigranes not to hazard an action with the invaders. But the King scornfully rejected his advice. "Those Romans," he said, "for ambassadors are too many, for enemies too few." But a terrible defeat was the consequence of his temerity; and the slaughter of his broken host was only stopped by the approach of night. Tigranes tore off his diadem, and fled eastward, having learnt by bitter expe- rience that his father-in-law had formed too true an estimate of the Roman soldiery. Tigranocerta, though defended by walls 50 cubits high, was betrayed by the Greek inhabitants of the place. Machares, son of Mithridates, viceroy of the Crimea, paid homage to Rome. The King of the Parthians, a powerful tribe, which had poured from the mountainous districts south of the Indian Caucasus, and had become lords of Central Asia from the Indus to the Euphrates, sent offers of alliance. Roman tacticians loudly commended Lucullus, who had subdued the disciplined army of Mithridates by systematic operations, and had crushed the barbarous hordes of Tigranes by adventurous boldness. § 8. Next year (68 b.c.) the Roman leader continued his vic- torious career. Tigranes attempted to make a stand upon the Arsanias, a tributary of the Euphrates, but was again defeated, and fled to Artaxata, the second capital of Armenia, which lies in the valley of the Araxes, northward of Mount Ararat. Lucullus, CiLiP. LXIIL THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR. .633 nothing daunted, was anxious to continue the pursuit. Bui already the soldiery had shown mutinous inclinations, and the Tribunes declared that the army would advance no farther East- ward. Lucullus unwillingly gave way, and turned his course southward, crossed the range of Taurus into the warmer region between the upper valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, then called Mygdonia, where he took by storm the large and wealthy town of Nisibis. In the ensuing winter events happened that destroyed his well-grounded hopes of eventual success. § 9. Mithridates, finding that Pontus was occupied by a feeble corps of the Roman army under the command of L. Valerius Triarius, suddenly re-appeared in his own kingdom. Early next spring (67 b.c.) news of this bold descent reached Lucullus, who hastened to support his lieutenant. But Triarius, presumptuous and eager for triumph, attacked Mithridates at Zela, without waiting for the arrival of the General, and he was defeated, with the loss of his own life. The King, satisfied with his advantage, retreated to the mountains, and Lucullus gave orders for pursuit. But the mutinous spirit, partially disclosed in the foregoing year, now broke out with undissembled fury. The flame was fanned by Publ. Clodius Pulcher, younger brother of the App. Clodius who had been sent as envoy to Tigranes, and brother-in-law to the General. His subsequent career proved his reckless and selfish temper. On the present occasion, though he was but one or two and twenty, he conceived he had been neglected by Lucullus. In the army he found ready mate- rials for sedition. The men had indeed some reason for dis- content. The soldiers of Fimbria had been absent from Italy for nearly twenty years ; and since Lucullus took the command they had suff'ered great hardships. Lucullus, though a good general and a just ruler, had none of that genial frankness which wins the affection of soldiers, and his luxurious habits excited jealousy. The army agreed to defend Pontus from Mithridates, but positively refused to undertake any new operations. § 10. Events were even now occurring which transferred the command to other hands. While the Roman arms were threat- ening the shores of the Caspian and the confines of the Parthian Monarchy, while Lucullus was mortified at seeing a magnificent Triumph slip from his grasp, a formidable enemy was assailing the very shores of Italy. From ancient times, as at the present day, the creeks of Asia Minor, and the islets of the Archipelago, had been the resort of piratical bands, who sallied out for plunder, and disappeared as if by magic before attack. During the distractions that followed the Social and Civil Wars, these Pirates had gained a power and an audacity unknown before. *27* 634 CIVIL WARS : SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL Their chief nests were in the ports of Cilicia and Pisidia ; and they possessed strongholds in tlie mountain valleys which lead down from Taurus to that coast. Hence these Pirates are often called Cilicians, and often Isaurians, — the district of Isauria, in the heart of the Pisidian mountain range, being one of their chief fastnesses. Of late they had been encou- raged by the patronage and money of Mithridates. Their audacity was extreme. At one time young Caesar was in their hands ; and P. Clodius, who had left the army of Lucullus after his success in fomenting mutiny, was now their prisoner. Not long before this, they had carried off two Praitors from Italy. The grand-daughter of the great Orator M. Antonius had been seized by them at Misenum ; the very port of Ostia had been plundered by their galleys. In the year 78 b.c, Q. Servilius Vatia was sent as Proconsul to Cilicia, and he carried on the war with so much success, that he assumed the title of Isauricus. In 75 B.C., M. Antonius, the son of the Orator, was invested with an extraordinary command over the Mediterranean, in order to clear the seas of the Pirates. But he used his great power for plunder and extortion ; his operations covered the Roman arms with dishonour ; and, dying in Crete, he was called Creticus in derision. The depredations of the Pirates continued. Q. Metellus, Consul in 69 b.c, was ordered to continue the war against Crete, with a view to further operations against the Pirates, and gave good promise of a successful issue. But Pompey was becoming impatient for employment. He was popular ; his mijitary character stood higher than that of any other man at Rome ; and it was with general approbation, that in the year 67 b.c, the Tribune An. Gabinius, a creature of his own, brought forward a law enabling the People to elect a person of Consular rank, who should exercise over the whole Mediterranean a power still more absolute than had been con- ferred upon Antonius. Every one knew that Pompey was to be the person. The Senate were, almost to a man, suspicious of his intentions. It was thought that he purposed to make himself the chief of Rome ; and the proposition was opposes), as dangerous to freedom, by the Senatorial leaders, Catulus, llortensius, and others. Caesar supported it in the Senate; but he stood almost alone. Pompey was threatened with the ominous words : — " You aspire to be Romulus ; beware the fate of Romulus." AVhen the Tribes met to pass the Bill, a Tribune named Trebellius was induced to interpose his veto; nor could threats or persuasions move him, till Gabinius put it to the vote that he should be deprived of his Tribunate, as Octavius had been deprived by Gracchus. Not till seventeen Tribes had voted Chap. LXIII. BRILLIANT SUCCESS OF POMPEY. 635 for his deprivation, did Trebellius yield, and then the Bill was passed by acclamation. No sooner was this result known, than the price of provisions fell. § 11. No part of Pompey's life is so brilliant as its next years. During the winter he got a large Fleet ready for sea. Twenty- four lieutenants, among whom appear the names of Cato and A'arro, some commanding squadrons of the fleet, some protect- ing the coast with troops, obeyed his orders. He directed all these forces to encircle tKe West of the Mediterranean, and by simultaneous movements to drive the flying squadrons of the enemy before them towards the East. In the brief space of forty days he returned to Rome, and reported that the whole sea West of Greece had been cleared of the Pirates. Meantime, a powerful Fleet had assembled at Brundusium ; and hastening across Italy to that port he took the command in person. He continued his plan of action by sweeping every inlet of the Archipelago, so as to force the enemy to the Cilician coast. Their assembled ships ventured to give him battle off the rock-fortress of Cora- cesium, and sufl"ered a complete defeat. A general submission followed, due as nuich to the leniency of Pompey as to his victory ; and in the course of three months from the day on which he commenced operations the war was ended. A large number of the Pirates were settled in the Cilician town of Soli, which was henceforth named Pompeiopolis. About the same time, Metellus completed the conquest of Crete, and Pompey sought to include that island in his command. But Metellus resisted the encroachment, and the Senate backed him. After some delay, he was honoured with a Triumph and assumed the name of Creticus as a title of real honour. § 12. At the moment, then, when Lucullus was unwillingly obeying his soldiery, Pompey, in the full blaze of victory, was setthng the affairs of Cilicia. During the winter he remained in the East. His friends at Rome put forward his name as the only person fit to be entrusted with the task of concluding the Mithridatic War. At the very beginning of the year 66 b.c, the Tribune Manilius moved that a second commission should be issued to invest Pompey with the chief command over all Roman dominions in the East, till he had brought the war with Mithri- dates to an end. The Senatorial Chiefs opposed the law of Manilius, but less vehemently than they had opposed the law of Gabinius, and a new supporter of the popular hero appeared in the person of Cicero. The eloquent advocate had never yet addressed the Tribes on any political question, and he could rot have found an occasion better suited for his first essay than the praises of Pompey. The task was easy, and the audience eager ; 636 CrViL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VTl but never was a more splendid offering paid to military genius than was now paid to Porapey by the rising Orator.* Success was a matter of course. Pompey received by acclamation the most extensive authority ever yet conferred by law upon a Ro- man Citizen, with the exception of the Dictatorial power given to Sylla. He was in fact appointed Dictator of the East ; and with the army placed at his command, it would have been easy to establish himself as master of the West also. It must be confessed, that the Senatorial Chiefs had some reason to object to this unlimited authority. Necessity was an excuse in Sylla's case ; for without him there would have been anarchy. But no necessity now existed ; for it cannot be doubted, that Lucullus, with proper reinforcements, would have brought the war to a speedy conclusion. But the cause of Pompey was identified with the cause of the People ; Lucullus was held to be a champion of the Senate ; and the popular will prevailed. § 13. During the year of inaction that had preceded Pompey's appointment, Mithridates had collected a fresh army, with which he occupied the frontier of Pontus. Pompey received his new commission in the summer of 66 b.c, and he at once pushed forward towards Cabeira, through a country wasted by previous campaigns. Mithridates, anxious to avoid a battle, retired towards the sources of the Halys, but he was overtaken by the Roman general, and obliged to give battle on a spot afterwards marked by the city of Nicopolis, founded by Pompey in memory of the battle. Here Mithridates was entirely defeated, and with only a few stragglers succeeded in crossing the Euphrates. But Tigranes refused to harbour him in Armenia ; and he made his way northward, with great difficulty, through the wild mountain tribes of Caucasus to Dioscurias (Iskuria) on the coast of Cir- cassia. Banished from the regions south of Caucasus, his adven- turous genius formed the conception of uniting the Sarmatian tribes northward of the Black Sea, and making a descent upon Italy. Panic-stricken at his father's approach, Machares, Viceroy of the Crimea, sought death by his own hand ; and the Crimea again became subject to Mithridates. § 14. So great was the terror caused by the victories of the Roman General, that Tigranes would have prostrated himself at his feet, had not Pompey prevented the humiliation; and Phraates of Parthia, who had assumed the proud title of King of Kings, lately arrogated by Tigranes, sent to make an alliance with the victorious Roman, who turned his steps Northward in pursuit of Mithridates. At mid-winter he celebrated the * See his speech Pro imperio Cn. Pompeii, commonly called pro Leg« Manilla, especially e. 16. Chap. LXIII. POMPEY'S CAMPAIGN IN SYRIA. 637 Saturnalia on the River Cyrus (Kur), and in the spring advanced along the coast to the Phasis. But learning that Mithridates was safe in the Crimea, he turned back to his old quarters on the Cyrus, and spent the summer in reducing the tribes which occupied the southern slopes of Caucasus. One of his victories was celebrated by the foundation of another Nicopolis. But he was obliged to return to Pontus for winter-quarters. Here he received ambassadors from the neighbouring potentates, and busied himself in reducing Pontus to the form of a Roman Province. For the next two years he occupied himself by cam- paigns in the famous countries to the south of Asia Minor. § 15. Syria had been of late years subject to Tigranes. In the summer of 64 b.c, Pompey, descending through Cappadocia to Antioch, took possession of the kingdom of the Seleucida3 and reduced it to the form of a Roman Province. The Itura^ans, the northern Idumaeans, and all the country below Taurus crouched submissive at his feet. As he advanced Southward, his authority was called in to settle a quarrel between two brothers of that Royal Family, which had inherited the Jewish sceptre and high priesthood from the brave Maccabees. Aristo- bulus was the reigning King of Juda3a, but his title was dis- puted by his brother Hyrcanus. It was the latter who applied for aid to tiie Roman General. Pompey accepted the appeal. But the Jews, attached to the reigning prince, refused obe- dience, and Pompey was obliged to undertake the siege of Jeru- salem. For three months the Jews defended themselves with their wonted obstinacy ; but their submission was enforced by famine, and Pompey entered the Holy City. Pillage he forbade ; but, excited by the curiosity which even then the spiritual wor- ship of Jehovah created in the minds of Roman idolaters, he entered the sacred precincts of the Temple, and ventured even to intrude into the Holy of Holies, and to stand behind that solemn veil which had hitherto been lifted but once a year, and that by the High Priest alone. We know little of the impression produced upon Pompey's mind by finding the shrine untenanted by a'.iy object of worship. But it is interesting to compare the irreverent curiosity of the Roman with the conduct attributed to the Great Alexander upon a similar occasion. Hyrcanus was established in the sovereignty, on condition of paying a tribute to Rome : Aristobulus followed the conqueror as his prisoner. § 16. Aretas, King of the NabathaBan Arabs, defied the arms of Pompey; and the conqueror was preparing to enter the rocky deserts of Idumsea, so as to penetrate to Pctra. when he received news which suddenly recalled him to Asia Minor. Mithridates was no more. He had been endeavouring to execute his great 638 CIVIL WARS : SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL degign of uniting all the barbarous Tribes of Eastern Europe against Rome, and so excited the alarm of his remaining subjects, that his son Pharnaces found it an easy task to raise them to insurrection. The old monarch, rendered desperate by seeing his last hopes baulked, had, while Pompey was yet before Jeru- salem, terminated his own life at Panticapa^um (Kertch) in the Crimea. Pompey hastened to Sinope, to which place the body of the old King had been sent by his son. It was honoured with a royal funeral, and placed in the sepulchre of his fathers. § 17. The remainder of the year 63 b.c. was spent by the General in regulating the new Provinces of Bithynia, Pontus, and Syria, and in settling the kingdoms, which he allowed to remain under Roman protection on the frontiers of these Pro- vinces. Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, was left in the possession of the Crimea and its dependencies : Deitorarus, chief of Galatia, received an increase of territory ; Ariobarzanes was restored for the fourth time to the principality of Cappadocia. All this was done by Pompey's sole authority, without advice from the Senate. Early in 62 b.c. he left Asia, and proceeded slowly through Macedonia and Greece, — so slowly, that on the 1st of January 61 B.C., he had not yet appeared before the walls of Rome t( claim his Triumph. He had been absent from Italy for nearly seven years. His intentions were known to none. But the power given him by the devotion of his soldiers was absolute ; and the Senatorial Chiefs might well feel anxiety till he disclosed his will. But before we speak of his arrival in Rome, we must relate the important events that had occurred during his absence. Slab from Arch of Titus, representing the Spoils of Jerusalem borne in Triumph. M. TuUius Cicero. CHAPTER LXIY, FROM CONSULSHIP OF POMPEY AND CRASSUS TO RETURN OF POMPEV FROM THE EAST : C^SAR I CICERO : CATILINE. (69 61 B.C.) § 1. Life of Caesar to 67 b.c. § 2. His Qugestorship and ^dileship : acknow- ledged as leader of the Marian Party. § 3. Discontent with government of Senate among (1) families of Proscribed, (2) soldiers of Sylla, (3) pro. fligate youn;^ Nobles. § 4. Catiline : his previous life : accused by P. Clodius, and prevented standing for Consulship. § 5. First plot of Catiline : Cicei-o's offer t > defend him. § 6. Election of Cicero and C. Antonius to Consulship, Catiline being rejected. §7. Cicero's Consulship: he takes part with Senate : speaks against Agrarian Law of RuUus. § 8. Impeachment of Rabirius for taking up arms against Saturninus. § 9. Cicero opposes the restoration of the Sons of the Proscribed. § 10. Election of Caesar to Chief Pontificate. §-11- Catiline's plans betrayed to Cicero: Consuls invested with dictatorial power: Catiline again loses Consulship : Cicero's First Speech: Catiline leaves Rome: Second Speech. § 12. AUo- brogian Envoys seized. § 13. Arrest of Conspirators left at Rome: Cicero's Third Speech, § 14. Debate in Senate on punishment of prisoners: Cicero's Fourth Speech: they are put to death. § 15. Cicero defends Murena, Consul-elect. § 16. Catiline defeated and slain early in next year. § 17. Discussion as to complicity of Crassus and Caesur in Cati- line's conspiracy. § 1. Though the restoration of the Tribunate and the with- drawal of the Judicial power had given a rude shock to tho 640 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VH. Senatorial Oligarchy, they still remained masters of Rome. But a chief was growing up who was destined to restore life to the Marian party, to become master of the Roman world, and to be acknowledged as the greatest man whom Rome ever produced. C. Julius Caesar was born of an old Patrician family in the year 100 B.C. He was therefore six years younger than Pompey and Cicero. His father, C. Caesar, did not live to reach the Consul- ship. His uncle Sextus held that high dignity in 91 b.c, just before the outbreak of the Social War. But the connexion on which the young Patrician most prided himself was the marriage of his aunt Julia with C. Marius ; and at the early age of seven- teen he declared his adhesion to the popular party by espousing Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, who was at that time absolute master of Rome.* We have already noticed his bold refusal to repudiate his wife, and his narrow escape from Sylla's assassins. His first military service was performed under L. Minucius Thcr- mus, who was left by Sylla to take Mytilene. In the siege of that place he won a civic crown for saving a citizen. On the death of Sylla he returned to Rome, and, after the custom of ambitious young Romans, he indicted Cn. Dolabella, for extor- tion in Macedonia. The Senatorial Jury acquitted Dolabella as a matter of course ; but the credit gained by the young Orator was great; and he went to Rhodes to study rhetoric under Molo, in whose school Cicero had lately been taking lessons. It was on his way to Rhodes that he fell into the hands of Cilician pirates. Redeemed by a heavy ransom, he collected some ships, attacked his captors, took them prisoners, and cru- cified them at Pergamus, according to a threat which he had made while he was their prisoner. About the year 74 b.c. he heard that he had been chosen as one of the Pontifices, and he instantly returned to Rome, where he remained for some years, leading a life of pleasure, taking little part in politics, but yet, by his winning manners and open-handed generosity, laying in a large store of popularity, and perhaps exercising an unseen influence over the events of the time. § 2. It wss in 67 b.c, as we have seen, that Pompey left the City to take the command against the Pirates. At the same time, Caesar, being in his thirty-third year, was elected Quaestor, and signalised his year of office by a panegyric over his aunt Julia, the widow of Marius. His wife Cornelia died in the same year, and gave occasion to another funeral harangue. In both of these speeches the political allusions were evident; and he ven- tured to have the bust of Marius carried among his family images * He was already married to Cossutia, a rich heiress, whom he divorced to marry Cornelia. Chap. LXIV. CATILINE. 641 for the first time since tlie Dictatorship of Sylla. In 65 b.c. he was elected Curule vEdile, when he increased his popularity by exhibiting 320 pairs of gladiators, and conducting the games on a scale of unusual magnificence. The chief expense of these exhibitions was borne by his colleague, M. Bibulus, who com- plained that Caesar had all the credit of the shows, — "just as the temple of the Dioscuri, though belonging both to Castor and Pollux, bore the name of Castor only." But he did not confine himself to winning applause by theatrical spectacles. As Curator of the Appian Way, he expended a large sum from his own resources. The Cimbrian trophies of Marius had been thrown down by Sylla, and no public remembrance existed of the ser- vices rendered to Rome by her greatest soldier. Caesar ordered these trophies, with suitable inscriptions, to be secretly restored ; and in one night he contrived to have them set up upon the Capitol, so that at daybreak men were astonished by the unac- customed sight. Old soldiers who had served with Marius shed tears. All the party opposed to Sylla and the Senate took heart at this boldness, and recognised their chief. So important was the matter deemed, that it was brought before the Senate, and Catulus accused Caesar of openly assaulting the Constitution. But nothing could be done to check his movements, for in all things he kept cautiously within the Law. § 3. The year of his ^Edileship was marked by the appearance of a man destined to an infamous notoriety, — L. Sergius Catilina, familiar to all under the name of Catiline. For some time after the death of Sylla the weariness and desire of repose which always follows revolutionary movements had disposed all men to acquiesce in the rule established by the Dictator. But more than one class of persons found them- selves ill at ease. First, the families proscribed by Sylla cherished the thoughts that they might recover what they had lost, and the enthusiasm displayed when Caesar restored the trophies of Marius, revealed to the Senate the hopes of their political ene- mies. Secondly, there were a vast number of persons, formerly attached to Sylla, who shared the discontent of the Marian party. The Dictator left all real power in the hands of a few great families. Ilis own creatures were allowed to amass money, but remained without political power; and the upstarts who enjoyed a transient greatness under Sylla found themselves reduced to obscurity. With the recklessness of men who had become suddenly rich, they had squandered their fortunes as lightly as they had won them. These men were for the most part soldiers, and ready for any violence. They only wanted chiefs. These chiefs they found among the profligate members 642 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII. of noble families, who like themselves were excluded from the counsels of the respectable though narrow-minded men who composed the Senate and administered the government. These were the young Nobles, effeminate and debauched, reckless of blood, of whom Cicero speaks with horror.* § 4. Of these adventurers Catiline was the most remarkable. He belonged to an old Patrician Gens, and had distinguished iiimself both by valour and cruelty in the late Civil War. W3 have noticed how he is said to have murdered his own brother, and to have secured impunity by getting the name of his victim placed on the proscribed lists, as well as the ready zeal with which he delivered up Marius Gratidianus to torture. A beautiful and profligate lady, by name Aurelia Orestilla, refused his proffered hand because he had a grown-up son by a former marriage ; this son speedily ceased to live. Notwithstanding his crimes, the personal qualities of Catiline gave him great ascendancy over all who came in contact with him. His strength and activity were such, that he was superior to the soldiers at their own exercises, and could encounter skilled gladiators with their own weapons. His manners were frank, and he was never known to desert friends. By qualities so nearly resembling virtues, it is not strange that he deceived many, and obtained mastery over more. In 68 b.c. he was elected Praetor, and in the following year became Governor of the Province of Africa. Here he spent two years in the practice of every crime that is imputed to Roman Provincial rulers. During the year of Ca3sar's ^lileship, Catiline was accused by the profligate P. Clodius Pulcher. He had intended in that year to offer himself Candi- date for the Consulship. But while this accusation was pending the Law forbade him to come forward ; and this obstacle so irritated him that he planned a new Revolution. § 5. The Senatorial Chiefs, in their wish to restore outward decency, had countenanced the introduction of a severe Law to prevent Bribery by L. Calpurnius Piso. Under this law P. Cor- nelius S'jlla and P. Autronius Paetus, Consuls-elect for 65 b.c, were indicted and found guilty. Their election was declared void ; and their accusers were nominated Consuls by the Senate, without the formality of an election. Catiline found Autro- nius ready for any violence ; and these two entered into a con- spiracy with another profligate young Nobleman, by name Cn. Piso, to murder the new Consuls on the Calends of January,— the day on which they entered upon office, — and to seize the supreme authority for themselves. The scheme is said to have * "Libidinosa et delicata juventus," ad Att. i. 19, 8: "sanguinaria juventus," ib. ii. t, 3. v<» Chap. LXIV. CICERO'S CONSULSHIP. 643 ^ failed only because Catiline gave the signal of attack before the armed assassins had assembled in sufficient numbers. Catiline was acquitted on his trial, no doubt through the in- tentional misconduct* of the case by Clodius. We are astonished to read a private letter of Cicero's, in which the Orator expresses his willingness to act as Catiline's advocate.f Cicero's excuse is that in the next year he was to be Candidate for the Consul- ship ; if Catiline were acquitted he would be a competitor ; and it would be better to have him as a friend than as an enemy. This alone speaks loudly for the influence of Catiline ; for at the same time Cicero declares that his guilt was clear as noonday .J § 6. There was indeed reason to fear Catiline's success. Five of the six Candidates who opposed him were men of little note. The sixth was Cicero, whose obscure birth was a strong objec- tion against him in the eyes of the Nobility. But there was no choice. C. Antonius, brother of M. Antonius Creticus and younger son of the Orator, was considered sure of his election; and he was inclined to form a coalition with Catiline. Cicero was supported by the Equites, by the friends of Pompey, whom he had served by his speech for the Manilian Law, and by a number of persons whom he had obliged by his services as Advocate. What part he had hitherto taken in politics had been decidedly in opposition to the Senate. But necessity knows no rule ; and to keep out Catiline, whom they feared, the Senatorial Chiefs resolved to support Cicero, whom they disliked. The personal popularity of the Orator and the support of the Aristocracy placed him at the head of the poll. Antonius was returned as his colleague, though he headed Catiline by the votes of very few Centuries. § 7. We now come to the memorable year of Cicero's Consul- ship, 63 B.C. It was generally believed that Catiline's second disappointment' would drive him to a second conspiracy. Imme- diately after his election, Cicero attached himself to the Senate and justified their choice. To detach Antonius from Catiline, he voluntarily ceded to him the lucrative Province of Macedonia, which he had obtained by lot. But Catiline's measures were conducted with so much secrecy, that for several months no clue was obtained to his designs. * Prcevaricatio, as the Romans called it. f "Hoc tempore Catilinam, competitorem nostrum, defendere cogita- bamus .... Spero si absolutus erit, coDJunctiorem ilium fore in ratione petitionis; sin aliter acciderit, humaniter feremus." — Ad Att. i. 2, 3. The use of the imperfect cogitahamus indicates that Cicero's advocacy was either not really offered or not accepted. X " Catilina, si judieatum erit meridie non lucere, certus erit competitor." — Ad Att. i. 1, 2. 644 ^ • CIVIL WARS : SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL Meantime Cicero had other difficulties to meet. Among the Tribunes of the year were two persons attached to Caesar's party, Q. Servilius Rullus and T. Attius Labienus. The Tribunes entered upon their office nearly a month before the Consuls; and Rullus had already come forward with an Agrarian Law, to revive the measure of Cinna, and divide the Public Lands of- Campania among the poor citizens. Cicero's devotion to his new friends was shown by the alacrity with which he opposed this measure. On the Calends of January, the very day upon which he entered office, he delivered an harangue against it in the Senate, which he followed up by speeches in the Forum.* He pleased himself by thinking that it v/as in consequence of these efforts that Rullus withdrew his bill. But it is probable that Caesar, the real author of the law, cared little for its success. In bringing it forward he secured favour for himself. In forcing Cicero to take part against it, he deprived the orator of a large portion of his popularity. § 8. Soon after this, Caesar employed the services of Labienus to make an assault upon the arbitrary power assumed by the Senate in dangerous emergencies. It will be remembered that, in the sixth Consulship of Marius, the revolutionary enterprise of Saturninus had been put down by resorting to this arbitrary power. Labienus, whose uncle had perished by the side of Saturninus, now indicted C. Rabirius, an aged Senator, for having slain the Tribune. It was well known that the actual perpetrator of the deed was a slave, who had been publicly rewarded for his services. But Rabirius had certainly been one of the assailants, and he was indicted for High Treason [per- duellio). If he were found guilty, it would follow that all who hereafter obeyed the Senate in taking up arms against sedi- tious persons would be liable to a similar charge. The cause was tried before the Duumviri, one of whom was L. Caesar, Consul of the preceding year; the other was C. Caesar himself. Hor- tensius and Cicero defended the old Senator. It would seem almost impossible for Caesar to condemn Rabirius, seeing that Marius himself had led the attack against Saturninus. But Caesar was not troubled by scruples. The Duumviri found Rabirius guilty. From this judgment the old Senator appealed to the popular Assembly. Cicero came forward, in his Consular robes, to defend him. He was allowed only half-an-hour for his speech ; but the defence which he condensed into that narrow space was unan- swerable, and must have obtained a verdict for his client, if it * Fragments of three speeches De Lege Agrarid remain. See Orelli's edition, ii. p. 527, sqq. Chap. LXIV. CICERO AND CATILINE- 645 J had been adaressed to a calm audience. The People, however, were eager to humiliate the Senate, and were ready to vote according to their present passion. Rabirius would certainly have been condemned, had not Q. Metellus Celer, Praetor of the City, taken down the standard which from ancient times floated from the Janiculum during the sitting of the Comitia.* But Caesar's purpose was eftectually answered. The governing body had been humbled, and their right • to place seditious persona under a sentence of outlawry had been called in question. § 9. Cicero lost still more favour by the successful opposition which he offered to an attempt to restore the sons of those who had been on the proscribed lists of Sylla. In this he served the purpose of the Senate by excluding from the Comitia their mortal enemies ; but he incurred many personal enmities, and he advo- cated a sentence which could be justified only by necessity. § ] 0. About this time the age and infirmities of Metellus Pius made probable a vacancy in the high oflSce of Pontifex Maximus ; and Labienus introduced a Law by which the right of election to this office was restored to the Tribes, according to the rule observed before Sylla's Revolution. "When Metellus died, Caesar offered himself as a candidate for this high office. Catulus, Chief of the Senate, also came forward, as well as P. Servilius Isauri- cus. Caesar had been one of the Pontiff's from early youth : but he was known to be unscrupulous in his pleasures as in his politics, overwhelmed with debt, careless of religion. His election, how- ever, was a trial of political strength merely. It was considered so certain, that Catulus attempted to persuade him to withdraw by offering to pay his debts ; but Cae^^ar peremptorily refused, saying that if he needed more money, he would borrow more. He probably anticipated that the Senate would use force to oppose him ; for on the morning of the election he parted from his mother Aurelia with the words, " I shall return as Pontifex Maximus, or not at all." His success was triumphant. Even in the Tribes to which his opponents belonged he obtained more votes than they counted altogether. No fact can more strongly prove the strength which the popular party had regained under his adroit but unseen management. It is worth noting that in this year was born his sister's son, M. Octavius, who reaped the fruit of all his ambitious endeavours. § 11. The year was fast waning, and nothing was known to the public of any attempts on the part of Catiline. That dark and * A custom probably derived from the times when the Etruscans were foes of Rome. The removal of the standard was, in those times, a sign of the enemy's approach, and on this signal the Comitia centuriata became an army rendy for battle. The form remained, though the reason had long passed by. 646 ^ CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book YIL enterprising person had offered himself a third time as Candi- date for the Consulship, and he was anxious not to stir till the result was known. But Cicero had become acquainted with a woman named Fulvia, mistress to Curius, one of Catiline's con- fidential friends, and by her means he obtained immediate knowledge of the designs of the conspirators. At length he considered them so far advanced, that on the 21st of October ht assembled the Senate and laid all his information before them. On the next day a Decree was framed to invest the Consuls with Dictatorial power, but at present this Decree was kept secret. Soon after, the Consular Comitia were held, and the election of the Centuries fell on D. Junius Silanus and L. Licinius Murena, adherents of the Senatorial party. Catiline, disap- pointed of his last hopes, convened his friends at the house of M. Porcius Laeca, on the nights of the 6th and 7*th of November ;* and at this meeting it was determined to proceed to action. C. Mallius, an old Centurion, who had been employed in levying troops secretly in Etruria, was sent to Fassulae, and ordered to prepare for war; Catiline and his associates were to organise movements within the City. Cicero, informed of these resolutions through Fulvia, resolved to dally no longer with the peril. He summoned the Senate to meet on the 8th of November in the Temple of Jupiter Stator. Catiline, with marvellous effrontery, appeared in his place as a Senator ; but every one quitted the bench and left him alone. Cicero now rose, and delivered that famous speech which is en- titled his First Oration against Catiline. The conspirator rose to reply; but a general shout of execration prevented him. Unable to obtain a hearing, he left the Senate-house ; and, perceiving that his life was in danger at Rome, he summoned his associates together, handed over the execution of his designs to M, Len- tulus Sura, Praetor of the City, and C. Cethegus, and left Rome before morning to join Mallius at Faesula3. On the following morning Cicero assembled the People in the Forum, and in his Second Speech told them of the flight of Catiline. § 12. The Senate now made a second Decree, in which Catiline was proclaimed a Public Enemy ; and the Consul Antonius was directed to take the command of an army destined to act against him, while to Cicero was committed the care of the City. Cicero was at a loss ; for he was not able to bring forward Fulvia as a * Our llth of Jan. 62 b.c. In this and all following dates correction must be made to obtain the real time. The Roman 1st of January of this year would be by our reckoning the 14th of March. It must be observed also that th« Romans reckoned the nif^fht as belonging to the following day. What we call the night of the 6th of November would be with them the night of the Ith. Chap. LXIV. CICERO AND CATILINE. 647 witness, and after the proceedings against Rabirius he feared resorting to the use of Dictatorial power. But at this moment he obtained direct evidence against the conspirators. There were then present at Rome ambassadors from the Allobroges, whose business it was to solicit relief from the debts which that people had incurred to the Roman Treasury. The Senate heard them coldly, and Lentulus took advantage of their discontent to stir them to insurrection. At first they lent ear to his offers, but thought it prudent to disclose the matter to Q. Fabius Sanga, whose 'family was engaged to protect their interests at Rome.* Fabius communicated with Cicero. By the Consul's directions, the Allobrogian Envoys continued their intrigue with Lentulus, and demanded written orders, signed by the chief conspirators, to serve as credentials to their nation. Bearing these documents, they set out from Rome on the evening of the 3rd of December (5th of Feb., 62 b.c), accompanied by one T. VuU turcius, who carried letters from Lentulus to Catiline. Cicero ordered the Praetors, L. Flaccus and C. Pomptinus, to take post upon the Mulvian Bridge. Here the Envoys were arrested, and all their papers seized. § 13. Early next morning, Cicero sent for Lentulus, Cethegus, and the others who had signed the Allobrogian credentials. Ignorant of what had passed, they came ; and the Consul, hold- ing the Praetor Lentulus by the hand, and followed by the rest, went straight to the Temple of Concord, where he had sum- moned the Senate to meet. Vulturcius and the Allobrogian Envoys were now brought in, and the Praetor Flaccus produced the papers which he had seized. The evidence was brought so clearly to a point, that the Conspirators confessed their hand- writing ; and the Senate decreed that Lentulus should be de- prived of his Prsetorship, and that all the prisoners should be put into the hands of eminent Senators, who were to be answer- able for their persons. Then Cicero went forth into the Forum, and in his Third Speech detailed to the assembled People all the circumstances which had been discovered. Not only had two Knights been commissioned by Cethegus to kill Cicero in his chamber, a fate which the Consul eluded by refusing them ad- mission, but it had also been resolved to set the City on fire in twelve places at once, as soon as it was known that Catiline and Mallius were ready to advance at the head of an armed force. Lentulus, who belonged to the great Cornelian Gens, had been buoyed up by a Sibylline prophecy, which promised the dominion over Rome to " three Cs :" he was to be the third Cornelius * They had been conquered by Q. Fabius Maximus, nephew of Scipio vEmilianus. See Chapt. liv. § 4. C48" CIVIL WARS : SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL after Cornelius Cinna and Cornelius Sylla. But it was to his remissness that Cethegus attributed their failure ; and it is pro- bable, that if the conduct of the business had been left to this desperate man,* some attempt at a rising would have been made. The certainty of danger and the feeling of escape filled all hearts with indignation against the Catilinarian gang ; and for a moment Cicero and the Senate rose to the height of popularity. § 14. Two days after (Dec. 5=Feb. 7, 62 b.c), the Senate was once more summoned to decide the fate of the captive conspi* rators. Silanus, as Consul-elect, was first asked his opinion, and he gave it in favour of Death. Ti. Nero moved that the ques- tion should be adjourned. Caesar, who was then Praetor-elect, spoke against capital punishment and proposed that the prisoners should be condemned to perpetual chains in various cities of Italy, — taking care to remind the Senate that their power to inflict the penalty of death was questionable. His speech pro- duced such an effect, that even Silanus declared his intention to accede to Nero's motion. But Cicero and Cato delivered vehement arguments in favour of extreme punishment, and the majority voted with them. Immediately after the vote, the Consul, with a strong guard, conveyed the prisoners to the loathsome dungeon, called the Tullianum, and here they were strangled by the public executioners. It is difficult to see how the State could have been imperilled by suff'ering the culprits to live, at least till they had been allowed the chances of a regular trial. If Rabirius was held guilty for assisting in the assault upon Saturninus, a man who was actually in arms against the government, what had Cicero to expect from those who were ready to deliver this verdict? It was not long before he had cause to rue his over-zealous haste. But for the moment, the popular voice ratified the judg- ment of Cato, when he proclaimed Cicero to have deserved the title of " Father of his Country." § 15. Before the close of the year, the Consul-elect Murena was indicted by C. Sulpicius, one of his competitors, for Bribery, and the accusation was supported by Cato. Hortensius and Cicero undertook the defence. Cicero's speech is extant; and the buoyant spirits, with which he assails the legal pedantry of Sulpicius and the impracticable Stoicism of Cato, show how highly he was elated by his success in crushing the conspiracy. There can be no doubt that Murena was guilty. The only argument of force used in his defence by Cicero, was that it was dangerous to leave the State with one Consul when Catiline was in the * "Manus vesana Cethegi," Lucan ii. 5i3; eomp. Cic. in Catil. iv. 6. Chap. LXiV CRASSUS AJSTD C^SAR. 549 field. And this argument probably it was that procured the acquittal of the Consul-elect § 16. The sequel may be briefly related. Before the execution of his accomplices, Catiline was at the head of two complete Legions, consisting chiefly of Sylla's veterans. When news of the failure of the plot reached the insurgents, many deserted ; and Catiline endeavoured to retreat into Cisalpine Gaul. But the passes were beset by the Pro-praetor Metellus Celer ; the Consul Antonius was close behind ; and it became necessary either to fight or surrender. Catiline chose the braver course. His small army was drawn up with skill. Antonius, mindful of former intimacy with Catiline, alleged illness as a plea for giving up the command of his troops to M. Petreius, "a skilful soldier. A short but desperate conflict followed. Mallius fell fighting bravely. Catiline, seeing that the day was lost, rushed into the thick of battle and also fell with many wounds. He was found, still breathing, with a menacing frown stamped upon his brow. None were taken prisoners ; all who died had their wounds in front. § 17. It is impossible to part from this history without adding a word with respect to the part taken by Caesar and Crassus. Both these eminent persons were supposed to have been more or less privy to Catiline's designs; if the first conspiracy attri- buted to Catiline had succeeded, we are told that the assassins of the Consuls had intended to declare Crassus Dictator, and that Caesar was to be Master of the Horse. And many believed that he at least, if not Crassus also, was guilty. Nothing seems more improbable than that Crassus should have countenanced a plan which involved the destruction of the city, and which must have been followed by the ruin of credit. He had constantly employed the large fortune which he had amassed in the Syllan Proscription for the purposes of speculation and jobbing. To a money-lender and speculator, a violent Revolu- tion, attended by destruction of property and promising abolition df debts, would be of all things the least desirable. Crassus was not without ambition, but he never gratified the lust of power at the expense of his purse. The case against Caesar bears at first sight more likelihood. Sallust represents Cato as hinting that Caesar's wish to spare the conspirators arose from his complicity with them. In the next year (62 b.c.) after Caesar had entered upon his Praetorship^ a person named Vettius, employed by Cicero as a spy, ofi'ered to produce a letter from Caesar to Catiline, which would prove his guilt. Cicero and the more prudent of the Senators wished at once to quash these tales. But Caesar would not be content with this, and in full Senate he called on the Ex-consul to state 28 650 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL what he knew of the matter. Cicero rose, and declared that so far from Csesar being implicated in the plot, he had done all that could be expected from a good citizen to assist in crushing it. The People, having learnt what was the question before the Senate, crowded to the doors of the House and demanded Caesar's safety. His appearance assured them, and he was welcomed with loud applause. It was only by his interference that Vettius was saved from being torn in pieces. In truth, of evidence to prove Caesar's complicity with Cati- line there was none ; and the further the case is examined, the less appears to be the probability of such complicity. The course he had pursued for the purpose of undermining the power of the Senate had been so successful, that he was little likely to abandon it for a scheme of reckless violence, from which others would reap the chief advantage. Even if Catiline had succeeded, he must have been crushed by Pompey, who was just returning to Italy at the head of his victorious Legions. The desire of Caesar to save the lives of Lentulus and the rest is at once explained, when we remember that he had just before promoted the prosecution of Rabirius. As the leader of the popular party, it was his cue always and everywhere to protest against the absolute power assumed by the Senate, as unconstitutional and illegal. It is possible that he may have suspected the design? of Catiline, and he may have been souoded by that reckless person as a well-known opponent of the Senate. But without claiming for Csesar any credit for principle, we may safely con- clude that it was not expedient for him to have any dealings with Catiline ; and we may be sure that he wa« the last man to be misled into a rash enterprise which was not expedient for himself. C. Julius Caesar. CHAPTER LXV. pompey's return: first triumvirate: Cesar's consulship: clodius. (62 58 b.c.) J 1. Cicero's vanity: coldness of Pompey: Metellus Nepos, Tribune, attacks Cicero. § 2. Caesar departs for Spain: Return of Pompey, his caution: Crassus lauds Cicero. § 3. Senate oflfends Pompey, (1) by refusing to confirm his Acts in the East, (2) by thwarting provision proposed for his Veterans. § 4. Caesar in Spain. § 5. He returns to stand for the Con- sulship : First Triumvirate. § 6, Caesar's Law to provide for Pompey's Veterans : opposition of Senate frustrated. § 1. Caesar's Law to confirm Pompey's Acts. § 8. Another to excuse Equites from a hard bargain. § 9. Vatinian Law, investing Caesar with government of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyria for five years: Senate add Province of Transalpine Gaul. § 10. Marriage of Pompey and Julia: Perplexity of Cicero. § 11. Violation of Mysteries of Bona Dea by Clodius : Cicero speaks against him : he is made Plebeian by Caesar's influence : elected Tribune. § 1 2. Cicero, threatened by a Bill of penalties for putting Catilinarians to death, goes into exile. § 13. Cato: his character: sent to annex Cyprus to the Empire. § 14. Democratic measures of Clodius. § 1. In the first heat of liis triumph, Cicero disclosed the weak- ness of his character. He was full of vanity, a quality which above all others deprives a man of the influence which may (J52 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL otherwise be due to integrity, industry, and ability. The Senators were irritated by hearing Cicero repeat: — "I am the Saviour of Rome ; I am the Father of my Country." Pompey also, now on the eve. of returning to Italy, had been watching Cicero's rise, not without jealousy. Metellus Nepos, his Legate, had already returned to Rome with instructions from his Chief, and had been elected Tribune for the next year. Cicero, in the fulness of his heart, wrote Pompey a long account of his Consulate, in which he had the ill address to compare his triumph over Catiline with Pompey's Eastern Conquests. The General took no notice of Cicero's actions ; and the Orator wrote him a submissive letter, in which he professes his hope of playinjy Laelius to his great correspondent's Africanus. Meanwhile Metellus Nepos made no secret of his disapproval of Cicero's conduct in putting citizens to death without trial. On the Calends of January, when the Ex-consul quitted office and intended to have delivered an elabo- rate panegyric on himslef and the Senate, the Tribune inter- dicted him from speaking. He could do nothing more than step forward and swear aloud that "he alone had preserved the Republic." The people, not yet recovered from the fear of Catiline and his crew, shouted in answer that he had sworn the truth. Metellus Nepos followed up this " assault by two Bills, — * Tie empowering Pompey to be elected Consul for the second time in his absence , the other investing him with the command in Italy for the purpose of quelling the Insurrection of Catiline. Caesar supported these motions : But when Nepos began to read them previously to submitting them to the votes of the Assembly, Cato, also one of the Tribunes for the year, snatched the paper from the hand of his Colleagae, and tore it in pieces. Nepos then began to recite his Laws from memory ; but another Tribune placed his hand over his mouth, A tumult followed; and for the time the Senate triumphed over Pompey. § 2. On laying down his Praetorship, Caesar obtained Spain for his Province. His debtors threatened to detain him. In this ^-mergency he applied to Crassus ; and Crassus, believing in the fortune of Caesar, advanced the required sums, so that the Pro-praetor set out for Spain at the beginning of 61 b.c. Pompey had arrived in Italy, but not at Rome. Great appre- hensions were felt there; for he was as silent on political matters as Monk on the eve of the Restoration, and his intentions were suspected. But at Brundusium he addressed his soldiers, thanked them for their services, and dismissed them to their homes till it was time for them to attend his Triumph. He then set out for Rome, accompanied by a few friends. Outside the walls ho Chap. LXV. POMPEY'S RETURN. 653 halted, and asked permission from the Senate to enter the City, as Sylla had done, without forfeiting his claim to a Triumph. Cato opposed the application, and it was refused. Pompey therefore remained outside the walls ; and his Triumph, the third which he had enjoyed, did not take place till the end of September. It lasted two days, and the sum of money paid into the Treasury exceeded all former experience. After the Triumph ie addressed speeches both to the Senate and to the People, so cautiously framed, that no one could form any conclusion with respect to his intentions ; in particular, he avoided expressing any opinion with respect to the part taken against the Catilinarian conspirators. Crassus, always jealous of Pompey, took advantage of his rival's reserve to pronounce a panegyric upon Cicero ; and this gave the Orator an opportunity of delivering the speech which he had prepared for the Calends of January. Cicero sat down amid cheers from all sides of the House. It was probably the happiest moment of his life.* § 3. The Consuls-elect were L. Afranius, an old officer of Pompey, and Q. Metellus Celer, elder brother of Nepos.f The chief officers of State, therefore, were likely to be at the beck of the great Eastern Conqueror. But Afranius had no political influence, and Metellus Celer, exasperated because Pompey had divorced his sister, sided with the Senate. Caesar was in Further Spain : Crassus was ready to oppose Pompey ; and the game, if prudently played, might have been won by the Senatorial leaders. But about this time they lost Catulus ; and the blind obstinacy of Metellus Celer, Cato, and others, converted Pompey from his cold neutrality into a warm antagonist. During his stay in the East after the death of Mithridates, he had formed Provinces and re-distributed kingdoms without the assistance of a Senatorial Commission. He now applied to have his arrangements confirmed by the Senate. But Lucullus and Metellus Creticus, irritated at seeing that in the blaze of his triumphant success their own unquestionable merits had been forgotten, spoke warmly in the Senate of the appropriation of their labours by Pompey, and persuaded the majority to with- hold the desired confirmation. At the same time an Agrarian Law, proposed by L. Flaviui. a Tribune, to assign certain lands in guerdon to Pompey's veteran soldiers, was opposed by the Consul Metellus Celer with rancorous determination. Pompey, who dis- * For a lively description of the whole scene, see Cicero ad Att. i. 14. f It was from this year that Pollio began his History of this Civil "War :— ' " Motum ex Metello Consule civicum, Bellique causas," etc. — Horat. Od. ii. 1. 654 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book V 11. liked popular tumults, suffered the measure to be withdrawn, and brooded over the insult in haughty silence. § 4. Caesar had taken his departure for Spain before Pompey's return. In that Province he availed himself of some disturb- ances on the Lusitanian border to declare war against that gallant people. He overran their country, and turned his arms against the Gallsecians, who seem to have been unmolested since the days of Dec. Brutus. In two campaigns he became master of spoils sufficient not only to pay off a great portion of his debts, but also to enrich his soldiery. There can be no doubt that he must have acted with great severity to wring these large sums from the native Spaniards : indeed he never took thought for the sufferings of people not subject to Roman sway. But he was careful not to be guilty of oppression towards the Pro- vincials ; and his rule in the Spanish Provinces was long re- marked for its equitable adjustment of debts due to Roman Tax-collectors. § 5. He left Spain in time to reach Rome before the Consular Elections of the year 60 b.c. — for he intended to present him- self as a candidate. But he claimed a Triumph, and therefore applied to the Senate for leave to sue for the Consulship without appearing personally in the City. The Senate was disposed to grant this request ; but Cato adjourned the question by speaking against time ; and Caesar, who scorned appearance in comparison with reality of power, relinquished his Triumph and entered the City. He found Pompey in high dudgeon with the Senate ; and to strengthen their hands, propo'sed to include Crassus in their political union. The advances made by Crassus to Cicero and to the Senate had been ill received, and he lent a ready ear to the overtures of the dexterous negotiator who now addressed him. Pompey, at the instance of CaDsar, relinquished the old enmity which he bore to Crassus ; and thus was formed that famous Cabal which is commonly, though improperly, called the First Triumvirate.* Thus supported secretly by the power of Pompey and the wealth of Crassus, and borne onward by his own popularity, Caesar was elected to the Consulship by acclamation. But the Senatorial Chiefs exhausted every art of intrigue and bribery to secure the return of M. Calpurnius Bibulus, known to be a man of unflinch- ing resolution, as his colleague. He was son-in-law to Cato, who to obtain a political advantage did not hesitate to sanction the corrupt practices which on other occasions he loudly denounced. * Improperly, because it was a secret combination, and not an open assumption of political power, such as to Roman ears was implied in the word Triumvirate. Chap. LXY. FIRST TRIUMVIRATE. e55\ Bibulus was elected; and from the antagonism of the two Consuls, the approaching year seemed big with danger. § 6. Caesar began the acts of his Consulship by a measure so adroitly drawn up as to gratify at once his own adherents and Porapey. It was an Agrarian Law, framed on the model of that which had been proposed last year by Pompey's agents. Before bringing it forward in the Assembly he read it over clause by clause in the Senate, and not even Cato was able to find fault. But Bibulus declared that the measure should not pass while he was Consul, and therefore refused to sanction any further meet- ings of the Senate. Caesar, unable to convene the great Council without his colleague, threw himself upon the People, and enlarged his Agrarian Law to the dimensions of the Laws formerly pro- posed by Cinna and by Rullus. Cicero now took alarm^ and the Senatorial Order united in opposition to any distribution of their favourite Campanian lands. On the day appoint^ed for taking the votes of the People, the most violent of the Oligarchy met at the house of Bibulus, whence they sallied into the Forum and attempted to dissolve the Assembly by force. But Caesar ordered his Lictors to arrest Cato, and the rest were obliged to seek safety in flight. After another vain attempt to stop pro- ceedings, on pretence of the auguries, Bibulus shut himself up in his house for the remainder of his term of office, and contented himself with protesting from time to time against the acts of his Colleague. After this victory, Caesar called upon Pompey and Crassus before the whole Assembly to express their opinions with respect to the Bill. Pompey warmly approved it, and declared that if others drew swords to oppose it he would cover it with his shield. Crassus spoke in a similar strain. After this public manifestation of the union of the Triumvirs all oppo- sition ceased. The Bill became Law, and Caesar forced every Senator to swear obedience to its provisions. Even Cato com- plied, and Cicero looked on in blank perplexity. § 7. Caesar followed up this successful movement by procuring from the People a full acknowledgment of Pompey's Acts in the East. Here again what the Senate had captiously refused was skilfully employed to cement the union of the Triumvirs. § 8. The next step taken by the dexterous Consul was to establish his credit with another class in the community, the Equites, who also (it may be observed) were especially favoured both by Pompey and Cicero. The Orator, during his Consulship, endeavoured to efi"ect a union between the Senatorial and Eques- trian Orders. The Tax-collectors had made a high offer for the taxes of Asia at the last auction; they prayed to' be let off" their contract, and Cicero undertook their cause. But Cato opposed / 656 CIVIL WARS : SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL it with all his force, and the Equites were held strictly to their bargain. At Cajsar's suggestion a Law was now passed, re- mitting a third part of what they had agreed to give. Here, also, the favour which the Senate might have achieved by a gracious act was transferred to their most dangerous enemy. § 9. Before he quitted office, Caesar determined to provide for his future power. The Senate had assigned him the insignificant province of managing the forests and public pastures of Italy. But the Tribune Vatinius, his creature, proposed a Law by which Caesar was specially invested, as Proconsul, with the government of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum, and the command of two Le- gions ; and this government was conferred upon him for the ex- traordinary term of five .years. No doubt his purpose in obtain- ing this Province was to remain as near Rome as possible, and by means of the troops under his orders, to assume a commanding position with regard to Roman politics. Circumstances unex- pectedly enlarged his sphere of action, and enabled him to add to his political successes the character of a triumphant General. For some time past there had been threatening movements in Transalpine Gaul. The Allobrogians, who had been treated with little consideration after the Catilinarian conspiracy, had endeavoured to redress their grievances by arms, and had been subdued by Pomptinus, one of the Praetors employed by Cicero at the Mulvian Bridge. The ^duans, who inhabited modern Bur- gundy, though in alliance with Rome, were suspected of having favoured this revolt. On the banks of the Rhine the Suevi, a powerful German Tribe, were threatening inroads which revived the memory of the Cimbric and Teutonic times ; and the Hel- vetians were moving uneasily within their narrow borders. An able and active commander was required to meet these various dangers; and the Senate probably thought that by removing Caesar to a distant, perilous, and uncertain war, they might expose him to the risk of failure, or that absence might diminish the prestige of his name. They therefore added the Province of Transalpine Gaul, with an additional Legion, to the Provinces already conferred upon him by popular Vote. Pompey and Crassus supported the Decree, a fact which perhaps caused the Senate to repent of their liberality. § 10. Pompey, we have said, had divorced, his wife Caecilia, and Caesar took advantage of this circumstance to cement his union with Pompey by offering him the hand of Julia, his young and beautiful daughter. Pompey accepted the offer, and bad no reason to repent as a husband, whatever may be thought of its effect on his public career. So far, Cicero had still hoped against hope in Pompey. In his letters, he represents his union with Chap. LXV. FIRST TRItJMV IRATE. 657 Pompey as so close, that the young men nicknamed the great general Cnceus Cicero;* he professes his unshaken confidence in his illustrious friend ; he even hopes that they may be able to reform Caesar. His confidence is shaken by Pompey's approba- tion of Caesar's Agrarian Law ; and he begins to fear that the great Eastern Conqueror, — Sampsiceranus, Alabarches, the Jeru- salemitef (such are the names which he uses to indicate the haughty bearing of Pompey), — is aiming at a tyranny. Still he continues to hope that the great man will at length declare himself for the Senate, till at length he is roused from these waking dreams by the marriage of Pompey with Julia, and by the approach of personal danger to himself. § 11. Caesar, during his Praetorship, had lent the house which belonged to him as Chief Pontifl^ for the celebration of the mysteries of the Bona Dea,— rites at which it was not lawful for any but women to be present. Young App. Clodius, the same who had promoted mutiny in the army of Lucullus, either had or aspired to have an intrigue with Pompeia,J; Caesar's wife, and contrived to enter the forbidden precincts disguised as a singing girl. He was discovered by his voice; and the matter was important enough to be referred to the Senate. But nothing was done till the next year, when Clodius was Quaestor. He was then brought to trial, and pleaded an alibi. Caesar and Cicero were summoned as witnesses against him. Caesar had divorced his wife in consequence of the aftair. But professed ignorance of all that had passed. "Why then," it was asked, "have you put away your wife?" — a question to which he gave the famous reply : — "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion." Cicero, on the other hand, who justly detested the profligate character of the accused, said that he had seen and spoken with Clodius on that very day at Rome. He thus overthrew the plea of alibi, and followed up his evidence by pointed speeches in the Senate. There was no doubt of the guilt of Clodius. But the matter was treated as a trial of political strength ; he was acquitted ; and, before Caesar's Consulship, he had conceived the desire of becoming Tribune of the Plebs, so as to satisfy his vengeance upon Cicero. But his Patrician pedigree — sole relic of the old distinction between the Orders — forbade his election to this office. Caesar, in the first instance, attempted to gain the * AdAti.i. 16, 11. f Jhid. ii. 9, 1 ; 14, 1 ; 16, 2, ad come into, the Roman camp, that Caesar detained them on the ground that they had broken an armistice, and while they were captives had attacked their army. The facts as narrated by himself bear an appearance of ill faith. Cato rose in the Senate, and proposed that Caesar should be delivered up to the Germans, as an offering in expiation of treachery. But such a proposition came with an ill grace even from Cato's mouth. Romans professed not to keep faith with barbarians ; and if Caesar had not been the enemy of the Sena- CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL torial party, probably nothing would have been said of his treachery. But however this may be, it is clear that the Decree would have been an empty threat. Who could have been found to "bell the cat?" Who would or could have arrested Caesar at the head of his Legions ? § 19. It was in the autumn of the same year (55 b.c.) that he passed over into our own ibland, taking ship probably at Witsand near Calais, and landing on the open beach near Deal. In the next year he repeated the invasion of Britain with a much larger force, marched up the Stour, took Canterbury, crossed the Thames above London, probably near Walton, defeated Cassi- velaunus, the gallant chief of the Trinobantes, and took his town, — which stood probably on the site of tie moderTi St.' Albans. Little result followed from these expeditions except to spread the terror of the Roman name, and to afford matter of wonderment at Rome. Cicero's curiosity about these unknown lands was satisfied by letters from his brother Quintus, and from Trebatius, a learned lawyer, who attended Caesar at the recom- mendation of Cicero himself.* § 20. But it was soon discovered how hollow was the pacifica- tion of Gaul. During the winter of 54-53 B.C., Caesar had spread his troops in winter-quarters over a wide area. Ambiorix, a crafty chief of the Eburones, a half-German Tribe on the Meuse, assaulted the camp of Cotta and Sabinus, and by adroit cunning contrived to cut off two Legions, He then attacked Q. Cicero. But this officer, though stationed in the hostile country of the Nervii with one Legion only, gallantly defended his camp till he was relieved by Caesar himself, who had not yet left Transalpine Gaul. Alarmed by the prospect of a general insurrection, the Proconsul asked Pompey to lend him a Legion, and his request was granted. The next year's campaign crushed Ambiorix, and Caesar returned to Italy during the winter of 53-52 b.c, where his presence was needed, as we shall presently hear. But in the years 52 and 51 b.c. all central Gaul rose against the Romans, under the able conduct of Vercingetorix, chief of the Arvernians. The com- bined Gauls for the most part declined open conflicts, and threw themselves into towns fortified with great skill and defended with great obstinacy. But, notwithstanding some reverses, the rapid movements and steady resolution of Caesar triumphed. The last hope of the Gauls lay in the strong fortress of Avaricum (Bourges) ; and when this yielded, resistance was at an end. But for the two next years the Proconsul was obliged to winter beyond the Alps ; and it was not till the beginning of the year 50 B.C., the ninth of his command, that he had achieved tbi? * Epist. ad Att. iv. 16, 13 ; 11, 3; ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 16, 4. Chap. LXVI. DISSOLUTION OF THE TRIUMVIRATE. 671 conquest of the whole country. This conquest was achieved at a fearful loss of life. Nearly a million of Gauls and Germans are computed to have been sacrificed in those eight years of war. Caesar was humane in the treatment of his fellow-citizens, but, like a true Roman, he counted the lives of barbarians as naught. § 21. While therefore Crassus was engaged, never to return, in the East, and Caesar was occupied with serious dangers in Gaul, Pompey was complete master of Rome. Contrary to precedent, he sent lieutenants to govern Spain in his stead, pleading his employment as Curator of the Corn-market as a reason for remaining at home ; though, to save appearances, he never appeared publicly within the walls of Rome. He seems to have expected that in the present condition of things all orders would unite in proclaiming him Dictator. In 54 b.c. Consuls were elected in the interest of the Senate, probably by a free use of money. When the elections for 53 b.c. approached, several Tribunes of the popular party bound themselves together, and prevented all elections whatsoever ; so that for eight months the city was left without any responsible government. At length two Consuls were chosen ; but when they proposed to hold the Comitia for 52 b.c, the new Tribunes refused to permit any elections; and when the Calends of January came round, the Republic was without Consuls. But in a few days an event happened which completely altered all political relations. § 22. In Caesar's absence Clodius had become the leader of the popular party. During the present interregnum he was a candidate for the Praetorship, while his enemy Milo sought to be Consul. On the 18th of January, 52 b.c, Milo was tra- velling with his wife and family, attended by an armed retinue, along the Appian Road to Lanuvium, where he held a municipal office. Near Bovillae he met Clodius riding, with a small num- ber of attendants also armed. A quarrel arose among the servants ; Clodius mingled in the fray, and being wounded took refuge in a tavern. Milo, determined not to sufter for an im- perfect act of violence, surrounded the house, drew forth his wounded enemy, and left him dead upon the road. The body was carried to Rome and exposed in the Forum. A dreadful riot arose. The houses of Milo and other Senatorial chiefs were assaulted, but they were strongly built, and the populace was beaten ofl^. But the furniture of the Senate-House was seized to make a funeral pile to the deceased demagogue, and the Curia itself was burnt to the ground. Every day witnessed a fresh riot, till the Senate commissioned Pompey to restore order. This was done ; and it was supposed that he would have been appointed Dictator at once, had not Caesar been at Lucca. 672 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII. watching for a false move of the party opposed to him. To avoid a direct collision, Cato and Bibulus recommended that Pompey should be named as sole Consul. Milo was soon after brought to trial for the death of Clodius, and Cicero exerted himself to the utmost to prepare a speech in justification of the slaughter of Clodius. The jury were willing to acquit Milo. But Pompey was anxious to get rid of a citizen as trouble- some on the one side as Clodius had been on the other ; and he placed soldiers at every avenue of the Court for the purpose, as he said, of preserving order. This unwonted sight, and the fear of popular violence, robbed Cicero of his eloquence and the jury 'of their courage. Milo was condemned, and fled to Marseilles. Cicero sent him there a copy of the speech which he intended to have spoken. Milo, who knew not fear, sarcastically replied, that " he was glad it had not been delivered : else he should not then have been eating the fine mullets of Marseilles." § 23. Pompey had now reached the height of his ambition. He was virtually Dictator, without being bound to any party. But from this time he seems to have made up his mind to break with Caesar. He married Cornelia, daughter of Metellus Scipio, a leading member of the Aristocracy, and on the 1st of Auguei associated his new father-in-law in the Consulship with himself He repealed some of the democratic measures of Clodius, and made rules for the better conduct of Elections, and the assign- ment of Provinces. He struck indirectly at Cassar by several new enactments. He procured a Decree of the Senate by which his own government of Spain was prolonged for five years, wh'ereas Caesar's command in Gaul would terminate in little more than two years. By this Law Pompey calculated that he should be able to keep his own army on foot after the Gallic conqueror had disbanded his. In anticipation of Caesar's seek- ing a second Consulship, it was provided that no one should hold a Province till five years had elapsed from the end of his tenure of oflice. By this Law Pompey calculated that his rival would be left, after he laid down the Consulship, without am military force. It is strange that Pompey should not ha\ < foreseen that a man so resolute and so ambitious would break through the cobwebs of law by the strong hand. Parthian Coin. Coin to commemorate the taking of Egypt. CHAPTER LXVII. SECOND CIVIL WAR : DEATH OF POMPEY. (50 48 B.C.) § 1. First move against Caesar. § 2. Enemies and Friends of CaBsar at Rome ; Curio : Cselius : Antony. § 3. Proposals and counter-proposals in 50 b.c, § 4. Caesar outlawed : Antony and Q. Cassius, Tribunes, fly to his camp. § 5. Both parties ill prepared for immediate war: Pompey's confidence. § 6. Caesar's advance to Corfinium. § 7. Pompey leaves Italy: Caesar at Rome. § 8. Caesar conquers Pompeians in Spain. § 9. Surrender of Marseilles : return of Caesar to Rome. ^ 10. First Dictatorship, for eleven days. §11. Illy ria won by Pompeians : failure of Curio in Africa. §12. Return of Cicero from Cilioia: he remains in Italy, but at length joins Pompey. § 13. Position of Pompey in the East. § 14. In the autumn of 49 B.C. Caesar lands in Epirus : Pompey hastens to Dyrrhachium. § 15. Next spring, Caesar is joined by Antony. § 16, He draws lines round Pompey's position : Pompey breaks the blockade and defeats Caesar. § 17. Retreat of Caesar, who succeeds in joining Calvinus in Thessaly. § 18. Pompey joins Metellus Scipio at Larissa : both armies at Pharsalia. § 19. Battle of Pharsalia : flight of Pompey. § 20. Pursuit. § 21. Pompey seeks refuge at Lesbos : his plans. § 22. He goes to Egypt : murder of Pompey. § 23. His character. § 1. The Senatorial Chiefs had resolved to break with Caesar, 'riie attack was dfffilirCi'ced in September, 51 b.c. He had at that time succeeded in putting down the formidable insurrection organised by Vercingetorix, and the fact of his success was not yet known at Rome. Little more than two years of his command were yet to run before he became a private citizen. He had, however, already intimated his intention of offering himself again for the Consulship, in order that he might be secured from the prosecution with which he was threatened on laying down his proconsular command ; and it was intended to ask permission of the Senate that he might become a Candidate without returning to Rome. For, if he continued to be Proconsul, he could not 29 074 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL legally -enter the gates; and if he ceased to be Proconsul, he would be exposed to personal danger. But a Decree was made, by which the Consuls of the next year were ordered at once to bring before the Senate the question of re-distributing the Pro- vincial Governments ; and a clause was added providing, that the Senate would take care of Caesar's veterans. The purpose of this Decree was manifest. It was intended to supersede Caisai-, though the Law gave him two years more of command, and to sap the fidelity of his soldiers by the promise of lands in Italy. But the movement was premature, and was allowed to drop. Still a move had been made, and men's minds were familiarised with the notion of stripping Caesar of his command. § 2. Caesar felt that the crisis was at hand. Of the new Consuls (for the year 50 B.C.), C. Marcellus was his declared enemy; but L. JEmilius Paullus had been secretly won by a share of the conqueror's gold. Among the Tribunes of the year was a young man named M. Scribonius Curio, son of one of Sylla's most determined partisans. His talents were ready, his eloquence great, his audacity incomparable. He had entered upon political life at an early age, and was a leader among those young nobles, whom Cicero ten years before had designated as " the blood-thirsty youth." Since that time he had attached himself to Cicero ; and the Orator believed that he had reclaimed the profligate young man. But Caesar, or his Gallic gold, had made a convert of Curio. The Nobles, ignorant of this secret, promoted his election to the Tribunate, and thus unwarily com- mitted power to a bold and uncompromising foe. M. Caelius Rufus, another profligate youth of great ability, whom Cicero flattered himself he had won, was also secretly on Caesar's side. During the whole of the Orator's absence in Cilicia, this unprincipled young man kept up a brisk correspondence with him, as if he was a firm adherent of the Senatorial party. But on the first outbreak of the quarrel he joined the enemy. A third person, hereafter destined to play a conspicuous part, now appeared at Rome as the avowed partisan of Caesar. This was young M. Antonius, better known as Mark Antony, son of M. Antonius Creticus, and therefore grandson of the great Orator. His uncle, C. Antonius, had been Consul with Cicero. His mother was Julia, a distant relation of the great Caesar. Antony had served under Gabinius in the East, and for the last two years had been with Caesar in Gaul. He now came to Rome to sue for the Augurate, vacant by the death of the Orator Hor- tensius; and, assisted by Caesar's influence, and his own con- nexions, he was elected. He was thirty-three years of age, ready and unscrupulous as Curio, and he off"ered himself to be Chap. LXVII. SECOND CIVIL WAR. 6*75 elected as successor to that young adventurer in the College of Tribunes. Thus, for the year 50 b.c. Caesar's interests were watched by Curio, and in the year 49 b.c. Antony succeeded to the task. § 3. No direct attack was made during the present year. At Pompey's suggestion, however, it was represented that a Parthian war was imminent, and both the rivals were desired to furnish one Legion for service in the East. Caesar at once complied; Pompey evaded the demand by asking Caesar to return the Legion which had been lent by himself after the destruction of the two Legions by Ambiorix. This request also Caesar obeyed, so that in fact both Legions were withdrawn from his army. Their employment in the East proved to be a mere pretext. They were both stationed at Capua, within call of Pompey. Curio now proposed that both Pompey and Caesar should disband their armies ; " this was but fair," he said, " for both ; nor could the will of the Senate and People be considered free while Pompey was at hand with a military force to control their deliberations." But the Senate turned a deaf ear to the proposal, and the year closed without any approach to a peaceful settlement. § 4. The Consuls for the ensuing year (49 b.c.) were L. Len- tulus Crus, and another C. Marcellus, cousin-german of his predecessor, — both in the interest of Pompey. Scarcely had they entered upon office, when the crisis arrived. On the Calends of January, letters from Caesar were laid before the Senate by Curio, in which the Proconsul expressed his readiness "to accept the proposal that Pompey and himself should both resign their military power : as soon as he was assured that all soldiers were removed from the neighbourhood of Rome, he would enter the gates as a private person, and offer himself Candidate for the Consulship." Warm debates followed, in which Metellus Scipio,* Pompey's father-in-law, and Cato urged that Caesar should be declared a public enemy unless he laid down his command by a certain day. But even this did not satisfy the majority. Not only was Caesar outlawed : but on the 6th of January a Decree was framed, investing the Consuls with dictatorial power, in the same form that had been used against C. Gracchus, against Saturninus, against Catiline. On the follow- ing night, Mark Antony fled from the City, together with another Tribune, Q. Cassius Longinus, brother of the more famous C. Cassius. * He was a Scipio by birth, being great-grandson of Scipio Nasica (nick- named Serapio), the slayer of Ti. Gracchus, and was adopted by Metellus Pius. (J76 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII. § 5. The die was cast. Caesar had no longer any choice. He must either offer an armed resistance or save himself by flight. Neither party was well prepared for immediate war. Caesar had but one Legion in Italy ; for the hesitation of his enemies made him doubt whether they would ever defy him to mortal conflict. Pompey knew the weakness of his rival's forces. He also knew that Labienus, the best of Caesar's officers, was ready to desert his leader, and he believed that such an example woiild be followed by many others. He calculated that Caesar would not dare to move, or would fall a victim to his own rashness. For himself he had one Legion close to Rome, Caesar's two Legions at Capua ; and Sylla's veterans were, it was supposed, ready to take arms for the Senate at a moment's notice. " I have but to stamp my foot," said the great commander, " and armed men will start from the soil of Italy." § 6. But Caesar's prompt audacity remedied his own want of preparation, and disconcerted the calculations of his opponents. He was stationed, with his single Legion, at Ravenna, when he was surprised by letters announcing the Decree of the 6th of January. His resolution was at once taken. He reviewed his Legion, and ascertained their readiness to follow whithersoever he led. At night-fall he left Ravenna secretly, crossed the Rubicon, which divided his Province from Italy, and at day-break entered Ariminum."^ Here he met the Tribunes Antony and Q. Cassius, on their way from Rome. His legion arrived soon after, and orders were sent off to the nearest troops in Transalpine Gaul, to follow his steps with all speed. But he waited not for them. With his single Legion he appeared before Licenum, Fanum, Ancona, Iguvium, Auximum, and Asculum. All these towns surrendered without a blow, and by the beginning of February Caesar was master of all Umbria and Picenum. By the middle of that month he had been reinforced by two additional Legions from Gaul, and was strong enough to invest Corfinium, a fortress in the Pelignian Apennines, which was vigorously defended by Domitius Ahenobarbus and a number of Senators. At the ciose of a week, however, news came that Pompey and the Consuls and moved southward ; and Domitius surrendered at discretion. CaBsar allowed him and his Senatorial friends to go their way without even exacting a promise that they would take no further part in the war. On entering the town he ordered that his men should aibstain, not only from personal violence, but even from * This is CfEsar's simple narrative. The dramatic scene, in which he is represented as pausing on the banks of the Rubicon, and anxiously weighing the probable consequences of one irremediable step is due to rhetorical wri- ters of later times. Chaf. LXVIL second CIVIL WAR. 6V7 petty pillage. Reports had been spread that the Proconsul's troops were not Romans but Gauls, ferocious barbarians, whose hands would be against every Italian as their natural enemy. The public humanity which Caesar showed, reconciled to his cause many who had hitherto stood aloof. The soldiers of Domitius took service under the conqueror. § 1. After the fall of Corfinium, Caesar hastened southwards in jjirsuit of Pompey. But when he arrived at Brundusium, on the Sth of March he found that the Consuls had sailed for Dyrrha- chium, though Pompey was still in the Italian port. The town was too strong to be taken by assault; and nine days after Caesar appeared before its walls, Pompey embarked at leisure and carried his last soldier out of Italy. Disappointed of his prey, Caesar returned upon his steps, and reached Rome upon the 1st of April. The People, at the motion of M. Antony, gave Caesar full power to take what money he desired from the Treasury, without sparing even the sacred hoard, which had never been touched, except in the necessities of the Hannibalic War. Notwithstanding this vote, the Tribune L. Metellus, a son of Metellus Creticus, refused to produce the keys of the Treasury, and when Caesar ordered the doors to be broken open, endeavoured to bar his passage into the sacred chamber. " Stand aside, young man," said Caesar, " it is easier for me to do than to say." He was now master of Italy as well as Gaul. To pursue Pom- pey to Epirus was impossible, because Senatorial officers swept the sea with a large fleet, and Caesar had few ships at his dis- posal. Moreover, in Spain, which had been subject to Pompey for the last five years, there was a veteran army ready to enter Italy. The remainder of the season, therefore, he resolved to occupy in the reduction of that army. § 8. On his way to Spain, he found that Marseilles, the retreat of Milo, had declared for Pompey. Leaving Dec. Brutus with twelve ships, and C. Trebonius with a body of troops, to besiege the town both by sea and land, he continued his march, and crossed the Pyrenees early in the summer. Hither Spain was held by C. A franius, an officer of Pomp ev, whom he had raised to the Consulship, and M. Petreius, who had destroyed the army of Catiline. Further Spain was entrusted to the care of M. Teren- tins Varro. Nea^ Ilerda (Lerida), on the rivfer Sicoris, an affluent of the Ebro, Caesar was encountered by the Pompeian leaders. He gives us a very full account of the movements which followed, from which it seems that he was at first out-generalled by Petreius. Yet his dexterity in swaying the wills of men soon 678 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VJl gave him the superiority. Avoiding a battle always, he encou- raged communications between his own men and the soldiers of the enemy ; and at length the Pompeian leaders, finding them- selves unable to control their own troops, were obliged to sur- render their command. Two-thirds of their force took service with the politic conqueror. Varro, in Further Spain, by dexterous intrigue, contrived to evade immediate submission. But after a vain attempt to col- lect a force, he surrendered to the conqueror at Corduba (Cor- dova), and was allowed to go where he pleased. Before autumn closed, all Spain was at the feet of Caesar, and was committed to the government of Q. Cassius, the Tribune who had supported his cause at Rome. Thus secured from danger in the West, he hastened into Italy. ^ § 9. As he passed through Southern Gaul, he found that Marseilles still held out against Dec. Brutus and Trebonius. The defence had been most gallant. The blockade by sea had been interrupted by a detachment from Pompey's fleet ; and the great works raised by the besiegers on land had been met by counter-works of equal magnitude on the part of the besieged. But on the arrival of Caesar, the Massilians surrendered them- selves with a good grace, and were treated with the utmost clemency. § 10. During his absence in Spain, M. ^milius Lepidus, whom he had left as Prefect of the City to govern Italy, had named him Dictator. He assumed the great dignity thus conferred upon liim, but held it only eleven days. In that period he presided at the Comitia, and was elected Con^l, together with P. Servilius Isauricus, one of his old competitors^ for the Chief Pontificate. He also passed several Laws. One of those restored all exiles to the city, except Milo, thus undoing one of the last remnants of Sylla's Dictatorship. A second provided for the payment of debts, so as to lighten the burthens of the debtois without satisfying the democratic cry for an abolition of all contracts. A third conferred the franchise on the citizens of Transpadaiie Gaul, who had since the Social War enjoyed the Latin right only. § 11. Of the doings of his lieutenants in other quarters during this memorable year, Ca3sar did not receive accounts at all com- mensurate with his own marvellous- success. In Illyria, P. Cor- nelius Dolabella, son-in-law of Cicero, who had joined the con- queror, had been disgracefully beaten, and Caius, brother of Mark Antony, taken prisoner, so that all the eastern coast of the Adriatic was now in the hands of the Pompeians. Curio had been sent to occupy Sicily, where Cato commanded Chap. LXVIl SECOND CIVIL WAR. 6l\ in the name of the Senate. The philosopher, having no adequate\ force, declined the contest, and joined Pompey in Epirus. Curio ^ then passed over to Africa, where the Pompeian general Varus held command, and was at first successful. But presently Juba, • king of Mauritania, appeared in the field as an Ally of the Sena- torial party ; and Curio, obliged to retreat before the combined forces of the enemy, took refuge in the famous camp of Scipio. From this position he was drawn out by a feigned retreat ; and being surprised by an overpowering force, he was defeated and slain. Africa, therefore, as well as all the Eastern World remained in the hands of the Pompeians, while Italy, Gaul, and Spain owned the authority of Caesar. § 12. Cicero had returned from Cilicia, while the debates, which issued in the Decree of the 6th of January, were still unfinished. He claimed a Triumph for some military successes over the mountaineers who infested that Province, and therefore would not enter the walls of the City to be present at these mo- mentous debates. The question of his Triumph was soon for- gotten in the rapid course of events which followed, and he retired to his Formian Villa, still attended by his Lictors with their faces wreathed in laurel. Here he had interviews with the Pompeian leaders on their retreat through Campania. At the same time many of his personal friends, as Curio, Cselius, Dolabella, Balbus, Trebatius, had joined Caesar, and urged him to make common cause with their generous leader. On his return from Brundusium Caesar himself visited him. But the Orator could not be prevailed upon to forsake the cause of the Senate ; and after long hesitation, he took ship and joined Pompey in the East. § 13. Pompey was bitterly censured by his party for quitting Italy without a blow. But when he was surprised by Caesar's rapid advance, the only troops besides those under Domitius at Corfinium were the two Legions lately sent from Gaul by Caesar ; and these (it may well be supposed) he dared not trust to do battle against their old commander. It is probable, therefore, that he was really compelled to quit Italy. But his fleet was now so large that it would have been easy for him to regain Italian soil; and, since he made no attempt to cross the sea, we may assume that he purposely chose Epirus as the ground for battle. He had all the East behind him, long used to reverence his name ; and out of Italy he was less likely to be thwarted by the Senatorial Chiefs, who hated him while they used him. Such especially was Domitius Ahenobarbus, who loudly complained that he had been deserted at Corfinium. 680 CIVIL WARS; SECOND PERIOD Booi Vti Pompey's head-quarters were fixed at Thessalonica, the chief city of Macedonia. Here the Senators who had fled from Italj assembled, and his chief officers assumed titles of authority. He had employed the time well. The Provinces and Kings of the East filled his military chest with treasure ; he had collected seven Roman Legions, with a number of auxiliaries from every sur- rounding monarchy, and a powerful force of cavalry ; large maga zines of provisions and military stores were formed : above all, a ileet, increasing every day in numbers, was supplied by the maritime states of Illyria, Greece, Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Bibulus, the old adversary of Caesar, took the command as Admiral-in-Chief, supported by able lieutenants. With this naval force actively employed, it was hoped that it would be im- . possible for Csesar to land in Epirus. § 14. Cagsar arrived in Brundusium at the end of October, 49 B.C.* Twelve Legions had been assembled there. So much had their numbers been thinned by war, fatigue, and the fevers of Apulia, that each Legion averaged less than 3000 men. His transports were so few, that he was not able to ship more than seven of these imperfect Legions, with 600 horse. All the har- bours were occupied by the enemy. But the ancients were seldom able to maintain a blockade by cruising; and Csesar, leaving Brundusium on the 5th November, landed his first corps on the open coast of Epirus, a little south of the Acroceraunian headland. He sent his empty ships back directly, and marched northward to Oricum and Apollonia, where he claimed admission in virtue of his consular office. The claim was admitted, and these towns fell into his hands. Pompey immediately marched from Thessalonica, and succeeded in reachmg Dyrrhachium in time to save that important place. He then pushed his lines forward to the mouth of the Apsus, and the two hostile armies lay inactive during the remainder of the winter, with this stream between their camps, — Csesar occupying the left or southern bank, Pompey the right or northern side. § 15. As the winter passed away, Csesar was rendered ex- tremely anxious by the non-appearance of his second corps, which Antony was charged to bring across. News soon reached him that Bibulus, stung to the quick by the successful landing of the first corps, had put to sea from Corcyra with all his fleet, had destroyed thirty of the returning transports, and had ever since kept so strict a watch on the coast of Italy, that Antony * This is the true datfi, according to our reckoniDg, By the Roman Calendar, it was December But, for the military operations which follow, it is so important to note the ti ue seasons, that we shall, from this point, gire the dates as if the Roman Calendar had already been corrected Chap. LXVIi SECOND CIVIL WAR 681 did not dare to leave Brundusium, So stubborn was the will of Bibulus, that he fell a victim to his own exertions, and died at sea. But L. Scribonius Libo continued the tactics of Bibulus, and Caesar's impatience arose to the height. He had lost more than two months, and complained that Antony had neglected several opportunities of crossing the Ionian Sea. At length he engaged a small boat to take him across to Italy in person. The 8ca ran high, and the rowers refused to proceed, till the General revealed himself to them in the famous words: "You carry Caesar and his fortunes." All night they toiled, but when day broke they had made no way, and the General reluctantly con- sented to put back into the Apsus. But soon after, he succeeded in sending over a positive message to Antony to cross over at all risks ; and if Antony disobeyed, the messenger carried a com- mission to his chief officers, by which they were ordered to supersede their commander, and discharge the duty which he neglected to perform. Stung by this practical rebuke, Antony resolved to attempt the passage at all risks. As he neared the coast of Epirus, the wind shifted to the south-cast, and, being unable to make the port of Oricum, he was obliged to run '.lorthward past Pompey's camp, in full view of the enemy. They gave chase ; but he succeeded in landing all his men near the headland of Nymphaeum, more than fifty miles north of the Apsus. His position was critical, for Pompey's army lay between him and Caesar. But Caesar had already made a rapid march round the enemy's position, and succeeded in joining Antony before Pompey moved northwards. The latter, finding himself too late, took a new position some miles to the north of Dyrrha- chium, and here formed a strongly-entrenched camp resting upon the sea. These entrenchments ran in an irregular halt- circle of nearly fifteen miles in length, the chord of which was the coast-line of Epirus. § 16. The spring of 48 b.c. was 'now beginning. It was pro- bably in March that Caesar effected his union with Antony. Even after this junction, he was inferior in numbers to Pompey ; and it is not without wonder that we read his own account of the audacious attempt with which he began the campaign. His plan was to draw lines round Pompey's vast entrenchments, so r.s to cut him off from Dyrrhachium and from the surrounding country. As Pompey's entrenchments measured nearly fifteen miles, Caesar's lines must have measured considerably more. And as his army was inferior in numbers, it might have been expected that Pompey would not submit to be shut in. But the latter general could not interrupt the works without hazarding a battle, and his troops were not yet a match for Caesar's vet©- 29* 682 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL rans. The command of the sea insured him supplies and enabled him to shift his army ; and he therefore allowed Caesar to carry on his lines with little interruption. Daring the winter Caesar's men had suffered terribly for want of vegetable food. But as spring advanced, and the crops began to ripen, brighter days seemed at hand. Pompey's men, mean- while, though supplied from the sea, began to suffer for want of fresh water, and their animals for want of green fodder. He therefore determined to assume the offensive. At each extremity of Caesar's lines, where they abutted upon the sea, a second line of entrenchmints had been marked out reaching some way inland, so that for some distance from the sea the lines might be protected from an attack in rear, as well as in front. But this part of the work was as yet unfinished ; and, in particular, no attempt had been made to carry any defence along the sea so as to connect the two lines. Pompey was instructed of this defect by some Gallic deserters ; and he succeeded in landing some troops at the southern extremity of the works, so as to make a lodgement between Caesar's two lines. A series of combats fol- lowed. But the Pompeians maintained their ground, and Caesar perceived that his labour was thrown away. Pompey hal reestablished his land communication with Dyrrhachium ; and circumvallation being now impossible, Caesar determined to shift the scene of action. § 17. During the spring he had detached Cn. Domitius Cal- vinus with two Legions into Macedonia, to intercept the march of Metellus Scipio, who was expected every day to bring rein- forcements to Pompey from Syria. Scipio had been delayed by the necessity of securing his Province against the Parthians; and had spent much time in levying contributions on his line of march. When he arrived in Macedonia he found his passage barred by Calvinus at Pella. But, about the time of Caesar's defeat at Dyrrhachium, Calvinus had been obliged, by want of provisions, to fall back towards Epirus, while Caesar himself marched by ApoUonia up the valley of the Aotis. Pompey im- mediately detached a strong force to separate Calvinus from his chief. But Calvinus, informed of Caesar's retreat, moved with great rapidity to the southward, and effected a union with his general in the north-western corner of Thessaly. The Caesarian army, thus united, advanced to Gomphi, which was taken and given up to plunder. Meanwhile, Scipio had occupied Larissa; but, with this exception, all other Thessalian cities opened their gates to Caesar ; and the harvest being now ripe, his army revelled in the abundant supplies of the rich plain of Thessaly. § 18. Soon after, Pompey entered Thessaly from the north Chap. LXTIl PHARSALIA. 683 and joined Scipio at Larissa. The Pompeian leaders, elated by success, were quarrelling among themselves for the prize, which they regarded as already won. Lentulus Spinther, Domitius Ahenobarbus, and Metellus Scipio, all claimed Caesar's Pontifi- cate. Domitius proposed that all who had remained in Italy or had not taken an active part in the contest should be brought to trial as traitors to the cause, — Cicero being the person chiefly aimed at. Pompey himself was not spared. Domitius nick- named him Agamemnon King of men, and openly rejected his authority. The advice of the great general to avoid a decisive battle was contemptuously set at naught by all but Cato, who from first to last advocated any measure which gave a hope of avoiding bloodshed. Even Favonius, a blunt and simple-minded man who usually echoed Cato's sentiments, loudly complained that Pompey's reluctance to fight would prevent his friends from eating their figs that summer at Tusculum. From Larissa Pompey moved southward, and occupied a strong position on an eminence near the city of Pharsalus, overlooking the plain which skirts the left bank of the river Eiiipeus. Caesar followed and encamped upon the plain, within iour miles of the enemy's position. Here the hostile armies lay watching each other for some time, till Caesar made a move- ment which threatened to intercept Pompey's communications with Larissa. The latter now at length yielded to the impa- tience of the Senatorial Chiefs. He resolved to descend from his position and give battle upon the plain of Pharsalus or Pharsalia. § 19. The morning of the 6th of June* saw both armies drawn out in order of battle. The forces of Pompey consisted of about 44,000 men, and were (if Caesar's account is accurate) twice as numerous as the army opposed to them. But Caesar's were all well-trained troops; the greater part of Pompey's were levies recently collected in Macedonia and Asia, far inferior to the soldiers of Gaul and Italy. Pompey's army faced the north. His right wing, resting on the river, was commanded by Scipio, the centre by Lentulus Spinther, the left by Domitius. His cavalry, far superior to Caesar's, covered the left flank. Caesar drew up his forces in three lines, of which the rearmost was to act in reserve. His left was upon the river ; and his small force of cavalry was placed upon his right, opposite to Pompey's left wing. To compensate for his inferiority in this arm, he picked out six veteran cohorts, who were to skirmish between the files of the horse. Domitius Calvinus commanded in the centre. * By the Roman Calendar, it was the 9th of August. 684 CIVIL WARS : SECOJ^D 1>ERI0D. Book VIL Antony on the left, Caesar himself upon the right, with the Tenth Legion in reserve. The attack began by Caesar's whole line, which advanced run- ning. Pompey ordered his men to wait the charge without moving, in hopes that the enemy would lose breath before they closed. But Caesar's old soldiers, observing that the Pompeians kept their ground, halted to form line and recover breath, before they closed with the enemy. A desperate conflict followed. While the Legions were engaged along the whole line, Pom- pey's cavalry attacked the weak squadrons of Caesar's horse and drove them back, upon which the veterans sallied out of the ranks and drove their formidable pila straight at the unarmed faces of the enemy.* Caesar's squadrons rallied ; and after a brave struggle Pompey's cavalry was completely broken and fled in disorder. Upon this Caesar brought up his reserve ; and the infantry of Pompey, assailed by fresh troops in front, and attacked in flank by the cavalry and veterans, gave way everywhere. A general order was now issued by Caesar to spare the Romans, and to throw all their strength upon the foreigners. Pompey himself rode oft' the field to his tent, leaving orders for the troops to retreat behind their entrenchments. But this was not permitted. His Legionaries dispersed in all directions. The Eastern Allies, after a terrible slaughter, fled ; and Pompey had only time to mount his horse and gallop oft' through the Decuman or Rearward gate of his camp, as the sol- diers of Caesar forced their way in by the Praetorian or Front gate. The booty taken was immense. The hardy veterans of Gaul gazed with surprise on the tent of Lentulus, adorned with festoons of Bacchic ivy, and on the splendid services of plate which were set out everywhere for a banquet to celebrate the expected victory. § 20. Before Caesar allowed his tired soldiers to enjoy the fruits of the victory of Pharsalia, he required them to complete the conquest. The pursuit was continued during the remainder of the day, and on the morrow. But the task was easy. The clemency of the conqueror induced all to submit. When Caesar entered tlie camp and saw the dead bodies of many Romans lying about, he exclaimed, " They would have it so : to have laid * Plutarch's story is that the order was given because Pompey's cavaliy consisted chiefly of young Romans, who were afraid of having their beauty spoilt. Caesar, however, mentions that Pompey's cavalry was excellent, and does not notice that he gave any order at all about striking at the face. The foot soldiers would naturally strike at the most defenceless part, and the story of the " spoilt beauty" would be readily added by some scornful Caesarian. Chap. LXVII. POMPEY'S FLIGHT. 685 down our arms would have sealed our doom." Most of those who perished were foreigners or freedmcn. The only distin- guished person who fell was Domitius Ahenobarbus. Among those who submitted, was M. Junius Brutus, a young man of whom we shall hear more. § 21. Pompey fled through the gorge of Tempe to the mouth of the Peneiis, where he embarked en bord a merchant-vessel in company with Lentulus Spinther, I^entuhis Crus, and others. He dismissed all his slaves. Honest Favonius proved his fidelity to the general by undertaking for him such menial offices as usually were left to slaves. The master of the ship knew the adventurers, and off'ered to take them whithersoever they would. Pompey first directed his course to Lesbos, where his wife Cor- nelia and his younger son Sextus had been sent for safety, and having taken them, on board he sailed round to Cilicia, where he collected a few ships and a small company of soldiers. With these he crossed over to Cyprus, where he stayed a short time, deliberating on the best means of safety. He still had a powerful fleet at sea, under the command of his elder son Cnaeus, assisted by C. Cassius. Africa was still his own, and King Juba anxious t ) do him service. But after considering several plans, he deter- mined to seek an asylum in Egypt. § 22. Ptolemy Auletes, who had been restored by Gabinius, Pompey's friend, had left his kingdom to the divided sway of his son Ptolemy Dionysius and his daughter Cleopatra, under the guardianship of the Senate ; and the Senate had delegated this trust to Pompey. Hence his reason for choosing Egypt as his place of retreat. But Cleopatra, who was older than her brother, had been driven from Alexandria by the people ; and three Greek adventurers, — Pothinus a eunuch, Theodotus a rhetorician, and Achillas an officer of the army, — governed the kingdom in the name of young Ptolemy. When Pompey appeared off" Alex- andria with a few ships and a force of about 2000 men, these ministers were engaged in repelling Cleopatra. A message from Pompey, to signify his intention of landing, threw them into ^reat alarm. In the Egyptian army were a number of men who had formerly served under Pompey in the East, and it was feared that they would betray Egypt to their old general. All was left to the conduct of Achillas, a bold man troubled by no scruples. A small boat was sent to receive the fugitive, under the false pretence that the water was too shallow to allow a larger vessel to reach the shore. In the boat were Achillas himself, a Roman officer named Salvius, and another named Septimius, who had served as Tribune under Pompey in the war against the Pirates. The great general recognised his old officer, and entered the 686 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII boat alone. His wife and friends anxiously watched it as it slowly made its way back to store, and were somewhat com- forted by seeing a number of persons collected on the beach as if to receive Pompey with honour. At length the boat stopped, and the general took the hand of the person next him to assist him in rising. At this moment Septimius struck him from behind. Pompey knew his fate, and fell without a struggle. His head was then cut off and taken away, his body left upon the beach. When the crowd dispersed, a freedman of Pompey, assisted by an old soldier of the great commander, had the piety to break up a fishing-boat and form a rude funeral pile. By these humble obsequies was the sometime master of the world honoured. § 23. So died Pompey. He had lived nearly sixty years, and had enjoyed more of the world's honours than almost any Roman before him. In youth he was cold, calculating, and hard- hearted, covetous of military fame, and not slow to appropriate what belonged to others. His talents for war were great. In the struggle with Caesar it is plain that, so far as military tactics went, Pompey was superior to his great rival ; and had he not been hampered by impatient colleagues, the result might have been different. In politics he was grasping and selfish, irresolute and improvident. He imagined that his achievements gave him a title to be acknowledged as the chief of Rome ; and when neither. Senate or People seemed willing to acquiesce in the claim, he formed a coalition with politicians whose principles he disliked, and made himself responsible for the acts of Clodius. Lastly, when he found that in this coalition he was unable to maintain his superiority over Caesar, he joined the Oligarchy who hated him, and lost even the glory which as a soldier he had deserved. In private life he was free from those licentious habits in which most persons of that day indulged without scruple or reproach ; and his tragical death excited a commise- ration for him which by his life he hardly deserved. M. Junius Brutus. CHAPTER LXVIII. ABSOLUTE RULE OF C^SAR. (48 44 B.C.) § 1. Caesar follows Pompey to Egypt : lands there : Cleopatra : Alexandrian War: triumph of Caesar. § 2. Pompeians rally at Corcyra : cross over to Africa: Scipio placed in command: Cato at Utica. § 3. State of Western Provinces. § 4. Caesar Dictator for second time : at length leaves Alexandria. § 5. Conquers Pharnaces, settles Asia, and returns to Rome. § 6. He relieves debtors, and quells mutiny of soldiers at Capua. § 7. Crosses over to Africa : victory at Thapsus : death of the Pompeian leaders : end of Cato. § 8. Settlement of Africa : Sallust. § 9. Four Triumphs of Caesar: amnesty: donatives. § 10. Fresh war in Spain: "defeats Pompeians at Munda : death of young Cn. Pompey, escape of Sextus. § 11. Short space of time spent at Rome in Legislation. § 12. He relieves Treasury by revising Corn-list. § 13. Liberal Extension of Roman Franchise. § 14. Imperial projects. § 15. Enlarges and fills up the Senate: pasquinades. §16. Military colonies. §1*7. Encouragement of marriage. § 18. Endeavour to limit Slave labour. § 19. Public build- ings. § 20. Reform of Calendar, § 21. Necessary seclusion. § 22. Public honours : desire to be proclaimed King. § 23. Growing discontent among various classes. § 24. Conspiracy : Brutus. § 25. Assassination of Caesar. § 26. Estimate of his character. § 1. On the third day after the battle of Pharsalia, Caesar pur- sued Pompey by forced marches. He reached Amphipolis just after the fugitive had touched there. On the Hellespont, he fell in with a squadron of Pompey's fleet under the command of C. 688 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL Cassius, who surrendered to Caesar, and was received by the conqueror with the same favour which he had shown to Brutus and the rest of his opponents. Caesar crossed the Hellespont in boats; in Asia Minor he heard that Pompey had taken ship from Cyprus, and immediately concluded that Egypt must be his destination. Without a moment's hesitation, he sailed for this country, though he was unable to carry with him more than 4000 men, and though he incurred imminent risk of being inter- cepted by the Pompeian fleet. As soon as his arrival off* Alex andria was known, Theodotus came off", bearing Pompey's head and ring. The conqueror accepted the ring, but turned with tears in his eyes from the ghastly spectacle of the head, and ordered it to be burnt with due honours. Over the place of the funeral-pyre he raised a shrine to Nemesis, the goddess assigned by the religion of the Greeks to be the punisher of excessive prosperity. He then landed and entered Alexandria with his Consular emblems displayed, followed by his small army. Presently after, Cleopatra introduced herself in disguise into the palace where Cassar had fixed his residence. The con- queror, notorious for indulgence in sensual pleasures, yielded readily to the blandishments of the princess. But Pothinus and Achillas had no wish to lose their importance by agreeing to a compromise between the young King their master and his sister; and the people of 'Alexandria were alarmed at Caesar's assumption of authority. A great crowd, supported by Achilla^ and the army, assaulted Caesar's palace, and he escaped with diffi- culty to Pharos, the quarter of the city next the sea. In vain he endeavoured to ruin the cause of Achillas by seizing the person of young Ptolemy. Arsinoe, another daughter of the blood-royal, was set up by the army, and Caesar was blockaded in Pharos. Constant encounters took place by land and water ; and in one of these he was in so much danger, that he was obliged to swim for his life from a sinking ship, with his coat of mail between his teeth, holding his note-book above water in his left hand. He was shut up in Pharos about August, and the blockade continued till the winter was far spent. But at the beginning of the new year he was relieved by the arrival of considerable forces. Achillas was obliged to raise the siege, and a battle in the open field resulted in a signal triumph to Caesar. Vast numbers of the fugitives were drowned in attempting to cross the Nile ; among them the young King himself. Caesar installed Cleopatra as a sovereign of Egypt, and reserved Arsinoe to grace his triumph. § 2. During these months, the Pompeian chiefs recovered from their first consternation. Cnaeus, eldest son of Pompey, Chap. LXVIIL RALLY OF THE POMPElAlfS. 660 joined Cato at Corcyra, where also were assembled Cicero, Labi- enus, Afranius, and others. The chief command was offered to Cicero, as the oldest Consular ; but the Orator declined a post for which he had neither aptitude nor inclination ; and the com- mand was given to Scipio, who arrived at the moment. A con siderable fleet was assembled at Corcyra. Scipio and the rest embarked, with the troops that they had rallied, and sailed for Africa, in the hope of learning news of their chief. Here, as they were steering eastward along the coast, they fell in with Cornelia and young Sextus, full of the tragic scene which they had just witnessed on the beach of Alexandria. The disheartened leaders returned to Cyrene, which refused to admit any one within its walls except Cato and such men as he would be answer- able for. The fleet, therefore, with Scipio, Labienus, and the greater part of the troops, pursued its course across the great gulf of the Syrtes to the Province of Africa, where the Pompeian cause was upheld by Varus and Juba. Cato also joined them after an arduous march across the desert, and by the beginning of next year all the Pompeian leaders were assembled. Dis- sensions arose between Varus and Scipio for the command ; to compromise the matter it was offered to Cato. The disinterested philosopher declined it, and persuaded all to acquiesce in the appointment of Scipio. It was then proposed to destroy the city of Utica, as being favourable to Caesar. But Cato ottered to assume the government of the town, and be responsible for its fidelity, thus finally separating himself from the active warfare, which from the first he had deprecated and disavowed. § 3. In other parts of the empire afliiirs were unfavourable to Csesar's cause. Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, was daily gather- ing strength in Pontus. In Further Spain, the oppressive rule of Q. Cassius had excited a mutiny in the army. In Illyricum, Gabinius, who had deserted Pompey on occasion of the flight from Italy, had been ignominiously worsted by the Pompeian leader, M. Octavius, and had died at Salona. In Italy, Caelius and Milo, even before the battle of Pharsalia, had endeavoured to eff'ect a new Revolution by promising an abolition of all debts ; and though they had failed, the project was now renewed by the profligate Dolabella. Two Legions at Capua, one of which was the favoured Tenth, had risen in mutiny against their officers, declaring that they had been kept under their standards long enough, and demanding their promised reward. § 4. We know not when the news of these threatening events reached Caesar's ears at Alexandria. Early in the year 47 b.c. he had been proclaimed Dictator for the second time, and had named Mark Antony Master of the Horse. This officer was 690 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book V 11 entrusted with the government of Italy. But the presence of the Dictator himself seemed to be imperiously demanded. Still he lingered in Egypt, detained (as his enemies say) by the blandishments of Cleopatra, or (as his admirers contend) by the necessity of confirming Roman influence in that country. It was not for the space of four months after his victory on the Nile that he left Egypt, having remained there altogether for not less than three-quarters of a year. § 5. But when once he had shaken off this real or apparent lethargy, all his startling rapidity of action returned. He left Egypt at the end of May (47 b.c), and marched northward through Syria to crush Pharnaces. On his way he received the congratulations of the Jews, who hated the memory of Pompey, and in a few days appeared in Pontus. Pharnaces gave him battle near Zela, where his father Mithridates had defeated Triarius, and the victory gained by Caesar was announced at Rome in the famous despatch, "Veni, vidi, vici." Caesar now devoted a short time to the task of settling the affairs of Asia. This province had been attached to the Senatorial cause by the mild rule of LucuUus and Pompey. Lately, however, the exac- tions of Metellus Scipio had caused discontent; and Caesar found it easy to win popularity by remitting a portion of the monies due to the Imperial Treasury. Two months after Caesar left Alexandria, all parts of the East were again restored to tranquil submission ; and early in July Rome beheld him enter her gates for the third time since he had crossed the Rubicon. § 6. Assuming his Dictatorial authority, he applied himself with his usual industry and rapidity to settle the most pressing difficulties. The disturbances raised by the promises of Dola- bella had been quelled by Antony ; and the Dictator attempted to relieve distress by paying a year's house-rent for all poor citizens out of the public purse. The mutiny of the soldiers at Capua was more formidable. But Caesar, as was his wont, overcame the danger by facing it boldly. He ordered the two Legions to meet him in the Campus Martins unarmed. They had demanded their dis- charge, thinking that thus they would extort a large donation, for they considered themselves indispensable to the Dictator. He ascended the Tribunal, and they expected a speech. "You demand your discharge," he said, "I discharge you." A dead silence followed these unexpected words. Caesar resumed : " The rewards which I have promised you shall have, when I return to celebrate my Triumph with my other troops." Shame .now filled their hearts, mingled with vexation at the thought that Chap. LXVIIL AFRICAN WAR. 691 they who had borne all the heat and burden of the day would be excluded from the Triumph. They passionately besought him to recall his words, but he answered not. At length, at the earnest entreaty of his friends, he again rose to speak. " Qui- rites," — he began, as if they were no longer soldiers, but merely private citizens. A burst of -repentant sorrow broke from the ranks of the veterans ; but Caesar turned away as if he were about to leave the Tribunal. The cries rose still louder : they besought him to punish them in any way, but not to dismiss them from his service. After long delay, he said that " he would not punish any one for demanding his due ; but that he could not conceal his vexation that the Tenth Legion could not bide his time. That Legion at least he must dismiss." Loud ap- plause followed from the rest ; the men of the Tenth hung their heads in shame, begging him to decimate them, and restore the survivors to his favour ; and at length, Caesar, deeming them sufficiently humbled, accepted their repentance. The whole scene is a striking illustration of the cool and dauntless reso- lution of the man. § 7. Having completed all pressing business, he again left Rome to meet the Pompeians in Africa. His troops assembled at Lilybaeum, and about the middle of October (47 b.c.) he reached the opposite coast. But he was too weak to take the field, and lay encamped waiting for reinforcements till the winter was far spent. Then he advanced against the enemy, and on the 4th of February (46 b.c.) encamped near Thapsus, where was fought the battle which decided the fate of the campaign. After a desperate conflict, the Senatorial army was forced to give way ; and Caesar, who always pressed an advantage to the utmost, followed them to their camp. The leaders fled in all directions, Varus and Labienus escaped into Spain. Scipio put to .sea, but being overtaken by the enemy's ships sought death by his own hands. Such also was the fate of Afranius. Juba fled with old Petreius ; and these two rude soldiers, after a last banquet, heated with wine, agreed to end their life by single combat. The Roman veteran was slain by the African prince, and Juba sought death at the hand of a faithful Slave. Meanwhile, Cato at Utica had received news of the ruin of his party by the battle of Thapsus. He calmly resolved on self^ slaughter, and after a conversation with his friends upon the subject, retired to rest. For a moment he forgot his philosophic calm, when he saw that his too careful friends had removed his sword. Wrathfully reproving them, he ordered it to be brought back and hung at his bed's head. There he lay down, and turned over the pages of Plato's Phaedo till he fell asleep. In 692 CIVIL WARS : SECOND PERIOD. Book VII the night he awoke, and taking his sword from the sheath thrust it into his body. His watchful friends heard him utter an involuntary groan, and, entering the room, found him writhing in agony. They procured surgical aid, and the wound was carefully dressed. Cato lay down again apparently insen- sible; but, as soon as he was alone, he quietly removed the dressings, and tore open the wound, so that his bowels broke out, and after no long time he breathed his last. The Romans, one and all, even Cicero, admired his conduct. It is true that the Stoics, whose doctrines Cato professed, recommended the endurance of all evils as indifferent to a philosopher. But Cato was still more of a Roman than a Stoic : life had become intole- rable to him ; and while Christian judgment must condemn his impatience, it must be confessed that from his point of view the act was at least excusable. § 8. After this miserable end of the most upright among the Senatorial Chiefs, Caesar busied himself in regulating the coun- tries he had conquered. Juba's kingdom of Numidia he formed into a new Province, and gave it into the care of the historian Sallust, who with others had been expelled from the Senate in the year 50 b.c, professedly because of his profligate manners, but really because of his devoted attachment to Caesar's cause. His subsequent life justified both the real and the alleged cause. He proved an oppressive ruler, and his luxurious habits were conspicuous even in that age. His terse and epigrammatic sentences embalmed in two immortal works the merits of Marius and of Caesar, and the vices and errors of their Sena- torial antagonists. § 9. Caesar returned to Rome for the fourth time since the Civil War broke out, about the end of May, 46 b.c. At length he had* found time to celebrate the Triumphs which he had earned since his first Consulship, and to devote his attention to those internal reforms, which long years of faction and anarchy had made necessary. His Triumphs were four in number, over Gaul, Egypt, Pon- tus, and Numidia ; — for no mention was made of the Civil War. A Roman could not triumph over fellow-citizens; therefore the victories of Ilerda and Pharsalia were not celebrated by public honours ; nor would Thapsus have been mentioned, had not Juba been among the foes. These Triumphs were made attractive by splendid gladiatorial shows and combats of wild beasts. But what gave them more real splendour' was the announcement of a general amnesty for all the opponents of thb Dictator. The memory of the Marian Massacre and of tho Syllau Proscription was still present to many minds. Domitius Chap. LXVIIL C JlSAR AT ROME. 603 Ahenobarbus and the Senatorial leaders had vowed vengeance against all who took part with Caesar, or even who remained neutral. Men could not rid themselves of the belief that when all fear of the enemy had ceased the conqueror would glut his vengeance by a hecatomb. The certainty that no more blood would flow was so much the more grateful. After Caesar's Triumphs all his soldiers were gratified by a mag- nificent donation, and every poor citizen received a present both of grain and money. The veterans also at length received their rewards in lands, which were either public property or were duly purchased with public money. But no Julian Colonies were planted on lands wrested by force from citizens. Here also the example of Sylla, who confiscated private property to reward his troops, was carefully avoided. § 10. After his Triumph every kind of honour was bestowed upon Caesar. He was named Dictator for the third time, and for the space of ten years. He was also invested with Censorial authority for three years; and in virtue of these combined offices he became absolute master of the Empire. For several months he remained at Rome busily occupied with measures intended to remedy the evil effects of the long continued civil discords and to secure order for the future. But in the middle of his work he was compelled to quit Rome by the call of another war. It will be well to dispose of this before we give a brief summary of his great legislative measures. Spain was the Province that required his presence. There the two sons of Pompey, with Labienus and Varus, had rallied the scanty relics of the African army. The Province was already in a state of revolt against Caesar. Q. Cassius, — whom Caesar had left as Governor, — had been expelled by his own Legions. Bocchus, King of Mauritania, lent aid, and the mal- contents in Spain were able to present a formidable front. Caesar arrived in Spain late in September, (46 b.c), after a journey of extraordinary rapidity, and found that young Cn. Pompey had concentrated his forces near Corduba (Cordova). But the Dictator fell sick, and it was not till the first month of the next year that he was able to take the field. The enemy cautiously declined a battle, but were obliged to retreat towards the coast of the Mediterranean. Caesar found them in a strong position near Munda, a small town about 25 miles west of Malaga; and he determined on attacking notwithstanding the difficulties of the ground. Success was for some time doubtful. So desperate was the conflict, that Caesar is reported to have said : — " On other occasions I have fought for victory, here I fought for life." At length the enemy gave way. More than (394 CIVIL WARS : SECOND PERIOD. Book VII 30,000 men fell, among them Varus and Labienus. Cn. Pompey fled to the coast. Here as he was getting on board a small boat he entangled his foot in a rope; and a friend endeavouring to cut away the rope struck the foot instead. The unfortunate young man landed again, hoping to lie hid till his wound was healed. Finding his lurking-place discovered he limped wearily up a mountain path, but was soon overtaken and slain. Sext. Pompey escaped into N orthern Si^ in, whence he re-appeared at a later time to vex the peace oi'tne Roman world. So important did Caesar consider it to quench the last sparks of disaffection in a Province which for several years had been under Pompey's government that he did not return to Rome till late in Septem- ber (45 B.C.), having been absent from the capital nearly a year. On this occasion he was less scrupulous than before, for he cele- brated a Fifth Triumph in honour of his successes in Spain, though these were as much won over Roman Citizens as his former victories in that same country, or his crowning glory of Pharsalia. § 11. From his last Triumph to his death was somewhat more than five months (October 45 b.c. — March 44 b.c): from his Quadruple Triumph to the Spanish Campaign was little more than four months (June — September 46 b.c). Into these two brief periods were compressed most of the Laws which bear his name, and of which we will now give a brief account. The evils which he endeavoured to remedy were of old standing. His long residence at Rome, and busy engagement in all politi- cal matters from early youth to the close of his Consulship, made him familiar with every sore place, and with all the pro- posed remedies. His own clear judgment, his habits of rapid decision, and the unlimited power which he held, made it easier for him to legislate than for others to advise. § 12. The long wars, and the liberality with which he had rewarded his Soldiers and the People at his Triumphs, had reduced the Treasury to a low ebb. He began by revising the Register of Citizens, principally for the purpose of abridging the list of those who were receiving monthly donations of grain from the Treasury. Numbers of foreigners had been irregularly placed on the list, and he was able to reduce the list of State- paupers resident in or near Rome from 320,000 to less than half that number.* The Treasury felt an immediate and a perma- nent relief. § 13. But though, for this purpose, Caesar made severe dis- tinctions between Roman citizens and the foreign subjects of the Republic, no ruler ever showed himself so much alive to the claims of all classes of her subjects. Other popi^^-^r leaders had * See Chapt. liu. § 8 (2). Chap. LXVIII CESAR'S REFORMS. 695 advocated the cause of the Italians, and all free people of the Peninsula had in the last thirty years been made Romans : but no one had as yet shown interest in the claims of the Provincial subjects of Rome, except Sertorius, and his object was rather a transference of power from Italians to Spaniards, than an incor- poration of Spain with Italy. Caesar was the first acknowledged ruler of the Roman State who extended his view beyond tho politics of the City and took a really Imperial survey of the vast dominions subject to her sway. Towards those who were at war with Rome he was as relentless as the sternest Roman of them all ; but no one so well as he knew how " to spare the sub- missive :" hardly any one except himself felt pleasure in sparing. All the Cities of Transpadane Gaul, already Latin, were raised to the Roman Franchise. The same high privilege was bestowed on many Communities of Transalpine Gaul and Spain. The Gallic Legion which he had raised, called Alauda from the lark which was the emblem on their arms, was rewarded for its services by the same gift. All scientific men, of whatever origin, were to be allowed to claim the Roman Franchise. After his death a plan was found among his papers for raising the Sicilian Communities to the rank of Latin Citizens. § 14. The Imperial character of the great Dictator's govern- ment is strongly shown by his unfulfilled projects. Among these was the draining of the Pontine marshes, the opening of Lakes Lucrinus and Avernus to form a harbour, a complete sur- vey and map of the whole Empire, — plans afterwards executed by Agrippa, the minister of Augustus. Another and more memorable design was that of a Code of Laws embodying and organising the scattered judgments and precedents which at that time regulated the Courts. It was several centuries before this great work was accomplished, by which Roman Law became the Law of civilised Europe. § 15. The liberal tendency of the Dictator's mind was shown by the manner in which he supplied the great gaps which the Civil War had made in the benches of the Senate. Of late years the number of that Assembly had been increased from its ori- ginal 300. Cicero on one occasion mentions 415 Members taking part in the votes, and many of course were absent. But Caesar raised it to 900, thus probably doubling the largest number that had ever been counted in its ranks. Many of the new Senators were fortunate soldiers who had sewed him well. In raising such men to Senatorial rank he followed the example of Sylla. Many also were enfranchised Citizens of the towns of Cisalpine Gaul. The old Citizens were indignant at this invasion of barbarians. " The. Gauls," said one wit, " had exchanged th« 69(5 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII trews fQr^^i*reto^^aTid_ had followed the conqueror's triumphal car yjtothe Senate?^ ^"ft were a good deed," said another, """*o one would show the new Senators the way to the House." The curule offices, however, were still conferred on men of Italian birth. The first foreigner who reached the Consulship was Balbus, a Spaniard of Gades, the friend of Caesar and of Cicero ; but this was four years after the Dictator's death. § 16. To revive a military population in Italy was not so much 6he object of Caesar, as that of former leaders of the People. His veterans received few assignments of land in Italy. The princi- pal settlements by which he enriched them were in the Pro- vinces. Corinth and Carthage were made Military Colonies, and regained somewhat of their ancient splendour and renown. § 17. He endeavoured to restore the wasted population of Italy by more peaceful methods. The marriage-tie, which had become exceedingly lax in these profligate times, was encouraged by somewhat singular means. A married matron was allowed to use more ornaments and more costly carriages than the sumptuary Laws of Rome permitted to women generally. A married man who had three children born in lawful wedlock at Rome, or four born in Italy, or five born in the Provinces, en- joyed freedom from certain duties and charges. § 18. The great abuse of Slave-labour was difficult to correct. It was attempted to apply remedies familiar to despotic govern- ments. An Ordinance was issued that no Citizens between twenty and ^orty years of age should be absent from Italy for more than tnree years. An ancient enactment was revived that on all estates at least one-third of the labourers should be free men. No doubt these measures were of little eff'ect. § 19. Caesar's great designs for the improvement of the City was shown by several facts. Under his patronage the first pub- lic library was opened at Rome by his friend C. Asinius PoUio, famous as a poet, and in later years as the historian of the Civil War. For the transaction of public business, he erected the tnagnificent building called the Basilica Julia, of which we v/ill say a few words in a later page. § 20. But of all his acts, that by which his name is best re- membered is the Reform of the Calendar. It has been before stated that the Roman year had hitherto consisted of 355 days, with a month of 30 days intercalated every third year, so that the average length of the year was 365 days.* If the intercala- tions had been regularly made, the Romans would have lost nearly one day in every four years ; since the real length of the solar year is about 365| days. But the business was so care- * Chapt. i. § 17. Chap. LXVIII. CESAR'S REFORMS. 69^ lessly executed, that the difference between the civil year and the solar year sometimes amounted to several months. Caesar called in the aid of Greek astronomers, to rectify the present error, and prevent error for the future. It was deter- mined to make the 1st of January of the Roman year 709 u.c. coincide with the 1st of January of the Solar year which we call 45 B.C. But it was calculated that this 1st of January of the year 709 u.c. would be 67 days in advance of the true time; or, in other words, would concur not with the 1st of January 45 B.C., but with the 22nd of October 46 b.c. And therefore two intercalary months, making together 67 days, were inserted between the last day of November and the 1st of December of the year 708. An intercalary month of 23 days had already been added to February of that year, according to the old method. Therefore, on the whole, the Roman year 708 consisted in all of the prodigious number of 445 days.* It was scofRngly called "The Year of Confusion." More justly should it be named, as Macrobius observes, " The last Year of Confusion." Thus the past error was corrected, and the first of January, 709 u.c. became the same with the 1st of January 45 b.c. To prevent future errors, the year was extended from 355 to 365 days, each month being lengthened, except February, ac- cording to the rule which we still observe. But as the solar year consists of about 365| days, it is manifest that it was necessary to add one day in every four years, and this was done at the end of February, as at present in our Leap Year. Such was the famous Julian Calendar, which, with a slight alteration, continues to date every transaction and every letter of the present day.f § 21. The constant occupation required for these measures of reform, all executed in the space of nine or ten months, neces- sarily absorbed the chief part of the Dictator's day, and pre- vented the free access which great men at Rome usually accorded * /. e. 355 + 23 + 67 = 445. f The addition of one day in every four years would be correct, if the solar year consisted exactly of 365i days, or 365 days 6 hours. In fact, it consists of 365 days, 5 hours, 47 minutes, 51| seconds, so that the Julian year is longer than the true solar year by about 1 1 minutes. Caesar's astronomers knew this error, but neglected it. Accordingly in the year 1582 a.d. the beginning of the Julian year was about 13 days behind the true time. Pope Gregory XIIL shortened that year by 10 days, still leaving the year 3 days behind the true time ; and to prevent error for the future, ordered the addi- tional day of February to be omitted three times in 400 years. Protestant England refused to adopt this reform till the year 1752 a.d., when 11 days "were dropped between the 2nd and 14th of September, which gave rise to the Tulgar cry, — " Give us back our 11 days." Russia still keeps the Old Style, and her reckoning is now 12 days behind that of the rest of Europe. 30 698 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII to suitors and visitors. Caesar lamented this. The true reason for his seclusion was not understood, and the fact diminished his popularity. Yet his affability was the same as ever, and a letter of Cicero, in which he describes a visit he received from the con- queror in his villa at Puteoli, leaves a pleasing impression of both host and guest.* Cicero indeed had fully bowed to circum- stances ; and into his speeches for the Pompeians, M. Marcellus and Q. Ligarius, he introduced compliments to Caesar too fulsome to be genuine. It was in his enforced retirement from public life which followed Pharsalia, that he composed some of those pleasing Dialogues which we still read.f Both to him and to every other Senatorial Chief Caesar not only showed pardon, but favour. § 22. Yet the remnant of the Nobles loved him not. And with the People at large he suffered still more, from a belief that he wished to be made King. On his return from Spain, he had been named Dictator and Imperator for life. His head had for some time been placed on the money of the Republic, a regal honour conceded ^o none before him. Quintilis, the filth month of the Calendar, received from him the name which it still bears. The Senate took an oath to guard the safety of his person. He was honoured with sacrifices, and honours hitherto reserved for the Gods. But Caesar was not satisfied. He was often heard to quote the sentiment of Euripides, that, " if any violation of law is excusable, it is excusable for the sake of gaining sove- reign power "J; It was no doubt to ascertain the popular sen- timents that various propositions were made towards an assumption of the title of King. His statues in the Forum were found crowned with a diadem ; but two of the Tribunes tore it off, and the mob applauded. On the 26th of January, at the Great Latin Festival on the Alban Mount, voices in the crowd saluted him as King; but mutterings of discontent reached his ear, and he promptly said : "I am no King, but Caesar." The final attempt was made at the Lupercalia on the 15th of February. Antony, in the character of one of the Priests of Pan, approached the Dictator as he sat presiding in his golden chair, and offered him an embroidered band, like the "diadem" of Oriental Sovereigns. The applause which followed was partial, and the Dictator put the offered gift aside. Then a burst of genuine cheering greeted him, which waxed louder still when he rejected it a second time. Old traditional feeling was too strong at Rome even for Caesar's daring temper to * Epist. ad Att. xiii. 52. f The Brutus, Orator ad M. Brutum, Partitiones Oratoriat, Academica, Be Finibus honorum et malorum. \ Cicero de Off. iii. 21. Chap. LXVIII. JEALOUSY AGAINST C^SAR. 699 brave it. The People would submit to the despotic rule of a Dictator, but would not have a King. Disappointed no doubt he was, and he determined to reign abroad, if he could not be King at Rome. A large camp had been formed at ApoUonia in Illyricum; in it was present a young man, the declared heir of the Dictator. This was C. Octavius, son of his niece Atia, and therefore his grand nephew. He was born, as we have noted, in the memorable year of Catiline's conspiracy, and was now in his nineteenth year. From the time that he had assumed the garb of manhood his health had been too delicate for military service. Notwithstanding this, he had ventured to demand the Mastership of the Horse from his uncle. But he was quietly refused, and sent to take his first lessons in the art of war at Apollonia, where a large and well-equipped army had been assembled. This powerful force was destined to recover the Eagles of Crassus, which were still retained as trophies by the Parthians. A Sibylline oracle being produced, saying, " that none but a King could conquer Parthia," a Decree was moved in the Senate, by which Caesar was to be enabled to assume the style of King, not at Rome, but in the Provinces. But events prevented this Decree from being carried into effect. § 23. Meanwhile other causes of discontent had been agitating various classes at Rome. Cleopatra appeared at Rome with her boy Caesarion, whom she declared to be her son by Ca3sar. It was her ambition to be acknowledged as his wife, and to obtain the Dictator's inheritance for the boy, — a thing hateful even to the degenerate Romans of that day. The more fiery partisans of Caesar disapproved of his clemency; the more prodigal sort were angry at his regulations for securing the Provincials from oppression. The Populace of the City complained, — the genuine Romans at seeing favour extended to Provincials, those of foreign origin because they had been excluded from the corn-bounty. Caesar no doubt was eager to return to his army, and escape from the increasing difficulties which beset his civil government. But as soon as he joined the army, he would assume monarchical power, in virtue of the late Decree ; and this consideration urged the discontented to a plot against his life. § 24. The difficulty was to find a leader. At length M. Junius Brutus accepted the post of danger. This young man, a nephew of Cato, had taken his uncle as an example for his public life. But he was fonder of speculation than of action. Ilis habits were reserved, rather those of a student than a statesman. He had reluctantly joined the cause of Pompey, for he could ill for- get that it was by Pompey that his father had been put to death in cold blood. After Pharsalia, he was treated by Caesar almost 700 CIVIL WARS : SECOIfD PERIOD. Book VIL like a son. In the present year he had been proclaimed Praetor of the City, with the promise of the Consulship. But the dis- contented remnants of the Senatorial party assailed him with constant reproaches. The name of Brutus, dear to all Roman patriots, was made a rebuke to him. " His ancestor expelled the Tarquins; could he sit quietly under a King's rule?" At the foot of the statue of that ancestor, or on his own praetorian tri- bunal, notes were placed, containing phrases such as these: — " Thou art not Brutus : would thou wert." " Brutus, thou sleepest." "Awake, Brutus." Gradually he was brought to think that it was his duty as a patriot to put an end to Caesar's rule even by taking his life. The most notable of those who arrayed themselves under him was Cassius. This man's mo- tive is unknown. He had never taken much part in politics; he had made submission to the conqueror, and had been re- ceived with marked favour. Some personal reason probably actuated his unquiet spirit. More than sixty persons were in the secret, most of them, like Brutus and Cassius, under personal obligations to the Dictator. P. Servilius Casca was by his grace Tribune of the Plebs. L. Tillius Cimber was promised the government of Bithynia. Dec. Brutus, one of his old Galli • officers, was Praetor-elect, and was to be gratified with the rich Province of Cisalpine Gaul. C. Trebonius, another trusted officer, had received every favour which the Dictator could bestow ; he had just laid down the Consulship, and was on the eve of de- parture for the government of Asia. Q. Ligarius had lately accepted a pardon from the Dictator, and rose from a sick bed to join the conspirators. § 25. A meeting of the Senate was called for the Ides of March, at which Caesar was to be present. This was the day appointed for the murder. The secret had oozed out. Many persons warned Caesar that some danger was impending. A Greek sooth- sayer told him of the very day. On the morning of the Ides his wife arose so disturbed by dreams, that she persuaded him to relinquish his purpose of presiding in the Senate, and he sent Antony in his stead. This change of purpose was reported after the House was formed. The conspirators were in despair. Dec. Brutus at once went to Caesar, told him that the Fathers were only waiting to confer upon him the sovereign power which he desired, and begged him not to listen to auguries and dreams. Caesar was persuaded to change his purpose, and was carried forth in his litter. On his way, a slave who had discovered the conspiracy tried to attract his notice, but was unable to reach him for the crowd. A Greek Philosopher, named Artemidorus, succeded in Chap. LXVIII. ASSASSINATION^ OF CAESAR. 101 putting a roll of paper into liis hand, containing full information of the conspiracy ; but Caesar, supposing it to be a petition, laid it by his side for a more convenient season. Meanwhile the conspirators had reason to think that their plot had been dis- covered. A friend came up to Casca and said, "Ah, Casca, Brutus has told me your secret !" The conspirator started, but was relieved by the next sentence : " Where will you find money for the expenses of the vEdileship ?" More serious alarm was felt when Popillius Laenas remarked to Brutus and Cassius, "You have my good wishes; but what you do, do quickly," — especially when the same Senator stepped up to Caesar on his entering the House, and began whispering in his ear. So terri- fied was Cassius, that he thought of stabbing himself instead of Ctesar, till Brutus quietly observed that tlie gestures of Popillius indicated that he was asking a favour, not revealing a fatal secret. Caesar took his seat without further delay. As was agreed, Cimber presented a petition, praying for his brother's recall from banishment ; and all the conspirators pressed round the Dictator, urging his favourable answer. Displeased at their importunity, Caesar attempted to rise. At that moment, Cimber seized the lappet of his robe, and pulled him down ; and immediately Casca struck him from the side, but inflicted only a slight wound. Then all drew their daggers and assailed him. Cajsar for a time defended himself with the gown folded over his left arm, and the sharp-pointed stile which he held in his right hand for writing on the wax of his tablets. But when he saw Brutus among the assassins, he exclaimed, " You too, Brutus !" and covering his face with his gown oft'ered no further resist- ance. In their eagerness, some blows intended for their victim fell upon themselves. But enough reached Caesar to do the bloody work. Pierced by three~and-twenty wounds, he fell at the base of Pompey's statue, which' had been removed after Pharsalia by Antony, but had been restored by the magnanimity of Caesar. § 26. IThus died " the foremost man of all the world," a man who failed in nothing that he attempted. He might, Cicero thought, have been a great orator ; his Commentaries remain to prove that he was a great wTiter. As a general he had few superiors, as a statesman and politician no equal. That which stamps him as a man of true greatness, is the entire absence of vanity and self-conceit from his character. He paid, indeed, great attention to his personal appearance, even when his hard life and unremitting activity had brought on fits of an epileptic nature, and left him with that meacrre visao-e which is made familiar to us froni his coins. Even then he w^3 seduloug in arranging his 702 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII robes, and was pleased to have the privilege of wearing a laurel crown to hide the scantiness of his hair. But these were foibles too trifling to be taken as symptoms of real vanity. His mo- rality in domestic life was not better or worse than commonly prevailed in those licentious days. He indulged in profligate amours freely and without scruple. But public opinion re- proached him not for this. He seldom, if ever, allowed pleasure to interfere with business, and here his character forms a notable contrast to that of Sylla. But Sylla loved pleasure more than power ; Caesar valued power above all other things. As a gene- ral, Caesar was probably no less inferior to Pompey than Sylla to Marius. Yet his successes in war, achieved by a man who, in his forty-ninth year, had hardly seen a camp, add to our con- viction of his real genius. Those successes were due not so much to scientific manoeuvres, as to rapid audacity of movement and mastery over the wills of men. That he caused the death or captivity of more than a million of Gauls, to provide treasure and form an army for his political purposes, is shocking to us ; but it was not so to Roman moralists. His political career was troubled by no scruples ; to gain his end he was careless of the means. But before we judge him severely, we must remember the manner in which the Marian party had been trampled under foot by Sylla and the Senate. If, however, the mode in which he rose to power was questionable, the mode in which he exer- cised it was admirable. The indulgence with which Caesar spared the lives of his opponents, and received them into favour, was peculiarly his own. There seemed no escape from anarchy except by submission to the strong domination of one capable man. The efl'ect of Caesar's fall was to cause a renewal of bloodshed for another half generation ; and then his work was finished by a far less generous ruler. Those who slew Caesar were guilty of a great crime, and a still greater blunder. Coins struck upon the death of CjEsa»- Coins of the Triumvirs. CHAPTER LXIX. FROM THE DEATH OF C^SAR TO THE BATTLE OF PHILIPPI. (44—42 B.C.) § 1. Terror of Senate and People : Conspirators retire to Capitol. § 2. Antony takes possession of Caesar's money and papers. § 3. Brutus addresses People in Forum : Conspirators again retire to Capitol. § 4, Negociation with Antony : confirmation of Caesar's Acts. § 5. Caesar's WUl : Fimeral in Forum : Riot. § 6. Temporising policy of Antony : he abolishes Dic- tatorship : quits Rome. § 7. Octuvius lands in Italy and declares himself Caesar's heir : quarrel with Antony. § 8. Antony master of Rome : the Liberators quit Italy : Cicero returns to Rome. § 9. Antony's use of Caesar's papers. § 10. Tlie first Philippic : Antony's reply : Cicero writes the Second Philippic. § 11. Pansa and Hirtius, Consuls-elect, declare for Octavius : Antony attacks Dee. Brutus at Mutina : Cicero publishes his Second Philippic. § 12. Antony intercepts Pansa, but is himself inter- cepted by Hirtius : death of both Consuls. § 13. Hopes of Senate : Antony retreats across the Alps and joins Lepidus. § 14 Octavius marches to Rome and is elected Consul with Q. Pedius. § 15. Pedian Law, condemning Caesar's murderers : death of Dec. Brutus. § 16. For- mation of Triumvirate. § 17. Proscription. § 18. Death of Cicero. § 19. His character. § 20. Sext. Pompey saves many of Proscribed: Octavius attempts to expel him from Sicily. § 21. Brutus in Macedonia, Cassius in Syria : death of Trebonius and of Dolabella. § 22. Doings of Brutus and Cassius in Asia Minor : vision of Brutus. § 23. Position of hostile armies at Philippi. § 24. First Battle of Philippi : death of Cassius. § 25. Second Battle of Philippi: death of Brutus. § 26. Character of Brutus. § 1. While the Conspirators were at their bloody work, the mass of the Senators rushed in confused terror to the doors ; and 704 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL when Brutus turned to address his peers in defence of the deed, the Hall was well nigh empty. Cicero, who had been present, answered not, though he was called by name ; Antony had hurried away to exchange his consular robes for the garb of a slave. Disappointed of obtaining the sanction of the Senate, the Conspirators sallied out into the Forum to win the ear of the People. But here too they were disappointed. Not knowing what massacre might be in store, every man had fled to his o.vn house; and in vain the Conspirators paraded the Forum, holding up their blood-stained weapons and proclaiming them- selves the Liberators of Rome. Disappointment was not their only feeling : they were not without fear. They knew that Lepidus, being on the eve of departure for his Province of Narbonese Gaul, had a Legion encamped on the Island of the Tiber : and if he were to unite with Antony against them, Caesar would quickly be avenged. In all haste, therefore, they retired to the Capitol. Meanwhile, three of Caesar's slaves placed their master's body upon a stretcher, and carried it to his house on the south side of the Forum with one arm dangling from the unsupported corner. In this condition the widowed Calpurnia received the lifeless clay of him who had lately been Sovereign of the world. § 2. Lepidus moved his troops to the Campus Martius. But Antony had no thoughts of using force ; for in that case pro- bably Lepidus would have become master of Rome. During the night he took possession of the treasure which Caesar had col- lected to defray the expenses of his Parthian campaign, and per- suaded Calpurnia to put into his hands all the Dictator's papers. Possessed of these securities, he barricaded his house on the Carinae, and determined to watch the course of events. § 3. In the evening Cicero, with other Senators, visited the self-styled Liberators in the Capitol. They had not communi- cated their plot to the Orator, through fear (they said) of his irresolute counsels ; but now that the deed was done, he extolled it as a godlike act. Next morning, Dolabella, Cicero's son-in- law, whom Caesar had promised should be his successor in the Consulship, assumed the Consular fasces and joined the Libe- rators ; while Cinna, son of the old Marian leader, and therefore brother-in-law to Caesar, threw aside his Praetorian robes, de- [claring he would no longer wear the tyrant's livery. Dec. Brutus, a good soldier, had taken a band of gladiators into pay, to serve as a body-guard of the Liberators. Thus strengthened, they ventured again to descend into the Forum. Brutus mounted the Tribune, and addressed the People in a dispassionate speech, which produced little effect, But when Cinna assailed the Chap. LXIX. ROME AFTER CAESAR'S MURDER. 705 memory of the Dictator, the crowd broke out into menacing cries, and the Liberators again retired to the Capitol. g 4. That same night they entered into negociations with Antony, and the result appeared next morning, the second after the murder. The Senate, summoned to meet, obeyed the call in large numbers. Antony and Dolabella attended in their Con- sular robes, and Cinna resumed his Praetorian garb. It was soon apparent that a reconciliation had been effected: for Antony moved that a general amnesty should be granted, and Cicero seconded the motion in an animated speech. It was carried; and Antony next moved, that all the Acts of the Dictator should be recognised as law. He had his own purposes here ; but the Liberators also saw in the motion an advantage to themselves ; for they were actually in possession of some of the chief Magis- tracies, and had received appointments to some of the richest Provinces of the Empire. This proposal, therefore, was favour- ably received ; but it was adjourned to the next day, together with the important question of Caesar's Funeral. On the next day, Caisar's Acts were formally confirmed, and among them his Will was declared valid, though its provisions were yet unknown. After this, it was difficult to reject the pro- posal that the Dictator should have a public burial. Old Senators remembered the riots that attended the funeral of Clodius, and shook their heads. Cassius opposed it. But Brutus, with im- prudent magnanimity, decided in favour of allowing it. To seal the reconciliation, Lepidus entertained Brutus at dinner, and Cassius was feasted by Mark Antony. § 5. The Will was immediately made public. Cleopatra was still in Rome, and entertained hopes that the boy Caesarion would be declared the Dictator's heir ; for though he had been married thrice, there were no one of his lineage surviving. But Caesar was too much a Roman, and knew the Romans too well, to be guilty of this folly. Young C. Octavius, his sister's son, was de- clared his heir. Legacies were left to all his supposed friends, among whom were several of those who had assassinated him. His noble gardens beyond the Tiber were devised to the use of the Public, and every Roman Citizen was to receive a donation of 300 sesterces (between 2/. and Si. sterling). The effect of this recital was electric. Devotion to the memory of the Dictator and hatred for his murderers at once filled every breast. Two or three days after this followed the Funeral. The body was to be burnt and the ashes deposited in the Campus Martins near the tomb of his daughter Julia. But it was first brought into the Forum upon a bier inlaid with ivory and covered with rich tapestries, which was carried by men high in rank and 30* 706 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL oflSce. There Antony, as Consul, rose to pronounce the Funeral Oration. He ran through the chief acts of Caesar's life, recited his Will, and then spoke of the death which had rewarded him. To make this more vividly present to the excitable Italians, he displayed a waxen image marked with the three-and-twenty wounds, and produced the very robe which he had worn all rent and blood-stained. Soul-stirring dirges added to the solemn horror of the scene. But to us the memorable speech which Shakspere puts into Antony's mouth will give the liveliest notion of the art used and the impression produced. That impression was instantaneous. The Senator friends of the Liberators who had attended the ceremony looked on in moody silence. Soon the menacing gestures of the crowd make them look to their safety. They fled ; and the multitude insisted on burning the body, as they had burnt the body of Clodius, in the sacred pre- cincts of the Forum. Some of the veterans who attended the funeral, set fire to the bier ; benches and firewood heaped round it soon made a sufficient pile. From the blazing pyre the crowd rushed, eager for vengeance, to the houses of the Conspirators. But all had fled betimes. One poor wretch fell a victim to the fury of the mob, — Helvius Cinna, a poet who had devoted his art to the service of the Dic- tator. He was mistaken for L. Cornelius Cinna the Praetor, and torn to pieces before the mistake could be explained.* § 6. Antony was now the real Master of Rome. The treasure which he had seized gave him the means of purchasing goodwill, and of securing the attachment of the veterans stationed in various parts of Italy. He did not, however, proceed in the course which, from the tone of his Funeral harangue, might have been expected. He renewed friendly intercourse with Brutus and Cassius, who were encouraged to visit Rome once at least, if not oftener, after that day ; and Dec. Brutus, with his gladi- ators, was suflfered to remain in the City. Antony went still further. He gratified the Senate by passing a Law to abolish the Dictatorship for ever. He then left Rome to win the favour of the Italian Communities, and try the temper of the veterans. § 7. Meanwhile another actor appeared upon the scene. This was young Octavius. He had been but six months in the camp at Apollonia; but in that short time he had formed a close friendship with M. Vipsanius Agrippa, a young man of his own age, who possessed great abilities for active life, but could not boast of any distinguished ancestry. As soon as the news of * This story is however rendered somewhat doubtful by the manner in which Cinna is mentioned in Virgil's ninth FHogue, which was certainly written in or after the year 40 b.c. Ohap. LXIX OCTAVIUS RETURNS TO ROME, 707 his uncle's assassination reached the camp, his friend Agrippa recommended him to appeal to the troops, and march upon Rome. But the youth, with a wariness above his years, re- sisted these bold counsels. Landing near Brundusium almost alone, he there first heard that Caesar's Will had been published, and that he was declared Caesar's heir. He at once accepted the dangerous honour. As he travelled slowly towards the City, he stayed some days at Puteoli with his mother Atia, who was now married to L. Philippus. Both mother and stepfather at- tempted to dissuade him from the perilous business of claiming his inheritance. At the same place he had an interview with Cicero, who had quitted Rome in despair after the Funeral, and left the Orator under the impression that he might be won to what was deemed the patriotic party. He arrived at Rome about the beginning of May, and demanded from Antony, who had now returned from his Italian tour, an account of. the moneys of which the Consul had taken possession, in order that he might discharge the obligations laid upon him by his uncle's Will. But Antony had already spent great part of the money in brib- ing Dolabella and other influential persons ; nor was he willing to give up any portion of his spoil. Octavius therefore sold what remained of his uncle's property, raised money on his own credit, and paid all legacies with great exactness. This act eariied him much popularity. Antony began to fear this boy of eighteen, whom he had hitherto despised, and the Senate learned to look on him as a person to be conciliated. With this feeling they decreed that the month Quintilis should continue to be styled July, as had been determined in the Dictator's lifetime : and a day was set apart for celebrating his memory with divine honours. § 8. Still Antony remained in possession of all actual power. The Senate voted, on his demand, that the Provinces of Mace- donia and Syria, though granted to Brutus and Cassius by the act of Caesar, should be given to C. Antonius and Dolabella, and that the coveted Province of Cisalpine Gaul should be transferred from Dec. Brutus to Antony himself. The news of these arbi- trary acts convinced the Liberators that they had nothing to hope at Rome. Dec. Brutus immediately left the City and took possession of his Province by force. But M. Brutus and Cassius still dallied. Their vacillating conduct during this time gives us an unfavourable impression of their fitness for any enterprise of mark. Cicero, not himself remarkable for political firmness, in this crisis displayed a vigour worthy of his earlier days, and was scandalised by the unworthy bickerings of his friends.* At * See an interesting Letter, in which he describes a conference held by the Conspirators in his presence at Antium, — Add Att. xv. 11. 708 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL length they set sail from Velia for Greece. This was in the month of September. Cicero also had at one moment made np his mind to retire from public life and end his days at Athens, in learned leisure. In the course of this summer he continued to employ himself on some of his most elaborate treatises. His works on the Nature of the Gods and on Divination, his Offices, his Dialogue on Old Age, and several other Essays belong to this eriod, and mark the restless activity of his mind. But though e twice set sail from Italy, he was driven back to port at Velia, where he found Brutus and Cassius. Here he received letters from Au. Hirtius, and other friends of Csesar, which gave him hopes that, in the name of Octavius, they might successfully oppose Antony, and restore constitutional government. He determined to return, and announced his purpose to Brutus and Cassius, who commended him, and took leave of him. They went their way to the East to raise armies against Antony ; he repaired to Rome to fight the battles of his party in the Senate House. § 9. Meanwhile Antony had been running riot. In possession of Caesar's papers, with no one to check him, he produced ready warrant for every measure which he wished to carry, and pleaded the vote of the Senate which confirmed all the Acts of Caesar. When he could not produce a genuine paper, he interpolated or forged what was needful. § 10. On the day after Cicero's return (September 1st) there was a meeting of the Senate. But the Orator did not attend, and Antony threatened to send men to drag him from his house. Next day Cicero was in his place, but now Antony was absent. Tlie Orator rose and addressed the Senate in what is called his First Philippic. This was a measured attack upon the govern- ment and policy of Antony, but personalities were carefully eschewed ; — the tone of the whole speech, indeed, is such as might be delivered by a leader of opposition in Parliament at the present day. But Antony, enraged at his boldness, sum- moned a meeting for the 19th of September, which Cicero did not think it prudent to attend. He then attacked the absent Orator in the strongest language of personal abuse and menace. Cicero sate down^ and composed his famous Second Philippic, which is written as if it were delivered on the same day, in reply to Antouy's invective. At present, however, he contented himself with bending a copy of it to Atticus, enjoining secrecy. § 11. Matters quickly drew to a head between Antony and Octavius. The latter had succeeded in securing a thousand men of his uncle's veterans who had settled in Campania ; and by great exertio^r, in the different towns of Italy had levied a con- Chap. LXIX. ANTONY BEFORE MtTTlNA. TOP siderable force. Meantime four of the Epirote Legions had just landed at Brundusium, and Antony hastened to attach them to his cause. But the largess which he offered them was only a hundred denaries a man, and the soldiers laughed in his face. Antony, enraged at their conduct, seized the ringleaders, and decimated them. But this severity only served to change their open insolence into sullen anger, and emissaries from Octavius wore ready to draw them over to the side of their young master. They had so far obeyed Antony as to march northwards to Ariminum, while he repaired to Rome. But as he entered the Senate House, he heard that two of the four Legions had deserted to his rival, and in great alarm he hastened to the camp just in time to keep the remainder of the troops under his standard, by distributing to every man five hundred denaries. The persons to hold the Consulship for the next year had been designated by Ca3sar. They were both old officers of the Gallic army, C. Vibius Pansa, and Au. Hirtius, the reputed author of the Eighth Book of the History of the Gallic War. Cicero was ready to believe that they had become patriots, because, dis- gusted with the arrogance of Antony, they had declared for Oc- tavius and the Senate. Antony began to fear that all parties might combine to crush him. He determined, therefore, no longer to remain inactive ; and about the end of November, having collected all his troops at Ariminum, he marched along the JEmilian road to drive Dec. Brutus out of Cisalpine Gaul. Decimus was obliged to throw himself into Mutina (Modena), and Antony blockaded the place. As soon as his back was turned, Cicero published the famous Second Philippic, in which he lashed the Consul with" the most unsparing hand, going through the history of his past life, exaggerating the debauch- eries, which were common to Antony with great part of the . Roman youth, and painting in the strongest colours the profligate use he had made of Caesar's papers. Its effect was great, and Cicero followed up the blow by the following- twelve Philippics, which were speeches dehvered in the Senate House and Forum, at intervals from December 44 b.c. to April in the next year. § 12. Cicero was anxious to break with Antony at once, by declaring him a public enemy. But the latter was still re- garded by many Senators as the head of the Caesarian party, and it was resolved to treat with him. But the demands of Antony were so extravagant, that negociations were at once broken off', and nothing remained but to try the fortune of arms. The Consuls proceeded to levy troops; but so exhausted was the Treasury, that now for the first time since the triumph of YIO CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL JEmilius Paullus, it was found necessary to levy a property-tax on the citizens of Rome. Octavius and the Consuls assembled- their forces at Alba. On the first day of the new year (43 b.c.) Hirtius marched for Mu- tina, with Octavius under his command. The other Consul, Pansa, remained at Rome to raise new levies; but by the end of March he also marched to form a junction with Hirtius. Both parties pretended to be acting in Caesar's name. Antony left his brother Lucius in the trenches before Mutina, and took the field against Hirtius and Octavius. For three months the opponents lay watching each other. But when An- tony learnt that Pansa was coming up, he made a rapid move- ment southward with two of his veteran Legions, and attacked him. A sharp conflict followed, in which Pansa's troops were defeated, and the Consul himself was carried, mortally wounded, off" the field. But Hirtius was on the alert, and assaulted An- tony's wearied troops on their way back to their camp, with some advantage. This was on the 15th of April, and on the 27th, Hirtius drew Antony from his entrenchments before Mu- tina. A fierce battle followed, which ended in the troops of Antony being driven back into their lines. Hirtius followed close upon the flying enemy; the camp was carried by storm, and a complete victory would have been won had not Hirtius himself fallen. Upon this disaster Octavius drew off" the troops. The news of the first battle had been reported at Rome as a victory, and gave rise to extravagant rejoicings. The second battle was really a victory, but all rejoicing was damped by the news that one Consul was dead and the other dying. No such fatal mis- chance had happened since the Second Punic War, when Mar- cellus and Crispinus fell in one day. § 13. After his defeat Antony felt it impossible to maintain the siege of Mutina. With Dec. Brutus in the town behind him, and the victorious Legions of Octavius before him, his position was critical. He therefore prepared to retreat, and eff'ected this purpose like a good soldier. His destination was the province of Narbonese Gaul, where Lepidus had assumed the government, and had promised him support. But the Senate also had hopes in the same quarter. L. Munatius Plancus com- manded in Northern Gaul, and C. Asinins Pollio in Southern Spain. Sext. Pompeius had made good his ground in the latter country, and had almost expelled Pollio from Bsetica. Plancus and Pollio, both friends and favourites of Caesar, had as yet declared neither for Antony nor Octavius. If they would declare for the Senate, Lepidus, a feeble and fickle man, might desert Antony; or, if Octa^^ius would join with Dec. Brutus, and Chap. LXIX. PEDIAN LAW. Yll pursue him, Antony might not be able to escape from Italy at all. But these political combinations failed. Phancus and Pollio stood aloof, waiting for the course of events. Dec. Brutus was not strong enough to pursue Antony by himself, and Octavius was unwilling, perhaps unable, to unite the veterans of Caesar with troops commanded by one of Caesar's murderers. And so it happened, that Antony effected his retreat across the Alps, but not without extreme hardships, whiclj he bore in common with the meanest soldier. It was at such times that his good qualities always showed themselves, and his gallant endurance of misery endeared him to every man under his command. On his arrival in Narbonese Gaul he met Lepidus at Forum Julii (Frejus), and here the two commanders agreed on a plan of operations. § 14. The conduct of Octavius gave rise to grave suspicions. It was even said that the Consuls had been killed by his agents. Cicero, who had hitherto maintained his cause, was silent. He had delivered his fourteenth and last Philippic on the news of tha first victory gained by Hirtius. But now he talked in private of " removing" the boy of whom he had hoped to make a tool. Octavius, however, had taken his part, and was not to be re- moved. Secretly he entered into negociations with Antony. After some vain eff'orts on the part of the Senate to thwart him, he appeared in the Campus Martins with his Legions. Cicero and most of the Senators disappeared, and the fickle populace greeted the young heir of Caesar with applause. Though he was not yet twenty he demanded the Consulslilp, having been pre- viously relieved from the provisions of the Lex Annalis by a Decree of the Senate, and he was elected to the first office in the State, with his cousin Q. Pedius.* § 15. A Curiate Law passed, by which Octavius was adopted into the Patrician Gens of the Julii, and was put into legal pos- session of the name which he had already assumed, — C. Julius Ciesar Octavianus. We shall henceforth call him Octavian. The change in his policy was soon indicated by a Law, in which he formally separated himself from the Senate. Pedius brought it forward. By its provisions all Caesar's murderers were summoned to take their trial. Of course, none of them appeared, and they were condemned by default. By the end of September Octavian was again in Cisalpine Gaul, and in close negociation with Antony and Lepidus. The fruits of his conduct soon appeared. Plancus and Pollio declared against Caesar's * Pedius was son of Caesar's second sister, Julia minor, and therefore firsfe cousin (once removed) to Octavius. 712 CITIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VIL murderers. Dec. Brutus, deserted by his soldiery, attempted to escape into Macedonia through Illyricum ; but he was overtaken near Aquileia, and slain by order of Antony. § 16. Italy and Gaul being now clear of the Senatorial party, Lepidus, as mediator, arranged a meeting between Octavian and Antony, upon an island in a small river near Bononia (Bologna). H3re the three potentates agreed that they should assume a joint and coordinate authority, under the name of "Triumvirs for settling the affairs of the Commonwealth." Antony was to have the two Gauls, except the Narbonese district, which, with Spain, was assigned to Lepidus ; Octavian received Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. Italy was for the present to be left to the Consuls of the year, and for the ensuing year Lepidus, with Plancus, re- ceived promise of this high office. In return, Lepidus gave up his military force, while Octavian and Antony, each at the head of ten Legions, prepared to conquer the eastern part of the Empire^ which could not yet be divided like the Western Provinces, be- cause it was in possession of Brutus and Cassius. §1*7. But before they began war, the Triumvirs agreed tG follow the example set by Sylla, — to extirpate their opponents by a Proscription, and to raise money by confiscation. They framed a list of all men's names whose death could be regarded as advan- tageous to any of the three, and on this list each in turn pricked a name. Antony had made many personal enemies by his pro- ceedings at Rome, and was at no loss for victims. Octavian had few direct enemies ; but -the boy-despot discerned with precocious sagacity those who were likely to impede his ambitious projects, and chose his victims with little hesitation. Lepidus would not be left behind in the bloody work. The author of the Philippics was one of Antony's first victims ; Octavian gave him up, and took as an equivalent for his late friend the life of L. Ca3sar, uncle of Antony. Lepidus surrendered his brother Paullus for some similar favour. So the work went on. The description already given of Sylla's Proscription may be repeated here lite- rally, except that every horror was increased, and the number of .victims multiplied. Not fewer than three hundred Senators and two thousand Knights were on the list. Q. Pedius, an honest and upright man, died in his Consulship, overcome by vexation and shame at being implicated in these transactions. > § 18. As soon as their secret business was ended, the Tri- umvirs determined to enter Rome publicly. Hitherto they had not published more than seventeen names of the Proscribed. They made their entrance severally on three successive days, each attended by a Legion. A Law was immediately brought in to invest them formally with the supreme authority, which they Chap. LXIX. DEATH OF CICERO. 713 had assumed. This was followed by the promulgation of suc- cessive lists, each larger than its predecessor. Among the victims, far the most conspicuous was Cicero. With his brother Quintus, the old Orator had retired to his Tusculan villa after the Battle of Mutina; and now they en- deavoured to escape in the hope of joining Brutus in Macedonia : for the Orator's only son was serving as a Tribune in tlie Libe- rator's army. After many changes of domicile, they reached Astura, a little island near Antium, where they found themselves short of money, and Quintus ventured to Rome to procure the necessary supply. Here he was recognised and seized, together with his son. Each desired to die first, and the mournful claim to precedence was settled by the soldiers killing both at the same moment. Meantime Cicero had put to sea. But even- in this extremity he could not make up his mind to leave Italy, and put to land at Circeii. After further hesitation, he again embarked, and again sought the Italian shore near Formise (Mola di Gaeta). For the night he stayed at his villa near that place ; and next morning would not move, exclaiming, — " Let me die in my own country, — that country which I have so often saved." But his faithful slaves forced him into a litter, and carried him again towards the coast. Scarcely were they gone, when a band' of Antony's blood-hounds reached his villa, and were put upon the track of their victim by a young man who owed everything to the Ciceros. The old Orator from his litter saw the pursuers coming up. His own followers were strong enough to have made resistance ; but he desired them to set the litter down. Then, raising himself on his elbow, he calmly waited for the ruffians, and offered his neck to the sword. He was soon despatched. The chief of the band, by Antony's express orders, hewed off the head and hands and carried them to Rome. Fulvia, the widow of Clodius and now the wife of Antony, drove her hair-pin through the tongue which had denounced the iniquities of both her husbands. The head which had given birth to the second Philippic, and the hands which had written it, were nailed to the Rostra, the home of their eloquence. The sight and the associa- tions raised feelings of horror and pity in every heart. § 19. Cicero died in his sixty-fourth year. He had fallen on evil times ; and, being eminently a man of peace, was constantly called upon to mingle in counsels of civil war. From his first appearance in public during the Dictatorship of Sylla to the great triumph of his Consulship, he rose with a vigorous and unflagging energy, which gave promise of a man fit to cope with the dangers that were then closing round the Constitution. But the performance was not equal to the promise. When once 714 CIVIL WARS: SECOND PERIOD. Book VII. Cicero had joined the ranks of the Senatorial Nobility, his polit- ical conduct is marked by an almost peevish vacillation. His advances were coldly rejected by Pompey. He could not make up his mind to break entirely with Caesar. His new Senatorial associates never heartily welcomed the New Man, whose labo- rious habits contrasted disadvantageously with their own. As tlie first Orator of the day, he thought he had a claim to be considered as equal to the first Statesmen ; and the rejection of this claim even by his own party threw him still more out of harmony with that party. If we turn from his public to his private character, our com- mendations need less reserve. None but must admire the vigorous industry with which from early youth he prepared for (lis chosen profession of an Advocate, full of the generous belief chat every branch of liberal studies must be serviceable to one who is expected to bring out of his treasure things new and did.* To mould his multifarious knowledge he possessed a readi- ness of speech which sometimes betrayed him into verbosity. The Advocate with an eye only to his verdict is sometimes for- !(otten in the Orator who desires to display his own powers. When the Forum and the Senate-house were closed to him, he poured the overflowing abundance of his acquirements into those dialogues and treatises which we still read with delight. He wrote rapidly and fluently as he spoke, rather to amuse and employ his mind in times of enforced idleness, than as one who feels a call to instruct or benefit mankind. His disposition was extremely amiable. He felt no jealousy for rivals : Hor- tensius was among his intimate friends, and is chiefly known to us by Cicero's generous praise. No man had more friends. In his family relations he shines brightly amid the darkness of that ao^e. His wife Terentia was one with whom he had little sympathy; her masculine energy was oppressive to his less resolute character. It was a relief, doubtless, to find n excuse for divorcing her in the troubles of the Civil War. ut divorces were matters of course in these times. Nor 'lid public 'opinion ^-ondemn him, when to mend his broken fortunes he marrie(3 Publilia, a girl of large property, who was his ward. To his aff'ection for his brother Quintus, and for his children, there is no drawback. On the whole, his character displays much weakness, but very little evil ; while the perfect integrity and justice of his life, in an age when such qualities were rare, if they do not compensate for his defects in a political point of view, yet entitle him to the regard and admiration of all good men. See the fioe passage in the speech pro Archia poeta, 6. OF UN]V tHinger of Caesar, ib. Triumvir with Antony and Lepidus, 712. Attempts to wrest Sicily from Sext. Pompeius, 715. At Philippi, 717. Receives West, 7i0. Confiscates Ita- lian lands, i&. Goes to Gaul, 721. Makes peace and en- ters Rome with Antony, 722. Meets Sext. Pompeius at Misenum, ib. Breaks with him, 723. Defeated by Sextus, 724. Seduces army of Lepidus, ib. Pru- dent government, 726. Con- jugal licence, ib. Want of faith to Antony, ib. Pub- lishes Antony's will, 727. Wins battle of Actium, 728. Returns to Italy, ib. Visits Egypt, ib. Threefold tri- umph, 730. Ruler of the world, ib. Nature of his power, 732, 733. (Enotrians, 15. Ofella, Q. Lucretius, takes Praenestfc, 609. Put to death by Sylla, 613. Ogulnian law, 218. Ogulnii, set up the image of the wolf and twins, 407. Op Ilia, festival of Ops, 36. OpTcans or Oscans, 16. Opiniiusv»L., praetor, destroys Fregellae, 535, Refused con sulship, 540. Elected, 542, Leads senate in assault upon C. Gracchus, 542, seq. Barbarity, 543. Prosecuted, , but acquitted, 545. Put to death, 550. Jppius, tribune, his sumptu- ary law for women, 320. Oratory, at Rome, 51 6. Decay under the emperors, 735. Orestes, M. Aurelius, 477. OrTcura occupied, 291. Qstia built by Ancus, 37, Otacilius Crassus, T., twice I refuses consulship, 324, 337. jOxybians, 470. P. Pacorus, overruns Phoenicia, 721. Defeated, 723. Pacuvius Calavius, 317. Pacuvius, M., poet, 513. Pagandlia, festival of, 32. Pugi, what, 32. Painting, its rise at Rome, 407. Palcepolis. See Neapolis. Pangaeus, mount, gold-mines there, 456. Panormus taken by Romans, 274. Battle of, 275. Pansa, C. Vibius, consul with Hirtius, 709. Surprised and mortally wounded by An- tony, 710. Papirius Cursor, M., 200. Quarrel with Q. Fabius, 201. Consul, 204. Dictator, 207. Papirius Cursor, L., 214. Sets up sun-dial at Rome, 409. Parma, colony there, 442. ParthenSpe. See Ne-apolis. Parthians, 668. Defeat Cras- sus, 669. Defeated by Cas- sius, ib. Caesar's designs against, 699. Overrun Asia Minor and Phcenicia, 721. Driven back by Ventidius, 723. Antony's fruitless campaigns, ib. Pastures of Samnite moun- tains, 178. Patres Conscripti, who, 63. Patres, Palricii, 41. Pa- tres Minorum Gentium, 44. Patricians, 41. Gentes, 41. Resided chiefly in city, 88. Absolute after expulsion of Tarquins, 89. An exclusive caste, 89, seq. Decrease of, 127, 370. Seek the tribu- nate, 1-8. Their quarters at Rome, 396. Patrons and Clients, 29, 41. Peculium, what, 398. Pedius, Q., nephew of Caesar, 711. Joins Octavian in avenging him, ib. Death, 712. Pelagonia, 464. Pelasgian tribes in Italy, 15. At Rome, 22. Pelignians, 16, 178, 208. Pelia, 464. Pennus, M. Junius, his alien law, 534. Pentrians, 178. People of the city, as opposed to rural population, 506. Meaning of a " popular man" at Rome, 507, pun^ippus. Pergamus, 414. Roman pro- vince, 547, 593. Perperna, M., 621. Joins Sertorius in Spain, 622. Murders his chief, 623. Taken by Pompey, ib. Perseus, son of Philip V., excites father's jealousy against Demetrius, 457. Measures, 450. Deceived by Philippus, 460. Forces, ib. Defeats Crassus in Thes- saly, ib. Foils Mancinus, 461. Retreats to Pydna, ib. Prepares lines on Eni- peusto receive PauUus, 462. Falls back to Pydna, ib. Defeated, 463. End, 466. Perusia, war of, excited by Fulvia, 721. Petreius, M., defeats Catiline, 649. Defeated by Caesar in Spain, 678. His death, 6:?1. Peucetians, 15. Phalanx, compared with le- gion, 240, At Cynoscc- phalae, 426. Of Antiochus, 437. Of Perseus, 460. Pharnaces, rebels, 638. Sub- dued by Caesar at Zela, 690. Pharsalia, battle of, 683, seq. Philip v., king of Macedon, letters to Hannibal inter- cepted, 320, 326. Treaty with Hannibal, 326. Sacks Thermon, 417. Makes Demetrius minister, 418. Treaty with Hannibal, ib. Activity, 420. Burns Ther- mon, 421. Terminates 1st Macedonian War, ib. As- sists Hannibal at Zama, ib. Agrees to partition Egypt with Antiochus, ib. In- vades Asia Minor, 422. Answer to JEmilius, ib. Re- duces Thrace, 423. Destroys suburbs of Athens, ib. Foils Galba, 424. Driven from pass of Aoii s by Fla- mininus, ib. Interview with Flamininus, 425. Defeat- ed at Cynoscephalae, 427. Makes peace, 428. Takes part against Antiochus, 435, 437. Sends his son De- metrius to Rome, 457. Or- ders his death, 458. Re- morse and death, ib, Philippi, position of armies, 716, seq. First battle, 717. Second battle, 718. Philippus, Q. Marcius, name, 460. Deceives Perseus, ib. Commands against Perseus, 461 . Forces pass of Tempe, but retires, ib. Philippus, L. Marcius, leader gf geneitorial party. 673. 764 INDEX. Polybius sent to Rome, 468, Friend of Scipio the PHILOPCEMEN. Philopoemen commands the Achaean cavalry at Sellasia, 416. Chief of Achtean League, 421. Recommends neutrality, 425. Death, 468 Philosophers, Greek, bauishedlPonuBn'Mm, what, 25, 52, from Rome, 471. Embassy of Athenian philosophers to Rome, 472. Philosophy at Rome, 749, seq. Fhraates, forms alliance with Pompey, 636, Picenians, 16, 178. Submit to Rome, 250. Picentines, who, 250. Picus, a Latin god. 24. Pietas, what, 22, 400. Pirseeus taken by Sylla, 597. Pirates. See Cilician. Piso, L. Calpurnius (Frugi), law for law courts, 538. Piso, friend of Catiline, 642. Piso, L. Calpurnius, father-in- law of CsBsar, 658. Placentia, colony, 290, 299. Repeopled by Lselius, 441. Plancus, L. Munatius, 710. Discontented with Octa- vian, 721. Plautus, T. Maccius, comic poet, 511, 512. Plebeians, 42. Admitted to power by Servius TuUius, 47, seq. Misery after ex- pulsion of Tarquins, 87, seq. Obtain tribunes and sediles, 93, 94. Elect their own tribunes, 100. Admitted to decemvirate, 115. In- termarry with patricians, 129. Admitted to military tribunate, 132. To qii8e.s- torship and senate, 133. Consulate claimed for them, 129, 157, seq. Obtained, 160. Admitted to both consul- ships, 170. To dictator- ship, ib. To one censorship, ib. To augurate and pon- tificate, 218. Quarters at Rome, 396. Land allotted to, ib. Plebi-sclta, obtain force of law by Valerio - Horatian law, 121. By Publilian law, 191. Plebs or Plebes. See Popu- lus. Pleminius, Q., his excesses imputed to Scipio, 360. Pleuratus, joins Romans in 2nd Macedonian War, 423. Po, its embankments, 10. Pollio, C. Asinius, founds first public library, 696. Hesi- tates between Antony and senate, 710. Intercedes for Virgil, 720. Discontented with Octavian, 721 ^ Fompeians, rally after Phar- *1 salia,6H8. Defeated at Thap- / sus, 691. Rally in Spain, J 693. Defeated at Munda, ib. i'ompeius, Q., commands in Spain, 491. Pompeius Strabo, Cn. , consul in Social War, 577, 579,, seq. Law for enfranchising^ Transpadane Gauls, 580.' Proconsul in Apulia, 588. Sent for by senate to raise siege of Rome, 589. De- feats the enemy. 590. Death, ib. Pompeius Magnus, Cn., son of last, joins Sylla, 604. De- feats Marians, 605. Saluted imperator, ib. Successes in Italy, Sicily, and Africa, 612, 617. Receives name of Magnus, 617. Extorts triumph from Sylla, ib. Sent against Sertorius, 622. seq. Cuts oft" remnant of the gladiators, 625. Popular- ity, ib. Consul with Cras- sus, 626. Reforms, 626. Commands against pirates, 635. Supersedes Lucullus, 636. Defeats Mithridates, ib. Receives submission of Tigranos, ib. Conquers Sy- ria and Judaea, 637. Re turns to Pontus, 638. Re gulates East, ib. Returns to Italy, 652. Triumph, 652 Coldness to Cicero, 653. Triumvirate with Caesar and Crassus, 654. Marries Julia, 656. Ambiguous con- duct, 657. Permits exile of Cicero, 659. Promotes his recall, 663. Visits Caesar at Lucca. 663, 666. Consul with Crassus, 666. Obtains government of Spain, ib. Julia dies. 667. Triumvirate dissolved, 669. Sole consul, 671. Political prospects, ,672. Leaves Rome, 676. 'Leaves Italy, 667. Esti- ymate of his conduct, 679. ( Occupies Dyrrhachium, 680. /Endeavours to separate Caesar from Antony, 682. TFoils Caesar's attempt to \blockade him, ib. Defeat- ed at Pharsalia, 684. Flight fto Egypt, and murder, 685. X^haracter, 686. Pompeius, Cn., eldest son of Pompey, 688, Escapes to PRIVILEOItTM. Africa, 689. Thence to Spain, 693. His end, 694. younger, 474. Obtains fa-, Pompeius, Sext., younger son vourable terms for Greece, of Pompey, at Lesbos dur- 479. ~\ ing Civil War, 685. Escapes /to north of Spain, 694. / Master of that district, 710. I Takes possession of Sicily j and forms powerful navy, j 715. In vain attacked by I Octavian, ib. Leagued with ' Antony against Octavian, ' 721. Betrayed by Antony, 722. Cuts off corn-supplies from Italy, ib. Received as partner of triumvirs, ib. Again betrayed, 723. De- feated by Agrippa, 724. Death, 725. Pons Subllcius, 37, 65, 65. Pontlflces, 31. Number, 40. Increased to nine, 218. Pontine Marshes, Caesar's plan for draining, 695. Pontius, C, leader in 2nd Samnite AVar, victory in the 3rd War, and death, 214, seq. Pontius, C, of Telesia, com- mands Samnites, 608. Popillius Laenas, C, dictation to Antiochus, 468. Poplifuga, what, 173. Populus, what, 29, 41, 47, 49, 122. Porcius Laeca, P., 126. Porsenna. invasion of Rome, 65. Real facts, 80. Possessores, who, 521. Postliminium, what, 493. Postumius, L., his embassy to Tarentum, 235. Postumius Regillensis, M., stoned to death, 135. Postumius Tubertus, A., 135. PrcefectHra AnnoncB, IM. See Prefecture. Praeneste, 84. Independence, 174. How treated after Latin War, 193. Head- quarters of young Marius, 606. Taken by Ofella, 609, 611. Prcerogdtlva. See Centuria. Praetor, name given , origin- ally to consuls, 63. 120. New patrician magistracy, 160. Age of, 371. Praetors at close of Punic Wars, 372. Prcevaricatio, what, 643. Prefect of city, 130. Prefectures, 252, 253. Princeps Senatus, title of Oc- tavian, 733. P-inclpes, who, 188. Privernum, struggle against Rome, 196. Prefecture, 253, Privilegium, what, 125. INDEX 76/ PE0C0N8TJL8HIP. Proconsulship, institution of, 198. Purposes and advan- tages, 375. Abuse of ini proriaces, 393. Proletarii. who, 47. Promontorium Hermseum, 260, 272. Promontorium Pulcrum, 260. Proscription of Sylla, 611, Its difference from the massacres of Marius, 592. Provence, origin of name, 548 Provinces, 387. Sicily first province, 280, 387. Taxa- tion of, 390, 393. Mode of allotment of, 539. Under empire, 734; Provocare, different from Ap- pel.lare, 126. Prusias harbours Hannibal, 453. Congratulates senate after Pydna, 469. Ptolemy Soter, 413. Ptolemy Philadelphus, allied with Rome, 249, 418. Ptolemy Epiphanes, under protection of Rome, 413. Ptolemy Ceraunus aids Pyr- rhus, 239. Slain, 244, 414. Ptolemy Auletes, expelled, 664. Spinther ordered to restore him not by force, 665. Restored by Gabi- nius, 685. Publicani, who, 393. Public land. See Ager Pub- licus Public opinion, almost power- less at Rome, 393, 509. Publilius Philo, Q., his law, 191. Engaged in 2nd Sam- nite War, 201. Consul, 204. Publilius Volero, law respect- ing election of tribunes, 99. Pudlci tia patricia and plebeia, 217. Pullarii, who, 214, 277. Punic Wars. First, origin of, 265. Character of, 267. 1st period, 267-271. 2nd, 271- 276. 3rd, 276-280. Second Punic War, 1st period, 296-320. 2nd, 321- 335. 3rd, 336-349. 4th, 350-368. Third Punic War,481, 8eq. Pydna, battle of, 463. Pyrrhus invited to Italy by Tarentines, 235. Lands at Tarentum, 239. Defeats Lsevinus, 241. Proposes peace, 242. Advances into Latium, ib. Receives Fa- bricius, 243. Defeats Ro- mans at Asculnm, 244. Makes peace with Rome, lb. Sails for Sicily, 245. Returns to Italy, ib. Plun- ders temple at Locri, 246. Defeated by Curias Dtiuta- tus, ib. Returns to Epirus : death, 247. Speech on leaving Italy, 260. Quadrigarius, Q. Claudius, historian, 738. Qticestores Classici, or Quaes- tors, creation and duties, 133. Number, ib. Age, 371. Numbers and duties of quaestors, 372. Quoestures Parricidii, who, 34, 133. QiMtuorviri, 258. Quinctius, Kseso, 106. Quinqueremes, first built by Romans, 269. Quinqiuvlri Mensari, 169, Quirinal Hill, 27. Quirlnus, Sabine name of Ro- mulus, 27, 28. Quirites, name, 27. Interpre- tation, 75. E. Rabirius, C, defended by Cicero, 644. Ramnes or Ramnians, 30, 39 Rape of Sabine women, 26. Rasena or Rasenna, original name of Etruscans, 16, 17, Rea. See Silvia. Reate, 18, 85, 177, 253. Regifugium, 63. Regillus, lake, battle, 68. Regulus, M. Atilius, wins sea-fight at Ecnomus, 271 Lands in Africa, 272. Of- fers peace, 273. Defeated by Xanthippus, ib. Em- bassy and death, 275. Religion of Rome Sabine, 400. Its nature and influence, 401. In later times, 749, aeq. Remus. See Romulus. Reveimes of Rome, 389, seq. Rex Sacrorum or Sacrificu- lus, 63. Rhegium revolts, 241. Seized by Decius Jubellius, ib. Never submits to Hannibal, 334. Rhodes, republic of, 414. Rhodians force Philip to fly from Asia, 422. Ill-treat- ment by senate, 468. Rhone, passage of, by Hanni- bal, 299, seq. Rights of Roman citizens, 192. How communicated to for- eigners, ib. Roads, 409. Appian,222. Fla- minian, 305. ^^milian, 442. Roma Quadrata, what, 25. Romans, their character, 411.1 Rome, not mentioned by any Greek before Aristotle, 18. Foundation, 25. Descrip- tion, 52, seq. Power under Tarquins, 80, seq. Position, 81. Rebuilt irregularly after burning by Gauls, 153. Relation to Italy after con- quest of Peninsula, 251, sey. After Italian franchise, 581 . Romulus and Remus, birth, 24. Death of Remus, 2S. Romulus, builds Rome, 25. War with Sabines, etc., 26, 27. Death, 28. Institu- tions, 29, 30. Criticism of his story, 75. Rorarii, who, 188. Rupilius, P., finishes first Slave War in Sicily, 500. Laws for regulating Sicily, 501. Chief of commission to inquire into death of Ti. Gracchus, 528. Rural population, decay of, 505. Form strength of party of Gracchus, 524. Rutilius Rufus, P., 572. Sabellian tribes, 16. Sabines, of Cures, war with Rome, 26. Position of country, 85. Defeated by Valerius and Horatius, 122. Sabines of Reate and Ami- temum, 177. Conquered by Curius Dentatus, 225. Sacra gentilicia, 35, 42. Sacranians, 18. Sacra Via, 55. Sacriportus, battle of, 606. Saguntum, 293. Taken by Hannibal, ib. Salii, 31. Sallentines, 15. Attacked by Lucanians, 232. Submit to Rome, 250. Sallustius Crispus, C. (the historian), ruler of Nu- midia, 692. Character, ib. Histories, 737. Salvius, 563. Samnites, 16. Origin, 178. Four cantons, ib. Samnite Wars, first, 180, 181. Causes of second, 197, seq. Second or Great Samnite War, 199-208. Third, 209-216. Fourth, 249. Hirpinian and Caudinian join Haimi- bal, 317. Resolution of, in Social War, 578. Oppose Sylla, 607. Defeated before Rome, 609. Sardinia subdued by Rome, 285. Reduced by Ti. Grac- cljus, " Sardi venales," 4^ 766 INDEX. BAB8INA. Sarsina taken, 250. Satire, Roman, 515. Satricum, colony sent to, 174. Saturnalia, festival of, 36. Saturnian hill, old name of capitoline, 26, 2T. Saturnian metre, 403, 405. Situ minus, L. Appuleius, league with Marius, 568. Murders Nonius, ib. Tri- bune, ?'&. Banishes Metel- lus, 569. Corn - law, ih. Death, 570. Scsevola, C. Mucius, 66. Scsevola, P. Mucius, consul, adviser of T. Gracchus, 521. Scsevola, Q. Mucius, augur, 566. Scsevola, Q. Mucius, pontifex, 566. Death, 607. Scaurus, M. J^milius, charac- ter, 546. Heads commission for inquiring into corrup- tion, 650. Leads moderate party in senate, 565. At- tempts to restore judicial power to senate, 572. At- tacked by ultra-senatorial party, 574. Scipio, L, Cornelius Barbatus, sarcophagus, 211. Scipio, Cn. Cornelius, sent to Spain, 301. Successes, 319, 334. Defeat and death, 335. Scipio, P. Cornelius, consul at Hannibal's invasion, 299. Lands near Marseilles, ib. Returns to Italy, 301 . De- feated on Ticinus, 303. On Trebia, 305. Joins brother in Spain, 319. Successes, ih. Defeat and death, 335. Scipio, P. Cornelius (Africa - nus), son of last, said to have saved father on Tici- nus, 303. Prevents deser- tion after Cannse, 316. Pro- consul of Spain, 351. Cha- racter, 351, seq. Takes New Carthage, 353. " Conti- nence of Scipio," 354. De- clines sovereignty of Spain, ih. Defeats Hasdrubal, 355. Master of all Spain except Gades, 356. Quells rebellion in Spain, 356, 357. Consul, 358. Passes into Sicily, 359. Accused, but triumphantly acquitted, 360. Lands in Africa, 361. Besieges Utica, ih. Cuts off Carthaginian and Numidian armies, 362. Defeats Han- nibal at Zama, 366. Offers peace, 367. Triumph, 368. Accompanies brother into Asia, 437. Proposal to make him dictator, 449. Fall in popularity, 450, BLAVB6. Impeached, 452. Leaves Rome, i6. Rescues brother, 453. Death and tomb, ib. ! Scipio, P. Cornelius Africanus: (^milianus), second son of JimiliusPauUus, 471. Edu- cation and friendship withj Polybius, 474. Accompa-' nies Lucullus to Spain, 473. Views a battle between Masinissa and Carthagini- ans, 482. Consul in 3rd Punic War, 487. Active measures, 488, aeq. Takes Carthage, 489. Feelings on Senonians. See GauU. viewing burning city, 490. Sentlnum, battle of, 213. Curses it, ih. ; cf. 485. Ha- Septimius, murderer of Pom bits, 493. Censorship, 494. ' pey, 685, 686. Popularity, ih. Consul Septimontium, what, 26. again for Numantian War, Serranus. See Calatinus. ih. Takes Numantia, 495. Sertorius, Q., joins Cinna, 589 Marriage to Sempronia, 520. Commands at siege of Rome regnum, 30. Opened to plebeians, 133. Firmness after battle of Trasimene, 308. Vacancies filled, 376. Money qualificatioh, ih. Character, ih. Powers, 377. seq. Increase of authority during Punic Wars, .384. Closed except to wealthy, 448, 503. Deprived of ju- dicial power, 538. Made supreme by Sylla, 61.5. Filled with foreigners by Csesar, 695. Opinion on death of Ti. Gracchus, 526, 529. Fa- vours Italians, 529. Breaks with populace, ib. Refused command against Aristoni- cus, ib. Moves transfer of Agrarian powers to con- suls, 531. Takes part of Italians, ib. Death and character, 532. Scipio, L. Cornelius (Asiati- cus), commands against Antiochus, 437. Defeats Syrians, called for, 452. Arrested 453. Scipio Nasica, P., " best man at Rome, 361. Subdues Boian Gauls, 441. Scipio NasTca (Corculum), ac companies PauUus to Tem- pe, 462. Conquers Dalma- tians, 471. Opposes de- struction of Carthage, 482. Scipio Nasica (Serapio), joins oligarchs, 494. Heads op- position to Ti. Gracchus, 524. Leads senators to at- tack him, 525. Dies in ex- ile, 528. Scribse, or Notaries, 221, 373. Sculpture at Rome, 407, acq. Secessions : first, 92, seq. Se- cond, 119, seq. Third, 129. Fourth, 160. Fifth, 182. Sixth, 226. Seleucus NicStor, 413. Sellasia, battle of, 416. Sempronian laws. See Chrac- chus. SemproniuB Longus, Ti., con- sul at time of Hannibars invasion, 299. Joins Scipio at Trebia, 304. Sena Gallica, 234. Senate, of Romulus, 29, 40. Decurise of, during inter- with Cinna, 590. Slaughters slaves, 591. Prsetor of Spain, 605. Leaves Spain, 621. Plan of retiring to Fortunate Isles, ib. Recall to Spain, ih. Government, ih. Foils Metellus Pius and Pompey, 622. Com- municates with Mithri- dates, 622, 630. Murdered by Perperna, 623. Servilian laws of Caepio and Glaucia distinguished, 566. 438. Accounts! Servius TuUius, origin, 45, seq. Institutions, 46, seq. Walls, 53. Death, 56. Setia, colony sent to, 174. Ships, Roman, 269, 274, 278. Sibylline books, 289, 316, 501. Sicanians, 18. Siceliotes, 227. Sicily, 263, seq. Disputed be- tween Syracuse and Cartha- ginians, ih. Scene of first Punic War, 267-281. Ceded to Rome, 280. Siculians, 16, 18. Sila, wood in Bruttii, 269. Silvia, Rea, confounded with Ilia, 23. Silvii, kings of Alba, 23. Slaves, few in early times at Rome, 218. Increase, 219, 398. Enlisted in Hanni- balic War, 323. Barbarians natural slaves, 397, 402. Slaves of city and country, 398. Condition, ib. Com- mon practice of enfranchis- ing, 399. First Slave- War in Sicily, 497, seq. Vast numbers sold after con- quests, 498. Slave-trade, ih. How employed, ih. Slaves of Damophilus begin the war, 499. Consterna- tion at Rome, 500, Wftr INDEX. T.7 SOCIAL. quelled by P. Rupilius, ib. \ Second Slave-War, 563, seq. ' Quelled by M' Aquillius,i 564. Attempt of Csesar to^ check slave-labour, 696. Social War, 575, seq. j Sophonisba, given to Syphax, .359. Her fate, ' 63. Sora taken by Samnites, 180. j Recovered, 206. Colony, 208. ! Spain, conquest by Hamilcar, [ 29, seq. By Scipio, 344, 352, seq. Divided into two[ provinces, 443. Pacified by, Ti. Gracchus, 445. Span- iards appeal to senate, 472. Outbreak of Celtiberian War, 473. ! Sparta, condition, 415. Joins, Achaean League, 434. Sparta cus, insurrection of,j 623, seq. Sparus, what, 443. | Spendius, leader of Cartha- ginian insurgent mercena-i ries, 283, seq. j Spoletum defies Hannibal, j 308. Spolia Oplma won by Ro-I mulus, 26. ByCossus, 138. By Marcellus, 290. Statuary. See Sculpture. Stipendium, 138. Stoic philosophy, at Rome, 509, 749. j Suessa, 206. Suffets of Carthage, 262. Sulpicius, P., tribune, elo- quence, 583. Agent of Ma- rius, ib. Death, 586. Sumptuary laws, 471. Sun-dial, first at Rome. 409. Superstition, prevalence of, at end of republic, 750. Sybaris, early greatness, 18. Sylla, L. Cornelius (Felix), early life, 553. Quaestor of Marius, ib. Sent to Bocchus, 554. Brings Ju- gurtha to Marius, ib. Lieu- tenant of Marius in Cim- bric War, 558. Transfers services to Catulus, 561. Praetor, 571. Splendid lion- fight, ib. Governor of Cili- cia, ib. Reduces Samnites, 578. Takes Bovianum, 579. Rivalry with Marius, 582. Commands against Mithri- dates, ib. Marches upon Rome, 584, seq. Occupies city, 585. Difticulties, 587. Embarks for East, 588. Be- sieges Athens, 597. Defeats Pontic generals at Chaeronea and Orchomenus, 598, seq. Interview with Archelaus, 599. Peace with Mithri- TAUEim. TBEA8UBT. dates, ib. Message to.Tauromeniura, siege and cap- 602. Answer of ture of, by Rupilius, 500. ib. Sylla's reply, Taxation, doubled after Can- 603. Lands in Italy, ib.l nae, 320. How managed, Defeats Norbanus, 604.1 389. And Scipio, 605. Defeats Teanum, calls in Campanians young Marius, 606. Enters! against Samnites, 180. Rome, 607. Attacks Carbo' Sylla's victory there, 827. at Clusium, ib. Marches ^Telamon, battle of, 289. to meet Samnites. i6. Ten Tables. See Decemvirate. Marches to relieve Rome, Terentilius Harsa, C, tri- bune, 112. Law for dec«m- virate, 114. Terentius Afer, P., his Adel- phi performed at funeral of ^milius Paullus, 471. Account of, 511, seq. Critical position, 609. Eventual victory, ib. En- ters Rome second time, ib. Barbarous vengeance, 610. Adopts name of Felix, 611. Proscription-lists, ib. Perpetual dictator, 613. Termlnfilia, 32. Triumph, ib. Laws, 614, Temi, falls of, 411. seq. Consul 2nd time, 617. Teuta, queen of the lUyrians, Carelessness, ib. Retires! war with Rome, 287. to Puteoli, 618. Mode of Teutones, origin, 557. Pour life, 619. Death and cha- into Gaul, 559. Pass Ma- racter, ib. rius, ib. Annihilated at Syphax, entertains Scipio Aix, 560. and Hasdrubal Gisgo, 356. Thapsus, battle of, 691. Forms alliance with Scipio, Theatres, Greek, 234, seq. ib. Joins Carthaginians, 359. Treacherously sur- prised by Masinissa, 362. Syracuse, '/29. Republic pro- claimed, 327. Joins Rome, ib. Its increase, ib. Be- Stone, prohibited at Rome, 514. Chief use of, 5i5. Thermon, sacked by Philip v., 417. Burnt a second time, 421. Thermopylae, battle of, 435. sieged by Marcellus, 327, Thessalonica, 464. Retreat seq. Taken, 329. Syria, condition of, 413, Syrian War, 432, seq. Syrus, P., Mimes, 740. T. Tabernoe Novce and Veteres, 45. Tanaquil, 39. Tarentum, its interest in 2nd Samnite War, 200. Ancient grandeur, 228. Account of, 230, seq. Treaty with Rome, 232. Breach of treaty by Roman fieet, 234. Taren- tines insult Postumius, 2,35. Invite Pyrrhus, ib. Submit to Rome, 249. Taken by Hannibal, 331. Recovered by Fabius, 342. Tarpeian hill, 26. Tarquinii, city of Etruria, 89. War with Rome, 175. Tarquinius Priscus, comes to Rome, 39, Institutions, 40, seq. Death, 45. Tarquinius Superbus, seventh king, 57. Death, 69. Tarquinius, Sextus, takes Gabii, 60. Rape of Lucre- tia, 61. Death, 63, Tatius, Titus, 26-28. TaurTni (Gauls of Turin), con- quered bj' Hannibal, 303. of Cicero, 659. Head-quar- ters of Pompey, 680. Thessaly, republics of, 430. Three, prevalent number in Roman legends, 23, 24. Partly superseded by two, 81,40. Thoas, persuades Antiochus to invade Greece, 434. Thurii, defended by Rome, 232. Raises statue to Fa- bricius, 234. Destroyed by Tarentines, 2r5. Occupied by Hannibal, 332. Tibur, position of, 84. Joins Gatils, 175. How treated after Latin War, 193. Ticliuis, cavalry skirmish there with Hannibal, 303. Tifata, mount, occupied by Samnites, 180. Hannibal' s camp there, 323. Sylla at- tacks Marians there, 604. Tigra nes, 595. King of kings, 631, 632. Defeated bv Lu- cuUus, 632. Submits to Pompey, 636. Titles or Titians, 30, 39. "Toulouse gold," 557. Tragedy, at Rome, 514. Trasimene, battle there, 306. Treasures, sacred, used in 2nd Punic War, 342. By Caesar, 677, Treasury, 389. 768 INDEX. Trebia, battle there, 304. Tiebonius, C, moves to con- fer prorinces on first tri- umvirs, 666. Legate of Cae- sar, 677. Conspirator, 700. Takes possession of Asia Minor, 715. Death, ib. Tresviri, who, 258. Triarii, who, 188. Tribes, patrician, 29, 43, seq. Of the city and country, 399. Tribes, plebeian, of Servius, 50. Become twenty-one, 81. Twenty-five, 155, 173. Twenty-seven, 174. Twen- ty-nine, 193. Thirty-one, 197. Thirty-three, -208. Ex Usury, condemned by Cato, Utica, 490. Vadimo, battle of, 233. Valerio-Horatian laws, 121. Valerius Antias, Q., T38. Valerius Corrus, M., battle with Gaul and origin of his name, 151. Consul, defeats Samnites, 180. Dictator, 182. Engaged in 2nd Sam- nite War, 200. Valerius Flaccus, L., patron and friend of Cato, 450. tent of district so divided, [Valerius Flaccus, L., super- 251. Thirty-five, 286. Al-{ sedes Sylla in the East, 598. tered to admit Italians, 581.1 Murdered, ib. Tribuni aararii, 50, 390. [Valerius Flaccus, L., princeps Supply l-3rd of judices, 626. j senatus, 602, Law to make Tnbuni militarea consulari Sylla dictator, 612. Master potestate, 130. Military tri-l of the horse, 613. bunate divided into three, Valerius Poplicola, P., 64. periods, 131, seq. Plebe-i His house, 306. " ians, when elected, 132. IValerius, M., dictator, 92. Tribuni niilitum, or legion- Valerius Potltus, L., consul ary tribunes, 182. after decemvirs, 120, Tribuni plebis, creation, 91, Valerius Lsevinus, P., de- seq. Number, 93. Original feated by Pyrrhus, 241. power, 93, 94. Persons pro- Valerius Lsevinus, M,, sta tected, 94. Increased toj tioned at Brundusium, 325. five, elected by the comitia tributa, 100. Increased to ten, 120. Power in the time of the Gracchi, 520, 523, 541. Tribunitian power abolished by Sylla, 615. Restored by Pompey, 626. Appropriated by Octavian, 733. Trlbus, original sense of, 29. Tribu-tum, property-tax in war, 390. Repaid, 391. Le Finishes war in Sicily, 330, 337. Proposes patriotic loan, 33). Refuses to name Fulvius dictator, .340. Able government of Sicily, 344. Moves rejection of peace with Carthage, 365. Sue cessful war against Philip v., 420. Forms league with JEtolians, ib. Sent back to Greece on outbreak of 2nd Macedonian "War, 422. vied but once after battle Varius Rufus, poet, 744. of Pydna, 503, 710. jVarro, C. Terentius, consul. Triumviri mensarii, 320. i Triumviri agri dividendi, 520. 1 Triumviri rei conatituendce,, title of Antony, Octavian,' and Lepidus, 712; cf 654. j Tubero, Q. ^lius, 532. ! Tullianum, prison, 36. TuUus Hostilius, third king, a Roman, 34. Death, 36. Tunis, taken, 272. Tunnel. See Emiasarium. Tusculum, 84. Twelve Tables, 124-127. Tyrants, 228, aeq. Umbrians, 16. Call in Gauls, 210. Submit to Rome, 250. 311. Character, ib. Insists on fighting at Cannae, 312, Escapes to Venusia, 314. Reception by senate, 317. Posted at Ariminum to watch Gauls, 346. Varro, M. Terentius, life and writings, 738. Varus, leader of Pompeians in Africa, 679, 689. Es- capes to Spain, 691, 693. Death, 694. Veil, 86. Veientine War with Fabii, 109. Tolumnius elected Lar, 138. Attempt to assist Fidenae, ib. Siege of Veil, 139, seq. FaU of Veil, 140. Proposal to mi- grate thither, defeated, 141. Second proposal, after burning of city, 153. Veldbrum, 54. Velia, 55, 396. Ventidius Bassus, P., triumph over Parthians, 723. Venusia, colony, 215. Defies Hannibal, 309. Vercellae, Cimbrians annihi- lated there, 561. Verres, C. Cornelius, plunder* military chest, 608. Im- peached by Cicero, 627, seq. Ver sacrum, what, 177. Vesta, her worship, 31. Vestal virgins, 31, 40. Vestinians, 16, 178. Allies at Rome, 208. Vesuvius, battle of, 189. Veto of tribunes, 94. Vici or wards of city, 32. Villicus, who, 398. Villius Tappulus, P., 424. Vindex, vindieias dare, 118. Virgilius Maro, P., the poet, recovers his patrimony, 720. His life and writings, 744. Virginia, legend of, 117, seq. Viriathus, 491. His shame- ful death, 492. Volunes, 323. Volscians, 16. Country, 84. Take many Latin towns, 101. Led by Coriolanus against Rome, 104, seq. Checked by Sp. Cassius, 109, 137. Vulsinii, city of Etruria, war with Rome, 207, 210. Re- newed, 233. Taken by Ro- mans, 250. Magnificent re- mains, ib. Vulturnus, river, 178. w. Wall of Servius Tullius, 53. Wolf and twins, image, 407. Women, influence on man- ners, and increasing profli- gacy, 449. Xanthippus, defeats Regulus, 273. Xanthus, its brave resistanpe to Brutus, 715. Y. Year, lunar, its use in early times, 32. Mode of correct- ing, 696. Julian, 697. Zama, battle of, 365, ^ev-^^ of Fisher's Brief History of the Nations AND OF THEIR PROGRESS IN CIVILIZATION By GEORGE PARK FISHER, LL.D. Professor in Yale University. Cloth, i2mo, 613 pages, with numerous Illustrations, Maps, Tables, and Reproductions of Bas-reliefs, Portraits, and Paintings. Price, $1 .50 This is an entirely new work written expressly to meet the demand for a compact and acceptable text-book on General History for high schools, academies, and private schools. 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