OUTLINES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 WORLD'S HISTORY. 
 
 WITH SPECIAL RELATION TO THE 
 
 HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION AND THE PROGRESS 
 OF MANKIND. 
 
 For use in the Higher Classes in Public Schools, and in High Schools^ 
 
 Academies, Seminaries, etc. 
 
 By WILLIAM SWINTON, 
 
 Author of Condensed History of the United States, Campaigns of the Army of the Potou>^ 
 Word-Analysis, Word-Book, etc 
 
 IVISON", BLAKEMAN & COMPANY, 
 
 PUBLISHERS, 
 NEW YORK AND CHICAGO. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S74, 
 
 liY IVISON, BLAKEMAN, TAYLOR, <fc CO., 
 
 in the office of the Librarian cf Congress, 8t Wi,shingtoil, 
 
 £Dy CAiiUN DEFT- 
 
In preparing the following Outlines of the World's His- 
 tory the author has assumed that the proper aim of such 
 historical study as can be pursued in high schools and 
 academies should be to give the learner a general view of 
 human progress, — to furnish, for example, brief but explicit 
 answers to such questions as these : 
 
 1. What were the Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Hebrews, 
 Latins, Spaniards, English, etc. ? What did each of these 
 nations contribute to the common stock of civilization ? 
 
 2. In what forms did the mind of the race express itself : 
 in religion, war, law-making, political organization, litera- 
 ture, art ? 
 
 3. What was the actual life of the people themselves, — 
 their condition as regards political freedom, education, 
 physical well-being, food, dress, trade, society, etc. ? What 
 were their ways of thinking, and how did these show them- 
 selves in the manners, customs, and social usages of the 
 time? 
 
 4. What have been the great steps in human progress^ — 
 the discoveries, social and political changes, advances in 
 thought and skill, that have carried forward civilization 
 and the " betterment of man's estate " (Bacon) ; and what 
 
 54! 658 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 is the series of events that has brought the world up to its 
 present standard of enlightenment and knowledge ? 
 
 These are questions that we have learned to ask only in 
 comparatively recent times. The asking of them and the 
 answering of them have given us history in its modern 
 sense ; that is to say, history as a showing forth of the life of 
 nations, in place of history as the mere biography of kings, 
 or the record of battles and sieges, of dynasties and courts. 
 
 The theory of this book may be stated in a single sen- 
 tence : it is, to bring to the treatment of history for elemen- 
 tary instruction the same method that has proved fruitful 
 and interesting in the larger classic works. Such treat- 
 ment is in marked contrast with that of the compendiums 
 in ordinary use, which consist mainly of catalogues of facts 
 and of chronologic data. The author believes, however, 
 that the judgment of progressive teachers will fully coincide 
 with his own in this: that far more valuable and more 
 lasting results can be secured by giving scholars a vivid 
 general view of the institutions and civilization of the 
 greater nations than by cramming the memory with ever 
 so imposing an array of isolated facts and dates. 
 
 This book has grown out of a great deal of experiment- 
 ing with classes, — testing of what pupils can take in and 
 assimilate, of what becomes fruitful in their minds, and of 
 what, on the other hand, is retained with difficulty or for- 
 gotten with ease. Care has been taken to cast the para- 
 graphs into such a form that the subject-matter of each 
 may be easily grasped by the pupil and the same readily 
 elicited by means of the marginal notes, — a device which 
 seems to be better suited to a work of this grade than 
 mere literal questions would be. It is scarcely necessary to 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 call atteution to the maps : they have been drawn with great 
 care by Mr. Jacob Wells, and will be found both accurate 
 and ample. The engraving-work, which is exceptionally 
 excellent, is by Mr. John Karst. 
 
 In addition to these features there are two salient points 
 to which notice is called : i. This manual is made from 
 modern material^ and presents the fruit of those researches 
 that have so essentially modified and so greatly enlarged 
 our views both or antiquity and of more recent times. 2. 
 It is written in the spirit of the modern method^ — that 
 method which deals with the broad, vital facts, rather than 
 with the pedantries of history. 
 
 As, by the courses of study in our public schools, general 
 history is not taken up until after several years' work on 
 the history of our own country, it would have been quite 
 superfluous to insert here an imperfect compendium of 
 what has already been gone over in detail ; hence in this 
 book the history of the United States is treated only in so 
 far as it touches that of other nations. 
 
 The author is deeply impressed with the conviction that 
 history, studied in the right manner, is of fundamental im- 
 portance in the growth of the mental and moral nature. 
 And he believes that such study is of especial moment in 
 our own country, as a preparation for citizenship in a free, 
 self-governing nation : for how can we appreciate what we 
 enjoy, unless we know how it came to be? In the sincere 
 hope that this survey of the providential ordainment of 
 human affairs may prove helpful, both to intellectual growth 
 and the formation of character, it is commended to t>ie 
 judgment of the teaching profession. 
 
 WILLIAM SWINTON. 
 
 Cambridge, Aug., 1874. 
 
NOTE TO REVISED EDITION. 
 
 In the present edition the Outlines of History has 
 undergone a careful revision in the light of valuable 
 suggestions from teachers who have had the work in use 
 in the class-room. To such teachers the author takes 
 pleasure in expressing his hearty thanks. He has also to 
 acknowledge in a very particular manner his obligations 
 to Prof. C. K. Adams, of the University of Michigan, 
 who kindly went through the whole book and commu- 
 nicated to the author his scholarly annotations. The pres- 
 ent edition contains such modification of the text as were 
 necessitated by these suggestions. It is proper to add 
 that the textual differences are not such as to interfere 
 with the simultaneous use of both old and new editions 
 in the class. 
 
FAGS 
 
 INTRODUCTION . . 1 1 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Geographical Sketch 8 
 
 II. Egypt I2 
 
 1. Historical Outline I2 
 
 2. Egyptian Civilization 20 
 
 III. The Assyrians and Babylonians .... 27 
 
 1. Introduction 27 
 
 2. Early Babylonian, or Chaldaean, Kingdom . 29 
 
 3. Ass5'Tia 32 
 
 4. Later Babylonian Kingdom . . • • 35 
 
 IV. The Hebrews 38 
 
 V. The Phcenicians . . . . . . . 43 
 
 VI. The Hindoos 50 
 
 VII. The Persian Empire 55 
 
 1. Historical Outline 55 
 
 2. Persian Civilization 60 
 
 VIII. Commerce of the Ancients 64 
 
VlU CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION 11. 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 tHAPTER FAGB 
 
 I. General Sketch 73 
 
 II. History of the First Period: From the Dorian 
 Migration to the beginning of the Persian Wars, 
 
 1100-500 B. C 81 
 
 1. Beginnings of Greek History .... 81 
 
 2. Growth of Sparta and Athens .... 85 
 
 III. History of the Second Period : From the beginning 
 
 of the , Persian War to the Victory of Philip of 
 
 Macedon at Cha^ronea, B. C. 500-338 ... 91 
 
 1. The Persian Invasions 91 
 
 2. The Age of Pericles 98 
 
 3. The Peloponnesian War 100 
 
 4. Period of Spartan and Theban Supremacy . . loi 
 
 IV. History of the Third Period : From the Victory of 
 
 Philip to the Absorption of Greece by the Romans 103 
 
 1. Supremacy of Macedon. — Philip .... 103 
 
 2. Career of Alexander the Great .... 104 
 
 3. Alexander's Successors 108 
 
 4. Later History of Macedon and Greece . . 109 
 
 V. Grecian Civilization 114 
 
 1. Political Ideas I14 
 
 2. Religion 114 
 
 3. Grecian Festivals 117 
 
 4. Greek Literature and Philosophy . . . .119 
 
 5. Grecian Art « . 125 
 
 6. Greek Life, Manners, etc. . . . . . 128 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 1. Geography and Races 130 
 
 II. Primeval Rome. — Period of the Kings . . 133 
 
 III. The Roman Republic ... • . . . 136 
 
 1. Epoch of the Struggle for Existence ... 136 
 
 Great Names of Early Rome .... 137 
 
 2. Epoch of the Roman Conquest of Italy . . 143 
 
 3. Epoch of Foreign Conquest 147 
 
 4. Epoch of Civil Strife 159 
 
 IV. Rome as an Empire 182 
 
 1. Age of Augustus 182 
 
 2. Political History 191 
 
 3. Spread of Christianity 194 
 
 4. Roman Life, Manners, Customs, etc. . . . 201 
 
 5. Last Days of Rome 207 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 Introduction 212 
 
 I. The New Races 213 
 
 II. Three Centuries of History . . . L . 221 
 
 1. The Byzantine Empire ..... 221 
 
 2. Italy down to Charlemagne 222 
 
 3. Beginnings of France 224 
 
 4. Beginnings of England . . . . . . 225 
 
 5. Rise of the Saracens . . . • . . 227 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER PACK 
 
 III. Empire of Charlemagne 234 
 
 IV. The Feudal System 240 
 
 V. Growth of the Papal Power . . . • . 247 
 
 VI. The Crusades 253 
 
 1. Introduction 253 
 
 2. The First Crusade 256 
 
 3. The Second Crusade 261 
 
 4. The Third Crusade 262 
 
 5. The Later Crusades 264 
 
 6. Results of the Crusades 265 
 
 VII. Chivalry, — its Rise and Decay .... 267 
 
 VIII. Civilization in the Middle Ages . . . 272 
 
 1. The Dark Ages 272 
 
 2. The Age of Revival.— Cities and Commerce . 276 
 
 IX. Political Outline : From Charlemagne to the Close of 
 
 the Middle Ages 285 
 
 1. The German Empire 285 
 
 2. France 287 
 
 3. England 291 
 
 4. Italy 295 
 
 5. Spain 2q8 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 I. Transition to Modern History . . . .305 
 
 1. Introduction 305 
 
 2. Fall of the Eastern Empire 306 
 
 3. Maritime Discoveries 308 
 
 4. The Revival of Learning 312 
 
 5. Decline of Feudalism 314 
 
 6. Rise of Great Monarchies 315 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 II. Great Events of the Sixteenth Century 
 
 1. Age of Charles V. .... 
 
 2. England under Henry VIII. . 
 
 3. Rise of the Dutch Republic 
 
 4. Civil and Religious Wars of France 
 
 5. Age of Queen Elizabeth 
 
 Great Names of the Sixteenth Century 
 
 III. Great Events of tfe Seventeenth Century 
 
 1. England under the Stuarts 
 
 2. The Thirty Years' War 
 
 3. The Age of Louis XIV 
 
 4. Progress of Civilization 
 
 Great Names of the Seventeenth Century . 
 
 IV. Great Events of the Eighteenth Century 
 
 1. England under the Georges 
 
 2. Prussia and Frederick the Great 
 
 3. The Rise of Russia 
 
 4. The French Revolution 
 
 5. Progress of Civilization .... 
 Great Names of the Eighteenth Century 
 
 V. Great Events of the Nineteenth Century 
 
 1. The Consulate and- the Empire . 
 
 2. Modern English Politics 
 
 3. Revolutions in French Politics . 
 
 4. The Unification of Italy .... 
 
 5. The German Empire Restored . 
 Great Names of the Nineteenth Century 
 
 INDEX 
 
Ancient Oriental Monarchies. {Double page) ... 8 
 
 Historic Era at the Beginning of Records . . . ii^ 
 Egypt at the Time of Persian Conquest . . . .13 
 
 Dominion of Solomon 39 
 
 Pholnicia and her Colonies 44 
 
 Persian Empire. {Double page.) . . . . ■. . 54 
 
 Routes of Ancient Commerce 65 
 
 Greece and her Colonies. {Double page.) .... 72 
 
 Greece before Dorian Migration 77 
 
 Greek Races after Dorian Migration .... 83 
 
 Persian Invasions of Greece ........ 92 
 
 Vicinity of Marathon and Athens 93 
 
 Thermopyl^ . .96 
 
 Races of Ancient Italy 131 
 
 Latium, or Primeval Rome 133 
 
 The Punic Wars 148 
 
 MiTHRiDATic Wars 161 
 
 Campaigns of C^^sar 167 
 
 Roman Empire. {Double page.) 182 
 
 Plan of Ancient Rome 186 
 
 Europe, Close of 6th Century 220 
 
 Original Home of the English . . , , . 226 
 
 Europe, a. d. 800 ' 233 
 
 Map of the Crusades 252 
 
 Iberian Peninsula, 1491 . . . . . . . 298 
 
 Europe, i6th Century. {Double page.) . . , . 304 
 
 Globular View of Geographic Discoveries . .. . 308 
 
 Europe, Time of Napoleon. {Double page) . . . 440 
 
OUTLINES OF HISTORY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1. History may be defined, in a general way, as the rec- 
 ord of the life of mankind. In a more special History de- 
 view, it is the narrative of the rise and progress ^^^^' 
 
 of those famous peoples whose doings constitute the history 
 of civilization. 
 
 2. In this its proper and highest sense history presup- 
 poses the races advanced beyond the natural its relation to 
 or primitive state, and gathered in political "^^^o^s. 
 communities, or nations; and it confines itself to those 
 nations whose achievements have influenced the genera) 
 current of the world's affairs, and made the condition of 
 the world what we now see it. 
 
 3. Respecting mankind outside of nations, there is much 
 interesting and valuable knowledge, supplied Aids to 
 
 by various sciences. Among these are, — history. 
 
 Ethnol'ogy, or the science of the several races, or types 
 of mankind. 
 
 ARCHiEOL'OGY, or the science of the ancient works of 
 man. 
 
 Philol'ogy, or the science of language. 
 
 By the aid of these sciences much is now known regard- 
 ing humanity in its lower stages of progress. In our own 
 times a vast amount of inquiry has been made into the con- 
 dition of the primeval races ; interesting studies have been 
 made also on the customs, manners, arts, languages, and 
 religions of savage tribes. 
 
2 OUTLINES OF GENERAL HISTORY. 
 
 4. These researches belong to Anthropol'ogy, which 
 Difference be- dcals With man In natural history^ rather than 
 tiSg'y^hid'^*^: ^ History proper, which deals with nations, 
 History. ' ' * fj^'^f jg j-q 'say, with man in civilization. 
 
 5. Viewing history as confined to the series of leading 
 The real his- civilizcd nations, we observe that it has to do 
 toric race. ^j^j^ j^y^ Qjjg grand division of the human fam- 
 ily, namely, with the Caucasian, or white race. To this 
 division belonged the people of all the elder nations, — 
 the Egyptians, Assyr'ians and Babylo'nians, the Hebrews 
 and the Phoeni'cians, the Hin'doos, the Persians, the Greeks, 
 and the Romans. Of course, the modern European na- 
 tions, as also the states founded by European colonists, all 
 belong to this ethnological division. Thus we see that his- 
 tory proper concerns itself with but one highly developed 
 type of mankind ; for though the great bulk of the popu- 
 lation of the globe has, during the whole recorded period, 
 belonged, and does still belong, to other types of mankind, 
 yet the Caucasians form the only truly historical race. 
 Hence we may say that civilization is the product of the 
 brain of this race. 
 
 Of the peoples outside of the Caucasian race that have made some 
 figure in civilization, the Chinese, Mexicans, and Peruvians stand alone. 
 P)Ut though those races rose considerably above the savage state, their 
 civilization was stationary, and they had no marked influence on the 
 general current of the world's progress. 
 
 6. Modern scholars divide this historical stock — the 
 Its three di- Caucasian race — into three main branches: 
 visions. i^ The A'ryan, or Indo-European branch; 
 II. The Semit'ic branch ; III. The Hamit'ic branch. This 
 classification is a linguistic one, — that is to say, it is a 
 division based on the nature of the languages spoken by 
 the three families of nations, — but at the same time it 
 represents three distinct civilizations. 
 
JNTRODUCTION. 
 
 7. The Aryan branch is that division to which we our- 
 selves belong : it includes nearly all the pres- 
 ent and past nations of Europe, — the Greeks, ^*"^* 
 Latins, Germans or Teu'tons, Celts, and Slavo'nians, — to- 
 gether with two ancient Asiatic peoples, namely, the Hin- 
 doos and the Persians. 
 
 8. The evidence of language shows that the Celtic, Ger- 
 man, Slavonian, Greek, and Latin tongues all Their unity, 
 bear a remarkable family likeness, and that ^°^ proved, 
 they share this likeness with the Sanscrit, which was the 
 ancient language of India, and with the Zend, the ancient 
 language of Persia. It is quite certain that the forefathers 
 of the Persians and of the Hindoos and the forefathers of 
 all the European nations were once one people, and lived 
 together somewhere in Western Asia. This was at a time 
 long before the beginning of recorded history (for we know 
 nothing of the Greeks, Latins, Germans, Celts, etc., as such^ 
 until we find them in Europe) ; but still it is proved by the 
 evidence of language that their original home and native 
 seat was Asia. 
 
 9. The Semitic branch includes the ancient inhabitants 
 of Syria, Arabia, and the Tigris and Euphrates ^ . 
 
 . _,, , ,. , . . , Semites. 
 
 countries. The leadmg historical representa- 
 tives of the Semitic branch are the Hebrews, Phoenicians, 
 Assyrians, and Arabs. 
 
 10. The Hamitic branch has but one prominent repre- 
 sentative, — the Egyptians. It is probable, j^^^. 
 however, that the ancient Chaldee'ans also be- 
 longed to this race. 
 
 11. The history of the civilized world is the history of 
 the Aryan, Semitic, and Hamitic races. It is comparison of 
 of interest to know that the race to which we *^® races, 
 belong, the Aryan, has always played the leading part in 
 the great drama of the world's progress. The Hamitic 
 nations, the Egyptians and Chaldaeans, though they devel- 
 
OUTLIJVES OF GENERAL HISTORY. 
 
 oped a peculiar type of civilization, yet grew up and re- 
 mained in a great degree apart from the rest of the \.^S.^, 
 having no considerable influence on the main current of 
 history. As to the Semites, there is one respect in which 
 they have the greatest place in the story of mankind, 
 namely, in religious development; for the three religions 
 that have taught men that there is but one God — namely, 
 the Jewish, the Christian, and the Mahom'etan — have all 
 come from among them. But, aside from this, the Semites 
 do not make nearly so important or so conspicuous a figure 
 in history as do the Aryans, or Indo-Europeans. They 
 have never been greatly progressive. They have generally 
 shown a conservative disposition that has, in the main, 
 kept them fixed to their native seat, in the small tract of 
 country between the Tigris, the Mediterranean, and the 
 Red Sea. Thus they have not, like the Aryans, been tlie 
 planters of new nations ; and they have never attained a 
 high intellectual development, or that progress in political 
 freedom, in science, art, and literature, which is the glory 
 of the Aryan nations. 
 
 12. If we trace back the present civilization of the ad- 
 The Aryans in vanced uations of the world, — our own civil- 
 history, ization, and that of England, Germany, France, 
 Italy, etc., — we shall find that much of it is connected by 
 direct and unbroken line with the Roman. The Romans, 
 in turn, were heirs of the Greeks. Now, all this is Aryan ; 
 and when we go back to the primitive age of the undivided 
 Aryans in Asia, we see that this race must even then have 
 been placed far above the condition of mere savages, and 
 that they had made good beginnings in government, and 
 social life, and religion, and the simple mechanical arts. 
 Thus we are fully authorized to say that the Aryans are 
 peculiarly the race of progress ; and a very large part of 
 the history of the world must be taken up with an account 
 of the contributions which the Aryan nations have made to 
 the common stock of civilization. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 13. In these Outlines of the world's history we shall 
 
 iuiUO mp : Divisions of 
 
 I. The groups of ancient Oriental nations, t^isbook. 
 including, i. The Egyptians ; 2. The Assyro-Babylonians ; 
 3. The Hebrews; 4. The Phoenicians; 5. The Hindoos; 6. 
 The Persians. 
 
 n. The history of Greece. 
 
 IH. The history of the Roman Dominion. 
 
 IV. The history of the Middle Ages. 
 
 V. The history of the modern European states and na- 
 tions. 
 
 14. The entire historical period, commencing with the 
 early Empires of the East, and coming down chronologic 
 to our own times, is usually divided into dis- pe*"'®^*- 
 tinct portions, sometimes two and sometimes three; that 
 is to say, some historians make a double division, into 
 Ancieftt history and Modem history ; and others a triple 
 division, into Ancient^ Mediceval, and Modern history. In 
 either case Ancient history ends with the breaking up of 
 the Dominion of Rome, in the fifth century a. d. (fall of 
 the Western Roman Empire, 476 a. d.). Then, if we make 
 the double division, Modern history will begin with the 
 downfall of Rome ; but if the triple division, the interval 
 from the fifth to the fifteenth century will be regarded as 
 a period by itself, called Medieval history, or the history 
 of the Middle Ages ; while Modern history, according to 
 this method, will be confined to the centuries between the 
 fifteenth and the present time. 
 
 15. Such divisions of the historic period into portions 
 are merely arbitrary, seeing that history forms Nature of the 
 in reality an unbroken whole. We shall adopt divisions, 
 the triple division for practical convenience, though per- 
 haps the double division is the more philosophical ; for 
 while we think of the ages as forming a continuous stream, 
 the Roman Dominion may still be regarded as a reservoir 
 
OUTLINES OF GENERAL HISTORY. 
 
 into which all the currents of history from the anterior ages 
 were gathered, and from which, in turn, the ampler currents 
 of Modern history have flowed. It was out of the breaking 
 up of the great Dominion of Rome in the fifth century a. d. 
 (when the Western Roman Empire fell, under the attacks 
 of the Gothic invaders, and of other new races loosely called 
 " Northern barbarians ") that the modern states of Europe 
 — that is, Italy, Spain, France, England, Germany, etc. — 
 gradually took their rise. 
 
 l6. In the largest sense, however, history is a unit : its 
 epochs form but acts in one errand Provi- 
 
 History a unit. , . , , , , - ° , . , 
 
 dential drama ; one thread of progress bmds 
 nation to nation ; and, looking at humanity as a whole, we 
 see that 
 
 Through the ages one increasing purpose runs, 
 
 And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of 
 
 THE suns. 
 
 Tennysmi. 
 
 ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS FOR REVIEW. 
 I. Definition of History. (IT i.) 
 
 I how distinguished. (IT 4.) 
 
 Anthropology, 
 History proper. 
 
 II. Aids to History. 
 
 Ethnology, \ 
 
 ARCHiEOLOGY, Show defined. (If 3.) 
 
 Philology, ) 
 
 III. Divisions of the Caucasian Race. 
 
 '' Hindoos, 
 Persians, 
 Greeks, 
 Latins, 
 Germans, 
 Celts, 
 L Slavonians. 
 
 Aryan (Indo-European) 
 Branch. (IT 7.) 
 
INTROD UCTION. 
 
 Semitic Branch. (IT 9. 
 
 Hebrews, 
 Phcenicians, 
 Assyrians, 
 Arabs. 
 
 Egyptians, 
 Chald^eans. 
 
 Hamitic Branch. (IT 10 
 
 IV. Divisions of History, (t 13 ) 
 
 1. Oriental Nations. 
 
 2. Greece. 
 
 3. Rome. 
 
 4. The Middle Ages. 
 
 5. Modern History. 
 
 V. Chronologic Periods. (^ 14.) 
 
 Ancient History, from the earliest period to the fall of the 
 
 Western Roman Empire, 476 A. D. 
 Medieval History, from the fall of the Western Roman 
 
 Empire to the close of the 15th century. 
 Modern History, from the close of the 15th century to the 
 
 present time. 
 
8 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 1. The ancient Oriental civilizations to be treated of in 
 Oriental na- ^^is section Comprise the monarchies of Egypt, 
 tions. Assyr'ia and Babylo'nia, Judae'a, Phceni'cia, 
 India, and Persia. 
 
 2. With the single exception of Egypt, the seat of all the 
 
 ancient Oriental nations was in Asia. And of 
 
 Historic area. . . , ,. . . . , , , . . , 
 
 this grand division of the globe it is to be 
 observed that only a small part has any connection with 
 history proper. Historical Asia is in reality Southwestern 
 Asia. 
 
 3. All that part of Asia north of the Altai range is a com- 
 N rth A • P^ratively barren waste. It was almost wholly 
 
 unknown in antiquity. 
 
 4. Central Asia, extending between the 50th and the 40th 
 Central Asi Parallels of north latitude, — known to ancient 
 
 writers as Scyih'ia^ — is a region of vast pla- 
 teaus. Being destitute of arable land, it is a mere country 
 of pasture. It has always supported a great population, 
 but a population of nomads without fixed habitations or 
 cities, and with no other form of political association than 
 patriarchal government. Accordingly, the races of this re- 
 gion have played no part in history, except that the Mongo- 
 lian or Tartar races, inhabiting the great steppes, have at 
 times poured down upon and conquered the civilized coun- 
 tries. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 5. The real theater of Asiatic history, namely, South- 
 western Asia, may be subdivided into three Division of 
 regions: i. that west of the Euphra'tes ; 2. the Western Asia, 
 valleys of the Euphrates and Ti gris ; 3. the region be- 
 tween the Zagros Mountains and the In'dus basin inclusive. 
 
 6. West of the Euphrates we have : i. The peninsula of 
 Asia Minor, the seat of several nationalities (of 
 
 ,.,, ^-.■i,. 1 • s First region. 
 
 which that of Lyd'ia was the most nnportant) 
 and of various Grecian colonies ; their history is, however, 
 coAnected as much with Europe as with Asia. 2. Syr'ia, 
 bordering on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, 
 and comprising three distinct parts: (i) Syria proper; (2) 
 Phoenicia, including the narrow strip of coast between 
 Leb'anon and the sea ; (3) Pal'estine, south of Phoenicia. 
 3. The peninsula of Arabia, stretching southeastward. This 
 last is of comparatively little importance in ancient history. 
 
 7. In the basins of the Tigris and the Euphrates were 
 several distinct territorial divisions: i. Arme'- 
 
 nia, or the highland region between Asia Minor egion. 
 
 and the Caspian Sea. 2. Assyria proper, which lay east 
 of the Tigris River and west of the Zagros Mountains. 
 3. Babylonia, comprising the great alluvial plain between 
 the lower course of the Tigris and of the Euphrates, and 
 stretching westward to the Syrian Desert. 4. Chaldae'a, the 
 country at the head of the Persian Gulf, stretching west- 
 ward from the lower waters of the Euphrates to the Syrian 
 Desert. 5. Mesopota'mia, or the district between the 
 two great rivers. 6. Susia'na, including the country lying 
 along the Tigris east of Babylonia. 
 
 8. It must not be supposed that these territories were 
 severally the seat of distinct nations. We may Nations in 
 say that three great monarchies ruled in the ^^^""^^ t^s^on. 
 valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, down to the time when 
 these territories were absorbed in Persia (6th century b. c). 
 These were the Chaldaean, Babylonian, and Assyrian king- 
 
TO ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 doms ; and of these the last, at the height of its power, 
 held sway over nearly the entire region between the Zagros 
 Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 9. The table-land of ancient Iran (Persia) lay to the east 
 Eastern di- of the Zagros chain of mountains, which sep- 
 vision. arated it from the Tigris and Euphrates ba- 
 sins. In the north, toward the Caspian Sea, was Media ; 
 to the south, and reaching to the Persian Gulf, was ancient 
 Persia proper. Farther eastward, and stretching to the 
 south, was the peninsula of India," forming the eastern limit 
 of ancient Asiatic civilization. 
 
 10. The earliest nations recorded in history arose in the 
 Civilization thrcc alluvial plains of the Nile, of the Tigris 
 and geography. ^^^ Euphrates, and of the Indus. This fact 
 was wholly due to physical causes. In a primitive state of 
 society, population can gather into nations only in regions 
 where a fertile soil produces abundant food. Now the three 
 alluvial basins just named are distinguished for their ex- 
 traordinary fertilit}\ Here nature spontaneously produces 
 certain important articles of food, such as dates, rice, etc., 
 v;hich, being easily cultivated and yielding immense re- 
 turns, made a large population possible. Accordingly, we 
 find that in these countries men had adopted fixed habita- 
 tions (a great advance on the pastoral or nomad state) and 
 formed themselves into political associations at a time long 
 antedating recorded history. 
 
 11. As the physical conditions that favor the formation 
 of human society are, so far as the Old World goes, found 
 only in the alluvial plains of Southwest Asia (taking in 
 Cradle of na- Egypt), as the earliest nations appear in these 
 tions. regions, and as philology proves that all the 
 European races came from Western Asia, — we may safely 
 consider that here was, if not the cradle of the human race, 
 at least the cradle of civilization. 
 
 12. We shall begin with these earliest nations of civilized 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 II 
 
 man. With the origin of the human race, its . 
 
 first seats and earliest distribution, history 
 proper does not undertake to deal. History commences 
 when historical records commence. Hence we must leave 
 to revelation and to science the consideration of primitive 
 humanity, and take up our studies with those ancient Ori- 
 ental nations that appear on the stage of hum^n affairs when 
 historic records begin. 
 
 13. When the curtain goes up on antiquity, — say in the 
 23d century b. c, — we have disclosed to view Earliest his- 
 the venerable figures of two civilizations : that ^°"*^ theater, 
 in the Nile Valley and that in Chaldaea. And beyond this 
 narrow region the fore-world is to us shrouded in impene- 
 trable darkness. 
 
12 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 /EGYPT.^ 
 «. HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 
 
 Thk Great Pyramids. 
 
 14. Egypt is the country in which we first find a gov- 
 Antiquity of crnment and political institutions established. 
 Egypt. Egypt itself may not have been the oldest 
 naiioJi^ but Egyptian history is certainly the oldest history. 
 Its monuments, records, and literature surpass in antiquity 
 those of Chaldaea and India, the two next oldest nations. 
 
 15. It is natural to suppose that the banks of the Nile 
 must have been one of the primitive seats of human soci- 
 ety, for the condition already mentioned as favoring the 
 
 -„^ .^ first formation of nations — namely, cheap 
 
 Why old. , , , r 1 , ^ , ^ 
 
 and abundant food — was here present m a 
 
 remarkable degree. 
 
EGYPT. 
 
 13 
 
 16. Egypt itself has been called 
 
 ' ^ S £ A 
 
 /V 
 
 EGYPT, 
 
 at the time of 
 
 Persian CoNQUE5f"7^l*?\ 
 Cambyses 
 
 from the earliest antiq- 
 uity "the Physical ge- 
 Gift of the og>^aphy. 
 
 Nile." This mighty 
 river, flowing from the 
 highlands of Abyssinia 
 and the great lakes 
 of equatorial Africa, 
 forms in Egypt a strip 
 of fertility in the midst 
 of the desert waste. 
 In its annual overflow 
 (due to the immense 
 rainfalls in the Abys- 
 sinian mountains), the 
 Nile, by its mud de- 
 posits, renews every 
 year the soil of this 
 strip, so that all the 
 people had to do was 
 to plant, and nature 
 produced. 
 
 17. In Egypt the 
 date-palm _ ^ , 
 
 ^ Food-plants. 
 
 grew spon- 
 taneously, and fur- 
 nished the people with 
 a cheap and abun- 
 
 MAP STUDY. 
 
 Ancient Egypt comprised three divisions, — Lower Egypt, or the Delta; Middle 
 Egypt, or the Heptanomis ; Upper Egypt, or the Thebais. 
 
 I. In which division was Memphis ? 2. On which bank of the Nile 
 was Memphis ? 3, In which division was Thebes } 4. Near which city 
 are the Great Pyramids ? 5. What seaport at the mouth of the eastern 
 branch of the Nile .'' 6. Where was the land of Goshen ? 7. What sea 
 north of Egypt? 8. What is the general course of the Nile? 9. What 
 sea east of Egypt ? 10. What celebrated mountain in this vicinity ? 
 
14 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 dant article of food. The fertility of the soil also yielded, 
 with slight labor, large crops of cereals (especially d/iourra, 
 a sort of maize), and the " granaries of Egypt " were the 
 storehouse whence all the peoples of the Mediterranean 
 were wont to draw supplies in seasons of scarcit]', 
 
 1 8. The cheapness of living in Egypt led to a great mul- 
 Effect on the tiplication of the population. A Greek writer, 
 people. Diodo'rus Sic'ulus, who traveled there nineteen 
 centuries ago, says that to bring up a child to manhood did 
 not cost more than twenty drachmas (less than four dollars 
 of our money), — and he notices this fact as a cause of the 
 populousness of Egypt. 
 
 19. Information in regard to ancient Egypt was, until the 
 Old sources of present century, derived chiefly from the nar- 
 information. ^ativcs of the Greek historians, and especially 
 from that of Herod'otus,* v/ho traveled in Egypt in the 5 th 
 century b. c, and from some fragments of a history written in 
 Greek by Man'etho, an Egyptian priest, in the 3d century b. c. 
 
 20. But in modern times our knowledge of the ancient 
 The new land has been greatly extended by the discov- 
 sources. ^^ q£ ^l^g ^^^ q£ reading the inscriptions which 
 the Egyptians of old with great lavishness carved on their 
 buildings and monuments, especially their obelisks, painted 
 on the frescoed interiors of their tombs, and indeed placed 
 on almost every object of use or art. These writings were 
 in the character called hieroglyphics, which is a Greek term 
 meaning sacred carvings, or priestly writing. Now, the 
 knowledge of the reading of these died out with the decline 
 of Egypt, and "hieroglyphics" became a synonym for every- 
 thing that is mysterious. 
 
 21. It was an interesting accident that led to the unveil- 
 Deciphering of ing of this mystery. During the expedition of 
 ics! ^^^°^ ^^ " the French to Egypt, under Napoleon, at the 
 
 * Herodotus, called the father of history, was born at Halicamassus, a 
 Greek colony in Caria (Asia Minor), B. c. 484. 
 
EGYPT. 15 
 
 close of the last century, an engineer in digging the foun- 
 dation of a fort near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile found 
 a stone tablet about three feet long, on which was an in- 
 scription in three different characters. This was the famous 
 " Rosetta stone." One of the three texts (the lower one) was 
 Greek, and of course was readily translated ; the text at the 
 head was in the mystic hieroglyphic character ; the interme- 
 diate text was in a character since called demotic (demos, the 
 people), that is, the writing of the common people. This in- 
 scription was copied and circulated among scholars, and after 
 long and ingenious efforts the alphabet of the hieroglyphics 
 was made out ; so that now these carvings are read with ease 
 and certainty, and a new flood of light has been thrown on 
 the history of ancient Egypt. 
 
 Note on the Rosetta Stone. — The Greek text, when translated, 
 showed that the inscription was an ordinance of the priests decreeing cer- 
 tain honors to Ptol'emy Epiph'anes on the occasion of his coronation, 
 196 B. c. (Ptolemy Epiphanes was one of a line of Greek sovereigns 
 who ruled over Egypt from the time of its conquest by Alexander, 4th 
 century, to the 1st century b. c.) It contains a command that the de- 
 cree should be inscribed in the sacred letters (hieroglyphics), the letters 
 of the country (demotic), and Greek letters, — and this for the conven- 
 ience of the mixed population of Egypt under its Greek rulers. It was 
 natural to conclude that the three texts were the same in substance, and 
 accordingly earnest efforts were made to decipher the hieroglyphics by 
 aid of the Greek. The first clew was obtained by noticing that certain 
 groups of the hieroglyphic characters were inclosed in oval rings, and 
 that these groups corresponded in relative position with certain proper 
 names, such as Ptolemy, etc., in the Greek text. The following line 
 presents a few of the characters with a group in the oval ring. (The 
 words and groups of words are read from right to left. ) 
 
 wm^^m m^f\9^ 
 
 (Ptolemy eternal beloved of Phtah) of Egypt king of statue raising 
 
l6 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 It was by comparison of the group judged on strong grounds to be the 
 name Ptolemy, with another group (found on another stone) supposed 
 to stand for the name Cleopatra, that the first great advance was made. 
 The groups were as follows : — 
 
 
 to be Ptolemy. 
 
 Supposed to be Cleopatra. 
 
 In Greek Ptolemy is Ptolemaios, and Cleopatra is Kleopatra. If now 
 the hieroglyphic characters were /(?i'/^r-signs, the characters i, 2, 3, 4, in 
 Ptolemaios should correspond respectively with 5, 7, 4, 2, in Kleopatra 
 {^\\\t. first letter in Ptolemaios being Xhe fifth in Kleopatra, etc). In this 
 way several letters were discovered ; by means of other groups the whole 
 alphabet was made out, and finally it was proved that by this phonetic 
 alphabet the characters and groups could be resolved into the Coptic 
 language of Egypt, which was already understood by scholars. It should 
 not be forgotten that the great work of deciphering was mainly effected 
 by the French savant, Champollion. 
 
 22. The Egyptians were not Africans, as we understand 
 that term. They belonsred to the Caucasian 
 
 Egyptian race. o mi 1 • 1 » r, 
 
 race, btill, they were neither Aryans nor Sem- 
 ites, and hence scholars call them by a special designation, 
 namely, Haviites, or Khamites* They bore a greater re- 
 semblance to the ancient Chaldaeans than to any other 
 Asiatic people ; both peoples showed a wonderful building 
 instinct, and the Egyptian language seems to be a sort of 
 primitive Semitic. Hence some scholars believe that 
 the Egyptians were originally immigrants into the Nile 
 Valley from the alluvial plain at the head of the Persian 
 Gulf ; but if this was the case, the Egyptians must have left 
 
 * Khame (literally the Black Land) was the native name of Egypt 
 
EGYPT, 17 
 
 Asia at a period before there was that sharp division of 
 Semites and Aryans which we find in historical times. 
 
 23. I'he origin of Egyptian civiUzation is hidden in the 
 darkness of antiquity ; but by the aid of cer- 
 tain ascertained facts we may estabUsh at Egypt"s"ifis° 
 least an approximate starting-point. Thus, it *°'^^* 
 
 is known that Abraham visited Egypt in the 20th century 
 B. c, and that he then found a flourishing monarchy exist- 
 ing. Now at this remote period the Great Pyramids were 
 standing, and modern scholars are agreed that these struc- 
 tures were reared by kings of the fourth dynasty, — at a 
 time not later than the middle of the 25th century b. c. It 
 is evident from the monuments that the civilization of Egypt 
 at this early date was in many respects of an advanced 
 order, and hence we must seek its origin still farther back. 
 But how far back? According to the native historian 
 Manetho, twenty-six dynasties of kings ruled the country 
 from Me'nes, the first king of the first dynasty, down to the 
 conquest of Egypt by the Persians in the 6 th century b. c. 
 The accession of Menes is placed by some scholars (as 
 Bunsen) at 3906 ; others bring it down as late as 2700. 
 Later than that date we cannot bring it, and it would doubt- 
 less be quite correct to say that Egypt was a civilized coun- 
 try three thousand years before the Christian era. 
 
 24. The history of Egypt from the first dynasty (2700 
 B. c.) down to the destruction of Egyptian in- The three pe- 
 dependence by the Persians (525 b. c.) maybe "°^s- 
 divided into three periods, namely : — 
 
 I. First Period (or period of the old empire), from the 
 earliest times (say 2700 B. c.) to 2080. 
 
 II. Second Period (or period of the Hyk'sos rule), from 
 2080 to 1527. 
 
 III. Third Period (or period of the new em.pire), from 
 1527 to 525. 
 
 ^ 25. The First Period begins with the first dynasty (2700 
 
X8 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES 
 
 B. c), and lasts for 620 years ; but it cannot be said that 
 First Period authentic Egyptian history commences until 
 characterized, ^j^^ ioyxxiYi dynasty, about the middle of the 
 ?5th century B. c. And indeed the epoch of the fourth 
 dynasty is the most notable during the whole of this First 
 Period ; for this was the era of the pyramid-builders. Man- 
 etho ascribes the building of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh 
 \^ee!zeh'\ near Mem'phis to Sup/iis (the Che'ops of Herodo- 
 tus) ; and it is an interesting fact that in the interior of this 
 structure has been found a hieroglyphic royal name which 
 scholars agree in reading Shufii* The center of the Egyp- 
 tian power was then at Memphis, in Lower EgyjDt, where a 
 centralized monarchy ruled the whole country; and it is 
 apparent that at this epoch the Egyptians had made very 
 considerable progress in the arts of life. Before the close 
 of the First Period, however, Egypt was broken up into 
 really separate kingdoms, the monarchy which ruled at 
 Thebes in Upper Egypt being the most powerful. This 
 left the country in so feeble a condition that it was invaded 
 by a foreign enemy, namely the Hyksos, or Shepherd 
 Kings. And with their conquest of Egypt (2080 b. c.) 
 closes the First Period, or Old Empire. 
 
 26. The Second Period is the era covered by the rule of 
 the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, and lasts for 
 about five centuries (2080— 1525 B.C.). The 
 Hyksos are believed to have been a nomadic race from 
 either Syria or Arabia. Entering Lower Egypt, they de- 
 stroyed the native monarchy at Memphis, and afterwards 
 conquered the Theban Kingdom of Upper Egypt. The 
 complete establishment of their dominion was about 1900 
 B. c, and after this follows the darkest period of Egyptian 
 histor}'.t 
 
 * For a representation of the signet-ring of Cheops, or Shufu, see pic- 
 ture of the Pyramids at the head of the chapter. 
 + It was during the rule of one of the dynasties of Shepherd Kings 
 
EGYPT. 19 
 
 27. The revival of Egyptian independence by the expul- 
 sion of the "Shepherds" introduces us to the ^^. , „ 
 
 .^.,-r^.n, ri T».T T-. • Third Period. 
 
 Third Period, or that of the New ii>mpire. 
 This continues for about one thousand years (1527-525 
 B. c.) ; but it should be divided into two ages, — the grand 
 age and the age of decay. 
 
 28. The expulsion of the Hyksos was due to the valor 
 of a Theban prince, who headed a great na- 
 tional uprising, and who received as his reward " ^^^* 
 the supreme authority over the whole country, — a right 
 which was inherited by his successors. Egypt now became 
 one great centralized power, with Thebes for its capital. 
 The most splendid period of Egyptian history was from the 
 eighteenth to the twentieth dynasties, — about three centuries 
 (1525-1200 B. c.).* Egyptian art attained its highest per- 
 fection, and the great temple-palaces of Thebes were built. 
 The Egyptians even undertook foreign expeditions : Ethi- 
 opia, Arabia, and Syria were invaded ; the Euphrates was 
 crossed, and a portion of Mesopotamia was added to the 
 Egyptian Empire. The chief of these warlike kings was 
 Ram'eses II., the Sesos'tris of the Greek writers. 
 
 29. From the twentieth dynasty onwards Egypt declined 
 for six centuries, till finally it was conquered . ^ ^ 
 
 , , T^ • ^ , Age of decay. 
 
 by the Persians under Camby'ses, 525 b. c. 
 In 332 Egypt fell under the dominion of Alexander the 
 Great, who founded on its shore the new capital and literary 
 and commercial center called Alexandria. One of his gen- 
 erals, named Ptolemy, received Eg}'pt as his fragment of 
 
 that Abraham visited Egypt, — said to be 1920 B.C., — and they were 
 still reigning when Jacob and his sons settled in the country, 1706 B. C. 
 * At the head of the eighteenth dynasty is supposed to have been that 
 Pharaoh " who knew not Joseph." The exodus of the Israelites from 
 Egypt is believed to have taken place 1320 B. c, during the reign of 
 Meneptha, the fourth king of the nineteenth dynasty, — the Pharaoh 
 whose heart was hardened, and who was drowned in the Red Sea. 
 
20 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 the divided empire of Alexander, 323 b. c. Thenceforward 
 for three centuries the Greek dynasty of the Ptolemies ruled 
 on the banks of the Nile till Queen Cleopa'tra, the last of 
 the line, being overcome by the Romans, died by her own 
 hand ; and the venerable land became a Roman province 
 in B. c. 30. (See under the history of Rome, p. 178.) 
 
 a. EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION. 
 
 30. In governfnent, Eg}^pt was a hereditary monarchy, but 
 
 the kingly rule took a peculiar form, owing: to 
 
 Government. , ,. r , . , , 
 
 the extraordmary power of the priestly class. 
 Unlike the sovereigns of the East, an Egyptian Pharaoh 
 was far from being the unquestioned master of his own ac- 
 tions : his public duties and his daily habits of life were pre- 
 scribed by religious rule ; so that the priestly class formed 
 the " power behind the throne." In another respect an 
 Egyptian king differed from an Eastern despot : his power 
 over the lives and property of his subjects was strictly lim- 
 ited by law, and nothing left to caprice and passion. The 
 right to enact new laws, however, resided with the sovereign. 
 
 31. The station in life of every man was fixed by an in- 
 
 stitution named caste. By the system of caste, 
 each individual, instead of being able to make 
 his own place and fortune in the world, had his lot marked 
 out by his birth : he had to be what his father was. Of 
 these castes, or ranks, there were three broad divisions, — 
 the priests, the soldiers, and the lower orders. 
 
 32. The priests were the richest, most powerful, and most 
 
 influential order. It must not be supposed, 
 however, that the modern word " priest " gives 
 the true idea of this caste. Its members were not limited 
 to religious offices ; they formed an order comprising many 
 occupations and professions. They were distributed all over 
 the country, possessing exclusively the means of reading 
 
EGYPT. 21 
 
 and writing, and the whole stock of medical and scientific 
 knowledge. Their ascendency, both direct and indirect, 
 over the minds of the people was immense, for they pre- 
 scribed that minute religious ritual under which the life of 
 every Egyptian, not excepting the king himself, was passed. 
 
 33. Next in importance to the sacerdotal or priestly or- 
 der was the military caste, numbering about „, . 
 
 , •' r 1 • 11- Warriors. 
 
 400,000. To each man of this soldier-caste 
 was assigned a portion of land (= 6^ acres) free from any 
 tax; but he could not engage in any art or trade. The 
 lands of the priests and soldiers were regarded as privileged 
 property; while the rest of the soil was considered as the 
 property of the king, who rented it to cultivators, receiving 
 from them one fifth of the produce. 
 
 34. Widely separated from the priests and warriors were 
 the various unprivile2;ed castes. These were ^ 
 
 1 .-^^ ' 11 7 J Lower castes. 
 
 the husbandmen^ the artificers, and the herdsmen, 
 each caste including many different crafts and occupations. 
 The lowest caste was that of the herdsmen, and the low- 
 est members of this caste were the swineherds, who were 
 not permitted to enter the temples. All the castes below 
 the priests and soldiers agreed, however, in this, that they 
 had no political rights, and could not hold land. 
 
 35. The effect of the caste-system was evil. It was one 
 of the main causes of the decline of the nation. 
 
 T^ 1- 1 1 • . . Effect of caste. 
 
 It discouraged progress and improvement; it 
 
 crushed out personal ambition ; it produced dull uniformity. 
 
 36. The population of ancient Egypt is known to have 
 been at least five millions, and it may have 
 
 been much more. As food was cheap and °p" ^ *°"* 
 abundant, owing to its being easily obtained, the race in- 
 creased very rapidly ; hence there was a large part of the 
 people whose labor could be used in any way the rulers 
 wished. This fact accounts for the ease with which great 
 public works — works that, like the pyramids, were useless. 
 
22 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 Cities. 
 
 but yet required the labor of hundreds of thousands of men 
 for years — were constructed. 
 
 37. Herodotus relates that Egypt contained 20,000 in- 
 habited towns. The two most famous cities 
 were Memphis and Thebes. Memphis was 
 
 about twelve miles above the apex of the Delta. Scarcely 
 a vestige of the place now remains ; but its great burial- 
 place at Gizeh is still seen. Here are the great Pyramids, 
 the colossal Sphinx, and miles on miles of rock-hewn 
 tombs. Thebes was the metropolis of Upper Egypt, and 
 the most splendid city of the Nile. The traveler who now 
 views its ruins at Kar'nak and Lux'or beholds pillared 
 temples and statues of a size so colossal as to seem like 
 the work of giant hands. 
 
 38. In some branches of art, especially in architecture, 
 
 the Egyptians made great advances. The race 
 seems indeed to have had a wonderful build- 
 ing instinct. The dis- 
 
 tinguishing feature of 
 Egyptian architecture is 
 its vastness and sub- 
 limity. Avenues of 
 colossal sphinxes and 
 lines of obelisks led 
 to stupendous palaces 
 and temples, elaborate- 
 ly sculptured, and con- 
 taining halls of solemn 
 and gloomy grandeur, 
 in which our largest 
 cathedrals might stand. 
 39. The pyramids 
 were de- 
 
 Pyramids. . - 
 
 signed as 
 the sepulchers of kings. 
 
 Ruins ov Karnak. 
 
EGYPT. 23 
 
 The three great pyramids of Gizeh are the most celebrated ; 
 but as many as seventy str-nd on the left bank of the Nile, 
 just beyond the cultivated ground, in the vicinity of Mem- 
 phis. The largest of the three great pyramids is 450 feet 
 high; it has a square base of 764 feet, and it covers an 
 area of more than 13 acres, — twice the extent of any other 
 building in the world. The second pyramid is but litde 
 less ; the third about half the size. In the construction of 
 these works no degree of labor for any length of time seems 
 to have intimidated the Egyptians. The huge blocks of 
 stone, sometimes weighing 1600 tons each, were dragged 
 for hundreds of miles on sledges; in one case which is 
 known, 2000 men were employed three years in bringing 
 a single stone from the quarry to the structure in which it 
 was to be placed. 
 
 40. In sculpture the Egyptian artists aimed at the colos- 
 sal, and never attained the beautiful. A re- 
 markable peculiarity of Egyptian sculpture is, 
 
 that, though the earliest monuments reveal a considerable 
 degree of artistic skill, this skill never advanced. The ex- 
 planation of this is found in the connection of Egyptian art 
 with Egyptian religion. The artists were fettered by strict 
 rules, and were forbidden to indulge their inventive genius. 
 
 41. Egyptian painting did not reach true excellence. The 
 best specimens, as seen in the frescos in the 
 
 interiors of the sepulchers, display brilliancy 
 of coloring, and frequently great spirit and vivacity; but 
 the drawing is very inaccurate, displaying no observance of 
 perspective or even the simplest laws of vision. It should 
 be stated that in this branch of art, too, religion interfered to 
 limit the taste and fancy of the painter, certain colors being 
 positively prescribed in representing the bodies and draper- 
 ies of the gods. 
 
 42. The art of writing was practiced more extensively by 
 the Egyptians than by any contemporary nation. The 
 
24 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 pyramids and monuments of even the earliest period bear 
 inscriptioHS : and it was the custom to mark 
 
 Art of Writing. u- / j x- i r 
 
 every object and article of use or ornament. 
 For manuscripts an excellent writing material was made 
 from the leaves of the pa-py'rus plant, — whence our word 
 "paper." Fragments of manuscripts on papyrus exist of 
 the earliest Theban dynasties, — 2000 B.C. 
 
 43. The translation of the sacred books of the Egyptians 
 
 shows that their religion embodied some grand 
 conceptions, — among others that of the immor- 
 tality of the soul, and that of the existence of an invisible 
 God. The several attributes and manifestations of the 
 Deity were, however, represented in various forms, and, 
 though by the priests and other learned men these were 
 regarded as mere symbols, they became to the ignorant 
 separate divinities and objects of worship. In this way 
 the religious system of the Egyptians was very complicated, 
 the number of gods being so great that every day of the 
 year was consecrated to one. The worship of Osi'ris and 
 I'sis was that most generally diffused. 
 
 44. One of the most striking peculiarities of the Egyp- 
 Worship of tian religion was the honor paid to brutes. 
 
 animals. r^^i^ ^^„^ ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^ jl^jg^ ^^^ ^^ j^^^j^ ^^^.g 
 
 held in reverence throughout the whole land, — other ani- 
 mals were worshiped only ir^ special nomes^ or districts. 
 The highest honors were paid to the bull Apis at Mem- 
 phis, and to the calf Mne'vis at Heliop'olis. The sacred 
 animals were kept in the temples, ministered to with the 
 greatest care, and when they died they v/ere embalmed. 
 If a person killed an ibis or a hawk, whether intention- 
 ally or unintentionally, he was immediately put to death. 
 Animal worship received its extraordinary extension in 
 Egypt owing to the overwhelming influence of the priestly 
 caste. Ultimately it was a main cause of the mental de- 
 basement of the people. 
 
EGYPT. 
 
 25 
 
 45. The practice of embalming dead bodies was con- 
 
 Embalming. 
 
 i!jt\» 
 
 nected with the peculiar religious ideas of the 
 Egyptians. The original reason of embalming 
 
 was the belief that at the day of 
 judgment the soul would reunite 
 with the body: hence the care 
 taken to preserve the corpse from 
 corruption, and hence also the 
 great pains taken to ornament 
 the interiors of their stone-hewn 
 sepulchers, since, even while lying 
 in the tomb, tlie body was be- 
 |]|IB^ lieved to be not wholly uncon- 
 
 scious. 
 
 46. The Egyptians were adepts 
 in the finer kinds of Arts and man- 
 mechanical art. In "f^^t"'""- 
 the polishing and engraving of 
 precious stones, in glass manu- 
 facture, porcelain -making, and in 
 embalming and dyeing, they had attained great skill. They 
 raised flax, out of which they made fine linen (linen being 
 their usual article of dress) \ they worked in metals from 
 the earliest recorded period ; their walls and ceilings they 
 painted in beautiful patterns, Vvdiich we still imitate ; and in 
 the production of articles of use and ornament they had 
 reached a perfection that modern art has not been able 
 to surpass. 
 
 47. It is known that the Egyptians had some acquaint- 
 ance with certain sciences, especially £:eome- ^ . 
 
 . , . , ,. . T^ Science. 
 
 try, arithmetic, astronomy, and medicine. But 
 their knowledge can hardly be called scieiice, in the modern 
 sense : they knew truths more as matters of fact and obser- 
 vation than as determined by law. For example, the Greek 
 philosopher Pythag'oras learned from the Egyptian priests 
 
 Egyptian Mummy. 
 
26 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 the fact that " the square of the hypothenuse is equal to the 
 sum of the squares of the two other sides " ; but it was the 
 Greek mathematician himself who discovered the demonstra- 
 tion oi this principle. In accuracy of astronomical obser- 
 vations the Egyptians were surpassed by the Chaldaeans. 
 Their geometry was little more than land-surveying. 
 
 48. The great characteristic of Egyptian institutions was 
 
 their wichangeablejiess. This stationary char- 
 Summing up. . • T- ^- ^ • ^ 
 
 acter is seen m Egyptian government, society, 
 religion, art, and learning. Egypt herself was a mummy. 
 
 CHRONOLOGIC SUMMARY. 
 
 First Period, 
 
 or 
 Old Empire. 
 
 Second Period, 
 
 or 
 Middle Empire. 
 
 Third Period, 
 
 or 
 New Empire. 
 
 Later events. 
 
 B. c 
 
 Beginning of Egyptian history with first dynasty 
 
 ofManetho 2700 
 
 Fourth dynasty, or period of the Pyramid-build- 
 ers 2450 
 
 Close of the Old Empire by the Hyksos inva- 
 sion 2080 
 
 Hyksos conquest of Lower Egypt . . . 2080 
 
 Complete subjugation of the whole country . 1900 
 
 Abraham's visit to Egypt .... 1920 
 
 Settlement in Egypt of Jacob and his sons . 1706 
 
 Expulsion of the Hyksos .... 1525 
 
 Revival of Egyptian independence under a The- 
 
 ban dynasty 1525 
 
 Three most brilliant centuries of Egyptian his- 
 tory 1500- 1200 
 
 Exodus of the Israelites .... 1491 
 
 Egypt conquered by the Persians under Cam- 
 . byses 525 
 
 Egypt conquered by the Greeks under Alex- 
 ander 332 
 
 Beginning of the rule of the Ptolemies (or Greek 
 kings of Egypt) after the partition of Alex- 
 ander's Empire 323 
 
 Egypt becomes a Roman province after the 
 , death of Cleopatra 30 
 
ASSVR/AiVS AND BABYLONIANS. 
 
 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 4Q. To Egypt has been accorded the precedence of 
 possessing the earHest secular historic records, ^J^j^^^^y °f^_ 
 but an actual antiquity hardly later than that iiization. 
 
 of Egypt may 
 be claimed for 
 the civilization 
 which arose in 
 the Tigro - Eu- 
 phrates basin. 
 There is a posi- 
 tive date in 
 Chaldsean his- 
 tory going back 
 to the 23d cen- 
 tury B. c. (2234 
 B. c. See IF 57, 
 p. 30), while 
 authentic Eg}^p- 
 tian history an- 
 tedates this by 
 
 Chaldean Temple. 
 
 only two centuries (epoch of the Pyramid-builders, fourth 
 dynasty, b. c. 2450). 
 
 MAP STUDY. 
 
 See map of Ancient Oriental Monarchies, opposite p. 8. 
 
 I. In what country do the Tigris and the Euphrates rise? 2. Where 
 is Mount Ararat ? 3. What mountain chain betwe«JK the Tigro-Euphrates 
 basin and the plateau of Media and Persia? 4. I|fesGribe the course ot 
 the Tigris. 5. Of the Euphrates. 6. Where dojcthey unite? 7. Into' 
 what gulf do they empty ? 8. Locate Nineveh ; Babylon ; Or. 
 
28 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 50. If, however, leaving profane records we take the guid- 
 The Scripture ance of the Hebrew Scriptures, this region will 
 record. claim an even greater antiquity. The Bible 
 places the commencement of the history of mankind in the 
 Tigro-Euphrates basin. " And it came to pass," says the 
 Book of Genesis, " as they journeyed from the east, that they 
 found a plain in the land of Shi'nar ; * and they dwelt there.'*' 
 There the Scriptures place the building of Babel, the first 
 great city founded after the Deluge, and there occurred the 
 confusion of tongues and the dispersion of races. It is an 
 interesting fact that the record cf this event is preserved in 
 the Babylonian tradition, as Avell as in the Mosaic narra- 
 tive. 
 
 51. Two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, take 
 Sketch of geog- their rise in the highlands of Armenia, and 
 ••aphy. unite near the head of the Persian Gulf, which 
 receives their waters after the Euphrates has flowed about 
 1780 miles and the Tigris about 1150. The valleys of 
 these streams interpose as a belt of fertility in the midst oi 
 the great desert zone that extends from the western coasi 
 of Africa almost to the northeastern shores of Asia. 
 
 52. The Tigro-Euphrates basin comprises a number of 
 Geographical territorial and political divisions which it is 
 divisions. ^^^ always easy to mark by definite lines. The 
 region between the two great rivers was called by the Greeks 
 Mesopotamia, and by the Hebrews Shinar. Chaldcea was 
 the name applied to the region south of the lower course of 
 the Euphrates, and to the head of the Persian Gulf. These 
 we may call territorial divisions ; but Babylonia, on the othei 
 hand, was a political division which took in the alluvial 
 plain between the lower waters of the Tigris and Euphra- 
 tes (Southern Mesopotamia or Shinar), and also Chaldaea 
 southward to the Arabian desert. Again, the territorial di- 
 
 * Shinar, that is, Mesopotamia. See Map of Ancient Oriental Mon- 
 archies, opposite p. 8. 
 
ASSYRIAN'S AND BABYLONIANS. 29 
 
 vision of Assyria Proper lay east of the Tigris and west of 
 the Zagros Mountains, and must not be confounded with 
 Assyria as a poHtical power, that is, the Assyrian Empire, 
 which varied in extent, and the name of which was often 
 appHed to the whole territory between the Mediterranean 
 Sea and the table-land of Media and Persia. Susiana lay 
 along the Tigris, southeast of Assyria, and was a territorial, 
 not a national, designation. 
 
 53. The Tigro-Euphrates basin was the seat of three 
 successive kingdoms: — i. The early Babylo- The three na- 
 nian, or Chaldasan, Kingdom ; 2. The Assyrian ^'°"^* 
 Empire; 3. The later Babylonian Kingdom. 
 
 54. As in the case of Egypt, our knowledge of the an- 
 cient history of these countries has been very Modem re- 
 greatly enlarged through modern research. ^^^'■'=^- 
 
 By the industry of explorers, beginning with Layard thirty 
 years ago, Nineveh and Babylon and the buried cities of 
 the plain have been unearthed ; their palaces and temples 
 have been exposed to view; the mysterious inscriptions 
 in the wedge-shaped or cu-ne' i-form character, which were 
 found covering the slabs that lined the interiors of the 
 palaces and temples, have, by a triumph of modern schol- 
 arship, been translated ; and thus a flood of light has been 
 cast on the darkness of the primeval world. 
 
 2. EARLY BABYLONIAN, OR 'CHALD^AN, KINGDOM. 
 
 55. The earliest of the three kingdoms was the Chaldisean, 
 or Early Babylonian, which arose in the lower Physical de- 
 part of the rich alluvial plain lying above the scription. 
 Persian Gulf. Chaldsea by its natural fertility was calcu- 
 lated to be one of the first seats of human society. It 
 is the only country in which wheat is known to be indi- 
 genous. Other cereals grew plentifully; groves of the 
 magniticent date-palm fringed the banks of the rivers ; the 
 
30 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES- 
 
 vine and other fruits abounded, while the rivers teemed 
 with fish. 
 
 56. Authentic history in the Tigro-Euphrates basin, as 
 Earliest his- in the Nile Valley, commences only with the 
 *°''^" formation in Chaldaea and Babylonia of one 
 united kingdom, including previously disunited tribes under 
 its authority. The Hebrew records name Nimrod, the son 
 of Cush, as the founder of this kingdom ; and the Book of 
 Genesis also reveals to us the existence of a Tetrapolis, or 
 confederation of four cities, that ruled over the Empire 
 estabhshed by Nimrod ; namely, i. Babylon; 2. E'rech ; 3. 
 Ac'cad ; 4. Cal'neh, — all of which places have been iden- 
 tified in modern times. 
 
 57. The primitive Chaldasans practiced the worship of the 
 
 heavenly bodies. Their rehVion, combined 
 
 Astronomy. . ,..,.. -^ i i i i • ,• 
 
 With the facilities afforded by their climate 
 and their level horizon, led them from the earliest times to 
 the study of astronomy, in which they made very consider- 
 able progress. When Alexander the Great took possession 
 of Babylon, 331 b. c, he found a series of astronomical ob- 
 servations taken by the Chaldasans for an unbroken period 
 of 1903 years. These observations would therefore date 
 from 2234 B. c. (331 + 1903). 
 
 58. The Chaldeans showed from the first an architect- 
 
 ural tendency. The attempt to build a tower 
 " which should reach to heaven," made here 
 (Genesis xi. 4), was in accordance with the general spirit 
 of the people. Out of such simple and rude material as 
 brick and bitumen vast edifices, the ruins of which have re- 
 cently been found, were constructed, pyramidal in design, 
 but built in steps or stages of considerable altitude. 
 
 59. Other arts also flourished. Letters in the cuneiform, 
 
 or wedge-shaped, characters were in use ; and 
 the baked bricks employed by the royal build- 
 ers had commonly a legend stamped in their center. Gems 
 
ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. 
 
 31 
 
 were cut, polished, and engraved. Metals of many kinds 
 were worked and fashioned into arms, ornaments, and im- 
 
 ]pil:^|Ei«:i:^*@ 
 
 OTiss#4s^pa^ 
 
 Ks^iaigH^Mm^ 
 
 Hg"'^ffiM-4H-=i: ii 
 
 ^ffi<!2 -^^i^ 
 
 tgTP^^gfS-iJi"-^ 
 
 Ur, 
 
 Babylonian Brick. 
 
 plements. Delicate fabrics were manufactured by their 
 looms. Commerce was carried on with other countries, 
 and the " ships of Ur " traded along the shores of the 
 Persian Gulf. 
 
 60. The site of Ur is believed to have been identified 
 with certain mounds and ruins on the banks of 
 the lower Euphrates. This place is interesting 
 ]n connection with Abraham, who was born at " Ur of the 
 Chaldees." The period of Abraham is usually put at about 
 two thousand years before the Christian era. The belief is 
 that Chaldaea contained at this time a Semitic population 
 which professed a pure form of religion, in the midst of the 
 idolatrous Chaldaeans ; and hence Abraham, who was a 
 Semite, emigrated with his family and flocks and herds to 
 the land of Canaan. 
 
 61. The Chaldaean monarchy continued for several cen- 
 turies ; but about the 13th century b. c. it took Decline of 
 
 a secondary position, and the newly arisen As- Chaidsea. 
 Syrian nation became the dominant power of Mesopotamia. 
 
32 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 3. ASSYRIA. 
 
 62. The Assjrrians are believed to have been a Semitic 
 ^ , , . population who oriHnally lived in Chaldaea, but 
 
 Early history. ^ ^ ^ 1 • 1 j . .1 
 
 who at an early period removed to the upper 
 course of the Tigris. Here there grew up a kingdom which 
 at first was subject to the Chaldasan ruler at Babylon, but 
 which finally, about 1250 B.C., became independent. As- 
 syria advanced rapidly and completely overshadowed Baby- 
 lonia; and for six centuries, down to the fall of Nineveh. 
 625 B. c, was the great imperial power of Western Asia. 
 
 t^t- The six centuries of Assyrian history may be divid- 
 Two periods cd iuto two periods. The first period is from 
 of Assyria. ^^ independence of Assyria (about 1250 b. c.) 
 to the foundation of the New Assyrian Empire under 
 Tig'lath-pi-le'ser II., 745 B, c. ; the second is from the ac- 
 cession of Tiglath-pileser II. to the fall of Nineveh, 625 b. c. 
 
ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. 33 
 
 64. Among the famous monarchs of the first period were 
 Tiglath-pileser I. (1130 B.C.), a conquering ^hief events, 
 prince, and Asshur-idanni-pal (the original of 
 Sardanapalus, but wholly unlike that mythic king), to whose 
 time belong the winged bulls and lions and the sculptured 
 palace-walls which have been dug from the ruins of Calah, 
 Towards the end of this period Nabonas'sar, the ruler of 
 Babylon, not only made himself independent, but gained a 
 certain supremacy over Assyria. The date of this event, 747 
 B. c, is known as the " era of Nabonassar." In 745 b. c, 
 however, the authority of Assyria was revived by Tiglath- 
 pileser II., with whose accession begins the second period 
 of Assyrian history. This monarch was a great conqueror, 
 as were also his successors, Sargon and Shalmaneser IV. ; 
 but the most splendid reign during the second period was that 
 of Sennach'erib (705-681 b. c), who made extensive con- 
 quests, and was the builder of magnificent structures at Nine- 
 veh. This second period was the golden age of Assyrian art. 
 
 65. The countries included within the limits of Assyria, 
 at the height of its glory, were Babylonia (cov- Extent of the 
 ering all the territory of the early Chaldaean t^mpire. 
 Kingdom), Mesopotamia, Media, Syria, Phoenicia, a large 
 part of Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt. Under the Assyrian 
 rule the subject states were generally allowed to retain their 
 own government, but their kings were compelled to do hom- 
 age and pay tribute to the Assyrian monarch as the " king 
 of kings." 
 
 66. The vast empire of Assyria was never more than a 
 loosely tied bundle of petty states. The rec- „ 
 
 ■^ . . Cause of decay. 
 
 ords of the kings, engraved on slabs and cylin- 
 ders, reveal a constant succession of revolts, wars, subjuga- 
 tions, and deportations of whole populations. Thus Assyria 
 had no inherent strength, and after culminating in the 7th 
 century it began rapidly to fall in pieces. 
 
 67. In the 7th century Babylon made a successful rebel- 
 
 2* c 
 
34 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 Closing events. 
 
 Nineveh de 
 ccribed. 
 
 lion ; and when the Median conqueror Cyax'ares led a force 
 from beyond the Zagros chain to attack As- 
 syria, he was joined by the Babylonians under 
 Nabopolas'sar, the Assyrians were overthrown, Nineveh was 
 captured, its splendid palaces and temples were given to the 
 flames, and Assyria fell, never to rise again, 625 b. c. 
 
 68. Nineveh was rather an assemblage of fortified pal- 
 aces and temples, interspersed with clusters of 
 meaner dwellings built of sun-dried bricks, than 
 
 what is now understood by a city. For about sixty miles 
 mounds of ruins dot the banks of the Tigris : these doubtless 
 formed part of Nineveh ; but the heart of the vanished city 
 seems to be represented by the mounds that are opposite 
 the modern town of Mosul. So complete was its demolition, 
 that even in the 4tli century c. c, — time of Alexander the 
 Great, — almost every vestige of it had disappeared. 
 
 69. Summing up what the Assyrian people contributed 
 Assyrian civi- to civilizatiou, Avc find that their genius took 
 lization. mainly the form of art and manufactures. In 
 letters and in science 
 
 they were behind both 
 the Chaldoeans and the 
 Egyptians. Architec- 
 ture was their chief 
 glory, and the palaces 
 of Nineveh must have 
 been of extraordinary 
 splendor. Their sculp- 
 ture, too, though never 
 attaining Grecian purity 
 and perfection, was far 
 in advance of Egyptian 
 stiffness and conven- 
 tionalism : it displays a 
 wonderful grandeur, dignity, boldness, and strength. 
 
ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. 35 
 
 70. In the useful and mechanical arts, they had reached 
 great skill. They not only had transparent 
 glass, but even lenses ; they were well ac- 
 quainted with the principle of the arch, and constructed 
 tunnels, aqueducts, and drains ; they knew the use of the 
 pulley, the lever, and the roller ; they understood the arts of 
 inlaying, enameling, and overlaying with metals ; they cut 
 gems with the greatest skill and finish, and in the ordinary 
 arts of life they were, twenty-five centuries ago, nearly on 
 a par with the boasted achievements of the moderns. 
 
 4. LATER BABYLONIAN KINGDOM. 
 
 71. During the six centuries of Assyrian dominion, — 
 12(50 to 625 B.C., — Babylon had been par- Political situ- 
 
 • 11 1-111 • ^111 ation of Baby- 
 
 tially eclipsed ; but the ancient Chaldaean or ion. 
 Babylonian nation never entirely lost its spirit of indepen- 
 dence. When Assyria was overthrown by the Medes, 625 
 B. c, Nabopolassar, who had aided the Medes, received as 
 his share of the spoil the undisputed possession of Baby- 
 lonia. 
 
 72. This later Babylonian Kingdom lasted for 87 years 
 (625-538 B.C.), till overthrown by the new Extent of his- 
 conquering power of Persia. ^°'"y' 
 
 73. Nabopolassar, the first monarch of the new Babylo- 
 nian Kingdom, was succeeded by his son Nebu- Nebuchadnez- 
 chadnez'zar, under whom the empire reached ^^'*" 
 
 its height of glory. Having in early life proved the sharp- 
 ness of his sword upon Egypt, this king, during his long 
 reign of forty-three years, undertook other wars, in which 
 the siege of Tyre and the siege of Jerusalem stand out as 
 conspicuous achievements. Besides his conquests, Nebu- 
 chadnezzar distinguished himself by almost entirely rebuild- 
 ing the city of Babylon. With his " unbounded command 
 of naked human strength," he applied himself to those 
 
T,6 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 works which afterwards called forth his celebrated boast: 
 " Is not this Great Babylon, that I have built for the house 
 of the Kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the 
 honor of my majesty ? " 
 
 74. Babylon was a square city at least five times as 
 
 laro-e as London, and traversed dias^onally by 
 
 Babylon. -, ^ ■, \ ,, ori-i, 
 
 the Euphrates. Its walls — 338 feet high and 
 85 feet thick — were studded with towers and pierced with 
 brazen gates. Its palaces and its hanging gardens — a 
 system of terraces in imitation of mountain scenery, formed 
 to please Nebuchadnezzar's Median queen — were among 
 the wonders of the world. 
 
 75. Nebuchadnezzar was followed by four kings, the 
 
 last of whom was Nabona'dius. This mon- 
 arch had made his son Belshaz'zar the partner 
 of his throne, and it is the name of Belshazzar that appears 
 in the Scriptures in connection with the capture of Babylon. 
 
 76. At this time a new power appeared from beyond the 
 Persian con- Zagros Mountains. This power was the con- 
 quest, quering army of the newly risen dominion of 
 Persia. Under the command of the great Cyrus the Per- 
 sians had gained ascendency over the Medes and begun 
 a career of conquest. Appearing in Mesopotamia, they 
 laid siege to Babylon, which was entered by diverting the 
 course of the Euphrates, 538 b. c. Herodotus states that 
 Babylon was taken " amid revelries," — thus confirming 
 the account given in the Scriptures of the circumstances of 
 the capture. The fearful handwriting on the palace wall, 
 and the terrible denunciation of the prophet, form a scene 
 too deeply impressed on our memories to need repetition 
 here. 
 
 77. In the fall of Babylonia the last of the three Meso- 
 
 potamian kinp^doms disappears from the stage 
 
 Later history. ^. , . ^ , , , -.^ • • T 
 
 of history. Conquered by the Persians in the 
 6th century, Assyria and Babylonia became, two centuries 
 
ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS. 37 
 
 later, a part of the \'ast possessions of Alexander the Great. 
 Alexander designed Babylon to be the capital of his empire, 
 and was preparing to restore its ancient splendor when he 
 was prematurely cut oif. Thenceforth its decay was rapid, 
 and it is now a vast heap of ruins, tenanted only by the 
 beasts and birds that love to haunt solitary places. 
 
 78. The Babylonians were a mixed race, partly Hamites 
 and partly Semites, and in some of their traits Babylonian 
 they differed from the Assyrians. Their " wis- *^"^^"*"*^- 
 dom and learning " are celebrated both by the Jewish writers 
 and by the Greek historians. They were careful observers 
 of astronomical phenomena, and they had made considerable 
 advance in mathematics. In science the Greeks confessed 
 themselves the disciples of Babylonian teachers. 
 
 79. They were eminently a commercial people : their 
 land was a " land of traffic " and their city a 
 
 " city of merchants." The looms of Babylon 
 were famous for the production of textile fabrics, especially 
 carpets and muslins ; and these were exchanged for the 
 frankincense of Arabia, for the pearls and gems of India, 
 for tin and copper from Phoenicia, and for the fine wool, 
 lapis lazuli^ silk, gold, and ivory of the far East 
 
 CHRONOLOGIC SUMMARY. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 First authentic date in Chaldaean history 2234 
 
 Chaldaean subjection and Assyrian independence . . . 1250 
 
 Age of Tiglath-pileser 1 113° 
 
 Era of Nabonassar 747 
 
 Assyrian revival under Tiglath-pileser IT 745 
 
 Overthrow of Assvria by the Medes under Cyaxares . . 625 
 
 Later Babylonian kingdom established 625 
 
 Accession of Nebuchadnezzar . 604 
 
 Capture of Babylon by Cyrus ••••••• 53^ 
 
38 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE HEBREWS. 
 
 80. Jewish history is the subject of particular study in 
 Sacred his- Connection with the Scriptures. Hence no 
 *°*'^' detailed account of this people is required in 
 this work. All that. need be done is to indicate the few 
 general points of contact with the world's history. 
 
 81. The Hebrews were a pure Semitic race, and hence 
 
 were kinsmen of the Phoenicians, Arabs, and 
 
 The race. ^ . ^ .. , o • ^ 
 
 Assyrians. Accordmg to the Scriptures, the 
 father of this people was Abraham, who in the 20th cen- 
 tury B. c. removed from the plains of Mesopotamia to Ca- 
 naan, the " promised land." 
 
 82. The history of Abraham, and of his sons and grand- 
 Period of jew- sons, is simply the story of a nomad family; 
 ish history. ^^^ j|. J3 j^Q^ ^-jj ^j^g ^jj^g q£ ^^ departure of 
 
 the children of Israel from Egypt that Jewish national his- 
 tory begins. This event is supposed to have taken place in 
 1320. The interval between that event and the absorption 
 of Judaea in the Roman Empire may be divided into four 
 periods : — 
 
 I. From the Exodus to the establishment of the mon- 
 archy under Saul, 1320 - 1095 b. c. 
 
 II. From the establishment of the monarchy to the sep- 
 aration of the two kingdoms, 1095 -975 b. c. 
 
 III. From the separation of the kingdoms to the Babylo- 
 nian captivity, 975-586 B. C. 
 
 IV. From the Babylonian captivity to the absorption of 
 Judaea by Rome, 586-63 b. c. 
 
 83. During the first period the Hebrew government was 
 a theocracy (or a government of God), the divine will being 
 
THE HEBREWS. 
 
 39 
 
 manifested through the high-priest. For the conduct o^ 
 
 affairs there was a succession of rulers and 
 " Judges " ; these were designated to their 
 office by revela- 
 tion from heav- 
 en, and they 
 were obeyed by 
 common con- 
 sent, but they 
 claimed no hon- 
 ors of royalty. 
 The last of this 
 line of rulers 
 was the prophet 
 Samuel. 
 
 84. The sec- 
 ond period of 
 Jewish history 
 includes the era 
 of the united 
 monarchy, and 
 it continues dur- 
 ing three reigns. 
 The first of the 
 kings was Saul, 
 who after a 
 stormy reign of 
 forty years was 
 
 First Period. 
 
 
 DOMINION 
 
 or SOLOMON 
 and T'hcx'-mcia. 
 
 MAP STUDY. 
 I. What sea formed the western boundary of the Holy Land ? 2. 
 What was its eastern boundary? 3. What was the situation of Phos. 
 nicia with reference to Palestine ? 4. Name the chief river in the Holy 
 Land. 5. Locate the Dead (or Salt) Sea. 6. Tn what part was tho 
 Kingdom of Judah ? 7. The Kingdom of Israel ? 8. Where v.as the 
 seat of the Philistines ? 9. Name the seaports. 10. Locate Jerusalem i 
 Samaria; Tadmor. 
 
40 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 succeeded by his son-in-law, David. This monarch, the 
 greatest who ever ruled the nation, conquered Jerusalem 
 from the Jeb'usites, and made it the seat both of the 
 national government and religion. By his wars David ex- 
 tended his dominion from the Red Sea to the Euphrates, 
 and subdued the Philis'tines and other Syrian tribes. His 
 son Solomon succeeded him in 1015 b. c. 
 
 85. Under Solomon (1015-975 b. c), the Israelites be- 
 Reignof Solo- Came the paxamount race in Svria, and the 
 "^°"* Jewish state was a real nriperiaT power. At 
 this time it had relations both with Egypt and Phoenicia ; 
 Solomon shared the profits of Syrian commerce, and mar- 
 ried the daughter of a Pharaoh. 
 
 86. A third period, one of decline, set in immediately 
 Period of de- after the reign of Solomon. The subject 
 ^^'^^^' states threw off the Jewish yoke ; disunion 
 took place among the Jews themselves, and the imperial 
 power cmmbled into \yNO petty kingdoms, — that of Israel 
 (capital at Samaria), composed of ten out of the twelve 
 tribes, and that of Judah (capital at Jerusalem), made up of 
 the other two. 
 
 87. The kingdom of Israel lasted for about 250 years. 
 Israel and It was finally overwhelmed by Sargon, king 
 Judah. of Assyria, and the ten tribes were carried 
 into captivity, 721 b. c. The kingdom of Judah con- 
 tinued more than a century afterwards ; but Jerusalem 
 was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (586 
 B. c), the population of Judah were torn from their homes 
 to pine in Babylon, and the history of the Jews ceased for 
 seventy years. The triumph of C5TUS over Babylonia was 
 followed by an edict by which the Jews were restored to 
 their homes (536 b c). 
 
 88. The interval between the return from captivity to the 
 h p • conquest of the Romans forms the Fourth 
 
 Period of Jewish history. During this time 
 
THE HEBREWS. 
 
 41 
 
 tne nation underwent many vicissitudes. First it formed a 
 satrapy or province of the Persian Empire; then, in 332 
 B. c, it came under the sway of Alexander the Great, and 
 for a hundred years after his death it was ruled by the 
 Ptolemies of Egypt. The Greek language now became 
 common in Judsea, and the Septuagint Version of the Penta- 
 teuch was prepared in that language under the direction of 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus. In the year 166 b. c. the Jews threw 
 off the foreign yoke and secured their national independence ; 
 but a century later, Jerusalem was captured by the Roman 
 general Pompey (63 b. c), and Judaea became a part of the 
 
 Roman prov- 
 ince of Syria. 
 The Jews were 
 not obedient 
 subjects, and 
 drew down on 
 themselves se- 
 vere punish- 
 ments. At 
 length, in the 
 
 year 70 a. d., Jerusalem was again taken after a long siege 
 by Titus, the city was razed to the ground, and the nation 
 became dispersed, as it now is, throughout every country 
 of the world. 
 
 89. In summing up Hebrew history as a whole we notice : 
 I.- That, in geographical extent, the Jewish state 
 
 Coin of Titus.* 
 
 was but a limited domain, — the whole country 
 
 Summary. 
 
 * This interesting coin was struck in a. d. ']•^. The face of the coin 
 (the obverse), shown on the left-hand side, represents the laurel-crowned 
 head of Titus, with the inscription T[itus] CAES[ar] lMP[erator] 
 AUG[usti] F[ilius] TR[ibunicia] P[otestate] CO[n]S[ul] VI [i. e. sex- 
 tum] CENSOR; that is, Titus Caesar, Imperator.son of Augustus [i. e. 
 Vespasian], with tribunitial power, sixth time consul, censor. On the 
 back of the coin (or reverse), at the right-hand side, is a female figure 
 seated under a palm-tree, behind which are a standard, helmets, etc. ; 
 and on this side is the inscription IVDAEA CAPTA, i. e. Judcea taken. 
 
42 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 being only 150 miles long by about 50 miles wide ; 2. That, 
 compared with the great Oriental empires, with Assyria and 
 Babylonia, Egypt and Persia, its political importance was 
 slight; 3. That the Jewish people contributed little to 
 ancient civilization, so far as regards art, science, or politics. 
 90. The meaning and the mission of the Hebrew race 
 Mission of the wcre not in these forms of activity: it was 
 Jews. given that people to influence the world in an 
 
 entirely different way, namely, through spiritual truths and 
 moral ideas embodied in sublime forms by bards and sages. 
 These works, reverenced by us as the body of Old Testa- 
 ment literature, remain the permanent possession of the 
 whole human family. 
 
 CHRONOLOGIC SUMMARY. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Migration of Abraham (about) 1920 
 
 The Exodus 1320 
 
 Establishment of the monarchy under Saul 1095 
 
 Accession of Solomon 1015 
 
 Division of the kingdom 975 
 
 Captivity of the Israelites 721 
 
 Capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Babylonish captivity). 586 
 
 Return of the Jews 536 
 
 Subjugation of Judaea by Alexander 332 
 
 Absorption by Rome • • 63 
 
THE FHCENICIANS. 43 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE PHOENICIANS. 
 
 91. Phcenicia was one of the most important countries of 
 the ancient world, and to us the Phoenicians interest of 
 are one of the most interesting peoples, of early ^^^^"^ history, 
 history. The interest and importance of this nation do not 
 arise from the extent of its territory, — for Phoenicia proper 
 was all comprised in a mere strip of land between Mount 
 Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea, — but from the fact 
 that the Phoenicians hold a high place in the history of 
 primitive civilization. 
 
 92. The Phoenicians were the earliest commercial and 
 colonizing people on the shores of the Medi- Traders and 
 terranean Sea. There they preceded the Greeks, Colonizers, 
 who subsequently became their great rivals in trading and in 
 planting settlements. It was not until about 1000 b. c. that 
 the Greeks began to push off from the mainland and to oc- 
 cupy the islands of the ^gaean Sea and the shores of Asia 
 Minor, — and when they did commence to spread themselves 
 from the mainland to the islands, they found the Phoenicians 
 already settled there. 
 
 93. As early, probably, as the 9th century b. c. the enter- 
 prising Phoenicians had founded on the north- 
 em coast of Africa the colony of Carthage, 
 
 which became the most famous of the Phoenician colonies, 
 and which, five or six hundred years after this, guided by the 
 military genius of Han'nibal, ventured to cope with the 
 mighty power of the Roman Commonwealth. 
 
 94. The Phoenicians had gone even farther; they had 
 made their way beyond what the Greeks called Extent of set- 
 the " Pillars of Hercules," that is, the Strait of ti^^^^nts. 
 
44 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 Gibraltar, and had sailed 
 into the Atlantic Ocean. 
 There they had founded 
 the city of Ga'des (now 
 Cadiz). Sailing over the 
 Atlantic, their merchants 
 sought the southern parts 
 of the British Islands to 
 procure tin from Cornwall. 
 In the Eastern seas the 
 Phoenicians had made es- 
 tablishments on the Ara- 
 bian and Persian Gulfs, 
 whence they traded with 
 India and Ceylon and the 
 coasts of Africa. Thus 
 we see that the Phoeni- 
 cians were navigators, mer- 
 chants, and planters of 
 colonies several centuries 
 before the Greeks rose to 
 any note in the world. 
 
 95. The Phoenicians as 
 Influence of planters of 
 colonies. colonies had 
 
 an important influence on 
 the progress of civilization, 
 
 from, the Mediterranean Sea 
 
 
 "I 
 
 and of political freedom ; and 
 
 MAP STUDY. 
 
 1. Where was Phcenida ? 2. What nation immediately south ? 3. In 
 what respect was Phoenicia well situated for commerce ? 4. Name the 
 five principal Phoenician cities. 5. Where was the territory of Carthage t 
 6. The city of Carthage? 7. Utica? 8. What was the name of the 
 Phoenician territory in southern Spain? 9. Where was Gades.' 10.^ 
 Name the large Mediterranean islands in which the Phoenicians had 
 colonies. 
 
THE PHCENICIANS. 45 
 
 we must now try to understand how this was. Colonies are 
 founded by trading nations for the purpose of securing a 
 lucrative commerce, by establishing a market for the manu> 
 factured produce of the parent state, and a carrying-trade 
 for its merchants and seamen. This is the niotive; and we 
 see that it contrasts very noticeably with the cause that leads 
 despotic states to form military establishments, — which is 
 mere lust of conquest for conquest's sake. Colonies plant- 
 ed by commercial states require to be flourishing in order 
 that the mother country shall have profitable relations with 
 them. The parent country, knowing this, leaves the colonies 
 to the guidance of persons advanced in political knowledge, 
 who know how to adapt the institutions of the home gov- 
 ernment to the actual state of affairs in the new settlement : 
 hence it has generally happened that civil liberty has devel- 
 oped more rapidly in commercial colonies than in the par- 
 ent country itself. 
 
 96. The ancient Phoenicians were the inventors of the 
 first perfect alphabet. This is a very sisrnifi- 
 
 ^ -i ' ^ ' r t ,11. .1 Alphabet. 
 
 cant and mterestmg fact ; for, all thmgs consid- 
 ered, the art of alphabetical writing is probably the most 
 important invention ever made by man. We have seen 
 that the Egyptians developed the germ of the alphabet ; but 
 the Egyptian writing was only in part phonetic : hence the 
 hieroglyphic alphabet was very cumbersome, consisting of 
 several hundred characters, no sound having one fixed and 
 invariable character to represent it. The cu?ieifonn, wedge- 
 shaped, or arrow-headed characters of the Babylonians and 
 Assyrians were not truly phonetic : they represented, as a 
 general thing, syllables rather than sounds. It was reserved 
 for the Phoenicians to adopt the apparently simple, yet in- 
 genious and beautiful, device of determining the few ele- 
 mentary sounds of language and appropriating one -distinc- 
 tive character to represent each sound. The period of the 
 invention is not definitely known. 
 
46 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 97. The Greeks were directly indebted to the Phoeni- 
 
 cians for the alphabet : the Romans adoptee 
 
 Cadmus. i /^ 1 1 1 1 • , 1 , 
 
 the Greek alphabet with some changes ; the 
 Roman alphabet is the basis of our modern' alphabets. 
 The Greeks themselves were ignorant of precisely how they 
 obtained the alphabet from the Phoenicians. The account 
 they gave is that " Cadmus brought sixteen letters from 
 Phoenicia into Greece, to which Palame'des, in the time of 
 the Trojan war, added four more, and Simon'ides afterwards 
 added four."* Modern scholars have proved that Cadmus 
 is a mere fabled name signifying " the East." However, it 
 is quite certain that the Greeks did derive their alphabet 
 from Phoenicia. The transition from the Phoenician to the 
 Greek may be readily perceived by examining the table on 
 the opposite page. 
 
 98. The origin of the Phoenician nation is lost in the 
 Origin of the darkncss that shrouds primitive history. It 
 Phoenicians, j^ known that, like the Hebrews, they were 
 pure Semites. There is reason to believe that they were 
 emigrants from Chaldaea, and as it is recorded in the He- 
 brew Scriptures that Abraham came out of " Ur of the 
 Chaldees," we may infer that Southern Mesopotamia was 
 the native seat of the Semites. When the Phoenician branch 
 of the Semites reached their new home on the shores of 
 the Mediterranean, they found an aboriginal population of 
 Ca'naanites, whom they subdued, just as the Jews did in 
 Judaea. We also know that the Phoenician and Jewish 
 rulers and peoples were connected by ties of friendship. 
 Hiram, King of Tyre, was the friend both of David and of 
 Solomon. 
 
 99. Phoenicia consisted of several independent states. 
 Nature of the each city, in fact, being a separate state, under 
 nation. ^ j^g ^^^ Yvcig ; and only in times of danger did 
 they occasionally unite under the leadership of the mos' 
 
 * Pliny. , 7Cv>v9>?H- 
 

 THE PHCENICIANS 
 
 
 47 
 
 HEBREW 
 
 PH/ENICIAN 
 
 ANCIENT GREEK 
 
 LATER GREEK 
 
 ENGLISH 
 
 i^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 A/^/3A 
 
 A A 
 
 A 
 
 n 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ /^ 
 
 B 
 
 B 
 
 :3 
 
 A\ 
 
 A^^C 
 
 r 
 
 G 
 
 ^ 
 
 A^ 
 
 ^A\7p 
 
 ^ 
 
 D 
 
 •71 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^^4^^ 
 
 E e 
 
 E 
 
 ^ 
 
 1^ 
 
 A /^ 
 
 
 F 
 
 1 
 
 z 
 
 X 2 ^ 
 
 z 
 
 Z 
 
 n 
 
 N 
 
 B ^ 
 
 
 H 
 
 to 
 
 <^ 
 
 0(8>® ^E 
 
 © 
 
 Th 
 
 s 
 
 '^ 
 
 ^ ^ t 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 :d 
 
 >1 >l 
 
 H H K 
 
 K 
 
 K 
 
 b 
 
 < l- 
 
 Ayj^ 
 
 A 
 
 L 
 
 D 
 
 "y 
 
 ^ y/w^A\ 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
 i"! 
 
 ^HnA 
 
 N 
 
 N 
 
 '0 
 
 w 
 
 t ^ 
 
 -^ 
 
 X 
 
 yt 
 
 o 
 
 oo ♦ □ 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 p 
 
 1 
 
 n r 
 
 n 
 
 p 
 
 i> 
 
 V 
 
 Q 
 
 
 Q 
 
 1 
 
 ^fl 
 
 4^?/^/"/^ 
 
 P 
 
 R 
 
 m 
 
 >/4fv>/V 
 
 M^r>> 
 
 Z C 
 
 S 
 
 n 
 
 rrA 
 
 -P 4- 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 ''H 
 
 r X 
 
 OMITTED NOT BEING IN GREEK 
 
 
 n 
 
48 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 Commerce of 
 Tyre. 
 
 Tyre, and Phcenician Galley. 
 
 powerful. The chief cities of Phoenicia proper were Sidon 
 and Tyre. Of these Sidon was the more ancient ; and pre- 
 vious to about 1050 B. c, when Tyre became predominant, 
 
 it was the most flourishing of 
 
 all the Phcenician commu- 
 nities. About 1050 there 
 was a transfer of power to 
 Tyre. 
 
 100. The commerce of 
 Tyre is de- 
 scribed as very 
 
 extensive at this time. Her 
 ships sailed to Tarshish 
 (the south of Spain), and 
 sought the gold of Ophir, 
 along the east coast of Af- 
 rica. Phoenicia grew rich 
 also by exports, of which the chief were the embroidery and 
 glass of Sidon and the Tyrian purple, a dye yielded by two 
 shell-fish, which gave a high value to the stuffs woven in 
 the Tyrian looms. The Phoenicians were also skillful in 
 metallurgy; and their bronzes, their gold and silver ves- 
 sels, and other works in metal, had a high repute. 
 
 101. Phoenicia was successively subject to Assyria, in the 
 Revolution of 9th ccutury j to the Babylonians, under Nebu- 
 pohtics. chadnezzar, at the close of the 7th century ; 
 to the Persians, under Cambyses, towards the close of 
 the 6th century ; and to the Greeks, under Alexander the 
 Great, in the 4th century b. c. Still later it was absorbed 
 in the universal dominion of Rome, d^i b. c. 
 
 102. The greatest period of Phoenician history was dur 
 General sur- ing the fivc hundred years from the nth to the 
 ^^^' 6th century b. c. As Greece rose to power, and 
 as Carthage increased in importance, the sea-trade of Phoe- 
 
 nicia was to a considerable degree checked. 
 
 However, she 
 
THE niCENICIANS. 49 
 
 continued to preserve a great caravan-trade with the interior 
 of Asia via Babylon. The foundation of Alexandria as a 
 seaport must have damaged the commerce of Phoenicia. 
 Still, it was not until the Middle Ages that her light went 
 out, and she became a " place for the drying of nets." 
 
 103. The Phoenicians deserve to be commemorated in 
 history by the side of the Greek and the Latin Part played by 
 
 . "' "^ , , r 1 A • • , the PhcEni- 
 
 nations, as the only one of the Asiatic peoples cians. 
 that became a diffuser of civilization. We should note, how- 
 ever, that their development was very one-sided. Thus 
 their religious conceptions were rude and uncouth, and this 
 is a remarkable fact, when we consider their kinship with 
 the Hebrews. In learning and in artistic productions they 
 were far behind the Babylonians ; so that in intellectual 
 matters they appear to have been adaptors rather than 
 originators. Again, unlike the Greeks and Latins, the 
 Phoenicians seem to have been devoid of genuine politicai 
 instinct : liberty had no charm for them, and they aspired 
 not after dominion. " Careless they dwelt," says the Book 
 of Judges, " after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and 
 secure." 
 
 104. The Phoenicians were a race essentially material- 
 istic and commercial. They were the earliest Their civiiiza- 
 merchants, carriers, and colonizers. It is true ^*°"* 
 
 that, ificidenta/iy, they were the means of diffusing intel- 
 lectual wares that were more valuable than all the products 
 of the Sidonian shops or the fabrics of the Tyrian looms : 
 they spread the alphabet, and they gave to the Aryan races 
 on the shores of the Mediterranean ideas of learning, sci- 
 ence, and art which they themselves had borrowed from 
 the East; but these ideas were scattered by them "more 
 after the fashion of a bird dropping grains than of the 
 husbandman sowing his seed."* 
 
 * Mommsen, History of Rome. 
 3 
 
50 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE HINDOOS. 
 
 105. The Oriental nations of which we have thus far 
 
 learned have been either Semites or Hamites. 
 ryans. ^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ inquire into the history of the 
 
 two Asiatic representatives of the great ^ry^;^ race, — the 
 Hindoos and the Persians. 
 
 106. We have already seen that the forefathers of all the 
 First seat of great European peoples came originally from 
 the Aryans. Western Asia, where they dwelt side by side 
 with the ancestors of the Persians and Hindoos. But the 
 original seat of the undivided Aryan family was not Persia 
 or India. The Persians were immigrants into Persia, and 
 the Hindoos into India, just as the Greeks, Latins, Teutons, 
 Celts, and Slavonians were immigrants into Europe. The 
 original seat of the undivided Aryan stock is fixed by schol- 
 ars to the northeast of Persia, in the region of the Oxus and 
 Jax-ar'tes rivers. 
 
 107. The primitive Hindoos, leaving their native seat, 
 Hindoo migra- first Settled in the northwestern part of India. 
 *^°"" It seems to have been about the year 3000 
 B. c. * that they crossed the Indus and established them- 
 selves between that river and the Jumna, since known among 
 themselves as Ar^ya Var'ta. Some time afterwards we find 
 them occupying all the country north of the Vindya range. 
 
 108. At this time the peninsula of India was occupied 
 Amaigama- by native dark races. These were speedily 
 *^°"' subdued by the fair-skinned Aryans, who 
 eventually overspread the entire country. In process of 
 
 * According to Sanscrit scholars, 3101 b. c. 
 
THE HINDOOS. 5 I 
 
 time these lost much of their purity of blood by intermix- 
 ing with the native tribes, many of whose customs and 
 ideas they adopted, and in the end they almost wholly lost 
 their identity. This fact explains much that is peculiar 
 in the civilization of the Hindoos. The Aryans in general 
 are a progressive and practical race ; but the Hindoos, after 
 making considerable advances in literature and philoso- 
 phy, became stationary, and had very little influence on 
 the great current of the world's history. We shall see that 
 their kinsmen the Persians, being left unmixed, developed 
 far more of those characteristics that marked the Euro- 
 pean members of the Aryan stock, — the Greeks, Latins, 
 Teutons, etc. 
 
 109. The first historical notice that we have of India in 
 relation with Europe is at that great epoch Alexander's 
 in its history, its invasion by Alexander the ^^^^*' 
 Great (326 b. c), in the course of his world-conquering expe- 
 dition. The Macedonian leader merely looked into India, 
 fought a few engagements with the native princes, and then 
 returned ; but the historians who accompanied the expe- 
 dition left a description of Indian society, — and it corre- 
 sponds almost exactly with what may be seen at the present 
 day. 
 
 110. At the time of Alexander Indian society was firmly 
 fixed in castes, similar to the state of things 
 
 we found in Egypt ; and the same system' 
 both prevails to the present day and has prevailed from 
 time immemorial. The Hindoos made four divisions of 
 society : i. The Brahmins, whose proper business was re- 
 ligion and philosophy ; 2. The Kshatriyas, who attended to 
 war and government; 3. The Vaisyas, who were the mer- 
 chants and farmers ; 4. The Sudras, or artisans and laborers. 
 Below even the lowest of these classes were the Pa'riahs, or 
 outcasts, who perforrried the meanest of all labors. As a 
 general thing, every person was required to follow the pro- 
 
52 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 fession of the caste to which he belonged, and the regula- 
 tions about intermarriage were very rigidly prescribed. 
 
 111. The division into castes probably arose from the 
 ^ . . , desire of the conquerinpf Aryans to keep up a 
 
 Origin of caste. ... . , ^ , ® / i , . ^. 
 
 distmction between themselves and the mfe- 
 rior tribes about them ; and the Hindoo word for caste, 
 varna, is said to mean color. 
 
 112. The knguage of the ancient Hindoos was the San- 
 Sanscrit scrii ; it is not now spoken, and is understood 
 speech. ^^j^ ^y ^j^g Brahmins and by scholars who 
 have studied it. It was the opening up of this tongue to 
 the knowledge of European scholars, at the close of the 
 last century, that led to the grouping of all the languages 
 of Europe along with the Sanscrit as the Indo-European 
 (Aryan) family of tongues. It was found that Sanscrit, 
 both in its words and grammar, bore a remarkable likeness 
 to the Greek, Latin, German, Celtic, and Slavonic languages ; 
 and though Sanscrit is not now regarded as iheparefit of these 
 dialects, it is looked upon as the language the nearest to 
 the original speech of the undivided Aryans. 
 
 "^13. In this highly developed language the learned men 
 Hindoo liter- of ancient Hindostan recorded a vast body of 
 ^*"'"^' literature, much of which has been preserved 
 
 to the present day. Among the oldest of these writings are 
 the Vedas, which are believed to be as old as 2000 b. c. 
 They form part of the sacred books of the Brahminic re- 
 ligion. 
 
 114. The Vedas distinctly set forth the doctrine that 
 there is " one unknown true Beins:, all-present, 
 
 Religion. „ r 1 ,1 ^ J J 
 
 all-powerful, the creator, preserver, and de- 
 stroyer of the universe." This Supreme Being " is not con- 
 ceivable by vision or by any other of the organs of sense." 
 But the prevailing theology which runs through them is 
 what is called pantheism, or that system which speaks of 
 God as the soul of the universe, or as the universe itself. 
 
THE HINDOOS. 53 
 
 " In him the whole world is absorbed ; from him it issues ; 
 he is entwined and interwoven with all creation." " All 
 that exists is God ; whatever we smell, or taste, or see, or 
 hear, or feel, is the Supreme Being." The Invisible Su- 
 preme Being, according to the Hindoos, manifests himself 
 in three forms, — as Brahma the creator, Vishnu the pre- 
 server, and Siva the destroyer. 
 
 115. The central point of the Hindoo theology was the 
 doctrine of transmigration of souls. Accord- Doctrine of 
 
 , . , -11 1 • • • 1 transmigra- 
 
 mg to this doctrme the human soul is jomed tion. 
 to earthly bodies only for the purpose of punishment, and 
 its aim and effort are to reunite itself with the Divine 
 Spirit of the universe. The Hindoo, therefore, regards ex- 
 istence in this world as a time of trial and punishment, to 
 be abridged by prayer and sacririce, by penance and purifi- 
 cation. If a man neglects these, his soul after death will be 
 joined to the body of an inferior animal, and will have to 
 commence its wanderings afresh. 
 
 116. In addition to the Vedas, the Hindoos possess a 
 very extensive literature, both prose and po- 
 etical. A considerable number of these works 
 
 have been translated by modem scholars. They are ex- 
 ceedingly curious, and of the highest worth as illustrative 
 of the mental state of this peculiar ancient representative 
 of our own Aryan stock ; but the absence of artistic form 
 prevents their being appreciated by general readers, and 
 hence lessens their literary value. 
 
 117. There are in India copious remains of ancient art. 
 Among the most remarkable of the monuments 
 
 , , , , , Architecture. 
 
 are the rock-hewn temples and grottos, espe- 
 cially those found at Ello'ra, in the middle of Lower India, 
 and at the Island of Elephan'ta, in the Bay of Bombay. 
 These are elaborately sculptured and inscribed, and must 
 have required the labor of thousands of hands for ages. 
 
 118. in the 6th century b. c. there arose in India a new 
 
54 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 system of religion called Buddhism. Its founder was an 
 Indian prince named Gautauma. It crrew 
 
 Buddhism. ^ . ^ . , , ,. . . ° 
 
 out of a social and religious reaction from 
 the abuses of the old Brahminism \ and it was no doubt in 
 many respects an important reform. It spread rapidly, 
 and is still the religion of one third of the human race. 
 119. Though during the whole period of antiquity India 
 remained shut out from what was then the civ- 
 ilized world, it nevertheless had an important 
 influence on ancient commerce. The abundance of the pro- 
 ductions of nature and art — pearls, precious stones, ivory, 
 spice, frankincense, and silks — made that region from an 
 early period the center of a great maritime and caravan trade. 
 The Phoenicians, as we have seen, were engaged in the car- 
 rying-trade of India both by land and sea. The same busi- 
 ness was inherited by the Italian republics during the 
 Middle Ages ; and the " pearl and gold " of India found 
 their way through Arabia and the Red Sea to the Mediter- 
 ranean, till Vasco da Gama, in the time of Columbus, round- 
 ed the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Rock Temple of India. 
 
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 55 
 
 m 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 I. HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 
 
 120. It will be convenient to connect the history of the 
 Medes with that of the Persians for two rea- Connection of 
 
 n-ii 1 c 1 1 • n Media and 
 
 sons: I. The people of both countries be- Persia, 
 longed to the same race ; 2. Although Media and Persia 
 were for a time separate governments, yet very soon Media 
 was absorbed in Persia. 
 
 121. On the plateau east of the chain of Zagros — the 
 plain of ancient Iran — dwelt a hardy race, the origin of the 
 Medes, and a kindred stock, the Persians. ^^"^• 
 They were both pure Aryans. They were immigrants from 
 the northeasterly native seat of the Aryan stock. By vari- 
 ous successive movements, which were not completed till 
 the 8th century b. c, they established themselves in the 
 highlands of Media and Persia. 
 
 122. The Medes first come to notice in connection with 
 the Assyrians. About b. c. 710 Sargon, an ^ , ^^ ^ 
 
 A • 1 A/r J- Early Medes. 
 
 Assyrian monarch, conquered some Median 
 
 territory, and planted it with colonies, in which he placed 
 
 MAP STUDY. 
 
 See map of the Persian Empire, opposite this page. 
 I. What sea formed the western boundary of the Persian Empire ? 
 2. What countries to the east? 3. What sea south? 4. What two 
 gulfs south ? 5. What three seas to the north ? 6. What country in 
 Africa was inclosed in the Persian Empire ? 7. What satrapies in the 
 Tigro-Euphrates basin? 8. What is the situation of Persia Proper 
 (Persis) ? 9. Into what river do the Oxus and Jaxartes empty? lo. 
 What mountain chain to the east of the Tigro-Euphrates basin? ii. 
 Where were Persepolis ; Susa ; the two Ecbatanas ; Maracanda ? 
 
56 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 the Israelites from the cities of Samaria who had been led 
 into captivity by the Assyrians. 
 
 123. But the Assyrians could not hold in subjection the 
 
 Medes, who grew in power and established a 
 great Median monarchy under Cyaxares, 633 
 B. c. He was ?. conquering king : invading Assyria, he 
 destroyed Nineveh in 625 b. c, and pushed the Median 
 arms westward into Asia Minor. This king, the founder 
 of the Median monarchy, was succeeded by his son Asty'- 
 ages, under whom the brief dominion of Media gave place 
 to the rule of Persia under Cyrus the Great. 
 
 124. During this early period of the Median monarchy, 
 
 the Persians also had established a kingdom 
 
 Early Persians. /. -r.. ••t-,- \i_i.'^ 
 
 (m Persis, or ancient Persia proper) ; but it 
 was in a measure subject to Media. While Astyages was 
 king of the Medes Cambyses was king of the Persians, but 
 Cambyses acknowledged Astyages as his suzerain, and paid 
 him tribute. The daughter of the Median monarch Asty- 
 ages was married to the Persian prince Cambyses, and to 
 them a son was born named Cyrus. Cyrus lived as a sort 
 of hostage at the court of his grandfather Astyages, and 
 could not leave it without permission. 
 
 125. Thus much in the life of Cyrus is true history ; but 
 Legend of when wc go much further, we are immediately 
 Cyrus. plunged into fable. Both Herodotus and Xen'- 
 ophon* exalted Cyrus to the rank of a hero of romance. 
 The following is the current story of his early life. Asty- 
 ages having dreamed that his daughter's son should con- 
 quer all Asia, intrusted to a courtier, Har'pagus, the task 
 of killing the little Cyrus. Harpagus gave the child to a 
 herdsman, who promised to expose it on the mountains. 
 
 * Xenophon, a Greek historian, was born about 444 B. C, and was 
 a disciple and friend of Socrates. He wrote a work on Cyrus called 
 Cyropczdia (literally, Education of Cyrus) ; but it is rather a political 
 romance than an authentic history. 
 
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 5/ 
 
 But the herdsman was led to substitute his own dead baby 
 for the hving prince, who grew up in a humble station. 
 The secret was disclosed, when Gyrus began to lord it over 
 his playfellows and beat them. A noble's son complained 
 to the king, and the royal boy was recognized. Astyages 
 took a barbarous revenge on Harpagus, by cooking the 
 courtier's son and serving up the flesh for the father to 
 partake of. Cyrus was sent to his father, and Harpagus 
 bided his time for revenge. When the time was ripe, he 
 sent a secret message to Cyrus, who invaded Media, was 
 welcomed by crowds of deserting troops, and by their aid 
 overturned the Median throne, 558 b. c. We need not at- 
 tempt to discover what basis of truth, if any, there may be 
 in this legend. One fact is certain, that under Cyrus the 
 Persians became the ruling power. 
 
 126. Commencing his reign in 558 b. c, Cyrus first sub- 
 dued all the northern and western provinces conquests of 
 of the old Median kingdom. On the western ^y"^- 
 frontier the most formidable enemy he encountered was 
 Croesus, King of Lydia, in Asia Minor. Crcesus, taking the 
 offensive, led his army from Sardis, his capital, across the 
 river Ha'lys (which formed the boundary between the Per- 
 sian and the Lydian territory), and an indecisive action was 
 fought near Sino'pe. But Cyrus followed up, and by the 
 overthrow of Croesus and capture of Sardis added all Asia 
 Minor west of the Halys to the dominion of Persia, 554 b. c* 
 Next, most of the Greek cities and colonies on the coast of 
 Asia Minor and the adjoining islands were subdued. The 
 remote East now claimed the attention of Cyrus, and be- 
 tween the years 553-540 b. c. he was employed in the sub- 
 jugation of the various tribes in the region between Persia 
 and the Indus, — Parthia, Bactriana, Sogdiana, etc.t The 
 
 * This is the date of the fall of Crcesus, according to Rawlinson ; most 
 other chronol offers place it at 546 B. c. 
 t See Map of Persian Empire, opposite p. 55. 
 
58 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 greater glory of reducing the mighty power of Babylonia 
 now remained : this was accomplished by the capture of 
 Babylon (538 b. c), as already described. (See page 36.) 
 
 127. During his career of twenty-nine years, Cyrus ex- 
 Extent of his tended the Persian dominion from the Indus to 
 empire. ^^ Hellespont, from the Jaxartes to the Syrian 
 shore ; and indeed he left to his successors only the com- 
 pletion and consolidation of his work, for by his own efforts 
 he had made Persia the great imperial power of Asia. 
 
 128. Of the whole line of Persian monarchs Cyrus was 
 the greatest, and his character is far more worthy of re- 
 spect than that of any of his successors. He was a great 
 Character of conqucror without being a cruel ruler, and to 
 ^y^^^- remarkable ability as a soldier he added many 
 noble traits as a man. 
 
 129. Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses. To 
 
 another son, named Smerdis, Cyrus had given 
 
 Cambyses. , , . . ' . ' -^ ? 
 
 the dommion over some miportant provmces. 
 This arrangement cost Smerdis his life, by rousing the jeal- 
 ousy of his brother, who very early in his reign caused him 
 to be put to death secretly. The ciiief event of Cambyses's 
 reign was his conquest of Egypt in 525 B.C. In Egypt 
 Cambyses behaved with great wantonness and cruelty. He 
 forced the Egyptian king Psammen'itus to drink poison ; he 
 shocked the Egyptians by stabbing a calf which they regard- 
 ed as sacred ; and on one occasion, when a courtier told him 
 at his own request that popular rumor blamed him for drink- 
 ing to excess, he proved the steadiness of his hand and eye 
 by piercing the heart of that courtier's son with an arrow. 
 
 130. The absence of Cambyses brought about a revolution 
 
 at the Persian capital. A Magian, named Go- 
 mates, personated the murdered brother Smer- 
 dis, and headed a conspiracy that raised him to the throne. 
 When Cambyses heard the news, he hastened towards Per- 
 sia, but while on the way he died, — some say by suicide, 
 
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 59 
 
 Others from an accidental wound from his own dagger, — 
 522 B.C., after having reigned less than eight years. The 
 reign of the false Smerdis was brief. Dari'us, the son of 
 Hystas'pes, governor of one of the Persian provinces, and 
 himself belonging to the royal family, headed an insurrec- 
 tion, and the impostor was slain after he had reigned eight 
 months. 
 
 131. Darius I. (Darius Hystaspes), who ascended the 
 throne 521 b. c, was, next to Cyrus, the great- Reign of Da- 
 est of the Persian monarchs. He completed ""^• 
 
 the work that Cyrus began. Cyrus by his conquests /^//;2//-f^ 
 the empire ; Darius organized it. To him belongs the credit 
 of having given to the Persian Empire that peculiar politi- 
 cal system and arrangement that maintained it in a fairly 
 flourishing condition for nearly two centuries. 
 
 132. Darius divided the whole empire into twenty " satra- 
 pies," or provinces ; the native tributary kings Persian gov- 
 being swept away, and each province governed ^'^""^^"^• 
 
 by a Persian official called a satrap. A fixed rate of tribute 
 took the place of arbitrary exactions. " Royal roads " were 
 established, and a system of posts arranged, whereby the 
 court received rapid intelligence of all that occurred in :die 
 provinces. The great centers of Persian power were fixed 
 at Susa, the spring residence of the king; Ecbat'ana, his 
 summer abode ; and Babylon, the winter-quarters. 
 
 133. The most interesting event in the reign of Darius is 
 the commencement of the Persian invasions Relations with 
 of Greece. Some of the Greek cities of Ionia <^^^^*^^- 
 
 in Asia Minor, which had been brought under Persian do- 
 minion by Cyrus, revolted ; the Athenians encouraged them 
 in this revolt, and this brought Persia and Greece into col- 
 lision on the plains of Marathon, 490 b. c. [As nearly all 
 that is striking in the after history of Persia interweaves 
 itself with the affairs of Greece, the narrative will best be 
 given in connection with Grecian history. J 
 
6o ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 2. PERSIAN CIVILIZATION. 
 
 134. The Persians belonged to the same stock as the 
 Persian char- Mccles, but they scem to have been even more 
 acter. purely Aryan, — and the term * Aryan* is itself 
 a Persian word signifying fwble. When we first meet them 
 in history, they are a race of hardy mountaineers, brave in 
 war, rude in manners, simple in their habits, abstaining from 
 wine, and despising all the luxuries of food and dress. 
 Though not highly intellectual, the Persians were keen- 
 witted, vivacious, and fond of poetry and art. Indeed, they 
 seem in many respects prototypes of the Greeks, whose 
 kinsmen, through a common Aryan descent, they were. 
 They afterwards lost their noblest traits of character and 
 became a servile Asiatic race ; but it was during their hardy, 
 virtuous prime that all their conquests were made. 
 
 135. As builders and artists, the Persians were first 
 
 pupils of the Assyrians and Babylonians. The 
 magnificent temples and palaces of Nineveh 
 and Babylon had been in existence many centuries before 
 the race of Iran began to do anything in art, and it was not 
 till they came in contact with the Assyrians and Babylo- 
 nians that they commenced to erect noble structures. Then, 
 however, they did more than merely imitate : they adapted, 
 so as to make a new architectural style of their own. This 
 style may be said to stand midway between the solemn and 
 heavy grandeur of Egyptian and Assyrian architecture and 
 the perfect beauty of the Grecian. The great masterpieces 
 of Persian building consist of palaces and tombs, — their 
 outdoor and simple worship requiring no imposing temples. 
 The most famous remains of Persian architecture are the 
 ruins of the royal palaces at Persep'olis. The distinguish- 
 ing features of these are the solid and handsome stone plat- 
 forms, the noble staircases richly sculptured in bas-reliefs, 
 and the profusion of light and elegant stone columns. 
 
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 136. The Persians did very little in the mechanical arts. 
 It was their boast that they were soldiers and 
 
 had won by their swords a position that gave 
 them command of the products and wares of other nations. 
 So long as the carpets and muslins of Babylon and Sardis, 
 the shawls of Cashmere and India, the fine linen of Egypt, 
 and the varied manufactures of the Phoenician towns poured 
 continually into Persia, it was needless for the native popu- 
 lation to engage in manufacturing industry. 
 
 137. The Persians had a much purer and nobler religion 
 than the Eoyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, or 
 
 ^, . . ^^^ r^' ^ -if -r Religion. 
 
 Phoenicians. Ihey were not idolaters. In- 
 deed, in the primitive period the main feature of their re- 
 ligion was the acknowledgment and the worship of a single 
 supreme God, — "the Lord God of heaven." But this at 
 an early date gave way to the doctrine of the perpetual 
 conflict of two great First Principles, that of Light and 
 that of Darkness, personified under the names of Aura- 
 mazda, or Or'mazd, and Ahriman'. 
 
 138. The Persian religion was further corrupted by the 
 intermixture of a system of worship of the ^. 
 
 1 • 1 1 TIT 1 11 ^^^^ worship. 
 
 elements, — a system which the Medes had 
 learned from the Scythians, and which ultimately overlaid 
 the purer doctrines of the Persians. The leading feature 
 was fire-worship, or Magianism (from Magi, the name of 
 the priests of this rite). On lofty mountain-spots fire- 
 altars were erected, on which burned a perpetual flame, 
 watched constantly lest it should expire, and believed to 
 have been kindled from heaven. Here day after day the 
 Magi chanted their incantations, displayed their divining- 
 rods, and practiced those arts called, after them, magic. 
 
 139. The government of Persia as ruler over many coun- 
 tries was a 2:reat advance on the theory of ^ 
 
 =" , , ^ . 1 . Government. 
 
 government of the other Oriental empires. 
 
 It was more than a mere loosely joined congeries of king- 
 
62 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 doms, — it was a real imperial dominion. The government 
 was upon the whole singularly mild, and by far the noblest 
 and the best of all the universal empires of antiquity. 
 
 140. There is no doubt that the Persians had a consid- 
 erable literature, but very few fragments of 
 it have survived. The oldest literary monu- 
 ment of the Iranic race is the collection called the Zend- 
 Avesta, which contains the sacred books of the Persians, 
 and which was compiled by Zoroas'ter, the great religious 
 legislator of the Persians. We can form some idea of an- 
 cient Persian poetry from a poem called the Shah Nameh, 
 an epic composed by Firdousi, the greatest poet of Persia, 
 about the middle of the loth century a. d. Though writ- 
 ten at a time long subsequent to the Persian greatness, it 
 is yet valuable as based on ancient traditions and frag- 
 ments of song and story. Judging the poetical faculty of 
 the Persians by this epic, we should say that they were 
 distinguished rather for lively fancy and arabesque con- 
 ceits than for true creative imagination such as distinguished 
 the Greeks, or for the grand inspiration that breathes 
 through the productions of the Hebrew bards and prophets. 
 
 kjfcjrrL: 
 
 -' iS'''*' ' 
 
 
 ^m^^. 
 
 Thb Tomb of Cyrus. 
 
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 63 
 
 CHRONOLOGIC SUMMARY. 
 
 B. c 
 
 The Medes under Cyaxares overthrow Assyria and become the 
 
 leading power in Asia 625 
 
 Accession of Cyrus and supremacy of Persia .... 558 
 
 Subjugation of Lydia 554 
 
 Capture of Babylon 538 
 
 Accession of Cambyses 529 
 
 Conquest of Egypt by Cambyses . . . . . , . 525 
 
 Accession of Darius Hystaspes ....,,. 521 
 
 Persian invasion of Greece 49O- 
 
 Note on Asia Minor, — Lydia. — The peninsula of Asia Minor 
 was occupied from very early times by various nations ; but as these 
 were of secondary importance, nothing need here be said of their history 
 save in the case of Phrygia and Lydia. 
 
 It is believed that the earliest dominant people of Asia Minor were 
 the Phrygians, who at one time occupied the whole of the peninsula. 
 The people were engaged in agriculture and commerce. Their capital 
 was Gordium, and the kings were alternately Gor'dias and Mi'das ; 
 but great obscurity rests on their history. Phrygia became a province 
 of Lydia in 560 B. c. 
 
 Lydia in the 7th century rose to be the ruling power in Asia Minor. 
 The last and greatest king of this nation was Croesus, who is famous in 
 history for his enormous wealth. When Cyrus on his career of con- 
 quest carried the Persian arms into Western Asia, Croesus made an 
 alliance with Sparta, Egypt, and Babylon to resist him ; but, as we have 
 seen, Cyrus was victorious, Croesus was made prisoner, and Lydia was 
 ^sorbed in Persia, 554 b. c. 
 
64 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 COMMERCE OF THE ANCIENTS. 
 
 141. The three most commercial nations of antiquity 
 Ancient com- ^^teriur to the Greeks were the Babylonians, 
 merciai na- Phoenicians, and Carthaginians. A brief sketch 
 
 of the great routes of the trade of these na- 
 tions, together with the leading articles of exchange, will 
 be found of value in connection with the interesting map 
 presented on the opposite page. 
 
 142. Babylonia, with its admirable situation, was one of 
 3abyionian the leading emporiums of ancient commerce, 
 trade. T\i\?> trade consisted partly in the exchange of 
 Babylonian manufactures, and partly in the purchase of 
 products of the farther East. 
 
 143. Weaving of cotton, woolen stuffs, and carpets was 
 Babylonian the principal manufacture established in Bab- 
 manufactures. yj^^^^ Articles of luxury, such as perfumed 
 waters, carved walking-canes, engraved stones and seals, 
 were made in the city, and the art of cutting precious stones 
 was carried to the utmost perfection. These articles were 
 sought by all the civilized nations of antiquity. 
 
 144. The Babylonians had an extensive commerce east- 
 Trade routes ward with Persia and Northern India, whence 
 from Babylon. ^|^gy obtained goW, prccious stones, and rich 
 dye-stuffs. From Can'dahar and Cashmere they procured 
 fine wool, and from the desert of Bactria (the modern Cobi) 
 emeralds, jaspers, and other precious stones. The trade by 
 sea was between the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates, 
 and the western coasts of India and the Island of Ceylon. 
 From these regions they imported timber of various kinds, 
 sugar-cane, spices, cinnamon, and pearls. At a very early 
 
COMMERCE OF THE ANCIENTS. 
 
 65 
 
66 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 period the Babylonians formed commercial establishments 
 on the Bahrein \ba-rdn'\ Islands in the Persian Gulf, whence 
 they obtained large quantities of the finest pearls. 
 
 145. The Phoenicians were the leading commercial peo- 
 The PhcEni- ple of Asia. Though the textile fabrics of the 
 cians. Sidonians and the purple cloths of the Tyrians 
 were celebrated from the earliest antiquity, it seems prob- 
 able that the commerce of the Phoenicians consisted more 
 in the interchange of foreign commodities than in the ex- 
 portation of their own goods. 
 
 146. The land trade of the Phoenicians may be divided 
 
 into three great branches : the Arabian, which 
 
 included the Egyptian and that with the Indian 
 
 seas ; the Babylonian, to which is referred the commerce with 
 
 Central Asia and North India ; and the Armenian, including 
 
 the overland trade with Scythia and the Caucasian countries. 
 
 147. From Ye'men (Arabia Felix) caravans brought 
 Arabia and the through the dcsert frankincense, myrrh, cassia, 
 Levant. gold, and precious stones, — the gold being 
 probably obtained from the opposite shores of Africa. 
 The greater part of the Phoenician trade with Egypt was 
 overland. The first branch of the eastern Phoenician trade 
 was with Judaea and Syria proper. The dependence of the 
 Phoenicians on Palestine for grain fully explains the cause 
 of their close alliance with the Jewish kingdom. 
 
 148. But the most important branch of Phoenician trade 
 Eastern trade with the Orient was that through Babylon to 
 of Phoenicia. ^^ interior of Asia. A considerable part of 
 the route to Babylon lay through the Syrian desert, and to 
 facilitate the passage of the caravans two of the most re- 
 markable cities of the ancient world, Baal'bec and Palmy'ra, 
 were founded. 
 
 149. The Scythian trade may be very fairly considered 
 
 the same, in all important particulars, as that 
 ocy lan ra e. ^^^^ ^^^ exists between Southern Russia and 
 
COMMERCE OF THE ANCIENTS. 6/ 
 
 Bokha'ra. It was connected with Europe by the Greek 
 colonies on the Euxine (Black) Sea. But the most impor- 
 tant branch of trade carried on through the Scythian terri- 
 tories was the Indian, with which probably we may connect 
 the Indo-Chinese. Bactra and Marcanda {Balkh and Samar- 
 cand') have always been the depots of an active commerce. 
 It is certain that a portion of this trade passed over the 
 Caspian Sea ; but it is equally certain that the greater por- 
 tion of it was conducted by caravans, which went round the 
 north of the Caspian, and perhaps of the Sea of Aral. 
 
 150. The northern land trade of the Phoenicians is de- 
 scribed by the Prophet Ezekiel : " Javan (i. e. 
 
 Ionia and the Greek colonies), Tubal, and 
 Meshech (i. e. the countries round the Black and the Cas- 
 pian Seas), they were thy merchants : they traded the per- 
 sons of men and vessels of brass in thy markets. They 
 of the house of Togar'mah (i. e. Armenia and Cappadocia) 
 traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules." * 
 
 151. The Mediterranean Sea was, however, the great high- 
 road of Phoenician commerce. Spain was, in „. . . 
 
 ^ ' Phoenicians in 
 
 respect to precious metals, the richest country the Mediter- 
 
 £ aa • 11 11 ^ • 1- ranean. 
 
 01 the ancient world ; and here this pushing 
 people early formed stations. " Tar'shish (i. e. Tartes'sus, or 
 Southwestern Spain) was thy merchant by reason of the 
 multitude of all kinds of riches ; with silver, iron, tin, and 
 lead they traded in thy fairs." f From Spain the Phoenicians 
 entered the Atlantic Ocean, and proceeded to the south of 
 the British Isles, where they procured the tin of Cornwall, 
 and probably to the coast of Prussia, for the greatly es- 
 teemed amber. In the eastern seas they had establish- 
 ments on the Arabian and the Persian Gulfs, whence they 
 traded with the coasts of India and Africa and the Island 
 of Ceylon. During the reign of Pharaoh Necho, King of 
 
 * Ezekiel xxvii. 13, 14, 
 t Ibid., 12. 
 
68 ANCIEN7 ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 Egypt, they discovered the passage round the Cape of 
 Good Hope; but this led to no important result, on ac- 
 count of the calamities that Tyre endured from the con- 
 quest by the Babylonians in the 6th century. 
 
 152. The commerce of Carthage was carried on both 
 ^ by land and sea. Her own manufactures 
 
 included fine cloths, hardware, pottery, and 
 leather harness. The principal land trade of the Cartha- 
 ginians was by caravans with the barbarous tribes of Central 
 Africa, the chief imports being negro-slaves and gold-dust. 
 
 153. In the western Mediterranean their chief trade was 
 Western Med- with the Greek colonies in Sicily and the south 
 iterranean. ^f j^^|y ^^^^ ^^,|^j^j^ ^j^^^ obtained wine and 
 
 oil in exchange for negro-slaves, precious stones, and gold, 
 and for cotton cloths manufactured at Carthage), and also 
 with Spain, the El Dorado of antiquity. In fact, the Car- 
 thaginians possessed almost exclusively the carrying trade 
 between the nations of Africa and those of Western Europe. 
 Beyond the Strait of Gibraltar the Carthaginians succeeded 
 the Phoenicians in the tin and amber trade with the British 
 Isles and the shores of the Baltic. 
 
 154. On the west coast of Africa the Carthaginian colo- 
 
 nies studded the shores of Morocco and Fez : 
 
 African trade. , , . i -r i i r ^ / jt 
 
 but their great mart was the Island of Cer ne * 
 (now Suana), the principal depot of merchandise, whence 
 goods were transported in light barks to the opposite coast. 
 Here the Carthaginian exports were trinkets, saddlery, cot- 
 ton goods, pottery, and arms, for which they received hides 
 and ivory. There is also every reason to believe that these 
 enterprising merchants had some intercourse with the coast 
 of Guinea, and that their navigators advanced beyond the 
 mouths of the Sen'egal and Gambia. 
 
 * Hanno in the year 570 b. c. conducted sixty ships, bearing 30,000 
 colonists, to the western shores of Africa, where he planted a chain of 
 gix colonies between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Island of Cerne. 
 
ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS. 
 
 69 
 
 ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS FOR REVIEW. 
 I. Nations treated of. 
 
 We have considered the history of the following ancient Oriental 
 nations : — 
 
 The Egyptians. 
 
 The Assyrians and Babylonians. 
 
 Oriental Nations 
 OF Antiquity. . . 
 
 The Hebrews. 
 The Phoenicians. 
 The Hindoos. 
 The Persians. 
 
 II. Classification of Races. 
 
 These nations may be classed in three races, — the Aryan, or 
 Indo-European, the Semitic, and the Hamitic, as follows : 
 
 Aryan Race | Hindoos. 
 
 [ Persians. 
 
 {Assyrians. 
 Phoenicians. 
 Hebrews. 
 
 Hamitic Race. . . . | Egyptians. 
 
 [Chaldasans (early Babylonians). 
 
 III. Place in History. 
 
 Summing up what we have learned respecting the part played by 
 the several ancient Oriental nations, we may mark the follow- 
 ing characteristics : — 
 
 Leading representative of the Hamitic stock, — 
 developed apart. — were not a conquering or aggres- 
 sive race, — had a marvelous building instinct, — at- 
 • -{ tained a considerable advancement in many of the 
 mechanical arts, and had some knowledge of certain 
 sciences, especially astronomy and geometry, — marked 
 by the stationary character of their civilization. 
 
 r Seem to have been a Hamitic stock allied to the 
 CHALDiEANS J Egyptians, — had building instincts similar to the 
 ' ' I Egyptians, — cultivated astronomy with much success, 
 I — their civilization of a materialistic character. 
 
 Egyptians 
 
70 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 Assyrians 
 
 Babylonians. 
 
 \Later kingdom.] 
 
 Hindoos 
 
 "Were probably almost pure Semites, — were a con- 
 quering race, and became, previous to Persia, the great 
 imperial power of Asia, ruling not only all the Meso- 
 potamian countries, but also Media, Syria proper, Phoe- 
 nicia, Palestine, part of Arabia, and nearly all Egypt, 
 
 — in the fine arts excelled particularly in sculpture. 
 As a political power ruled for only the brief period 
 
 of eighty-seven years, from the destruction of the 
 Assyrian power to the conquest by the Persians 
 under Cyrus (625-538 B. c), but were for many cen- 
 turies, while under Assyrian rule, an important peo- 
 ple, — made marked advances in commerce, manufac- 
 tures, and the practical arts. 
 
 A nation of pure Aryan stock, but remarkable as a 
 thoroughly unworldly race, devoting themselves large- 
 ly to contemplation and mystic speculations, — have left 
 a rich and remarkable literature written in Sanscrit, 
 the oldest of the Indo-European tongues, — had but 
 little influence on the political history of the world, 
 and indeed can hardly be said to have a place in his- 
 toric annals till the conquest of India by Alexander, 
 ^ 326 B. C. 
 
 A "peculiar people," playing a peculiar part in his- 
 tory, — had very little influence on the political his- 
 tory of antiquity, but have affected all the world 
 through religion (monotheism), — have left as their 
 great legacy the Hebrew Scriptures, — not an artistic 
 people, — were a pure Semitic race. 
 
 Like the Hebrews, were Semites, — pre-eminently 
 the traders and colonizers of antiquity, — the only 
 Asiatic people that planted colonies on the Mediter- 
 ranean shores of Europe and Africa, — left a price- 
 less legacy in the Phoenician alphabet. 
 
 Were pure Aryans, — made the nearest approach to 
 European civilization of any Oriental nation, — had 
 the best idea of political organization possessed by 
 any Asiatic race, — were a conquering people, and be- 
 came the great imperial power in Asia from the time 
 of Cyrus to the conquest by Alexander (558-331 B.C.), 
 
 — attained eminence in art, especially architecture 
 ^ and sculpture. 
 
 Hebrews . 
 
 Phcenicians . . 
 
 Persians, 
 
ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS. 
 
 IV. Chronologic Summary. 
 
 The following are the most important dates under each nation i — 
 
 B. c. 
 r Beginning of authentic history in Dynasty of 
 Egypt J Pyramid-builders (Fourth), 25th century . 2450 
 
 I Conquered by Persians, 6th century . . 525 
 
 I Conquered by Romans, ist century ... 30 
 
 2234 
 (about) 1250 
 
 Chald^a J First authentic date, 23d century . 
 
 [Early Babylonia.] | Absorption in Assyria 
 
 Assyria j Becomes a great power absorbing Babylon (about) 1250 
 
 \ Fall of Nineveh and overthrow of Assyria . 625 
 
 r Era of Nabonassar . . . • • • 747 
 
 J Revival of independence under Nabopolassar . 625 
 ' 1 Capture of Babylon by Cyrus, and overthrow of 
 
 I Babylonian kingdom 538 
 
 Babylonia.. 
 
 C Immigration of Brahminic Aryans into the In- 
 
 India J dus Valley (about) 3000 
 
 I Alexander's expedition into India . . 326 
 
 Migration of Abraham . . . (about) 1920 
 
 Exodus from Egypt 
 
 Accession of Solomon 
 
 Division of Solomon's Empire into the King- 
 
 Palestine J ^°"^ °^ Israel and Kingdom of Judah . 
 
 Destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by the 
 
 Assyrians, and captivity of the Israelites 
 Capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar . 
 
 Return from the captivity 
 
 Absorption by Rome 
 
 Tyre becomes leading city-state of Phoenicia 
 Phoenicia conquered by the Assyrians 
 
 Phcenicia \ Foundation of the colony of Carthage . 
 
 Tyre captured by Alexander the Great . 
 L Phoenicia conquered by the Romans 
 
 ' Foundation of the Persian monarchy by Cyrus 
 
 Cambyses becomes king 
 
 Persia J ^^^^"^ ^- (Hystaspes), who organized the Per- 
 
 sian Empire, becomes king . . . .521 
 
 Xerxes becomes king 486 
 
 Overthrow of Persian Empire by Alexander 331 
 
 1320 
 1015 
 
 975 
 
 721 
 
 586 
 
 536 
 
 63 
 
 1050 
 
 (about) 870 
 
 850 
 
 322 
 
 63 
 
 558 
 529 
 
72 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL MONARCHIES. 
 
 V. GenerM Summary. 
 
 The following may serve as a general summing up of the philoso- 
 phy of Oriental history : — 
 The great feature of all the Oriental nations was their unprogressive 
 character. In Asia there came into being a number of vast empires, 
 but as these were despotisms, as the social state of the people was 
 fixed in castes, and as the people themselves were reduced to a low level 
 by polygamy, the power of man could not find free play : hence, though 
 the ancient Eastern nations reached a considerable advancement in 
 civilization, their civilization was of a stationary character. Asia was 
 the land of births and beginnings, and played indeed a wondrous part 
 in the history of our race ; but when in the order of Divine Providence 
 her appointed task was completed, it was given to other lands and other 
 peoples to carry forward the great work of humanity; and we shall find 
 that with the Aryan race on the free soil of Europe first comes true 
 progress. 
 
GENERAL SKETCH. 
 
 n 
 
 SECTION 11. 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 GENERAL SKETCH. 
 
 The Parthenon restored. 
 
 I. We are now to begin the history of the two great 
 European nations of antiquity, Greece and contrast of 
 Rome, — the history'" of the glory that was Euro"p?irfhL 
 Greece, and the grandeur that was Rome." *°'"y- 
 The story of these nations fills the whole period between 
 about the year looo b. c. and the downfall of the Western 
 Roman Empire, 476 a. d. Between the history of these na- 
 tions and that of the ancient Oriental empires we shall find 
 a marked contrast. The Orient presents to view a series 
 of vast overshadowing despotisms under which the spirit 
 
74 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 of individual freedom was completely crushed. That spirit 
 first finds play in Europe, where we shall see the rights of 
 man asserting themselves and taking embodiment in free, 
 self-governing states. The history of the Orient is the his- 
 tory of dynasties ; the history of Greece and Rome is the 
 history of the people ; and accordingly the latter is far more 
 interesting, more instructive, and more valuable. 
 
 2. The Greeks were a branch of the mighty Aryan, or 
 _ . Indo-European, stock, — the stock that includes 
 
 Greek race. ^ ' ' 
 
 all the historic races of Europe, together with 
 the Persians and Hindoos of Asia. As Aryans, they were 
 closely related to the Romans ; and, in fact, the forefa- 
 thers of the Greeks and of the Italians formed originally 
 one swarm, which at a very early period in prehistoric 
 times (not later than 2000 B. c.) left the native hive of the 
 Aryans, in Asia, ancl moved into Europe. The evidence of 
 language shows that this stock must have kept together for 
 a considerable period after they had parted company from 
 tlie other members of the Aryan family, and before they 
 settled, the one branch in the eastern and the other in the 
 central of the three Mediterranean peninsulas, where they 
 
 MAP STUDY. 
 
 [See Map opposite p. 73.] 
 
 I. What were the boundaries of Continental Greece? 2. What sea 
 between Greece and Italy? 3. What isthmus connects the Pelopon- 
 nesus with the mainland? 4. What gulfs on opposite sides of this? 
 5. What is the situation of the Pindus range ? 6. They divided what 
 states ? 7. Tell the situation of the CEta Mountains, of Olympus, of 
 Parnassus. 8. Wfiat was the situation of Macedon, of Attica, of Laco- 
 nia ? 9. Where was the state of Boeotia ? 10. Was Attica a seaboard 
 or an inland state ? fi i. Was Lacedasmon an inland or a seaboard state ? 
 12. What rivers are named on the map ? 13. What large island off the 
 east coast? 14. Where were the Cyclades and Sporades? 15. Where 
 were the Chersonesus, Cyrenaica, Hellespont, Thrace, Asia Minor? 
 16. Where were Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Argos, Delphi, Corinth, Pla- 
 taea, Marathon, Miletus, Sardis, the Pass of Thermopylae ? 
 
GENERAL SKETCH. 75 
 
 subsequently appeared in history, the first branch as Greeks, 
 the second as Romans, 
 
 3. Greece was a name almost unknown by the people 
 whom we call Greeks, and was never used by ^^^^^^ 
 them to- describe their country. It was first 
 
 adopted by the Romans, from whom it has descended to us. 
 The name by which the Greeks always called their country 
 is Hel'las. This term, however, included more than is now 
 covered by the term Greece ; for it comprised not only the 
 adjacent islands, but also numerous patches of settlement 
 around the Mediterranean Sea. Hellas, in fact, denoted 
 wherever the Helle'nes^ or Greeks, were settled. 
 
 4. In the geography of Greece there are two important 
 facts to be noticed : i. That Hellas is a land Physical fea- 
 of islands and peninsulas, deeply perforated ^'^''^^- ^ 
 
 by bays and inlets of the Mediterranean. This fact is one 
 of the main reasons why the Greeks were the earliest civil- 
 ized people of Europe, since their situation on the sea-coast 
 brought them into contact with those older civilizations 
 whose seats were on the eastern shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean, and especially with Egypt and Phoenicia. 2. That 
 the surface of the country is ridged by numerous mountains, 
 which divided Greece into a multitude of small, isolated 
 regions. This fact favored the establishment of numerous 
 separate and independent states or communities ; and it was 
 in these little states that, for the first time in the history of 
 the world, political freedom was attained by man. 
 
 5. Greece proper is a peninsula about 250 miles long 
 and 180 miles across in its widest part. • It ^^y^^^^^ 
 
 has an area about the same as that of the 
 State of Maine. 
 
 6. The natural division of Greece is into Northern, Cen- 
 tral, and Southern. Northern Greece extends ^.^^.^^^^^^ 
 from the north boundary line to the point 
 
 where the eastern and western shores are respectively in- 
 
'j6 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 dented by the Gulfs of Ma'lis and Ambra'cia, or Ac'tium. 
 Central Greece reaches from this point to the Isthmus of 
 Corinth. Southern Greece is identical with the Pelopon- 
 ne'sus, called in modern geography the More'a. 
 
 7. Northern Greece contained in ancient times two prin- 
 Northern di- cipal countries, Thes'saly and Epi'rus. To the 
 vision. north of these was Macedo'nia, which, though 
 ruled by kings of Hellenic blood, was never counted to be 
 part of Greece till quite late times. 
 
 8. Central Greece contained eleven states."*^ The most 
 
 important of these was Attica, which is the 
 
 Central states. 
 
 foreland or peninsula projecting from Boeotia 
 to the southeast. . Its length was 70 miles, its greatest width 
 30 miles. The general character of this region was moun- 
 tainous and infertile. In Attica was Athens, tlie foremost 
 city of all Greece. 
 
 9. Southern Greece, or the Peloponnesus, contained 
 
 seven principal states.* The most important 
 
 Peloponnesus. r i i t • • 
 
 of the southern states was Laconia, sometimes 
 called Lacedai'mon, of which the capital and most im- 
 portant city was Sparta. 
 
 10. The " isles of Greece " formed a very considerable 
 
 and noted part of ancient Hellas. The largest 
 
 The isles. . , . , , t^ i , •, 
 
 of the coast islands was t.ubce'a, 100 miles 
 long. Off the west coast was the important island of Cor- 
 ey ra. Off the southern coast was Crete, 150 miles in length. 
 The ^gae'an sea was studded with numerous islands, of 
 which the two groups of the Cyc'lades and Spor'ades ex- 
 tended in a continuous series, like a set of stepping-stones, 
 across from Greece to Asia. 
 
 11. It is probable that various tribes of the Aryan stock 
 
 had penetrated into the Greek peninsula as 
 early as 2000 b. c. In the ante-Hellenic pe- 
 
 ♦ Name these states from the map, opposite page 72. 
 
GENERAL SKETCH. 
 
 77 
 
 riod, that is, in the prehistoric age, we hear of the Pelas'gi, 
 who seem to have been an Aryan race. They were civihzed 
 enough to till the earth and to build walled cities. To 
 them are attributed the remains of certain ancient monu- 
 ments known as Pelasgic, or Cyclopean, remains. These 
 consist of tombs and of walls composed of enormous rude 
 masses of stone joined to one another without cement. 
 
 12. At a period long before the beginning of recorded 
 history the Pelasei were overwhelmed by an 
 
 . ^ ° . t iM Hellenes. 
 
 mvasion of a more vigorous and warlike race, 
 the Hellenes, who, descending from Thessaly, entirely over- 
 spread the peninsula and gave their name to the whole 
 country. There were four chief divisions of the Hellenes, 
 — the Do'rians, ^o'lians, Achae'ans, and lo'nians. 
 
 HELLAS 
 
 Greece, . 
 
 Before THE * 
 
 DORIAN MIGRATION. 
 
y8 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 The i^olians were spread over Northern Greece and the western coast 
 of the Peloponnesus ; the Achaeans held the southern and eastern part of 
 the Peloponnesus (the Arcadians, a remnant of the older Pelasgic race, 
 occupying the center) ; the lonians were confined to a narrow strip of 
 country along the northern coast of the Peloponnesus and eastward into 
 Attica; the Dorians were to the north, and occupied the southern slope 
 of Mount QEta. Such appears to have been the distribution of the races 
 in the age represented by the Homeric poems. 
 
 13. The Greeks of this age have no history, in the proper 
 
 sense of the word. The place of this they 
 * supplied by a mass of beautiful legends, called 
 by themselves myths. These recount the exploits of various 
 heroes, and hence this period is called the Heroic Age. It 
 is vain to attempt to separate the thread of historic truth 
 which there may be in the body of Greek legends : to do so 
 is only to " spoil a good poem without making a good his- 
 tory." 
 
 14. The last and greatest enterprise of the heroic age 
 
 was the Siege of Troy. This was immortalized 
 by the genius of Homer in his Iliad (from 
 Ilium, or Troy) ; and recent explorations on the site of Troy 
 give reason to believe that the narrative of Homer rests on a 
 basis of actual fact. The outline of the story is as follows : 
 Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, abused the hospitality of 
 Menela'us, king of Sparta, by carrying off his wife Helen, 
 the most beautiful woman of the age. At the call of Mene- 
 laus all the Grecian princes assembled in arms, elected his 
 brother Agamem'non leader of the expedition, and sailed 
 across the ^gaean to recover the faithless fair one. Nearly 
 all Asia Minor was leagued with Troy, and the most valiant 
 Trojan leader was Hector, son of Priam. It was not till the 
 tenth year that Troy yielded, and it is with the events of 
 this year that the Iliad deals. 
 
 15. Achiries, the bravest and most redoubtable of the 
 
 Greeks, offended by Agamemnon, abstains 
 
 The story. ^ , ' 1 • , • i , ^ , 
 
 from the war; and m nis absence the Greeks 
 
GENERAL SKETCH. 79 
 
 are no match for Hector. .The Trojans drive them back 
 into their camp, and are already setting fire to their ships 
 when Achilles gives his armor to his friend Patro'clus, and 
 allows him to charge at the head of the Myrmidons. Patro- 
 clus repulses the Trojans from the ships, but the god Apollo 
 is against him, and he falls under the spear of Hector. This 
 causes Achilles to return into the Grecian camp, and he 
 slays Hector in single combat ; but is himself killed by an 
 arrow directed by Apollo. Finally, the noblest combatants 
 on both sides having fallen, the city is taken by the Greeks, 
 through the stratagem of a wooden horse, devised by the 
 crafty Ulys'ses. Troy is delivered over to the sword, and its 
 glory sinks in ashes.^ 
 
 16. The most faithful reflex of the springtime of the Hel- 
 lenic world is preserved to us in the Homeric Homeric 
 poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Among the ^'■^s^^e. 
 noticeable features of society, as there depicted, are : i. The 
 universality of kingly government. 2. The predominance of 
 the tribe or nation over the city, whereas in the historical 
 period the city is the state. 3. The existence of a hereditary 
 nobility, who form the king's council. 4. The existence of 
 an assembly which is convened by the king to receive com- 
 munications and witness trials, but not either to advise or 
 judge. 5. The absence of polygamy, and the high regard 
 in which women are held. 6. Slavery everywhere estab- 
 lished and considered to be right. 7. Perpetual wars be- 
 tween the various tribes and nations, and the preference of 
 the military virtues over all others. 8. Strong religious 
 feeling ; belief in polytheism and in fate ; respect for the 
 priestly character ; peculiar sanctity of temples and festival 
 seasons. 
 
 17. According to the traditions of the Greeks, some ixiv- 
 portant foreign elements were received into the Foreign influ- 
 nation during this first period. It is said that ®"^®* 
 
 * See note, end of this chapter. 
 
8o HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 both Phoenician and Egyptian settlements were made in 
 Greece. Scholars now doubt that any such settlements were 
 made ; but it is quite certain that the early Greeks, when 
 they began to spread over the Grecian isles, came in con- 
 tact with the Phcenicians, who were at this period the most 
 commercial and progressive nation inhabiting the shores 
 of the Mediterranean. From the Phoenicians the Greeks 
 received the alphabet. It is probable, also, that the early 
 Greeks drew from the fountains of antique Egyptian lore, 
 and that they gained from the Egyptians their first knowl- 
 edge of some of the arts and sciences ; while the influence 
 of the Egyptian religious system can be plainly traced in the 
 Greek mythology. 
 
 1 8. But, on the whole, Hellenic civilization was of home 
 Greek civiiiza- growth. Even what they took they stamped 
 tion original, ^-^j^ ^j^^jj. ^^^ character. Hence the Greek 
 
 people must be considered to have developed for themselves 
 that form of civilization, and those ideas on the subject of 
 art, politics, morals, and religion, that have given them their 
 peculiar reputation. 
 
 Note on Troy. — In the revolutions of time the city of Troy has so 
 completely disappeared that many scholars have been disposed to doubt 
 even the existence of such a place. But in recent times fresh light seems 
 to have been thrown on the subject by the researches of Dr. Schliemann, 
 a German savant, who in the years 1869-73 made a series of explorations 
 in the Troad, or " plain of windy Troy." He identifies the city of Ilium, 
 or Troy, with the modern place called Hissarlik. Many interesting 
 archaeologic remains were discovered by the explorer, who also states 
 his belief that he could identify in the ruins the " house of Priam," the 
 Scaean gate, and various other points mentioned by Homer. Many 
 scholars are not prepared to accept all the conclusions of Dr. Schlie- 
 mann ; but all agree that his discoveries are of great interest, and furnish 
 new illustrations of the ** tale of Troy divine." 
 
BEGINNINGS OF GREEK HISTORY. 8 1. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 HISTORY OF THE FIRST PERIOD. 
 
 FROM THE DORIAN MIGRATION TO THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSIAN IVARS. 
 1100-300 B. C. 
 
 1. BEGINNINGS OF GREEK HISTORY. 
 
 19. Grecian history may be divided into three periods : 
 
 1. From the Dorian migration to the begin- Periods of 
 ning of the Persian Wars (1100-500 B.C.). Greek history. 
 
 2. From the beginning of the Persian Wars to the subju- 
 gation of Greece by Philip of Macedon (500-338 b. c). 
 
 3. From the subjugation of Greece by PhiHp to the Roman 
 conquest (338 - 146 b. c). 
 
 20. Leaving the dim twilight of legendaiy Greece, we 
 come to a period when there took place those period of set- 
 movements of tribes that finally resulted in Element, 
 settling the Hellenes in those parts of Hellas in which we 
 find them during the times of authentic history. Thus 
 there seems to be no doubt that about the year iioo b. c. 
 the Dorians, who originally had been an unimportant tribe 
 in the small patch of northern territory on the southern 
 slope of Mount (Eta, began to make a great figure in Greek 
 affairs; for moving southward they conquered the Achaean 
 kingdoms in the Peloponnesus, took possession of Laconia, 
 or Lacedaemon, and gradually subdued most of the neigh- 
 boring states. 
 
 21. Out of the Dorian conquest of the Peloponnesus re- 
 sulted other great changes in the Hellenic other move- 
 world. The Achasans, expelled from the south "^^"t«- 
 
 and east of the peninsula, fell back upon the northern coast, 
 driving out the lonians. The latter found refuge with their 
 brethren of the same race in Attica, and the lonians became 
 
82 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 not only the dominant race in Central Greece, but also 
 spread themselves over most of the Cyclades Islands in the 
 ^gaean Sea. 
 
 22. The planting of Greek colonies in Asia Minor was 
 Colonies in another important event of this early period, 
 Asia Minor. connected with the general unsettlement result- 
 ing from the Dorian conquest. These colonies were made 
 by the three races, the yEolians, lonians, and Dorians. The 
 yEolians established themselves along the coast of Mysia 
 and in the Island of Les'bos, where they formed a confedera- 
 tion of twelve cities (^'olis). The lonians established 
 themselves on the shores of Lydia, and on the islands of 
 Chi'os and Sa'mos (lo'nia), and grew into a very powerful 
 confederation. The Dorian colonies were planted in the 
 southwestern corner of Asia Minor and the adjacent islands 
 (Do'ris) ; but they were of less importance than the ^olian, 
 and especially the Ionian, settlements, which became of 
 great note in Grecian history. 
 
 23. Other settlements were made by the Greeks, of which 
 Other settle- the most notable were those on the coasts of 
 meats. Thracc and Macedonia, on the islands west 
 of Greece, in Sicily, in Lower Italy (hence called Mag'na 
 Grae^cia, or Great Greece),* and in the territory of Cyre'ne, 
 or the Cyrenaica, along the northern coast of Africa. Some 
 outposts of Hellenic settlement were planted as far east as 
 the shores of the Euxine Sea, and one colony arose in the 
 extreme western part of the Mediterranean at Massilia, now 
 Marseilles. 
 
 24. The establishment of so many colonies in countries 
 Effect of coio- pre-eminently favored by nature in productions 
 "^^^- and climate, and so situated as to prompt the 
 inhabitants to navigation and commerce, gave a great im- 
 pulse to the civilization of the Hellenic race, and may be 
 regarded as the main cause of its rapid progress. 
 
 * See map opposite page 72. 
 
BECmmNCS OF CREEK HISTORY. 
 
 83 
 
 25. The accompanying map represents the distribution 
 of the several representatives of the Hellenic ^^^ ^^ 
 race, at the time when the great movements 
 of population just spoken of had been accomplished (say 
 about 1000 B. c). 
 
 DISTRIBUTION t 
 
 or Races. 
 
 AFTER 
 
 THEIR MIGRATION. 
 
 26. At this time the two leading races of Greece were 
 tlie lonians and the Dorians. These were dis- ,,. ^ , 
 
 Character of 
 
 tinsTiished from each other by strikine: charac- the two lead- 
 
 • • 11 ^'rr 1 1 ing races. 
 
 tenstics, and the dinerence between them 
 forms a chief feature of Grecian politics ; it runs through 
 their entire history, and was the principal cause of the deep- 
 rooted antagonism between Athens, the representative of 
 the Ionian race, and Sparta, the leading Doric state. The 
 lonians were remarkable for their democratic spirit \ they 
 
84 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 were vivacious, fickle, given to commerce, fond of refined 
 enjoyments, and devoted to the fine arts. The Dorian race 
 was noted for the severe simplicity of its manners ; it pre- 
 ferred an aristocratic form of government, and maintained 
 slavery in its worst form. 
 
 27. The authentic history of Greece commences with the 
 Beginnings of epoch known as the First Olym'piad, b. c. 776. 
 real history. -pj^jg gj-^ jg ^^ Commencement of that consec- 
 utive chronology, which the Greeks reckoned by the series 
 of victors in the foot-race at the four-yearly festival of 
 Olympian Jupiter near E'lis. The First Olympiad began in 
 the midsummer of 776 b. c. ; the Second Olympiad in mid- 
 summer of 772 B. c, etc., — the Olympiads recurring every 
 four years. 
 
 28. Looking at Greece at this period, — say the middle of 
 Political the 8th century b. c, — we find that an impor- 
 change. ^^^^ change in the nature of the government 
 had taken place. During the heroic age, in that " youth of 
 the world " which Homer paints, the various Grecian tribes 
 were under kings ; but now the government had become 
 republican, and we find the people gathered together in 
 little free states. (Sparta was the only state that held 
 to even the name of king.) Each city, in fact, formed an 
 independent commonwealth with its own little territory ; 
 and there is no doubt that this parceling out of a small 
 country was a main cause of the rapid development of 
 political science in Greece. 
 
 29. Divided as the Greeks were politically, they were, 
 
 nevertheless, united by a certain national feel- 
 
 Hellenic unity. . ,^, ^ , . , 
 
 ing. The root of this was the consciousness 
 that they were all Hellenes ; and this sentiment was fostered 
 by the possession of a common language, literature, and re- 
 ligion, and of rites, temples, and festivals that were equally 
 open to all. Still, the first feeling of every Greek was for 
 his city, and there was scarcely even the sentiment of patri- 
 
SPARTA AND ATHENS. 85 
 
 otism for Greece as a land. We shall soon see how imper- 
 ff;ct was the union even against the pressing danger of 
 fMbjugation by Persia, and what a long series of sectional 
 contests was carried on between the leading states. The 
 Greeks in the end discovered the great principle of Federal 
 Union ; but this was not till near the close of their history, 
 when it was too late. 
 
 2. GROWTH OF SPARTA AND ATHENS. 
 
 30. In this section we shall glance at the history of the 
 two most important Grecian states, namely, subject 
 Sparta and Athens; and we shall trace their treated, 
 history down to the period when all Greece united against 
 th<i Persians, about 500 b. c. 
 
 31. At the commencement of authentic Grecian history 
 we find the Spartans the dominant power in 
 
 the Peloponnesus. They were a part of that ^^^ "' 
 great Dorian wave that' about 11 00 B. c. had overflowed the 
 southern peninsula of Greece: the Dorians established and 
 settled three states, Argos, Messenia, and Laconia, or Lace- 
 daemon ; but in time the Spartans, that is, the people of 
 Laconia, or Lacedaemon, gained supremacy over the other 
 states. 
 
 32. The ascendency which Sparta acquired over the oth- 
 er states of the Peloponnesus was mainly ow- 
 ing to her peculiar institutions, which tradition y^"^^"^- 
 ascribes to a legislator named Lycur'gus. Of this person- 
 age nothing is known whatever, and some -have even denied 
 his existence. It is probable, however, that Lycurgus did exist 
 somewhere about 850 b. c, that is, about a century before 
 the beginning of reliable history, and that he more clearly 
 defined and fixed already existing usages and regulations. 
 
 33. But the peculiar constitution of thie Spartans arose 
 necessarily out of the circumstances in which they lived. 
 
86 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 In other parts of the Peloponnesus the Dorian conquerors 
 sradually fused with the native Achaeans, but 
 
 Cause of Spar- ? _ :f , . '. , 
 
 tan peculiar!- in Lacedaemon the separation was maintained. 
 *'^^' Such of the Achaeans as readily submitted were 
 
 allowed to retain their personal freedom, though without 
 any political rights ; but the greater part were reduced to 
 servitude, and were known as Helots. The citizens of 
 Sparta were thus a small class of lords (estimated at 9,000 
 in the time of Lycurgus) among a tenfold number of slaves 
 and subjects ; and to .keep these in subjection their whole 
 training was military. 
 
 34. The chief object of the legislation that goes by the 
 Object of Ly- name of Lycurgan was to create and maintain 
 curgus's laws. ^ vigorous and uncorrupted race of men ; 
 hence it concerned itself less with political arrangements 
 than with the regulation of private life and with physical 
 education. 
 
 35. By this system weakly children were exposed to per- 
 Spartanedu- ish, while of those who were allowed to live 
 *^^^'°"- the males were at the age of seven separated 
 from their homes and trained by state educators. The 
 whole time of the Spartans was spent in public. They 
 took their frugal meals at public tables in messes or com- 
 panies, to which each contributed so much from the prod- 
 uce of his land. Great attention was devoted to gym- 
 nastic exercises and military drill ; for the education of a 
 Spartan, beginning with his seventh year, was not relaxed 
 till his sixtieth. He was inured to hunger and thirst and 
 to the extremes of heat and cold, and was taught to endure 
 the keenest bodily torture without complaint. To teach 
 him strategy and secrecy, there were licensed expeditions 
 for thieving, and severe punishment was inflicted on him 
 who allowed himself to be detected in it. Every one has 
 heard of the Spartan youth who hid the stolen fox under 
 his coat, and allowed it to tear out his vitals rather than 
 
 I 
 
SPARTA AND ATHENS. 8/ 
 
 expose it to view. Girls were trained in atliletic exercises 
 nearly similar to those of the boys, but separately. This 
 reared a race of vigorous women, the influence of whose pa- 
 triotism in sustaining that of the men is matter of historic 
 celebrity. " Return either with your shield or on it ! " was 
 the exhortation of a Spartan mother to her son on his de- 
 parture for the field of battle. 
 
 36. Spartan education produced warriors, but naught 
 else : that people contributed nothing to the 
 literature and the arts for which the world is 
 indebted to Greece. Oratory was held in special contempt, 
 and philosophy. was superseded by those "wise saws," the 
 brevity of which we still describe as laconic. Commerce was 
 forbidden to the Spartan citizens, and iron money alone was 
 allowed for their few trading transactions. The fine arts 
 were discouraged as leading to effeminacy. The labors 
 of agriculture were carried on exclusively by the Helots. 
 Thus the Spartans resided in the city, where they passed 
 their lives according to the Lycurgan discipline, while all 
 the ordinary pursuits of civilized life were left to their de- 
 pendents. This discipline no doubt made them intrepid 
 soldiers, but as a people they were stolid, ungenerous, and 
 cruel, even for those cruel times. 
 
 "■"^37. The constitution of Sparta was peculiar. At the 
 head of the state were two joint-kings, who constitution 
 commanded the armies and performed the °fSparta. 
 public sacrifices. But their power was often merely nom- 
 inal, and was always restricted by the Senate and by the 
 Assembly of all the Spartans. The Assembly annually 
 elected five officers called Ephors, who as a general thing 
 exercised all power ; so that Sparta was really an oligSrcnic 
 Republic, under the guise of a monarchy. 
 
 38. Sparta under the Lycurgan system became an ag- 
 ;ressive military state : she conquered the Mes- spartan con- 
 '.enians (in two wars, 743- 724 and 685-668 «i"«sts. 
 
S8 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 B. c), humbled her powerful rival, the Argtves (547 B. c), 
 and thus raised herself to the leadership of the Dorian 
 Commonwealths. Having become the controlling power of 
 the Peloponnesus, Sparta in the 6th century b. c. began to 
 assume the right of interference in the internal affairs of 
 the Grecian states beyond the Peloponnesus, and it is prob- 
 able that she would have eventually brought all the states 
 under her sway (for they were then in no condition to dis- 
 pute her pre-eminence), had it not been that, at the time at 
 which we have arrived, all the states were called upon to 
 unite their arms against the aggressions of the Persians. 
 
 39. Parallel with the rise of Sparta was the growth of 
 
 another state that was destined not only to 
 push democratic freedom farther than any other 
 
 Grecian state, but also to assert an intellectual supremacy 
 
 over all Greece-. This was Athens : — 
 
 "Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts 
 And eloquence, native to famous wits." 
 
 40. It is known that the Athenians belonged to the 
 ^ , ^. Ionian race, of which indeed they were the 
 
 Early history, n . 
 
 flower. The founding of Athens runs back 
 into the mythic period. At first the Athenians, like the 
 other Hellenes, were under kings, but by the time that reli- 
 able Athenian history begins, we find that Athens had 
 ceased to ba under regal rule, Codrus being the last of the 
 kings. 
 
 41. Athenian affairs, however, were not at this time 
 Nature of the managed by all the people, but only by a 
 government, privileged class of nobles. Thus, though a 
 republic, Athens was not at this time a democracy. The 
 kingly power had given place to the office of arehon : this 
 was at first limited to the royal family and held for life ; 
 then it was held for ten years, and finally thrown open to 
 the whole body of the nobles, the number of archons in- 
 
SPARTA AND ATHENS. 89 
 
 creased to nine, and the period of office reduced to one 
 year. There was also a Senate, afterwards called the 
 Areopagus, but it was made up exclusively of the nobles. 
 Thus we see that the great mass of the people had no share 
 whatever in the government; and it happened at Athens, 
 as generally happens where power is confined to one class, 
 that the oligarchy abused their privileges. 
 ~*^. The discontent of the people at length became so 
 serious that a statesman named Dra'co was ap- 
 
 , . ^ , . 1 Laws of Draco. 
 
 pomted m 624 b. c. to draw up a written code 
 of laws. They were marked by extreme severity; for he 
 affixed the penalty of death to all crimes alike, — to petty 
 thefts no less than to sacrilege and murder. Hence Dra- 
 co's laws were said to have been written, not in ink, but in 
 blood ; and we are told that he justified this extreme hard- 
 ship by saying "that small ofTenses deserved death, and 
 that he knew no severer punishment for great ones." * 
 
 43. The legislation of Draco failed to calm the prevail- 
 inff discontent, the overbearinar conduct of the 
 
 T - ' , , - , , Revolution. 
 
 aristocracy led to popular outbreaks, and there 
 came a state of anarchy, from which, at the beginning of the 
 6th century b. c, Athens was rescued by SoJ^qn. Solon had 
 been chosen one of the archons, and was commissioned to 
 remodel the Constitution of Athens, 594 b. c. The success- 
 ful manner in which he performed this work laid the founda- 
 tion of the happiness of his native country. 
 
 44. The main object of the constitution of Solon was to 
 abolish the oppressive aristocracy and to sub- 
 
 . . y 1 . •• Laws of Solon. 
 
 stitute for it a moderate government, which 
 should admit all Athenian citizens to a share of power, 
 but give a preponderating influence to the higher orders. 
 Solon's legislation was marked by great political sagacity, 
 and under it Athens made rapid progress in prosperity; 
 
 * Smith's History of Greece. 
 
90 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 but it was far from satisfying his contemporaries. Like 
 most moderate politicians, he was accused by one side of 
 going too far and by the other of not being radical enough. 
 
 45. The result was a struggle of parties, which ended in 
 „. . ^ the seizure of power by a leader named Pisis'- 
 
 Pisistratus. . . ^ •' 
 
 tratus, who (560 b. c.) assumed the position of 
 Dictator, or, as the Greeks called it, Tyrant, — a term 
 which, however, denoted merely one who usurped power, not 
 necessarily one who abused power. There is no reason to 
 believe that the constitution of Solon was abolished under 
 Pisistratus. Athens continued to enjoy its republican gov- 
 ernment, though under a dictator. Pisistratus ruled mildly, 
 encouraged the arts and edited Homer, and even succeeded 
 in transmitting his power to his sons; but after half a 
 century of this mild tyranny, the family of the Pisistrat'idae 
 were banished, 510 b. c. 
 
 46. A noble named Clis'thenes now rose into power. He 
 Reforms of cspouscd the causc of the people, gave the 
 ciisthenes. suffrage to all free inhabitants, and introduced 
 into the constitution political reforms to which very much 
 of Athenian greatness is attributable. Under the new con- 
 stitution the state was a pure democracy, and the establish- 
 ment of liberty and equality gave a great impulse to the 
 spirit of patriotism. The result was that Athens soon rose 
 to be the leading state of Central Greece. 
 
 47. At the period at which we have now arrived, — • the 
 The new beginning of the 5 th century b. c, — Greece 
 epoch. had put on the shape which she was to wear 
 during the greatest times of her history. At this time a 
 new era in Hellenic history begins. The Greeks had to 
 bear the trial of a great foreign invasion. Europe, em- 
 bodied in Greece, was to meet old Asia, represented by 
 Persia, and the sons of Hellas were to come out of the 
 struggle strong and ennobled. 
 
PERSIAN INVASIONS. 9 1 
 
 UuAMV\Uiy 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE SECOND PERIOD. 
 
 fROM THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSIAN WAR TO THE VICTOR Y OF PHILIP 
 OF MACEDON AT CH^RONEA, B. C. joo-jjS. 
 
 I. THE PERSIAN INVASIONS. 
 
 48. We have already seen how the great Eastern Mon- 
 archy, founded by Cyrus and extended by Relations with 
 Cambyses, was consolidated by Darius, who Persia, 
 became king of Persia in 521 b. c. Among the conquests 
 of Cyrus was the kingdom of Lydia, in Asia Minor. Now, 
 just before the Persian conquest of Lydia, the king of that 
 country, Croesus, had succeeded in reducing under his own 
 dominion the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor; 
 so that now they, too, became subject to Persia. 
 
 49. The Ionian cities did not submit without a struggle, 
 and after a certain time there ensued a general , 
 
 , . , . . rr^, . 1 . Ionian revolt. 
 
 revolt of these cities, 500 b. c. The Athenians, 
 to help their kinsfolk in Ionia, sent twenty ships with a 
 small force. A landing was made on the coast of Asia 
 Minor, and Sardis, the capital of Lydia, was captured and 
 accidentally burnt, 499 b. c. 
 
 50. This sally had only the effect of drawing down the 
 wrath of Darius on the Ionian cities, and the Effect on Da- 
 revolt was soon quelled (494 b. c). The Per- ""^• 
 
 sian monarch then resolved to chastise the Athenians. 
 When the news of the burning of Sardis was brought to 
 Darius, he called for his bow, and shot an arrow towards 
 the sky, with a prayer to Auramazda for help to revenge 
 himself on the Athenians. Then he bade one of his ser- 
 vants repeat to him thrice daily, as he sat down to dinner, 
 the words, " Master, remember the Athenians ! " 
 
 1{AikM\i- nQj^j-^ 
 
 J\M 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 51. In execution of his purpose, Darius instructed his 
 First hostile son-in-law, Mardo'nius, to march an army 
 movement. against the Athenians. The force advanced 
 through Thrace into Macedonia, which was speedily subju- 
 gated, but it was able to go no farther; and a fleet which 
 had been sent to co-operate was shattered by a great storm 
 off the peninsula of Mount A'thos, so that Mardonius re- 
 turned to Asia Minor in disgrace, 492 b. c. 
 
 52. This failure only added fury to the resolution of 
 New prepara- Darius. While pushing forward his prepara- 
 *^°"^- tions for the invasion of Greece, he sent round. 
 heralds to the chief Grecian cities to demand the tribute of 
 earth and water as signs of his being their rightful lord. 
 The island states generally made their submission, as did 
 
 ^s'Army 
 
 _. ..Sfixcs'nrsT.^.. 
 
 4» Cou/tsrs OFrM£Gff£TK Fieer... 
 
PERSIAN INVASIONS. 
 
 93 
 
 also many of the continental states, and it seemed that the 
 young civilization of the West was to be overwhelmed by 
 Eastern despotism. But tJie genius of Hellas found noble 
 champions in two of the states ; for Athens and Sparta 
 indignantly rejected the demand, and their conjunction 
 drew after them most of the lesser states in a defensive 
 league. 
 
 53. It was time for Greece to be united, for in the spring 
 of 490 B. c. the preparations of Darius were invasion of 
 complete. A vast force, under a commander Greece, 
 named Datis, sailed in 600 triremes from Samos across the 
 ^gaean, reducing the Cyclades islands on the way, and after 
 capturing Eretria in the island of Euboea, made a landing 
 in the bay of Marathon, on the east coast of Attica. The 
 Persians now prepared to advance on Athens. 
 
 54. But this was not to be without a struggle, and the 
 plain of Marathon was the scene of the con- 
 
 •%. - , . , Marathon. 
 
 flict, one of the most important and momen- 
 tous in history. There, be- 
 tween the mountains and the 
 sea, the little Athenian force 
 of 10,000 men, unaided save 
 by 600 men from Platae'a, but 
 led by the genius of Mil- 
 ti'ades and inspired by high 
 patriotic daring, met a Per- 
 
 'm\o\wvcy 
 
 The sequel. 
 
 sian army of ten times its number, and defeated it, 
 
 September, 490 b. c. 
 
 r.55. "*the Persian rr^narch was not able immediately to 
 
 renew hostilities with the Greeks, for other 
 
 affairs engaged his attention ; and when Darius 
 
 finally found himself free to resume his purpose, he was cut 
 
 off by death, 485 b. c. His son Xerxes succeeded to the 
 
 throne, and promptly took up the task. The result was 
 
 another and far more formidable invasion, made ten years 
 
 after the battle of Marathon. 
 
94 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 56. During this interval of ten years the Athenians werfe 
 Affairs at Ath- ^ot idle. At this time the leading men at 
 ^"^* Athens were Themis'tocles and Aristi'des. 
 
 Aristides was a pure patriot, but he was considered stub- 
 born and impracticable. Themistocles, on the other hand, 
 was a sagacious statesman : he urged that the Athenians 
 should bend their energies to preparing against a renewal 
 of the invasion by the Persians, and especially that a navy 
 should be created; Aristides opposed this policy. Be- 
 tween these two leaders there was a long rivalry; but 
 finally Aristides was ostracized.* Under the vigorous coun- 
 sels of Thernistocies, the Athenians bent their energies to 
 preparing for the impending conflict, and especially to 
 building a great fleet of triremes. Then, as the note of 
 preparation for the invasion sounded throughout all Asia, 
 a general congress of the Grecian states summoned by 
 Athens and Sparta was held at the Isthmus of Corinth, 
 Though several of the states stayed away through fear, 
 yet this was a truly national meeting ; and it was re- 
 solved that Sparta should be the head of the league against 
 Persia. 
 
 * The institution o{ ostracism was a method which the Athenians had 
 devised for the purpose of getting rid of obnoxious public men, and 
 was in some respects a very good plan, as it stopped interminable quar- 
 rels between rival politicians. It derived its name from the fact that 
 the citizens, in voting for its infliction, wrote the name of the objection- 
 able person on a shell {ostreon), and if there was a majority of votes 
 for his banishment, he was exiled for ten years. The conflict between 
 Anstides and Themistocles became at last so sharp that the Athenians 
 finally voted to ostracize Aristides. Among those who voted were many, 
 no doubt, whose hostility had been aroused by the stern probity of Aris- 
 tides, who was known as '' the Just." The story is true to nature, that 
 when the vote of ostracism was being taken, an unlettered citizen, not 
 knowing Aristides, asked him to write for him on the shell. "And 
 what name shall I write .? " " Aristides." " And, pray, what wrong has 
 Aristides done you .? " " O, none ; but I am tired of always hearing 
 him called the Just." 
 
PERSIAN INVASIONS. 95 
 
 57. From every part of his wide dominion Xerxes collect- 
 ed at Sardis an army such as had never been Beginning of 
 
 , . _, , . . _, Xerxes's iova- 
 
 seen before. For transportmg it mto Europe sion. 
 he caused a double bridge of boats to be built across the 
 Hellespont, where it is a mile wide ; and in 480 b. c. the 
 vast host (Herodotus puts it at 2,500,000 fighting men 
 and ships' crews) crossed the bridge in two columns, taking 
 seven days and nights to make the passage. A great fleet 
 consisting of 1200 triremes (each manned by 200 rowers 
 and 30 fighting men) and many smaller vessels pursued its 
 course northward to the Hellespont, and then steered west- 
 ward, keeping close to the coast so as to be in constant 
 communication with the army. Meanwhile the prodigious 
 array, having entered Europe, advanced westward through 
 Thrace and Macedonia, and then turning southward through 
 Thessaly, poured itself in a mighty deluge over the north- 
 ern states of Greece and moved towards Attica. 
 
 58. The Greeks resolved to take their stand in a nan ow 
 mountain-fforge lying between the precipitous 
 
 . ^ ^^ ^ , , / .^ , Continuation. 
 
 mountams of CEta and a marsh formmg the 
 edge of the Gulf of Malis. [See large map, p. 73.] This is 
 the celebrated Pass of Thermop'ylae.* It was, however, only 
 a small force that was sent to the defense of Thermopylae. 
 When the arrival of Xerxes in Northern Greece became 
 known, the Greeks were upon the point of celebrating one 
 of their religious festivals, and not wishing to give up the 
 solemnity, they resolved to send merely men enough to 
 hold the pass till the festival was over, when they would 
 be able to march in full force. The defense of the po- 
 sition was intrusted to the Spartan king, Leonidas, with 
 about 7,000 troops, the flower of which consisted of 300 
 Spartans. 
 
 * Literally, gates of the hot springs: the pass contains several hot 
 springs, and the pylce^ or gates, are the two openings of the pass. 
 
96 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 
 Thermo PYL/e:w 
 
 59. When the Persian host reached Thermopylae and 
 Battle of Ther- sought to force the pass, the Grecian guard 
 mopyiae. made a stout defense, and for two days kept 
 the enemy at bay ; but on the third day a traitor pointed 
 out to the Persian king how, by taking a mountain-path, 
 the position of the Greeks might be "turned." When this 
 movement became known, most of the Greek officers wished 
 
 to withdraw, since the 
 position was no longer 
 tenable. But Leon^das 
 refused to retreat. As 
 a Spartan he was bound 
 by the laws to conquer 
 or to die in the post 
 assigned to him. His 
 three hundred Spartans were moved by the same feeling, 
 and seven hundred Thespians resolved to share their 
 fate. The rest of the allies were allowed to retire. This 
 being done, Leonidas and his comrades determined to 
 sell their lives as dearly as possible: so they advanced 
 into the open space in front of the pass and charged the 
 Persians with desperate valor. But this heroism was in 
 vain ; for their spears were erelong broken, and the enemy, 
 pouring in from front and rear, surrounded the Greeks on 
 all sides. Leonidas fell, and the heroic band were killed 
 to a man. The date of the battle was August, 480 b. c. 
 
 60. The Greek fleet, as we have seen, had taken position 
 off the northern coast of the Island of Euboea. 
 Here a brisk naval action was fought, which, 
 
 though indecisive, helped to raise the courage of the Greeks. 
 It seemed, too, as though the gods were on their side, for in 
 two great storms nearly half the Persian fleet was shattered. 
 When, however, it became known to Themistocles, the com- 
 mander of the Grecian fleet, that the Pass of Thermopylae 
 had been carried and that the enemy was advancing on 
 
 ( Naval affairs. 
 
PERSIAN INVASIONS. 97 
 
 Athens, he withdrew the fleet southward to the Bay of 
 Sal'amis, near Athens. 
 
 6l. The news of the approach of Xerxes created great 
 consternation at Athens ; but the oracle told Matters at 
 the Athenians that they must seek safety in Athens, 
 their "wooden walls." This was interpreted to mean their 
 ships. Accordingly the whole population was removed from 
 the city, and the Persians took possession of Athens and 
 reduced it to ashes. 
 
 '"^T)^. The fate of Greece was to be decided by a glorious 
 naval combat In the Bay of Salamis the Battle of saia- 
 Greeks had assembled their whole fleet of 366 "^'^• 
 ;;hips. Though the Persians had lost heavily by storm, 
 thfty had still about 1000 vessels, and two months after the 
 battle of Thermopylae the opposing fleets were arrayed 
 for the fight. The Persian army was drawn up along the 
 shore, and the Eastern monarch, anticipating a brilliant 
 victory, took his seat on a lofty throne, on a promontory 
 overlooking the scene. 
 
 *' A king sat on the rocky brow 
 Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis; 
 And ships by thousands lay below, 
 And men in nations, — all were his. 
 He counted them at break of day, 
 And when the sun set, where were they ? " 
 
 63. Salamis was a complete victory for the Greeks ; the 
 Persians lost over 200 ships, and Xerxes, 
 
 struck with cowardice, beat a retreat into his ^^^"'*' 
 own dominions by the route on which he came, October, 
 4'3o B. c. 
 
 64. When Xerxes retired he left behind a force of 
 300,000 under one of his generals, named Mar- piataea and 
 donius. The following year a decisive combat, Mycaie. 
 
 in which the Greeks were completely successful, was fought 
 
 at Piataea between this force and a Greek army of 70,000 
 
 5 G 
 
98 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 men under the Spartan leader Pausanias and the Athenian 
 leader Aristides, September 25, 479. On the same day a 
 battle at Myc'ale (in Asia Minor) effected the destruction of 
 the remnant of the Persian fleet. 
 
 65. These three battles, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale, de- 
 cided the war, and the Persians never again 
 dared to invade Greece itself. The struggle, 
 it is true, went on for several years longer before the Per- 
 sians were dislodged from the various posts which they held 
 north of the ^gaean \ but at last they were driven wholly 
 out of Europe. Thus it was that the liberties of Greece 
 were secured, and it must be remembered that the preser- 
 vation of Grecian independence meant the preservation of 
 the civilization of Europe. 
 
 2. THE AGE OF PERICLES. 
 
 66. The half-century following the battle of Salamis 
 Period of Peri- (480 - 430 B. c.) forms the most brilliant period 
 cies. Qf Athenian history, and one of the most illus- 
 trious eras in the history of the world. It is usually called 
 the " age of Pericles," its duration nearly coinciding with 
 the public life of that statesman who for forty years, though 
 merely a private citizen, held a controlling influence over 
 the politics of Athens. 
 
 67. The main cause of the ascendency which Athens now 
 Policy of Ath- assumcd was the brilliant part played by that 
 ®"^- state in the Persian wars. To preserve the 
 freedom of the now liberated Greek cities on the islands 
 and coasts of the ^gasan, a league was formed of which 
 Athens, from her naval power, became naturally the leader. 
 The inland states meanwhile clung to Sparta. It soon came 
 about that the maritime cities were brought into a sort of 
 subjection to Athens ; the Athenians denied the right of the 
 States to secede from the confederation, caused the separate 
 
AGE OF PERICLES. 99 
 
 treasury of the league to be merged in that of Athens, and 
 employed the ships and money of the allies in prosecuting 
 their own aggrandizement. If this was short-sighted pol- 
 icy, it at least put the Athenians in an almost imperial po- 
 sition for the time being, and carried forward the little 
 democracy to a wonderful degree of power and splendor. 
 
 68. It was during this period, when the Athenian intel- 
 lect was stimulated by a- proud sense of na- sketch of the 
 tional greatness, that Grecian genius put forth per^o'^- 
 
 its richest blossoms of literature and art. This was the age 
 of grand dramatic composition, and of the greatest works 
 of architecture and sculpture. Oratory, which is so power- 
 ful an instrument in a free state, was now cultivated assidu- 
 ously, and the Athenians became accustomed to hearing the 
 purest lessons of patriotism put forth in the loftiest forms 
 of eloquence. In fine, the Athenian commonwealth under 
 the exertions of Pericles attained such an exalted state of 
 cultivation that it is recorded that the citizens were almost 
 all equally qualified to fill offices or discharge business ; so 
 that the regulation, that the greater part of the public offices 
 should be filled by lot, rarely resulted in the choice of any 
 but able and well-qualified men. 
 
 69. It was in this age that, on the other hand, the seeds 
 were sown of that terrible civil strife that rent Beginning of 
 the glory of Greece ; for Pericles himself lived ^^"^^• 
 
 to see the outbreak of that direful conflict known as the 
 Peloponnesian War. 
 
 70. This great man, one of the very ablest statesmen 
 that ever lived, fell a victim to a pestilence pgj..^jgg 
 that raged in Athens in 429 b. c. His death- 
 bed was surrounded by his friends and admirers, who recit- 
 ed the many illustrious exploits of his glorious life. " You 
 forget," said the dying patriot, — " you forget the only valua- 
 ble part of my character : none of my fellow-citizens was 
 ever compelled by any action of mine to assume a mourn- 
 ing robe." 
 
100 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 3. THE PELOPONNE3IAN \VAR. 
 
 71. The Peloponnesian war was a conflict between 
 Duration of Athens and her alUes, on the one hand, and 
 the war. Sparta and her alUes, on the other. It began 
 in 431 B. c, lasted twenty-seven years, and ended in weak- 
 ening Greece generally, and in completely destroying the 
 Athenian ascendency. ^j!,:ii:^( ^r' '•.>, r^./--: / 
 
 72. This war was occasioned by the jealousy which the 
 Cause of th^ g^'^at powcr of Athens stirred up among many 
 wa'"- other of the Greek cities ; but it had in reality 
 a deeper cause: it was the outbreak of ^^an "irrepressible 
 conflict " between lonians and Dorians,^between democracy 
 and oligarchy, — Athens being the chi^f of the Ionian and 
 democratic states, and Sparta the chief of the Dorian and 
 aristocratic states. 
 
 73. The immediate occasion of the war was a conflict 
 
 between Corinth and one of her colonies, 
 en y-ars. Q^^^y^^^ Siding witli the latter, Athens ex- 
 cited the wrath of the Dorian Confederacy ; and a Spartan 
 army invaded Attica, 431 B.C. Durmg the first ten years 
 of the war, down to 421, the two parties contended with 
 nearly equal success, the Athenians being much the stronger 
 by sea, and the Spartans and their allies by land. A peace 
 was then concluded, called the " Peace of Nicias " (42 1 b. c), 
 which was to last for fifty years ; but as many of the 
 confederates were dissatisfied with its terms, it was not 
 likely to be of such long duration, and indeed hostilities 
 were renewed almost immediately. ; ..^Ji-f^ 
 
 74. The renewal of the war was precipitated through 
 
 the political influehqe of Alcibi'ades, a hanoU. 
 
 some, dissolute yoUng dlsdipre of Socrates: 
 he possessed brilliant talent, but he was ambitious, and he 
 was eager to renew the war, as affording him an opportunity 
 of personal distinction. 
 
SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY.'. lOl 
 
 75. Alcibiades brought forward a scbejn*;^ of cc'^iijuerlug 
 Syracuse, a city in Sicily. It was a bold syracusan ex- 
 sclieme, and its successful execution would pedition. 
 have given a great preponderance to Athens over Sparta. 
 The Athenians adopted the plan, and in b. c. 415 sent a 
 fiieet and force against the Syracusans. Sparta sent aid 
 to the Syracusans, and thus the Peloponnesian war was 
 renewed. In the midst of the enterprise Alcibiades was 
 recalled to Athens on a charge of impiety; but he managed 
 to escape, and went over to Sparta. The Syracusan expe- 
 dition proved a total failure (413 b. c), and greatly damaged 
 the power of Athens. 
 
 76. During the last eight years the Peloponnesian war 
 was carried on mainly at sea, off the coast of 
 
 Asia. Sparta allied herself with Persia, and °^'"^ ^^^"" 
 it was Persian gold that afforded Sparta the means to 
 continue the contest against Athens. Athens, however, 
 made a bold front, and under the lead of Alcibiades (who 
 had meanwhile been recalled to the command) kept up the 
 contest with wonderful vigor. But a fatal blow fell when the 
 Spartan admiral, Lysander, surprised the beached galleys 
 of the Athenians at ^Egos Pot'amos in the Hellespont, e. c. 
 405. The siege and surrender of Athens in the following 
 year brought the great Peloponnesian contest to an end. 
 
 77. The result of the Peloponnesian war left Sparta the 
 greatest power of Greece. Athens sank into Result of the 
 the background as a second-rate state ; still, ^^'"• 
 
 while she lost her political supremacy, she became more 
 and more the leader in literature, art, and philosophy. 
 
 4. PERIOD 01^ SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY. 
 
 78. After the decline of Athens Sparta stood without a 
 rival in Greece, and for thirty-four years (from spartan su- 
 the victory at ^gos Potamos to the defeat of premacy. 
 
I02 ,C^//. ; HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 T^cuctfaJ 405-371 3. c.) the Lacedaemonians exercised an 
 undisputed sway in Greece. The Spartan dominion was 
 extremely despotic, and the Greek states that at the begin- 
 ning of the Peloponnesian war had sided with Sparta as 
 a " Hberator " from Athenian rule now found the Spartan 
 yoke much more galling than the Athenian had been. 
 
 79. Meantime in Thebes a new power was arising 
 
 that was to curb her pride. The screatness of 
 
 Rise of Thebes. ^, , , F^ . ^ ^ . 
 
 Inebes was the work of two men, — Epami- 
 non'das and Pelop'idas, — who knew how to inspire their 
 fellow-citizens with their own heroic spirit. To revenge 
 themselves for the insults of Sparta, the Thebans, under 
 these leaders, began a long and heroic struggle. The de- 
 cisive combat of this war was fought at Leuctra, where 
 Epaminondas utterly defeated the Spartans, 371 b. c. In 
 consequence of this defeat Sparta fell suddenly and forever 
 from her high estate. 
 
 80. Thebes now rose to be the leading state of Greece, 
 Theban su- ^nd this position she held as long as her great 
 premacy. chieftain, Epaminondas, lived. But in the bat- 
 tle of Mantine'a (362 b. c), waged against the Spartans and 
 Athenians, the Theban chieftain died in the arms of victory. 
 With the fall of Epaminondas Thebes herself fell, for there 
 was no one to take his place. 
 
 81. The struggle between Sparta and Thebes, following 
 Effect of the ^s it did the great Peloponnesian war, — in 
 ^^^s- both of which nearly all the Hellenic states 
 were engaged, — resulted in the general exhaustion of 
 Greece. What strength remained was expended in mere 
 intestine broils, and soon after this Greece fell an easy prey 
 to Philip of Macedon. 
 
K-- \^yr^ 
 
 :T 
 
 SUPREMACY OF MAC EDO N. \ IO3 
 
 CHAPTER IV^'V^U^T^ ^Jr^'i 
 HISTORY OF THE THIRD PERIOD. 
 
 FROM THE VICTORY OF PHILIP TO THE ABSORPTION OF GREECE BY THE 
 
 ROMANS. 
 
 I. SUPREMACY OF MACEDON. — PHILIP. 
 
 82. The Macedonians, though closely allied by race 
 to the Greeks, had remained in obscurity while Early Mace- 
 their southern kinsmen were pursuing their *^°"- 
 stirring career. But in the middle of the 4th century b. c. 
 they came under a bold and energetic chief. This was 
 Philip, son of Amyntas 11. 
 
 83. Philip assumed the government of Macedonia in 
 ^tjQ B. c. He was well acquainted with Grecian 
 
 '^^f. . , . ^ . , , Philip's plans. 
 
 politics, having as a young man resided at 
 Thebes in the character of a hostage, and when he became 
 king he set on foot a plan for the elevation of Macedonia. 
 This was not by any means to conquer Greece, but to have 
 Macedonia recognized as a Greek state, and then to make 
 it the leading state of Hellas, — just as Athens, Sparta, and 
 Thebes had successively been. 
 
 84. Philip commenced by craftily mixing himself up with 
 Greek affairs ; and he managed with such skill Doings of 
 that at last he was acknowledged as a member ^^^^^p- 
 
 of the Amphic'tyonic Council, the great religious assembly 
 of Hellas, — a concession equivalent to the recognition of 
 Macedon as a Greek state. Step by step his ambition grew, 
 till he began to think of a grand scheme of conquest. 
 
 85. This plan the great Athenian orator Demosthenes 
 clearly perceived, and he commenced utterins: 
 
 / ^- . '. . . . , ,^ Demosthenes. 
 
 the thunder of his voice in v/arnings ; but the 
 
 Athenians had lost much of their patriotic ardor, so they 
 
 took these warnings but tardily. 
 
I04 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 86. The direct aggressions of Philip on Athens com- 
 Career of menced about 358 B. c, and for twenty years he 
 Philip. continued a mixed policy of war and intrigue, 
 which at length made him master of Greece. In 338 B. c, 
 at Chsrone'a (in Boeotia), he won a decisive victory over 
 the Athenians and Thebans ; this crushed the liberty of 
 Greece, and made it in reality a province of Macedonia. 
 
 87. The main causes of Philip's wonderful success were 
 Causes of his twofold, — I . His admirable military organiza- 
 success. ^}q^ . |-i^g Macedonian phalanx, invincible until 
 it came to be opposed to the Romans, was his creation. 
 2. His political finesse: taking advantage of the divided 
 condition of Greece and of the general prevalence of cor- 
 ruption, he played off state against state, politician against 
 politician, promising, cajoling, bribing, threatening, so that 
 he won even more by diplomacy than by force. 
 
 88. Philip now announced his intention of uniting all 
 
 the forces of Hellas to make war on Persia, 
 
 His after plans. 111. . r >-i 
 
 and avenge the old invasions of Greece by 
 Darius and Xerxes. This was a very skillful stroke of policy 
 on the part of Philip ; it diverted the minds of the Greeks 
 from the tho.ught of the loss of their independence, by filling 
 their imaginations with the glorious vision of a great na- 
 iioual enterprise of the Hellenes against the barbarians. 
 
 89. The design, however, was not executed ; for in the 
 
 midst of the preparations Philip was assassi- 
 
 His death. , . r -T- , • / , n 
 
 nated by one of his own subjects (336 b. c), at 
 the age of forty-six, after a reign of twenty-three years. 
 
 2. CAREER OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 
 
 90. Philip was succeeded by his son Alexander, known 
 
 as Alexander the Great At the age of twenty 
 
 he became heir to his father's power, and of 
 
 far more than his father's military genius. He was imme- 
 
ALEXANDER THE GREAT. IO5 
 
 diately acknowledged generalissimo of Greece against the 
 Persians, as his father had been. In the year 334 he set 
 out on his great expedition, and as he never returned to 
 Macedonia or Greece, we must now turn our eyes away 
 from Greek history proper, and follow the marvelous ca- 
 reer of the youthful conqueror. 
 
 91. Alexander crossed the Hellespont with a small army 
 of 35,000 men, and advanced to the Grani'cus His first vic- 
 (in Asia Minor). Here a Persian army some- ^°^'^^^- 
 what larger than his own was met and defeated, b. c. 334. 
 He then passed victoriously through the Persian provinces of 
 Asia Minor, and entered Syria. At Issus, near the borders 
 of Cilicia and Syria, a vast Persian army under Darius 
 Codoman'nus was met. The nature of the ground was such 
 that the Persian superiority in numbers did not tell ; Alex- 
 ander here won a signal victory (333 b. c), and Darius fled, 
 leaving his mother and his wife captives. 
 
 92. Alexander did not immediately follow up the Per- 
 sians, but proceeded from Issus against Tyre, His next op- 
 Gaza, and Egypt, at this time under the domin- oration. 
 
 ion of Persia. Twenty months sufficed for the reduction 
 of these places. The foundation of the great seaport Al- 
 exandria, — an act of far-sighted policy on the part of Alex- 
 ander, — was a result of his sojourn in Egypt. 
 
 93. Having possessed himself of all the maritime prov- 
 inces of Persia, Alexander, in b. c. 331, pro- Battle of 
 ceeded to seek his enemy in the heart of his ^-rbeia. 
 empire. The final conflict took place at Arbe'la in Assyria.* 
 Here Darius had chosen his ground and arrayed the full 
 force of his empire. But the Asiatic soldier was inferior 
 to the European, and the invading force was led by a con- 
 summate military genius. The result was the complete 
 overthrow of a Persian force of a million men by less than 
 
 * Though the action bears the name of Arbela, it was in reality fought 
 at Gaugame'la, a village 20 miles distant. 
 
I06 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 50,000 Greeks (b. c. 331). So decisive was the victory, that 
 the three capitals of the empire, Babylon, Susa, and Per- 
 sep'olis, surrendered ahnost without resistance ; and the 
 Persian monarch became a fugitive, and was erelong assas- 
 sinated. 
 
 94. Thus at the age of twenty-five Alexander saw him- 
 Alexander's Self lord of Western Asia. But the most re- 
 ambition, markable part of the conqueror's career was 
 now to begin. Instead of settling down in the luxurious 
 capital of the East, he was urged by an irresistible impulse 
 to press on, so long as there were lands or men to conquer. 
 
 95. To the east of Persia lay a new and unknown 
 Expedition to world, believed to be one of immense wealth, 
 India. ^^^ j^g resolved to penetrate it. Half explor- 
 ing, half conquering, he pushed his way into the mysterious 
 Orient as far as the river Hyph'asis (the modern Sutlej) in 
 Northern India (326 b. c.).* He subdued the princes that 
 were found reigning here, and then desired to press east- 
 ward and complete the subjugation of the continent, which 
 was believed to terminate at no great distance. 
 
 96. His soldiers, however, refused to go any farther 
 than the Hyphasis ; so he had to prepare to return home- 
 wards. It is a proof of his inventive genius, that in place 
 
 * See the route of Alexander on the map opposite page 55. From 
 Persep'olis he went to Ecbat'ana, thence eastward through Media, Hyr- 
 cania, Parthia, and Aria, founding in the latter a city of Alexandria 
 (modern Herat) ; then southward through Drangia'na ; then (late in 330) 
 northeastward through ^acho'sia, founding there Alexandrop'olis (mod- 
 ern Candahar' ? ) ; then northward across the range of the Paropami'sus 
 or Hindoo Koosh_, across the Oxus River, and (early in 329) traversing 
 Bactria'na and Sogdia'na to the capital of the latter, Maracanda (modern 
 Samarcand) ; then northward to the Jaxartes River, where he founded 
 Alexandria Eschate (i.e. the last ox farthest) ; then back again, scouring 
 Sogdiana and Bactriana in various directions ; then, in 327, southeast- 
 ward from Bactriana to the Indus, which he crossed at Tax'ila; then 
 eastward to the Hydas'pes, founding Buceph'ala and Nicae'a, and finally 
 to the Hyph'asis. 
 
ALEXANDER THE GREAT. \0J 
 
 of retracing his steps he went back by an entirely new path. 
 He built a fleet to sail down the Hydas'pes Return froi 
 and the Indus, while the bulk of his army ^"'^la- 
 marched down their banks. Reaching the Indian Ocean, 
 Alexander sent his admiral, Near'chus, with the fleet, round 
 to the Euphrates ; he himself led his army overland through 
 the desert region of Gedro'sia (Beloochistan) and Carma'nia 
 into Persia. Though his army suffered terribly in the des- 
 ert, yet Alexander brought back the greater part of his force 
 to Persepolis (324 b. c), and began to prepare for new en- 
 terprises. 
 
 97* The plans of Alexander were brought to an end by 
 the sudden death of their projector, at Baby- 
 
 I ^^T- c ^ • -i r \ His death. 
 
 Ion, at the age of thirty-three (b. c. 323). 
 
 Thus cut off in the vigor of early 
 manhood, he left no inheritor either of 
 his power or of his projects. When 
 asked on his death-bed to whom he 
 left the empire, he said, "To the 
 strongest." But there was none strong 
 enough. Thus the vast dominion broke 
 into fragments soon after his death, 
 
 Coin ok Alexander. ^^^ j^j^ ^^^:^^^ SChemCS of policy and 
 
 conquest were buried in his grave. 
 
 98. Though the great empire of Alexander broke in 
 pieces almost at once, yet the effects of his Result of his 
 career have remained to all time. One great conquests, 
 result was the Hellenizing of tlie conquered lands, that is, 
 their assimilation to Greek ideas and Greek civilization. 
 "The Greek language became the tongue of all govern- 
 ment and literature throughout many countries where the 
 people were not Greek by birth. It was thus at the very 
 moment that Greece began to lose her political freedom 
 that she made, as it were, an intellectual conquest of a 
 large part of the world." 
 
I08 JUS TORY OF GREECE. 
 
 3. ALEXANDER'S SUCCESSORS. 
 
 99. The great empire of Alexander, as has been said, 
 Division of fell to pieces after his death, and the generals 
 the empire. ^^j^q ]^^^^ fought Under him contended fiercely 
 during twenty years for the fragments. In the year- 301 a 
 decisive action took place at Ipsus in Phrygia, the result of 
 which gave Syria and the East to Seleucus, Egypt to Ptol 
 emy, Thrace to Lysim'achus, and Macedonia to Cassander. 
 'Of the various kingdoms founded by these men, two are of 
 special interest, — the kingdom of the Ptolemies in Egypt 
 and the kingdom of the Seleu'cidae in the East. 
 
 100. Egypt fell to the lot of Ptolemy, one of Alexander's 
 
 generals, known as Ptolemy Soter. He was 
 
 an energetic monarch, and during a long reig a 
 
 i/<?j^v;, (323-283 B.C.) ruled Egypt, on the whole, well. The 
 
 Greeks and the Macedonians who|]^ he carried with him or 
 who emigrated to Egypt were the ruling race ; but the Egyj.)- 
 tians were not oppressed, for many of the civil rulers were 
 natives, and particular respect was paid to the old Egyptian 
 religion. 
 
 101. Ptolemy I. was followed by a series of monarchs 
 
 also called Ptolemies down to the time of 
 Queen Cleopatra, the last of the line of the 
 
 Ptolemies. On her death (30 B. c.) Egypt became a Roman 
 
 province. 
 
 102. The history of Egypt during the three centuries of 
 Alexandrine Ptolcmaic rulc is mainly the history of Alex;an- 
 civiiization. ^xvbl, wfiich was made the capital, and which 
 soon became a great and flourishing city. Literature, phi- 
 losophy, and the arts were assiduously cultivated ; the great 
 Alexandrian Library was swelled to 500,000 volumes, and a 
 novel and peculiar culture and civilization — a mingling of 
 Greek, Egyptian, and Jewish — arose on the Nile banks, 
 under the paternal despotism of the Ptolemies- 
 
MACEDON AND GREECE. lOQ 
 
 103. The kingdom of the Seleucidas was founded (312 
 B. c.) by Seleucus, another of Alexander's gen- Kingdom of 
 erals. At first the kingdom consisted merely Seieucus. 
 
 of Babylonia and the adjacent regions, Susiana, Media, and 
 Persia ; but Seleucus afterwards made himself master of all 
 the countries lying between the Indus and Euphrates on the 
 one hand, and the Jaxartes and the Indian Ocean on the other. 
 A still further addition was soon made in nearly all of Asia 
 Minor. Seleucus now removed his capital from Babylonia 
 to the newly founded Greek city of Antioch in Syria. 
 
 104. Seleucus, who died by assassination in 280, was fol- 
 lowed by a succession of kings known as the ^ 
 
 ■^ ° . Later history. 
 
 Seleucidse, who for about two centuries ruled 
 over the kingdom he had founded. This portion of history, 
 however, is not specially instructive, and the kingdom of the 
 Seleucidae was of no considerable importance in the history 
 of civilization. The two centuries are filled with the stories 
 of wars and revolts, in the midst of which the kingdom grad- 
 ually lost its huge proportions ; its remnant was finally con- 
 quered by Pompey and absorbed into the Roman Empire 
 in the year 65 b. c. 
 
 4. LATER HISTORY OF MACEDON AND GREECE. 
 
 105. We now return. to what took place in Macedon and 
 Greece subsequently to the death of Alexander Greece resists 
 the Great in b. c. 323. On the death of Alex- Macedon. 
 ander, the Greeks v/ere inspired by high hopes of bursting 
 the chains which bound Hellas to the footstool of the 
 Macedonian kings. Athens, under Demosthenes and Hy- 
 per'ides, took the lead : they formed a confederacy of the 
 Greek states, and entered on what was called the " Lamian 
 war "(323-321 B. c). But the confederates were unsuccess- 
 ful, and the yoke of Macedonia was riveted on them more 
 firmly than ever. 
 
no HrSTORY OT GREECE. 
 
 106. The last days of Grecian history, before the coun- 
 Later Greek try came altogether under the power of the 
 politics. Romans, are distinguished in several ways 
 from the times which went before them. The chief powers 
 of Greece now were Macedonia, Achaea, ^tolia, and Sparta : 
 Macedonia, for reasons that will readily be known ; Achaea 
 and ^tolia, from a new fact in the politics of Greece, 
 namely, the formation of Federal Leagues of States. 
 
 107. The nature of these leagues was similar to the 
 Grecian federal union of the States of Switzerland and 
 leagues. q£ ^^^ q^j^ RcpubUc ; that is, there was an 
 agreement on the part of several states to give up part of 
 their power, and especially their control of questions of 
 peace and war, to a general government in which all had a 
 share. These leagues now came to be of special weight in 
 Greek politics, since it was found that as long as the cities 
 stood one by one they had no chance of keeping their free- 
 dom against the Macedonian kings. The most important 
 of these federal unions were the Achaean (formed in 280 
 B. c.) and the ^tolian Leagues. Besides these two great 
 federations, there were smaller unions ; so that, with the 
 exception of Sparta at one end and Macedonia at the other, 
 the greater part of Greece was parted out among the differ- 
 ent leagues. 
 
 108. These confederations of the Greek States subserved 
 ^^ . ^ a useful purpose, as they enabled them to pre- 
 
 Their effect. T r • i n • n «• 
 
 sei-ve a front of independence against Mace- 
 don. Under Ara'tus and Philopoe'men, — two patriots of 
 the kind that Hellas had produced in her glorious times, — 
 the States of the Achaean League rose to a considerable 
 eminence (245-213 B.C.); but the jealous selfishness of 
 Sparta once more led to discord and strife, and the Mace- 
 donian king, being called in as umpire, was once more 
 master. 
 
 109. But Macedon itself was about to be swallowed up by 
 
J, , ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS. Ill 
 
 I »-i. ^ir€. (>j kv/-:^v . 
 
 a yet greater power, — by Rome. It was at this time, as we 
 shall presently see, that the Romans, having Macedon and 
 broken the power of Carthage, turned their ^^°"^e. 
 ambition eastward. After a long conflict (200-168 b. c.) 
 the Macedonian kingdom was overthrown at the battle of 
 Pydna, 168 b. c, and Perseus, the last of the Macedonian 
 kings, adorned as a captive the triumph of a Roman general. 
 
 110. After this event the Greek republics were for a 
 short time left independent ; but, quarreling Last days of 
 once more among themselves, they were finally Greece. 
 (146 B. c.) reduced to a Roman province under the name 
 of Achaia. 
 
 111. The intellectual history of later Greece was of a 
 different character from that of its glorious Decline of 
 period. There was more of scholarship, but ^^^^^s. 
 
 less of creative genius. We have seen that the Oriental 
 conquests of Alexander and the Greek rule in the new king- 
 doms of the East tended to Hellenize Asia ; but there was 
 .a reflex influence of Asia on Hellas herself. The Oriental 
 habits of servility and adulation superseded the old free- 
 spoken independence and manliness ; patriotism and public 
 spirit waned ; literature lost its vigor ; art deteriorated, and 
 the people sank into a nation of pedants, parasites, and 
 adventurers. ^nj-c^'^' - ^ 
 
 " 'T was Greece, but living Greece no more 1 " 
 
 -t-V 
 
 ■.n^H^^^A. 
 
 ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS FOR REVIEW. 
 
 Three Periods 
 
 of 
 Greek history. 
 
 First Authentic Period, — from the Dorian migra- 
 tions to the beginning of the Persian Wars, B. c 
 1100-500. 
 
 Second Period, — from the beginning of the Persian 
 Wars to the victory of Philip of Macedon at Chaero- 
 nea, b. c. 500-338. 
 
 Third Period, — from the victory of Philip to the 
 absorption of Greece by the Romans, b. c. 338- 146. 
 
112 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 General 
 Summary. 
 
 General 
 Summary. 
 
 First Period, B.C. 1100-500. 
 
 The Heroic Age ended with a 
 general migration of the tribes of 
 Greece, the settlement of the Do- 
 rians in the Peloponnesus, and the 
 establishment of colonies on the 
 shores of Asia Minor and else- 
 where. In the succeeding three 
 or four centuries the Spartans, 
 under the form of government 
 established by Lycurgus, became 
 the leading state of the Pelopon- 
 nesus, conquering the Messenians 
 and others. Athens meantime 
 had become an oligarchy. A more 
 moderate government was estab- 
 lished by Solon ; however, con- 
 tentions were frequent, and Pi- 
 sistratus seized power, which 
 remained with his sons, till the 
 Pisistratidae were expelled, and 
 . Athens became a pure democracy. 
 
 Second Period, B. C. 500 - 338. 
 
 The Ionian Greeks in Asia 
 Minor revolted from Persia, and 
 Athens lent them aid. Accord- 
 ingly Darius sent Mardonius 
 against Greece ; but he advanced 
 no farther than Macedonia, his 
 fleet being destroyed by a storm. 
 Then Darius sent a vast force 
 under Datis, but it was defeated 
 in the battle of Marathon. Da- 
 rius having died, his son Xerxes 
 moved on Greece with an im- 
 mense army and fleet: he was 
 successful at Thermopylae, and 
 took Athens; but was defeated at 
 Salamis, and the remaining force 
 at Plataea and Mycale, — which 
 caused the Persian scheme wholly 
 
 LEADING DATES. 
 
 B. c 
 Dorian migration iioo 
 
 Colonies founded 
 in Asia Minor 
 (about) 1000 
 
 Period of Lycur- 
 gus (about 850 
 
 Beginning of first 
 Messenian war.. 743 
 
 Beginning of sec- 
 ond 685 
 
 Solon's constitu- 
 tion 594 
 
 Pisistratus be- 
 came dictator... 560 
 
 Banishment of the 
 Pisistratidae 510 
 
 Revolt of the Ioni- 
 an Greeks against 
 Persia 500 
 
 Expedition of Mar- 
 donius 4ga 
 
 Battle of Mara- 
 thon 
 
 490 
 
 Battle of Ther- 
 mopylae 480 
 
 Battle of Salamis. 480 
 
 Battle of Plataea.. 479 
 
 Battle of Mycale.. 479 
 
ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS. 
 
 113 
 
 to fail. The half-century follow- 
 ing the battle of Salamis was the 
 most brilliant period of Athenian 
 history (age of Pericles) ; but the 
 greatness of Athens led to the 
 Peloponnesian war. This was in- 
 terrupted by the Peace of Nicias ; 
 but, being renewed, the Athenians 
 were beaten in various engage- 
 ments, and finally defeated at 
 ^gos Potamos ; so the result 
 of this war was the ascendency of 
 Sparta. Sparta continued prom- 
 inent till her defeat at Leuctra. 
 Thebes now became for a while 
 the leading state ; but Greece, 
 rent by dissensions, was soon sub- 
 jugated by Philip of Macedon, in 
 the battle of Chasronea. 
 
 Beginning of Pelo- 
 ponnesian War.. 
 
 Peace of Nicias. . . 
 
 431 
 
 421 
 
 Battle of .Sgos 
 Potamos 405 
 
 Battle of Leuctra. 
 
 Battle 
 nea . 
 
 of Chaero- 
 
 338 
 
 Third Period, B. C. 338 - 146. 
 
 Philip of Macedon by war and 
 intrigues made himself master of 
 Greece, and was then appointed 
 general-in-chief against Persia ; 
 but he died, and his son Alexan- 
 der took up the task. He marched 
 against the Persians in Asia Mi- 
 nor, defeating them at the Granicus 
 General ^"^ ^^ Issus ; then into Egypt and 
 Summary. ' Assyria, defeating them in the de- 
 cisive battle of Arbela. He after- 
 wards marched eastward to beyond 
 the Indus, and thence returned to 
 Babylon, where he died. After 
 Alexander's death his generals 
 disputed, and the empire was di- 
 vided. Greece, meanwhile, fell 
 into a state of intestine war, and 
 ^at last became a Roman province. 
 
 Death of Philip of 
 Macedon 336 
 
 Battle of the Gran- 
 icus 334 
 
 Battle of Issus.,. 333 
 
 Battle of Arbela.. 331 
 
 Death of Alexan- 
 der 323 
 
 Greece made a Ro- 
 man province... 146 
 
114 HISTORY OF GREECE, 
 
 ^^^.^Jy^^^ c^ ii-u^ -/<^;y^ 
 
 ,6J. ^9c/'JJ^Jy>^ C 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 GRECIAN CIVILIZATION. 
 
 I. POLITICAL IDEAS. 
 
 112. The history of Greece, though the history of but a 
 , ^ , small part of the world for a brief period (the 
 
 Part played in , . . . . , , , , , «. 
 
 history by grand age is limited to the century and a half 
 between the battle of Marathon, 490 b. c, 
 and the triumph of Philip of Macedon, 338 b. c), is of 
 permanent interest, for the reason that the Greeks were 
 the first people to show the world what real freedom and 
 real civilization are. It has been said that in the Grecian 
 commonwealths "the political and intellectual life of the 
 world began." 
 
 113. The great contribution given by Greece to the 
 Political free- world's civiHzation was the practical example 
 ^°^' of free, self-governing states. In the Oriental 
 nations the only government was despotism : there was an 
 absolute lord, and there was a mass of subjects or slaves, 
 but no people in a political sense. It was left for the Greek 
 states to give an illustration of democracy, — " the govern- 
 ment of the people, for the people, hy the people." This 
 was a great fact : it is only in an atmosphere of freedom 
 that the human mind can expand and that progress is pos- 
 sible, for political liberty means intellectual liberty; so 
 that, without this, the germs of Hellenic genius would prob- 
 ably never have borne their rich fruitage of literature and 
 art. 
 
 2. RELIGION. 
 
 TI4. Though the Greeks never rose to the exalted He- 
 brew conception of one God, yet their religion was much 
 
^ religion: 115 
 
 in advance of the dark and often cruel superstitions of 
 most of the ancient nations. They were poly- ^ , 
 
 •; 1 Greek and 
 
 theists, but, as they looked on the gods as other pagan- 
 their personal friends, their paganism was a 
 religion of love, whereas Asiatic paganism was a religion 
 of. fear. 
 
 115. The religion of the Greeks received its peculiar 
 form from the beautiful fictions of the poets, us poetic 
 especially of Homer and He'siod. Thus their ^^^aracter. 
 mythology was an inexhaustible treasury of highly ideal con- 
 ceptions which the chisel and the pen of artists and poets 
 embodied in forms of immortal grandeur and loveliness. 
 
 116. In the Grecian theogony, or history of the gods, the 
 earliest events that are/ jdescribed arc the pro- Greek theog- 
 ceedings of certain gigantic agents, — the col- °^^' 
 
 lision of certain terrific forces, which were ultimately reduced 
 under the more orderly government of Zeus, or Jupiter, 
 with whom begins a new dynasty, and a different order of 
 beings. 
 
 117. Zeus divided the sovereignty with his two brothers, 
 — Posei'don (Neptune) and Ha des (Pluto). Dynasty of 
 He retained for himself the ether and the at- ^^"^.• 
 mosphere, together with the general presiding function. 
 Poseidon obtained the sea, while Hades ruled the world of 
 shades. These deities, with their sisters and divine progeny, 
 comprehended the gods worshiped by the early Greeks. 
 Twelve were especially called the great Olympian gods, 
 being supposed to dwell on the heights of Mount Olympus 
 and to form the divine ag'ora^ or council of the gods, which 
 \/as held there. 
 
 The student will here find the names and chief attributes of the Oljrm- 
 pian divinities, together with the Latin names, by which they are more 
 generally known 
 
 I. Zeus, or Jupiter^ the chief and father of the gods. He is always 
 represented as seated on a throne with the thunderbolts in his right 
 hand, and an eagle by his side. 
 
Il6 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 2. Po-sei'don, or Neptune, the earth-shaker and ruler of the sea : his 
 symbol is a trident. 
 
 3. A-pol'lon, or Apollo (called also Phoebus Apollo), the divinity of 
 poetical inspiration, of song and music. He was figured as the beau 
 2df/<2/of manly beauty. (Statue of A polio Belvedere discovered in 1503.) 
 
 4. Ar'te-mis, or Diana^ the huntress among the immortals, the divin- 
 ity of flocks and of the chase. As twin-sister of Apollo, she was the 
 divinity of the moon. 
 
 5. He-phais'tos, or Vulcan, the god of terrestrial fire : he is repre- 
 sented as a blacksmith. 
 
 6. Her'mes, or Mercury, the messenger of the gods ; the god of elo- 
 quence, and the protector of trade : he is marked by his winged san- 
 dals, and by his caduceus, or wand. 
 
 7. A'res, or Mars, the god of war, delighted in the din of battle, the 
 slaughter of men, and the destruction of towns. 
 
 8. He'ra, or Jimo, the wife of Jupiter, a beautiful but unamiable god- 
 dess. 
 
 9. A-the'na, or Minerva (also Pallas)^ the goddess of wisdom and war. 
 
 10. Hes'tia, or Vesta, the goddess of the hearth. 
 
 11. De-me'ter, or Ce'res, the goddess of agriculture. 
 
 12. Aph-ro-di'te, or Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, is gener- 
 ally represented with her son E'ros, or Cupid The legend runs that 
 she rose from the sea-foam and landed on the island of Cyprus. The 
 Odyssey represents her as the wife of Vulcan. Venus was of course 
 a favorite subject with the Greek sculptors. The two finest remain- 
 
 , ing statues of this goddess are the Venus de Medici and the lovely 
 but imperfect statue known as the Venus of Milo. 
 
 118. Besides the twelve dii majores, or greater gods of 
 Other divini- Olympus, there "was an indefinite number of 
 ^^^^' others, some of whom were little inferior in 
 power and dignity. Such were He'lios, or Sol (the Sun) ; Bac- 
 chus, whom the Greeks called Diony'sos, to whom the goat- 
 herds and vine-dressers paid especial honor ; the Muses ; 
 the Nere'ides, or sea-nymphs ; the Graces, etc. There were 
 also monsters, — the progeny of the gods, — as the Harpies, 
 the Gorgons, Cer'berus, the Centaurs, the Dragon of the 
 Hesper'ides, etc. 
 
 119. By the Greeks all nature was imaged as moving 
 and working through a number of personal agents ; and 
 
U GRECIAN FESTIVALS. 
 
 117 
 
 tiiough many of the legends concerning these personages 
 aupear to us silly, and some quite shocking, ^ 
 
 , 1^1 T- .1 General view 
 
 yet the early Greek religion was, to say the of Greek re- 
 least, composed of many beautiful and poetic *^*°"' 
 conceptions. It was not until later that the Greeks adopted 
 from Egypt, Asia Minor, and Thrace the grosser supersti- 
 tions practiced in their orgies and Eleusinian mysteries. 
 
 120. The popular worship of the gods consisted princi- 
 pally in sacrifices, which were either offerings 
 
 of prayer and thanksgiving, or sin-offerings : °^^ '^* 
 these were celebrated by the priests either in the open air, 
 on the tops of mountains, in forests and groves, or in tem- 
 ples, especially on the occasion of the celebration of the 
 great national festivals. The offerings were either animals 
 — sometimes single, sometimes in great numbers (heca- 
 tombs) — or inanimate objects, as fruits, wine, honey, milk, 
 frankincense, etc. Other modes of honoring the gods were 
 by short forms of prayer uttered standing and with out- 
 stretched arms, by votive offerings, solemn processions, and 
 rehgious dances. 
 
 121. The Greeks believed that they obtained revelations 
 of the divine will from the oracles, of which 
 the most renowned were those of Zeus- at Do- 
 do'na, and of Apollo at Delphi. 
 
 Oracles. 
 
 3. GRECIAN FESTIVALS. 
 
 122. One of the most striking features of Grecian life 
 were the congresses of the people of all the The four fes- 
 states and colonies at the four great national *^v^'s. 
 festivals, — the Olympic, Pyth'ian, Isth'mian, and Ne mean 
 Games. The Olympic Festival was celebrated in honor of 
 Jupiter in the plain of Olympia, in E'lis, every four years \ 
 the Pythian was held in the third year of each Olympiad, 
 lear Delphi, in honor of Apollo ; the Isthmian, in honor of 
 
Il8 ' HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Neptune, was so called from its being celebrated on the 
 Isthmus of Corinth ; the Nemean, in honor of Nemean Ju- 
 piter, at the town of Ne'mea in the Peloponnesus. 
 
 123. The great feature of all these festivals were those 
 
 " Games," or, as the Greeks called them, " Con- 
 
 Their nature. ,,.,.,. , . , 
 
 tests, in which prizes were awarded to the 
 victors in athletic exercises, in foot and horse and chariot 
 races, in music and poetry. The prizes were of no value 
 by themselves, — a mere garland of olive, laurel, etc., placed 
 on the victor's head. But this chaplet carried with it death- 
 less fame. The name of the victor was proclaimed before 
 assembled Hellas, his statue was erected in the sacred 
 grove, and his praises were sung by poets. He returned 
 in triumphal procession to his home, where distinguished 
 honors and substantial rewards awaited him. 
 
 124. These festivals lasted for several days, and drew 
 
 together an immense multitude from all parts 
 ciai and liter- of Greccc. They thus afforded the best pos- 
 ^^^' sible means for commercial, social, and literary 
 
 intercourse. " In the booths around the plain of Olympia, 
 merchants exchanged the rude^wares they had brought from 
 the banks of the Tanais and the Rhone against the rich 
 products of Asia and Africa ; the social and political condi- 
 tion of the various states of the mother country, of her far- 
 thest colonies, and of the barbarian nations around them, 
 might be compared. Teachers of philosophy discussed 
 the theories which sprang up in Athens and Italian Greece ; 
 sculptors and painters took occasion to exhibit the finest 
 productions of chisel and brush ; while poets and historians 
 read aloud, in all their freshness, those immortal' works which 
 we only half admire for want of such a hearing. Such 
 intercourse must have powerfully tended to maintain that 
 intellectual S3'mpathy which, in the absence of any political 
 union, was the strongest bond of nationality among the sons 
 of Hellas."* 
 
 * Philip Smith, History of the World. 
 
GREEK LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. II9 
 
 4. GREEK LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 125. Leaving aside the Sacred Scriptures, the literature 
 of Greece is incomparably the most valuable of comparison of 
 all the literatures of antiquity. It is far richer, literatures, 
 grander, and more original than that of Rome, — and in- 
 deed the Latins were avowedly imitators of the Greeks. 
 Of the literature of the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Phoeni- 
 cians we have only fragments, and the scare far from show- 
 ing a high tone of thought or sentiment. The ancient 
 Persians have left us but one important work, the Zend- 
 Avesta, and this is rude ci'"d primitive in its structure. The 
 great body of Hindoo writings (the Vedas, etc.) is, from its 
 lack of form, curious rather than valuable. With the Greeks, 
 for the first time, came noble intellectual conceptions em- 
 bodied in forms of literary art. 
 
 126. In Greek literature poetry precedes prose. The 
 oldest Greek poems that remain to us are the ^^ 
 
 . . ,. . \ , Homer. 
 
 two nnmortal epics (1. e. narrative poems) that 
 go by the name of Homer, — namely, the Iliad and the 
 Odyssey. These are considered the finest epics ever writ- 
 ten : they breathe the freshness and charm of the poetic 
 springtime of the world. It is a noticeable fact that these 
 earliest monuments of Grecian literature do not belong to 
 continental but to colonial Hellas. It was in the Ionian 
 and ^olian cities on the coast of Asia Minor that the lit- 
 erature of Greece originated ; for whether the Iliad and the 
 Odyssey are to be looked on as the work of one individual 
 or of many bards, scholars are agreed that they must be 
 regarded as the composition of Asiatic Greeks. 
 
 127. By the Greeks Homer was regarded as a real in- 
 dividual ; Herod'otus places him four hundred Homer among 
 years before himself, which would fix his pe- *^® Greeks, 
 riod at about 880 b. c. These poems were for centuries 
 lodged only in the memory of bards, who sang or recited 
 
120 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 them to assembled companies and at festivals. They were 
 not committed to writing till the period of Pisistratus at 
 Athens (b. c. 560). 
 
 On the subject of the authorship of the Homeric poems, read Chap- 
 ter XXI. of Grote's Greece, Vol. II. The most celebrated English trans- 
 lations of Homer are those of Chapman (time of Shakespeare), Pope and 
 Cowper (last century), Lord Derby and our American poet, William 
 C alien Bryant. 
 
 128. The next development of epic poetry was in BcEo'- 
 
 tia, in the works of Hesiod, who is thought to 
 
 Hesiod. . i- i • i r. i - ^ , . , 
 
 have lived m the 8th century, that is, about a 
 century after Homer. The two most famous books of He- 
 siod are the Theogony and the Works and Days. These 
 were looked up to by the Greeks as of great authority 
 in theological and philosophical matters ; but they do not 
 possess the same interest for us as the Homeric poems. 
 
 129. The epic was the only kind of poetry during the 
 Epic and kingly period. The epics usually related the 
 elegy. exploits of the heroes of the mythical ages, 
 and hence were very acceptable to princes who claimed 
 descent from those heroes. When, however, regal rule gave 
 place to democracy, poets arose who were stimulated to a 
 freer expression of //z^^' feelings. The new style of poetry 
 is called the Blegy^ — but the word has a wider meaning 
 than with us, and denoted all emotional poetry. One of the 
 most famous writers of the elegy was Tyrtae'us (born in the 
 latter part of the 8th century b. c). He is said to have 
 been a lame schoolmaster at Athens, sent to Sparta in de- 
 rision by the Athenians, to whom the Spartans had applied 
 for a leader in the Messenian war: it is added that his 
 stirring songs had a great influence on the campaign. 
 Simon'ides of Ceos, who belongs to the 5th century, is also 
 named as a writer of noble elegies. 
 
 130. The next step in the progress of Greek poetical 
 
GREEK LITERATURE AND rHILOSOPHY. 121 
 
 literature was the growth of lyric poetry. The chief feature 
 of this style was its connection with music, . 
 vocal as well as instrumental. Lyric poems 
 were sung, accompanied with music and often with the 
 movements of the dance. The most famous names in 
 Greek lyric poetry are Sappho, Alcae'us, Anac'reon, and Pin- 
 dar. Sappho, who wrote in the 6th century c. c, was a Les- 
 bian ; she sang of love, and Alcaeus, who also was a Lesbian 
 and her contemporary, calls her the " violet-crowned, pure, 
 sweetly smiling Sappho." Pindar (born 522 b. c.) "was a 
 native of Bceotia ; he was the most celebrated of the Doric 
 school of lyrists, and was thought by the Greeks the most 
 sublime of their poets. 
 
 131. The highest form of Greek literature, the drama, 
 arose in Athens in the asre of Pericles, 5th cen- ^ 
 
 nr. 1 . -, ' r -,1 1 1 Drama. 
 
 tury B. c. Tragedy attamed its full develop- 
 ment at the hands of ^Es'chylus (born 525 b. c), Soph'ocles 
 (born 495 B. c), and Eurip'ides (born 480 b. c). The fertil- 
 ity and excellence of Greek dramatic poetry at the flood tide 
 of national greatness were most remarkable. The festivals 
 of Bacchus (Diony^os), celebrated at Athens every spring, 
 were the principal occasions on which new pieces were 
 brought out, and always in competition for the prize and 
 under the direction of the chief magistrates. 
 
 132. Greek tragedy as exhibited in the masterpieces of 
 ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides was very Comparison 
 different from our dran*a, and especially from speare. 
 
 the plays of Shakespeare. The Shakespearian tragedy deals 
 with human life and passion ; Greek tragedy with the gods 
 and mythical heroes. In regard to treatment, the Greek 
 dramatist was bound to obey the rules of " unity of time and 
 place " ; that is, the plot must be confined to o//c place and 
 to an interval of time not much exceeding that which was 
 occupied in the representation. All that could not be sup^ 
 posed to happen in the presence of the chorus, and within 
 

 122 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 (the compass of a few hours, had to be narrated, and 
 ^ould not be acted. Shakespeare wholly disregarded th 
 limitations of time and space. Had such a subject a: 
 lfvi?7g Lear been treated by Sophocles, all that precede^ 
 fhe fifth act would have been narrated, and the fifth alone( 
 i^cted. 
 
 133. Athenian comedy derived its origin from the revels 
 • and gibes of the comus, or Bacchic procession. 
 
 . ' Its greatest master was Aristoph'anes (born at 
 
 |Vthens 444 b. c). Among the most famous of his comedies 
 ihat have come down to us are The Clouds, The Wasps, Tht 
 ''^irds, and The Frogs. They satirize Athenian society in z 
 Very pungent and amusing manner. 
 
 \ 134. We now turn to prose literature. In history the 
 first great name is that of Herodotus, called 
 the " Father of History. He was an lomar 
 jreek of Halicarnas'sus in Asia Minor, and was born \i 
 k84 B. c, between the first and second Persian wars. The 
 subject chosen by Herodotus was the History of the Per- 
 sian Wars ; but it took a wider scope, and was really a sort 
 Df universal history up to his time. He had traveled exten 
 jively in Egypt and in Asia, and presents us with a vivid anc 
 nost interesting picture of society and life among the na- 
 ions of antiquity at his time. The style of Herodotus is 
 ;hat of a charming story-teller, and his work is still read 
 ivith pleasure. 
 
 r 
 
 Many translations of Herodotus have been made. The best is thai 
 f Rawlinson, in four volumes. The notes and essays appended to the 
 ext of Herodotus in this admirable work contain the results of the latest 
 cholarship regarding the history of each country treated. 
 
 135. The most philosophic historian produced by Greece 
 , , :"'^^'is Thucyd'ides (born at Athens 471 b. c.)S 
 
 'hucydides. _,, , . . ^ , _,, , . , i ^ 
 
 The subject chosen by Thucydides was the 
 *eloponnesian War, His history is distinguished for the 
 
GREEK LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 1 23 
 
 loftiness of its style, and for the profound insight it dis^' 
 Dlays into the actions and motives of men. It is the earl- 
 iest example of the philosophy of history, and as such it i^ 
 ivhat Thucydides himself proudly called it, a " possessiori 
 [orever." / 
 
 136. Among other historians may be named Xenophonl 
 I contemporary of Thucydides, distinguished other histo- f 
 or his easy and graceful style of narrative ; Po- "^"s* 
 yb'ius, who belongs to the 2d century b. c. ; and Diodo'rusl 
 vho belongs to the 1st century. Plutarch, whose Lives haj 
 )een called the " Bible of heroisms," *" lived in the 2d cen- 
 ury A. D. 
 
 137. In connection with prose literature should be men- 
 ioned eloquence, or oratory. It was first cul- 
 
 , . , , . , Oratory. ; 
 
 ivated as an art at Athens durmg the great i 
 
 period of the democracy. Pericles himself was master of s 
 Jtyle of oratory so sublime as to gain for him the epithet ol 
 ' the Olympian." Political oratory was exhibited in itJ 
 iullest development in the contest between ^s'chines (393 
 317 B, c), the advocate of Macedonian interests, and his 
 greater adversary Demosthenes (385-332 B.C.), who, 
 xposing and opposing the plans of Philip, 
 
 " shook the arsenal 
 And fulmined over Greece." 
 
 138. Philosophy was first cultivated in the Grecian col^ 
 )nies of Asia Minor and Lower Italy : in the Early phUos- 
 •ormer by Tha'les, who lived in the 6th century, op^^^^s. 
 ind was the founder of the Ionic school ; in the latter b] 
 Pythag'oras, who belonged to the same century, and was the 
 lead of the Pythagore'an school. Thales, Pythagoras, an( 
 he other early sages of Greece chiefly occupied themselves 
 vith natural philosophy; but in the 5th century they were 
 Succeeded by the Stfphists and Rh^ors, who taught the artsi 
 
 * R. W. Emerson. 
 
124 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Socrates 
 
 of dialectics and rhetoric, and were the paid instructors of 
 the Athenian youth. 
 
 139. Soc'rates, one of the wisest and greatest of the hu- 
 man race, belongs to the epoch immediately 
 succeeding the age of Pericles (469-399 b. c). 
 He did not teach any positive system of philosophy ; his 
 special work was to break down prejudices, to show people 
 their ignorance, to expose fallacies, and to assert the exist- 
 ence of great necessary truths, — of the good, the true, and 
 
 the beautiful, 
 — and this he 
 did by a meth- 
 od of search- 
 
 mg mquiry 
 called, after 
 him, the So- 
 craiic. He 
 
 Socrates. Plato. -waS ungainly 
 
 of person and ascetic in his habits j he taught without pay 
 in the porticoes, the market-place, and the street, a:ddressing 
 all who chose to listen, in a homely but most pointed and 
 telling style. Notwithstanding his pure and noble life, and 
 his efforts to promote the welfare of mankind, his doctrines 
 made him many enemies : he was charged before the Athe- 
 nian magistrates with not believing in the gods, and with 
 being a corrupter of youth. Being condemned on these 
 charges, he was sentenced to drink a cup of hemlock. He 
 met his death calmly, surrounded by his beloved and weep- 
 ing disciples, to whom in his last hours he discoursed on 
 the Immortality of the Soul. 
 
 140. Plato (429-347 B. c), one of the disciples of Soc- 
 rates, was the founder of the Academic 
 school, so called from the groves of Acade'mus, 
 near Athens, where the philosopher gave his lectures. The 
 works of Plato remain in the form of his Dialogues, In these 
 
 Plato. 
 
GRECIAN ART. 
 
 125 
 
 fjocrates is represented as the principal speaker; but thq 
 hilosophy of Plato was really his own. It is distinguishe( 
 
 or its lofty ideal character. The Platonic doctrines have 
 ad a powerful influence on the human mind, and ^re the 
 
 ligh-water mark of spirituality in the ancient world. 
 
 141. Aristot'le (384-322 b. c), the founder of the Peri-- 
 Datet'ic school (at the Lyceum at Athens), v/as . . 
 
 • i" 1 • r 1 1-1 Aristotle. 
 
 he most logical and systematic or the philoso- 
 phers and scientists of Greece. He first gave form to wha^ 
 s called the deductive system of reasoning. His philosophy 
 i Dredominated over the minds of men for two thousanc 
 »^ears, — lasting, in fact, until it was displaced by the Induc\ 
 Hve system, with which the name of Bacon is associated) 
 Induction arrives at truth by reasoning up from facts tc 
 general laws ; deduction begins with abstract principles anc 
 fieeks to arrive at truth by reasoning downwards, as in ge 
 ^metry. Aristotle was the teacher of Alexander the Great.. 
 
 5. GRECIAN ART. 1,,.^^^^/^,^ tLot^ 0<ry^^C^^~^n^ 
 
 142. The four fine arts are architecture, sculpture, paint 
 5ng, and music. The artistic instincts of the Forms of 
 Greeks expressed themselves in the first two ^^^e^ ^^' 
 :orms (for painting and music belong properly to the Mic 
 We Ages and to Christianity) ; and in these a degree of pei 
 ection was attained that was never before seen and thai 
 ias never since been surpassed. 
 
 143. The most important architectural works of Greece 
 ire the temples of the gods : in these we find 
 he development of the Grecian column in the 
 hree classic forms, — the Doric, the Ionic, and the Cor 
 NTHIAN. It is probable that all the principal cities oi 
 G^reece had temples commensurate with their dignity before 
 :he Persian wars ; but many were destroyed during thai 
 
 ^ struggle, and in the grand period of national life thai 
 
 Temples. 
 
126 
 
 HISTORY CP GREECE. 
 
 ■ollowed the contest with Persia the people pulled downi 
 nd rebuilt the old structures in a more magnificent style. 
 
 fThe consequence is that nearly all the great temples now) 
 bund in Greece were built in the forty or fifty years whichj 
 
 succeeded the defeat of the Persians at Salamis. 
 
 u 
 
 onic orde: 
 
 Doric. Ionic. Corinthian. 
 
 Three Orders of Greek Architecture. 
 
 144. The graceful Ionic order of architecture had its 
 origin in the Greek cities of Ionia in Asia 
 Minor. The most celebrated example of this( 
 
 rder was the temple of Diana at Ephesus, burnt on the] 
 irthnight of Alexander the Great (b. c. 356) by Heros'tratus, 
 nd rebuilt in still more splendid style in the Roman age. 
 ^This temple was 425 feet long by 220 feet w-ide. Its whole j 
 oundation has been laid bare by English explorations. 
 
 145. The Corinthian was the highest and most richly) 
 ornamented of the Grecian orders. The an- 
 cients employed it in temples dedicated to 
 
 ^enus, Flora, and the nymphs of fountains, because the/ 
 flowers and foliage with which it is adorned seemed wely 
 
 Corinthian. 
 
GRECIAN ART. 12/ 
 
 ladapted to the delicacy and elegance of such deities. It 
 Hates from the latter part of the 5th century b. c. I 
 
 \ 146. The most famous of the Doric temples of Greece i^ 
 4he Parthenon, — the " House of the Virgin," s 
 
 i , . . 1 •! r Fartnenon. 
 
 Hedicated to Athena (Mmerva) : it was built of 
 foure white marble, and crowned the Aciopolis at A then 
 3f this structure a great authority says : " In its own clas 
 t is undoubtedly the most beautiful building in the world 
 [t is true it has neither the dimensions nor the wondrou 
 expression of power and eternity inherent in Egyptian tem 
 3les, nor has it the variety and poetry of the Gothic cathe 
 Iral ; but for intellejctuarbeaut^ for perfection of proportion 
 or beauty of detail, and for the exquisite perceptional th 
 lighest^ndjnost recondite_principies 6i arfever applied ti 
 irchitecture, it stairds~utterly and entirely alone and unri 
 /aled, — • the glory of Greece, and the shame of the rest ol 
 :he world." * 
 
 147. It is acknowledged that in sculpture the Greeks 
 ittained absolute perfection. • The finest speci- 
 
 . _, . ^ , , . ^ Sculpture. 
 
 nens of Grecian sculpture that remain to us 
 ^re the figures that adorned the pediments and friezes oi 
 he Parthenon. Most of these were taken by Lord Elgini 
 :rom Athens to England, and are now in the British Mu- 
 |eum. Many of the figures are, unfortunately, in a mutilat 
 d state, but they nevertheless embody the very perfection' 
 f loveliness, majesty, and jDower. These works were ex- 
 cuted by a school of artists under the direction of the illus- 
 trious Phid'ias, who belonged to the grand period followin 
 ;he Persian wars. This was the heroic age of Grecian scul 
 :ure : later artists produced forms that the uninstructed re, 
 yard as more beautiful, but they lack the perfect purity 
 ;ind repose of these immortal works. 
 
 * Ferguson's History of Architecture, Vol. I. p. 221. See cut of the 
 Parthenon, p. ']i of the present book. 
 
128 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 \ 
 
 6. GREEK LIFE, MANNERS, ETC. 
 
 148. The mode of life and the manners and customs o^ 
 ^^.he Greeks, as gleaned from their writings and the relicsi 
 
 they have left us, form a deeply interesting/ 
 subject, — which, however, can merely be/ 
 /touched on here. 
 
 149. The dress of the Greeks was simple, without un- 
 / necessary coverings or useless display of orna- 
 ) ^ * ments. Between the sexes there was little 
 
 difference of attire. The garments were commonly of wool, 
 linen, and later of cotton. The women wore no head-cov 
 erings ; all the men, too, were hatless, except travelers an 
 Icertain kinds of workmen. In-doors the Greeks used no 
 ifoot-covering ; abroad they wore sandals, shoes, sometimes 
 
 )00tS. 
 
 150. The Greeks ate three daily meals, reclining on 
 couches, and using neither table-cloth nor nap- 
 kins. In primitive fashion, they used their fin- 
 
 igers for knives and forks ; but spoons were common. They 
 [washed the hands (no wonder !) before and after meals. 
 [Among the common people dried fish and barley bread, witM 
 y Idates, were the staple food. Among the Avell-to-do all sortsi 
 pf luxuries were of course indulged in. After dinner came/ 
 the symposium^ when host and guests drained goblets of) 
 wine mixed with hot or cold water, being governed by^ 
 Ithe " master of the feast," who was chosen by lot. This 
 fdrinking-bout was enlivened by varied conversation, music, 
 ^dancing, and all sorts of games and amusements. 
 
 151. Though the state did not support schools, yet daily 
 school-going was quite general ; the boys 
 alone went to school, however. The whole 
 
 .education of a Greek youth was divided into three parts, — 
 grammar, music, and gymnastics. The schoolmaster was 
 called the grammaiis'tes^ or grammarian ; but with the Greeks, 
 
GREEK LIFE, MANNERSy ETC. 
 
 129 
 
 ''grammar" included most of the rudimentary branches 
 jeducation, while under the term " music " came all Intel 
 
 Iectual accomplishments. The gymnasium, where the bod 
 ^ vas rendered supple and strong by wrestling, running, bo 
 ng, and kindred pursuits, was part and parcel of Gree 
 ducation, and was much frequented both for pastime an(j 
 xercise. There the contestants trained for the celebratec 
 
 lympic Games. 
 
 152. Women seem in the Homeric age to have held i | 
 ligher position in the household than in later Position of 
 :imes. In the historic period, the husband ^oman. 
 jeated his wife as a faithful slave, *' something better tha 
 lis dog, a little dearer than his horse." The principle o 
 
 hich the education of women rested was, that just so muc 
 
 ental culture was expedient for women as would enabl 
 hem to manage the household, provide for the bodily wan 
 f the children, and overlook the female slaves. Seclude 
 n the gy?iec£B'um, or female apartment, both before an 
 fter marriage, they led a secluded and narrow life ; so tha 
 
 e must think of Greek society as destitute of the refinin 
 
 nd ennobling influence of cultured mothers, sisters, an 
 
 vives ; and this fact resulted in some distinctly traceabl 
 
 efects in the products of Grecian genius. We shall here^ 
 
 after see that it is to Christianity that we are indebted f< 
 
 the elevation of woman to her true place in society. 
 
 A Procession of Suppliant& 
 
130 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 General view. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 GEOGRAPHY AND RACES. 
 
 1, The history of the Romans, the last and greatest 
 people of antiquity, is now to engage our at- 
 tention. We shall see how this people comes 
 
 first to notice as a village community in the 8th century 
 B. c, — how it develops into a vigorous republic and sub- 
 dues all the other races of 
 the peninsula, — how it push- 
 es its conquests beyond the 
 bounds of Italy, — and how, 
 finally, about the time of the 
 birth of Christ, it stands forth 
 a great imperial and world- 
 ruling power. It is a won- 
 derful and most instructive 
 story. 
 
 2. Italy is the central one of the three great peninsulas 
 Geographical whicli project from the South of Europe into 
 features. ^^ Mediterranean Sea. It has an extreme 
 length of 700 miles, is bounded on the north by the chain 
 of the Alps, and is surrounded on other sides by the sea. 
 It may be divided into two parts, — the northern consisting 
 of the great plain drained by the river Padus, or Po, with 
 its tributaries, and the southern being a long tongue of 
 land with the Apennines as a backbone traversing it from 
 
GEOGRAPHY AND RACES. 
 
 131 
 
 north to south. 
 
 It should be noticed, however, that, till 
 the time of the Empire, 
 the Romans never in- 
 cluded the plain of the 
 Po in Italy. To this sec- 
 tion they gave the name 
 of Gallia Cisalpi'na, or 
 Gaul on this (the Roman) 
 side of the Alps. Both 
 the northern 
 
 and southern 
 sections of It- 
 aly comprised 
 many distinct 
 territorial di- 
 visions, the 
 names of which 
 will best be 
 learned from 
 the map. 
 
 3. Italy was inhabited, at the earliest period to which our 
 knowledge carries us back, by four principal 
 
 races, the Gauls, Etruscans, lapyg'ians, and 
 
 Italians proper ; but the first three are of minor importance 
 
 compared with the fourth, the Italians proper. 
 
 4. The Gauls inhabited the greater part of Northern 
 Italy (Gallia Cisalpina) ; they were a branch pjrst three 
 of the same race that inhabited Gaul to the '"a'^es. 
 north of the Alps (France), and hence were Aryans. The 
 Etruscans inhabited Etruria, a district between the Arno 
 and the Tiber. Their origin is involved in great obscurity, 
 ^ut it is believed that this people belonged to the Aryan 
 stock. Certain it is that, long before Rome appears as a 
 village on the Tiber, the Etruscans had developed a pe- 
 culiar civilization : they were great builders, and skilled in 
 
132 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 many of the arts ; they delighted in auguries, and had a 
 strange and gloomy religion. In Apulia and the heel of 
 Italy dwelt the lapygians : this people seems to have been 
 a primitive race, quite distinct from the Italians proper. 
 In addition to these races, we should also notice the 
 Greeks in Italy, for this people had early planted so many 
 colonies on the southern coast that they gave to that dis- 
 trict the name of Magna Gr^cia, or Great Greece. 
 
 5. The fourth of the races of Italy is the one with which 
 
 we shall be mainly concerned in Roman his- 
 tory. This is the Italian race proper, which 
 occupied almost the whole of Central Italy. It was origi- 
 nally a pure Aryan stock, nearly related to the Hellenic 
 race, — a kinship which is strikingly attested by the agree- 
 ment of Greek and Latin in many words that relate to 
 agriculture and the primitive facts and phases of life. 
 
 6. The Italians proper were divided into two branches, 
 the Latins and the Umbro-Sabellians^ the latter 
 including various tribes : — 
 
 ( Latins, 
 T ] TT u C Umbrians, 
 
 Italians. < Umbro- \ ^ -u- 
 
 J c u IT \ Sabines, 
 
 / Sabeilians. i „ 
 
 \ V. Samnites, etc. 
 
 Now it is with the first branch that we shall be specially 
 concerned in the beginnings of Roman history, — namely, 
 with the Latin branch of the Italian race ; for it was by 
 men of this stock that were laid the foundations of the 
 mighty Roman state. 
 
 7. The seat' of the Latins was Latium, a small district 
 Seat of the o^^ the wcstcm coast of Central Italy, between 
 Latins. ^j^g Tiber and the Liris. Its limits are repre- 
 sented in the map on the opposite page. 
 
 Italians. 
 
PRIMEVAL ROME, 
 
 133 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 PRIMEVAL ROME. — PERIOD OF THE KINGS. 
 
 8. The early history of Rome is given in an unbroken 
 narrative by the Roman writers, who detail Legends of 
 the marvels of Rome's descent from wide- ^^"^^^ ^°"»«- 
 famed Troy, the landing of ^ne'as in Latium, the love of 
 the god Mars for the 
 vestal Rhea, her bear- 
 ing twins by the god, 
 their exposure in the 
 Tiber, their being saved 
 and suckled by a she- 
 wolf and fed by a wood- 
 pecker till found by the 
 shepherd Faus'tulus, 
 their finally restoring 
 their grandfather to the 
 throne of Alba Longa, 
 and then their collect- 
 ing their fellow-shep- 
 herds and founding 
 a town named Rome 
 (from Romulus, the el- 
 der of the twins), on the 
 hill where they had been miraculously saved and educated. 
 
 9. These romantic legends were received by the Romans 
 themselves with unquestioning simplicity ; but criticism on 
 they can no longer be regarded as a narrative ''^^^^• 
 
 of real events. The records of the early days of Rome are 
 known to have been destroyed when the city was burned by 
 the Gauls (b. c. 390) ; and Livy, the earliest writer on 
 
134 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 Roman affairs whose works have come down to us, wrote 
 about 750 years after the foundation of the city. 
 
 10. At a very early period the Latins in the district of 
 
 Latium formed a confederacy of thirty cities, 
 
 Real begin- , . 1 r 1 • i i • r ,. ^■, 
 
 nings of at the head of which was the city of Alba 
 
 °"^^' Longa. Now it is believed that Rome was 
 
 founded by a colony that went out from Alba Longa with 
 the view of establishing there an outpost of defense against 
 the Sabines and Etruscans, whose territory adjoined Latium 
 at that point. And, indeed, according to modern scholars, 
 the very name Roma^ in place of having any relation to the 
 fabled " Romulus," means a march, or border. 
 
 11. The founding of Rome is placed in the year 753 b. c. 
 Earliest his- And, Setting asidc the impossible fables of the 
 *°''^" Roman historians, we may say there is good 
 reason to believe that as early as the middle of the 8th 
 century before the Christian era there stood on a height 
 on the Tiber, called the Palatine Mount, a little village 
 named Roma, the center of a small township, consisting 
 probably of 5000 or 6000 inhabitants, all of them husband- 
 men or shepherds. A chain of events which history can- 
 not now trace, but which is indicated in a poetic manner 
 by a number of early Roman legends, led to the incorpora- 
 tion of Rome with two neighboring towns, — a small Etrus- 
 can settlement on the Caelian Hill, supposed to have been 
 called Lii'cerum, another a Sabine village on the Quirinal 
 Hill, called Quirium. The S^fenes were received on a foot- 
 ing of equality, but the Etruscans on a subordinate footing. 
 The settlement thus consisted of three tribes^ — the Ramnes^ 
 or Romans, the Ti/its, or Slbines of Quirium, and the Li/- 
 ceres^ or Etruscans of Lucerum. 
 
 12. Tradition hands down the names of seven kings 
 
 who ruled Rome durinof the reeal period (753 - 
 Kings. ^ - ^, . , \i ^^ 
 
 509 B.C.); but great obscurity hangs around 
 the greater part of this epoch. 
 
PRIMEVAL ROME. 1 35 
 
 13. The Roman citizens were from the earliest times 
 divided into two classes, — Patricians and Pie- organization 
 beians, a distinction of great importance in °^ society. 
 Roman history. To the Patricians belonged all magisterial 
 offices, all the higher degrees of the priesthood, the owner- 
 ship of the public lands, and the privilege of using a family- 
 name. In fact, during the early ages the Patricians alone 
 constituted the Fopiilus, or people, in a political sense; 
 for not only was the senate chosen from their ranks, l3ut 
 the sole popular assembly was the assembly of Patricians, 
 called the Comi'tla Curia' ta. The Plebeians at this time, 
 though freemen and personally independent, were wholly 
 destitute of political importance. 
 
 14. During the reign of the fifth king of Rome, Ser'vius 
 Tullius, called the " King of the Commons," an change of 
 important change was made in the constitution constitution, 
 of the Roman state. Servius gave the Plebeians a share in 
 the government by establishing a new national assembly 
 called the Comitia Centuria'ta^ or Assembly of the Hundreds, 
 in which both Plebeians and Patricians voted alike. It 
 was so arranged that in the new national assembly the old 
 families and the wealthy class should have most voice. 
 However, notwithstanding these restrictions, the new con- 
 stitution was a great concession to the people, as it virtu- 
 ally admitted every free individual within the Roman ter- 
 ritory to a share in the government. 
 
 15. An attempt on the part of the seventh and last king, 
 Tarquin'ius Super'bus, to undo these reforms End of the 
 and to establish what the ancients called a ^'"s^. 
 tyranny, led to the expulsion of him and his family, and to 
 ihe abolition of the kingly form of government at Rome, 
 509 B. c. Ever after this the Romans hated the very name 
 of 
 
136 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 ' CHAPTER III. 
 THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 
 1. EPOCH OF THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE (509-390 B. C). 
 
 16. The history of Rome as a republic covers a period 
 Extent of his- of 4^2 years, — from the termination of kingly 
 tory. j.yjg^ ^Q^ g ^^^ ^Q ^j^g termination of republican 
 rule by the establishment of the empire under Augustus, 
 27 B. c. 
 
 17. This period naturally divides itself into four Epochs, 
 Its four I- Epoch of the Struggle for Existence, be- 
 epochs. ginning with the establishment of the repub- 
 lic and ending with the Gaulish invasion of Italy, 509-390 
 
 B. C. 
 
 II. Epoch of the Roman Conquest of Italy, from the Gaul- 
 ish invasion to the complete subjugation of the peninsula, 
 after the repulse of Pyrrbus, 390-266 b. c. 
 
 III. Epoch of Foreign Conquest, including the Punic and 
 Macedonian wars down to the beginning of civil strife un- 
 der the Gracchi, 266- 133 b. c. 
 
 IV. Epoch of Civil Strife, from the Gracchi to the estab- 
 lishment of the Empire under Augustus, 133-27 b. c. 
 
 18. When, at the close of the 6th century (509 b. c), 
 Nature of the Rome ccased to be under kingly rule, it be- 
 government. came a republic. Instead of a king, two mag- 
 istrates called Consuls were elected every year. In other 
 respects the constitution xemained as before. The first 
 consuls were Brutus and Collati'nus. ' 
 
 19. Rome had attained a high degree of power under 
 Territory un- ^cr kings. By a treaty made in the second 
 der the kings, yg^j- ^f ^}^g republic with the Carthaginians 
 (508 B. c), a treaty which has fortunately been preserved, it 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 1 37 
 
 appears that she was mistress of the whole coast from Ostia 
 to Terracina, and traded with Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. 
 
 20. The state of things under the republic was for a 
 long time much less fortunate. The Romans wars of the 
 became engaged in contests with their neigh- republic, 
 bors, and soon after the change of government they lost a 
 considerable part of their dominion. There were : i. Wars 
 with the Etruscans ; 2. Wars with the Sabines, Volscians, 
 and ^quians ; 3. Wars with the JEquians and Volscians j 
 4. Wars with the ^quians and Veientines ; till finally, after 
 over a century of strife, Rome was overwhelmed by the 
 Gauls, 390 B. c. It is needless to enter into any account 
 of these contests, and the more so, that almost the whole 
 history of this epoch is of a legendary character. 
 
 21. Leaving aside the details, however, we can readily 
 see that this century or more of desperate character of 
 struggle for existence was in many respects a *^^ period, 
 great era^ and behind the veil of legend we plainly descry 
 grand human figures, — the figures of those stern old pa- 
 triots who gave to the name Roman its lofty significance. 
 The old Roman character was indeed a hard character, — 
 it was stern, unfeeling, in many respects cruel ; for we must 
 remember that Christianity had not yet come to humanize 
 men by the consciousness of universal brotherhood. But 
 at the same time it had some noble virtues ; it was of 
 heroic mold, and, for the work then required, was doubt- 
 less just what was needed. Below will be found brief 
 sketches of a few of the great men of the first epoch. 
 
 GREAT NAMES OF EARLY ROME. 
 
 Brutus (Lucius Junius), known as the " Elder Brutus," was one of 
 the first two consuls. During his term of office the Roman state was 
 threatened both from without and within. The exiled king, Tarquin, 
 had retired to Etruria, where he began to intrigue for a return to 
 Rome. In this he was aided by a conspiracy of a number of the 
 
138 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 young nobility, and among the conspirators were found the two sons 
 of Brutus himself. The plot being discovered, the consul would not 
 pardon his guilty children, and ordered the lictors* to put them to 
 death with the other traitors, — a memorable example of inflexible 
 justice. Soon after, the Etruscans espoused the cause of Tarquin and 
 marched against Rome. When Aruns, a son of Tarquin, saw Brutus 
 at the head of the Roman cavalry, he spurred his horse to the charge, 
 and both fell from their horses mortally wounded. 
 Horatius (Codes) is celebrated for his heroic "defense of the bridge." 
 The circumstances are these. Porsena, lars or lord of Clusium in 
 Etruria, had taken up the cause of the exiled Tarquin, and in 508 r. c. 
 advanced with a large army to the Mount Janiculum, just across the 
 Tiber from Rome. That city was now in the greatest danger, and the 
 Etruscans could have entered it by the Sublician bridge, had not 
 Horatius Codes, with two comrades, kept the whole Etruscan army 
 at bay while the Romans broke down the bridge behind him. When 
 it was giving way he sent back his two companions, and withstood 
 alone the attacks of the foes till the cracking of the falling timbers told 
 him that the bridge was destroyed. Then praying, " O Father Tiber, 
 take me into thy charge and bear me up ! " he plunged into the stream 
 and swam across in safety amid the arrows of the enemy. The state 
 raised a statue in his honor, and allowed him as much land as he 
 could plow round in one day. Few legends are more celebrated in 
 Roman history than this gallant deed of Horatius, and Roman writers 
 loved to tell 
 
 " How well Horatius kept the bridge 
 In the brave days of old." 
 
 Coriolanus (488 b. c). Caius Marcius, surnamed Coriolanus, from 
 his valor at the capture of the Latin town of Corioli, was a brave but 
 haughty Patrician. He was hated by the Plebeians, who refused him 
 the consulship. This inflamed him with anger, and accordingly when 
 the city was suffering from famine, and a present of corn came from 
 Sicily, Coriolanus advised the senate not to distribute it among the 
 Plebeians, unless they gave up their tribunes. Such insolence enraged 
 the Plebeians, who would have torn him to pieces on the spot had not 
 the tribunes summoned him before the Comitia of the Tribes. Corio- 
 lanus himself breathed nothing but defiance ; and his kinsmen and 
 friends interceded for him in vain. He was condemned to exile. Ac- 
 cordingly he went over to the Volscians, the enemies of his country- 
 
 * The I Acton were public officers who attended upon the Roman magistrate. 
 Each consul had twelve lictors. They carried upon their shoulders /^c^j, which were 
 locib bound in the form of a bundle, and containing an ax in the middle. 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 1 39 
 
 men and offered to head them against Rome. The king of the 
 Volscians persuaded his people to appoint Coriolanus their general. 
 Nothing could check his victorious progress : town after town fell 
 before him ; and he advanced within five miles of the city, ravaging 
 the lands of the Plebeians, but sparing those of the Patricians. The 
 city was filled with despair. The ten head men in the senate were 
 sent in hopes of moving his compassion; but they were received with 
 the utmost sternness, and told the city must submit to his absolute 
 will. Next day the pontiffs, augurs, flamens, and all the priests came 
 in their robes of ofiice and in vain prayed him to spare the city. All 
 seemed lost, but Rome was saved by her women. Next morning the 
 noblest matrons, headed by Veturia, the aged mother of Coriolanus, 
 and by his wife Volumnia, holding her little children by the hand, 
 came to his tent. Their lamentations turned him from his purpose. 
 " Mother," he said, bursting into tears, " thou hast saved Rome, but 
 lost thy son ! " He then led the Volscians home. Some say that he 
 was put to death by the Volscians ; but others, that he lived among 
 them to a great age, and was often heard to say that " none but an old 
 man can feel how wretched it is to live in a foreign land." * 
 Cincinnatus (Lucius Quintius, 458 b. c.) was one of the heroes of 
 old Roman story, with whose name is connected a well-known spirit- 
 stirring legend. He was a noble, but had retired from popular tumult 
 to his farm. On one occasion the /Equians, who were bitter foes of 
 the Romans, had surrounded a Roman camp on the Alban hills. In 
 this emergency it became necessary to appoint a dictator, t and the 
 senate chose Cincinnatus. The delegates who were sent to announce 
 this to him, found the noble Roman engaged in plowing his own fields, 
 clad only in his tunic, or shirt. They bade him clothe himself that he 
 might hear the commands of the senate. He put on his toga, which 
 his wife brought him. They then told him of the peril of the Roman 
 army, and that he had been made dictator. Next morning before day- 
 break he appeared in the Forum and levied a new army; he then 
 marched against the enemy, and succeeded in hemming in the y^qui- 
 ans,who were blockading the Romans. He forced them to surrender, 
 and made them pass under the yoke. J Cincinnatus entered Rome 
 
 * See Shakespeare's drama of Coriolanus. 
 
 t The Dictator was an extraordinary magistrate appointed in seasons of great peril. 
 He possessed absolute power for six months, unless he sooner gave it up : and from the 
 time of the appointment of the dictator all the other magistrates, even the consuls, 
 ceased to exercise any power. The first dictator was Titus Lartius, appointed in the 
 year 498 b. c. 
 
 X Sub jugum {jusitnt, a yoke), the origin of our word subjugate. The yoke was 
 formed by two spears fixed upright in the ground, while a third was fastened across them. 
 
140 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 in triumph only twenty-four hours after he had quitted it, and volun- 
 tarily laid down his dictatorial power after holding it but fourteen days, 
 and returned to his farm. 
 
 22. In addition to troubles from without, the young re- 
 
 public had to meet internal difficulties ; for a 
 ' quarter of a century had not passed since the 
 expulsion of the kings, before a struggle of classes arose, — 
 a struggle between the Patricians and the Plebeians, the first 
 of a long series of social contests that constitute the most 
 important portion of the annals of the early commonwealth. 
 
 23. It appears that the Patricians had found an ingen- 
 oppression of io^s way of crippling the Plebeians by means of 
 the Piebs. ^^ operation of the Roman law of debt. In 
 primitive Rome, as in other ancient states, an insolvent 
 debtor was liable to be seized by his creditor, and kept in 
 chains or made to work as his slave. Now such had been 
 the distress caused by the wars ever since the establishment 
 of the republic, that multitudes of the Plebeians had been 
 obliged to become debtors to the Patricians, who were the 
 exclusive proprietors of the state lands. Hundreds had in 
 consequence fallen into a condition of slavery ; so that the 
 Plebs were thoroughly disheartened, and the Patricians 
 practically possessed all power. 
 
 24. When this state of things became unbearable, the 
 
 Plebeians resolved upon quUtinsr Rome and 
 
 Secession. , ., t ^ ^ ^ -r^ • 
 
 buildmg beyond the Roman territory a new 
 town on the Mons Sacer (Sacred Mountain), about four miles 
 from the city, 493 b. c. Thither accordingly they seceded ; 
 but after considerable negotiation a compromise was made : 
 debtors v/ere relieved and slaves for debt were set free 
 
 25. At the same time a still more important change 
 was made, — two magistrates, chosen from the Plebeians, 
 Office of and called Tribunes of the Plebs ^ were ap- 
 tribune. pointed. Thcse afterwards became ten in 
 number. They held office for a year, during which time 
 
THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. I41 
 
 their persons were sacred, and they could nulHfy any de- 
 cree of the senate that they thought injurious to the Com- 
 mons by the word Veto, I forbid it. No one could have 
 foreseen how important this office would become. 
 
 26. The Plebeians had gained an important step in the 
 appointment of the tribunes. But there were Laws of the 
 still many grievances under which they suf- Twelve Tables. 
 fered. And one of the most oppressive was that no regular 
 code of laws existed. After many stormy debates i^ was at 
 last decided (450 b. c.) that a Council of Ten, called from 
 their number Decemvirs, should be appointed to make a 
 code of laws, and it was agreed that in the mean time all the 
 officers of the government (consuls, tribunes, etc.,) should 
 give up their places, and let the decemvirs control the state. 
 The decemvirs appointed for the first year did their work 
 well : they embodied the laws of Rome in written form, in 
 the famous code of the Twelve Tables. 
 
 27. On the expiration of their year's office, all parties 
 were so well pleased that it was resolved to conduct of the 
 continue the same form of government for decemvirs, 
 another year. But the new decemvirate acted very tyranni- 
 cally, and when their time came to aii end they continued to 
 hold their power in defiance of the senate and of the people. 
 Matters soon fell into so bad a state that the Plebeians se- 
 ceded once more, retiring to the Sacred Mount. 
 
 28. This second secession extorted from the Patricians 
 the second great charter of Plebeian rights. It what was 
 was agreed that the tribunes should be re- g^i^e^^- 
 stored, and that the authority of the assembly of the tribes 
 {Comitia Tributd) should be put on a level with that of the 
 Centuries. Two consuls were elected in place of the de- 
 cemvirs, 446 B. c. 
 
 29. The Plebeians were, however, still justly dissatisfied ; 
 the choice of the chief executive, namely, the Dispute about 
 consuls, was made exclusively from the Patri- consuls. 
 
142 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 cians. The Commons now began to claim a share in the 
 consulate. This demand was resisted by the Patricians 
 with their whole strength ; and when at last the Plebeians 
 prevented the raising of levies for military service, the 
 Patricians declared that they would rather have no more 
 consuls than agree to the admission of the Plebeians to the 
 office. 
 
 30. At length the Patricians proposed (444 b. c.) that a 
 • certain number (first three, afterwards six) of 
 
 Military Tribunes^ who might be chosen equally 
 from Patricians and Plebeians, should exercise supreme 
 power. In the following year two new magistrates called 
 Censors were appointed ; and as these were chosen exclu- 
 sively from among the Patricians, it gave that order consid- 
 erable additional weight, especially as the censors held the 
 power of determining the rank of every citizen, of fixing his 
 status in society, and valuing hii taxable property. More- 
 over, though in theory the military tribunes could be elected 
 from either order, yet in fact^ such was the ascendency of 
 the Patricians that usually only men of their own class were 
 chosen ; and it was not till 400 b. c, or about forty years 
 after the remodeling of the government, that Plebeians 
 were freely elected. 
 
 31. It was at this time that the progress of Rome re- 
 GauHsh inva- ccivcd a great check by an invasion of the 
 ^^°"- Gauls, who, under the leadership of Brennus, 
 pressed southward, overran Etruria, and having defeated the 
 Romans on the AUia, captured the city, and burnt almost 
 the whole of it, except the Capitol, 390 b. c. The Capitol 
 held out for seven months, until the Gauls, tired of the 
 siege, agreed to go on receipt of a thousand pounds of gold. 
 It is recorded that Brennus increased the stipulated amount 
 by the weight of his sword, which he cast into the scale. 
 Many stories told by the Roman historians, respecting the 
 Gaulish capture of Rome, are plainly fictions \ but of the 
 fact itself there can be no doubt. 
 
ROMAN CONQUEST OF ITALY. I43 
 
 a. EPOCH OF THE ROMAN CONQUEST OF ITALY (390-266 B.C.). 
 
 32. Scarcely had Rome been rebuilt with narrow and 
 crooked streets and small dwelling-houses, plebeian op- 
 when the Patricians again asserted the whole P'"^ssion. 
 
 of their claims, and in particular revived the ancient laws 
 of debtor and creditor in all their severity. The Gallic 
 invasions left the Plebeians in a state of great poverty 
 and distress, and now the severe measures of the Patricians 
 threatened to reduce the whole common people to a state 
 of practical slavery. The contest came to a crisis in 376 
 B. c. 
 
 33. At this time two bold and able tribunes of the people, 
 Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius, came forward Proposals for 
 with a plan to settle all the difficulties. They reform. 
 
 said there were two evils to be remedied: 1. Political in- 
 equality ; 2. Material want. The new plan met the first evil 
 by restoring the consuls as the chief magistrates, and ap- 
 pointing that one of the two consuls annually chosen should 
 always be a Plebeian. The second evil, namely, the poverty 
 of the Plebeians, the new plan proposed to mitigate by pro- 
 viding, first, that the interest already paid on debts should 
 be deducted from the capital, and the residue paid in three 
 years ; secondly, that of the public lands, hitherto practical- 
 ly monopolized by the rich, no man should hold more than 
 500 j'ngera* while the remainder should be distributed in 
 small portions among the Plebeians as their own property. 
 
 34. This new plan of a constitution, known as the 
 Liciniaii Rogations^ was resisted to the utmost victory of the 
 by the Patricians ; but all their efforts proved P^e*'^- 
 unavailing against the firmness of the tribunes, who pre- 
 vented the election of officers and military levies. The 
 plan became a law in 367 b. c, and the following year a 
 
 * Kjugerum was rather more than half an acre. 
 
144 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 Plebeian consul, Lucius Sextius, was elected. All the other 
 offices, dictatorship, censorship, praetorship, etc., were soon 
 thrown open to the Commons, — so that at last, after the 
 long struggle, perfect political equality was established. 
 
 35. For a century and a half since the expulsion of the 
 
 kings, Rome had been a republic, but an 
 
 Democracy. . . ... . ^ 
 
 aristocratic republic : it was now truly a 
 government of the people. From this time begins the 
 golden age of Roman politics. Civil concord, to which a 
 temple was dedicated, brought with it a period of civic 
 virtue and heroic greatness. 
 
 36. Up to the period at which we have now arrived, — 
 smaiiness of the middle of the 4th century b. c, — the 
 the nation. Romans were but a small nation : their terri- 
 tory included but a few townships on the Tiber, and the 
 whole number of adult Roman citizens at the close of the 
 5th century was under 300,000. In the mean time Rome 
 was surrounded by petty nationalides that girdled its 
 strength ; and its wars thus far had been mainly a " struggle 
 for existence." 
 
 37. With the settlement of political difficulties in the 
 Wars for do- middle of the 4th century, we enter on a new 
 minion. ^^^ q£ Romau history. The republic now 
 began a series of wars for dominion. These wars were 
 with (i) their immediate relatives the Latins ; with (2) their 
 more distant relatives, the various other Italian nation- 
 alities ; with (3) the Greek settlements in Southern Italy 
 aided by Pyrrhus, King of Epirus ; with (4) the Gauls in 
 Northern Italy. 
 
 38. History has been too much occupied with the record 
 Meaning of o^ battles and sieges ; hence we shall not go 
 these wars. j^^^q ^j^g cudlcss and Complicated details of 
 these operations. But we must understand in a general way 
 that these Roman wars meant a great deal. Before Rome 
 could play its grand part in the history of the world's civili- 
 
bamnite wars. 
 
 ROMAN CONQUEST OF ITALY. 1 45 
 
 zation it was necessary, first of all, that it should become 
 a great Nation. A great nation needs an extensive stage 
 on which to play its part. Now the wars by which the 
 Romans put down the various small and obstructive nation- 
 alities of Italy were the clearing of the stage, preliminary 
 to the oncoming of that imperial figure, the Mistress of the 
 World. 
 
 39. The series of wars against Etruscans, Latins, Sam- 
 nites, and Gauls, sometimes singly and some- 
 times in combination, is usually known in 
 Roman history by the general designation of the "Latin 
 wars " and the " Samnite wars." These wars filled the 
 greater part of the half-century between 343 and 290 B. c. ; 
 and the Samnites were the leaders in this onset of the na- 
 tions on Rome, the issue of which was to determine whether 
 Rome or Samnium should govern Italy. The Romans 
 were completely successful ; and extricating themselves by 
 their valor from this confused conflict of nations, the Ro- 
 mans found themselves masters of Central Italy (290 b. c), 
 — Samnites, Latnis, etc., all their subjects. 
 
 40. The " Samnite wars " were succeeded by a short 
 but brisk war, designated in Roman history vvar with 
 "the war with Pyrrhus and the Greeks in Py^hus. 
 Italy." Pyrrhus was an able and enterprising Greek prince 
 whom the Greek towns of Southern Italy — fearful of being 
 overwhelmed by what they called the " conquering barba- 
 rians of the Tiber " — had invited over from his native 
 country to help them as champion of a Greek city. 
 
 41. Pyrrhus came over with a force of 25,000 troops 
 and 20 elephants. In the first battle (Pan- 
 
 1 • n \ 1 T-« r ^ t Narrative. 
 
 dosia, 280 B. c.) the Romans fought stoutly, 
 until what they conceived to be gigantic gray oxert (the 
 elephants) came thundering down upon them ; so that the 
 victory remained with Pyrrhus. In the next contest 
 also (Asculum, 279 B. c.) Pyrrhus was successful; but 
 7 J 
 
146 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 the Romans made him pay so dearly for his triumph that 
 he is said to have exclaimed, " Another such victory and I 
 am undone ! " Not having succeeded in his main object, 
 Pyrrhus quitted Italy and went to Sicily ; but soon after he 
 returned, renewed the contest with the Romans, and was 
 utterly overthrown at Beneventum, in 275 b. c. 
 
 42. The subjugation of Southern Italy — of all that part 
 
 called Great Greece — soon followed, and at 
 
 Results. , , - , ^ ^ -r^ 
 
 the close of the year b. c. 266 Rome reigned 
 supreme over the length and breadth of the peninsula of 
 Italy, from the southern boundary of Cisalpine Gaul to 
 the Sicilian Straits, and from the Tyrrhenian, or Tuscan, 
 Sea to the Adriatic. 
 
 43. We must now see how Rome consolidated the power 
 Nature of the shc had tlius won, and try to realize what 
 Roman state, manner of nation the Roman state now formed. 
 The real governing power was the Roman people, — populus 
 Romanus, — that is to say, the body of free inhabitants of 
 the thirty-three tribes or parishes north and south of the 
 Tiber, which constituted the Roman territory proper, 
 together with a considerable number of persons in other 
 parts of Italy who, either from being colonists of Roman 
 descent or from having had Roman citizenship conferred 
 on them, had the privilege of going to Rome and voting at 
 the Comitia, or Assembly. The possessors of the suffrage 
 thus formed a comparatively small body of men, such as 
 might be assembled with ease in any public square or park, 
 and these by their votes decided on the affairs of the 
 commonwealth, controlling thus the destinies of the whole 
 population of Italy, estimated at this time at above 
 5,000,000. 
 
 44. In addition to the populus Romanus there were two 
 
 other classes, — the Iialia7is and the Latins. 
 
 Ottici* classes 
 
 The Italians, or socii^ were the inhabitants of 
 the allied and dependent Italian states that had submitted 
 
FOREIGN CONQUEST. I47 
 
 to Rome. These communities were almcist all permitted to 
 retain their own laws, judges, municipal arrangements, etc. ; 
 but they did not possess the Roman franchise, and hence 
 had no share in the political affairs of the republic. The 
 Latiiis were those who belonged to cities having the " Latin 
 franchise," as it was called, from its having first been given 
 to the cities of Latium when conquered. This did not give 
 full Roman citizenship, but made it easier to obtain it. 
 I 45. Rome wisely left self-government to all the depen- 
 dent and allied states, while she secured her summary of 
 sovereignty by three rights which she reserved government. 
 to herself : i . She alone made peace or declared war ; 2. 
 She alone might receive embassies ; 3. She alone might 
 coin money. Altogether it was an admirable system, vastly 
 superior to the loosely related Grecian states. It was a 
 system that made possible for the first time in the world's 
 history a great, as well as a free, nation. 
 
 46. Thus far we have been occupied wholly with the ex- 
 ternal wars and the internal struggles of the General sum- 
 Romans, and this for the reason that their con- "^^'"y- 
 quests and their political organization were the main things 
 that this remarkable people had yet accomplished. It is a 
 striking fact that there was not yet even a dawning Roman 
 literature ; in art, science, philosophy, Rome had done — 
 absolutely nothing. But, in fact, it was in the art of govern- 
 ing mankind that Roman genius was to appear ; and it was 
 this that showed itself in these early years, — it was their 
 valor, their probity, their patriotism, their political tact, and 
 not speculation or literary culture, that distinguished them. 
 
 3. EPOCH OF FOREIGN CONQUEST (266-133 B.C.). 
 
 47. The epoch of Roman history on which we now enter 
 covers 133 years, beginning in 266 B. c. and Extent of the 
 ending in 133 B. c. This is the era of Rome's p"^°^* 
 
148 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 first great foreign conquests, embracing the Punic and Mace- 
 donian wars, and lasts down to the rise of the civil broils 
 under the Gracchi. 
 
 LLUSTRATE 
 
 PUNIC WAR: 
 
 SUOIVZ/VG ROMAA/ re/?/?/TO/?yArT/Yr//? Te/fM/AfAT/O/V. 
 
 Carthage. 
 
 48. In the middle of the 3d century b. c. the great 
 maritime power of the Western Mediterranean 
 was Carthage. She was at the head of the 
 
 other Phoenician cities in Africa, numbering about 300, 
 with possessions in Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and Spain. 
 In government she was a republic ruled by an aristocracy. 
 The Carthaginians were devoted to commerce, and had the 
 good and the bad traits characteristic of a purely commer- 
 cial people. The Romans, who were their rivals and ene- 
 mies, represented them as wanting in integrity and honor ; 
 hence the ironical phrase to denote treachery. Punka fides 
 {Punica from Fcenij the Latin form of the name P/icenicians), 
 or Punic faith. 
 
 49. It was hardly possible that two such powers as Car- 
 
FOREIGN CONQUEST. I49 
 
 thage and Rome should not come into collision. And it 
 was the more likely, as the island of Sicily lav ^ ^ 
 
 , , ^ , . . 11 Seeds of war. 
 
 between them, where the Carthagmians had 
 
 large possessions, and where the Greek cities were closely 
 
 connected with the Greek subjects of Rome in Southern 
 
 Italy. 
 
 50. The pretext was not long wanting. The Mamer- 
 tines, a body of Campanian mercenaries who origin of first 
 had seized the town of Messa'na on the Sicil- ^""^^ '^*^- 
 ian Straits, being threatened with destruction by the com- 
 bined Carthaginians and Syracusans, applied for help to 
 Rome, and were readily received into her alliance. From 
 this resulted the first Ptmic War, which lasted for twenty- 
 three years (264-241 b. c). The independent Greek city 
 of Syracuse having very soon changed sides, the war was 
 between the Romans and Syracusans on one side and the 
 Carthaginians on the other. 
 
 51. The war was carried on chiefly in and about SicMy. 
 The reduction of ACTisrentum (262 b. c.) was 
 
 Narrative. 
 
 the first great exploit of the Romans. But the 
 most remarkable feature of the contest was the wonderfully 
 rapid development of a navy by the Romans. At the be- 
 ginning they had no fleet at all, and it is said that they 
 took as their model a stranded Carthaginian galley: two 
 years afterwards they were able to assemble so powerful a 
 navy that they defeated their enemy in a great sea-fight at 
 Mylae, 260 b. c. 
 
 52. Their victories by sea emboldpried the Romans to 
 send an army across to Africa, and fo attack 
 
 their enemy in his own country. But the Ro- ^^^^ ' 
 man army under Reg'ulus was defeated at Tunis, and Regu- 
 lus himself was made prisoner (255 b. c). The war was 
 then confined to Sicily, where the Carthaginians suffered 
 severe defeat at Panor'mus. In the mean time disasters at 
 sea befell the Romans, who lost fleet after fleet, until a new 
 
I50 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 navy raised by subscription took the sea, and by the victory 
 at ^gu'sa reduced the Carthaginians to seek peace, b. c. 
 241. The treaty compelled the Carthaginians to evacuate 
 Sicily and the adjacent islands, to pay a heavy indemnity, 
 and to recognize the independence of Hi'ero, king of Syra- 
 cuse. 
 
 53. The island of Sicily, or that part of it which the 
 Province of Carthaginians had possessed, was organized 
 Sicily. j^^Q z. province, and this fact is notable as being 
 the commencement of that new feature in the Roman rule', 
 namely, the institution of provincial government, or that gov- 
 ernment established by the Romans for their possessions 
 outside of Italy. 
 
 54. Having thus triumphed over Carthage, the Romans 
 Conquest of tumcd their eyes northward with the viev/ of 
 Cisalpine Gaul, carrying their dominion to the Alps. The 
 Gauls in the valley of the Po (Cisalpine Gaul) took the 
 alarm, and began a movement towards Rome. They were, 
 however, met by three armies, and were so thoroughly pun- 
 ished that in three years all Cisalpine Gaul submitted to 
 Rome, 222 B. c. In the country were planted two Roman 
 colonies. 
 
 55. The Carthaginians felt that they had been deeply 
 Carthage pre- wronged by the Romans, and ever since the 
 pares for war. close of the War they had been studying how 
 the injury done them might be revenged. Among the advo- 
 cates of war at Carthage was the powerful Barcine family, 
 at the head of which was HamiPcar Barca, who had won fame 
 in the latter part of the previous war. Under this able 
 leader the Carthaginians first directed their attention to 
 Spain (where they already had a strong foothold) as a fit 
 " base of operations " against the Romans. Hamilcar's 
 great object in subjugating Spain was to obtain the means 
 of attacking the hated rival of his country. His implacable 
 animosity against Rome is shown by the well-known tale, 
 
FOREIGN CONQUEST. I5I 
 
 -that when he crossed over to Spain in 235 b. c, taking with 
 him his son Hannibal, then only nine years old, he made 
 him swear at the altar eternal hostility to Rome. Hamilcar 
 fell in battle, and was succeeded by his son-in-law Has'dru- 
 bal, and when the latter was assassinated, the command of 
 the army devolved upon Hannibal. 
 
 56. When, at the age of twenty-six, Hannibal was ap- 
 pointed to the command of the Carthaginian Hannibal's 
 army in Spain, he carried the Carthaginian campaign, 
 line up to the Ebro and besieged Sagun'tum, an ally of Rome. 
 The city fell, and Rome immediately declared hostilities. 
 The result was the second Punic War, which began in the 
 year 218 b. c. Before the Roman army was ready to take 
 the field, Hannibal, who was one of the greatest military 
 geniuses that ever lived, had crossed the Pyrenees on his 
 way to Italy. He then proceeded to perform one of the 
 most famous exploits on record : with his army he climbed 
 over the Alps (218 b, c), losing above 30,000 men, burst 
 into the plain of Italy, and defeated the Romans in four 
 battles, the greatest of which was Cannae, fought in 216 b. c. 
 
 57. In Italy the career of Hannibal was most extraor- 
 dinary: for fifteen years (217-202 b. c.) he operations m 
 maintained himself in the peninsula, moving ^*^'y- 
 hither and thither, keeping seven or eight Roman generals, 
 and among them the wary Fa'bius and the bold Marcellus, 
 continually employed, scattering the Romans like chaif 
 wherever he appeared, exhausting the finances of the state, 
 and detaching the Italian nationalities from their allegiance. 
 
 58. It is probable that Hannibal might have maintained 
 himself in Italy for an indefinite time, and Roman strat- 
 finally have shattered the commonwealth in ^^y* 
 pieces, had it not been that the Romans assumed the 
 offensive against Carthage. A vigorous young soldier, 
 Pub'lius Scipio, was sent into Spain, which he reduced to 
 the condition of a Roman province, thus closing the main 
 
152 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 avenue by which the Carthaginians could send reinforce- 
 ments to Hannibal (216-205 B.C.). Hannibal's brother, 
 Hasdrubal, managed, indeed, to march from Spain across 
 the Alps into Italy (207 b. c.) ; but his force was met and 
 defeated, — and the first intimation Hannibal received of 
 his brother's arrival in Italy was the sight of that brother's 
 bloody head tossed contemptuously into his camp. 
 
 59. In spite of the cutting of his communications, Han- 
 ciose of the uibal could readily have maintained himself in 
 '^^^- Italy ; but now Scipio passed over into Africa, 
 and having defeated the Carthaginians in several battles, so 
 terrified the authorities at Carthage that they recalled Han- 
 nibal from Italy. The final battle of the war was fought on 
 the plain of Zama in Africa, in the year 202 b. c. The vic- 
 tory was with the Romans, and the Carthaginians in conse- 
 quence were obliged to agree to a peace on very severe 
 terms. Scipio — henceforward known as Scipio Africanus 
 — returned home and was honored with the most magnifi- 
 cent triumph that had yet been exhibited in the Roman 
 capital. 
 
 60. Several years after this time Hannibal had to flee 
 Anecdote of from his country, and he spent the last years 
 Hannibal. ^ ^f j^jg jjf^ jj^ gyj-j^ ^^^ Bithyn'ia. By a strange 
 
 coincidence of fortune, his victor, Scipio, had also to go 
 into exile, and resided for a while at Ephesus, where Hanni- 
 bal was at the time. Many friendly conversations passed 
 between them, and in one of these the Roman is said to 
 have asked the Carthaginian " whom he thought the greatest 
 general." Hannibal immediately replied, " Alexander; be- 
 cause that, with a small body of men, he had defeated very 
 numerous armies, and had overrun a great part of the 
 world." " And who do you think deserves the next 
 place?" continued the Roman. " Pyrrhus," replied the 
 other ; " he first taught the method of forming a camp to 
 the best advantage." " And whom do you place next to 
 
FOREIGN CONQUEST. 1 53 
 
 those ? " said Scipio. " Myself," said Hannibal ; at which 
 Scipio asked, with a smile, " Where, then, would you have 
 placed yourself if you had conquered me ? " " Above Al- 
 exander," replied the Carthaginian, '" above Pyrrhus, and 
 above all other generals." ^--«— 
 
 61. An interval of fifty years separates the second from 
 the third and last war with Carthage, and sev- Third Punic 
 eral important events that we shall have to re- ^^''* 
 
 late happened in the interim ; but it will give us a clearer 
 view if we close here the whole history of Rome's dealings 
 with Carthage. 
 
 62. The third Punic war was, on the part of Rome, 
 utterly causeless. The second had made Blame of the 
 Carthage a dependent ally of Rome, but still ^^'■• 
 
 left it free in its internal government. Now, a consid- 
 erable party at Rome were bent on reducing Carthage 
 to a position of complete subjugation. At the head of 
 this party was Porcius Cato, the censor, who then swayed 
 the decisions of the Roman senate. So bitterly hostile 
 M^as he to Carthage, that for years he closed every speech 
 he made — no matter on what subject — with the words, 
 Delen'da est Carthago, " Carthage must be destroyed 1 " 
 
 63. The humbled Carthaginians made every submission, 
 yielding up their arms, their ships, and their Roman harsh- 
 munitions of war, and they even offered to "^^^* 
 
 give up their own government and become subjects of 
 Rome. When, however, Rome proposed to raze their sea- 
 side city, and send them to live inland, a wail of indigna- 
 tion and despair went up from Carthage, and the inhabitants 
 determined to sacrifice their lives rather than submit to the 
 savage mandate. 
 
 64. The third Punic War began in 149 b. c. The 
 " Siege of Carthage " which lasted four years, siege of Car- 
 and was conducted on the part of the Romans ^^^s^- 
 
 by the younger Scipio, known as Scipio ^milia'nus, was the 
 7* 
 
154 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 one event of this final struggle. Carthage was without 
 ships, without allies, almost without arms ; yet she main- 
 tained the contest with the courage of despair : the women 
 gave their tresses to make bowstrings, and the men poured 
 out their blood most lavishly. But it was all in vain. The 
 city was taken, and, being set on fire, the flames continued 
 to rage for seventeen days. Thus was Carthage with its 
 walls and buildings, the habitations of 700,000 people, razed 
 to its foundations. The Carthaginian territory was then 
 made into the Roman Province of Africa^ under a proconsul, 
 and the seat of government was fixed at Utica (b. c. 146). 
 
 65. It is related that when Scipio beheld Carthage in 
 Anecdote of flamcs his soul was softened by reflections on 
 Scipio. (j^g instability of fortune,' and he could not 
 help anticipating a time when Rome herself should expe- 
 rience the same calamities as those which had befallen her 
 unfortunate competitor. He vented his feelings by quoting 
 from Homer the lines in which Hector predicts the fall of 
 Troy : — 
 
 " Yet come it will, the day decreed by fates ; 
 (How my heart trembles, while my tongue relates!) 
 The day when thou, imperial Troy, must bend, 
 And see thy warriors fall, thy glories end." 
 
 66. Meantime the Roman dominion had been enlarged 
 Subjugation by the annexation of Macedonia and Greece, 
 and Greece. While the late war was going on, the ruler of 
 Macedon, King Philip V., became embroiled with Rome, 
 owing to his having made a treaty with Hannibal. The 
 Romans made a campaign against Philip, and in this con- 
 test some of the Greek states sided with Macedon and some 
 with Rome. The result was that in the battle of Cynos- 
 ceplValae, in Thessaly, 197 b. c, the power of Macedon was 
 broken and Philip had to become a dependent ally of Rome. 
 A little later the Macedonians were completely crushed at 
 Pydna (168 B. c), and came still more under the power of 
 
FOREIGN CONQUEST. 1 55 
 
 Rome. In the year 146 b. c. (same year as the destruc- 
 tion of Carthage) Corinth was captured and burned. No 
 further resistance was offered to the victorious Romans, 
 and Greece was made into a Roman province under the 
 name of Achaia. 
 
 67. At the commencement of the period of conquest 
 (266-13^ B. c), the Roman dominion was con- Review of 
 
 r ^ ^ ^ • ^ c r ^ • i • Rome's con- 
 
 fined to the penmsula of Italy ; at its close it quests. 
 
 extended over the whole of Southern Europe from the 
 shores of the Atlantic to the straits cf Constantinople, over 
 the chief Mediterranean islands, and over a portion of 
 North Africa, while farther east, in Egypt, Asia Minor, and 
 Syria, her influence was paramount. At the commencement 
 of the period Rome was merely one of the " Great Powers " 
 of the world as it then was, — that is, she ranked with Car- 
 thage, Macedonia, and the kingdom of the Seleucidae ; at 
 its c lose she was clearly the sole Great Power left. 
 
 68. The Roman dominion now became a duality, — it 
 was " Italy and the Provinces." The politi- Rule of the 
 cal state of //^/v was that described in the last Provinces, 
 section ; but the addition of the conquered countries result- 
 ed in the new feature of Roman rule called Provincial gov^ 
 ernment. Retaining their native habits, religion, laws, etc., 
 the inhabitants of every province were governed by a mili- 
 tary president, sent from Rome, with a staff of officials. 
 The provincials were required to pay taxes in money and 
 kind ; and these taxes were farmed out by the censors to 
 Roman citizens, who, under the name of Publicans, settled 
 in the various districts of the provinces. Thus, like a net- 
 work proceediiig from a center, the political system of the 
 Romans pervaded the mass of millions of human beings in- 
 habiting the shores of the Mediterranean ; and a vast popu- 
 lation of various races and languages were all bound to- 
 gether by the cohesive power of Roman rule. 
 
 69. The luster of the Roman power and the glory of the 
 
156 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 Roman name were now at their height. The eyes of all 
 Grandeur of ^^e world Were now on Italy, the young re- 
 Rome, public of the West. Into Rome all talents, all 
 riches, flowed. What a grand thing in those days to be a 
 Roman citizen ; so that, wherever one walked, — in Spain, 
 in Africa, even in once proud Athens, — he was followed, 
 feasted, flattered ! What a career was opened to those who 
 wished for wealth or aspired to fame ! But in the very sun- 
 burst of Rome's glory, the germs of decay were ripening. 
 
 70. On the Romans themselves the effect of their foreign 
 Effect of con- conqucsts was both good and bad ; but per- 
 quests. j-jjjps ^j^g gyji outweighed the good. Let us 
 glance at both sides of the shield. 
 
 71. The wealth poured into Rome by the conquest of 
 
 Carthage, of Greece, and the East, and the con- 
 
 Public works. . , ,° ' , . 1 r 1 
 
 siderable revenue derived from the permanent 
 taxation of the provinces, enabled the Romans to carry out 
 a great system of public works. Throughout Italy splendid 
 military roads which remain to this day were built, the 
 provinces were traversed by imperial highways, and fine 
 stone bridges were thrown across the Tiber. In Rome 
 splendid public buildings were erected, the city was sewered, 
 the streets were paved (174 B. c), two new aqueducts (the 
 Marcian, built in 144 B. c, at a cost of % 10,000,000) were 
 constructed ; and it may be noted that the Consul P. Scipio 
 Nasi'ca, in 159 b. c, set up in Rome a public ckp'sydra, or 
 water-clock, the citizens having for six centuries gone on 
 without any accurate means of knowing the time by night 
 as well as day. 
 
 72. The effect on Rome of the conquest of Greece and 
 Influence of the Hellcnized East was very marked. Greek 
 Greece. rhetoricians, scholars, tragedians, flute-players, 
 and philosophers in large numbers took up their abode 
 in Rome, The city swarmed with Greek schoolmasters. 
 Greek tutors and philosophers, who, even if they were nol 
 
FOREIGN CONQUEST. 1 57 
 
 slaves, were as a rule accounted as servants, were now per- 
 manent inmates in the palaces of Rome ; people speculated 
 in them, and there is a statement that the sum of 200,000 
 sesterces ($ 10,000) was paid for a Greek literary slave of 
 the first class. 
 
 73. The stimulus of Greek literary culture led to native 
 production, and in the 2d century b. c. we pirst litera- 
 have the beginning of that Latin literature ^"'■^• 
 which we still read. Though the great period of Roman 
 letters did not come till a century after this time (age of 
 Augustus), yet there arose a number of writers of no ordi- 
 nary power. Among these should be mentioned Ennius, 
 the father of Roman poetry ; Plautus, his contemporary, a 
 man of rich poetic genius ; the elder Cato, the first prose 
 ^vriter of note ; and Terence, the most famous of the comic 
 poets. 
 
 74» While the Romans were in some respects benefited 
 by contact with the superior though decaying 
 culture of Greece, they also learned a great 
 deal that was debasing. They became effeminate, luxurious, 
 and corrupt in morals ; marriage was not respected ; the 
 old Roman faith waned, and it was said that two augurs 
 could not meet in tlie street without laughing in each other's 
 face. 
 
 75. The political system of Rome now began to lead to 
 a dreadful state of public corruption. The Political 
 Roman government was devised for the rule of "^"p^^ 
 a city : all power was in the hands of the civic voters, and 
 when there came to be great prizes, in the way of great 
 offices at home and abroad, the voters began to find that 
 their votes were worth something, and unblushing bribery 
 and corruption became common. 
 
 76. The demands of the large planters and merchants 
 led to a great extension of the slave-trade. Growth of 
 All lands and all nations were laid under con- slavery. 
 
 cor- 
 
 tion. 
 
158 HISTORY OF ROME, 
 
 tribution for slaves, but the places where they were chiefly 
 captured were Syria and the interior of Asia Minor. It is 
 probable that at the period at which we have now arrived 
 (middle of the 2d century b. c.) there were twelve million 
 slaves against five million free inhabitants in the Italian 
 peninsula, — a most lamentable state of things ! 
 
 77. In addition to the slaves, Italy became filled up with 
 Corruption of ^ motlcy parasitic population from Asia and 
 blood. Africa and all the conquered lands, — and the 
 result of this intermixture soon appeared in a marked degen- 
 eracy in the Roman race itself. 
 
 78. The decay of old Roman virtue became at the same 
 
 time apparent in a great increase of luxury, 
 uxury. 'Y\{\^ displayed itself in houses, villas, pleasure- 
 
 gardens, fish-ponds, dress, food, and drink. Extravagant 
 prices — as much as 100,000 sesterces ($ 5000) — were paid 
 for an exquisite cook. Costly foreign delicacies and wines 
 were affected, and the Romans in their banquets vied with 
 one another in displaying their hosts of slaves ministering 
 to luxury, their bands of musicians, their dancing-girls, their 
 purple hangings, their carpets glittering with gold or picto- 
 rially embroidered, and their rich silver plate. 
 
 79. In the midst of the system there were not wanting 
 
 some noble patterns of the old Roman type, 
 among whom should be named Cato,* who 
 kept up a constant protest all his life against the growing 
 luxury of his countrymen, and died declaring that they 
 were a degenerate race. Such men were, however, rare 
 exceptions ; and we shall hereafter see that the evil system 
 already operative in the 2d century went on increasing, 
 till finally, a century afterwards, it resulted in the total 
 subversion of the republic. 
 
 * Porcius Cato, frequently surnamed Cato the Censor, was born b. c. 
 234. He distinguished himself in the Punic wars and in various public 
 services, but he was still more noted for his pure morality and strict 
 virtue. He died in 149 b. c, at the age of eighty-five. 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 159 
 
 4. EPOCH OF CIVIL STRIFE (133-27 B.C.). 
 
 80. The picture just given of the state of Roman society 
 hi the last half of the 2d century b. c. prepares Bad state of 
 us for the period of civil strife on which we now sQ'^iety. 
 enter. A number of causes had resulted in the growth of 
 an aristocracy founded purely on wealth ; the old division 
 of society into patricians and jolebeians had ceased, and 
 there arose a still worse division into classes, — the rich 
 and the poor. The old peasant proprietors of Italy had 
 become practically extinct, and their place was supplied 
 by hordes of slaves. The cities, and especially Rome, 
 were filled by vast masses of people, not living, as the 
 traders, artisans, and laborers of our cities do, by honest 
 industry, but subsisting in noisy idleness upon the price 
 of their votes. Roman society, in fact, had ceased to have 
 any middle class, and was divided between two extremes, 
 ■ — grandees and paupers. 
 
 81. The cause of the poor against the rich was taken up 
 by a noble young tribune of the people named 
 
 Tiberius Gracchus. Tiberius and his after- 
 wards distinguished younger brother Caius (the two being 
 known in history as the Gracchi) were sons of a noble Ro- 
 man matron, Cornelia, daughter of the great Scipio Afri- 
 canus. 
 
 82. Tiberius Gracchus proposed a land-law (agrarian 
 law), which was practically a revival of the 
 
 .. .-..,, - ,-. Agrarian law. 
 
 Liciman law : it limited the amount of public 
 land that could be held by any one individual to 500 jugera, 
 and provided for the distribution of the rest in small home- 
 steads. The aristocracy immediately raised a storm, and 
 induced another tribune to veto the measure. Now, accord- 
 ing to the Roman code, no proposal could become law 
 unless all the tribunes were unanimous. Gracchus then 
 secured a popular vote expelling his colleague from the 
 
l60 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 tribuneship, and the land-law was passed by the people, 
 B. C. 133. In the mean time, however, Gracchus's year of 
 office expired, and he came up for re-election. The nobles 
 resolved to prevent this by violence. 
 
 83. Gracchus, learning this, bade his friends arm them- 
 
 selves with staves ; and when the people bes^an 
 
 His murder. . . . r .i • i f i • i T . 
 
 to mquire the cause of this, he put his hand to 
 his head, intimating that his life was in danger. Some of 
 his enemies ran to the senate and reported that Tiberius 
 openly demanded a crown. A body of the aristocrats 
 with their clients and dependents then rushed among the 
 unarmed crowd, and murdered Gracchus with 300 of his 
 adherents, — 133 b. c. 
 
 84. Tiberius Gracchus was dead, but his work remained j 
 Agrarian that is to Say, the measure which he had pro- 
 struggle, posed was law, and the commissioners intrusted 
 with the task of allotting the lands prosecuted their labors 
 for two or three years. The nobles, however, obstructed the 
 work as much as possible, so that between them and the 
 champions of the people there was a continuous struggle. 
 
 85. This struggle became still more fierce when Caius 
 The younger Gracchus, ten years after the death of his 
 Gracchus. brother, claimed and obtained the tribuneship, 
 and then took up that brother's work. The agitation for 
 the agrarian law was renewed, an enactment was made for 
 a monthly distribution of corn to the city poor, and vari- 
 ous other reforms were proposed by him. After holding 
 the tribuneship for two years, however, he lost the office 
 through the intrigues of his opponents. The nobles were 
 determined to crush Gracchus ; accordingly, at one of the 
 public assemblies they attacked the partisans of the popular 
 leader, and there ensued a bloody combat (121 b. c.) in 
 which 3000 of his adherents were slain. Gracchus himself 
 fled into a wood across the Tiber ; but, being pursued, he 
 chose to die by the hands of a faithful slave rather than 
 fall into the power of his enemies. 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 
 
 l6l 
 
 86. The ill-will between the nobles and the people con- 
 tinued just as bitter after the death of Grac- Rise of Marius 
 chus ; and matters finally shaped themselves in ^^^ Suiia. 
 such a way that the nobles, or senatorial party, came to be 
 represented by a leader named Sulla, and the democracy, or 
 Commons, by another called Marius. These men came to 
 prominence in the course of two or three wars in which 
 Rome was engaged for twenty-five or thirty years after the 
 time of which we have been speaking ; and finally they ac- 
 quired such power as to bring on a civil strife that deluged 
 Italy with blood. 
 
 " 87. The wars just referred to were : the Jugurthine war 
 (ill -106 B. c), the war against the Cimbri wars of the 
 (113-101 B.C.), and the Social war (90-89 Period- 
 B. c), with the details of which we need not concern our- 
 selves ; but the fourth contest was of more moment, and 
 needs notice here. This was the Mithridatic war. 
 
 To illustrate: 
 MlTHRADAJr 
 
l62 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 88. Mithrida'tes, King of Pontus, a bold and able sol- 
 Design of dier, formed the design of uniting the Asiatic 
 Mithndates. gtates and Greece in a vast confederacy against 
 the Roman dominion. He began by causing about 80,000 
 Romans who dwelt in the cities of Asia Minor to be massa- 
 cred in one day (88 b. c). He then invaded Greece. 
 
 89. The command in this important war was eagerl}'' 
 Mithridatic . sought by both Marius and Sulla. Sulla pre- 
 ^^^' vailed; he was elected consul and put in com- 
 mand. Marius, being chagrined at this, succeeded in 
 having the popular party set aside Sulla. But the aristo- 
 cratic general marched to Rome and compelled Marius to 
 flee into Africa. Sulla then set out for Greece, all of which 
 submitted to him, the army of Mithridates being defeated 
 (86-84 B. c). 
 
 90. During the absence of Sulla, Marius returned to Italy. 
 Marian mas- Entering Rome in 86 b. c. he filled the entire 
 sacres. ^^^ v^\\}[i slaughter, and in particular he caused 
 the murder of the leading senators that had supported his 
 rival. Marius then caused himself to be proclaimed con- 
 sul without going through an election ; but a fortnight later 
 he died. 
 
 91. Notwithstanding the death of Marius, the Marian 
 Sulla's mas- party still continued in power. Sulla, hearing 
 sacres. q£ their successes, hastily concluded a peace 
 with Mithridates, and hurried to Italy (83 b. c). After a 
 severe struggle, Sulla utterly overthrew the Marians. The 
 blood of massacre then flowed a second time, — in a yet 
 greater stream. Lists of proscribed persons, embracing all 
 who belonged to the people's party, were published every 
 day, and the porch of Sulla's house was full of heads. 
 
 92. Having put down all his enemies, Sulla caused him- 
 Suiia's career Self to be proclaimed dictator for an unlimited 
 and death. ^jj^g ^gj g^ ^^^ j^g ^j^gj^ proceeded to re-or- 
 ganize the government wholly in the interest of the aristo 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 163 
 
 cratic party ; but to the great surprise of every one he three 
 years afterwards resigned his power and retired to private 
 life. Sulla died in 78 b. c. ; he was honored with a mag- 
 nificent funeral, and a monument with the following epitaph 
 written by himself : " I am Sulla the Fortunate, who in 
 the course of my life have surpassed both friends and ene- 
 mies ; the former by the good, the latter by the evil, I have 
 done them." In the civil wars carried on between Marius 
 and Sulla 150,000 Roman citizens, including 200 senators, 
 perished. 
 
 93. We have now arrived at a period in Roman history 
 when all the interest centers in the struggles of struggle of 
 
 a few ambitious men for supreme power. The f^'^^^Q^s. 
 grand days of the republic were over, and a war of factions 
 had begun. This could end only in anarchy, and when a 
 republic falls into anarchy, a supreme ruler is soon wel- 
 comed as a deliverer from its horrors. The only question 
 now was who in Rome was to be that ruler. 
 
 94. After the death of Sulla, the most prominent figure 
 among all the men of the aristocratic party Rjge of Pom- 
 was Cneius Pompey, who had distinguished p^^- 
 himself as a lieutenant of Sulla, and afterwards won renown 
 by his management of several important matters in which 
 Rome was engaged, — especially in the suppression of a 
 formidable revolution in Spain under a very able leader 
 named Serto'rius (77-72 b. c), and in stamping out a fire 
 of revolt kindled by Spar'tacus, the leader of a band of 
 gladiators, who, joined by a large force of discontented 
 spirits, kept Italy in alarm for two or three years (73-71 
 B. c). These exploits made Pompey a popular favorite, 
 and in the year 70 b. c. he was rewarded by being made 
 consul along with a rich senator named Crassus. 
 
 95. At the expiration of his year of office he retired 
 to private life, but was soon called upon to His doings in 
 suppress a formidable combination of pirates *^*^ ^^^^* 
 
164 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 who infested the Mediterranean Sea and had their head- 
 quarters in Cilicia (in Asia Minor). This task he accom- 
 plished in three months. These triumphs, aided by his 
 political influence, enabled Pompey to procure the command 
 in the war against Mithridates, who had renewed his scheme 
 of conquering the Eastern Roman provinces. He was 
 given powers such as never had been delegated to any 
 Roman general. This war lasted for two years (66-64 
 B. c), and was marked by a series of brilliant triumphs for 
 Pompey. He utterly crushed Mithridates (who died by 
 self-administered poison), as well as his son-in-law Tigra'nes, 
 subdued Phcenicia, made Syria a Roman province, and took 
 Jerusalem. Thus with the glory of having subjugated and 
 settled the East he returned to Rome (62 b. c), where a 
 magnificent triumph awaited him. He was in a position to 
 make himself military sovereign of the Roman world, if he 
 chose to avail himself of his opportunity. We must now see 
 what had been passing in Rome in the mean while. 
 
 96. There seem to have grown up, after the death of 
 The four fac- Sulla, four f actious in Rome : the " oligarchi- 
 *^°"^- cal faction," consisting of the small number 
 of families the chiefs of which directed the senate, and in 
 fact governed the republic ; the " aristocratic faction," com- 
 prising the mass of the senators anxious to obtain the power 
 usurped by a few of their colleagues ; the " Marian party," 
 including all those whose families had been prosecuted by 
 Sulla, and who now began to rally, and aspire to power ; the 
 "military faction," embracing a crowd of old officers of 
 Sulla, who, having squandered the fortunes they had gained 
 under him, were eager for some revolution that might give 
 them the opportunity to improve their condition. 
 
 97. At the head of the oligarchical faction was Pom- 
 Leader of the psy \ but during his absence in Asia its rep- 
 oiigarchy. rcscntative was Marcus Tul'lius Cicero (born 
 106 B. c), who had established his reputation as the fF«t 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 165 
 
 orator in Rome. He had risen through various offices to 
 the praetorship, and at the time Pompey left for the East 
 aspired to be consul. He did not himself belong to a 
 noble family, but still he made himself the champion of the 
 oligarchy. Though vain and boastful, he was a virtuous 
 and patriotic man. 
 
 98. The leader of the aristocratic faction was Crassus, 
 formerly the colleague of Pompey in the con- of the aris- 
 sulship, now his personal rival. He was a tocracy. 
 man of no great ability, but his position and his immense 
 wealth made him influential. (After prodigious expendi- 
 tures, he died worth % 10,000,000.) 
 
 99. The leader of the third, or Marian party, was a man 
 six years younger than Pompey or Cicero, who, 
 distinguished in youth for his accomplishments 
 
 and his extravagance, rose in the year 65 b. c. to the office 
 of edile. This was Caius Julius Csesar, — a man of pre- 
 eminent ability, one of the greatest that ever lived. He 
 was the nephew of Marius, and now stood forward as the 
 leader of the Marian party. He was of an old patrician 
 family, and took up the cause of the people to serve his 
 own ends. 
 
 100. The leader of the military faction was Catiline, who 
 had been one of the ablest and most ferocious conspiracy of 
 of Sulla's officers. He had a large following Catiime. 
 
 of debauched young patricians and ruined militaiy men, 
 who thought they would better their fortunes by making 
 Catiline consul. Cicero was his rival, and, receiving the 
 support of the senators, was elected. Enraged at his defeat, 
 Catiline formed a conspiracy of which the murder of Cicero 
 and the burning of Roir.e were parts. A woman betrayed 
 the plot to Cicero, who denounced Catiline with such fieiy 
 eloquence that he had to flee from Rome. With a band 
 of confederates he attempted to reach Gaul; but he was 
 overtaken in Etruria and slain, 62 b. c. 
 
1 66 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 101. If Pompey had been really a great and clear-sighted 
 man, he could, on his return from the East, have easily put 
 Position of himself at the head of affairs. But he was 
 Pompey. j^q^ really such. He was, in fact, rather a lucky 
 general than a great statesman. The oligarchic party began 
 to distrust him, and as the senate under the lead of Cato 
 refused to ratify his measures in Asia, he threw himself into 
 opposition and went over to the popular party. This brought 
 him into close connection with Cassar. 
 
 102. Caesar and Pompey, finding that they agreed in 
 First trium- many of their views, resolved to unite their 
 virate. forccs. To ccmcut their union more closely, 
 Cassar gave his only daughter Julia in marriage to Pompey. 
 For various reasons it was found desirable to admit Crassus 
 to their political partnership, and thus was formed (60 b. c.) 
 that famous coalition known in Roman history as the " First 
 Triumvirate." The object of Cassar and Pompey was to 
 thwart the senatorial party in every way, and wield all 
 power themselves. 
 
 103. The formation of the triumvirate was followed by 
 Elevation of the election of Caesar to the consulship (59 b. c.) \ 
 Caesar. ^^^ when his year of office expired he ob- 
 tained for himself the government of Gaul for five years, 
 and then for another five. This was probably the great ob- 
 ject of Caesar's desires. No doubt he was already brooding 
 over the design of making himself master of Rome ; and for 
 this purpose he would need an army. 
 
 104. During the years 58-50 b. c. Caesar made eight 
 His Gallic campaigns in Gaul, forming the remarkable 
 campaigns. series of Operations which he afterwards de- 
 scribed with such pointed style in his Comme7itaries. 
 
 The prominent points in these campaigns are : He arrests the emi- 
 gration of the Helvetii ; expels the Germans under Ariovistus (58 B. C.) ; 
 completes the conquest of Gaul by Gubduing the Belgae (57 B. c), and 
 the Aquita'ni (56 B. c.) ; invades Britain twice (in 55 and 54 B. c.) ; 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 
 
 167 
 
1 68 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 penetrates into Germany; overthrows the Gauls, who revolt repeatedly; 
 conquers Vercingetorix, and entirely subdues the country (53-51 B. c). 
 
 105. The result of his eight years' campaigning was that, 
 Position of in the Spring of 50 B. c, Caesar was able to 
 Caesar. ^^^ ^p j^jg residence in Cisalpine Gaul, leav- 
 ing the 300 tribes beyond the Alps, which he had conquered 
 by such bloody means, not only pacified, but even attached 
 to himself personally. His army, which included many 
 Gauls and Germans, was so devoted to him that it would 
 have marched to the end of the world in his service. 
 
 106. Let us now inquire as to the other two members 
 Pompey and of the triumviratc. During Caesar's absence, 
 Crassus. Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls for 
 the year 55 b. c. ; and when their own year of office had ex- 
 pired both obtained important commands : Pompey received 
 the government of Spain, as proconsul, for five years, and 
 Crassus a similar appointment over the East. Soon after 
 this, Crassus was murdered in Parthia ; so that the tri- 
 umvirate became a duumvirate, or league of iwo men, — 
 Caesar and Pompey. 
 
 107. Now between these two men there had for some 
 Rivalry of time been a jjrowins: coldness. It was said 
 
 Caesar and , ^ ■, > •,,-,, 
 
 Pompey. that Cassar was a man who could brook no 
 
 equal, and Pompey a man who could suffer no superior. A 
 feeling of rivalry having once arisen, naturally grew till 
 Cassar and Pompey became the bitterest enemies. Pompey 
 went over to the aristocratic party to which he had origi- 
 nally belonged, and having been made sole consul for the 
 year 52 e. c, he began to exert his great influence against 
 Cassar. In this he was supported by the nobles, who 
 dreaded Caesar's immense power. 
 
 108. As the period of Caesar's command would expire in 
 New compH- the year 49 B. c., he had determined to obtain 
 cations. ^j^g consulship for the year 48 b. c, since other- 
 wise he would become a private citizen. Accordingly he 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 169 
 
 demanded, though absent, to be permitted to put himself 
 in the Hsts for the consulate. But it was proposed, 
 through the influence of Pompey, that Caesar should lay 
 down his command by the 13th of November, 50 b. c. This 
 was an unreasonable demand ; for his term of government 
 over Gaul had another year to run, and if he had gone to 
 Rome as a private man to sue for the consulship, there 
 can be no doubt that his life would have been sacrificed. 
 Caesar, still anxious to keep the peace, offered, at the be- 
 ginning of the year 49 b. c, to lay down his command if 
 Pompey would do the same ; but this the senate refused 
 to accede to, and a motion was passed that Cossar should 
 disband his army by a certain day, and that if he did not 
 do so, he should be regarded as an enemy of the state. 
 
 109. Caesar promptly took his resolve : he would appeal 
 to the arbitrament of arms. He had the en- 
 
 , . . , . . , , ,. - The Rubicon. 
 
 thusiastic devotion of his soldiers, the great 
 mass of whom, being provincials or foreigners, cared very 
 little for the country whose name they bore. Accordingly, 
 in January, 49 b. c, he advanced from his headquarters at 
 Ravenna to the little stream, the Ru'bicon, which separated 
 his own province and command from Italy. The crossing 
 of this river was in reality a declaration of war against the 
 republic ; and it is related that, upon arriving at the Ru- 
 bicon, Caesar long hesitated whether he should take this 
 irrevocable step. After pondering many hours he at length 
 exclaimed, " The die is cast ! " and plunged into the river. 
 
 110. Pompey concluded not to attempt to defend Italy, 
 but to retire upon the East, where he would Retreat of 
 gather a great army and then return to over- Po^^p^y- 
 whelm the "usurper." Accordingly he retreated to Greece. 
 
 111. In sixty days Caesar made himself master of all 
 Italy. Then marching to Rome he had him- caesar master 
 self appointed dictator and consul for the year °*" ^*^^y- 
 
 48 B. c. He showed masterly statesmanship, and soon 
 
I/O HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 brought the general current of opinion completely over to 
 his side. 
 
 112. Meantime, Pompey had gathered a powerful army 
 Battle of ii^ Thessaly, and thither Caesar with his legions 
 Pharsaiia. proceeded against him. The decisive batde 
 between the two mighty rivals was fought at Pharsa'lia, in 
 48 B. c. It resulted in the utter defeat of Pompey ; and as 
 it left Cassar the foremost man in the Roman world, it must 
 be regarded as one of the great decisive battles of history. 
 
 113. Pompey, after his defeat, sought refuge in Egypt; 
 Fate of t)ut he was assassinated by the orders of Ptol- 
 Pompey. tx^^^ whcn seeking to land on the coast of that 
 country. Cassar, who followed in pursuit, did not hear of 
 his death until his arrival in Alexandria, where messengers 
 from Ptolemy brought him Pompey's head. Caesar, who 
 was both a generous man and a compassionate foe, turned 
 with horror from the spectacle, and with tears in his eyes 
 gave orders that the head should be consumed with the 
 costliest spices. 
 
 114. At Alexandria Caesar became bewitched by Cleopa- 
 Casar in the tra, the young, beautiful, and fascinating queen 
 ^^^^- of Egypt. He even mixed himself up with a 
 quarrel that was going on between her and her younger 
 brother Ptolemy, to whom, according to the custom of the 
 country, she was married, and with whom she shared the 
 throne. This intermeddling led Caesar, v/ho had but a 
 small force with him, into conflict with the troops of the 
 king. A fierce battle was fought in the city. Caesar suc- 
 ceeded in firing the Egyptian fleet ; but unfortunately the 
 flames extended to the celebrated Library^ of the city of 
 Alexandria, and the greater part of the magnificent collec- 
 tion of manuscripts was burnt. Caesar was finally success- 
 ful : Ptolemy was killed, and Cleopatra was made queen of 
 Egypt. From Alexandria Caesar marched into Pontus to 
 attack Pharna'ces, son of Mithp'dates, whom he subdued s^ 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 171 
 
 quickly that he described the campaign in the most laconic 
 despatch ever penned: Veni^ vicii, vici, — "I came, I saw, 
 I conquered." 
 
 115. The Pompeian forces that escaped from Pharsalia 
 had established themselves in the Roman csesar's final 
 province of Africa. They were commanded victory. 
 
 by Scipio and Cato. Caesar having settled matters in the 
 East now proceeded against this force, which he utterly 
 destroyed at Thapsus, early in the year 46 b. c. Scipio and 
 Cato killed themselves. One more rally the Pompeians 
 made in Spain, but they were defeated by Caesar in the 
 decisive batde of Munda (March, 45 b. c). 
 
 116. Caesar returned to Rome after the battle of Thapsus, 
 the master of the Roman dominion. The caesar and 
 republic went out when Cato fell upon his ^^^ ^^*^®- 
 sword at Utica ; the monarchy came in with the triumphal 
 entry of Caesar into Rome in the summer of 46 b. c. It is 
 true Caesar was not king (rex) in jiame, but he was so in sub- 
 stance. His position as chief of the state was this : he was in- 
 vested with the dictatorship for ten years, — an arrangement 
 changed soon afterwards to perpetual dictator, — and was 
 hailed with the title of Imperator for life. The latter tide, 
 Jmperator (meaning Commander), was one which belonged 
 under the republic to the victorious general ; but it was a 
 temporary title, always laid aside with the surrender of mili- 
 tary command. Caesar was allowed to use it in a special 
 way and permanently, and in his case it had much the mean- 
 ing of the term Emperor^ — a word which is simply Imperator 
 cut short. 
 
 ^17. Julius Caesar was a strong, clear-sighted man, who 
 plainly perceived that the old political system His views and 
 of Rome had hopelessly broken down. He ci^aracter. 
 believed that peace and prosperity could come only under 
 the firm and just rule of one man. He obtained power by 
 overriding the laws, but he designed to use this power to the 
 
172 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 best ends. " J, will not," he said in one of his speeches, 
 " renew the massacres of Sulla and Marius, the very remem- 
 brance of which is shocking to me. Now that rny enemies 
 are subdued, I will lay aside the sword, and endeavor sole- 
 ly by my good offices to gain over those who continue to 
 hate me." 
 
 118. Faithful to this promise, he pardoned all who had 
 The work he borne arms against him, and, by making no 
 ^^^' distinction of parties, labored, and with suc- 
 cess, to bring about an " era of good feeling." He instituted 
 a vigorous and honest administration of the provinces ; he 
 encouraged trade and agriculture ; embellished Rome with 
 temples, theaters, and public places ; undertook to drain the 
 Pontine marshes and to dig a new bed for the Tiber; 
 reformed the calendar; and projected a gigantic series of 
 designs for improving and extending the empire he had 
 acquired. Considering that from the time of his return 
 to Rome down to his death there was but a brief interval 
 of two years, it is wonderful what he accomplished. 
 
 119. There can be no doubt that the Romans were well 
 Peelings of the Satisfied to be under the rule of Caesar. The 
 Romans. republic was a mere name, for liberty had ex- 
 pired when the Gracchi were murdered, and subsequent 
 dissensions were merely contests for power between differ- 
 ent factions. Hence the Roman people, weary of revolu- 
 tion, were quite content to find peace under the just though 
 absolute rule of one master. 
 
 120. It is important to recognize this as the real state 
 Real cause of of public feeling, because we shall now have 
 sinltion.^^^^^' to see that Caesar fell a victim to assassination, 
 and it might be thought that his overthrow was the people's 
 revolt from monarchical rule. But in truth it was the act of 
 a small knot of conspirators who, with the cry of " Liberty 
 and the Republic " in their mouths, did away with the Im- 
 perator to serve their own ends. 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 173 
 
 121. The chiefs of the conspiracy were Caius Cassius 
 and Marcus Junius Brutus. Both had received The conspir- 
 great favors from Caesar ; but they thought they ^^'^' 
 
 had not been honored enough, and they were intensely 
 jealous of the dictator's greatness. These were joined by 
 other malcontents, and the plotters swelled their ranks by 
 representing that Caesar designed to assume the diadem 
 and the title of king; so that the conspiracy finally in- 
 cluded about sixty senators. 
 
 122. It is not certainly known whether or not Caesar 
 thought of taking the name of king. It is caesar-s am- 
 known, however, that the consul, Mark An- ^^*^°"- 
 tony, at the feast of the Luperca'lia in the year 45 b. c, 
 offered a regal crown to the dictator : he refused it, — it is 
 said because he saw the people showed displeasure, — and 
 Antony had it entered in the public acts, "that by the 
 command of the people, he, as consul, had offered the name 
 of king to Caesar, perpetual dictator ; and that Cassar would 
 not accept of it." 
 
 123. The plot ripened into a determination to assassinate 
 Caesar, and the conspirators fixed on the Ides His assassi- 
 (i. e. 15th) of March as the time of putting the nation, 
 design into execution. Rumors of the plot got abroad, and 
 Caesar was strongly urged not to attend the senate. But he 
 disregarded the warnings which were given him. As soon 
 as Caesar had taken his place, he was surrounded by the 
 senatorial conspirators, one of whom, pretending to urge 
 some request, seized his toga with both hands and pulled it 
 violently over his arms. Then Casca, who v/as behind, 
 drew a weapon and grazed his shoulder with an ill-directed 
 stroke. Caesar disengaged one hand and snatched at the " 
 hilt, exclaiming, " Cursed Casca^ what means this 2 " " Help I " 
 cried Casca, and at the same moment the conspirators 
 aimed each his dagger at the victim. Caesar for an instant 
 defended himself ; but when he perceived the steel flashing 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 C^SAR. 
 
 in the hand of Brutus (Marcus Junius), he exclaimed, " What! 
 
 ihou too, Brutus!'''' (^Et tu, 
 
 Bru'te !) and drawing his robe 
 
 over his face he made no further 
 
 resistance. The assassins stabbed 
 
 him through and through ; and, 
 
 pierced with twenty-three wounds, 
 
 Caesar fell dead at the foot of 
 
 the statue of his great rival, Pom- 
 
 pey. 
 
 124. Julius Caesar was in his 
 Person of fif ty-sixth year, whcu, 
 casar. Qj^ ^j^g j^^j-^ q£ March, b. c. 44, he was stricken 
 down. His personal appearance was noble and command- 
 ing ; he was tall in stature, of a fair complexion, and with 
 black eyes full of expression. He never wore a beard ; 
 in the latter part of his life his head was bald ; but being 
 quite mindful of his personal appearance, he was in the 
 habit of covering the defect with a laurel chaplet. 
 
 125. Intellectually he was distinguished by the most ex- 
 
 traordinary genius in the most diversified pur- 
 
 His mind. . ^^^ ^ , ^ 
 
 suits. He was at once a general, a statesman, 
 a lav/giver, an orator, a historian, a mathematician, and an 
 architect, — and as he was pre-eminent in all, he would seem 
 truly to deserve the name which Shakespeare gives him, — 
 
 ** The foremost man of all the world." 
 
 126. Caesar was upwards of forty years of age before he 
 Review of his became prominent in public affairs. In the 
 career. xi^^l fourteen years he subdued Gaul, with its 
 
 swarms of warlike nations ; carried the Roman eagles into 
 Britain and beyond the Rhine.; twice conquered Spain ; 
 marched through Italy at the head of the legions he had 
 trained ; overthrew the armies of Pompey ; reduced Egypt 
 to obedience ^ conquered Pharnaces ; and won his final 
 
CIVIL STRIFE. 175 
 
 triumph at Thapsus and Munda, — a series of campaigns 
 that comprised fifty battles, and in which over one milUon 
 of men fell. 
 
 127. Yet his warlike career was but preliminary to his 
 career as a statesman, when, ceasing to de- 
 stroy, he began to create. His aim was vast *^ ^ ^"^' 
 and beneficent, — nothmg less than the political, social, in- 
 tellectual, and moral regeneration of the decayed Roman 
 nation. He accomplished only a small part of jhis plan, yet 
 the work he did still lives after wellnigh two thousand years, 
 and what of it was wise and good remains a part of the per- 
 manent possession of civilization. 
 
 128. It is said that "revolutions never go backwards." 
 Brutus and his fellow-conspirators struck down Effect of cae- 
 Caesar in the name of lilDerty ; but the blow ^^""'^ death, 
 that leveled the master of Rome did not bring back the 
 republic, — it only insured the appearance of new claimants 
 for supreme power, and consequently new civil wars. 
 
 129. On the occasion of Cassar's funeral the consul, Mark 
 Antony, delivered an oration over the dicta- 
 tor's body, and to such a height did the feeling 
 
 ot the Romans against the plotters rise, that Brutus and Cas- 
 sius were obliged to escape forthwith from the city to avoid 
 destruction. 
 
 130. The condition of affairs left Mark Antony in some 
 respect the representative of Caesarean princi- 
 
 ,1 ,. , . , Octavius. 
 
 pies ; but a more direct claimant to the suc- 
 cession appeared in Caesar's great-nephew, Caius Octavius, 
 then a youth nineteen years old. The dictator had adopt- 
 ed Octavius as his son ; so his name became Caius Julius 
 Caesar Octavianus. Octavius had all the old soldiers on 
 his side, and raised the standard of Caesar's vengeance. 
 
 131. At first Antony and Octavius were at strife ; but 
 finally they became reconciled, and associating second trium- 
 with them Lep'idus, the " master of the horse," Pirate. 
 
176 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 the three formed the Second Triumvirate (43 b. c), and con- 
 certed a plan to divide among themselves the supreme 
 authority. In order to do this it was necessary utterly to 
 crush both their personal enemies and the forces of the 
 republic. 
 
 132. To accomplish the first object, they began a system 
 Their proscrip- o^ proscription morc ruthless and bloody than 
 *i°"- that of Marius and Sulla. It is recorded that 
 300 senators, 2000 knights, and many thousands of citizens 
 were sacrificed. The most illustrious of the victims was 
 the famous orator Cicero, whose severe invectives against 
 Antony had procured him the relentless hatred of the tri- 
 umvir. The aged patriot, while escaping from Rome in 
 a litter, was assassinated. 
 
 133. The second object was the destruction of the re- 
 Battie of Phi- publicau forccs. Now Brutus and Cassius, 
 Hppi. finding their position in Italy to be desperate, 
 had retired to the East, where in Thrace they gathered an 
 army of about 100,000 men. Antony and Octavius pursued 
 them with a still larger force, and the two armies met at 
 Philippi. The republican army was totally defeated (No- 
 vember, 42 B. c.) ; both Brutus and Cassius killed them- 
 selves. 
 
 134. The victors now divided the Roman world among 
 Quarrels of thcmselvcs, — Antouy taking the East, Octa- 
 the three. ^j^g ^^ Wcst, and Lcpidus the province of 
 Africa. But the Roman world was scarcely theirs before 
 they began to quarrel over it. The feeble Lepidus never 
 possessed much influence, and was soon robbed of his share. 
 After this it was quite certain that a contest between An- 
 tony and Octavius could not long be delayed, and each be- 
 gan to intrigue against the other. 
 
 135. Antony made the headquarters of his half of the 
 Conduct of Roman dominion at Alexandria. Here he 
 Antony. came under the fascinations of Cleopatra, and 
 
CIVIL STRIFE, 177 
 
 he lost all regard to his character or his interests in her 
 company. He even went so far as to divorce his wife Oc- 
 tavia, the sister of Octavius, and, having married the volup- 
 tuous Egyptian queen, he bestowed Roman provinces on her. 
 
 136. This conduct was treasonable, and furnished Octa- 
 vius with a decent pretext for declaring war. Battle of 
 The young Caesar had been gaining great pop- Actium. 
 ularity in Italy ; he had consolidated his power and had his 
 legions in fine training. The fleets and armies of the rivals 
 assembled at the opposite sides of the Gulf of Ambracia. 
 After considerable delay, Antony, instigated by Cleopatra, 
 who was present with her Egyptian fleet, determined to de- 
 cide the contest by a naval battle. The contest took place 
 off the promontory of Ac'tium (on the west coast of Greece), 
 while the hostile armies, drawn up on the shore, were sim- 
 ple spectators. In the midst of the conflict Cleopatra 
 tacked about, and with the Egyptian squadron of sixty sail 
 drew out of the fight. Antony, regardless of his honor, 
 followed after her, and the pair fled to Alexandria. Both 
 the fleet and the force of Antony surrendered to Octavius, 
 31 B. c. 
 
 137* Some months afterwards Octavius advanced to be- 
 siege Alexandria. Antony attempted to de- End of An- 
 fend it ; but he was abandoned by his troops. *°"y- 
 Cleopatra retired to a monument she had erected, and 
 caused a report to be spread of her death. Upon this news 
 Antony attempted to commit suicide, and inflicted on himself 
 a mortal wound : hearing, however, in the midst of his ago- 
 nies, that Cleopatra still lived, he caused himself to be 
 carried to her monument, and expired in her presence 
 (30 B. c). 
 
 138. The end of Cleopatra was even more tragic. The 
 Egyptian queen seems at first to have thought 
 that she would be able to bewitch the young ^°^^ '^' 
 Caesar; but having in vain essayed her arts on the cold, 
 8* ' L 
 
178 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 calculating Octavius, she, sooner than be led In chains to 
 adorn the triumph of the victor, and glut the eyes of the 
 populace of Rome with the sight of the daughter and last 
 of the Ptolemies preceding the chariot of the adopted son 
 of him who had done homage to her charms, gave herself 
 voluntary death by the bite of an asp, or the scratch of a 
 poisoned needle. Egypt now became a Roman province 
 (30 B. c). 
 
 139. There was now no one left to withstand Octavius 
 Triumph of Csesar, who thus remained sole master of the 
 Octavius. great dominion which the mighty Julius had 
 
 prepared for him. The senate, in fact, was ready to concede 
 to him the entire authority. He indeed went through the 
 farce, soon after his return to Rome, of resigning the im- 
 peratorship ; but he was prevailed on to resume it for ten 
 years, and every ten years after to re-resume it. Gradually 
 all the great offices were united in his person, and he be- 
 came in fact Emperor of the Roman world. We may count 
 the Roman Empire as beginning with the year b. c. 27, 
 when Octavius was saluted with the new and peculiar tide 
 of Augustus. 
 
 ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS FOR REVIEW. 
 
 General 
 Statement. 
 
 I. Rome under the kings. 
 
 Rome is believed to have been 
 founded as a frontier post by the 
 Latins of Alba Longa ; but it was 
 from the first almost independent, 
 then wholly so, and fmally ac- 
 quired an ascendency over all 
 the other Latin cities. The num- 
 ber of kings is said to have been 
 seven ; but their history is almost 
 wholly fabulous. Regal rule was 
 ended by the banishment of Tar- 
 quin. 
 
 LEADING DATES. 
 
 B. c. 
 Founding of Rome 753 
 
 End of kingly rule 509 
 
ANALYTIC SYNOFSIS. 
 
 179 
 
 First Epoch, Roman Republic (509-390). 
 
 General 
 Statement. 
 
 The first epoch of 119 years 
 from the establishment of the re- 
 public was a period of struggle 
 external and internal. The Ro- 
 mans had to contend, for their 
 mere existence, with the various 
 neighboring states, and during 
 this epoch they went rather back- 
 wards than forwards, as regards 
 the extent of their territory. 
 There was also a struggle of 
 classes, owing to the oppression 
 of the Plebeians by the Patri- 
 cians ; but finally the Plebs were 
 allowed to elect magistrates 
 called tribunes. Soon after, the 
 unwritten Roman law was em- 
 bodied in the Twelve Tables. 
 Various changes were made in 
 the administration of the govern- 
 ment, decemvirs taking the place 
 of consuls, and military tribunes 
 the place of decemvirs. In this 
 unsettled state of affairs Rome 
 fell a prey to the Gauls, who 
 burned the city. 
 
 Establishment of 
 the Republic... 509 
 
 Secession of the 
 Plebeians 493 
 
 Laws of the 
 Twelve Tables,. 451 
 
 Military tribunes 
 appointed 
 
 Rome captured by 
 the Gauls 390 
 
 Licinian 
 passed. 
 
 Second Epoch, Roman Republic (390-266). 
 
 The Plebeians were again griev- 
 ously oppressed by the Patricians, 
 and troubles ensued, but a set- 
 tlement was made by the Licin- 
 ian constitution, which remedied 
 abuses "With the cessation of 
 internal troubles the Romans be- 
 gan a career of conquest. First, 
 there were the " Samnite " wars 
 and the " Latin " wars These 
 General wars ended in the complete sub- 
 Statement. \ jugation of these nations and the 
 
 lav/s 
 
 367 
 
 Beginning of Sam- 
 nite wars 343 
 
 Beginning of Latin 
 wars 340 
 
 End of Samnite 
 wars sgo 
 
i8o 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 mastery of Rome over all Cen- 
 tral Italy. The Romans now 
 turned their attention to Southern 
 or Grecian Italy, where they had 
 to meet Pyrrhus in several bat- 
 tles. At first defeated, they were 
 finally successftil ; Pyrrhus was 
 compelled to abandon his project, 
 and the southern part of Italy 
 was conquered, thus giving the, 
 Romans mastery over the whole 
 Italian peninsula. 
 
 Battle of Pandosia 280 
 
 Battle of Asculum 273 
 
 Battle of Beneven- 
 
 tum 275 
 
 Romans masters 
 of all Italy 266 
 
 General 
 Statement. 
 
 Third Epoch, Roman Republic (266-133). 
 
 The era of foreign conquest 
 lasted 133 years (266- 133). First 
 the Romans attacked the Cartha- 
 ginians, their great rivals. This 
 mighty contest ran through three 
 wars known as the three Punic 
 wars. In the first, lasting 23 
 years, the Carthaginians were 
 unsuccessful. The Romans after 
 this conquered Cisalpine Gaul. 
 Hamilcar now became genqral-in- 
 chief of the Carthaginians, and on 
 his death his greater son Hannibal 
 came into command. Hannibal 
 took the aggressive in Spain, and 
 thus began the second Punic War 
 He won brilliant victories, and 
 maintained himself fifteen years 
 in Italy ; but finally was recalled 
 to Carthage and was defeated by 
 the Romans at Zama. Soon 
 after the second Punic War the 
 Romans conquered Macedon and 
 Greece, and made them Roman 
 provinces. The third Punic War 
 was marked by the siege of Car- 
 thage, and resulted in the utter 
 
 ( apnihibtion of the Carthaginian 
 
 I power. 
 
 Beginning of first 
 Punic War 264 
 
 End of first Punic 
 War 241 
 
 Conquest of Cisal- 
 pine Gaul 222 
 
 Beginning of sec- 
 ond Punic War. 
 
 218 
 
 Battle of Zama, 
 and end of second 
 Punic War 202 
 
 Battle of Pydna ... 168 
 Greece made a Ro- 
 man province — 146 
 Burning of Car- 
 thage, and end 
 of Punic wars... 146 
 
ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS. 
 
 i8i 
 
 Fourth Epoch, Roman Republic (133-27). 
 
 The long civil strife which fol- 
 lowed Rome's foreign wars re- 
 sulted from the desperate poverty 
 of the Plebeian class. This class 
 found two champions in the Grac- 
 chi, but both were victims to the 
 rage of the aristocracy. The first 
 Mithridatic war now ensued, but 
 was successfully ended by Sulla. 
 Then came the bloody days of 
 Marius and Sulla. Subsequently 
 Pompey rose to power. He had 
 been the leader of the aristocracy, 
 but went over to the people's 
 party, he, Julius Ccesar, and Cras- 
 sus forming the First Triumvi- 
 rate. Caesar went into Gaul, 
 where he prosecuted his cam- 
 paigns for eight years ; but Pom- 
 pey intrigued against him ; so he 
 crossed the Rubicon and made 
 himself master of Italy. The de- 
 cisive battle between Caesar and 
 Pompey was fought at Pharsalia, 
 Caesar being successful ; the 
 remnant of the Pompeian forces 
 was crushed at Thapsus. Cae- 
 sar was now master ; but a con- 
 spiracy was formed against him, 
 and he was assassinated. After 
 the death of Caesar his nephew 
 Octavius formed with Antony and 
 Lepidus the Second Triumvirate. 
 Octavius led his forces against 
 Brutus and Cassius, defeating 
 them at Philippi. Antony and 
 Octavius now quarreled, but the 
 dispute was settled in favor of the 
 latter by the battle of Actium, 
 and soon after Octavius assumed 
 the title of Augustus Cassar. 
 
 General 
 Statement. 
 
 Agrarian law 
 brought for- 
 ward by T. 
 Gracchus 133 
 
 Death of C. Grac- 
 chus 121 
 
 Outbreak of first 
 Mithridatic war 86 
 
 Massacres by Ma- 
 rius 86 
 
 Sulla's proscrip- 
 tions 83 
 
 First Triumvirate 60 
 
 Caesar's Gallic 
 campaign 58-50 
 
 Crossing of the 
 Rubicon 49 
 
 Battle of Phar- 
 salia 48 
 
 Battle of Thap- 
 sus 46 
 
 Assassination of 
 Csesar 44 
 
 Second Triumvi- 
 rate 43 
 
 Battle of Phihppi. 42 
 
 Battle of Actium., 31 
 Octavius (Augus- 
 tus) becomes 
 Emperor vj 
 
1 82 HISTORY OF ROME, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ROME AS AN EMPIRE. 
 
 I. AGE OF AUGUSTUS. 
 
 140. When Augustus Caesar at the age of thirty-six 
 Nature of the became master of the Roman world, there was 
 imperial rule. ^^ o^QXi estabUshmeut of a monarchical gov- 
 ernment. On the contrary, most of the old republican 
 forms were kept up ; but they were mere forms. The 
 senate still sat, but it did little more than vote what Augus- 
 tus wished ; the people still met in their assemblies and 
 elected consuls and magistrates, but only such persons were 
 elected as had been proposed or recommended by the 
 Emperor. Augustus, however, assumed nothing of the out- 
 ward pomp of a monarch: he was satisfied with the sub- 
 stance of supreme rule. The almost uninterrupted festivi- 
 ties, games, and distributions of corn and the like kept the 
 people out of politics ; and, what through degeneracy, and 
 what through despair, they were willmg to be out of 
 politics ! 
 
 141. The boundaries of the Roman Empire as estab- 
 Extent of the hshed by Augustus may be stated in a general 
 Empire. -y^^^y ^s foUows : On the north, the British 
 Channel, the North Sea (Mare German'icum), the Rhine, 
 the Danube (Ister), and the Black Sea (Pontus Euxi'nus) ; 
 on the east, the Euphrates and the Desert of Syria ; on the 
 south, the Sahara of Africa ; and on the west, the Atlantic 
 Ocean. It extended from east to west a distance of fifty* 
 degrees, or about 2700 miles, and had an average breadth 
 of about fifteen degrees, or above 1000 miles. 
 
 142. The Roman Empire took in the modern countries 
 of Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Western Holland, 
 
im. mmm mwm 
 
 at its greatest extent 
 2nd.CENTURyA.D. 
 
 SCALE OF MILES 
 
 Tfa«Atnrf<« 
 
 i 
 
AGE OF AUGUSTUS. 1 83 
 
 Rhenish Prussia, parts of Baden and Wurtemberg, most of 
 Bavaria, Switzerland, Italy, the Tyrol, Austria countries in- 
 Proper, Western Hungary, Croa'tia, Slavo'nia, eluded. 
 Servia, Turkey in Europe, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, 
 Palestine, Idumae'a, Egypt, the Cyrena'ica, Tripoli, Tunis, 
 Algeria, and most of Morocco. 
 
 143. The entire Empire, exclusive of Italy, was divided 
 into 27 "Provinces," which may be con- 
 veniently grouped under three heads : i. The 
 
 Western, or European ; 2. The Eastern, or Asiatic ; 3. The 
 Southern, or African. The Western provinces numbered 
 14; the Eastern, 8 ; the Southern, 5.* 
 
 144. Within the circuit of the Roman dominion there 
 were what we may call three civilizations : The three civ- 
 the Latin, the Greek, and the Oriental. Latin iii^ations. 
 civilization took in the countries from the Atlantic Ocean 
 to the Adriatic; Greek civilization, from the Adriatic to 
 Mount Taurus ; Oriental civilization, the lands beyond to 
 the Euphrates. 
 
 145. The area of Latin civilization embraced the penin- 
 sula of Italy (its native seat) and all Western _^ , . 
 
 T- 1 , -r^ 1 1 The Latin. 
 
 Europe, where the Romans appeared not only 
 as a conquering but also as a civilizing people. Thus in 
 the three provinces of Spain (Hispania), in the four prov- 
 inces of Transalpine Gaul (corresponding nearly with the 
 modern France), as well as in the North African provinces, 
 especially Carthage (which was restored by Cassar as a 
 Roman colony), the Latin language took firm root, and the 
 manners and customs, and indeed the whole civilization, of 
 those lands became Roman. 
 
 " 146. Greek civilization was spread over Greece and all 
 those parts of Europe and Asia that had been 
 Hellenized by Grecian colonists or by the 
 
 * Name these from the map opposite p. 182. 
 
1 84 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 Macedonian conquerors. In manners, customs, language, 
 and culture these lands remained Greek, while politically 
 they were Roman. 
 
 147. Oriental civilization was diffused over the East- 
 orientai. ^^^ provinccs, especially Egypt and Syria. 
 
 These countries had, under the rule of Alexan- 
 der's successors, become to some degree Hellenized; but 
 this influence was on the whole superficial. The peoples 
 of those Oriental lands had never given up their own 
 languages or religious ideas or ways of thinking. Now 
 these peoples, it should be said, did not become Latinized 
 either, — they did not adopt the language and civilization 
 of Rome. 
 
 148. Within the limits of the Roman Empire under 
 Government ^ugustus there may have been in all one 
 
 HUNDRED MILLIONS of human beings. Not less 
 than one half were in a condition of slavery-; and of the 
 rest, only that small proportion who, under the envied 
 name of Roman citizen {civis Ro7nanus)^ inhabited Italy, 
 enjoyed political independence, or had the smallest share 
 in the government. The various lands and peoples were 
 under Roman legates (half of these appointed by Augustus 
 and the other half by the Senate), who held supreme mili- 
 tary command. To the provinces were left, however, their 
 independent municipal constitutions and officers. In Rome 
 and Italy the public peace was preserved by the pretorian 
 cohorts, — bodies of soldiers of tried valor, to whom Augus- 
 tus gave double pay. Throughout the provinces the people 
 were kept in check by the regular troops, — numbering 
 350,000 men. 
 
 149. Of this vast Empire Rome was the metropolis, now 
 
 a city of innumerable streets and buildings. 
 
 The capital. . ^ . . . . , , 1 1 • 
 
 and containing, 11 is calculated, a population 
 of about two millions and a half. It was in this period that 
 Rome became truly a splendid city. Augustus was able to 
 boast that " he found the city brick and left it marble." 
 
AGE OF AUGUSTUS. 
 
 185 
 
 150. In the days of its greatest prosperity the circumfer- 
 ence of Rome enclosed by walls was about ^ 
 
 "^ Its extent. 
 
 twenty miles; but there were also very exten- 
 sive suburbs. The walls were pierced by thirty gates. The 
 most remarkable objects were the Coliseum, the Capitol 
 with its temples, the Senate-House, and the Forum. 
 
 151. The great circus^/or Circus Maximus, a place reserved 
 for public games, races and shows, was one circus and 
 
 of the most magnificent structures of Rome. It Coliseum, 
 was capable of containing 200,000 spectators. The Flavian 
 Amphitheater, whose massive ruins are known as the Coli- 
 seum, could seat from 80,000 to 100,000 persons. In the 
 arena were exhibited the fights of gladiators, in which the 
 Romans took such savage delight, together with races, com- 
 bats of wild beasts, etc. Theaters, public baths, etc., were 
 
 The Coliseum. 
 
 erected by the emperors, who seemed anxious to compen- 
 sate the people for their loss of liberty by the magnificence 
 of their public shows and entertainments. 
 
\7i< U^Jn^ 
 
 186 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 Forum. 
 
 152. In the valley between the Palatine and Cap'itoline 
 hills was the Forum, or place of public assem- 
 bly, and the great market. It was surrounded 
 
 with temples, halls for the administration of justice (called 
 basil' icce), and public offices ; it was also adorned with 
 statues erected in honor of eminent warriors and statesmen, 
 and with various trophies from conquered nations. 
 
 153. In the Forum was the celebrated Temple of Janus, 
 Temple of ^uilt entirely of bronze and dating back to the 
 Janus. early kingly period. From some early circum- 
 stance the custom was established of closing the gates of 
 this temple during peace ; but so incessant were the wars 
 of the Romans, that during eight centuries the gates of the 
 Temple of Janus were closed only three times. 
 
ACE OF AUGUSTUS. 1 8/ 
 
 154. The elections of magistrates, reviews of troops, and 
 the census or registration of citizens, were campus Mar- 
 held in the Campus Martius, which was also **"®- 
 the favorite exercise-ground of the young nobles. It was 
 surrounded by several splendid edifices ; ornamental trees 
 and shrubs were planted in different parts, and porticoes 
 erected under which the citizens might continue their 
 exercise in rainy weather. Hard by was the celebrated 
 Pantheon, or Temple of All the Gods (erected in the reign of 
 Augustus), the most perfect and splendid monument of 
 ancient Rome that has survived the ravages of time. 
 
 155' ^The aqueducts were among the most remarkable 
 Roman structures. Pure streams were sousfht 
 
 ,. 1 • 1 Aqueducts. 
 
 at a great distance, and conveyed m these 
 artificial channels, supported by arches, many of which were 
 more than a hundred feet high. Under the emperors, not 
 fewer than twenty ot these stupendous and useful structures 
 were raised ; and they brought such an abundant supply of 
 water to the metropolis, that rivers seemed to flow through 
 the streets and sewers. 
 
 156. Rome was inferior to Athens in architectural 
 beauty, but it far surpassed the Grecian city in General de- 
 works of public utility. To enumerate all the scription. 
 notable edifices would be impossible here ; but we may sum 
 up the matter by saying that the " Eternal City " in the 
 zenith of its glory contained four hundred and twenty 
 temples, five regular theaters, two amphitheaters, and seven 
 circuses of vast extent. There were sixteen public baths 
 built of marble, and furnished with every convenience that 
 could be desired. From the aqueducts a prodigious num- 
 ber of fountains was supplied, many of which were remark- 
 able for their architectural beauty. The palaces, public 
 halls, columns, porticoes, and obelisks were without num- 
 ber, and to these must be added the triumphal arches 
 erected by the later emperors. 
 
1 88 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 157* As the peace of the Roman world was maintained 
 by the strong hand of power, it was at this time 
 that many of those arts that grow best during 
 seasons of national order and prosperity made their greatest 
 progress. Thus many of the best-known Latin writers lived 
 at this time. Augustus himself was a great patron of literary 
 men and artists, and so was his minister, Caius Gilnius 
 Maece'nas. They honored and rewarded eminent writers ; 
 and though we must not forget that many of the distin- 
 guished men whose writings add luster to the " Augustan 
 age " had grown up under the republic, still Augustus de- 
 serves credit for fostering letters. Nothing will make up 
 for the loss of political freedom ; but it is something that 
 in Rome, when liberty was lost, literature at least flourished. 
 
 158. Among the distinguished writers of this age or the 
 times immediately preceding it are ; — 
 
 Virgil, the author of the epic poem the ^ne'id, a graceful, if not an 
 
 original, writer. 
 Horace, author of many poems, odes, satires, and epistles ; a witty, 
 
 good-humored, and most vivacious song-writer. 
 Sallust, the historian of the Jugurthine War and the Conspiracy of 
 
 Catiline ; a very spirited writer. 
 Lucre'tius, a writer of didactic poetry, containing passages of noble 
 
 eloquence and philosophy, along with much that is characteristic of 
 
 the low tone of thought prevalent in the pagan world 
 Catul'lus, author of lyrics that are among the sweetest and most truly 
 
 poetic things in the Latin language. 
 
 159. These are the most distinguished names in the 
 
 Aufifustan age, and they are among the most 
 
 Later writers. ..'='. . , ° . ,, t^ ,. a j 
 
 distmguished m all Roman literature. And 
 as we shall have no further occasion to recur to Roman 
 literature, we may simply note here among subsequent 
 writers, — Livy, the great historian of Rome ; Ovid, the 
 poet ; Martial, the writer of epigrams ; Pliny, the writer on 
 natural history (killed 79 a. d. by the great eruption from 
 Vesuvius, which buried the cities of Pompeii and Hercula'- 
 
AGE OF AUGUSTUS. 1 89 
 
 neum) ; JuVenal, the bitter satirist ; and Tacitus, the philo- 
 sophic historian of the decHning glories of Rome. 
 
 160. The reign of Augustus is rendered memorable by 
 the birth of Christ at the little village of Birth of 
 Bethlehem, in Judaea, — the most momentous ^^"^t. 
 event in the spiritual history of the world. Reckoned in 
 our common era, this event took place in the year 4 B. c* 
 
 161. Augustus died in 14 A. D. ; so that, counting from 
 his formal accession to title, 27 b. c, he ruled Reign of 
 over the Roman dominion for forty-one years. Augustus. 
 
 162. Augustus was succeeded by his step-son, Tibe^rius 
 Clau'dius Nero. It must be remembered that , 
 
 V 111 ^^^ successor. 
 
 the Roman government was not legally a 
 
 monarchy ; hence Augustus's heir was not necessarily the 
 
 heir of his power. But the Emperor had adopted Tiberius 
 
 as his own son, and the subservient senate voted him all 
 
 the honors Augustus had held. 
 
 " 163. In the note below t the scholar will find a reference 
 
 * Our method of counting time was not introduced till the year 532 
 A. D. The calculation was erroneous, and it was found ten centuries 
 afterward to be deficient four years of the true period ; but as the alter- 
 ation of a system that had then been adopted by nearly all Europe would 
 have made great confusion in civil and ecclesiastical affairs, the error 
 was, by general consent, allowed to remain, and we continue to reckon 
 from this era (A. D., anno domini, that is, "in the year of our Lord"), 
 which, however, lacks four years and six days of the real Christian epoch. 
 
 t The following table gives a list of the Roman Emperors, with the 
 dates of their reigns : 
 
 A. D. A. D. A. D. A. D. 
 
 Augustus 14 
 
 Tiberius.. 14- 2>7 
 
 Caligula 37- 41 
 
 Claudius 41- 54 LHadrian^^._s^ 117-138 
 
 Nero 54- 68 
 
 Galba 68- 69 
 
 Otho 69- 69 
 
 Vitellius 69- 69 
 
 r Vespasian 69- 79 
 
 (Titus 79- 3i 
 
 Domitian i 81 - 96 
 
 Nerva?^ » 96- 98 
 
 Trajan, j. . , . I.* 98-117 
 
 lan .X..._vr 
 
 ^Antoninus Pius i 138-161 
 
 j M. Aureliusx/ 161 -180 
 
 j L. Verus 161 -169 
 
 Commodus 180- 192 
 
 Pertinax 193 - ^93 
 
 Julianus 193 - 193 
 
igo 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 table of the Roman emperors, from Augustus to Augustu- 
 Reference ^^s, 476 A. D. It is not the plan of this book 
 
 *^'^^^' to make Roman history turn on the personal 
 
 fortunes of the emperors or the intrigues of their courts, — 
 insignificant details with which history has been entirely too 
 much taken up. Hence it will be enough to refer to the 
 table from time to time as we take up under separate heads 
 the great events of the Roman world. 
 
 Septimius Severus 193-211 
 
 ( Caracalla 211 -217 
 
 "I Geta 211 -212 
 
 Macrinus 217-218 
 
 Elagabalus 218-222 
 
 Alexander Severus 222 -235 
 
 Maximinus 235 - 238 
 
 ( Gordianus I. / 00 
 
 iGordianusILj ^38-238 
 
 ( Pupienus Maximus ) 2-?8-238 
 
 \ Balbinus j J ^ 
 
 Gordianus III 238-244 
 
 Philippus 244-249 
 
 Decius 249-251 
 
 Trebonianus Gallus 251 -254 
 
 ^milianus 253-253 
 
 ( Valerian 253 - 260 
 
 ( Gallienus 253-268 
 
 Claudius II 268-270 
 
 Aurelian 270-275 
 
 Tacitus 275 - 276 
 
 Florianus 276 - 276 
 
 Probus 276-282 
 
 Carus 282-283 
 
 |£^"""^ [ 283-284 
 
 ( Numenanus ) 
 
 ( Diocletian 284 - 305 
 
 < Maximian 286-305 
 
 ( Constantius 1 305-306 
 
 r Galerius 305-311 
 
 < Constantinel. the Great 306-337 
 
 C Licinius 307-323 
 
 r Constantine II 337-349 
 
 ^ Constantius II 337-361 
 
 ( Constans 1 337-35° 
 
 Julian 361-363 
 
 Jovian 363-364 
 
 Valentinian 1 364-375 
 
 Gratian 375-383 
 
 Valentinian II 383-392 
 
 Theodosius 1 392 - 395 
 
 (Emperor of the West as 
 
 well as of the East.) 
 
 Honorius 395 -423 
 
 Theodosius II 423 - 425 
 
 Valentinian III 425-455 
 
 Petronius Maximus 455-455 
 
 Avitus 455-456 
 
 Majorian 457-461 
 
 Libius Severus 461 -465 
 
 Anthemius 467 -472 
 
 Olybrius 472-472 
 
 Glycerius 473-474 
 
 Julius Nepos 474-475 
 
 Romulus Augustulus.. . 475-476 
 
 (Last Emperor of the 
 West.) 
 
 V 
 
POLITICAL HISTORY. IQr 
 
 2. POLITICAL HISTORY. 
 
 164. During nearly three centuries after the death of 
 Augustus, the empire remained, as far as Kind of gov- 
 political arrangements were concerned, pretty ernment. 
 nearly as he had left it. Though the senate still continued 
 to sit, and consuls to be elected, yet the Roman world soon 
 became thoroughly accustomed to the rule of one man. At 
 first, the empire was inherited as a birthright by those who 
 could claim descent from Augustus, or who had been 
 adopted into the family. Nero was in reality the last 
 emperor of the family of Augustus, though all who suc- 
 ceeded to the empire still went on calling themselves 
 Ccesar and Augustus to the last. 
 
 165. It soon came about that the real power behind the 
 throne was the soldiery. The troops, and Pretonan 
 especially the " Pretorian Guard," took it <^"a'''*- 
 upon themselves to dispose of the sovereignty as it pleased 
 them, and it was rare that the senate ventured to refuse to 
 register the decree of the soldiers. To raise favorite gen- 
 erals to the purple, and then to murder them for the sake 
 of the largesses which it was customary to receive in case 
 of a new accession, was the favorite pastime of the troops ; 
 and it sometimes happened that there were several em- 
 perors at the same time, different armies throughout the 
 empire having each appointed one. 
 
 166. Augustus bequeath-^d as a valuable legacy to his 
 successors the advice of confining the empire Growth of the 
 within those limits which nature seemed to ^"^P^^'e- 
 have placed as its permanent boundaries : on the west, the 
 Atlantic Ocean ; the Rhine and the Danube on the north ; 
 the Euphrates on the east ; and on the south the deserts of 
 Africa and Arabia. The only accession which the Roman 
 Empire received during the first century of the Christian era 
 was the province of Britain. " After a war of about forty 
 years, undertaken by the most stupid [Claudius], maintained 
 
192 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 by the most dissolute [Nero], and terminated by the most 
 timid [Domi'tian] of all the emperors, the greater part of 
 the island of Britain submitted to the Roman yoke.'"*^ The 
 next addition to the Roman territory was made by Trajan 
 in the early part of the 2d century. This consisted of the 
 province of Dacia, which was bounded by the Dnei'ster, the 
 Theiss, the Lower Danube, and the Euxine Sea. 
 
 167. It has already been seen that the Roman Empire 
 Roman citizen- consisted of Italy and the Provinces, and that 
 ^^^P- in point of government the two divisions were 
 on a very different footing. The inhabitants of Italy were 
 Roman citizens, whereas the provincials were under the 
 military rule of Roman officials, — legates and proconsuls. 
 But the same salutary maxims of government which had se- 
 cured the peace and obedience of Italy were little by little 
 extended to the countries outside of Italy. A nation of 
 Romans was gradually formed in the provinces by the 
 double expedient of introducing colonies and of admitting 
 the most faithful and deserving of the provincials to the 
 freedom of Rome. Finally, in the time of Caracal'la, in 
 the early part of the 3d century a. d. (211 -217), the old 
 distinction bet\veen Romans and provincials was wholly 
 abolished. Roman citizenship was given to all the free in- 
 habitants of the empire. 
 
 168. By this time the Latinizing of the Western provinces 
 Latinizing of was Completely effected ; that is to say, in lan- 
 the provinces, guagc, manners, and ideas, the inhabitants of 
 Gaul, Spain, Northern Africa, and IH'yria had become thor- 
 ough Romans. A very interesting proof of this is furnished 
 by the fact that many of the best and bravest of the later 
 emperors were provincials, or barbarians^ as they would be- 
 fore this have been called. 
 
 169. When there ceased to be any distinction between 
 Italy and the rest of the Roman Empire, the importance 
 
 * Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 
 
POLITICAL HISTORY. 1 93 
 
 of Rome as the center of the imperial dominion was very- 
 much diminished. This change is marked by Rome loses its 
 the fact that, in later times, Rome was quite in^portance. 
 forsaken by the emperors, who found it better to live near 
 the frontiers, whence they could keep watch against outside 
 foes ; and it is still more emphatically marked by a new order 
 of things, which was begun by the Emperor Diocle'tian. 
 "^70. Diocletian (283 - 305 a. d.) was one of a series of 
 able Illyrians that rose to the purple. Finding Division of 
 the unwieldy mass too great for the adminis- P°wer, 
 tration of a single individual, he took a general named Max- 
 im'ian as his colleague : he divided the imperial power be- 
 tween himself and Maximian, Diocletian retaining the East, 
 while Maximian ruled over the Western, or Latin-speaking, 
 peoples. Not content with this division, Diocletian took 
 an assistant and made his colleague do the same. These 
 sub-rulers were called Ccesars., and it was intended that they 
 should afterwards succeed to the imperial power. This ar- 
 rangement did not last long, and, after various struggles, the 
 whole empire was reunited under Constantine the Great, in 
 A. D. 323. 
 
 171. Constantine made a change which had a great effect 
 upon the later history of the Roman world. ^ 
 
 ^ . , /. 1 • Constantine. 
 
 He removed the capital of the empire to the 
 old Greek city of Byzan'tium, on the Bos'phorus, which he 
 greatly enlarged and called New J^ofne, but which has been 
 better known ever since as Constantino'ple (Greek J^oiis, a 
 city, — the city of Constantine). Even before this, Rome 
 had, as we have seen, ceased to be the usual dwelling-place 
 of the emperors, who commonly lived at Milan, Nicome'dia 
 (Bithyn'ia), and elsewhere ; but the transfer of the capital 
 to a Greek city is a proof of how completely the Empire 
 had come to overshadow Rome and Italy. 
 
 172. Theodosius I. was the last Emperor ^^ ^ . 
 
 ,. , iiT^ T^ ' r^ Tneoaosius. 
 
 who reigned over the whole Roman Empire. On 
 
 9 M 
 
194 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 his death, in a. d. 395, the vast dominion was divided be- 
 tween his two sons, — Hono'rius ruling in the West, and 
 Arca'dius in the East. 
 
 173. From that date the history of Rome divides itself 
 Division of the ii^^o two distinct histories, — that of the West- 
 empire, gj-j-j Qj. Latin Empire, and that of the Eastern, 
 Greek, or Byzan'tine Empire. As to the Eastern Empire, 
 we shall have to follow its history down through the Middle 
 Ages, till its destruction by the Turks in the 15th century. 
 But for the present, it is with the Western Empire alone 
 that we are concerned, for with the fall of the Western 
 Roman Empire ancient history ends. This downfall took 
 place in the year 476 a. d. ; but we shall defer to a subse- 
 quent section the narrative of the last days of Rome. 
 
 3. SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 174. While the political events about which we have just 
 The new learned, and which filled up the five centuries 
 power. Qf imperial Rome, were taking place, a change 
 far more momentous than any political revolution was 
 coming over the minds of men. This was the mighty moral 
 transformation effected by Christianity. 
 
 175. In the time of Augustus the different peoples and 
 State of the nations under the Roman sway had a srreat 
 
 world at the . - ,. . , i, • , , • 
 
 birth of Christ. Variety of religions, but all, with the exception 
 of the Jews, were pagans and polytheists. While Augustus 
 was ruling over a hundred millions of fellow-polytheists, there 
 took place in an obscure corner of the Roman dominion 
 an event the importance of which the wisest Roman could 
 not have foreseen. This was the birth of Christ, the founder 
 of a religion which was to overspread the polytheistic na- 
 tions, dissolve the ancient creeds and philosophies, and 
 renovate the faith, the thoughts, the whole life of the civil- 
 ized world. Now the diffusion of Christianity was power- 
 
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 95 
 
 fully aided by the /^r/ of the Roman Empire, — by the unity 
 of government under the empire ; hence it has been truly 
 said that " the Roman empire may be defined as a compul- 
 sory assemblage of polytheistic nations in order that Chris^ 
 tianity might operate over a large surface at once of that 
 polytheism which it was to supersede and destroy." 
 
 176. Jesus Christ was crucified in the nineteenth year 
 of the reign of Tiberius. At Antioch, in Syria, pirst spread of 
 where Barnabas and Saul taught the faith, the Christianity, 
 disciples were first called " Christians." And then began 
 those journeys by which St. Paul carried the gospel through 
 Asia Minor and Greece, until he was himself carried a 
 prisoner to Rome, to die there in the reign of Nero. The 
 Christian religion silently but surely spread itself ; first 
 among the Jews, then among the Greeks, or eastern, and 
 lastly, among the Latin, or western. Gentiles. 
 
 177. The existence of Christianity in the Roman Empire 
 is first signalized by the persecutions to which Nero's perse- 
 the Christians were subjected. In the reign «^"t'°"s. 
 
 of the brutal Nero the first persecution took place, but it 
 was confined to the city of Rome. A great fire, which con- 
 sumed a large part of the city, took place. Men said that 
 the emperor's own hand had kindled the flame, out of mere 
 madness, and that, while the burning continued, he sat 
 calmly looking on, singing verses to the music of his lyre. 
 To divert suspicion from himself, Nero resolved to direct it 
 upon the Christians. We shall tell the sequel in the lan- 
 ^ guage of Tacitus, the great Roman historian, who was bom 
 > during the reign of Nero. The passage which we quote is 
 of great interest, because it contains the earliest mention, 
 by any profane writer, of the name of Christ. 
 
 "With this view [that is, to divert suspicion], Nero inflicted the most 
 exquisite tortures on those men who, under the vulgar appellation of 
 Christians, were already branded with deserved infamy. They derived 
 their name and origin from one Christ, who m the reign of Tiberius had 
 
196 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 suffered death by the sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate. For a 
 while this dire superstition was checked, but it again burst forth; and 
 not only spread itself over Judaea, the first seat of this mischievous sect, 
 but was even introduced into Rome, the common asylum which receives 
 and protects whatever is impure, whatever is atrocious. The confessions 
 of those who were seized discovered a great multitude of their accom- 
 plices, and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of setting 
 fire to the city, as for their hatred of human kind. Some were nailed on 
 crosses, others sewn up in the skins of wild beasts and exposed to the 
 fury of dogs ; others, again, smeared over with combustible materials, 
 were used as torches to illuminate the darkness of the night. The gar- 
 dens of Nero were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was 
 accompanied with a horse-race, and honored with the presence of the 
 emperor, who mingled with the populace in the dress and attitude of a 
 charioteer. The guilt of the Christians deserved indeed the most ex- 
 emplary punishment, but the public abhorrence was changed into com- 
 miseration, from the opinion that those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, 
 not so much to the public welfare, as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant. "* 
 
 178. A question here arises : Why was it that many of 
 Real causes of the cmperors who sav/ without concern a 
 
 the persecu- ^ . ,. . , . . . 
 
 tions. thousand forms of rehgion subsistmg m peace 
 
 beneath their sway, singled out the sect of the Christians to 
 make them the sole objects of persecution ? The answer to 
 this question is found in several facts. And first, in the 
 groselytijig ardor of the Christians. The empire was tol- 
 erant of all faiths ; but it was not tolerant of a faith which 
 taught that the gods of Rome and of all other nations were 
 alike false, and which strove to win over all mankind to 
 that belief. Then the Roman mind, while it looked with 
 respect on all 7iatwnal faiths, viewed with suspicion and dis- 
 gust a creed that was not sanctioned by the belief of any 
 nation^ but was held only by a sect. Moreover, the early 
 Christians were in the habit of holding their meetings 
 secretly and at night ; this was regarded as illegal in prin- 
 ciple, and as possibly dangerous in results. Summing up 
 the several facts, we may say that the persecutions of the 
 
 * Tacitus, Annals, XV. 44. 
 
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 1 97 
 
 Christians were owing to political reasons rather than to 
 religious intolerance. 
 
 179. A striking proof of this is found in the fact that the 
 Christians suffered most under good and re- 
 forming princes like Trajan and Marcus Au- 
 
 relius, men of pure and humane character, while under the 
 infamous emperors they were generally let alone. 
 
 180. In spite of persecution the Church constantly ad- 
 vanced and made converts, and in the first Growth of 
 half of the 3d century, which was a period of Christianity, 
 calm, the Christians were permitted to erect and consecrate 
 convenient edifices for the purpose of religious worship ; to 
 purchase lands, even at Rome itself, for the use of the com- 
 munity ; and to conduct the elections of their ecclesiastical 
 ministers in a public manner. Notwithstanding severe per- 
 secutions under Decius and Vale'rian, the doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity continued to spread among all classes of people 
 everywhere. Indeed, it almost seemed that these persecu- 
 tions were needed for the sifting of the Church ; the gold 
 was tested and refined in a fiery furnace, and, like a sturdy 
 young oak, Christianity, amid all these great and frequent 
 storms, only struck its roots the deeper into the soil. 
 
 181. At last it became plain that a deadly struggle be- 
 tween the old faith and the new was inevitable, Diocletian's 
 and this came in the reign of Diocletian and persecutions. 
 Maximian, at the commencement of the 4th century a. d. 
 Gale'rius, the son-in-law of Diocletian, and the Ccesar under 
 him, was a special enemy of the Christians, and he per- 
 suaded the emperor to issue an edict (February 24, a. d. 303) 
 commanding all Christian churches to be pulled down, all 
 Bibles to be flung into the fire, and all Christians to be de- 
 graded from rank and honor. Scarcely was the proclamation 
 posted up, when a Christian of noble rank tore it to pieces. 
 For this he was roasted to death. A fire which broke out 
 in the palace twice within a fortnight was made a pretext 
 
198 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 for very violent dealings with the Christians. Those who 
 refused to burn incense to idols were tortured or slain. 
 Over all the empire the persecution raged, except m Gaul, 
 Britain, and Spain, where Constan'tius Chlo'rus ruled as 
 Caesar under Diocletian's colleague, Maximian. When 
 Diocletian and Maximian abdicated, and Galerius held 
 supreme rule in the East, he indulged all his fury against 
 the Christians. Says a historian : " With little rest for 
 eight years, the whip and the rack, the tigers, the hooks of 
 steel, and the red-hot beds continued to do their deadly 
 work. And then, in a. d. 311, when life was fading from 
 his dying eye, Galerius published an edict permitting Chris- 
 tians to worship God in their own way." 
 
 182. This was the turning-point in the great struggle: 
 ^ it was plain that the most violent efforts of 
 
 Result. , . ^ , , , , , . , 
 
 despotism were unable to crush that which 
 was by its very nature divine and deathless. 
 
 183. We come now to a remarkable epoch in the history 
 
 of Christianity, namely, the reisfn of a Roman 
 
 Constantine. , i . J r i ^i • • • 
 
 emperor who himself professed Christianity. 
 Con'stantine was the son of Constantius Chlorus. On the 
 death of his father in Britain Constantine was at once pro^ 
 claimed emperor by the soldiers there. He had immedi- 
 ately to enter on a contest with no fewer than five rivals, 
 and the circumstance attending his conversion is associated 
 with an event that took place during this period of warfare. 
 
 184. In A. D. 312, while on the march to attack one of 
 His conver- ^^^ rivals (Maxcn'tius), near Rome, Constan- 
 ^*°"- tine is repuited to have seen with his own eyes 
 the luminous trophy of the cross in the sky, placed above the 
 meridian sun, and inscribed with the following words : By 
 THIS CONQUER [in Greek, £n iouid nika ; in Latin, In hoc 
 vince]. In the battle that followed Maxentius was complete- 
 ly overthrown. It is said that this decided Constantine to 
 be a Christian, 
 
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANXTY. 
 
 99 
 
 185. The early church historians also add that the fol- 
 lowing: nip^ht Christ appeared to Constantine 
 
 ^.^ ^ , 111- r The Labarum. 
 
 m a dream and commanded him to frame a 
 
 similar standard, and under it to march with 
 an assurance of victory against all his ene- 
 
 The Labarum. 
 
 mies. This is the origin of the celebrated 
 Zad'arum, or standard of the cross, displayed 
 by the Christian emperors in all their military 
 expeditions. The top of the Labarum was 
 adorned with a mystic X, representing at ^ 
 once the cross and the initial of the Greek 
 v/ord for Christ. 
 
 186. The first fruit of Constantine's con- 
 version appeared in a famous Christianity 
 decree called the Edict of Milan, liglon? 
 A. D. 313 : this restored peace to the Christian 
 church. The establishment of Christianity 
 as the religion of the state took place in 324, 
 when the defeat of the last of his rivals made Constantine 
 sole master of the Roman world. 
 
 187. He immediately, by circular letters, exhorted all 
 his subjects to imitate the example of their constantine's 
 sovereign by embracing the divine truth of po^i^y- 
 Christianity. It is calculated that in Constantine's time 
 about a twentieth part of the whole population of the 
 empire were professed Christians. The emperor did not 
 forbid paganism, but chose rather to work by ridicule and 
 neglect. With public money he repaired the old churches 
 and built new ones, so that in every great city the Pagan 
 temples were faced by Christian churches of rich and 
 beautiful architecture. The Christian clergy were freed 
 from taxes. Sunday was proclaimed a day of rest. And, 
 to crown all, Constantine removed the seat of government 
 to a new capital, — Constantinople, — which was essentially 
 a Christian city. 
 
200 HISTORY OF ROME, 
 
 188. Julian, known as Julian the Apostate, who became 
 Paganism for- Gmperor in A. D. 36 1, made a strong effort to 
 bidden. restore the fallen gods ; but this effort was in 
 vain, and the ruin of paganism was completed at the close 
 of the 4th century. By this time the Christians were the 
 great majority in most parts of the empire ; and Theodosius 
 gave the final blow to the heathen faith by prohibiting 
 under severe penalties the worship of the old gods. 
 
 189. In closing our review of the first spread of Chris- 
 inteiiectuai tianity, we must note that the new faith, in 
 influence. addition to its direct effect on the belief, the 
 lives, and the conduct of men, had also important intellectual 
 results. It gave the mind of the age great subjects to 
 grapple with ; and as the despotism of the imperial govern- 
 ment crushed out all political speculation, the intellect and 
 the enthusiasm of the nations freely turned to the grand 
 problems of the " Cit>' of God." 
 
 190. There thus arose a series of theological writers 
 „^ ^ ^ both in Greek and Latin, who are known col- 
 
 The Fathers. , . , , ^, • . U , 
 
 lectively as the Christian Fathers, among whom 
 the following are the most famous : — 
 
 Tertul'lian. Born at Carthage in a. d. 160, — first of the Latin writers 
 of the Church, — chief work, his "Apology for Christians," written 
 about A. D. 198. 
 
 Or'igen. Born in Egypt a d. 185 or 186, — editor and commentator of 
 the Scriptures, — wrote in Greek. 
 
 Cyp'rian. Archbishop of Carthage'in the middle of the 3d century, — 
 chief work, "Unity of the Church," — martyred under Valerian. 
 
 Am'brose. Born about a. D. 340 in Gaul, — Archbishop of Milan, — 
 chief work, De Officiisy — vindicated the authority of the priesthood 
 over even emperors and kings, by condemning Theodosius I. to a long 
 and weary penance for his massacre of the Thessalonians. 
 
 Athana'sius. Bom in Alexandria, end of the 3d century, — Patriarch of 
 Alexandria, — the great champion of Trinitarianism against Arius. 
 
 Greg'ory Nazian'zen. Born early in the 4th century in Cappadocia, 
 — for a while Patriarch of Constantinople, — noted as a writer of the- 
 ology and religious poetry. 
 
ROMAN LIFE. MANNERS, CUSTOMS, ETC. 
 
 201 
 
 Chrys'ostom. (Gold-mouth, from his eloquence.) Born at Antioch, 
 A. D. 354, — Patriarch of Constantinople, — his works are in Greek. 
 
 Jerome. Born in a. d. 340 in Dalma'tia, — especially learned in He- 
 brew, — ' founder of Monasticism, — chief work, a translation of the 
 Bible into Latin (known as the Vulgate, a version for the common 
 people, — vulgics). 
 
 Augus'tine. Born in Numid'ia, in Africa, a. D. 354, — Bishop of Hip- 
 po (in Africa), — is known as the Father of Latia Theology, — ; 
 man of powerful intellect and eloquence, — chief works, " On the 
 Grace of Christ," " Original Sin," the " City of God," and his " Con- 
 fessions " (an autobiography). 
 
 4, ROMAN LIFE, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, ETC. 
 
 Dress. 
 
 191, The most remarkable garment of the Romans was 
 the toga^ made of pure white wool, and in 
 shape resembling a segment of a circle ; nar- 
 row at first, it 
 was folded so 
 that one arm rest- 
 ed as in a sling; 
 but in late days 
 it was draped in 
 broad, flowing 
 folds round the 
 breast and left 
 arm, leaving the 
 right nearly bare. 
 Though its use 
 in the streets was 
 in later times ex- 
 changed for a 
 mantle of warm- 
 colored cloth, 
 called the pallium 
 
 or lacerna, yet it ^^^^^ Costumes. 
 
 ♦ Abridged from Collier's " Domestic Life in Imperial Rome.** 
 
202 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 continued to be the Roman full dress ; and in the theater, 
 when the emperor was present, all were expected to wear 
 it. The Romans always kept the head uncovered, except 
 on a journey, or when they wished to escape notice. Then 
 they wore a dark-colored hood, which was fastened to the 
 lacerna. In the house soUcb were strapped to the bare feet ; 
 but abroad the calceus^ nearly resembling our shoe, was 
 commonly worn. On the ring-finger, the fourth of the left 
 hand, every Roman of rank had a massive signet-ring. 
 There were fops who loaded every finger with jewels ; and 
 we are told of one poor fellow who was so far gone in 
 foppery as to have a set of lighter rings for summer wear, 
 when his delicate frame could not bear the weight of his 
 winter jewels. 
 
 192. The dress of Roman ladies consisted of three parts, 
 , ,. , ^ — an inner ///;/zV, the sfo/a, and the />a//a. The 
 
 Ladies' dress. , , . , ' .... ^ r -^ 
 
 stola, which was the distmctive dress of Roman 
 matrons, was a tunic with short sleeves, girt round the waist, 
 and ending in a deep flounce which swept the instep. The 
 palla, a gay-colored mantle, was worn out of doors. It was 
 often sky-blue, sprinkled with golden stars. The brightest 
 colors were chosen ; so that an assembly of Roman /^e/Zes, in 
 full dress, was a brilliant scene, sparkling with scarlet and 
 yellow, purple and pale green. The hair, encircled with a 
 garland of roses, was fastened with a gold pin, while pearls 
 and gold adorned the neck and arms. 
 
 193. The early Romans lived chiefly on bread and pot- 
 
 herbs ; but when v/ealth was introduced by 
 their conquests, luxury seized all ranks, and, 
 as we have already seen, the imitation of Oriental customs 
 completely sapped the abstemious virtues of the old Romans. 
 To many, in the degenerate ages of Rome, the great ends of 
 life were to eat the most delicious food, and to eat as much 
 of it as possible. Roman meals were three, — jentaculuniy 
 prandium^ and cxna. Jentaculum, taken soon after rising, 
 
ROMAN LIFE, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, ETC. 203 
 
 consisted of bread, dried grapes or olives, cheese, and per- 
 haps milk and eggs. At prandium, the midday meal, the 
 Romans partook of fish, eggs, and dishes cold, or warmed 
 up from the last night's supper. Then, too, some wine was 
 drunk. But coena was the principal meal, taken about the 
 ninth hour, and on the whole corresponding to our dinner. 
 It began with eggs, fish, and light vegetables, such as rad- 
 ishes and lettuces, served up with tasty sauces, all being 
 intended merely to whet the^appetite for the more substan- 
 tial dishes to follov/. Then came the courses {fercuhi), of 
 which, in all their wonderful variety, no just idea can be 
 given here. Among fish, turbot, sturgeon, and red mullet 
 were greatly prized ; among birds, the peacock, pheasant, 
 woodcock, thrush, and fig-pecker. The favorite flesh-meat 
 was young pork ; but venison was also in great demand. 
 The courses were followed by a dessert of pastry and fruit. 
 
 194. While eating, the Romans reclined upon low couch- 
 es, which were arranged in the form triclinhun^ 
 
 making three sides of a square. The open ^ usage, 
 space was left for the slaves to place or remove the dishes. 
 The place of honor was on the middle bench. In later 
 times round tables became common, and then semicircular 
 couches were used. There were no table-cloths ; but the 
 quests wore over the breast a linen napkin (mappa), which 
 they brought with them. Instead of knives and forks two 
 spoons were used, — one, cochleai-^ small and pointed at the 
 end of the handle ; the other, lingula^ larger and of uncertain 
 shape. The splendor of a Roman feast was greatly marred 
 by the oil-lamps, the only light then used. The lamps them- 
 selves were exquisite in shape and material, as were all the 
 table utensils ; but the dripping oil soaked the table, while 
 the thick smoke blackened the walls and ceiling, and rested 
 in flakes of soot upon the dresses of the guests. 
 
 195. At feasts, instead of the toga, short dresses of red 
 or other bright colors were worn. Before the drinking 
 
204 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 began, chaplets were handed round. For these roses, 
 myrtle, violets, ivy, and even parsley were 
 
 Drinking. iV./- i ^ i • i 
 
 used. Before they were put on, slaves anonited 
 the hair with nard and other sweet unguents. Wine was 
 almost the only drink used. Before being brought to table 
 it was sometimes strained through a metal sieve or linen bag 
 filled with snow, and was called black and white according 
 to its color, just as we talk of red and white wines. The 
 tamous Falernian, celebrated J^y Horace, was of a bright 
 amber tint. Besides pure wine they drank mulsum, a mix- 
 ture of new wine with honey, and calda^ made of warm 
 water, wine, and spice. 
 
 196. The Romans spent much time in their splendid 
 
 baths. The cold plunge in the Tiber, which 
 had braced the iron muscles of their ancestors, 
 gave place, under the empire, to a most luxurious and elab- 
 orate system of tepid and vapor bathing, often repeated 
 seven or eight times a day. At the baths the gossip of 
 the day was exchanged. 
 
 197. The theater, with its tragedies and comedies, the 
 
 circus, and the amphitheater supplied the Ro- 
 
 Amusements. .,,.,.. , ,. ^ 
 
 mans with their chief public amuserpents. At 
 the circus they betted on their favorite horses or charioteers ; 
 at the amphitheater they reveled in the bloody combats of 
 gladiators, — the most brutal of all the Roman pastimes. At 
 the trumpet's sound throngs of wretched men — captives, 
 slaves, or convicted criminals — closed in deadly strife. 
 The trodden sand soon grew red ; yet on they fought with 
 parched lips and leaping hearts, for they knew that a brave 
 fight might win for them their freedom. Erelong, hacked 
 and. bleeding limbs began to fail, and dim eyes turned to 
 seek for mercy along the crowded seats. There were times 
 when the dumb prayer was answered, and the down-turned 
 thumbs of the spectators gave the signal for sparing life; 
 but too often mercy was sought in vain, and the sword com- 
 
0j^ ~^ ^^Xiv. ■■^\^ tv^..ri.^v 
 
 ROMAN LIFE, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, ETC. 205 
 
 pleted its work. Combats of gladiators with wild beasts 
 often took place. Whole armies sometimes thronged the 
 scene. When Trajan celebrated his triumph, after his 
 victories in Dacia, 10,000 gladiators were exhibited at once. 
 
 198. Roman books were rolls of papyrus-bark, or parch- 
 ment, written upon with a reed pen, dipped in 
 lamp-black or sepia. The back of the sheet 
 
 was often stained with saffron, and its edges were rubbed 
 smooth and blackened, while the ends of the stick on which 
 it was rolled (whence our word volume^ " a roll ") were adorned 
 with knobs of ivory or gilt wood. Letters were etched with 
 a sharp iron instrument (stylus, whence our word style) 
 upon thin wooden tablets coated with wax. These were 
 then tied up with linen thread, the knot being sealed with 
 wax and stamped with a ring. 
 
 199. The Romans had three forms of marriage, of which 
 the highest was called confarreatio. The bride, 
 
 dressed in a white robe with purple fringe, and 
 covered with a bright yellow veil, was escorted by torch- 
 light to her future home. A cake (^far) was carried before 
 her, and she bore a distaff and spindle with wool. Arrived 
 at the flowe;'-wreathed portal, she was lifted over the threshold 
 lest — omen of evil — her foot might stumble upon it. Her 
 husband then brought fire and water, which she touched ; 
 and, seated on a sheepskin, she received the keys of the 
 house. A marriage supper closed the ceremony. 
 
 200. The household work was done by Slaves of various 
 classes. In earlier times a few sufficed : but „, 
 
 Slaves. 
 
 T»n the days of the empire it was thought a dis- 
 grace not to have a slave for every separate kind of work. 
 And so, besides those who managed the purse, the cellar, 
 the bedrooms, and the kitchen, there were slaves to carry 
 the litter, or to attend as their masters walked abroad. 
 Some, of higher pretensions, were readers, secretaries, and 
 physicians. Then, for amusement, there were musicians. 
 
206 HISTORY OF ROME 
 
 dancers, buffoons, and even idiots. But all may be ranked 
 under two heads, — bought slaves and born slaves. There 
 was a slave-market, in which the common sort were sold 
 like cattle ; but the more beautiful or valuable were dis- 
 posed of by private bargain in the taverns. Prices ranged 
 from $ 20 to $ 4000. 
 
 201. The disinterment of the town of Pompeii, which 
 
 was overwhelmed by an eruption of lava from 
 Mount Vesuvius in a. d. 79, enables us to 
 form a very correct idea of what a first-class Roman 
 house was. The principal apartments were on the ground- 
 floor. Passing through the unroofed vestibule, often between 
 rows of graceful statues, the visitor entered the house 
 through a doorway ornamented with ivory, tortoise-shell, 
 and gold. On the threshold, worked in mosaic marble, 
 was the kind word Sal've (welcome). Then came the 
 atrium, or great central reception-room, separated from its 
 wings by lines of pillars. Here were placed the ancestral 
 images ; and here, too, was the focus, or family fireplace 
 dedicated to the La'res. Farther in lay a large saloon called 
 the per'istylc. The floor was generally a mosaic of colored 
 marble, tiles, or glass ; the walls were carved and painted ; 
 gilt and colored stucco-work adorned the ceilings ; while 
 the window frames were filled with talc or glass. On the 
 roofs were bright gardens. In houses like these might be 
 found ivory bedsteads, with quilts of purple and gold ; tables 
 of precious wood ; sideboards of gold and silver, loaded 
 with plate, amber vases, beakers of Corinthian bronze, and 
 glass vessels from Alexandria, whose tints rivaled the opal 
 and the ruby. 
 
 202. Of course the scholar will understand that these 
 
 descriptions apply exclusively to the wealthy. 
 
 The common people lived as best they could, 
 and we know very well that the richest were without a great 
 many comforts and conveniences Which even the poor now 
 command. 
 
LAST DA YS OF ROME. 20/ 
 
 5. LAST DAYS OF ROME. 
 
 203. In the section on the pohtical history of Rome we 
 brought the story of the j^freat empire down to 
 
 T • /-./-ii- 1 • ^ Review. 
 
 the time of its final dismemberment, in 476 a. d. 
 
 We did not, however, narrate the circumstances attending 
 
 the catastrophe ; accordingly we shall now briefly refer to 
 
 these. 
 
 204. In the 5th century of our era many things por- 
 tended the fall of Rome. Chief of these was 
 
 the fact that the Romans had really ceased to 
 exist as a nation. The empire had absorbed the nation. 
 We have already seen that the Roman I'ace^ which conquered 
 the world, was finally swallowed up by the world which it 
 coHquered. The blood itself was corrupted by alien admix- 
 ture ; luxury further demoralized the people ; and the very 
 fact that they were willing for the five hundred years of the 
 empire to sit under an imperial despotism, shows that they 
 were unfit to be free. 
 
 205. The removal of the capital by Constantine from 
 Rome to Byzantium was a signal proof of the change of can- 
 fact that Italy had ceased to be the center of '*^*- 
 
 the Roman world. From this it was an easy step to the 
 division of the empire, which took place under the sons of 
 Theodosius, the last emperor who ruled over the whole of 
 the Roman dominion. Thenceforward we may regard the 
 Roman Empire as confined to Italy with the Western prov- 
 inces, or Gaul, Spain, etc., while the Eastern empire, com- 
 prising what we have called the Greek and the Oriental 
 civilizations, pursued a career of its own. 
 
 206. In this state of facts the Western empire fell a prey 
 to the new and vigorous Teutonic, or German, ^. 
 
 „ , - ° . , , . \ 1 . , , The Teutons. 
 
 tribes that for centuries had inhabited the 
 
 forests of the North. Ever since the time of Augustus the 
 
 different German tribes had been most dangerous enemies 
 
208 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 of Rome, and many of the most valiant emperors had 
 had much ado to defend the empire against them. One im 
 portant result of the contact of the " northern barbarians " 
 with the Romans was that the Teutonic tribes became 
 acquainted with Roman civilization and with Christianity ; 
 so that most of them became Christians before they setded 
 In the empire, or very soon afterwards. 
 
 207. The first great lodgement of the Teutons within the 
 /Cirst settle- limits of the Roman Empire took place by per- 
 ment of Goths, n^iggion of the Roman Emperor Valens, in the 
 last half of the 4th century. The great Germanic family of 
 the Goths at that time formed an extensive kingdom in the 
 lands north of the Danube, — the lands we now call Mol- 
 davia and Wallachia. This region had been Trajan's prov- 
 ince of Dacia, but the Romans had withdrawn from it under 
 Aurelian. The Goths were gradually becoming Christians 
 of the Arian sect under the teaching of a bishop named 
 Ulfilas, whose translation of the Scriptures into the Gothic 
 tongue is the oldest Teutonic writing that we have. 
 
 208. Now, in the latter half of the 4th century the Goths 
 Manner of set- found themsclvcs prcsscd upon by an invasion 
 tiement. ^f Huns, — Tartars, or Kalmucks, who had 
 been driven out of Eastern Asia, and were at this time 
 making their way into Europe. In their despair the Goths 
 asked the Emperor Valens (who ruled over the East, while 
 Valentinian was emperor of the West) to allow them to cross 
 to the south side of the Danube, and thus put that stream 
 between them and their hideous foes. Leave was granted^ 
 on condition that they should give up their children and 
 their arms. The bargain was struck at once. Roman 
 boats were provided, and for many days and nights the 
 broad river was torn into foam by the ceaseless splash ol 
 oars. The fugitives, surrendering their children with little 
 concern, gladly paid away all they had as bribes to the 
 Roman officers for leave to keep their arms. In this way 
 
LAST DA YS OF ROME. 2O9 
 
 an immense body of fierce warriors (men, women, and slaves 
 numbered nearly a million souls) settled, sword in hand, 
 within one of the great natural frontiers of the empire, 
 376 A. D. 
 
 209. The Goths had humbly vowed that they would for- 
 ever make it their grateful duty to guard the Their behav- 
 Roman borders. In spite of this they had *°'"- 
 hardly been allowed to settle south of the Danube when they 
 turned their arms against Valens. It must be said, however, 
 that for this they were not wholly without excuse ; the offi- 
 cers of the emperor treated them in the most scandalous 
 manner, and left them to starve. In this plight they resolved 
 to help themselves ; they accordingly advanced towards Con- 
 stantinople. The imperial army met them near Hadriano'ple, 
 where a battle took place that was most disastrous to the 
 Romans, and in which Valens lost his life, a. d. 378. The 
 Goths, having now nothing to fear, spread themselves over 
 the fertile country westward to the confines of Italy and the 
 Adriatic Sea. 
 
 "210. Under Theodosius the Great, who became emperor 
 of the East in a. d. 379, the Goths were brought 
 
 Alaric. 
 
 to capitulate, and settle down quietly, and large 
 numbers took service in the Roman armies ; but this course 
 was only preparing the inevitable result. When the two 
 teeble sons of Theodosius divided between them the Roman 
 world, the Visigoths (i. c. Western Goths) revolted, and, 
 hoisting their chief, Alaric, upon their shields, according to 
 their national mode of electing a king, precipitated them- 
 selves upon Italy. Rome was captured and sacked (a. d. 
 410), and all Southern Italy was overrun. 
 
 211. And now the great Western empire was fast dissolv- 
 ing. In the early part of the 5th century three signs of dis- 
 fragments broke off from the decaying trunk, solution. 
 The province of Britain was evacuated by the Romans and 
 was soon overran by the German tribes called Angles and 
 
2IO HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 Saxons. The various Teutonic tribes were pressing into 
 Gaul, and from Gaul into Spain. Spain was conquered 
 by Vandals, Sueves, and other German races ; while Gaul 
 was filled with Franks and Burgundians and Goths, — all of 
 whom.belonged to the great Teutonic family. The province 
 of Africa, too, was lost ; for a band of Vandals under Gen'- 
 seric passed over from Spain to Carthage, which was con- 
 quered in A. D. 439. 
 
 212. Meanwhile At'tila the Hun had gone forth from his 
 
 log-house on the plain of Hungary, at the head 
 of half a million savages, to conquer the world. 
 Crossing the Rhine, he pierced to the center of Gaul ; but 
 at Chalons he was defeated by the united jDOwer of the Ro- 
 mans, Goths, and Franks, a. d. 451. In this memorable 
 battle, Aryan civilization and Tartar despotism met in a 
 life-and-death struggle, and the nobler triumphed. Being 
 defeated in Gaul, Attila climbed the Alps and overran Italy, 
 pillaging and destroying up to the very gates of Rome. It 
 is a strange fact that it was through the persuasion of the 
 Christian bishop, Leo, that Attila was induced to return to 
 Hungary. Here he soon afterwards broke a blood-vessel. 
 So died one whose savage boast it was that grass never 
 grew on a spot where his horse had trodden. His great 
 empire immediately fell to pieces. 
 
 213. No sooner had Attila departed than Genseric, the 
 . Vandal chief of Africa, crossed over from Car- 
 thage and anchored his ships at the mouth of 
 
 the Tiber. This time the persuasion of Leo could not save 
 the city. Rome was captured (a. d. 455), and for fourteen 
 days Vandals and Moors wrecked and pillaged without 
 mercy. Shiploads of treasure and crowds of captives were 
 carried over the sea to Carthage. 
 
 214. During these events there were still emperors of 
 Downfall of the Wcst, and their names will be found in the 
 Rome. jjgj- 3y|. ^]-^gy were mere nonentities, for the 
 
LAST DAYS OF ROME. 
 
 211 
 
 real power was in the hands of the barbarians. At last the 
 Roman senate voted that one emperor was enough, and 
 that the Eastern emperor, Zeno, should reign over the 
 whole empire ; but at the same time Zeno was made to trust 
 the government of Italy to Odoa'cer, chief of the German 
 Herulians, who took the title of Patrician of Italy. The last 
 of the Western Roman emperors was Romulus Augustulusj 
 a handsome but feeble youth. Him they pensioned off in 
 A. D. 476. Then, " when Odoacer was proclaimed king of 
 Italy, the phantom assembly that still called itself the Ro- 
 man senate sent back to Constantinople the tiara and purple 
 robe, in sign that the Western empire had passed away."* 
 
 * White's " Eighteen Christian Centuries." 
 
 
 Attila before Rome. 
 
212 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 MEDIiEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a- I. Modern history, in a comprehensive sense, begins 
 ," Scope of mod- with the downfall of the Western Roman 
 ern history. Empire ; for with that event the volume of 
 ancient history was closed : new actors then appeared on 
 the stage, and a new civilization arose. It will, however, be 
 convenient to consider the fourteen centuries that have 
 elapsed since the breaking up of Rome as divided into 
 two parts. The first part constitutes what is usually called 
 the Middle Ages. This period embraces one thousand 
 years ; that is, it extends from about the close of the 5 th to 
 the close of the 15 th century of our era. From the close 
 of the 15 th century down to the present time is modern 
 history in its narrower sense. 
 
 2. It was during the thousand years from the 5th to the 
 Real nature of ^S^h century that the civilization of modern 
 this period. Europe was ripening. In many respects this 
 period seemed a relapse into barbarism, and the interval 
 from the 5th to the nth century is sometimes called 
 specifically the Dark Ages. But in a juster view it was 
 the germinating season : the seeds of modern civilization, 
 cast into the soil, were quickening in new institutions and 
 new nations ; so that when we see modern society in the 
 15th and i6th centuries assuming the fixed shape which it 
 still wears, we must remember that it grew into that shape 
 in the antecedent thousand years. 
 
THE NEW RACES. 213 
 
 CHAPTER I. H 
 
 THE NEW RACES. 
 
 3. The historical races of Europe comprise four grand 
 divisions of the great Aryan stock, — the Historical 
 Graeco-Latins, the Celts, the Teutons, and the Europe. 
 Slaves, or Slavonians. 
 
 4. In the ancient history of Europe we have been 
 occupied exclusively with one of these races, 
 
 , _ T • mi 1 . 1 Graeco-Latins. 
 
 — the Graeco-Latins. The three other races 
 
 — the Celts, Teutons, and Slavonians — belong wholly to 
 modern history. 
 
 5. It is known that the ancestors of these races came 
 originally from Asia, where they formed one unity of 
 family with the forefathers of the Hindoos ^"^y^" ^^=^^- 
 and Persians, — the term Aryan, or Indo-European, being 
 used to indicate their common lineage. The migration of 
 these races into Europe was at a period that antedates 
 recorded history (probably as far back as 2500 b. c). 
 
 6. The evidence of language goes to show that the first 
 wave of migration brought the race which we order of 
 designate as Celts. These established them- migration, 
 selves in Central Europe. After a time, however, they 
 were pressed upon by the Teutonic incomers, and the 
 result was that the Celts were driven into Western Europe, 
 while the Teutons possessed themselves of Central and 
 Eastern Europe. Whether the forefathers of the Hellenic 
 and Latin races appeared previous to or subsequent to the 
 Teutons is mere matter of conjecture. At a subsequent 
 date the Slavonic race made their appearance in Europe ; 
 and the effect of this was that the Teutons were wedged 
 into Central and Northwestern Europe, while the Slavo- 
 nians overspread the whole of the great Eastern plain. 
 
214 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 7. The original civilization of ancient Europe was con- 
 Ancient Aryan fined to the two Mediterranean peninsulas, 
 civilization. Greece and Italy, where a favored branch of 
 the .^^an race attained to social organization and to a 
 high development in culture, while their brethren, the Celts, 
 Teutons, and Slaves, still remained in an undeveloped con- 
 dition, without written language, or literature, or the useful 
 or fine arts, or the varied appliances of civilization. Out- 
 side of Greece and Italy the European world was a world 
 of barbarians. 
 
 8. The Greeks had no influence whatever in civilizing 
 Influence of the barbarians : but it was different in the 
 
 Rome on the . ^ ^r ^ 1 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Celts. case of Rome. Of the three races, the Celts 
 
 first came in contact with the Romans. The Gauls of Cis- 
 alpine Gaul were Celts, and we have seen that these were 
 brought into subjection by the Romans under the republic, 
 and that they received the Roman franchise at the hands of 
 Julius Caesar. Under the same conqueror the vast popula- 
 tion of Transalpine Gaul (France) was brought under the 
 rule of Rome, and in the end Roman citizenship was 
 extended to the whole mass. The same thing took place 
 in the case of the Celt-Ibe'rians of Spain. The Celts of the 
 British Islands, also, were received into the Roman family. 
 The result of their contact with the Romans was that the 
 Celtic populations of Gaul and Spain had become thorough- 
 ly Latinized and Christianized before the breaking up of 
 the Western empire. 
 
 9. The Teutons do not begin to affect the course of 
 
 history till we come to the series of events 
 ^" °"*' attending the downfall of Rome. It is now 
 
 that the Germanic race commences its existence, now that 
 it begins to play its mighty part. The history of the 
 Middle Ages is the history of the incorporation of Teutonic, 
 or Germanic, barbarians with the Latin and Celtic elements ; 
 modern society is the result of the blending of the two ; and 
 
THE NEW RACES. 21 S 
 
 it derives ingredients from both, — from the barbarians the 
 love of personal liberty and the sense of independence, from 
 the Romans the forms of a long-established civilization. 
 
 10. In a general way, the terms Teutonic, Gothic, Ger- 
 manic, are all used as synonymous, and are unity of 
 employed indifferently to designate this mighty teutons, 
 central family of Europe. Its unity is evidenced by the 
 kinship of the forms of Teutonic speech. And this individ- 
 uality of speech, as we might suppose, accompanies an 
 individuality of race, so that, in the analysis of the compo- 
 nent elements of European civilization, that which is Teu- 
 tonic is readily recognizable as a thing quite apart from 
 that which is classic or Celtic or Slavonic. 
 
 11. The chief Germanic tribes were the Goths, the 
 Franks, the Vandals, the Burgundians, the , ^. 
 
 _ , ' , ^ , » , 1 , Leading tribes. 
 
 Lombards, the Saxons, the Angles, and the 
 Scandinavians. 
 
 12. The earliest home of the Goths was Scandinavia, 
 where we can still mark their dwelling-places 
 
 by such words as Godoland, Godesconzia 
 (Castle of the Goths), and, plainer still, Gothland. But the 
 roving spirit natural to barbarism would not let them rest 
 content with their native swamps and forests. They began 
 to push southward about a. d. 200 ; and we soon find 
 them in Central Europe in three great divisions, — Visi- 
 goths (i. e. Wes^ Goths), Os'trogoths (i. e. £as/ Goths), 
 and Gep'idae (Laggarr/s)* The Goths were the first of the 
 Teutons to come under the influence of Christianity. A 
 considerable time before the downfall of the Western 
 Empire they had been converted from paganism to the 
 form of Christianity called Arianism. 
 
 13. Of some of the other Germanic tribes we have al- 
 
 * The circumstances under which the Goths were admitted within the 
 limits of the Roman Empire have already been told. See page 208. 
 
2l6 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 ready caught a glimpse or two in the confused and shifting 
 Movements of scenes attending the breaking up of the West- 
 tribes, gj-j^ Empire. Thus pressed by the Gothic inva- 
 sions, a mingled host of Vandals, Sueves, and Burgundians 
 left the uplands between the springs of the Rhine and 
 the Danube early in the 5th century. The Burgundians 
 settled in Eastern Gaul, and have left their memorial in 
 the name of the district of Burgundy. The Vandals and 
 Sueves pushed on to Spain and founded a kingdom in the 
 northwest corner of the peninsula. This was before the 
 downfall of Rome. But the kingdom did not last long ; for 
 the Visigoths, following soon after, defeated the Sueves and 
 Vandals, and founded a Visigothic kingdom in Spain about 
 A. D. 414. This may be called the first of the modern king- 
 doms of Europe. Meantime the fierce Vandals, leaving be- 
 hind them their name in " Andalu'sia " (once Van'dalos)^ 
 crossed to Africa, where they founded a state of which Car- 
 thage was the center. It did not endure, being absorbed 
 a century afterwards in the Eastern Empire. 
 
 14. The Franks (from an old German word signifying a 
 
 battle-ax) we first find inhabiting what we now 
 ^^ *' call Belgium and the lower courses of the 
 
 Rhine ; but in the stormy period just before the downfall of 
 Rome they pressed into Gaul. Under their leader, Clovis, 
 they took firm root in Gaul, conquered the Burgundians who 
 were in the southeast and the Visigoths who were in the 
 southwest, and thus, just about the time Rome fell, estab- 
 lished that kingdom of the Franks which afterwards came 
 to be called France (from Francia, the land of the Franks). 
 
 15. Of those particular German tribes that were directly 
 Germans in conccmed in the downfall of Rome we have 
 Italy. already seen something. First were the Visi- 
 goths, who swarmed down on Italy. It will be remembered 
 that Odoacer, chief of the Visigothic tribe of the Heruli, 
 was made Patrician^ or king of Italy, in a. d. ^"jd. We shall 
 
THE NEW RACES. 217 
 
 afterwards see that the Visigoths were succeeded first by 
 the Ostrogoths and then by the Lombards. The original 
 home of the Lombards was in Jutland ; but they afterwards 
 moved to the banks of the Elbe \ then, passing southeast 
 towards the Danube, they made it a starting-point for their 
 march upon Italy, where, as we shall see, they displaced 
 the Ostrogoths at the end of the 6th century, and where 
 the name Lom'bardy still points out the scene of their 
 greatest triumph. 
 
 16. The Saxons (knife-men, from Sachs) at first occupy- 
 ing Holstein, soon spread over the basin of 
 
 the Weser. Two kindred tribes — Angles and "^ °' 
 Jutes — filled the peninsula of Denmark. The various 
 tribes in the low countries along the North Sea are known 
 as Low Germans, and their languages as the Low German 
 type of the Teutonic speech. They had never come in con- 
 tact with the Romans, and were still pagans when Rome fell. 
 These tribes are of great interest to us, because it was rov- 
 ing bands from among them that in the 5 th century crossed 
 over to Britain and laid the foundations of England^ the 
 land of the Angles, and began the Saxon kingdom and the 
 English language. 
 
 17. We have now named the chief Teutonic tribes with 
 the exception of the Scandinavians. We shall ^ 
 
 ^ , .,, , 1 1 11 Scandinavians. 
 
 not hear of them till about the 9th and loth 
 centuries, when they appear as Norsemen, 
 
 18. The fourth representative of the Aryan stock in Eu- 
 rope are the Slavonians, or Slaves, of the great The siavoni- 
 Eastern Plain. They do not begin to play any ^"^• 
 important part in history till well on in the Middle Ages. 
 The word " slave " (borrowed from the proper noun Slave) 
 is sadly suo^gestive of the woes they suffered during the 
 long wars of the Middle Ages. The Poles belonged to the 
 Slavonian race ; but the foremost nation il representative of 
 this stock are the Russians. Russia, however, was not a 
 civilized country till comparatively modern times. 
 
2l8 MEDIMVAL HISTORY. 
 
 \ 
 
 19. Europe is mainly possessed by Aryans, but not 
 Non-Aryan wliolly. In the centuries of confusion wild 
 ^^^^^- hordes from the Ural Mountains swept down 
 on the Danube. We have seen how the Tartar Huns 
 under Attila overran Europe. They were defeated, but 
 not entirely driven out of Europe. They all pressed upon 
 one point, — modern Hungary, with its grain-growing vales 
 and gem-producing hills. Lastly came the Mag'yars, who 
 were also Mongols or Tartars, and who, settling down in 
 the basin of the Danube, stayed there. They became 
 Christianized and civilized about 1000 a. d., and gradually 
 took shape as the noble Hungarian nation. The Turks, 
 
 '9 who captured Constantinople and overthrew the Byzantine 
 Empire, were also Mongols, or Tartars, and they have re- 
 tamed a foothold in Europe (Turkey) up to the present time. 
 
 20. We must now glance at the languages of the new 
 Rise of the Ro- nations that arose on the ruins of the Roman 
 mance tongues. Empire. At the time the Teutonic tribes 
 torced their way into Italy and the western provinces of the 
 Roman Empire, Latin had become the common speech of 
 Gaul and Spain, no less than of Italy. The old Celtic of 
 Gaul and the Celt-Iberian of Spain, which were spoken be- 
 fore the Roman conquest, lived on only in a few out-of-the- 
 way corners. Thus the language which the Teutonic set- 
 tlers found prevailing was Latin, — not pure Latin, of course, 
 but still Latin. As the Teutonic settlers were far outnum- 
 bered by the native populations, they had to learn Latin in 
 order to communicate with the people of the provinces ; but 
 in learning the tongue they further changed and corrupted 
 it to some extent. Accordingly the common language of 
 Italy, Gaul, and Spain became a sort of corrupt Latin, which 
 was called Roman, while classical Latin was stiJJ written by 
 scholars. Gradually in these three countries differences of 
 dialect arose, and the common Roman gradually developed 
 into the ItaUan, French, and Spanish : these languages are 
 
THE NEW RACES. 
 
 219 
 
 Still called the Romance tongues, to show their derivation 
 from the speech of the Romans. 
 
 21. In Britain the Germanic invaders, as we shall find, 
 did not mix with the Celtic-speaking Britons ; p. .. . 
 hence the language of Anglo-Saxon England 
 
 was purely Teutonic, and it did not become affected by 
 Romance influence until England was conquered in the 
 nth century by the French-speaking Normans. 
 
 22. The new nations of purely Teutonic stock that arose 
 in Germany and Scandinavia were in their 
 
 speech wholly unaffected by Latin influence j 
 
 so that their languages were unmixed Teutonic. These are 
 
 the German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, etc. 
 
 23. The Slavonic people speak languages of their own, 
 — languages which belong to the great Aryan 
 
 stock of tongues, but which are quite distinct 
 from the Romance tongues on the one hand and the Ger- 
 manic tongues on the other. 
 
 Romance (Italian, 
 
 languages. French, 
 
 ^ ^ ( Spanish. 
 
 Germanic 
 
 and \ English. 
 Romance. 
 
 Germanic. ■> 
 
 Celtic. 
 
 High German, or the tongues of Southern Germany, — 
 the " German " of our day. 
 
 Low German, the tongues spoken by the dwellers in 
 Northern or sea-coast Germany, represented by the 
 Dutch of our day. 
 
 Scandinavian, including the Swedish, Danish, Nor- 
 wegian, and Icelandic 
 
 Gaelic Scotch, 
 Erse of Ireland. 
 
 Slavonian. j^^^^^A^' 
 \ Polish. 
 
220 
 
 MEDIEVAL HISTORY, 
 
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 221 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THREE CENTURIES OF HISTORY. 
 I. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 
 
 24. When the feeble hand of Rome let go, in her decay, 
 the Latin provinces of the empire, the tradi- Eastern Em- 
 tion, and in some respects the substance, of p^^^- 
 Roman dominion still continued in the East. The Western 
 Empire, as we have seen, went all to ruin, and finally 
 passed into the hands of the barbarians ; but the Eastern 
 Empire was not involved in the universal wreck, and for a 
 thousand years after the downfall of the Latin Empire, — '. 
 during which time the new nationalities and the new civili- 
 zation of Europe were coming into being, — the Eastern, 
 Greek, or Byzantine Empire, as it is called, continued to 
 subsist, though in a state of premature and perpetual decay. 
 
 25. The^ Byzantine Empire was in the meridian of its 
 glory in the 6th century during the long reign Reign of jus- 
 of Justin'ian, A. d. 527-565. Justinian was ^inian. 
 famous for his buildings, especially for the great church of 
 St. Sophia at Constantinople ; but his name is still more 
 honorably connected with the mighty work of putting the 
 laws of Rome into the shape of a regular code. Nobody 
 could know the law, for there were so many contradictory 
 decrees and decisions. With the aid of a great jurist named 
 Tribo'nian, and other learned men, that complete system of 
 Roman law called the Civil Law, which has formed the 
 groundwork of the law of most of the nations of Europe 
 (England the most notable exception), was reduced into 
 what are called the Code, the Institutes, and the Pandects. 
 
 26. We shall not be greatly concerned with the affairs of 
 the Eastern Empire, because progress lay not there, but in 
 
222 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. ^ 
 
 the West. Byzantine civilization, with its poHsh and learn- 
 NatureofBy. ing and Culture on the surface, was petrified 
 
 zantine his- , , , , i •,.,,, , 
 
 tory. and dead at the core, while it was the so-called 
 
 " barbarous " races of Western Europe that alone held the 
 promise of the future. Still, it is necessary constantly to 
 bear in mind the existence of the Eastern Empire, and also 
 the fact that the emperors at Constantinople claimed to rule 
 over all the dominion of their predecessors ; for this claim 
 was put forth whenever there was any chance of making it 
 good. 
 
 >^^ 2. ITALY DOWN TO CHARLEMAGNE. 
 
 27. It has been seen that the Western Empire came to 
 The Ostro- ^^ ^^^ whcn the Visigothic chief, Odoacer, 
 goths. became king of Italy. Odoacer went on gov- 
 erning, professedly by authority derived from the Emperor 
 of the East, but in reality giving very little heed to the 
 Byzantine court. In the mean time the Ostrogoths, or 
 Eastern Goths, had established an Ostrogothic kingdom 
 between the Black Sea and the Adriatic, which was ruled 
 by their young hero-king Theod'oric, or Dietrich. They 
 were partly allies, but quite as much enemies, of the Em- 
 peror of the East; so the Emperor Zeno gave Theodoric 
 a commission to march into Italy and bring that country 
 back to the empire. The march of Theodoric was the 
 emigration of an entire people, — the soldiers being accom- 
 panied by their wives, children, and aged parents, with all 
 their effects in an immense number of wagons. After a 
 three years' struggle Odoacer was compelled to capitulate 
 (a. d. 493), and he was soon after assassinated by his rival 
 at a solemn banquet. 
 
 28. Theodoric secured his conquest by distributing one 
 Reign of The- third of the lands of Italy to his soldiers in 
 odoric. military tenures. This partition was effected 
 with very little violence to the ancient possessors, and the 
 
ITaR down to CHARLEMAGNE. 223 
 
 Goths were instructed to spare the people and to reverence 
 the laws. Under Theodoric's wise rule Italy revived, and 
 Romans and Ostrogoths lived in peace and plenty : the fair- 
 haired Goths, still wearing their furs and brogues, carried 
 the sword, while the Romans, wrapped in the flowing toga, 
 held the pen and filled the schools. So passed three-and- 
 thirty years, until Theodoric died, in a. d. 526, and then 
 frightful scenes of blood were enacted over his fallen 
 throne. 
 
 29. In the confusion that followed, the Byzantine gov- 
 ernment took the opportunity to interfere. Reconquestby 
 At this time the Emperor of the East was Justinian. 
 Justinian, the first able ruler that had sat on the throne of 
 Constantinople since the downfall of the Western Empire. 
 His general, Belisa-'rius, a man of great military talent, now 
 marched with the imperial forces into Italy, and captured 
 Rome. Nar'ses, the successor of Belisarius, completed the 
 overthrow of the Ostrogothic power in Italy, a. d. 553. 
 Italy was thus reduced to a Byzantine province, and was 
 governed by rulers appointed from Constantinople and 
 called Exarchs of Raveja'aa, i ■- <•"-'■■ / ' • ^''V' 
 
 30. Three years after the death of Justinian (a. d. 565;, 
 Italy, then a dependency of Constantinople Lombard in- 
 and governed by an exarch residing at Raven- ^asion. 
 
 na, was overwhelmed by the last of the three great Teuton- 
 ic deluges. The Lombards (so called from their long bardi, 
 or spears,) moved from Central Europe, crossed the Alps, 
 and descended into the basin of the Po, settling in the 
 extensive district known even yet as Lombardy. They took 
 possession of this region, and made Pavi'a their capital, 
 A. D. 568. The Lombards treated the Italians with great 
 cruelty, and committed ravages on every side. Among the 
 results of such oppression was the flight of various Roman 
 families to the islands and lagoons at the head of the Adri- 
 atic, where, a few years before, had been laid the founda- 
 tions of the Venetian state. 
 
224 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 31. While the Lombards overran the greater part of 
 
 Italy, the Byzantine power still retained Ra- 
 
 Later history. •' -nt 1 
 
 venna, Rome, Naples, a portion of the coast- 
 line, and most of the southern part. So we see that the 
 Eastern Empire upheld its title in the peninsula, and for 
 two hundred years the Lombard kings and the exarchs of 
 Ravenna divided Italy between them. The last Lombard 
 king was Deside'rius, who was made prisoner by Charle- 
 magne in A. D. 774. This brings the history of Italy down 
 to the time when it falls into the general history of the Em- 
 pire of Charlemagne, and concerning this we are to learn 
 fully hereafter. 
 
 3. BEGINNINGS OF FRANCE. 
 
 32. In the stormy period, when the Western Roman 
 Rise of France "^"^P^^^ ^^^ falling to picccs, various Teutonic 
 
 ' tribes established themselves in Gaul. There 
 were Visigoths and Burgundians and Franks, but in the 
 end the Franks under Chlod'wig, or Clovis (which is the 
 same as Ludwig, or Louis), got the upper hand ; so when 
 Clovis fixed his capital at Paris (Lute'tia), in a. d. 507, we 
 may say that the foundation of France was laid. When 
 the Franks came into Gaul they were pagans, but they were 
 soon converted to be Christians. 
 
 33. The Franks were too powerful and too far off for 
 Relations to the Byzantine emperors to have much real 
 Constantinople, authority ovcr them ; so they were held to be 
 friends of the empire, and from Constantinople a gold 
 crown and purple robes were sent to Clovis. 
 
 34. On the death of Clovis, his dominions were divided 
 Successors of among his four sons. For over a century, 
 Clovis. during the whole period of the first Frankish 
 dynasty (called Merovin gian, after Merowig, the supposed 
 grandfather of Clovis), there is nothing to relate but a series 
 of crimes and violences. Latterly the Frankish kings be- 
 came mere imbeciles, and were too weak to be wicked even. 
 
BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND. 225 
 
 35. In this state of aftdrs a remarkable arrangement was 
 made : the real power ]:iassed into the hands Mayors of the 
 of a sort of prime min ster styled the Mayor P^i^'^e. 
 
 of the Palace, — an ofl cer chosen by the nobles to be the 
 guide and controller of the sovereign. As the Mayor of 
 the Palace had the command of the army, he was the real 
 king and carried on all the affairs of the nation, while the 
 phantoms of royalty called the " sluggard kings " {rois fai- 
 iihints) combed the long yellow hair which they regarded 
 as the sign of their kingship. 
 
 36. One of the most celebrated of the Mayors of the 
 Palace was Karl, or Charles, Martel, who up- 
 
 , , , , T- , . , . , , Charles Martel. 
 
 held the Frankish power most vigorously, and, 
 
 what is more, by his defeat of the Saracens in a. d. 732, 
 
 saved all Europe from being subjugated by Mohammedan 
 
 rule. 
 
 The Saracenic invasion will be related in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 37. The son of Charles Martel, Pepin, succeeded his 
 father as Mayor of the Palace ; but under him 
 
 this absurd arrangement was ended. He shut 
 up the puppet-king in a convent, and was himself made king 
 of the Franks and anointed such by the Pope a. d. 753. 
 Thus the second, or Carlovin'gian, dynasty, began. Now, 
 Pepin's son and the inheritor of his crown was that very 
 Karl, or Charles, who is known in histoiy as Charlemagne ; 
 and about him and his doings we shall learn more fully 
 hereafter. 
 
 4. BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 38. We must now look for a moment at another series 
 of events happening in an obscure corner of the Angio-Saxon 
 once great empire of the West, and see how the conquest, 
 foundations of the nation that afterwards rose to be Eng- 
 land were laid. The Roman troops had been withdrawn 
 
 o 
 
226 
 
 MEDIEVAL I/IS TORY. 
 
 from the province of Britain about half a century before the 
 downfall of Rome, and the Bri-tons, who belonged to the 
 
 theorigimalHome 
 
 OFTHE ENGLISH 
 
 Celtic race, were left to shift for themselves. About the 
 middle of the 5 th century various Teutonic tribes belonging 
 to the Low-German stock, and coming from the old Low- 
 German lands by the Elbe and the Weser, invaded Britain 
 and won for themselves new homes there. They knew 
 nothing and cared nothing for the language or arts of 
 Rome, and they did not, like the Franks and Goths, adopt 
 the language and religion cf the Romans. These swept 
 everything before them, and the native Celtic Britons were 
 killed, enslaved, or driven to the mountain regions of Wales 
 and North Britain. 
 
 39. Among these Low-German invaders there were three 
 The three main tribcs, — the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, 
 tribes. 'pj-^g name ^ute has left no memorial in Eng- 
 
 land ; but the English people are still often spoken of as 
 belonging to the Saxon race, while the speech which 
 arose in the island from the intermixture of the various 
 German dialects took the name of Aftglo-Saxon^ and Brit- 
 ain changed its name to England^ or the land of the Angles, 
 
RISE OF THE SARACENS. 
 
 22^ 
 
 40. The German immigrations to England went on from 
 the middle of the 5th to the close of the 6th Growth of 
 century ; so that in little more than a hundred ^"giand. 
 years the greater part of that land which had been the Ro- 
 man and Christian province of Britain had become the 
 heathen land of the Angles and Saxons. In the course of 
 the following century the Anglo-Saxons were Christianized 
 by Roman missionaries. Various little kingdoms were 
 formed, and wars were waged, — wars that, as Milton says, 
 are of no more importance than " the battle of kites and 
 crows," — till finally, early in the 9th century, under Egbert, 
 who was a contemporary and friend of Charlemagne, the 
 various petty dominions were united in the one kingdom of 
 England. -r *'" -i, ^ ^ 
 
 >> 5. RISE OF THE SARACENS. 
 
 41. We now come to a remarkable chapter in European 
 history, — the invasion of Europe, the land of 
 
 the Aryans, by a Semitic race, the followers 
 
 of the famous Moham'med. Con- 
 nected with this is the rise of a new 
 religion and of a vast dominion that 
 played a great part in the history of 
 the Middle Ages. 
 
 42. Ma'homet, or Mohammed, was 
 born at the sacred city Mohammed's 
 of Mecca, in Arabia, in ^^'^^ "f«- 
 the year 570 or 571. Till the age of 
 forty he lived without exciting much 
 remark, and was known only as an 
 able, rich, and enterprising merchant, 
 honorable in his dealings, and strictly 
 truthful in all that he said. He could 
 neither read nor write ; but his mer- 
 cantile journeys to various parts of the peninsula, as well as 
 
 Mahometan Emblems. 
 
228 , MEDIEVAL HISTORY, 
 
 to Syria and Palestine, had enlarged his store of informa- 
 tion. In his frequent retirements to a mountain cave for 
 secret thought and study, he developed a religious system 
 of his own. He one day, at a meeting of his kinsmen, made 
 the startling announcement that he had received a Divine 
 commission to reform the faith and practice of the whole 
 Arabian nation. He taught that though both the Jewish 
 and the Christian religions were sent from God, yet he had 
 himself received a more perfect one than either. He now 
 called upon all his friends and kinsmen to acknowledge his 
 authority, forsake their idols, and worship the one only true 
 God. 
 
 43. There can be no doubt that in his own country 
 His system ; Mohammed was a great reformer, that he gave 
 its value. j^jg countrymen a far more rational religion 
 than they had been practicing, and that in the furnace blast 
 of religious enthusiasm the scattered Arab tribes were fused 
 into one nation. The doctrines of Mohammed, written down 
 from time to time, received the name of the Koran, — that is, 
 the " Reading " ; and the religion itself v/as called Islam^ — 
 that is, " Salvation." 
 
 44. His wife and a few other immediate relatives were 
 . the prophet's first disciples, and these did not 
 
 increase very rapidly. The people of Mecca 
 denounced him as a madman or an impostor, and in a little 
 time he was forced to flee from Mecca to save his life. He 
 betook himself, with his disciples, to what is now Medi'na. 
 The date of this flight, or Hegi'ra, as the Arabians call it, 
 — July 15, 622 A. D., — has been adopted ever since as the 
 chronological era in Mohammedan countries. At Medina 
 he was received with open arms, — his doctrines having 
 already made a number of converts in that place ; and here 
 he built his first mosque. 
 
 45. A complete change now came over Mohammed, — 
 the dreamer became a red-handed soldier. " The sword," 
 
KJSE OF THE SAI^ACENS. 229 
 
 cned he, " is the key of heaven and hell " j and by the 
 sword Islam was to be forced upon all men. Koran and 
 Tribe after tribe was subdued ; and before the ^word. 
 lapse of ten years the whole peninsula acknowledged the 
 sovereignty of Mohammed, and could boast of an unmixed 
 population of Mos'lems^ or True Believers. The prophet 
 was preparing to carry the new religion beyond the bounds 
 of Arabia, when he was cut off by a fever at Medina in 
 A. D. 632. 
 
 46. Mohammed was succeeded in his power by rulers 
 called his Ca'/iphs, or Successors, the first of conquests of 
 whom was his father-in-law, Abu-beker. They *^^ Caiiphs. 
 were at once spiritual and temporal rulers. The proselyting 
 spirit of Mohammed had been communicated to his suc- 
 cessors, and they began a long series of invasions, wars, and 
 conquests. They everywhere gave men the choice of three 
 things, — Koran, tribute, or sword. By tiiese means the re- 
 ligion of Mohammed was spread over a large part of Asia 
 and Africa, and we shall presently see that it made its way 
 into Europe also. 
 
 47. The first countries assailed were the Oriental posses- 
 sions of the Byzantine Empire. In the reign of 
 
 .111 r,- .-», • , The East. 
 
 Abu-beker, Syria and Mesopotamia were sub- 
 dued by Arabian armies. Under the next caliph, Omar, 
 Egypt was conquered and Northern Africa overrun. In the 
 course of their Egyptian conquests the victorious Moslems 
 are charged with having burned the great Alexandrian 
 Library ; but recent writers say it must have been destroyed 
 long before Mohammed's day. The Arabs, or Saracens, as 
 they were also called, mat with comparatively little resist- 
 ance in the Oriental countries, the countries beyond Mount 
 Tau'nis; and this may be accounted for by the fact that 
 these were the parts of the Roman Empire in which both 
 Roman law and Christianity had taken least hold. Thus 
 the Eastern Empire was shorn of all its Oriental posses- 
 
230 MEDIy^VAL HISTORY. 
 
 sions ; and even the farther East — Persia and the lands 
 beyond, to India — was added to the Moslem dominion. 
 
 48. In the West, however, a stout resistance was en- 
 . , , countered. The Saracens besieged Constanti- 
 
 In the W^est. , . , . , , . T 
 
 nople, against which they carried on a siege of 
 eight years (a. d. 668 - 675) ; but every assault was repelled 
 by torrents of terrible Greek fire. A second siege, forty 
 years afterwards, met a like result. In North Africa, too, 
 they encountered long and obstinate resistance ; but finally 
 the whole northern coast — Cyre'ne, Tripoli, Carthage — 
 was subdued; and in A. d. 710 a host of turbaned Arabs, 
 with unsheathed scimitars, under Tarik-ben-Zaid, crossed the 
 narrow strait into Spain, and landed on the rock which 
 commemorates the name of their leader ("Gibraltar," i. e. 
 Jebel Tarik, the Mountain of Tarik). 
 
 49. It will be remembered that a Visigothic kingdom 
 
 had been established in Spain ; but Rod'erick, 
 ^^*"' the " last of the Goths," was defeated on the 
 
 field of Xeres, and the Saracens established themselves 
 firmly in Spain. In the course of a few years they had pos- 
 session of the whole peninsula, with the exception of the 
 mountainous districts in the north, where the little Christian 
 kingdom of the Astu'rias maintained itself. 
 
 50. The ambition of the Saracens now overleaped the 
 Saracenic ag- Pyrenees. They obtained a lodgement in 
 gression. Southern Gaul ; and after a time an able Sara- 
 cenic commander, Abd-el-rahman, led a powerful Moham- 
 medan army northward to subdue the land of the Franks. 
 As far as the Loire ever^'thing fell before him, and it seemed 
 that all Europe would come under Moslem sway. 
 
 51. It was in the hour of need that Charles Martel ap- 
 
 peared as a champion for Christendom. Gath- 
 Their defeat. ^ . r 1 i. ^.10 
 
 ering a powerful army, he met the Saracens 
 
 between Tours and Poitiers \^p2vat-yea'\. A desperate bat- 
 tle, which lasted for seven days, ensued ; but on the seventh 
 
RISE OF THE SARACENS. 23 1 
 
 day the Saracens were defeated with great slaughter, a. d. 
 732. This victory arrested forever the progress of the 
 Mohammedan arms in Europe, and procured for Charles 
 the expressive surname of " the Hammer " (Martel), by 
 which he is known in history. 
 
 52. While the Saracens were stopped from pushing their 
 conquests farther into Europe, they firmly poothoid in 
 established themselves in Spain, where they Spain, 
 founded a kingdom that lasted for seven hundred years, — 
 that is, till the very close of the Middle Ages. 
 
 53. For a short time the vast dominion which the Sara- 
 cens had conquered held together, and a Division of 
 single caliph was obeyed in Spain and in pire. 
 India. But soon disputes arose as to the right of succes- 
 sion to the caliphate : wars and secessions took place, and 
 in A. D. 755 the Saracenic empire was divided, — one caliph 
 reigning in Spain and another in Bag'dad. 
 
 54. In the East, the most distinguished of the Saracenic 
 rulers was Haroun-al-Raschid (Aaron the Events in the 
 Just), who became caliph in a. d. 786, and ^*^*- 
 
 was a contemporary of Charlemagne. In the Arabian 
 Nights we find a vivid picture of the city he ruled and the 
 life he led. After the death of Haroun, the Eastern 
 dominion of the Saracens was rent by civil strife ; one 
 province after another broke off f/om the caliphate, till in 
 the nth and 12th centuries it fell a prey to the Turks. 
 
 55. In Spain, on the division of the Saracenic power, 
 the rule was in the hands of the Ommi'yad 
 
 -. , , . , r^ I ^ T~, Ii^ the West. 
 
 Ime, and the capital was at Cordova. From 
 this city the scepter of the Ommi^yades ruled during 283 
 years (from a. d. 755-1038); but in the nth century the 
 supremacy of the Saracens gave place to the Moorish empire 
 in Spain. 
 
 56. In the intellectual history of the Mid.ile Ages the 
 Saracens played a remarkable part. Wheiv Europe was 
 
 Jn-v tL i\'^< Ci^vCC^ ^i-.^ (kh^^A. C-^-^M^ ^^ VHyT ^^^y>^ 
 
232 
 
 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY 
 
 sunk in the grossest ignorance, this clever people were 
 Saracenic actively engaged in the cultivation of science, 
 
 learning. learning, and the arts. The schools of Cordova 
 
 vied with those of Bagdad in the collection of books and 
 the encouragement of science, and from them proceeded 
 nearly all that was original in the medicine, physics, and 
 metaphysics of Europe during the Middle Ages. 
 
 For additional details see chapter on 
 Ages," page 282. 
 
 Civilization in the Middle 
 
 oi' 
 
 Spain. 
 
 The Franks., 
 
 Sngland 
 
 Italy 
 
 ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS FOR REVIEW. 
 
 A Visigothic kingdom founded here just before the 
 downfall of Rome, — first of the new kingdoms, — lasts 
 for three centuries, till overthrown by the Saracens in 
 the first half of the 8th century. 
 
 The foundations of the Prankish kingdom laid by 
 Clovis, beginning of the 6th century, — Merovingian 
 dynasty continues for about a century, — superseded by 
 Pepin, son of Charles Martel and father of Charle- 
 magne, who becomes king of the Franks about the 
 middle of the 8th century. 
 
 Invasion of Celtic Britain by Low-German tribes, 
 Angles, Saxons, etc., just before the downfall of Rome, 
 — formation of various petty kingdoms, — all become 
 practically united as England, in the early part of the 
 
 . 9th century, under Egbert. 
 
 The first barbarian kingdom of the Visigoths under 
 Odoacer established A. D 476, — overthrown in less than 
 twenty years by the Ostrogoths under Theodoric, — 
 Ostrogothic kingdom lasts sixty years, — then over- 
 thrown by the Eastern empire, and ruled by a Byzantine 
 Exarch, — the Lombards take possession of all North- 
 ern Italy, — and the Lombard kings and the Byzantine 
 
 , Exarchs rule Italy till the time of Charlemagne. 
 
EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 
 
 233 
 
234 
 
 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 
 
 57. An interesting chapter in the history of the Middle 
 Subject treated Ages is now before us. We are to see how 
 °^" the ruins of the dilapidated Western Empire 
 were for a time rebuilt into 
 an imposing structure by the 
 genius of a great man, the 
 grandest figure of the Middle 
 Ages, — Charlemagne. 
 
 58. Charlemagne was the 
 
 Charlemagne's SOU of Pepin, the 
 
 *'^"^- first of the Carlo- 
 
 vingian monarchs, — that Pe- 
 pin who shut up the imbecile 
 puppet-king of the Merovin- 
 gian line and assumed the sovereignty of the Franks. He 
 was born about a. d. 742. The real name of this great 
 man was Karl, that is, Charles. Though best known by his 
 French name of Charlemagne (Charles the Great), we must 
 remember that he was no Frenchman in our sense of the 
 term, but a thorough Teuton in birth, instinct, speech, and 
 residence. 
 
 59. The kingdom cf the Franks, to which Charlemagne 
 Prankish king- ^^ 1^^^^ on the death of his father, formed an 
 dom. extensive dominion comprising portions of the 
 two countries we now call France and Germany, — for it 
 must be remembered that the specific countries, France and 
 Germany, did not yet exist at all. 
 
 60. At this time — the latter half of the 8th centur}' — 
 Italy was divided between the Lombards and the Eastern 
 
EMPIRE OE CHARLEMAGNE. 235 
 
 M 
 
 emperors, England had come into existence, but only as a 
 number of feeble and warring states, Spain was contemporary 
 under the rule of the Moslems. events. 
 
 61. In the mean time the land of the Franks was lifting 
 itself from out the surrounding barbarism of situation of 
 the new races, and was the center of that ^^'^ Franks. 
 Teutonic civilization which was struggling into existence. 
 It is important to bear in mind the actual condition of the 
 European world at the time Charlemagne came on the 
 stage, for it will help us to understand the work he did, 
 how far he succeeded and how far he failed. 
 
 62. The ruling idea of Charlemagne was the re-establish- 
 ment of the Roman Empire, — the building up Charlemagne's 
 on German soil of that Colossus which had design, 
 toppled over because it rested on the too narrow basis of 
 Latin nationality. In executing this design he aimed to 
 use all the elements of civilization that the times presented, 
 and especially these two great elements, — the political ideas 
 and instincts of the Teutons, and the adhesive power of 
 the Christian Church. Hence we find him, throughout his 
 whole career, carefully cherishing all those old German 
 institutions upon which the mass of his people looked with 
 deep reverence, while at the same time we behold him the 
 protector of the Pope and the loyal and ardent champion 
 of the Church. 
 
 63. It was in the effort to realize his grand idea that 
 Charlemagne undertook the numerous wars object of his 
 and expeditions that filled the forty-six years ^^'"^• 
 
 of his reign. We shall not enter into the details of these 
 wars ; but it is needful to understand their object and their 
 result. 
 
 64. The most important of Charlemagne's military en- 
 terprises were directed against the fierce pagan 
 
 nations of Germany and the wild Scythians 
 
 in the outlying lands beyond. To appreciate the impor- 
 
236 MEDJj^VAL HISTORY. 
 
 •- 
 
 tance of these we must try to realize that the eastern fron- 
 tier of the Frankish land, that is, the eastern boundary of 
 Charlemagne's kingdom, on the German side of the Rhine, 
 ran into and abutted on the extensive stretch of country in 
 Middle Europe that was still in the hands of the various un- 
 civilized tribes. As long as these nationalities remained in 
 their warlike, savage, and pagan condition, they would press 
 heavily on the struggling civilization of the Frankish king- 
 dom, knd would endanger, if not utterly destroy, its progress. 
 Hence to subdue and especially to Christianize these tribes 
 — to extend the domain of organized and law-governed so- 
 ciety into the desert waste of Teutonic barbarism — was 
 a main object with Charlemagne. 
 
 65. With the Saxon confederation, formed by various 
 Wars with pagan tribes on the Weser and the Elbe (the 
 the Saxons. same tribcs from among which the Saxons 
 and Angles, who conquered Britain three centuries before 
 this, had gone forth), Charlemagne had the greatest trouble. 
 He repeatedly marched into their country and subdued 
 them ; but they constantly rose up again, and it was only 
 after some terrible acts of vengeance, — for example, he one 
 day had 4200 prisoners hanged, — that they at length sub- 
 mitted to be baptized and to become peaceable subjects. 
 
 66. Soon after this the Bava'rians attempted to render 
 Eastern con- themselves independent of the Frankish pow- 
 quests. gj. |3y ^j-^g assistaucc of the Avars, a Tartar race 
 living in what we now call Hungary (then Pannofnici). Char- 
 lemagne overpowered the Bavarians, incorporating Bavaria 
 with his German territory; and he then revenged himself 
 on the Avars by conquering them, taking their treasures, 
 and annexing Hungary to his dominion. The result of 
 Charlemagne's conquests on the east side of the Rhine was 
 that Germany was for the first time all united under one 
 head, and on that side the Frankish kingdom was extended 
 to the confluence of the Danube with the Theiss and the 
 Save 
 
EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 23/ 
 
 67. Against the Saracens in Spain Charlemagne made 
 an important expedition. The capture of ^r- ^^^^^^^^ 
 agos^sa laid Ar'agon and Navarre' at his feet, 
 
 and he united the whole country as far as the Ebro to his 
 own kingdom as a Spanish province. During his return 
 the rear-guard, under Roland, suffered a defeat in the valley 
 of_J<oncesvaJ/les, in which the bravest champions of the 
 Franks were destroyed. This somewhat tarnished the lau- 
 rels Charlemagne had won in Spain, but did not undo the 
 substantial results of the campaign. 
 
 68. We must now see what Charlemagne did in Italy. 
 At this period the Lombards were very trouble- 
 some to the Pope, and frequently assailed the * ' 
 Koman territory. Accordingly, when Pope Adrian I. called 
 on Charlemagne for aid, the Prankish monarch crossed the 
 Alps, defeated the Lombards, shut up their king in a mon- 
 astery, and himself assuming the famous " iron crown " of 
 Lombardy, united the whole of Uoper Italy to the kingdom 
 of the Franks (a. d. 773). At the same time he confirmed 
 the gifts made by Pepin to the Pope. 
 
 69. The general result of all the wars and conquests 
 which we have described was that by the year gj^^J^g^^^/g^^.g 
 800 Charlemagne, who had inherited from dominion. 
 Pepin a kingdom scarcely equal to all Gaul, found himself 
 lord of a dominion as large as the ancient Roman Empire 
 of the West, and extending from the Ebro (in Spain) on the 
 west to the Elbe in the northeast, the Theiss (Hungary) in 
 the southeast, and including half of Italy, with Corsica, Sar- 
 dinia, and the Balearic Isles. He fell heir to 2. kingdom; 
 he was now master of an empire. 
 
 70. The year a. d. 800 forms the climax of Charle- 
 magne's reign. The sovereign had gone in crowned em- 
 splendid state to visit Italy. On Christmas p^''°'"- 
 
 day Charlemagne and his court were attending divine ser- 
 vice in the church of St Peter's, at Rome. Suddenly, while 
 
2^8 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 the monarch was kneeling on the steps of the altar in 
 prayer, the Pope, Leo III., placed a crown upon his head 
 and solemnly saluted him as " Emperor of the West," with 
 the title of Charles I., Cesar Augustus. 
 
 71. The latter years of Charlemagne's life were spent in 
 Charlemagne's labors for the Consolidation of his empire and 
 energy. ^^ clevation of liis people. In activity, in a 
 craving desire to be ever doing something, Charlemagne 
 resembled Napoleon. From the affairs of his own house- 
 hold to the state of the markets, and even to the mon- 
 asteries in the most distant parts of his empire, he made 
 himself acquainted with everything ; and he wearied out 
 all about him by his astonishing powers of invention and 
 
 Jabor and the amount of work he exacted from them. 
 
 72. Charlemagne was a great patron of learning and 
 
 learned men. He was himself a good Latin 
 ^^' scholar, and he knew something of Greek. 
 Wherever he was he was usually surrounded by learned 
 churchmen, whom he drew to his court from all quarters, 
 and with whom he delighted to hold conversations on liter- 
 ary and other subjects. The emperor, his family, and all 
 attached to his household formed what was called the 
 " School of the Palace." Fond of literary pursuits, Charle- 
 magne studied grammar, rhetoric, music, logic, astronomy, 
 and natural history under his learned friends ; and even 
 after he was considerably advanced in years he took the 
 pains to acquire the art of writing, — an accomplishment 
 then very unusual except among churchmen. 
 
 73. Nor was the emperor's interest in education confined 
 Education of to his own houschold. Each of the numer- 
 the people. ^^g monasteries that he endowed was bound to 
 maintain a school. He had copies of the writings of the 
 ancient Romans made and distributed among the convents, 
 he formed a collection of old German heroic ballads, and 
 under his patronage church music was greatly improved. 
 
EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 239 
 
 74. Physically Charlemagne was of heroic stature dnd 
 majestic appearance. In his habits he was Person and 
 plain and unostentatious. He dined off four ^^''its. 
 dishes, and was very fond of roast venison, newly killed and 
 served up to him on the spit. He hated drunkenness. At 
 table, books of history and Augustine's " City of God " were 
 often read aloud to him. His love for the national Prank- 
 ish dress was so strong that he never, save on a few great 
 occasions of state, exchanged it for the Roman garb. 
 
 75. Charlemagne's favorite place of residence was at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle' (in German, Aa'cheti). He 
 
 made this the northern capital of his empire, 
 as Rome was the southern, and built a magnificent palace 
 there. When his power was confirmed by his coronation 
 as Emperor of the West, all the world hastened to pay him 
 homage. The Saracenic caliph, the famous Haroun-al-Ras- 
 chid, who ruled the Eastern dominion of the Saracens, at 
 Bagdad, exchanged courtesies with his great brother of the 
 West, sending him, among other presents, an ape, an ele- 
 phant, and a curious clock which struck the hours. 
 
 76. Charlemagne died at the age of seventy-two, at Aix- 
 la-Chapelle, in A. D. 814. The year before, he had caused his 
 only living son, Louis, to assume the imperial End of his 
 crown. But the vast structure that Charle- ^^p^*'*'- 
 magne had raised during his lifetime tottered and fell almost 
 immediately after his death. Louis, known as the Gentle 
 (/<? Debonnaire), was better fitted for the repose of a clois- 
 ter than for the government of a warlike kingdom. His 
 sons, among whom he divided the empire, turned their arms 
 first against himself and then against one another. Finally, 
 in A. D. 843, a treaty was made at Verdun', by which France, 
 Germany, and Italy became separate and independent 
 states ; so that, in less than thirty years after the death of 
 Charlemagne, the history of the Franks came to an end, 
 and the history of France and of Germany began. 
 
240 
 
 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 
 
 77. The aim of this chapter, and of the succeeding four 
 Programme of chapters, is to present a general view of the 
 topics. Middle Ages, — of those great historic facts 
 
 common to ail the nations of Europe during that epoch. 
 
 Feudal Castlh. 
 
 Thus, all the nations of Europe were under that peculiar 
 form of society called feudalism (and this will be treated 
 of in the present chapter) ; all bore certain relations to the 
 Papal Power (the subject-matter of the next chapter) ; all 
 participated in the Crusades and in the spirit of Chivalry 
 (the subject-matter of Chapters VI. and VII.); and all 
 passed through the period named the Dark Ages, and 
 shared in the intellectual revival which marked the latter 
 part of the Middle Ages (described in Chapter VIII.). 
 
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 24 1 
 
 r»« ■ ■ ; '■ 
 
 78. The most marked feature of society in the Middle 
 Ages was Feudalism, or the Feudal System. General state- 
 This system sprang out of the peculiar relations "^^"*- 
 
 of man to man among the various Teutonic tribes who ob- 
 tained possession of the countries that had formed the West- 
 ern Empire ; by the iitli century it had spread into all the 
 lands to which the German conquests extended ; it con- 
 tinued throughout the whole Middle Ages, and it passed 
 away only with that extensive series of changes that marked 
 the advent of modern history proper. 
 
 79. Every free German who had helped his chief in con- 
 quering the country received as his share of the origin of the 
 spoil a particular estate, which was called his system. 
 allodium^ or freehold., — this estate being absolutely his own 
 property. The chief or king, as a matter of course, received 
 a very large domain as his share. Now, after a time, it be- 
 came usual for him to grant portions of this his own domain 
 to his followers and favorites, on condition of their being 
 faithful to him and doing him service in war. The land so 
 granted was called a feudimt., or fief and land held in this 
 way was said to be held by -^i feudal tenure. This " tenure," 
 or way of holding, was totally unlike the property that was 
 allodial., or allotted. The latter was a man's very own ; 
 while land held by the feudal tenure was not the soldier's 
 property by right, but was retained only during the pleasure 
 of the real owner, and so long as the conditions agreed on 
 were lived up to. The real owner was the lord., suzerain., or 
 liege., while the person to whom he granted the land was 
 called his vassal., liegeman., or retainer. 
 
 80. Just as the kings made these feudal grants to their 
 favorites, so the holders of extensive allods Growth of the 
 (that is, grants made to them from the first as system, 
 absolutely their own) gave away portions of these to the less 
 wealthy, to be held by feudal tenure, and thus obtained 
 liegemen or vassals of their own. Bishops and abbots also 
 
 II p 
 
242 MEDIAL VAL HISTORY. 
 
 gave grants of extensive tracts received from the kings to 
 knights, who held these lands as vassals of the bishops and 
 abbots, — that is, they were bound to defend the monastery 
 and supply a certain number of troops when the king made 
 a^ general levy. 
 
 81. The usual tenure by which vassals held their fiefs 
 Duties of a was that of military service and homage, — in 
 liegeman. other words, the proprietors who held fiefs from 
 the king were bound to attend his court on occasions of 
 ceremony, and to assist him, in case of war, with a certain 
 number of men ; and the smaller proprietors, who held fiefs 
 under great lords, were in like manner bound to appear at 
 the castles of their lords, when summoned, and to render 
 them military service. The lord, on the other hand, was 
 bound to protect his vassals. 
 
 82. It soon happened that the feudal tenure of property 
 Feudalism prevailed over every other. The great nobles 
 universal. were but too glad to become vassals of the 
 kings, in return for the rich gifts which they had to bestow -^ 
 so also the holder of a small allod^ or freehold, would often, 
 of his own accord, give it up to a powerful lord in his neigh- 
 borhood, whose protection he wished to secure, receiving it 
 back from him as a fief. Gradually, therefore, almost the 
 whole property of a country became a connected system of. 
 fiefs ; and society, from the king down to the poorest free- 
 man, consisted of a chain of ranks, each retaining from that 
 above it. Kings themselves were vassals of other kings foi 
 estates lying out of the boundaries of their own sovereignty. 
 Thus William the Conqueror, monarch of England, was, as 
 Duke of Normandy, a vassal of the king of France. 
 
 %2t* To understand the practical operation of the feudal 
 Illustration System, it is best to fancy what took place in a 
 from war. country about to undertake a war. The king 
 
 summoned his vassals, or retainers, to appear in the field at 
 a certain time, with a certain military retinue 3 these va^c j.1s, 
 
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 243 
 
 generally the chief nobles of the kingdom, made a similar 
 claim upon their retainers or liegemen, the smaller proprie- 
 tors ; and they, in their turn, summoned the farmers and 
 yeomen who stood to them in the relation of feudal obe- 
 dience. The army thus consisted of bands of freemen, each 
 armed at his own cost, or at the cost of his feudal superior, 
 and each following the banner of his chief. 
 
 84. We have thus far been considering the holders of 
 land ; but in feudal society the great mass of 
 
 the people were not freeholders at all, but 
 serfs. The serfs were not actual slaves ; that is to say, they 
 could not be bought and sold man by man ; but they were 
 bound to the land, and passed with it when // changed 
 hands. In addition to the serfs there were also actual 
 slaves, — those who became slaves by being made prisoners 
 of war or by being condemned to slavery for some crime. 
 
 85. A fief consisted properly of two things, — the castle 
 in which the lord, or proprietor, lived with his Nature of a 
 family and men-at-arms ; and the village, or ^^^• 
 attached domain, inhabited by the tillers of the soil. These 
 were either villains (inhabitants of the ville or village), who 
 were freeborn men renting land or serving for wages, or 
 serfs, who were the born thralls of the lord of the soil. 
 
 86. Feudalism had spread into all the lands conquered 
 by the Teutonic tribes before it reached Eng- The system 
 land ; and it was first introduced there in its ^" England, 
 perfection by William of Normandy, when he conquered the 
 country in a. d. 1066. He, as conqueror, claimed the right 
 of giving estates to whomsoever he pleased, on condition 
 of receiving in return military service and aids of money. 
 
 87. As the Normans, on going into England, entered a 
 conquered country, their first thought was to Norman cas- 
 build dwellings for safety; and to insure this *^^^: 
 
 they erected strong castles, and surrounded them with thick 
 walls and a ditch. These buildings usually consisted of 
 
244 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 three divisions, namely, the inner and outer courts^ and the 
 keep^ which formed the baron's residence. The entrance 
 to the castle was guarded by the barbacan^ which in most 
 cases was a strong gateway in front of the main gate. 
 The passage through the gateway could be closed, in addi- 
 tion to the gates, by a spiked iron grating, called a port- 
 cullis, which was let down from above, and the archway 
 was pierced with holes, through which melted lead and boil- 
 ing pitch could be poured upon an enemy. The gray ruins 
 of many of these castles, found here and there throughout 
 England, give a vivid idea of the massive strength of the 
 homes of the nobility in the feudal times. 
 
 88. By many writers feudalism has been painted in ro- 
 Eviis of feu- mantic colors ; but, in spite of this gilding, it 
 daiism. jg plain that the system was a bad one. The 
 mass of the people had no guaranteed rights, they were at 
 the mercy of the lords ; and tliough we may believe that un- 
 der good proprietors the condition of the people may not 
 have been invariably or necessarily unhappy, yet that sys- 
 tem is radically vicious which makes one man subject to the 
 will and caprice of another. Indeed, it is certain that under 
 this system there were monstrous abuses. The feudal bar- 
 ons, withdrawn within their gloomy castles, and surrounded 
 by a dependent and isolated village of serfs and tenants, 
 grievously oppressed the people, who had no redress, seeing 
 
 ^at the nobles were the magistrates of the fief. 
 
 89. At the same time the feudal government retarded 
 Effect on the the growth of nationality. Everything tended 
 nation. ^^ isolation ; a kingdom was a cluster of con- 
 federated powers under a common head ; but that head, 
 the king or emperor, lacked real power, since, though the 
 nobles and barons owed feudal allegiance to the suzerain, 
 obedience, when refused, could be enforced only by war. 
 In fact, the system was a reign, not of law^ but of law- 
 lessness. 
 
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 245 
 
 90. The three influences that gradually undermined feu- 
 Jalism were : i. Royalty ; 2. The MunicipalUies ; Enemies of 
 
 i^. The Clergy. A word regarding each. feudalism. 
 
 91. The increase of the power of royalty was directly 
 opposed to feudalism ; for just in proportion influence of 
 as the central authority was strengthened, the ^^y^^'^y- 
 power of the nobles was weakened. At the outset, in the 
 new Teutonic kingdoms of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, 
 and England, the monarch was to the great nobles merely 
 what these were to their vassals, — the head of a system of 
 fiefs. But very soon the monarchs began to center power 
 in themselves, and then they came into antagonism with 
 feudalism. The reason of this was, that, being head of the 
 whole, the kings were the first to be inspired with the idea 
 of fiationality. They sought to pierce down through the 
 intermediate ranks of barons, counts, etc., to the real people 
 themselves. They thus to some extent put themselves on 
 the side of the lower ranks. At the same time, by issuing 
 decrees to be put in force over the whole kingdom, the 
 '':hrone became the fountain of huv, as something distinct 
 ifrom the mere will of the feudal chiefs. 
 
 92. The second influence mentioned is the rise of the 
 municipalities. Under the Roman system _^ 
 
 , , , . , . -^ . Of the cities. 
 
 there had been numerous free, selr-governmg 
 cities throughout the empire. Many of these survived the 
 shock of the Teutonic invasions, and formed little republics 
 or self-governing communities in the midst of the feudal 
 society. Moreover, feudalism itself gradually created 
 similar communities. In the turbulence of the times, popu- 
 lation tended to crystallize around the castles of feudal 
 chiefs. The lords, finding themselves greatly strengthened 
 by this, began to see that it would be to their advantage 
 to grant the inhabitants certain privileges. Hence arose 
 towns, governed by officers — provosts and bailiffs — 
 appointed by the lord, and the still more highly favored 
 
246 MEDIMVAL HISTORY. 
 
 boroughs^ — that is, towns possessing regular charters which 
 conceded them the right of governing themselves by magis- 
 trates, such as mayors and aldermen, chosen by the burgh- 
 ers, or free inhabitants. These towns and boroughs were 
 oases of freedom amid the desert of feudal despotism. It 
 was here that there arose that great power in European 
 society, the Commons^ or free middle class, that in the end 
 not only overthrew feudalism, but tempered the despotism 
 of kings, and brought about limited^ representative monarchy. 
 
 93. The Church, in its efforts to establish absolute 
 ^, ^ , dominion in matters spiritual, naturally sought 
 
 Of the clergy. ,, • ir • , ,. , 
 
 to ally Itself with a great centralized power. 
 Hence we find that the clergy usually sided with the kings, 
 and against the nobles. Moreover, the clergy owned more 
 than one half of the entire landed property of most Euro- 
 pean countries. Finally, the humane sentiments of Chris- 
 tianity, the doctrine of the common brotherhood of man, 
 became a powerful agency in checking the injustice and 
 the arbitrary power of the feudal lords. 
 
 94. Among other influences that co-operated towards the 
 other influ- destruction of feudalism, were the Crusades, 
 ences. ^j^g change of the mode of war following the 
 invention of gunpowder, the extension of commerce, and in 
 general the progress of knowledge. 
 
 95. It was a system that was not wholly bad : it must 
 
 have been in some degree adapted to the 
 um 1 up. ^jjj^gg^ otherwise it could not have existed at 
 all ; but it belonged to a state of society essentially barba- 
 rous, and it was overthrown by that very civilization which 
 it could not keep from growing up in its very midst 
 
GROWTH OF TIJE PAPAL POWER. 
 
 247 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GROWTH OF THE PAPAL POWER. 
 
 g6. The steps by which Christianity became the religion 
 of the Roman Empire have already been subject 
 
 traced. We must ^^^ted of. 
 now see how that mighty or- 
 ganization, the Latin or Cath- 
 olic Church, arose, and how it 
 became a great power above 
 kings and emperors, holding 
 for centuries a controlling in- 
 fluence over the jDolitical affairs 
 of Europe. §ome knowledge 
 of the history of the Papacy, 
 as this dominion of the Latin 
 Church is called, is absolutely 
 necessary to a comprehension 
 of the Middle Ages. 
 97. On the overthrow cf the Western Empire the Bishop 
 of Rome, as the first personage in what had Power of the 
 
 1 1 • 1 r n ,1 ,t Bishop of 
 
 been the capital of the world, was naturally Rome, 
 invested with great influence, and looked up to, not only in 
 religious matters, but even in political affairs. Indeed, in 
 the universal wreck, it was the Church alone that kept up 
 the organization of society. The very barbarians who over- 
 threw the Roman Empire were themselves brought under 
 the sway of the Church ; for, barbarians though they were, 
 the Teutons had a deep vein of earnestness in their char- 
 acter. Again, the state of affairs in Italy had much to do 
 with giving the Roman bishops great influence. When, 
 under Justinian, the Ostrogoths were overthrown and Italy 
 
 Papal Insignia. 
 
248 MEDL^VAL HISTORY. 
 
 came under the dominion of the Eastern Empire, the repre- 
 sentatives of the Byzantine Emperor did not Uve at Rome, 
 but at Ravenna. This caused the power of the bishops of 
 Rome to grow greater and greater. The Roman bishop, 
 or pontiff,* was called Pater, or Papa, father (whence Eng- 
 lish /V-^t), and he had avast moral infiuence, though as 
 yet no temporal power. How temporal power was first ac- 
 quired will now be told. 
 
 98. The Lombards, who in the 8th century had fully 
 The Lombards established their kingdom in Northern Italy, 
 and Pepin. took every opportunity to enlarge their terri- 
 tory at the expense of the Eastern Empire. They made 
 themselves masters of Ravenna, Rome, etc. But this was 
 not a change that was at all agreeable either to the popes 
 or to the Roman people ; hence the aid of Pepin, father 
 of Charlemagne, was asked. Pepin came and saved Rome, 
 and won from the Lombards the territory of the Exarchate 
 of Ravenna. He then took a step that led to mighty re- 
 sults : he bestowed this territory on the popes, and this was 
 the beginning of the temporal power of the Catholic Church. 
 When Charlemagne had overthrown the Lombard kingdom, 
 and was crowned king of Italy and afterwards Emperor of 
 the West (a. d. 800), he confirmed the grant which his father 
 Pepin had made to the popes. 
 
 99. After the death of Charlemagne there was a long 
 The popes and period — nearly two centuries — of confusion, 
 the emperors, under the wcak rule of the Carlovingian kings 
 of France, Italy, and Germany. During all this time the 
 Papal power grew, and exercised a great authority in politi- 
 
 ♦ The name "pontiff" is derived from the Pontifex maximus^ the 
 chief officer of the old pagan religion of Rome. 
 
 t Till the time of Pope Gregory VII., the title of Pope was given 
 to all bishops alike ; he, however, in 1076 decreed that thenceforth it 
 should be applied only to the Roman " papa," or pontiff, prefixing at the 
 same time the epithet sanctuit whence the modern style, " His Holmess 
 the Pope." 
 
GROWTH OF THE PAPAL POWER. 249 
 
 cal matters. When, however, in the middle of the loth 
 century, the sovereigns of Germany came to be Emperors 
 of the West, a long and bitter struggle between the popes 
 and the emperors began. The Italians did not like to be 
 under German dominion, and the popes became naturally 
 the center round which all the anti-German feeling gathered. 
 The popes, as temporal rulers of Rome, were vassals of the 
 emperor; but as the spiritual head of Christendom, they 
 held a position of peculiar importance. 
 
 100. The struggle first broke out on the question of the 
 election of the popes. The emperors claimed Narrative of 
 that a ratification by them, of any one elected ^^^ quarrel, 
 by the College of Cardinals to be Pope, was necessary to 
 make the election valid. Of course, the emperors sought 
 to have popes chosen who were favorable to iheir views. 
 In the first part of the contest the emperors had things 
 much their own way, and undertook to appoint German 
 bishops to the pontificate; and to carry matters with a high 
 hand. But they were to be humbled in a most remarkable 
 manner, by the dauntless energies of one man, a humble 
 monk of Soa'na, son of a poor carpenter of Tus'cany. This 
 was Hil'debrand, afterwards known as Gregory VII., one of 
 the most illustrious men of the Middle Ages. 
 
 101. Hildebrand was called to Rome, in a. d. 1049, by 
 Pope Leo IX., to assist in the Papal councils as 
 chancellor and cardinal. This ofBce he held 
 
 for twenty years, under five successive popes, over whom 
 he exercised the ascendency of a great mind. It was. dur- 
 ing this time that he matured his plan for the complete 
 emancipation of the Church. Believing that the Church 
 supplied the only means by which the regeneration of 
 Europe could be effected, he aimed to set that body above 
 all merely earthly power, — a daring project ; but the 
 dreadful evils of the period required a powerful remedy. 
 
 102. In 1073 Hildebrand rose to the Papal throne, with 
 
 n* 
 
250 
 
 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 the title of Gregory VII. His first measure was to strike 
 
 What he did ^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ called the " right of in- 
 vestiture," claimed 
 by the emperors. This was the 
 right of bestowing on bishops 
 and abbots the ring and staff 
 that were the symbols of their 
 office, — a form which declared 
 their feudal vassalage to the em- 
 peror. Now, Gregory caused it 
 to be ordained by a council, that 
 if any one should accept inves- 
 titure from a layman, both the Gregory vii. 
 giver and the receiver should be excommunicated. 
 
 103. The Emperor Henry IV. set this decree at defi- 
 Henry IV. and aucc. Upou this the Popc solcmuly excom- 
 iiiidebrand. municated the emperor, and absolved his subjects 
 in Ger7nany and Italy from their oath of allegiance ! Enraged 
 at this, Henry prepared for war. But soon there was 
 brought home to him a vivid realization of the appalling 
 power of that unseen dominion that had arisen to sway the 
 minds cf men. In every quarter of his empire monks and 
 friars preached against him, insurrections arose on every 
 hand, and Elenry, who entered Italy with the vow of ven- 
 geance, was forced to become a humble suitor for mercy 
 at the hando of Gregory. On the 21st of January, 1077, 
 the Emperor Henry proceeded to Canos'sa, where the Pope 
 resided, to seek the pardon cf his powerful foe. It was a 
 v/onderful scene. The most potent sovereign of Europe 
 had to suffer the deepest humiliation ever brooked by mon- 
 arch. It was only after the most abject confessions of his 
 error, and standing for three days in an outer court of the 
 castle, amid the cold of winter, barefoot, and clad only in 
 a woolen shirt, that he was absolved, and the dread inter- 
 dict removed. Henry, however, had his revenge ; he re- 
 
GROWTH OF THE PAPAL POWER. 25 1 
 
 newed the war, and Gregory, forced to flee from Rome, died 
 in exile at Saler'no (a. d. 1085). 
 
 104. The successors of Gregory steadily adhered to his 
 policy, and as the Papacy remained un- Policy of 
 changed while all Europe was shaken by revo- successors, 
 lutions, every day brought fresh accessions to the Papal 
 side. The kings of Portugal, Aragon, England, Scotland, 
 Sardinia, the two Sicilies, and others became vassals to the 
 Roman pontiffs. At length the German Emperor, Henry V., 
 yielded, and by a treaty signed at Worms (a. d. 1122) for- 
 mally resigned all claim to investitures. 
 
 105. Innocent III. (1198-1216) vastly increased the 
 Papal power. He forced the Imperial Prefect 
 
 v. „ . , . TT Innocent III. 
 
 at Rome to swear allegiance to him. He set 
 on foot a Crusade that crushed the APbigenses of France. 
 He humbled King John of England, and imposed a tribute 
 upon him. In fact, he claimed to be Sovereign of Europe, 
 — an earthly King of kings. 
 
 106. The narrative of how this claim was maintained, 
 and how, on the other hand, it was opposed, 
 
 fills a large chapter iu the history of the Middle 
 Ages. The full recital cannot be given here. It is even 
 hard to say which party won in the end. On this point a 
 great authority observes : " We may perhaps say that the 
 popes did succeed in overthrowing the power of the em- 
 perors, but that they had themselves to yield in the end to 
 the power of other temporal princes." 
 
liJEDI^VAL HISTORY. 
 
 m t/) 
 
 (/I 
 
 
 Q 
 < 
 
 H <S I,, O 
 
 ^m^Di 
 
 rr' 
 
 §^'0_j5 
 
 o 
 
 - 1^ i < i: f^ 
 
 oOi^'^g 
 
 U^^ 
 
 1- 
 
 J^g 5 
 
 q: 
 
 K^ ^ 
 
 L- 
 
THE CRUSADES. 
 
 253 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE CRUSADES. 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 'IO7. During two hundred years, — comprising the whole 
 of the 1 2th and the 13th centuries, — the most General state- 
 important events of European history had ™e"^- 
 relation to that series of extraordinary expeditions known 
 
 Crusaders before Jerusalem. 
 
 as the Crusades. This term is derived from the French 
 word croisade {croix^ the cross\ which means ivar of the cross. 
 The Crusades were undertaken by the Western nations of 
 Europe for the recovery of the Holy Land from the Sara- 
 cens and Turks. 
 
254 MEDIMVAL HISTORY. 
 
 108. It had been customary, from an early period in the 
 
 history of Cliristianity, for believers from every 
 
 Pilgrimages. r ■, ^-.i • • ^ ^ ^ -i • 
 
 part or the Christian world to make pilgrim- 
 ages to the Holy Land of Palestine. Whilst the Saracens 
 remained masters of Palestine they encouraged and pro- 
 tected visitors, whose arrival brought them considerable 
 profit. But when the Selju'kian Turks, in the middle of the 
 nth century, became masters of Asia Minor and Syria, the 
 Christians, whether residents or pilgrims, were subjected to 
 the most cruel treatment. Every day brought back to 
 Europe weary palmers who had been scoffed at and spit 
 upon by the Infidels, as the Mohammedans were called. 
 
 109. The news of the cruelties perpetrated by the Turks 
 The feeling ^^ the Christians of Palestine produced a 
 aroused. deep feeling of indignation throughout West- 
 ern Europe, and aroused a strong desire to arrest the 
 progress of the hated religion of Mohammed, and recover 
 the Holy Land from Moslem desecration. 
 
 110. This desire was roused into action by the enthu- 
 PetertheHer- siasm of a monk called Peter the Hermit. 
 *"it- This extraordinary man was a native of Am- 
 iens, in France. He followed the wars in his youth, then 
 became a monk, afterwards retired to absolute solitude, 
 and finally made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There wit- 
 nessing the cruelties of the Turks, he became possessed 
 with the idea that he was inspired by Heaven to deliver 
 the Holy Sepulcher from their hands. 
 
 111. On his return to Europe Peter repaired to the 
 
 Papal Court, and found in the Pope, Urban 
 IS preac ing. ^^ ^ ^^ astonishcd but ready listener to his 
 bold project. Encouraged by the Pope, he travelled over 
 Italy and France, everywhere proclaiming the sacred duty 
 of delivering the sepulcher of Christ from the hands of the 
 infidels. He is described as emaciated by self-inflicted 
 austerities and wayfaring toil, diminutive in stature, mean 
 
THE CRUSADES. 255 
 
 in appearance, and clad in those coarse weeds of a solitary 
 from which he derived his surname of the Hermit. But he 
 was fluent in speech, and the vehement sincerity of his feel- 
 ings supplied him with the only eloquence that would have 
 been intelligible to the popular passions of his times. 
 
 112. The chroniclers of the period exhaust language in 
 describing the innumerable crowds of all ranks Effect of his 
 which thronged cities and hamlets, churches Pleaching, 
 and highways, at his voice ; the tears, the sighs, the indigna- 
 tion excited in these multitudes by his picture of the wrongs 
 of their Christian brethren, and the sacrilegious defilement 
 of the Holy Sepulcher ; the shame and remorse which fol- 
 lowed his reproaches at the guilty supineness that had 
 abandoned the blessed scenes of redemption to the insults 
 of Infidels ; the eager reception of his injunctions to every 
 sinner to seek reconcilement with Heaven by devotion to 
 its cause ; and the rapture which his denunciations of ven- 
 geance against the Saracen enemies of God awakened in 
 the stern hearts of congregated warriors. 
 
 113. The cause was now taken up openly by the Pope, 
 and two councils were held on the subject in council of 
 
 A. D. 1095. At the second, held at Clermont, ciermont. 
 in France, the Pope addressed a great multitude assembled 
 from all parts of Europe. As he proceeded the enthusiasm 
 of the crowd found vent in cries of Deus vult, and the 
 slightly varied acclamations of Dieux el volt and Deus lo 
 volt^ — " It is the will of God ! " At the instant when their 
 cries resounded throughout the vast assembly, the figurative 
 injunction of Scripture to the sinner, to take up the cross of 
 Christ, suggested to Urbarrthe'idea that all who embraced 
 the sacred enterprise should bear on their shoulder or breast 
 that symbol of salvation. The proposal was eagerly adopted, 
 
 * Dieux el volt and Deus lo volt were the popular corruptions which 
 the pure Latin, Deus vult, had undergone in the twa great Northern and 
 Provencal dialects of France. 
 
256 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 and few there were who left the old market-place on that 
 day without a red cross on the shoulder, to mark them as 
 CroiseSj or soldiers of the cross. The following spring was 
 appointed as the time for beginning the movement to the 
 East. 
 
 2. THE FIRST CRUSADE (A. D. 1096-1099). 
 
 114. Long before the season — August the 15 th — fixed 
 
 on by the Pope for the departure of the Cru- 
 saders had expired, the impatience of the ruder 
 multitudes of people grew too violent for restraint. Soon 
 after the commencement of the new year an immense con- 
 course of pilgrims, chiefly of the lowest classes, and consist- 
 ing not of men alone, but also of women and children, had 
 thronged around Peter the Hermit, on the eastern frontiers 
 of France, and urged him, as the original preacher of the 
 sacred enterprise, to assume its command. Apparently un- 
 conscious of his utter unfitness for command, the fanatic 
 rashly accepted the perilous charge ; and under his guid- 
 ance, and that of a Burgundian knight named Walter the 
 Penniless, the accumulating torrent began to sweep over 
 Germany. 
 
 115. The several bands composing this vanguard of the 
 
 Crusades, amountinsr to more thali 250,000, 
 
 Narrative. , ' , i ^ -rx 
 
 took the route through Germany, Hungary, 
 Bulgaria, and Thrace ; but being without organization or 
 provision, they committed the most dreadful devastations 
 in the countries through which they passed, and were mostly 
 dispersed and exterminated by the enraged Hungarian 
 peasantry. Remnants of the bands succeeded in crossing 
 the Bosphorus at Constantinople, but these were soon cut to 
 pieces by the Turks. Such was the disastrous beginning of 
 the Crusade, — a quarter of a million of individuals swept 
 out of existence, altogether without result. 
 
 116. Meanwhile the real chivalry of Europe had been 
 
THE FIRST CRUSADE. 257 
 
 mustering for the enterprise. None of the sovereigns 
 took part in the movement ; but the feudal Main move- 
 chiefs, each at the head of his own vassals, "^^"*- 
 ranged themselves under distinguished leaders, — Godfrey 
 of Bouillon', Duke of Lower Lorraine' (in the modern 
 kingdom of Belgium), Robert, Duke of Normandy, and 
 others. Six separate armies were thus formed, which 
 marched by different routes to Constantinople. 
 
 117. The appearance of this vast host — amounting to 
 at least 600,000 men, exclusive of women and 
 
 priests — alarmed the Greek Emperor with the 
 fear that the Latin princes might seek to secure the mas- 
 tery of the East for themselves^ and not for him. It was 
 only by the threat of attacking Constantinople that he was 
 made to withdraw his opposition, and further the transit of 
 the Crusaders into Asia Minor. Here all the great divis- 
 ions of the crusading levies made a junction, and their 
 numbers were increased by the wretched remnants of the 
 preceding mob, who, with Peter the Hermit himself, found 
 their way from various places of refuge to the general 
 muster. 
 
 118. The real nerve of the grand army consisted of the 
 mailed cavalry, amounting to over 100,000 Description of 
 men. This superb body of horse was com- ^^^ ^^™y- 
 posed of the flower of the European chivalry: knights, 
 esquires, and their attendant men-at-arms, completely 
 equipped with the helmet and shield, the coat and boots of 
 chain and scale armor, the lance and the sword, the battle- 
 ax and the ponderous mace of iron. The crowd of foot- 
 men fought principally with the long and cross bow ; but 
 they formed a miserable contrast to the splendor of the 
 chivalric array, which glittered in the blazonry of embroid- 
 ered and ermined surcoats, shields and head-pieces inlaid 
 with gems and gold, and banners and pennons distinguish- 
 ing the princely and noble rank of chieftains and knights. 
 
 Q 
 
258 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 119. The first movement of the Crusaders was directed 
 Advance against Ni'ce, or Nicse'a, in Asia Minor. This 
 
 through Asia , ' , 1 , ^ , t 1 • 
 
 Minor. place was captured by the Crusaders. In their 
 
 advance through Asia Minor, a march of 500 miles was still 
 to be made before they could touch the confines of Syria, 
 and the Sultan of Roum was prepared to ofi:er a formidable 
 resistance. With an immense cloud of cavalry — the num- 
 ber is put at 300,000 horse — he hovered around the Cru- 
 saders ; and at '"Doryl^'um he suddenly fell upon one of 
 the two main divisions while on the march. So sudden 
 was the onset, that the victory was at first with the Turks ; 
 but rallying, and being reinforced by the other division, 
 the Crusaders fell upon the enemy. In close combat, the 
 supple dexterity of the Asiatics, armed with the curved 
 scimitar and light javelin, could make but a feeble opposi- 
 tion to the ponderous strokes of the European arm wield- 
 ing the long pointed sword and gigantic lance. In a direct 
 charge the Turkish cavalry was completely overpowered, 
 and of the mighty host 30,000 were slain. This was prob- 
 ably one of the most tremendous cavalry battles ever 
 fought. 
 
 120. But what Sol'yman could not accomplish in the 
 Sufferings on ^^Id he largely effected in another way. He 
 the march. made the country through which the Cru- 
 saders were to march a waste. Hundreds died, on every 
 day's march, of want, of fatigue, of raging thirst or its fatal 
 gratification. The horses in particular died in such num- 
 bers that 30,000 men were dismounted on this march, and 
 had to trudge along, fainting with the weight of their armor, 
 under the burning sun. At last they saw, set in the emer- 
 ald meadows that line the Oron'tes, the fair turrets of the 
 Syrian An'tioch. (See map, page 252.) 
 
 121. To lay siege to the capital of Syria was now the 
 Siege of Anti- task of the Crusadcrs. But this task was 
 ^^^' pursued amid great difficulties. For seven 
 
THE FIRST CRUSADE. 259 
 
 months the city held out, and during this time the besiegers 
 had to suffer the horrors of famine and pestilence. Their 
 horses were either starved, or killed for food, and erelong, 
 of the 100,000 horses with which the march was begun, 
 only 2000 remained. Finally, by the treachery of a Syrian 
 officer, the Crusaders were able one dark stormy night to 
 surprise and capture the city, June, 1098. 
 
 122. No sooner was Antioch captured than the Cru- 
 saders were in their turn besieged in that city Events in An- 
 by an army of 200,000 Mohammedans, sent ^ioch. 
 
 by the Persian sultan. A second and still more terrible 
 famine was suffered. But finally the Crusaders, by a bold 
 sally, completely overthrew the besieging host. The way 
 was now open to Jerusalem, and thither the columns 
 headed, — columns, however, that were sadly reduced ; for 
 of the immense host, perhaps 600,000 men, which had origi- 
 nally formed the siege of Nice, so enormous had been the 
 losses by the sword and the climate, by famine and pes- 
 tilence, desertion and conquest, that the total force which 
 advanced from Antioch amounted to only 1500 cavalry 
 and 20,000 foot-soldiers, with about an equal number of 
 Uxiarmed pilgrims and camp-followers. 
 
 123. From Antioch to Jaffa, 300 miles, the Crusaders 
 Moved alonPT the sea-shore. Then they struck _ 
 
 , . ° . . -' . To Jerusalem 
 
 mto the mterior country, traversmg a region 
 filled with places which hourly recalled some sacred associa- 
 tion. At last the Holy City burst upon their enraptured 
 gaze. In that glorious sight, the long-cherished object, 
 promise and reward of their hopes, every toil was forgot- 
 ten, every suffering repaid. The single mighty passion of 
 a host suddenly broke forth in joyful exclamations and 
 embraces ; and the whole armed multitude, as with one 
 impulse, sinking on their knees, prostrated themselves, and 
 poured out their tears over the consecrated soil. 
 
 124. The deliverance of the Holy City and Sepulcher 
 
260 MEDIALVAL HISTORY. 
 
 still remained to be accomplished. At this time Jerusalem 
 Siege of the was in the possession, not of the Turks, but 
 "*^' of the Saracenic caliph of Egypt, who was 
 
 head of an independent government, and had recently won 
 Palestine from the Turks. The caliph was determined to 
 make a stout resistance ; so a siege had to be begun. Under 
 A sky of burning copper, with no water in the pools and 
 brooks, the Crusaders fought for five long weeks before 
 Godfrey and his stormers stood victorious within the walls,' 
 July, 1099. The massacre of 70,000 Moslems and the burn- 
 ing of the Jews in their synagogue stained the glory of the 
 conquerors. 
 
 125. Jerusalem was now erected into a Christian king- 
 Kingdom of dom. The princely and noble chieftains of 
 Jerusalem. ^^^ crusading host bv their free vote pro- 
 claimed Godfrey of Bouillon king of the Holy City, July 
 23, 1099. Godfrey, however, modestly refused a regal 
 crown, nor would he assume any other title than that of 
 Defender of the Tomb of Christ. Still, from the election 
 of Godfrey of Bouillon may not the less be dated the 
 foundation of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, after 
 the Holy city had been four hundred and fifty years in 
 the hands of the Mohammedans. The great design of the 
 First Crusade was accomplished. 
 
 126. After this victory many of the actors in the great 
 drama went home. Among these was Peter the Hermit, 
 who closed his days in a French monastery. The noble 
 
 and chivalric Godfrey reisrned five days less 
 
 Later events. , , i t i i r r 
 
 than a year, when he died at the age or rorty. 
 So just and paternal had been his rule, that he was regretted 
 alike by Moslems and Christians. He was succeeded by 
 his brother Baldwin, who transmitted the crown of Jerusa- 
 lem to his kinsman, Baldwin du Bourg, whose posterity 
 continued to reign in Palestine until the kingdom was over- 
 thrown by Saladin in a. d. it 87. 
 

 THE SECOND CRUSADE. 26 1 
 
 3. SECOND CRUSADE (A. D. 1147-1149). 
 
 127. During a period of half a century the Christian do- 
 minion in the East maintained itself against situation in 
 the attacks of the surrounding Mohammedans. *^^ ^^^^• 
 But after the lapse of fifty years dangers began to arise 
 threatening the very existence of the Christian kingdom. 
 One of the Turkish emirs^ or governors, took the Christian 
 principality of Edes'sa (see map, page 252), and slaughtered 
 the Christian inhabitants (a. d. i 145). 
 
 128. The news of the fall of Edessa startled the Chris- 
 tian residents in Palestine, and led them to Effect in 
 appeal to Europe for assistance. This appeal Europe. 
 
 was received with a general enthusiasm almost equal to that 
 which marked the First Crusade. The pure and devoted 
 St. Bernard preached a new Crusade. Moreover, his elo- 
 quence enlisted in the Second Crusade the two foremost 
 sovereigns of the age, — Conrad III., Emperor of Germany, 
 and Louis VI 1. of France. 
 
 129. The armies, numbering 300,000 choice troops, 
 moved in a. d. 1147, and, following the path 
 
 of the earlier Crusaders, advanced to Constan- ^ ™"*^ 
 tinople. The Emperor Conrad, preceding his ally, passed 
 the Bosphorus, and marched into Asia Minor. But the 
 Emperor of the East, Manuel, being an enemy of Conrad's, 
 gave the sultan secret intelligence of the German line of 
 march, and furnished Conrad with treacherous guides. The 
 result was, that, after sustaining a glorious but unsuccessful 
 combat on the banks of the Mean'der, the German army 
 had to retreat to Nice. Nine tenths of the whole German 
 host are said to have been destroyed by the shafts and scimi- 
 ftars of the Infidels, or to have perished of hunger and thirst. 
 .130. The French, under Louis VII., had meanwhile 
 moved to Nice, and thence, being joined by Advance to 
 iJie remnant of troops under Conrad, the two Jerusalem. 
 
262 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 bodies advanced together through Asia Minor. They 
 suffered a severe check at Laodice'a; but still struggled 
 on, storm-beaten and famine-worn, to Antioch, and finally- 
 reached Jerusalem, with a mere fraction of the chivalric 
 army that had left Europe. 
 
 131. The first and only undertaking was the siege of 
 Damascus. This was a miserable failure ; and 
 the Second Crusade closed in gloom, with the 
 return of the Crusaders to their own country. 
 
 4. THE THIRD CRUSADE (A. D. 1189-1192). 
 
 132. Forty years elapsed before the Third Crusade began. 
 
 In the interval an important revolution had 
 taken place in Mussulman politics. Sallah-a- 
 deen, or Saladin, as he is generally called, a young Curdish 
 chieftain, had united the Mussulman states, from the Nile to 
 the Tigris, under his single empire. Meanwhile the Latin 
 kingdom, through internal disorders, was fast falling into 
 a state of w^eakness. Taking advantage of this fact, Saladin 
 invaded Palestine, took town after town, and lastly Jerusalem, 
 after a siege of fourteen days, a. d. 1187. The only place 
 mat remained to the Christians in Palestine was T)Te. 
 
 133. The news of the extinction of the kingdom of 
 Events of Jerusalem called forth the Third Crusade. The 
 Third Crusade, ^.hrce great Westcm princes took the cross, — 
 Richard I. of England, known as Richard Coeur de Lion 
 (Lion-hearted) ; Philip Augustus of France ; and Frederick 
 Barbaros'sa (Red-beard), Emperor of Germany. A tax, 
 called Saladin's tithe, was laid upon Christendom, to meet 
 the expenses of the war. 
 
 134. While the French and the English monarchs trans- 
 Frederick's ported their armies to Palestine by sea, the 
 column. high-souled Frederick marched overland with 
 60,000 cavalry and 100,000 infantry. Fine preparations had 
 
THE THIRD CRUSADE. 263 
 
 been made, so that the march through Europe and across the 
 Hellespont into Asia Minor was a complete success. Unfor- 
 tunately, the emperor met his death while bathing in a little 
 stream in Cili'cia. The expedition having thus lost its heid, 
 everything fell into disorder, and before the Crusaders 
 reached the borders of Syria, their numbers had been re- 
 duced to one tenth the original force. The remnant joined 
 the French and English forces before A'cre. (Map, p. 252.) 
 
 135. The Christians in Syria had in the mean time rallied, 
 and were laying^ sieo^e to Acre. Now that the 
 
 ,., r 4^ ,-.11 . Siege of Acre. 
 
 chivalry of Europe came to their aid, the siege 
 could be prosecuted with much vigor. In vain Saladin at- 
 tempted to relieve Acre. Numerous battles were fought in 
 the plains around, between the Crusaders and the Moslem 
 myriads ; and after a siege of twenty-three months, Acre 
 surrendered to the Christians, a. d. 1191. 
 
 136. The capture of Acre was hailed by the Christians 
 as a Had omen of the recovery of the Holy „^.,. 
 
 r^ , , -r. , n . , 1 111 Phihp retires. 
 
 Sepulcher. But these bright hopes were dashed 
 by the retirement of the king of France from the Crusade. 
 The cause of this secession is believed to have been disgust 
 on the part of Philip Augustus at the reckless character and 
 intolerable arrogance of the Lion-hearted, united, perhaps, 
 with some jealousy of the superior glory won by Richard. 
 
 137. Richard remained, and continued the struggle for 
 some time with various success ; but at last he ^, . 
 
 ' Closing events. 
 
 ^agreed to a truce with Saladin, the terms of 
 which were, on the whole, favorable to the Christians, and 
 creditable to the liberality and tolerance of the Moham- 
 medans.^"^ 
 
 * Richard took his departure from the East in October, A. D. 1192 ; but 
 being detained on the way as a prisoner of the Austrian archduke at 
 Vienna, he did not reach England for nearly two years afterwards. In 
 the mean time Saladin, between whom and Richard there had been estab- 
 lished a mutual admiration and regard, died in A. D. 1 193, This event 
 gave a new turp to the history of the Holy Land. 
 
 r 
 
264 medijEVal history. 
 
 5. THE LATER CRUSADES. 
 
 138. The three expeditions that have just been described 
 Character of ioxv^ what we may regard as the Greater Cru- 
 later Crusades, sades. Several subsequent Crusades — three 
 or four — were undertaken \ but some of these were not di- 
 rected towards the Holy Land at all, and the others failed 
 of any great results. 
 
 DETAILS OF THE LATER CRUSADES. 
 
 Fourth Crusade. The chiefs of this Crusade were animated more by 
 ambition and a spirit of military adventure than by religious zeal. 
 They purchased the aid of a Venetian fleet by reducing, under the 
 control of Venice, Zara, a Christian city in Dalma'tia (a. D. 1202), 
 and finally, instead of sailing to Palestine, they directed their course 
 to Constantinople, where they overthrew the Greek Empire (a. D. 
 1204), and established on its ruins a Latin kingdom that lasted till 
 A. D. 1260. 
 
 Fifth Crusade. Egypt was the scene of the Fifth Crusade (a. d. 
 1216-1220). Success attended the first operations of the Christian 
 army ; but finally matters were managed so badly that the army v/as 
 forced to surrender to the Egyptian sultan. There was what may be 
 regarded as a continuation of this Crusade in A. D. 1228 by Frederick II., 
 Emperor of Germany. He entered Jerusalem in triumph, and com- 
 pelled the Sultan of Egypt to cede that city and several others to the 
 Christians. But a few years afterwards all that had been gained was 
 swept away. 
 
 Sixth Crusade. This expedition, undertaken, in a. d. 1238, by the 
 French under the King of Navarre and by the English chivalry under 
 Richard, Earl of Cornwall, was terminated by negotiation, favorable 
 terms being obtained for the Christians. But peace lasted for only > 
 two years, the Latin kingdom being overwhelmed by an invasion of 
 the Turks of Khorasm, who acquired possession of most of Palestine. 
 
 Seventh Crusade. This new disaster excited the zeal of the pious 
 Louis IX. of France (known as Saint Louis), who headed the Seventh 
 Crusade, a. d. 1249. It turned out to be utterly fruitless. The king 
 was captured, and had to pay a large ransom for the redemption of 
 himself and his force. 
 
 Eighth Crusade. Twenty-one years afterwards (a. d. 1270) Saint 
 Louis undertook what proved to be the Eighth and last Crusade. It 
 
RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 26$ 
 
 was totally without result. On his way the French king turned aside 
 to besiege Tunis. A pestilential disease broke out in the army, and 
 Louis himself died. Prince Edward of England, who joined with 
 Louis in the Crusade, meanwhile advanced to Palestine ; but after a 
 few unimportant operations he was compelled to return home. Soon 
 after this, Acre, the last stronghold of the Christians, was captured, 
 and the Holy Land fell completely into the power of the Mohamme- 
 dans. 
 
 6. RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES. 
 
 139. The Crusades utterly failed in their immediate ob- 
 iect, — the recovery of the Holy Land from 
 
 • __ , , f>, .,, 1 rr r 1 Summary. 
 
 the Mohammedans, btili, the eiiects of these 
 remarkable expeditions were very important in many ways. 
 
 140. We may note that the Western nations, having to 
 act in concert, came to know one another 
 
 , , ' , . 1 . First effect. 
 
 better, to mterchange chivalrous sentiments, 
 
 to feel mutual sympathies, and to entertain more liberal 
 
 ideas. 
 
 141. Next, it is to be observed that the Crusaders 
 brought from the East the knowledge of many Effect on com- 
 products and processes tending to promote the ™«'''^e. 
 
 arts and manufactures ; and it was during these expeditions 
 that modern commerce was first developed. The Italian 
 maritime states supplied the Crusaders with transports, and 
 conveyed to them stores and munitions of war. This traffic 
 led to a rapid increase in the commerce and navigation of 
 the Mediterranean ; a taste for spices and other articles of 
 Oriental luxury was gradually diffused throughout Europe ; 
 and trading depots were formed by Venice, Genoa, and 
 other Italian states, on the shores of the Levant and the 
 coasts of the Greek Empire. 
 
 142. Another effect was to diminish the strength of the 
 feudal aristocracy, by occasioning the breaking Effect on feu- 
 up and sale of many feudal properties. daiism. 
 
 143. Chivalry, though older than the Crusades, derived 
 
266 
 
 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 its chief influence and strength from these wars. The use 
 Effect on chiv- of sumamcs, coats of arms, and distinctive 
 ^^^y* banners became necessary in armies composed 
 
 of men collected at hazard from every Christian kingdom. 
 
 144. The Crusades sprang out of a spirit of fanaticism ; 
 Intellectual t)ut their rcsult, in the long run, was to quench 
 effect. ^|-^jg yg^y Spirit. Instead of the mere feeling 
 
 of blind abhorrence with which Mohammedans had been at 
 first regarded, many of them had inspired the Christian 
 knights with esteem and admiration. Contact with men 
 of other nationalities had its effect in liberalizing the Euro- 
 pean hosts ; men returned home with larger ideas and a 
 wider horizon of thought, and we may say that from the 
 time of the Crusades a great intellectual revival began 
 throughout all Europe. 
 
 Peter the Hermit Preaching the Crusades. 
 
CHIVALRY, — ITS RISE AND DECAY. 26/ 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 CHIVALRY,— ITS RISE AND DECAY. 
 
 145. Chivalry sprang out of feudalism, and was its 
 brightest flower; it grew into a great insti- General 
 tution that for several centuries exercised a sketch, 
 wonderful influence on the manners, habits^4houghts, and 
 sentiments of men in all the nations of Western Europe ; 
 it was brought to maturity and splendor by the Crusades ; 
 it was pushed to fantastic extremes, and it ceased to exist 
 when feudal society passed away. 
 
 146. Chivalry had its origin in two peculiarities in the 
 customs and instincts of the Gothic races, — 
 
 • 1 1 r • r "^ origin. 
 
 the great honor paid to the profession or arms, 
 and the high regard and delicate gallantry of the Teutons 
 towards the female sex. When feudalism had become a 
 regular system, — say in the 1 1 th century, — it was the 
 custom for the sons of the various vassals of a lord to form 
 a little court, or school, in his castle, where they were edu- 
 cated under his eye and along witli the members of his 
 family in military exercises and feudal etiquette. 
 
 147. From the age of seven to fourteen the name given 
 to these boys was page, or variety — in old 
 
 English ballads, child. The page attended the 
 ladies of the mansion, following them in their walks, or ac- 
 companying them when they rode out hawking or hunting. 
 He was thus taught obedience and courtesy, and in addition 
 he was instructed in music, chess, the doctrines of religion, 
 and the use of light weapons. Being constantly surrounded 
 by noble ladies and valiant knights, his earliest impressions 
 were those of gallantry, honor, love, and bravery. Usually 
 each youth selected some accomplished young lady at 
 
268 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 whose feet he displayed all his gallantry, and who under- 
 took to polish his manners. " The love of God and the 
 ladies," says Hallam, "was enjoined as a single duty. 
 He who was faithful and true to his mistress was held sure 
 of salvation, in the theology of the castle." 
 
 148. At the age of fourteen the page became a squire; 
 
 and just as the page was the attendant of the 
 
 Squires. , ,. 1 • 1 , r^, 
 
 ladies, so the squire served the men. The 
 squire was employed in various subordinate offices about 
 the castle ; but his great duty was to follow his lord to the 
 battle or the tournament, leading the war-horse. When the 
 hour of battle came, he arrayed his master in full armor ; 
 he kept behind him in the fight, handed a fresh lance, led 
 in a horse if his lord was dismounted, and dashed to the 
 rescue if he saw him hard pressed. Such were a squire's 
 duties till he reached the age of twenty-one, when he attained 
 the goal of his ambition, — he became a knight {?7iiks). 
 
 149. The admission to knighthood was attended by an 
 Ceremonial of imposing ccrcmonial. Having fasted and 
 knighthood. confessed all his sins, the candidate passed a 
 night in prayer and watching. Then, having bathed, he 
 was dressed in new robes, — an underkirtle, a silk or 
 linen vest embroidered with gold, a collar of leather, and 
 over all the coat of arms. Proceeding to the church, he 
 had to pass an examination, and if he was judged worthy 
 of admission to the order of knighthood, he received the 
 sacrament and took the vows, — the vow that he would be 
 a good, brave, loyal, just, generous, and gentle knight, that 
 he would be a champion of the Church and clergy, that he 
 would be a protector of ladies, that he would be a redresser 
 of the wrongs of widows and orphans, etc. Then the bal- 
 dric — a belt of white leather and gold — was slung round 
 the candidate ; his golden spurs were buckled on, and the 
 prince who was to confer the dignity, taking the aspirant's 
 sword, completed the ceremony with a blow of its flat side 
 on the neck. 
 
CHIVALRY, — ITS RISE AND DECAY. 269 
 
 150. The dress and equipment of the knight varied 
 much at different periods. At the time of the Dress and 
 first Crusade, the knights wore chain armor, armor, 
 formed of interhnked hooks of steel ; a hauberk, or tunic of 
 steel rings, hung to the knees ; the head was protected by 
 a hood of chain-mail over which was worn a low flat cap of 
 steel; mittens covered the hands, and pointed shoes of 
 mail the feet. The horses were at first unprotected ; but 
 afterwards it became customary to sheathe them in com- 
 plete armor. During the 14th century the chain-mail of the 
 early knights was exchanged for armor formed of over- 
 lapping metal plates; and in the heyday of chivalry the 
 knight must have been truly a splendid and romantic figure, 
 mounted on his richly caparisoned steed, glittering in his 
 costly armor of steel, with plume and crest and vizored 
 helmet, with lance and mace and battle-ax. 
 
 151. The characteristic amusement of the age of chiv- 
 alry was the tournament, celebrated on occa- 
 
 . r . -,. . . , , . . Tourneys. 
 
 sions of coronations, distmguished victories, 
 royal marriages, etc. The tourneys took place within what 
 were called the lists, — a space roped or railed off in an 
 oval form. The open spaces at each end were filled with 
 stalls and galleries for the ladies and noble spectators. 
 The tilting was generally with lances, on the points of 
 which were fixed pieces of wood called " rockets " ; and 
 the great object with each knight was to unhorse his an- 
 tagonist. When the heralds cried, '■'' Laissez aller" (Let 
 them go), off they dashed from opposite ends of the lists 
 and met in the center. When one of the knights had un- 
 horsed his opponent he came fonvard, amid the blare of 
 martial music, and the shouts of " Honor to the sons of the 
 brave ! " from the lips of the minstrels, to receive the prize 
 from his queen or his mistress. From the descriptions of 
 these scenes that we read in the pages of Sir Walter Scott, 
 or of the old chronicler Frois'sart, it is evident that the 
 
2/0 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 tourney must have surpassed every scenic performance of 
 modern times. 
 
 152. The question as to the influence of chivalry is one 
 Good side of respecting which there have been conflicting 
 chivalry. opiuious. In mahy respects this influence 
 must have been good and ennobhng, for the ideal of chivalry 
 was lofty and pure and generous. Valor, loyalty, courtesy, 
 munificence, and a hatred of injustice formed collectively 
 the character of an accomplished knight. If these virtues 
 were active among men, they could not help bearing beau- 
 tiful fruits. And there is no doubt they were active, and 
 that some of the noblest characters of the Middle Ages 
 were nursed by the ideas of chivalry. Those ideas soft- 
 ened warfare in a barbarous age, by inculcating humanity 
 and courtesy to enemies ; at a time when the obligations of 
 honor were feebly felt, they taught a scrupulous adherence 
 to one's word and to all engagements ; and they helped ele- 
 vate woman to her proper place as the equal and companion 
 of man, by making her the object of chivalrous attention. 
 
 153. Still, no institution can radically change human 
 ^ ., .^ nature ; and it is not to be doubted that there 
 
 Evil side. ; , • , , 
 
 were those who were not true knights, that 
 gallantry often degenerated into licentiousness, that a per- 
 nicious thirst for military renown was nourished by chiv- 
 alry, and that the wholesome sense of honor finally degen- 
 erated into mere punctilio and fantastic notions, the result 
 of which long lingered in the practice of the duello. 
 
 154. The institution of chivalry declined with feudalism. 
 Gunpowder, of which it was largely a product. The com- 
 effect of. pjg^g change in the mode of warfare effected 
 by the invention of gunpowder, put the knight at great dis- 
 advantage. Armor of proof might be forged that would 
 withstand the Swiss broadsword or the ell-long arrows of 
 the English bowmen, but what coat of mail could resist the 
 cannon-ball? Battles were now to be fought chiefly at a 
 distance, no longer hand to hand. 
 
CHIVALRY, — ITS RISE AND DECAY. 2/1 
 
 155. Bayard, who fell in France in a. d. 1524, and was 
 known as the chevalier " sans peur d sans L^g^ of ^^e 
 rcproche^^ (fearless and blameless), was almost ^"^s^^s. 
 
 the last of the knights of that knightly land. In England, 
 chivalry lasted till the time of Elizabeth, and we cannot 
 help thinking of Sir Philip Sidney as a bright example of 
 the noble knight. In Spain it went out at the same period, 
 amid the inextinguishable laughter excited by Cervan'tes's 
 burlesque of chivalry in the immortal romance of Don 
 Quixote. 
 
 156. Still, it is certain that, while the institution perished, 
 the spirit of chivalry, its finest essence, lived. Permanent 
 From the knight of the Middle Ages grew the chrvairy. 
 gentleman of modern days, the elements of each remaining 
 the same. This is a character new in history. Antiquity 
 produced heroes, but not gentlemen; so it maybe said we 
 owe the noblest human type the world has ever seen, — 
 that type of man in which are richly blended a sense of 
 personal honor, generosity, courtesy, and Christian tender- 
 ness and helpfulness, — to the same influences which shaped 
 chivalry in the period of the Middle Ages. 
 
 ?Bts bancs arc liust, 
 
 f^is ffooU stoorU rust; 
 
 ?^is soul is ijJitfj tijc saints foe trust. 
 
2/2 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CIVILIZATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 I. THE DARK AGES. 
 
 157. Of the long period of a thousand years comprised 
 
 in the hmits of the Middle Ages, — from the 
 
 Dark A&tiS. 
 
 close of the 5th to the close of the 15th cen- 
 tury, — the first six centuries, from the close of the 5th to 
 the close of the nth century, are nearly barren of interest, 
 and the term " Dark Ages " is appropriately used to desig- 
 nate these centuries. 
 
 158. It is a strange and melancholy spectacle to see 
 Cause of the civilization, after attaining so considerable a 
 relapse. height in the Roman Empire, fall back into 
 barbarism. This relapse has sometimes been laid to the 
 door of the barbarous race? that overthrew the Empire ; but 
 it was not due wholly to this influence. For two or three 
 centuries before the structure of Roman civilization finally 
 fell, the foundations were undergoing gradual but irre- 
 trievable decay ; and the edifice would have come to the 
 ground of itself, even had no barbarian hand assailed it. 
 In the latter ages of the Roman Empire w:- find a general 
 indifference towards the cultivation of letters. As a natu- 
 ral result, original and powerful works ceased to be pro- 
 duced. The final settlement of the uncultured Teutonic 
 nations in Gaul, Spain, and Italy completed the ruin of 
 literature. They despised learning themselves ; and the 
 native Roman and Latinized inhabitants of those countries 
 soon sank to the level of the barbarians. 
 
 159. A main cause of this loss of culture was a change 
 Cause of loss that was at this time going on in the languages 
 of culture. spoken by the people of Western Europe. In 
 
THE DARK AGES. 273 
 
 the two or three centuries succeeding the Teutonic con- 
 quests there was a gradual breaking up of the structure 
 of the Latin speech as spoken in Italy, Spain, and Gaul. 
 The Teutonic conquerors, in order to communicate with the 
 people in these countries, had to learn Latin, but in learn- 
 ing it they still further corrupted it. Thus the common 
 language of those lands was a sort of broken Latin, which 
 was called Romaji^ while classical Latin was still written by 
 scholars. The process of change went further, however • 
 differences of dialect arose in the several countries, and 
 Roman developed into Italian, French, and Spanish. 
 
 160. When Latin had ceased to be a living language, 
 the whole treasury of knowledge was locked Result of 
 
 up from the people. Those who might have change, 
 imbibed a taste for culture if books had been open to them 
 were left destitute. All books were in Latin, which they 
 did not understand, while in the language they did under- 
 stand there were no books. To be sure, a knowledge of 
 Latin did not wholly die out. It was still taught in schools ; 
 but these schools were confined to cathedrals and monas- 
 teries, and designed solely for religious education, so that 
 the people in general had no opportunity for learning. 
 
 161. The worst effect was, that, as the newly formed 
 langua^res were hardly made use of in writing:, 
 
 X ^ 1 • Ml , ^ . , , r Use of letters. 
 
 — Latin being still the official language of 
 public documents, legal papers, etc., — the v&rj use of letters. 
 as well as of books, was nearly forgotten. It was rare for a 
 layman, of whatever rank, to know how to sign his name. 
 The charters were inscribed with the mark of the cross. 
 In this state of things, whatever learning existed was in 
 the keeping of the clergy ; but, according to the records of 
 the Church and of the councils, this was far from extensive. 
 
 162. A chief cause of this general ignorance was thi 
 scarcity of books. The art of making paper scarcity cf 
 from cotton rags was not introduced till about ^°°ks- 
 
 12* R 
 
274 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 the close of the i ith century. Previous to this the two kinds 
 of writing material were papyrus and parchment. But after 
 the conquest of Alexandria by the Saracens in the 7th cen- 
 tury, papyrus almost ceased to be imported into Europe ; 
 while parchment was too costly to be readily spared for 
 book purposes.* 
 
 163. During the five centuries of the Dark Ages, we find 
 „ . , but few names of really eminent men. Bede, 
 
 Eminent men. , t^ ,. , , ^^^^^ 
 
 the Englishman, known as the "Venerable 
 Bede " (born about a. d. 673), and Alcuin, another English- 
 man, already mentioned as the teacher and friend of Charle- 
 magne, were men rather of learning than of genius. John, 
 surnamed Sco'tus or Erige'na, a native of Ireland, belonging 
 to the 9th century, and Pope Sylvester, who lived in the 
 loth century, were the two really original thinkers during 
 this long period. The former was a bold and acute reasoner, 
 the latter an excellent mathematician. 
 
 164. These centuries have been called the Ages of Faith ; 
 
 but they were quite as much ages of supersti- 
 tion. A curious illustration of the wild fancies 
 that took possession of men's minds in these tim.es of igno- 
 rance was a general belief, which arose in the loth century, 
 that the world would come to an end in the year 1 000 a. d. 
 Many charters begin with these words, " As the world is 
 now drawing to its close." Another superstition was the 
 notion that the guilt or innocence of a person could be de- 
 termined by what was called the ordeal. These ordeals, or 
 trials, consisted of handling hot iron, walking over red-hoc 
 plowshares, plunging the arm into boiling fluids, etc. If 
 the person was innocent, no harm, it was said, came to him. 
 
 * From this dearness of parchment a curious practice arose : the 
 monks in the monasteries would erase a manuscript, and write another 
 on the same skin. Such writings are known as paPimpsests (twice writ- 
 ten). This practice occasioned the loss of many ancient authors, as the 
 legend of a saint would often take the place of a work of the classic age. 
 
THE DARK AGES. 2/5 
 
 Even a man as enlightened as Charlemagne was a warm 
 advocate of the ordeal. 
 
 165. It is not wonderful that in this state of affairs the 
 human intellect became enfeebled, that morals picture of the 
 were corrupted, and that society in general ®s:e. 
 
 sank to a low level. Agriculture was in a miserably back- 
 ward condition. There is not a vestige to be discovered 
 for several centuries of any considerable manufacture. 
 Everything had to be made on the place, and even kings, in 
 the 9th century, had their clothes made by the women upon 
 their farms. To traffic there were great obstacles ; for in 
 the lawless state of society a merchant ran constant risk of 
 being robbed, while in the domains of every feudal lord a 
 toll was to be paid in passing his bridge, or along his high- 
 way, or at his market. In Germany esiDCcially unscrupulous 
 robbery was practiced by the great, who, from their gloomy 
 and inaccessible castles, issued forth to harry the land and 
 spread terror over the countr}'. 
 
 166. If it be asked how it happened that a few sparks of 
 ancient learning survived throughout this long influence of 
 winter, we can ascribe their preservation only to *^^ church. 
 Christianity. The Church was the bridge across the chaos, 
 and linked the two periods of ancient and modern civiliza- 
 tion. We cannot fairly rate the knowledge of the clergy high 
 during the Dark Ages ; but, such as it was, clerical culture 
 alone kept Europe from lapsing into intellectual barbarism. 
 
 167. In the good work of the Church the most active 
 asrents were the monks. Monachism, or the 
 
 ° . ^ . . ,. , , The monks. 
 
 practice of retirmg to a solitary and contempla- 
 tive life, took its rise in the East. At first monks were gen- 
 erally laymen, but in time they all belonged to the priestly 
 order, and came under certain vows. 
 
 168. The monastic system was introduced into Western 
 Europe early in the history of the Christian The Benedic- 
 Church ; but it received its perfect form in the *^"^^- 
 
276 
 
 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY 
 
 6th century, at the hands of St Ben'edict, an ItaHan, who 
 established the first monastery on Mount Cassi'no, in Lower 
 
 Italy. He was thus the 
 founder of the widely 
 spread order of Bene- 
 dictines, which rap- 
 idly extended itself 
 among all nations, 
 and built many mon- 
 asteries. The rule of 
 this order included 
 the novel feature of 
 industrial occupation. 
 Agriculture was espe- 
 cially recommended ; 
 and in the Middle 
 Ages the Benedictine 
 monks were the best 
 husbandmen in Eu- 
 rope. The monas- 
 beautiful and remote 
 
 '■-'7^.,?.-;/ 
 
 =5S^rr: 
 
 Monastery Gate. 
 
 teries — erected for the most part in 
 situations, and the inhabitants of which were obliged to take 
 the three vows of celibacy, personal poverty, and obedience 
 — proved, in those days of lawlessness and barbarism, a 
 blessing to mankind. They converted heaths and forests into 
 flourishing farms ; they afforded a place of refuge (asylum) 
 to the persecuted and oppressed ; they ennobled the rude 
 minds of men by the preaching of the gospel ; they pre- 
 served the remains of ancient literature from utter destruc- 
 tion, and were the nurseries of education and of learning. 
 
 2. THE AGE OF REVIVAL. — CITIES AND COMMERCE. 
 
 169. From the state of degradation and poverty de- 
 scribed in the last section all the European nations grad 
 
THE AGE OF REVIVAL. 2// 
 
 ually recovered, — some slowly, others more rapidly. The 
 commencement of this restoration may be General state- 
 dated from about the close of the nth cen- "^^"*- 
 tury. We cannot apply the term " Dark Ages " to the 
 period between the nth and the 15th centuries, — for at 
 this time we see the shadows grow fainter as we advance, 
 till finally the twilight reddens into our modern dawn. 
 
 170. One of the first signs of advancing civilization, and 
 also one of the great agencies of further pro- Growth of 
 gress, was the growing up of Towns to a posi- *°wns. 
 
 tion of prime importance. Cities are always the centers of 
 civilization. In the old Greek and Roman times the towns 
 had, so to speak, been everything. But the Goths, Franks, 
 and other Teutonic invaders were not used to cities, and 
 even those that had arisen in Central Europe, under Roman 
 influence, declined ver}' much after the German settlement, 
 and lost much of their importance and local freedom. 
 However, as civilization began to revive, new towns arose, 
 especially in Germany and Italy, and the old towns won 
 back something cf their former greatness.* 
 
 171. The real importance of these German towns is to 
 be dated from their famous union in what is „ 
 
 . Hanse cities. 
 
 called the Hanseatic League. This was a con- 
 
 * In Germany, till the reign of Charlemagne, at the close of the 8th cen- 
 tury, there were no towns except a few that had been erected on the 
 Rhine and Danube by the Romans. During the next three hundred 
 years, however, we find many cities arising At the commencement of 
 the I2th century, Henry V. conceded certain privileges to the free cities, 
 and especially to their artisans, and these gave a soul to industry. The 
 first town erected on the coasts of the Baltic was Lubeck (a.d. i 140). In 
 the 13th century it became independent of any sovereign but the Ger- 
 man Emperor. Ham'burg was originally a castle (Ham'maburg) built 
 by Charlemagne for defense against the Norsemen. It purchased inde- 
 pendence of its bishop in 1225. Bremen dates from about this period. 
 A colony from Bremen founded Riga in the 12th century ; Dant'zic arose 
 in the following century. 
 
278 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 federation, made about the middle of the 13th century, of 
 eighty of the most considerable German cities. The union 
 was suggested by the need of mutual defense against piracy 
 by sea, pillage by land, and the exactions of the nobles. It 
 was of the greatest importance both to commerce and to 
 freedom. 
 
 172. In Italy, the cities rose to greatness even earlier 
 Italian free ^^an in Germany. This was particularly the 
 cities. (,^gg -y^ Northern Italy, that is, Lombardy. 
 There from the 1 1 th century the towns became every- 
 thing. Though nominally under the dominion of the Ger- 
 man emperors, they gradually grew strong, while the power 
 of the emperors declined. What is called the Lombard 
 League was formed in 1167 ; and the peace of Constance, 
 in 1 183, secured the independence of the cities. The 
 great city-republics of Venice, Gen'oa, etc., date frofti this 
 period. 
 
 173. With the growth of the towns, industries of various 
 Wool manu- kinds began to spring up, and trade and com- 
 facture. mercc to spread and flourish. One of the 
 earliest industries was the woolen manufacture of Flanders. 
 This had grown to great importance in the 12th century, 
 and the " Flemish stuffs " were sold wherever the sea or a 
 navigable river permitted them to be carried. Ghent and 
 Bru'ges were the chief seats of this industry, and the weav- 
 ers of these cities were distinguished for their democratic 
 spirit. 
 
 174. In England, commerce, for two centuries after the 
 English com- Norman conquest, — middle of the nth to the 
 merce. middle of the 13th century, — was almost con- 
 fined to the export of wool, then the great staple of that 
 country. But in the next century Edward III., the father 
 of English commerce, introduced the finer manufacture of 
 woolen cloths, by bringing large numbers of artisans from 
 Flanders. From about the middle of the 14th century 
 
THE AGE OF REVIVAL. 279 
 
 we find continual evidence of a rapid increase in wealth, 
 and at this period, for the first time in English history, 
 the occupation of a merchant began to be recognized as 
 honorable. 
 
 175. The commerce of the South of Europe was through 
 the city-republics of Venice, Amal'fi, Pi'sa, and uaiian com- 
 Genoa. It was chiefly with the Saracenic '"^''^^e- 
 countries before the first Crusade ; but the Crusades them- 
 selves led immediately to the growing prosperity of the com- 
 mercial cities of Southern Europe, and opened an extensive 
 trade with the Levant'. In Southern France, Marseilles', 
 Nismes, and Montpel'ier, and in Spain, Barcelo'na, had a 
 flourishing commerce. 
 
 176. The earliest impulse to manufacturing industry in 
 Italy was given by the introduction of a silk siik manufac- 
 manufacture at Paler'mo by Roger Guiscard, in ^"'■^• 
 
 1 148. Silk became very soon a staple manufacture of the 
 Lombard and Tuscan republics, and the cultivation of mul- 
 berries was enforced by their laws. The same industry 
 soon spread into Southern France and Catalo'nia (in Spain), 
 where it flourished greatly. 
 
 177. The needs of an enlarging commerce eventually led 
 to the organization of moneyed institutions. The jews and 
 By most people in the Middle Ages lending "^on^y. 
 money for profit was treated as a crime. The trade, in 
 fact, was at first entirely in the hands of the Jews, who were 
 long the objects of cruel persecution, being maltreated and 
 swindled to an almost incredible extent. 
 
 178. In the 13th century the trade in money was taken 
 up by the merchants of Lombardy and of the The Lombard 
 South of France, who began the business of ^^"^^'■s- 
 remitting money on bills of exchange, and of making profits 
 on loans. In spite of much prejudice the Lombard " usu- 
 rers," as they were called, established themselves in all the 
 chief commercial centers of Europe, and, as the practical 
 
280 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 Utility of their business was found very great, good sense 
 finally overcame ancient prejudices.* 
 
 179. The growing wealth of Europe led to a consider- 
 
 able diffusion of comforts among the people. 
 
 Comforts. ^, . . 11, • 1 i 
 
 Ihis IS proved by the enactment, m the 14th 
 century, of what are called "sumptuary laws," — that is, 
 laws designed to restrict men in regard to what they shall 
 eat, wear, etc. 
 
 180. It may also be noticed that at this same period the 
 
 houses people lived in be^an to be of a better 
 
 Houses. , f r 1 
 
 sort, though for several centuries after this 
 they were what we should regard as very indifferent habi- 
 tations. Still, it is something that at this time chimneys 
 and window-glass were introduced. Chimneys were wholly 
 unknown to the ancients, who had to let the smoke escape 
 through an opening in the roof. They came into use in 
 the 14th century, as did also window-glass. The internal 
 accommodations were, however, yet very imperfect. Even 
 in gentlemen's houses, the second story (where there was 
 one) was approached from the outside, the walls were 
 bare, without wainscot or plaster, and it is hardly necessary 
 to say that neither pictures nor libraries were to be found 
 in them. 
 
 3. LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. 
 
 181. The low condition to which the European mind 
 had sunk in the Dark Ages, as regards every- 
 thing relating to literature and science, has 
 been spoken of in a previous chapter. One of the earliest 
 signs of the reviving spirit was the establishment of uni- 
 versities. 
 
 * The earliest bank of deposit is said to have been that of Barcelona, 
 founded 1401. The bank of Genoa was established in 1407, and soon 
 grew to be a great power. 
 
LITERATURE^ SCIENCE, AND ART. 28 1 
 
 The University of Paris first became famous, at the beginning of the 
 I2th century, under the teachings of Ab'elard, a man of bold and brilliant 
 genius. The University of Oxford in England is said to have been 
 founded by King Alfred (9th century), but it was not really a flourishing 
 seat of learning till the i ith century. In the year a. d. 1201 it contained 
 3,000 scholars. In the 12th century we find the University of Bologn'a 
 with a roll of 10,000 students, while the University of Paris, in the 15th 
 century, numbered 25,000 students. Cambridge was founded in the 
 13th century. The earliest German university was that of Prague, 
 founded in 135a Other famous mediaeval schools of learning were 
 Pad'ua, Toulouse, Montpelier, and Salaman'ca. 
 
 182. The chief attraction that drew the crowds of students 
 to the universities, after a long season of utter scholastic 
 indifference to learning, was the rise of the new P^^^°sophy. 
 "scholastic philosophy" in the nth and 12th centuries. 
 The chief feature of this was the application of the art of 
 dialectics to subtle questions of metaphysics and theology. 
 
 183. The great masters of this art are known collectively 
 as the Schoolmen ; and it attained its highest The school- 
 perfection, in the 13th century, in the persons "^^"• 
 
 of Thomas Aqui'nas and Duns Scotus. Other famous 
 schoolmen were Roscelin, Anselm^ and Peter Lombard. 
 
 184. Many of the questions which the schoolmen dis- 
 cussed with great interest now seem very frivo- Nature and 
 
 1 r • . ^1 . effect of the 
 
 lous, — as, tor instance, the question as to philosophy. 
 "how many angels can stand on the point of a needle," and 
 whether " an angel in passing from one point to another 
 passes through intermediate space." But, in spite of some 
 frivolities of this kind, there is no doubt that the scholastic 
 philosophy developed acute intellects, and prepared the way 
 for the fruitful inquiries of the i6th and 17th centuries. 
 
 185. While the schoolmen were devoting themselves to 
 subtle points of theolo^ry and metaphysics, a 
 
 c . , 1 • • X • ' , Scientists. 
 
 lew mmds were beginning to investigate math- 
 ematical and scientific questions. Among the greatest of 
 these may be mentioned Roger Bacon, an English monk, 
 
282 
 
 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 and Albertus Magnus, both of whom lived in the 13th cen- 
 tury. For the times in which they Hved these men made 
 wonderful advances in true knowledge ; and each had to pay 
 the penalty of being in advance of his age, for both Bacon 
 and Albertus were punished as magicians. 
 
 186. One of the most interesting chapters in the intel- 
 Saracenic lectual liistory of Europc during the Middle 
 
 learning. Agcs is that of the Arabian contributions to 
 
 science. The Saracens instituted universities, observatories, 
 public libraries, and museums ; they collected together all 
 the remains of Greek and Alexandrine learning, and through 
 their medium the greater number of Greek and Latin authors 
 which were read during the Middle Ages were known to 
 Europe. It may also be noted that a noble order of archi- 
 tecture, of which the Alhambra presents us a fine specimen, 
 was created by them. 
 
 Court of Lions, Alhambra. 
 
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. 283 
 
 187. In the I oth century we hear of Spain, under the 
 Saracens, as a center of learninsr ; and it is Saracenic 
 
 , , ,,-.,..- schools in 
 
 there that wc must look for the origin of sev- Spain, 
 eral sciences that have commonly been attributed to other 
 nations. It is from them that we received our mode of 
 notation, called the Arabic figures ; and the terms " algebra," 
 " alcohol," " alchemy," " zenith," " nadir," etc., all of which 
 are Arabic, attest the influence of that remarkable people on 
 the science of the Middle Ages. It is well known that to 
 the researches of the Saracenic alchemists we owe the 
 beginnings of chemistry, — a science which the Arabians 
 cultivated with success ; and the first work on the subject 
 with which we are acquainted was written by Yeber-Abou- 
 Moussah-Djafer-al-Sofi, whom we call Geber, an Arab of 
 the 8th century. 
 
 188. It must be remembered that all the writings of the 
 churchmen were in Latin. But literature, to Growth of na- 
 become a real national power, must come from *^^^ literature, 
 the people. Hence it is of importance to know when a 
 native literature began to spring up in the various European 
 nations. We may say, in a general way, that there began 
 to be works written in the new Ro7iiance tongues, — the 
 Italian, French, Spanish, — and also in the German, about 
 the time of the Crusades and immediately thereafter. It 
 was at this time that the Troubadours and Minnesingers 
 arose to celebrate the deeds of knights, battles, adventures, 
 and love. The German collection known as the Nibelimgen 
 Lied^ the Spanish romance of the GV/, and the cycle of poetry 
 relating to the British Arthur and his Knights of the Round 
 Table, are among the most famous collections of the heroic 
 poetry of the Middle Ages. 
 
 189. These earlier preludings were in the 13th and 14th 
 centuries followed by some true outbursts of Dante and 
 the highest form of poetry, — the real begin- Chaucer, 
 nings of our modern literature. In the 13th century we 
 
284 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 have in Italy, Dante (born a. d. 1265), whose Divina Corn- 
 media is one of the great world-books ; and in the 14th cen- 
 tury our own English Chaucer (born a. d. 1328), who is still 
 accounted one of England's five greatest poets. 
 
 190. The characteristic art of the Middle Ages was 
 
 architecture, — especially the buildins: of 
 
 Architecture. , . , ,^, A ', • , i i • 11., 
 
 cathedrals. 1 he Gothic cathedral is the high- 
 est expression of the blended faith and genius of that age. 
 The nth century was a time of great splendor in building 
 churches. They were, however, still built in the 7'ound- 
 arched^ or what is called Rommiesque, style. 
 
 191. The use of the pointed arch and what is called the 
 Gothic cathe- Gothic Style did not come in till near the end 
 *^''^^^- of the 12th century. Originating in Northern 
 France, the Gothic style of sacred architecture soon spread 
 over all Europe, and during the 13th and 14th centuries it 
 attained its highest perfection. Many of the grandest edi- 
 fices occupied from one to two centuries in building. With 
 their heaven-piercing spires, their noble arches, their elabo- 
 rate sculptures and traceries, and their great mullioned win- 
 dows, on whose " storied panes " the whole history of the 
 Bible is written in the hues of the rainbow by the earnest 
 hand of faith, they remain to this day the most sublime 
 structures ever reared by the hand of man. 
 
 192. We have said that architecture was the character- 
 Painting and istic art of the Middle Ages. Painting, though 
 music. j|- began in that period, did not reach full 
 development till the i6th and 17th centuries, while music 
 belongs to a date still closer to our own times. 
 
(2.^^^ " THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 285 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 POLITICAL OUTLINE. 
 
 FROM CHARLEMAGNE TO THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 
 r. THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 193. When Charlemagne died (a. d. 814), he was suc- 
 ceeded by his son Louis, who divided the Division of 
 Prankish dominion between his three sons. Empire. 
 They quarreled violently, but the Treaty of Verdun (a. d. 
 843) confirmed the partition. Thus out of Charlemagne's 
 Empire grew three states, — Germany, France, and Italy. 
 But neither of these countries remained long under the 
 rule of the descendants of Charlemagne. 
 
 194. The Carlovingians ruled in Germany for less than 
 a century after Charlemagne's death. Durins: Germany 
 this time the chief power was in the hands Carlovingians. 
 of certain great dukes, and when the last of the German 
 Carlovingians died (a. D. 911), five of these got together 
 and chose Duke Conrad of Franconia to be king ; so that 
 Germany became an elective kingdom. 
 
 195. On the death of Conrad the Saxons and Franco- 
 nians united in placing Henry, a Saxon (called pirst line of 
 Henry I., or the Fowler), on the throne (a. d. e"»perors. 
 919); and he was the first of a series of five Saxon em- 
 perors who ruled Germany for more than a century, and 
 raised it to be the greatest power in Europe. 
 
 196. Henry was succeeded by his son Otlio the Great 
 (a. D. 9'?6), under whom took place a very Revival of the 
 
 • J^ \ . 1 ^u • 1 f .u Western Em- 
 
 important event, namely, the revival of the pire. 
 Western Empire under the title of the "Holy Roman 
 Empire of the German nation." This took place when 
 
286 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 Otho married Adelaide, widow of Lothaire, the last Car- 
 lovingian king of Italy : receiving the iron crown of Lorn • 
 bardy, he united Upper Italy with the German kingdom. 
 Otho was consecrated emperor by the Pope in a. d. 962. 
 From this time every German emperor continued to re- 
 ceive a triple coronation, — as King of Germany, as King 
 of Italy, as Emperor of the West. The " Empire " was 
 after a time little more than a fiction, but it was a fiction 
 that had a great influence on political affairs throughout 
 the Middle Ages. The Saxon dynasty went on in three 
 descendants of Otho, till a. d. 1024, when a line of Fran- 
 conian emperors begins. 
 
 197. The Franconian line of emperors lasted for a cen- 
 Franconian tury and a year. The first was Conrad IL, a. d. 
 emperors. 1024. The chicf cvcut of his rcigH was that 
 the Kingdom of Burgundy was united to the Empire. Con- 
 rad's son, Henry III. (a. d. 1039), was one of the greatest 
 of all the emperors. It was in his time that the Empire 
 came to have a great deal to do with the election of the 
 popes, for Henry III. took this matter into his own hands. 
 Under the next emperor, Henry IV. (a. d. 1056), the 
 troubles between the popes and the emperors grew to a 
 great height, and we have seen that Pope Gregory VII. 
 forced Henry IV. to beg his pardon. Henry V. had 
 nearly the same disputes with the popes. As this emperor 
 had no son, the Franconian line ended a. d. 1125. 
 
 198. After Lothaire of Saxony had held the imperial 
 Events under crown for twelvc vcars, it passed to one of 
 
 the Suabian , r •,.,,,.. , 
 
 emperors. the greatest families that ever held it, that 
 
 of the Hohenstaufen^ or Dukes of Suabia. The first of this 
 line was Conrad III., who reigned as king of Germany, 
 but who was never crowned emperor. Frederick Bar- 
 barossa, his nephew, was elected to succeed him, and he 
 was crowned emperor a. d. 1155. The greater part of 
 his reign was taken up with a struggle with the Lombard 
 
FRANCE. 287 
 
 cities of Northern Italy, which claimed to be independent. 
 The cities triumphed in the end, and by the Peace of 
 Constance, a. d. 1183, acquired the right to govern them- 
 selves. Under Frederick's successor, Henry VI., the king- 
 dom of Sicily was conquered, and united with the Empire. 
 Thus under the next emperor, Frederick II., were joined 
 together the crowns of Germany, Italy, and Sicily. 
 
 199. A period of confusion followed the death of Fred- 
 erick II. (a. d. 1254), but finally Rudolf I. The Empire 
 was chosen King of Germany, and with him Hapsburgs. 
 began a new line of rulers, the House of Hapsbm-g^ or of 
 Austria. Rudolf was never crowned emperor, and indeed 
 his successors, though they were still called Emperors of the 
 Romans^ were really very little more than kings of Germany. 
 Even in Germany their authority was always growing less, 
 while the princes in Germany greatly enlarged their own 
 powers. Then followed other kings on whom we need not 
 dwell, till we come to Sig'ismund, who was crowned emperor. 
 He was already Margrave of Bran'denburg and King of 
 Hungary, which fact might make it appear strange that he 
 should be chosen emperor ; but the Empire by itself was 
 growing so weak that the electors thought it best to choose 
 some powerful prince who had possessions outside of Ger- 
 many. With Albert II. came in the Austrian branch of 
 the Hapsburg line, and for many centuries, though the 
 emperors were still always elected, yet the electors always 
 chose a member of the House of Austria. The long reign 
 of Frederick III. (a. d. 1440- 1493), the second of this 
 house, carries us through the Middle Ages. 
 
 2. FRANCE. 
 
 200. The real beginning of what we understand by 
 France was in the loth century. When Gaul Real begin- 
 
 1 . 1 ning of 
 
 was conquered by the Franks, it became a France. 
 
288 MEDIMVAL HISTORY. 
 
 part of the kingdom of the Franks ; while under Charle- 
 magne it was a part of his extensive Empire. 
 
 201. After the partition of Charlemagne's Empire by 
 Prance under the treaty of Verdun, the Carlovingian line 
 
 the Carlovin- •',..' , f 
 
 gians. went on rulmg m France ; but they were 
 
 feeble kings, and the powerful Dukes of Francia, Burgundy, 
 Normandy, etc., were really independent sovereigns. The 
 Carlovingian line came to an end with Louis the Sluggard ; 
 and then in the confusion one of the great dukes, Hugh 
 Capet \f(ip-ay'\ Duke of Francia^ made himself king by 
 right of manhood. Thus the Duke of Francia became 
 King of France^ and this was the real beginning of the 
 kingdom of France, a. d. 987. 
 
 202. During the imbecile rule of the Carlovingians, the 
 Norrnans in northern coast of France was invaded by 
 France. Scandinavian bands named Norsemen. These 
 were rude-handed pirates and sea-rovers ; their galleys 
 were painted to represent dragons, their banners bore 
 
 Norse Galley. 
 
 the figure of a raven ; they were worshipers of Thor 
 and Woden, and delighted in blood. Under Rollo they 
 appeared in the Seine (a. d. 901), and made themselves 
 so formidable that Charles the Simple granted them the 
 
FRANCE. 
 
 289 
 
 j>..-ovince thenceforward called Normandy. In France the 
 Norsemen became Christianized, and their name was soft- 
 ened down to Normans. 
 
 203. The Capetian line of French kings continued for 
 nearly three centuries and a half, and com- capetian 
 prised fifteen kings whose names and dates ^^^^e^* 
 
 are given in the note below for convenience of reference.* 
 
 204. The first of this line, as has been seen, was Hugh 
 Capet. *His descendants for many generations state of 
 were, however, kings of France hardly more ^'■^"*=s- 
 than in name ; for their vassals, the great dukes and counts, 
 held the real authority. 
 
 205. During the reign of the third king, Henry I., 
 Duke William was rulins: over the Duchy of Norman con- 
 
 quest of Kng^- 
 
 Normandy. William laid claim to the crown land, 
 jf England, and he invaded and conquered that land a. d. 
 1066. As after this the Norman King of England was 
 Duke of Normandy, England and France were brought 
 into sharp rivalry, and a great part of the history of France 
 during the Middle Ages is taken up v/ith the hostilities be- 
 tween the two countries. 
 
 206. In 1 154 Henry II. of England began to rule. He 
 married El'eanor, the divorced wife of Louis English pos- 
 
 _^-.T r T-. A 1 1 • r 1 sessions m 
 
 YIl. of France. As she Avas heiress of the France. 
 French Province of Aquitaine', the English king held really 
 greater possessions in France than did the French king 
 himself. 
 
 207. This state of affairs was altered by Philip II. 
 (Philip Augustus), who wrested from the English king, 
 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 A. D. 
 
 
 A. D. 
 
 * Hugh Capet, 
 
 987 
 
 Louis VII., 
 
 "37 
 
 Philip IV., 
 
 1285 
 
 Robert, 
 
 996 
 
 Philip II., 
 
 1 180 
 
 Louis X., 
 
 I3I4 
 
 Henry I., 
 
 103 1 
 
 Louis VHL, 
 
 1223 
 
 John I., 
 
 I3I6 
 
 Philip I., 
 
 1060 
 
 Louis IX., 
 
 1226 
 
 Philip v., 
 
 I3I6 
 
 Louis VI., 
 
 1 108 
 13 
 
 Philip III., 
 
 1270 
 
 Charles IV., 
 S 
 
 1322 
 
290 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 John, Normandy, Maine, and other possessions in Northern 
 Their recov- France. The recovery of these added greatly 
 ery by France, ^q ^j-^g strength of France; and the wise rule 
 of Louis IX. (Saint Louis) gave her increased importance. 
 Indeed, France at this time began to be a great nation, and 
 she was henceforth reckoned amongst the foremost powers 
 of Europe. 
 
 208. The last of the Capetian dynasty, Charles IV., died 
 Kings of the in 1-^28, leaviupf no male issue. The crown 
 
 House of Va- , , . • -r^i -t r tt 1 • 
 
 lois. now passed to his cousm, Philip or Valois, 
 
 with whom begins the House of Valois.* This dynasty 
 ruled for more than two and a half centuries, and ended with 
 the assassination of Henry III. (a. d. 1589). 
 
 209. At the commencement of the Valois period of 
 Claims of French history, Edward III. was King of Eng- 
 Edward III. j^j^j ^s |-^jg mother was a sister of the late 
 French king, Charles IV., and that king had left no son, 
 Edward of England thought he should have the crown 
 of France, and accordingly he fitted out a great armament 
 by sea and land to wrest that crown from Philip of Valois 
 (Philip VI.). There thus began a great war, called in 
 French history the Hundred Years' War. 
 
 210. The most famous events in this series of wars 
 are : — 
 
 1. Battle of Crecy (a. d. 1346) : English victory. 
 
 2. Battle of Poitiers (a. d. 1356) : English victory. [This first part of 
 the war was ended by the Peace of Breti^ny (a. D. 1360), by which 
 the English king, Edward, gave up his claim to the crown of France ; 
 but he kept his possessions in Aquitaine, together with Calais', and 
 that no longer as a vassal, but as an independent king.] 
 
 Philip VI., 
 
 A. D. 
 1328 
 
 Louis XL, 
 
 A. D. 
 I46I 
 
 Henry II., 
 
 A. D. 
 
 1547 
 
 John II., 
 
 1350 
 
 Charles VIII. 
 
 , 1483 
 
 Francis IL, 
 
 1559 
 
 Charles V., 
 
 1364 
 
 Louis XII., 
 
 1498 
 
 Charles IX., 
 
 1560 
 
 Charles VI., 
 
 1380 
 
 Francis L, 
 
 I5I5 
 
 Henry III., 
 
 1574 
 
 Charles VII , 
 
 1422 
 
 
 
 
 
ENGLAND. ^^ ^ 29! 
 
 3. Conquest of Aquitaine by the French. The French king, Charles V., 
 broke the Peace of Bretigny, and wrested from the English nearly all 
 of Aquitaine except the cities of Bordeaux' and Bayonne'. 
 
 4. Renewal of the war by the English. Henry V. of England took 
 advantage of the dissensions by which France was torn in pieces 
 during the reign of the mad French king Charles VI. The great 
 action was the 
 
 5. Battle of Agincourt (a. D. 141 5) : English victory. 
 
 [By a treaty of peace (a. d. 1420) it was agreed that the English 
 king, Henry V., should succeed to the crown of France on the death 
 of the mad king Charles VI., and that the two crowns were to be ever 
 after united ] 
 
 6. Refusal of the French to acknowledge the treaty after the death of 
 both Charles and Henry in A. D. 1422. The war was now carried Oii 
 by the French king Charles VII. 
 
 7. Uprising of France, under the inspiration of the famous Maid of 
 Orleans, Joan of Arc. By the enthusiasm which she excited, the 
 French gained several victories over the English, and finally, by 
 A. D. 1453, t^^ latter were entirely driven from France, retaining only 
 the town of Calais. This closed the Hundred Years' War. 
 
 211. On the whole, notwithstanding the long war with 
 England, the kingdom of France grew greatly state of the 
 in power and extent in the times between the ^^^^^^ nation, 
 middle of the 13th century and the middle of the 15th 
 century. And, regarding the history of France during 
 the Middle Ages as closing with Louis XI. (a. d. 1483), 
 we may say that the French nation was then the most 
 powerful in Europe. 
 
 3. ENGLAND. 
 
 212. The history of Anglo-Saxon England has been 
 traced up to the epoch of Charlemagne, when . 
 
 the various petty kingdoms were all united 
 
 under King Egbert, at the beginning of the 9th century. 
 
 213. The supremacy of Egbert was soon interrupted by 
 the Danes, or Norsemen, and both he and his Troubles with 
 successors were very greatly disturbed by them. ^^® Danes. 
 
 
 
292 MEDIMVAL HISTORY. 
 
 Alfred the Great was a grandson of Egbert, and became 
 ^ing of Wessex in a. d. 872. He was almost constantly em- 
 ployed, in fighting the Danes. But all he could do did not 
 prevent them making a lodgement in England ; and a cen- 
 tury after Alfred's death England was quite won by them, 
 for the Dane Canute wore the English crown (a. d. 1017- 
 1036), as did his successors till a. d. 1041. 
 
 214. The Norman conquest of England, under William 
 Effect of Nor- the Conqucror (a. d. 1066), the facts of which 
 man conquest. }^2MQ been related (under France), was the next 
 great event in the history of England. By this event the 
 English nation was thoroughly subjugated. The Normans, 
 who came over in crowds, were the ruling class. They had 
 all the great offices. The Church and the law courts were 
 directed by them. The official language was that spoken 
 by the conquerors, that is, Norman-French, which was a 
 Komance, ox, Latin-sprung, speech. 
 
 215. The Saxons, however, were of tough mettle. They 
 persistence l^^dd their own wcll, for in fact they were still 
 of Saxons. |.jjg great majority of the people. What is 
 very important, also, they clung to their native Anglo-Saxon 
 language. The effect on the language was peculiar. For 
 a long time the two tongues did not coalesce. Anglo- 
 Saxon remained the speech of the common people, while 
 French was the official and the fashionable language. In 
 two hundred years but few Norman words had been 
 bi ought into the ordinary speech ; but meanwhile the An- 
 glo-Saxon began to drop most of its peculiar grammatical 
 forms. Then, when Saxon had been stripped down to semi- 
 Saxon, there came about in the 14th century a remarkable 
 rushing together of the languages. Thousands of Norman- 
 French words were introduced into the common dialect, and 
 the result was the type of English which we may read in 
 Chaucer,* who lived in the 14th century. 
 
 * As in the Canterbury Tales. 
 
 I 
 
ENGLAND. 293 
 
 216. To resume our outline of the dynastic history of 
 England. The Norman line was composed of The Norman 
 the following sovereigns : — kings. 
 
 William I., a. d. 1066- 1087. 
 
 William II. (Rufus), a. d 10S7-1100. — Hemy I., a. d. i 100- i 135. 
 
 Stephen, A. D. 1 135 -1 154. 
 
 217. William II. was the second surviving son, and Hen- 
 ry I. the youngest son, of William the Con- Lineage of 
 queror. Stephen was the son of the Count of *^^ kmgs. 
 Blois and Adela, fourth daughter of William the Conqueror. 
 
 218. With Henry IL, son of Geoffrey Plantag'enet and 
 Matilda, daughter of Henry I., began the Plan- The Piantage- 
 tagenet line of sovereigns. "«'»• 
 
 Henry II. (a. d. 1154-1189). 
 
 Richard I. (a.d. 1189-1199). John (a. d. 1199-1216). 
 
 Henry III. (a. d. 1216- 1272). 
 
 Edward I. (a. d. 1272- 1307). 
 
 Edward II. (a. D. 1307- 1327). 
 
 Edward III. (a. d. 1327- 1377). 
 
 Richard II. (a. d. 1377 -1399). 
 
 219. During the reign of the wicked and foolish King 
 John, the French won back Normandy, and on S^^V.^*^°^ *^® 
 
 ,11. , , . r T. English de- 
 
 the whole it was a very good thing for Eng- feats, 
 land that they did so. Says Macaulay : " John was driven 
 from Normandy. The Norman nobles were compelled to 
 make their election between the island and the continent. 
 Shut up by the sea with the people whom they had hitherto 
 oppressed and despised, they gradually came to regard Eng- 
 land as their country, and the English as their countrymen. 
 
294 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 The two races, so long hostile, soon found that they had 
 common interests and common enemies." 
 
 220. It was in the 13th century that the Constitution of 
 
 England be^an to put on the shape which it 
 
 Magna Charta. <^ ^ . ^ r^. c ^ ^ u 
 
 has kept ever smce. The first step was when 
 the English people in a. d. 12 15 forced King John to grant 
 the Great Charter {Magna Charta), by which all the old 
 rights and good laws which he had broken were confirmed. 
 It has been the groundwork of English freedom ever since. 
 
 221. The next step in freedom was one of even greater 
 
 importance. This was the establishment of 
 ar lamen . Parliament in the form of an Assembly with 
 Tw^o Houses. It came about in this way. The king, 
 Henry III., John's son, had behaved badly. The great 
 nobles, with Sir Simon Montfort, banded against the king, 
 defeated him in the field, and made him captive. Then Sir 
 Simon issued writs which added to the old assembly of 
 lords, clergy, and knights two burgesses from each borough 
 (a. d. 1264). This was the commencement of the English 
 House of Commons and of true representative government. 
 It was a wonderful step in advance. 
 
 222. The wars waged with the French had the effect 
 Effect of the of developing in the English people a strong 
 wars. sentiment of nationality. It may be said that 
 by this time all distinction of Norman and Saxon had 
 ceased, and that there were only Englishmen. 
 
 223. With the deposition by Parliament of Richard II., 
 Lancastrian i^ A. D. 1 399, the Plantagcnct line went out. 
 kings. Three kings of the House of Lancaster now 
 followed: Henry IV. (a. d. 1399-1413); Henry V. (a. d. 
 1413-1422); Henry VI. (a. d. 1422-1461). 
 
 224. In a. d. 1455 there broke out the great civil strife 
 Wars of the known as the Wars of the Roses (the red rose, 
 Roses. symbol of Lancaster, and the white rose, sym- 
 bol of York), the contending parties being the respective 
 
ITALY. 
 
 295 
 
 representatives of the families of Lancaster and of York, 
 both of which were claimants to the throne. Six years of 
 war resulted in the accession of Edward IV., of the family 
 of York. 
 
 225. The House of York included three kings : Edward 
 
 IV. (a. D. I461 - 1483) ; Edward V. (a. D. 1483 ^ouseofYork 
 
 -1483); Richard III. (a. d. 1483 -1485). 
 The twenty-four years' reign of these three kings was 
 filled with troubles and intrigues, and these continued till 
 A. D. 1485, when a Lancastrian earl, son of Edward Tudor, 
 came to the throne as Henry VII. With him the Tudor 
 line of English sovereigns begins, and English mediaeval 
 history ends. 
 
 4. ITALY. 
 
 226. When the extensive Empire of Charlemagne was 
 parceled out by the treaty of Verdun (a. d. 843), changes in 
 the Italian possession (comprising all of Lorn- ^*^^y- 
 
 bardy) fell to Lo- 
 thaire, one of the 
 grandsons of Char- 
 lemagne. Under the 
 German Emperor 
 Otho these were, as 
 has been seen, ab- 
 sorbed in the " Holy 
 Roman Empire." 
 227. But this did 
 
 not bring Her condi- 
 
 quietude *»°"- 
 
 to Italy ; for the emperors and the popes were continually 
 quarreling, and Italy was inevitably drawn into the strug- 
 gles between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. The Ghib- 
 ellines were the friends of the emperors ; the Guelphs, with 
 whom the popes generally sided, upheld the cause of the 
 
 The Lion of St. Mark. 
 
296 MEDIy^.VAL HISTORY 
 
 Italian people, who were constantly striving to rend the 
 links that bound them to the German Empire. 
 
 228. In the latter half of the 12th century Frederick 
 struggle with Barbarossa attempted to strip the Italian 
 the Emperor, towns of their dearly prized liberties. This 
 resulted in the League of Lombardy in a. d. 1167, when 
 twenty-three Italian cities united to claim, among other 
 privileges, the right of electing their own magistrates and 
 making their own laws. By granting charters and working 
 on local jealousies, Frederick contrived to muster in oppo- 
 sition a league of Ghibelline cities. For nine years war 
 wasted Northern Italy, until the decisive Battle of Legna'no 
 was fought in a. d. 1176. Seven years later, by the Peace 
 of Constance, the Emperor acknowledged the right of the 
 republics to govern themselves. 
 
 229. The most illustrious of the Italian republics were 
 Venice and Florence. 
 
 230. The glory of Venice began with the Crusades. 
 
 Her position, favorable for commerce, had 
 already led to ship-building on a large scale ; 
 and the hire of vessels to carry the Crusaders to Palestine 
 filled her coffers with gold. Her ships brought back from 
 Syria the silks and spices and jev/els of the East. The same 
 course led to the rapid rise of her rival, Genoa, on the oppo- 
 site shore of Italy. With her commerce her manufactures 
 also throve, — the silks and the glass made at Venice being 
 especially prized. 
 
 231. The territory of Venice spread at an early day 
 Growth of round the northern shore of the Gulf. Istria 
 Venice. ^^d Dalmatia became hers. During the Fourth 
 Crusade she gained the Ionian Islands, the Morea, and 
 Candia; and later she extended her sway through Lom- 
 bardy as far as the Adda. Cyprus was conquered by her 
 in A. D. 1480. 
 
 232. In A. D. 1 172 the appointment of the Doge, or Duke, 
 
ITALY. 
 
 297 
 
 and other magistrates was vested in a grand council of four 
 hundred and eighty members. Change after Political 
 change took place, until a Council of Ten se- changes, 
 cured the government to themselves. Under this unchecked 
 oligarchy a reign of terror began. 
 
 233. In the mean time the power of the state was decay- 
 ing. The League of Cambray was formed 
 
 against the island-city in a. d. 1508 by the 
 
 Pope, the Emperor, and the kings of France and Spain, and 
 
 she suffered a defeat from which she never fully recovered. 
 
 234. The strength of Florence lay in the commercial 
 spirit of the citizens. They wove in silk and 
 
 wool, made jewelry, and especially followed 
 the occupation of bankers. Their gold florin^ first coined 
 in A. D. 1252, became the standard currency of Europe. In 
 A. D. 1250 the citizens, revolting against the rule of the 
 Ghibelline nobles, established a magistracy styled the Stg- 
 noria. Long and tedious feuds distracted Florence ; but in 
 spite of these she grew rich. 
 
 235. In the course of these troubles a family of mer- 
 chants named the Medicis \med'e-chee\ rose to 
 
 ^ ' a • -ri r- 1- • 1 "^^^ Medicis. 
 
 great mnuence m llorentme politics; and 
 finally one of these, named Lorenzo de Medici, raised him- 
 self to be the head of the state. 
 His splendid patronage of art 
 and literature gained for Loren- 
 zo the name of the Magnificent. 
 He turned his gardens at Flor- 
 ence into an Academy, he en- 
 riched the public library with 
 many hundreds of manuscripts 
 collected in Italy and the East, 
 and by his patronage of artists 
 Lorenzo de Medici. made Florence the scene of some 
 
 of the most brilliant triumphs ever won by brush or chisel. 
 '3* 
 
298 
 
 MEDIEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 Later events. 
 
 236. When Charles VIII. of France, crossing the Alps, 
 invaded Italy, Florence was rudely despoiled. 
 The Medicis were then banished from Flor- 
 ence ; but they were restored in a. d. 15 12. The republic, 
 however, did not long endure. Its extinction dates from 
 A. D. 1537, when Cosmo I. was proclaimed Duke of Flor- 
 ence. In A. D. 1569 he was created by the Pope Grand Duke 
 of Tuscany. But this carries us beyond the period of the 
 Middle Ages, and we shall return to Italy under Modern 
 History. 
 
 5. SPAIN. 
 
 237. It has already been seen that Spain was over- 
 Condition whelmed by a Saracenic delusre in the early 
 
 under Moham- -• i r. i n-n ^i • • i • 
 
 medan rule. part of the 8th century. The Christian king- 
 dom was almost utterly crushed. However, after a time 
 the Mohammedan dominions were split up among a num- 
 
 B / S C A Y 
 
ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS. 
 
 299 
 
 ber of petty sovereigns, and the Christians began gradually 
 to conquer back what had been lost. 
 
 238. The kingdom of Navarre was founded in a. d. 873, 
 the kingdom of Aragon in a. d. 1035, the king- Ri^e of Span- 
 dom of Castile in a. d. 1026. Leon and Astu'- '^^^ kingdoms, 
 rias were added in a. d. 1037, and Ferdinand of Leon and 
 Castile added Cor'dova, Toledo, and Sev'ille between a. d. 
 1234 and A. D. 1248. 
 
 239. The Kingdom of Spain was formed by the union of 
 Castile and Aragon, by the marriage of Ferdi- unification of 
 nand and Isabella, and in a. d. 1491, Granada, Spain. 
 
 the last of the Mohammedan possessions, was wrested from 
 the Moors by Ferdinand and Isabella. In the long cam- 
 paign against the Moors the court moved with the army, 
 and Columbus, who was then soliciting the aid of the 
 Spanish sovereigns in his great enterprise, moved with it. 
 It is an interesting fact that the formal arrangement, or 
 capitulations, between Isabella and Columbus is dated from 
 the "Vega (or plain) of Granada" three days after the sur- 
 render of the last stronghold of the Moors. 
 
 ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS FOR REVEW. 
 
 Fifth 
 Century. 
 
 The latter part of this century is 
 filled with the events attending the 
 dissolution of the Western Roman 
 Empire. The series of emperors 
 in the West comes to an end, and 
 the Visigoths reign in Italy. Mean- 
 while the G«ths, Franks, and other 
 Teutonic nations press into the Em- 
 pire, and out of their settlements 
 the Romance nations of Europe 
 arise. At the same time the An- 
 gles and Saxons are settling in 
 Britain and laying the foundations 
 of the English nation. 
 
 Progress of Crviu- 
 
 ZATION. 
 
 Introduction of 
 Christianity into 
 France. 
 
300 
 
 MEDIAiVAL HISTORY. 
 
 Sixth 
 Century. 
 
 Seventh 
 Century. 
 
 In the sixth century the Franks 
 establish themselves as the domi- 
 nant race, and under Clovis, A. D. 
 510, found a kingdom of the Franks 
 that embraced parts of. what we 
 now call France and Germany. 
 Clovis is succeeded by other kings 
 of the Merovingian line. In the 
 Byzantine Empire Justinian reigns 
 in the first half of the century. 
 Under him the Ostrogoths are 
 driven out of Italy, and a good 
 part of the peninsula is united with 
 the Eastern Empire, as is also the 
 Vandal kingdom in Africa. But 
 in the latter half of this century 
 the Lombards pour into Italy and 
 conquer the whole northern part, 
 leaving to the Eastern Empire only 
 some parts of Central Italy — the 
 Exarchate of Ravenna — and of the 
 southern section. The Lombards 
 establish the kingdom of Lombardy, 
 embracing the valley of the Po. 
 
 The first half of the seventh cen- 
 tury is marked by the rise of Mo- 
 hammedanism, and by the first 
 great Saracenic conquests (Hegira, 
 A. D. 622). Under the Caliphs the 
 Saracens wrench from the Eastern 
 Empire a great part of its Oriental 
 dominion. North Africa also is 
 conquered. But Constantinople 
 successfully withstands the Sara- 
 cenic assaults. In Italy and the 
 land of the Franks matters rAnain 
 much as at the close of the previ- 
 ous century. England is Chris- 
 tianized ; but it is not yet Eng- 
 land, — being divided among seven 
 or eight petty sovereignties called 
 the Heptarchy, 
 
 Silk-worms brought 
 to Europe. 
 
 Roman law codified 
 under Justinian. 
 
 Introduction of 
 Christianity into 
 England. 
 
 Latin disused in 
 Italy. 
 
 Pens made from 
 quills. 
 
 Glass manufactured 
 in England. 
 
 Alexandrian Library 
 destroyed. 
 
 Greek fire invented. 
 
 Koran published. 
 
ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS. 
 
 301 
 
 Eighth 
 Century. 
 
 Ninth 
 Century. 
 
 In the early part of the eighth 
 century the Saracens cross into 
 Spain, which falls almost wholly 
 into their hands. They also at- 
 tempt to push their conquests 
 beyond the Pyrenees, but are met 
 at Tours by Charles Martel and 
 defeated. The Frankish kings 
 sink into mere nonentities. The 
 real rulers are the Mayors of the 
 Palace ; and one of these, Pepin, 
 deposes the last Merovingian, and 
 becomes the founder of the Carlo- 
 vingian line. Under Pepin's son, 
 Charlemagne, the Frankish domin- 
 ion is greatly extended ; North- 
 ern Italy is conquered from the 
 Lombards, and on Christmas day, 
 A. D. 800, Charlemagne is crowned 
 Emperor of the West. Pepin lays 
 the foundation of the temporal 
 power of the popes by the gift of 
 Uhe Exarchate of Ravenna. 
 
 In the early part of the ninth 
 century the various petty sover- 
 eignties in England are all united 
 into one kingdom under Egbert: 
 and the brilliant period of Alfred 
 comes in the latter half of this 
 century. In Spain the Saracenic 
 power declines, and the Christian 
 kingdoms of Navarre and Leon are 
 founded. Under the successors of 
 Charlemagne the Empire is broken 
 up into the three kingdoms of 
 France, Germany, and Italy ; but 
 it is a period of great confusion 
 and many changes in these coun- 
 tries, owing to the fact that the 
 feudal barons assume the power of 
 sovereign princes in various parts 
 of the Empire. 
 
 Paper made from 
 cotton. 
 
 Carpets introduced. 
 
 Schools of learning 
 founded by the 
 Saracens. 
 
 Greek works of sci- 
 ence translated 
 into Arabic. 
 
 Clocks brought to 
 Western Europe. 
 
 Oxford University 
 founded. 
 
 Agriculture and hor- 
 ticulture encour- 
 aged in Germany. 
 
 A navy first organ- 
 ized by Alfred the 
 Great. 
 
302 
 
 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY, 
 
 Tenth 
 Century. 
 
 Eleventh 
 Century. 
 
 In the early part of the tenth cen- 
 tury the Norsemen become promi- 
 nent, and under Rollo they make 
 a landing at the mouth of the Seine, 
 and become so formidable that the 
 French kinj cedes to them the 
 province of Normandy. They also 
 (as Danes) assert their power in 
 England and maintain a 'footing 
 there. At the same time Germany 
 passes entirely away from the Car- 
 lovingians, and under new sover- 
 eigns begins to grow great. Otho, 
 the German king, is crowned em- 
 peror ; so that most of Italy is now 
 part of the Empire. In France, to- 
 wards the end of the century, the im- 
 becile Carlovingian dynasty comes 
 to an end ; Hugh Capet, the Duke 
 of Francia, is crowned king, and the 
 . French monarchy now really begins. 
 
 During the eleventh century the 
 German Empire is the foremost 
 power in Europe. The popes also 
 have risen to great influence in 
 temporal affairs, and a good part 
 of this century is marked by a great 
 and prolonged struggle between 
 the popes and the emperors. In 
 the latter half of the century Hilde- 
 brand (Gregory VII.) is Pope; he 
 asserts the power of the Church 
 over all temporal sovereigns, and 
 compels the Emperor Henry IV. 
 humbly to sue for pardon. The 
 Norman conquest of England takes 
 place during the latter half of this 
 century, — a. d. 1066. The king- 
 dom of Castile is greatly enlarged 
 at the expense of the Mohamme- 
 dans. Towards the end of the cen- 
 . tury the Crusades begin. 
 
 Arabic notation in-, 
 troduced into Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 Wine-presses first 
 introduced into 
 Italy. 
 
 Cambridge Univer. 
 sity founded. 
 
 Musical notes in« 
 vented. 
 
 Windmills first used. 
 
 Clocks with wheels 
 introduced. 
 
 Beginnings of native 
 literature in the 
 Romance tongues. 
 
ANALYTIC SYNOPSIS. 
 
 303 
 
 Twelfth 
 Century. 
 
 Thirteenth 
 Century. 
 
 During this century much is done 
 towards bringing the various pow- 
 ers of Europe into something like 
 the state in which they are now. 
 The Itahan cities assert their inde- 
 pendence, the power of the Ger- 
 man Empire comes pretty well to 
 an end, and Germany and Italy 
 begin to be collections of separate 
 states, independent or nearly so. 
 The Crusades go on at intervals 
 during this century. Chivalry be- 
 comes a great institution. The 
 Italian republics rise to great wealth 
 and glory. It is also a season of 
 general intellectual awakening, and 
 Europe has completely emerged 
 from the Dark Ages. 
 
 The Crusades continue during 
 the thirteenth century, but in a 
 feebler way, and finally cease in 
 the latter half In England Nor- 
 mans and English are fully recon- 
 ciled ; the English kings, losing the 
 greater part of their dominions in 
 France, are forced to become na- 
 tional sovereigns ; the rights of 
 the people are asserted in Magna 
 Charta, and the establishment of 
 the House of Commons. In Ger- 
 many the Empire is upheld by 
 Frederick II. (King also of Sicily), 
 thus joining together in himself 
 three crowns ; but he has continual 
 strivings with various popes. In 
 Spain, the Saracens and Moors are 
 left with nothing bot Granada. This 
 is also a period of general intel- 
 lectual improvement. The universi- 
 ties are established, and this is the 
 age of the Minnesingers of Germany 
 and of Gothic church-architecture. 
 
 Cultivation of the 
 sugar-cane intro- 
 duced into Sicily. 
 
 Glass vv'indows used 
 in England. 
 
 Introduction of the 
 scholastic philoso- 
 phy by Abelard, 
 Peter Lombard, 
 and others. 
 
 Spectacles invented. 
 
 Glass mirrors used. 
 
 Clocks to strike 
 made in Europe. 
 
 Science cultivated 
 by Roger Bac«n 
 and Albertust 
 Magnus. 
 
 neyed into East- 
 ern Asia. 
 
304 
 
 MEDIEVAL HISTORY 
 
 Fourteenth 
 Century. 
 
 Fifteenth 
 Century. 
 
 During a good part of this cen- 
 tury England and France are en- 
 gaged in war. France, in conse- 
 quence of the English invasions 
 of Edward III., is nearly con- 
 quered; but she gains in the end. 
 These wars exercise a great influ- 
 ence in uniting the English into 
 one nation. The English language 
 takes on to a good degree its mod- 
 ern form : it is now really English, 
 not Anglo-Saxon or Semi -Saxon. 
 In Italy learning revives ; but the 
 republics lose most of their free- 
 dom. Spain is gradually becoming 
 a great power. Norway, Denmark, 
 and Sweden are joined by the 
 Union of Calmar. 
 
 In the course of this century we 
 get fairly beyond the Middle Ages. 
 The feudal form of society has been 
 gradually undermined, and strong 
 national monarchies have arisen in 
 the various European countries. 
 The Eastern Empire comes to an 
 end, being overthrown by the 
 Turks in the middle of this cen- 
 tury. Spain becomes one great 
 nation by the union of Aragon and 
 Castile. The application of the 
 mariner's compass leads to distant 
 sea voyages, — new lands are 
 opened up. Gunpowder changes 
 the art of war, and printing makes 
 an intellectual revolution. 
 
 Mariner's compass 
 introduced into 
 Europe. 
 
 Paper made from 
 linen rags. 
 
 Gunpowder and can- 
 non used in war. 
 
 Pins invented. 
 
 Beginnings of Eng- 
 lish literature, — 
 Chaucer. 
 
 New Testament 
 translated by 
 Wycliffe. 
 
 Invention of the art 
 of printing. 
 
 Greek philosophers 
 seek refuge in 
 Italy. 
 
 Algebra borrowed 
 from the Arabs. 
 
 Discovery of Amer- 
 ica. 
 
 Passage round Caps 
 of Good Hope dis- 
 covered. 
 
/I Greenuich 20 
 
TRANSITION TO MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 305 
 
 SECTION V. 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE 16TH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TRANSITION TO MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 1. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. It Is difficult to fix upon a precise date at which to 
 say Mediaeval History ended and Modern When does 
 
 •,-/' 1 r 111 mediaeval 
 
 History began ; for, as a great author declares, history end ? 
 " The horologe of Time does not peal out the passage from 
 one era to another." And indeed this difficulty is shown 
 
 First Printing-Press. 
 
 Vasco da Gama. 
 
 by the different dates selected by different historians as 
 the proper close of the Middle Ages. Some place it at 
 the date of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, 
 when the Eastern Roman Empire came to an end. But 
 
 T 
 
306 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 this was far from being an event of marked importance 
 for Europe in general. Others place it at the date of the 
 discovery of America. But this event, great though it was, 
 was merely one event in a series of maritime discoveries. 
 Others, again, place it at the close of the 15th century. But 
 this is purely arbitrary. 
 
 2. In place of marking one single date as the close of 
 Period of the old and the commencement of the new 
 transition. gj.^^ j|- ^jjj j^g wiscr to regard the period in- 
 cluded between the latter part of the 15 th and the early 
 part of the i6th century as a Period of Transition., in pass- 
 ing through which it may fairly be said that we cross the 
 bridge from mediaeval to modern history. 
 
 3. This period will embrace several marked events and 
 Events in- Tcvolutions in affairs : as, the destruction of 
 eluded. ^|-^g Eastern Empire ; the era of maritime dis- 
 covery, including the discovery of America and the circum- 
 navigation of Africa ; the invention of printing and the 
 revival of learning ; the invention of gunpowder, with con- 
 sequent changes in the art of war and in the organization 
 of society ; the decline of feudalism and the establishment 
 of centralized monarchies. 
 
 2. FALL OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 
 
 4. In the middle of the 15th century Constantine Palae- 
 
 state of the ol'ogus was the rulcr over the Byzantine Em- 
 Eastern Em- . ° , , . . 1 1 1 
 pire. pire ; but this empire was reduced almost to 
 
 the Hmits of the city of Constantinople, — for to such a 
 
 pass had the great dominion of Constantine been brought 
 
 by the vice and folly of its rulers, the fury of theological 
 
 controversy, and the corruption of its citizens. Thus sunk 
 
 in hopeless decay, it was to fall before the power of the 
 
 Ottoman Turks. 
 
 5, The power of the Ottoman Turks commenced in 
 
FALL OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE. 
 
 307 
 
 Asia Minor, and was laid by Othman, or Ottoman (bom 
 i2c;8), who, orio:inally ruler of a small moun- History of 
 
 ^ •^' . , r ■ r ■ ^^^ Ottoman 
 
 tain district forming the frontier of ancient Turks. 
 Bithynia and Phrygia, gradually extended his dominion 
 till it became one of the most flourishing states of Asia 
 Minor, The advance of the Ottoman dynasty after this 
 was rapid. Not only did nearly all Asia Minor fall under 
 Turkish sway, but in the 14th century the Turks crossed 
 the Hellespont, made Adrianople their capital, and reach- 
 ing out from there gradually stripped the Byzantine em- 
 perors of Thrace, Macedon, Servia, and Southern Greece. 
 At length Mohammed II. ascended the Ottoman throne 
 (145 1), and, from the moment of his accession, directed his 
 efforts to the capture of Constantinople. 
 
 6. At the head cf an army of 300.000 men, supported 
 by a powerful fleet, he laid siege to the cele- siege of Con- 
 brated metropolis. Constant! nc Palasologus ^tantinopie. 
 met the storm valiantly, and for fifty-three days made a 
 stout defense of the city. At last, on the 29th of May, 
 
 Use OF Gunpowder at the Siege of Constantinople. 
 
 1453, the Turks stormed the walls, having previously bat- 
 tered them with cannon (then used for perhaps the first 
 
3o8 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 time) ; Constantine fell, sword in hand, boldly disputing 
 every inch of ground ; multitudes of his subjects were mas- 
 sacred ; the Crescent waved over the church of St. Sophia, 
 and the Byzantine Empire fell forever. 
 
 3. MARITIME DISCOVERIES. 
 
 7. Wc have now to take a survey of the maritime 
 
 The world discovcries of the ii;th century, and the con- 
 before the 15th , . ^ , -^ \ 
 century. scqueut chaugcs m trade and commerce. 
 
 The accompanying map presents to the eye the world as 
 
 we now know it, with the world as known to Europeans 
 
MARJl^ME DISCOVERIES. 309 
 
 previous to the discovery of America and the circumnavi- 
 gation of Africa. From this it will appear that, during the 
 whole of what we call ancient history and the Middle Ages, 
 the historic stage was limited to Europe, a small part of 
 Western Asia, and a narrow strip of Northern Africa. 
 We are now to learn how these limits were prodigiously 
 enlarged in consequence of the great discoveries that mark 
 the latter half of the 15th century. 
 
 8. A knowledge of the properties of the magnet was a 
 necessary antecedent of distant ocean voyages invention of 
 and the discovery of unknown lands. The *^^ compass, 
 invention of the compass has commonly been attributed to 
 an Italian named Gioja \_jo'ya\^ who flourished about the 
 beginning of the 14th century ; but erroneously, for the in- 
 strument was known, even in Europe, nearly two centuries 
 before this time. It was then, however, in a very rudimen- 
 tary state, being merely a needle rubbed on a loadstone 
 and floating on a cork, or other light substance, in a vessel 
 filled with water, — a method used long before by the 
 Chinese. The really important question is, When was the 
 compass practically applied in navigation ? This does not 
 seem to have been done till about the beginning of the 
 15 th century. 
 
 9. It was the Portuguese who, under the patronage of 
 Prince Henry of Portugal, took the lead in prince Henry 
 maritime discovery. Retiring to the promon- °^ Portugal, 
 tory of St. Vincent, this enlightened prince established 
 himself at the seaport town of Sa'gres, where he built an 
 observatory and gathered around him from all quarters 
 men skilled in astronomy and navigation. With these he 
 discussed bold projects of maritime enterprise ; and the 
 point to which he especially directed his attention was 
 the practicability of sailing round Africa and of thus reach- 
 ing the East Indies. 
 
 10. The southernmost cape of Africa known in those 
 
3IO MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 days was Cape Non, which received this appellation from 
 Portuguese the idea that it was utterly impossible to get 
 
 discoveries in i i • t^ t n^ r -r 
 
 Africa. beyond this cape. But the officers of Henry, 
 
 having at length doubled it, found Cape Bojador [doz/i- 
 d-dor''\ ; and this awful cape being passed by, the region 
 of the tropics was penetrated, and divested of its fancied 
 terrors ; the river Sen'egal was observed, the greater part 
 of the African coast, from Cape Blanco to Cape de Verde, 
 was explored, and the Cape de Verde and the Azore Islands 
 were discovered. Before the death of Prince Henry, in 
 1463, Portuguese discovery had been pushed to within five 
 degrees of the equator. 
 
 11. The passion for discovery languished after the death 
 Their further o^ Princc Henry ; but it was revived with ad- 
 progress. ditional ardor by his grand-nephew, King John 
 II. (1481). In his reign the Portuguese for the first time 
 crossed the equator and beheld the stars of a new hemi- 
 sphere : in 1484 a Portuguese fleet sailed fifteen hundred 
 miles south of the equator, settlements were made on the 
 coast of Guinea, and a regular commerce was established. 
 
 12. The Portuguese now began to conceive the pos- 
 Circumnaviga- sibility of reaching India by a southern nav- 
 tion of Africa, jgation around Africa. In 1487 Bartholo- 
 mew Di'az sailed far enough south not only to descry, 
 but to double, the Cabo Tormenioso, or Cape of Storms ; 
 and as the coast was ascertained to run towards the north- 
 east, the prospect of success seemed now so clear that the 
 king renamed this cape Cabo de Boa Espera7ifa, or Cape of 
 Good Hope. The " good hope " was realized by Vasco da 
 Gama, who, having doubled the southern point of Africa, 
 arrived at Cal'icut, in Mal'abar, in May, 1498. A sea-route 
 to India was thus opened up. 
 
 13. The desire of reaching India by sea was the inspir- 
 What led to inpf motive of a voyasre that resulted in a still 
 
 the discovery , .,,. ,. 1^1 t 
 
 of America. more brilliant discovery, namely, the discov- 
 ery of America by Columbus. 
 
 I 
 
MARITIME DISCOVERIES. 311 
 
 14. Columbus's love of enterprise was no doubt stimu- 
 lated by the maritime discoveries of the Portu- Aim of co- 
 guese ; and it has been recently proved that i^n^^us. 
 
 he conceived his grand project soon after his arrival in 
 Portugal. This project, as is well known, was by no means 
 that of finding a new continent, but of seeking a passage 
 to India, the land of gold and spices. He knew that the 
 Portuguese were bending their efforts to reach India by the 
 circumnavigation of Africa ; and his grand inspiration was 
 that India might more readily be attained by sailing west- 
 ward across the Atlantic. 
 
 15. The success of the Portuguese in India, though not 
 so brilliant, was scarcely less important than Portuguese 
 that of the Spaniards in America. Albu- indies, 
 querque conquered Goa (1511), and made it the capital of 
 the Portuguese establishments in the East. But the Portu- 
 guese generally abstained from territorial acquisition ; they 
 contented themselves with commercial establishments along 
 the coast, whence they exported from India direct the arti- 
 cles which the Venetians had formerly supplied to Europe 
 through Eg)rpt and the Levant. 
 
 16. The circumnavigation of Africa made a complete 
 revolution in the commercial condition of EfTect of sea- 
 Europe : the trade which had been confined on trade. 
 
 to the Mediterranean now traversed the Atlantic, and the 
 Western nations hastened to share in its gains. With 
 characteristic indolence, the Portuguese carried the Indian 
 produce no farther than Lisbon, where it was sold to for- 
 eign merchants for transmission to other countries. The 
 Dutch engaged very eagerly in this carrying-trade, and 
 found it so lucrative that they took the earliest opportunity 
 of excluding the Portuguese themselves from all share in 
 their commerce by depriving them of their colonies. 
 
 17. England was not altogether without a share in these 
 great maritime discoveries. In 1497, under the auspices 
 
3 1 2 MODERN HIS TOR K 
 
 of Henry VII., Sebastian Cabot, a native of Bristol, and 
 Part taken by o^e of the three sons of John Cabot, a Venetian 
 the English, merchant settled in that city, sailed around the 
 northern coast of Labrador, touched at a point supposed to 
 have been either New'foundland or Cape Breton', and sailed 
 to the south along the coast of what is now the United 
 States as far as latitude 38°. His enterprise led to no im- 
 mediate advantage, though the discoveries of Cabot are of 
 interest as having been the foundation of the English claims 
 to dominion in North America. 
 
 18. The growth of commerce in this age was very rapid, 
 Circumnavi- but there appeared to be still room for further 
 
 gation of the ,. • m .1 11 
 
 globe. discoveries, until the globe was circumnavi- 
 
 gated by the ships of Magellan (1519-1521). From that 
 time the attention of nations began to be directed more to 
 completing old discoveries than to the search for new lands. 
 The navies of Europe commenced to assume a formidable 
 aspect ; manufactures multiplied, and states previously poor 
 became suddenly rich. Sovereigns and governments began 
 to direct their attention to commerce, justly persuaded that 
 mercantile wealth is the source as well of the prosperity as 
 of the glory of nations. 
 
 4. THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING. 
 
 19. While the European mind, in the T5th centur}^ was 
 Circumstances thus astir with the spirit of discovery, there 
 JevlJai^o^f*^*" took place that remarkable intellectual awak- 
 learning. euing Styled the Revival of Learning. We 
 
 have already seen that this movement had begun in the 
 latter part of the Middle Ages. Long before the fall of 
 Constantinople the love of classical literature had been 
 gradually reviving; — that event increased it by compelling 
 a great number of learned Greeks to seek shelter in Italy, 
 and other parts of Western Europe, carrying with them 
 
 I 
 
THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING. 313 
 
 their treasures of classic lore. There now began among 
 scholars a most ardent search for buried and neglected 
 manuscripts, and their diligence was rewarded by the discov- 
 ery of many precious monuments of the Greek and Roman 
 literature. The labors of these scholars were mainly in- 
 strumental in producing that state of things which turned 
 men's minds towards the invention of printing, and nour- 
 ished it to maturity when invented. 
 
 20. It is rather singular, in connection with the history 
 of printing, so aptly termed the " art preserva- Controversy 
 
 • r ,1 , „ 1 , M • 11 on the origin 
 
 tive of all the arts," that while it records the of printing, 
 birth of other inventions, no positive record exists of its own. 
 A controversy has ^irisen, concerning the origin of the art, 
 between the three towns of Harlem, Mentz, and Strasburg; 
 each, from a natural partiality, attributing it to her own citi- 
 zens. The dispute, however, has turned rather on words 
 than facts, and it seems to have arisen from the different 
 definitions of the word prinimg. If the invention of the 
 principle be made the criterion, the honor is unquestionably 
 due to Laurence Coster, a native of Harlem, who first 
 found out the method of impressing characters on paper 
 by means of carved blocks of wood. If movable types be 
 considered as the criterion, the merit of the discovery is 
 due to John Gu^tenberg of Mentz ; while SchoefTer \shef'er\y 
 in conjunction with Faust, was the first who founded types 
 of metal. 
 
 21. In regard to the earliest books printed, the follow- 
 ing facts are of interest : — 
 
 1423. Year of the earliest dated print. This is known as the "St. 
 
 Christopher" print, — a single engraved page with a few lines of 
 
 engraved letters. 
 1438. Letters separately cut in wood about this date. 
 1450. Letters separately cast in metal about this date. 
 ^455* Bible in Latin. This earliest complete printed book known is 
 
 called the Maz'arin Bible, from having been found in the collection of 
 
 Cardinal Mazarin. It is supposed to have been issued from the press 
 
 of Gutenberg and Faust at Mentz, about 1455. 
 
314 MODERN HISTORY 
 
 1457. Psalter in Latin; printed at Mentz by Gutenberg and Faust, — 
 
 first book printed with a date. 
 1460. Bible in Latin and German : earliest example of a book printed 
 
 on both sides of the leaf with metal types. 
 1474. First book printed in England by Caxton. Its title is "The 
 
 Game and Playe of the Chesse." 
 
 5. DECLINE OF FEUDALISM. 
 
 22. At the close of the 15 th and commencement of the 
 Feudalism in i^th century, the power of the great European 
 France. vassals had been shaken, but not annihilated. 
 In France feudalism had received a severe blow at the 
 hands of Louis XI. ; yet it still in some degree survived ; it 
 threatened to rise again during the civil wars of France, 
 and was not completely extinguished till the time of Riche- 
 lieu. 
 
 23. So also in Spain, though much abated, it remained 
 In Spain and to be put down by the policy of the Emperor 
 England. Charlcs V., and his successor Philip II. In 
 England the great vassals of the crown had never been so 
 powerful as on the Continent; and hence in the time of 
 John they had been obliged to league themselves with the 
 people in defense of their common rights. The great Earl 
 of Warwick in the reign of Edward IV., and the Duke of 
 Buckingham in that of Richard III., are among the last 
 remarkable instances of formidable power in the nobles. 
 The greater part of them perished in the Wars of the Roses. 
 
 24. Among the chief agents in the destruction of feu- 
 Resuit of the dalism were the invention of gunpowder and 
 
 invention of , , • ^i ^ r t 
 
 powder. the consequent change in the art or war ; tor 
 
 neither the armor of the knights nor the thick walls of 
 their castles were proof against bullets and cannon-balls. 
 
 25. Although it is universally conceded that gunpow- 
 Period of the ^^r was invented by Roger Bacon, the English 
 invention. monk, in the 13th century, it was long before 
 the invention was applied to the art of war. This applica- 
 
RISE OF GREAT MONARCHIES. 315 
 
 tion has been claimed for Berthold Schwartz, a German 
 apothecary, about 1330 ; but gunpowder appears to have 
 been used in war by the Moors before that period. 
 
 6. RISE OF GREAT MONARCHIES. 
 
 26. The most striking fact in the poUtical aspect of 
 Europe at the commencement of modern his- Great feature 
 tory is the appearance of a series of great °^ *^® period. 
 centraHzed monarchies, which in the period of transition 
 arose upon the ruins of the Feudal States. 
 
 27. Despotism could not exist in the time of feudalism, 
 on account of the resistance of the nobility; cause of royal 
 but when the great vassals were overthrown, despotism, 
 the kings gradually contrived to get all power into their 
 own hands. And thus, strange to say, the condition of 
 affairs at the beginning of the modern period, though in 
 some respects a going forward, was in other respects a 
 falling back from the state of affairs in the Middle Ages. 
 It was a time when laws could be more regularly carried 
 out, when much of the turbulence and disorder of the 
 feudal period came to an end. But it was also a time when 
 political freedom retrograded, when the great states became 
 absolute monarchies under sovereigns whose will was law. 
 
 28. These monarchs wielded the sword of the state, 
 and this sword was the Standing Army, a thing Effect of stand- 
 new in European history. In the feudal ages, *"^ armies, 
 when, in order to make war, the sovereign had to call on 
 his liegemen, there was always this limitation of the king's 
 power, that the great vassals might not obey. Bui: an army 
 of soldiers kept constantly under the king's pay was a tre- 
 mendous weapon which he could wield at will ; and it was 
 'by means of this weapon that the kings in most parts of 
 Europe overthrew the free institutions that had arisen in 
 the Middle Ages. 
 
3l6 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 29. The people surrendered these liberties without heed \ 
 Surrender of for such was the Spirit of the age, that men 
 liberties. |^^^ come to think the sovereign and the state 
 one, and patriotism meant simply loyalty to the king. This 
 was a devotion not without its noble aspect, but it was fatal 
 to the people ; and wc shall see that liberties surrendered 
 thus lightly had afterwards to be reclaimed with terrible 
 throes. 
 
 30. The absolute power which the great sovereigns had 
 Nature of the acquired enabled them to wage wars for their 
 wars waged, ^^j^ purposcs, — wars in which the nations 
 that they governed had very little interest, and which were 
 designed merely for the aggrandizement of particular royal 
 families. Thus, though the most valuable part of history 
 is that which concerns the people themselves, and not 
 that which has to do with kings and courts, it happens 
 that at this period we cannot pass over the latter in silence, 
 because the relations, hostile or otherwise, of great princes 
 form really the most salient facts in tjie history of the i6th 
 and 17 th centuries. 
 
 31. The understanding of this state of affairs will help 
 Balance of the Student to a knowledge of what is meant 
 Power. i^y t}^e balance of poufer^ — of which we read 
 a great deal in modern European history. For when the 
 strength of nations thus became centralized in the hands 
 of a few monarchs, it was not unlikely that one of these 
 might through his own power, aided by family connections, 
 gain a great and dangerous preponderance over the others. 
 Now the aim of the policy named the balance of power was 
 to attain such a just distribution of force, either by alliance 
 or internal resources between the different states, that no 
 one should overshadow the others. This led to exceed- 
 ingly complicated international relations, and the combina- 
 tion of nations thus formed is often spoken of ar the " States- 
 System of Europe." 
 
AGE OF CHARLES V. 
 
 SI7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 GREAT EVENTS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 TOPICS. 
 
 Age of Charles V. 
 
 England under Henry VIH. 
 
 Rise of the Dutch Republic. 
 
 Civil and Religious Wars of France. 
 
 Age of Elizabeth. 
 
 I. AGE OF CHARLES V. 
 
 32. It is the brilliant figure of Spain that first attracts 
 our attention at the beginning of modern his- Growth of 
 lory ; and indeed we may fairly say that dur- Spanish power, 
 ing most of the i6th century Spain was the greatest power 
 in Europe. For a long time during the Middle Ages Spain 
 lay obscurely between the ocean and the Pyrenees, and 
 carried on wars and policies which were limited by its 
 territorial bounds. Indeed, we can hardly say that at 
 this time Spain was a nation at all ; for the peninsula 
 was parceled out between a number of small independent 
 kingdoms, while the Moors, though their power had been 
 greatly circumscribed, still held firm foothold in Grenada. 
 But the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon with Isabella of 
 Castile united the two most powerful states. Then these 
 sovereigns entered upon a vigorous campaign against the 
 Moors, and the year 149 1 saw the fall of Grenada. In 15 12 
 Ferdinand conquered nearly all the kingdom of Navarre, 
 — so that the whole peninsula except Portugal was thus 
 joined together; and the year 1516 saw the supreme power 
 over all united Spain descend on the head of the grand- 
 son of Ferdinand and Isabella. Now this grandson was 
 the character known in history as the Emperor Charles V. 
 
3l8 MODERN- HISTORY. 
 
 33. Charles V. was born at Ghent in the year 1500. 
 Position of He was the son of Philip, Archduke of Austria 
 Charles V. (soYi of Maximilian, Emperor of Germany), and 
 of Joanna (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain). 
 At the age of fifteen he assumed the government of Flan- 
 ders, which came to him through his paternal grandmother, 
 Mary of Burgundy. In the following year, 15 16, the death 
 of his maternal grandfather, Ferdinand, placed on his 
 head the brilliant crown of Spain, and as Don Carlos I. he 
 ruled Jointly with his mother, Joanna, who, however, was 
 insane. The Spanish dominion at this time included not 
 only Spain, but Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and those vast 
 possessions beyond the Atlantic with which the genius of 
 the Genoese navigator had dowered the Castilian Crown. 
 Three years after this, in 15 19, the death of his pater- 
 nal grandfather (the Emperor Maximilian) transferred to 
 him the sovereignty of Austria and of the other hereditary 
 possessions of the House of Hapsburg. 
 
 34. The death of Maximilian transferred to Charles 
 He is chosen Maximilian's hereditary possessions, but not 
 Emperor. ^\^q imperial crown ; for in these times the 
 Emperor of Germany was elected by the Electors^ or great 
 princes of the various German states. Accordingly, on the 
 death of Maximilian, in 15 19, it became the duty of these 
 Electors to choose an emperor of Germany. Charles's 
 most formidable competitor was Francis I. of France, 
 though for a while young Henry VIII. of England sought 
 the glittering prize. Charles was chosen ; so that now 
 Don Carlos I. of Spain became the Emperor Charles V., 
 and as such he was crowned with the diadem of Charle- 
 magne at Aix-la-Chapelle, in the year 1520. He was but 
 twenty years old, yet he ruled a dominion more extensive 
 than that which had obeyed the sway of Alexander or of 
 Augustus. 
 
 35. The two great events of the reign of the Emperor 
 
AGE OF CHARLES V. 319 
 
 Charles V. are: i. The rise of Protestantism; 2. The wars 
 carried on under the lead of Francis I. of Two chief 
 
 events of the 
 
 France against Charles V., to maintain the reign, 
 balance of power. 
 
 36. At the beginning of the i6th century all the nations 
 of Western Europe were in communion with Position of 
 
 1 ,. ^1 1 T • *^^ Cathohc 
 
 the Roman Catholic Church. It is true that Church, 
 from time to time, during the latter half of the Middle Ages, 
 there had been religious discontents among particular men. 
 Thus in the 12 th century there arose in the South of France 
 a sect called the Albigenses, who agreed in considering 
 the authority claimed by the popes in spiritual matters, as 
 well as the discipline and ceremonies of the Roman Church, 
 erroneous and unlawful. Very similar opinions were pro- 
 claimed in England in the 14th century by Wycliffe, and in 
 the next century by Huss in Bohemia. But these revolts 
 against the See of Rome had been partial and temporary, 
 and they were all put down, though not till many persons 
 were burnt as heretics. 
 
 37. It happened, however, very soon after the beginning 
 of the 1 6th century, that great controversies Beginnings of 
 on matters of religion arose. There was com- <iissent. 
 plaint at miny practical abuses in the Church, and at the 
 claims of the popes to interfere in the affairs of nations ; 
 and there was also a growing feeling among many that not 
 a few of the doctrines which were believed, and of the cere- 
 monies which were practiced, in the Church, were contrary 
 to Scripture. 
 
 38. It was in this state of affairs that there arose a dis- 
 pute, trivial indeed in its nature, but which Protestantism 
 
 r •> .1,1 ^* ^'^"^ foun- 
 
 kindled a flame that quickly spread over most tain, 
 of Western Europe. When Leo X. came to the Papal chair, 
 he found the treasury of the Church exhausted by the am- 
 bitious projects of his predecessors. He therefore had 
 recourse to every means which ingenuity could devise for 
 
320 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 recruiting his exhausted finances, and among these he 
 adopted an extensive sale of indulgences, which in former 
 ages had been a source of large profits to the Church.* 
 The Dominican friars, having obtained the monopoly of 
 the sale in Germany, employed as their agent Tetzel, one 
 of their own order, who carried on the traffic in a manner 
 that was very offensive, and especially so to the Augustinian 
 friars. 
 
 39. One of these, named Martin Luther, Professor of 
 First appear- Thcology in the University of Wittenberg, took 
 Luther. the lead in opposing Tetzel. Having vainly 
 sought to procure the suppression of the traffic from the 
 Archbishop of Mag'deburg, he appealed to the people and 
 to men of letters (15 17), by publishing ninety -five theses 
 condemning the sale of indulgences as contrary to reason 
 and Scripture. 
 
 40. This was in 15 17. Several of the nobles and princes 
 Progress of of Germany eagerly embraced his cause, for 
 Luther. ^j^gy vjexQ angered at seeing large quantities 
 of money drained from their own country to be expend- 
 ed on works of art in Italy. The Papal party accepted 
 Luther's challenge, fully believing that the slightest exer- 
 tion of power would at once stifle opposition. Leo X., too 
 proud to trouble himself about the opposition of a simple 
 friar, published a l)ul/, or decree, condemning the theses of 
 Luther as impious and heretical (1520). The bold reformer 
 at once declared open war against the Papacy by appealing 
 to a general council, and burning the bull of excommunica- 
 tion in presence of a vast multitude at Wittenberg. 
 
 41. All Germany was soon in a ferment. Frederick, 
 
 * These indulgences were, in the early ages of the Church, remissions 
 of the penances imposed upon persons whose sins had brought scandal 
 on the community. But in process of time they were represented as 
 actual pardons of guilt, and the purchaser of indulgence was said to be 
 delivered from all his sins. 
 
AGE OF CHARLES V. 32 1 
 
 Duke of Saxony, was one of the first converts to the Ref- 
 ormation^ as the movement now began to be spread of the 
 called. Other German princes took the same ^Reformation, 
 side ; for indeed, as a Catholic historian has remarked, 
 " Policy became more Lutheran than religious reform." 
 
 42. Pope Leo X. was now roused to the importance of 
 doing something to arrest the spread of the The Diet of 
 new doctrines, and soon after Charles V.'s '^°'""^s. 
 election as emperor, the Pope appealed to him to take 
 the matter in hand. Accordingly, when, soon after his 
 election, the young Emperor removed from Spain to Ger- 
 many, he summoned an assembly, or Diet, of the German 
 princes at the city of Worms. Luther was cited to appear 
 before the Diet of Worms in 152 1. Being called on to 
 retract, he refused to do so ; and though he was dismissed 
 under " safe-conduct " from the Emperor, yet Charles V. 
 promised to "use all endeavors to extirpate the heresy.'' 
 
 43. Nevertheless, the new doctrines rapidly spread, and 
 under various forms took deep root in Ger 
 
 many, France, Switzerland, England, Scotland, 
 and Scandinavia. The result may be thus stated : allowing 
 for considerable exceptions, the nations of Teutonic stock 
 embraced the new doctrines, while most of the Latin race 
 adhered to the faith of Rome. 
 
 44. An attempt was made to check the movement by the 
 Diet of Spires, 1529: for by this assemblage Origin of the 
 
 J 1 . 1 r T.-1V name Protes- 
 
 a decree was promulgated forbiddmg any tant. 
 change until the meeting of a general council. Luther's 
 friends and followers protested against this decree, and 
 hence the professors of the reformed religion received the 
 common name of Protestants. 
 
 45. We now turn to the other and political events of the 
 age of Charles V., namely, the complications Rivalry with 
 with Francis L of France. This bitter rivalry Francis i. 
 led to four wars, in each of which the avowed object of 
 
 14* u 
 
322 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 Francis was to preserve the balance of power, as against 
 the menacing greatness of the House of Austria, repre- 
 sented by Charles V. 
 
 46. In the first war, which was mainly an Italian war, 
 Events of the the decisivc action was the battle of Pavi'a, 
 first war. 1525. Here the imperial forces shattered 
 the French power in Italy; and Francis himself was 
 taken prisoner and conveyed to Madrid, where he lay a 
 year in prison. At the end of that time he was released by 
 Charles on the promise that he would give up the Duchy 
 of Burgundy, renounce all his pretensions to Italian terri- 
 tory, and surrender his two sons as hostages. 
 
 47. Francis had made the stipulations mentioned, with- 
 
 out ever intending to keep them : the result 
 was, that hostilities were immediately renewed, 
 and the second war (1527 - 1529) began. This lime Henry 
 VIII. of England sided with Francis, who was also sup- 
 ported by the Pope. The French army entered Italy, 
 but was there repeatedly defeated. This inclined Francis 
 to peace ; and as at the same time the Emperor was anx- 
 ious to suppress the Reformation in Germany, a treaty was 
 made in 1529 (Treaty of Cambray), the terms of which 
 were quite unfavorable to Francis I. 
 
 48. The third war began in 1535, but in three years 
 Third and both parties were exhausted ; so by the 
 fourth wars, mediation of the Pope they concluded in 
 1538 a truce that was to last for ten years. Before the 
 time of truce had half expired, hostilities were renewed, 
 and the fourth war commenced. A strange alliance it was 
 that Francis now formed ; for Solyman, Sultan of Turkey, 
 together with some of the Protestant princes of Germany, 
 united with the French against Charles V., who was aided 
 by Henry VIII. of England. The French king won a 
 victory over the Emperor at Cerisoles ; but this did not 
 prevent the invasion of France both from England and 
 
AGE OF CHARLES V. 323 
 
 from Spain. However, the Emperor and the EngHsh 
 monarch did not act in concert, and accordingly Francis 
 concluded a peace with Charles at Crespy in 1544. Three 
 years after this, 1547, the Emperor's two great royal con- 
 temporaries, Francis I. and Heniy VIII., died. 
 
 49. At this time Charles V. became engaged in a 
 contest with the Protestant princes of Ger- war with the 
 many, who had formed a league for their princes, 
 mutual protection at Smalcald, in 153 1. A great council, 
 called the Council of Trent^ was convened against Prot- 
 estantism in 1545. At the very commencement of the 
 war, Maurice of Saxony, one of the leading Protestant 
 princes, deserted the league and went over to the cause 
 of the Emperor. The result was that the Protestant 
 League was soon thoroughly broken up. 
 
 50. The triumph of the Emperor seemed now to be 
 complete. Encouraged by this, Charles V. Defection of 
 became thoroughly tyrannical. But his over- Maurice, 
 bearing course excited the animosity as well of the Catholic 
 as of the Protestant princes of Germany. Maurice of 
 Saxony, to whom he had owed his recent successes, and 
 who was throughout a Protestant at heart, deserted the 
 Emperor, joined the Protestant leaders, and formed a bold 
 plan for compelling the Emperor to establish religious 
 freedom. He formed an alliance with Henry II. of France 
 (son and successor of Francis I.), and proclaimed war 
 against the Emperor, 1552. 
 
 51. The Emperor's reverses in Germany were as rapid as 
 had been his success, and he was compelled Triumph of 
 to sign a treaty at Passau (1552) by which Protestantism, 
 the free exercise of their religion was secured to the 
 Protestants. Three years later (1555) the principles of 
 mutual toleration were formally sanctioned by the Diet 
 of Augsburg. Thus the Reformation gained its first 
 decisive political triumph in Germany. 
 
324 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 52. And now the clouds thickened fast around the 
 The Emperor's Emperor. The son of his now dead rival, 
 troubles. Francis I., had taken up, as a legacy, the long- 
 standing quarrel, and was vigorously assailing the imperial 
 power ; while the Pope, angered at the Emperor's sanction 
 of the principles of toleration at the Diet of Augsburg, 
 became the avowed enemy of the House of Austria, and 
 cncered into close alliance with the king of France. 
 
 53. In this state of affairs Charles V. took a strange 
 His abdication resolvc : he determined to lay aside his 
 and death. crowns. Accordingly, in 1556 he resigned 
 the scepter of Spain and the Two Sicilies to his son, 
 Philip II., and the imperial crown to his brother Ferdi- 
 nand : he then retired to the monastery of San Yuste 
 \yoosfia\^ in Spain, being resolved there to end his days. 
 In the solitude of the convent he divided his time be- 
 tween religious duties and the making of mechanical con- 
 trivances. Towards his latter end he conceived the ghastly 
 fancy of having his own funeral rehearsed. This theatri- 
 cal display was the forerunner of the dread real tragedy 
 itself; for death overtook the Emperor in 1558. 
 
 54. In summing up the character of Charles V., v/e 
 Character of ^ay Say that he was free from many of the 
 Charles V. yj^es of his kingly contemporaries. Yet his 
 virtues were rather negative than 
 positive, and seem to have been the 
 result of his temperament, which was 
 cold. He spoke but little, and a 
 laugh or smile was rarely seen upon 
 his face. In some respects he was a ^^^I^^BKI^^'^ 
 man of comprehensive views ; yet his 
 ambition was selfish, looking mainly 
 to the aggrandizement of the House 
 
 . . ^ . XT T- 1 1. Charles V. 
 
 of Austria. He had great successes 
 
 in his time ; but in the end he was doomed to see all his 
 
ENGLAND UNDER HENRY V/If. 325 
 
 plans fail. Nor is the cause of this failure difficult to find : 
 he did not comprehend his times. He stands to us as the 
 last champion and the last support of the Middle Ages ; 
 but the Middle Ages had passed away, — a new era had 
 been ushered in by the new intellectual and religious 
 movement, and the advance of the modern spirit was not 
 to be checked even by the sovereign of Spain and the 
 Indies. 
 
 a. ENGLAND UNDER HENRY VIII. 
 
 55. In the year 1509 Henry VII., the first of the 
 Tudor line of English sovereigns, died, leav- Events at the 
 ing as heir to the throne a son, who is known accession. 
 
 to history as Henry VIII. The young king, at this time 
 eighteen years of age, was handsome, lively, accomplished, 
 and learned. Soon after his accession he married Kath- 
 arine of Aragon, widow of his brother Arthur, and aunt of 
 Charles V. of Spain. 
 
 56. The king soon became mixed up with continental 
 politics, into which he was drawn by the fact England's for- 
 that the two great sovereigns of France and ^'Sf" relations. 
 Spain who were his contemporaries, namely, Charles V. and 
 Francis I., both sought his alliance -in their wars. Henry 
 was generally on the side of the Emperor, and he more 
 than once invaded France ; but in truth nothing very great 
 was done by England on the Continent, and altogether the 
 most important events of Henry VIII.'s reign were con- 
 nected with matters that happened at home. 
 
 57. During the first twenty years of this reign the most 
 notable figure in political affairs was the cele- Greatness of 
 
 I- ^ J A-. T 1 Txr 1 XTT , , Cardinal Wol- 
 
 brated Cardmal Wolsey. Wolsey was the son sey. 
 of a butcher; but displaying while young great quick- 
 ness and intelligence, he received a learned education 
 with a view to his entering the Church. His first employ- 
 ment at court was in the humble office of chaplain; but 
 
326 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 becoming acquainted with the young monarch, he soon 
 grew to be a great favorite. He was made Archbishop 
 of York, then High Chancellor of England, and finally 
 became Henry's sole minister. 
 
 58. It was in the early part of this reign that the 
 The king and doctrines of Luthcr began to make a great 
 the Church. g^-jj. jj^ Europc. (Henry's accession, 1509; 
 Luther before the Diet of Worms, 1521.) At this time 
 the English people were ardently Roman Catholic in 
 faith, and Henry VIII. distinguished himself by writing 
 a book against the Lutheran doctrines. The Pope was 
 so much pleased with the production, that he gave the 
 English king the title of Defender of the Faith. How- 
 ever, Henry was not destined to continue long an ad- 
 herent of the Roman Pontiff, and we are now to see the 
 circumstances under which the great schism arose. 
 
 59. After Henry VIII. had lived eighteen years with 
 Beginning of his first wife, Katharine of Aragon, he pro- 
 troubies. * fcsscd to feel conscientious scruples respect- 
 ing the lawfulness of the marriage, on account of her hav- 
 ing been the wife of his brother. About the same time he 
 became enamored of the beautiful and fascinating Anne 
 Boleyn \bdbl'iji\^ one of the queen's attendants. He now 
 conceived the design of annulling his marriage with Katha- 
 rine and marrying this younger and more agreeable person. 
 To this end he applied to the Pope for a divorce. 
 
 60. The Pontiff (Clement VII.) was much perplexed by 
 The Pope and this request of Henry ; for he could not accede 
 Woisey. to \^ witho'.t offending Charles V., one of his 
 best supporters and the nephew of Queen Katharine. The 
 process went on for several years, but without reaching the 
 conclusion desired by the king. Woisey at length fell 
 under the king's displeasure for not acting with sufficient 
 zeal in the matter; he was stripped of all his places of 
 power and wealth, and, sinking under grief and mortifica- 
 
 i 
 
ENGLAND UNDER HENRY V//L 327 
 
 tion, he died in 1530. In his last moments he is said to 
 have exclaimed to his attendant, " Had I but served my 
 God as diligently as I have served my king, he would not 
 have given me over in my gray hairs." * 
 
 61. The negotiations with the Pope for the divorce went 
 on for two years longer, and endless tricks and Henry's deci- 
 subterfuges were resorted to by both parties. ^'^^ '^^^p* 
 
 At last in January, 1533, Henry took the final step 
 from which there was no retreat, — he secretly married 
 Anne Boleyn ; and as, soon afterwards, the piarriage with 
 Katharine was declared invalid by the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, Henry's private union with Anne Boleyn was 
 acknowledged, and on the 1st of June, 1533, she was 
 crowned queen, with imposing splendor. In the same year 
 was born their celebrated daughter Elizabeth. 
 
 62. History has pronounced a severe verdict on Henry 
 VIII. for his conduct in divorcing Queen verdict on his 
 Katharine. And there is no doubt that in conduct, 
 many respects it deserves condemnation. But recent histo- 
 rians, and especially Froude in his " History of England," 
 have endeavored to free the king from a considerable part 
 of the burden of blame. His defenders call attention to 
 the fact that Henry VIII. was moved by a public motive ; 
 to wit, the fear of civil war likely to break out, after his 
 death, on the question of disputed succession, owing to the 
 fact that he had no living son and heir by Katharine. It is 
 further urged that on this account the divorce was warmly 
 desired by the great body of the English nation. 
 
 * Shakespeare weaves this sentiment into the touching soliloquy oif 
 the Cardinal in the drama of Henry VIII. 
 
 " O Cromwell, Cromwell, 
 Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
 I served my king, he would not in mine age 
 Have left me uaked to mine enemies." 
 
 Henry VIII., Act iiL Scene 2. 
 
328 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 63. As regards the relations of the English people to the 
 The English Catholic Church, all that had been done thus 
 and the Pope. £^^ ^g^g ^q declare that the Pope had no juris- 
 diction in England. There was no thought of secession 
 from the unity of the Catholic faith, and this fact Parlia- 
 ment in 1534 took pains to declare. Nevertheless, events 
 soon led to a considerable widening of the breach. Thus 
 in this same year, 1534, the Pope declared King Henry 
 VIII. to be excommunicated from the fellowship of the 
 Church, and to have forfeited the allegiance of his subjects. 
 
 64. The English king now concluded that there was 
 What Henry nothing left but to meet defiance with defiance, 
 now did. Accordingly the Pope's authority in England 
 was declared to be abolished, and all persons were required 
 to take an oath of allegiance, which pronounced the mar- 
 riage with Katharine illegal, and the children by Anne 
 Boleyn the only rightful heirs. In addition. Parliament in 
 1534 passed an act declaring the king to be the Supreme 
 Head of the Church of England, and all who denied him 
 this title were to be held guilty of high treason. 
 
 65. This led to some terrible acts of persecution against 
 Persecution Catholics, whosc conscienccs forbade their 
 of Catholics. acknowledgment that the king was the head of 
 the Church. First a number of humble friars were put to 
 death. Then came nobler victims, — the venerable Bishop 
 Fisher, and the illustrious Sir Thomas More, who had been 
 Lord Chancellor after the disgrace of Wolsey, and who was 
 acknowledged to be the most learned and eloquent man in 
 England. 
 
 66. The happiness which the king had expected to find 
 Fate of Anne with Anne Boleyn was destined to be of brief 
 Boleyn. duration. In less than three years after the 
 marriage, charges of gross misconduct were brought against 
 her; she was brought to trial before a high court, and, 
 being found guilty, was condemned and beheaded, 1536. 
 
ENGLAND UNDER HENRY VTIT. 329 
 
 67. Hitherto, though professing independence of the 
 Church of Rome, Henry still maintained and changes in re- 
 enforced by bloody laws most of its doctrines. i'S*°"- 
 Now, however, he took measures for altering the system of 
 worship to something nearer the Lutheran model, and also 
 for suppressing the numerous monasteries throughout the 
 country. As many as 645 monasteries, 2374 chantries and 
 chapels, 90 colleges, and no hospitals were broken up by this 
 powerful but unscrupulous monarch. He partly seized the 
 revenues for his own use, and partly gave them away to the 
 persons who most actively assisted him. In the mean time 
 it was difficult to tell what the state religion really was; 
 for if not Catholicity, it was also not Protestantism. And, 
 indeed, for many years Henry vacillated so much in his 
 opinions, and enforced them with such severe enactments, 
 that many persons of both religions were burnt as heretics. 
 
 68. The day after the execution of Anne Boleyn, the 
 kins: married Jane Seymour : but in the follow- Henry's sub- 
 
 ° , ,. , , XX 1 -1 sequent mar- 
 
 mg year she died, and Henry then married riages. 
 Anne of Cleves, a German princess. He was not pleased 
 with her person, however; so he divorced her by an act of 
 Parliament. Next he married Catherine Howard (1540), 
 but had not been long united to her when he discovered 
 that she had been guilty of evil conduct both before and 
 since her marriage. The unfortunate woman was beheaded. 
 To close this tragic business of Henry's marriages, it may 
 be added that he took for his sixth wife Catherine Parr, 
 widow of Lord Latimer (1542). She seems to have been a 
 person of great discretion, who knew how to humor her 
 arbitrary lord, and she survived the king, whose death took 
 place five years afterwards. 
 
 69. Henry VIH. died in 1547, being in his fifty-sixth 
 year. The common verdict which has been Common ver- 
 pronounced on him by historians is that he vTii°" ^""^^ 
 was a remorseless tyrant. " If all the pictures and patterns 
 
330 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 of a merciless prince," says Sir Walter Raleigh, " were lost 
 in the world, they might ail again be painted to the life out 
 of the story of this king." " Perhaps no other monarch 
 since the emancipation of woman from polygamy," says 
 Mackintosh, "has put to death two wives on the scaffold, 
 divorced another whom he owned to be faultless after 
 twenty-four years of wedded friendship, and rejected a 
 fourth, without imputing blame to her, from the first im- 
 pulse of personal distrust." 
 
 70. In recent times a tendency to modify the rigor of 
 Milder judg- ^his judgment has shown itself. It is urged* 
 ments. ^^^^ ^^ examination of contemporary history 
 shows that for some of his arbitrary and seemingly cruel 
 acts he had proper justification, and that many other meas- 
 ures which we must regard as reprehensible were forced 
 upon him by the necessities of the difficult and perilous 
 times in which he and England found themselves. 
 
 71. Though Henry VI 11. ruled with a strong hand, his 
 Benefits of his reign was not unfavorable to the progress of 
 reign. liberty. He first made Parliament a real 
 power; and though that body was servile in doing his 
 bidding, yet it then learned its strength 
 and established precedents that were 
 afterwards used to humble the inso- 
 lence of kings. Though he struck at 
 the high heads, he favored the common- 
 alty: the taxes were light, the govern- 
 ment was energetic, and the people 
 
 Henry VIII. 
 
 were contented and well to do j so that, 
 
 in spite of his faults, his follies, and his 
 
 crimes, his reign tended, under Divine Providence, to the 
 
 prosperity and glory of England. 
 
 ♦ See Froude's History of England. 
 
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 33 1 
 
 3. RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 
 
 72. The name of the Netherlands is at present given 
 only to the kingdom of Holland. In the i6th Extent of the 
 century, however, that name denoted a cluster Netherlands, 
 of provinces extending from the Zuyder Zee and the Dollart 
 to the northern frontiers of France, and forming that tract 
 of fertile and alluvial land which is at present occupied by 
 the two kingdoms of Holland and Belgium. These prov- 
 inces were a part of the extensive dominion which the Em- 
 peror Charles V., on his abdication in 1556, resigned into 
 the hands of his son, Philip IL, King of Spain. 
 
 73. At this period the Netherlanders had by industry and 
 intelligence attained a high degree of prosper- spirit of the 
 ity. They were the boldest navigators and the pe°pie- 
 most skillful manufacturers in Europe. They were ardent 
 lovers of civil liberty, and they were now eagerly embracing 
 the principles of the Reformation. 
 
 74. This last fact was very offensive to Philip II. The 
 religious zeal of Charles V. had, in passing character of 
 into the gloomy character of his son, taken the p^»i»p- 
 form of a dark fanaticism. He was a silent, plotting, pa- 
 tient man, and, sitting in his palace of the Escurial, he wove 
 his webs of political intrigue. And now, above all, his 
 somber soul brooded on how the heresy that had spread 
 into the Low Countries might be rooted out, for he saw that 
 if this were not done, a separation between the Nether- 
 lands and the power of Spain was inevitable. 
 
 75. It was soon discovered that the king had resolved 
 to carry on the government in his own way. The quarrel 
 and independently of the will of the country as ^^e>"s. 
 expressed by the council of nobles. The next step was the 
 introduction of the terrors of the Inquisition. The people 
 rose in a species of frenzy, and within foui days no less than 
 four hundred churches, with everything they contained, were 
 
332 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 destroyed. This riotous outrage infuriated the king, and 
 accordingly he sent the Duke of Alva, a relentless soldier, 
 with a large force to crush the insurrection, 1567. Then 
 followed five years of dreadful work. The Duke of Alva, 
 at the head of the famous " Blood Council," seized, impris- 
 oned, and beheaded ; and in six months he had passed a 
 sentence of death upon every inhabitant of the country ! 
 
 76. In this sad situation the man to whom the Nether- 
 Events under landcrs looked for deliverance was William of 
 Orange. Nassau, Prince of Orange, and known in his- 
 tory as William the Silent. He was a Protestant, and now 
 took up the cause of the people. He led an army out of 
 Germany into the Netherlands ; but as the Spaniards held 
 all the fortified towns, he could for a time accomplish very 
 little. The capture of Brille (1572) was the first success. 
 Then the people of the province of Holland, under the 
 Prince of Orange, cast off the Spanish yoke. The province 
 of Zealand followed. Various towns were taken, and the 
 gallant defense of Harlem convinced Alva of the inability 
 of strong measures. He accordingly asked to be recalled, 
 
 1573. 
 
 77. Alva was succeeded by Requesens, commander of 
 Progress of Castilc, a man of mild disposition. The war 
 the war. g^j^ ^^^.^^ ^^ 'pj^g defense of Leyden (1574), 
 which was saved by cutting the dikes and flooding the 
 Spanish trenches, was a great blow to the pride and power 
 of the Spaniards. But they proved too powerful for the 
 two revolted provinces. Then the Dutch in their despair 
 offered the sovereignty of their country to Elizabeth of 
 England, but the virgin queen, though a Protestant, did 
 not then wish to interfere. The war raged as fiercely as 
 ever. 
 
 78. Meanwhile Requesens died ; and the Spanish garri- 
 Events to the SOU committed such atrocities at Antwerp that 
 
 death ofWil- „ . . ^ J • ^ • 11 J 
 
 liam. all the provmces entered mto a union called 
 
RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 333 
 
 the Pacification of Ghent (1576), William of Orange being 
 chosen chief magistrate, with the title of Stadtholder. The 
 struggling Dutch were able to confirm their constitution in 
 1579, when the Union of Utrecht formed the seven north- 
 ern provinces into the Dutch Republic, under the presi- 
 dency of William. 
 
 79. Philip II. had set a reward on the head of the Prince 
 of Orange, and the das^ger of an assassin de- Assassination 
 
 o ' f°. . . of William, and 
 
 prived the states of their able and patriotic the sequel, 
 leader. Their gratitude made them appoint his son Mau- 
 rice, a youth of eighteen, in his stead. He proved himself 
 a valiant captain in the war with Spain, which continued to 
 rage in the southern provinces. The Spanish general, the 
 Duke of Parma, took Antwerp, which was a great blow 
 to the states. Elizabeth now resolved to aid the Dutch. 
 The Earl of Leicester accordingly was sent with an English 
 force of 6000 men to Zutphen, near which the heroic Sid- 
 ney received his mortal wound. 
 
 80. The bitter contest continued for several years yet. 
 Towns were taken on both sides. The pa- stubbornness 
 tience of the Netherlandeis, however, sustained °^^^^ Dutch, 
 them through all their trials, and finally the Spanish com- 
 mander gave it as his opinion that the subjugation of the 
 United Provinces was impracticable. The pride of Spain 
 was reduced to treat with the Dutch as an independent 
 nation, and under the mediation of France and England 
 a truce for ten years was made, 1609. 
 
 81. Thus, after a severe struggle of thirty-seven years, 
 the independence of the Dutch Republic was „ 
 
 11 1 . .,« ^ ^ y Summing up. 
 
 secured, though it was not till the Peace of 
 Westphalia (1648) that this independence was acknowl- 
 edged by Spain. During the conflict the Dutch had in- 
 creased in wealth, had made extensive acquisitions in the 
 East Indies, and had established the most powerful navy 
 in Europe. 
 
334 MODERN HISTORY, 
 
 4. CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE. 
 
 82. The history of France during the latter half of the 
 Subject of the i^th century is mainly taken up with a series 
 chapter. q£ (.j^jj ^^^ religious wars between the Catho- 
 lics and Protestants within the country. 
 
 Connecting Note. — On the death of Francis I. {1547), the crown 
 passed to his son, Henry II., who was married to Catherine deMedicis, 
 a wily and artful Italian. After a reign of twelve years (1547- 1559) 
 he met his death accidentally at a tournament held in honor of the 
 marriage of his son Francis with Mary Queen of Scots. This son, a 
 sickly boy of sixteen, now ascended the throne under the title of Francis 
 11. The guardians of the feeble sovereign and managers of the Court 
 were the two brothers Guise, — Francis the general, and the Cardinal 
 of Lorraine, uncles of the fair young queen. The nominal sovereignty 
 under Francis II. lasted only seventeen months ; for at the end of that 
 time he died, and his young widow, Mary Queen of Scots, sighing a sad 
 farewell to beautiful France, sailed back to Scotland. Two other sons 
 besides Francis were left by Henry II. The eldest, Charles IX., was 
 now but nine years old ; so the queen-mother, Catherine de Medicis, 
 claimed the custody of her son, and became in fact, if not in name, 
 regent of the kingdom. This brings the train of events up to the epoch 
 at which begins a direful series of civil and religious wars. 
 
 83. Protestantism had taken root in France; but the 
 Form of French French Protcstants were followers, not of 
 Protestantism. Luther, but of John Calvin, a Frenchman by 
 birth, who had settled at Geneva. His teaching was a 
 greater departure from the doctrines of the Roman Church 
 than was that of Luther. The followers of Calvin grew to 
 be very numerous in France, where they were known by 
 the name of Huguenots.^ The Huguenots were cruelly 
 persecuted by Francis I., in whose reign they first came into 
 notice, as they were also by his successor Henry II., and 
 by his successor, Francis II. 
 
 * The name "Huguenot " is a corruption of the German word "Eid- 
 genossen," that is, persons associated by oath, — " Covenanters " 
 
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE 335 
 
 84. These persecutions were the underlying cause of a 
 series of wars which began in France in Nature of the 
 1562. It should be noted, however, that these "^^'^ ^^&«'^- 
 wars were quite as much political as religious ; for, so far as 
 the great actors were concerned, it was personal ambition 
 fully as much as religious zeal that animated them. We 
 must, accordingly, guard carefully against misinterpreting 
 the nature of this contest. For there were few on either 
 side that cared for the things in whose name they fought ; 
 while on both sides the most frightful crimes were com- 
 mitted in the name of religion. 
 
 85. During the brief reign of the feeble Francis II. the 
 all-powerful Guises, together with Catherine Antagonism 
 de Medicis, governed the country. This fact °^ *^^ leaders, 
 excited the anger and jealousy of the Princes de Bourbon, 
 who were of the blood royal, and claimed a direct descent 
 from Saint Louis. One of these princes, Antoine de Bour- 
 bon, enjoyed the title of King of Navarre ; another occu- 
 pied the principality of Conde. These nobles, being 
 excluded from all court influence, formed an opposition 
 party to the Guises. The Prince of Condd embraced the 
 Reformed religion and became a Huguenot, and his ex- 
 ample was followed by Admiral Coligny- \kol-len-ye''\ and 
 other powerful persons. The partisans of the opposing fac- 
 tions arranged themselves on the one side or on the other. 
 
 86. In 1562 an event happened which precipitated 
 France into civil war. The Duke of Guise, Events of the 
 passing through the little town of Vassy in ^^^* 
 Champagne, found some Protestants singing hymns in a 
 barn : his attendants insulted them ; blows were given and 
 returned, and sixty of the Protestants were killed. This 
 kindled the flame. For a year there was war, or rather 
 mutual massacre. The contest went on till the following 
 year, 1563, when hostilities were brought to a close by a 
 treaty; but this was soon broken, and between 1567 and 
 
336 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 1570 the whole period was a continuous war, interrupted 
 only by short and unsteady truces. The Treaty of St. 
 Germain (1570) put an end to the contest. 
 
 87. In the latter part of the contest the chief part on 
 Settlement by the Reformed side had been taken by the 
 marriage. young Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre, 
 who was next heir to the crown of France after the sons of 
 Henry H. To cement the peace a marriage was proposed 
 between the young king of Navarre and the Princess 
 Margaret, the beautiful sister of the king of France. The 
 proposal diffused universal joy, and both the Catholics and 
 the Protestants came to witness the nuptials, which were 
 celebrated on the i8th of August, 1572. 
 
 88. The events which led to the fearful tragedy that ac- 
 "Word of cau- compauicd this marriage have been so misrep- 
 **°"- resented by party writers on every side, that 
 it is desirable to state the facts as they have been narrated 
 by the principal actors themselves.* 
 
 89. Charles IX., feeble in body and weak in intellect, 
 Plots and I^^d just attained his legal majority, but the 
 counterplots, j-g^j power of the state was wielded by Cathe- 
 rine de Medicis. In some of his conversations with the 
 Protestant lords Charles complained very bitterly of the 
 state of thraldom in which he was held, and Coligny, com- 
 miserating the unhappy monarch, promised to aid in his 
 deliverance. The king soon began to vaunt of his design 
 to assume the reins of power and to remove his mother and 
 brother from the court. They took the alarm, and easily 
 discovering by whose counsels the king was influenced, re- 
 solved to assassinate the Admiral Coligny. The attempt 
 was made, but failed. When the Huguenot leaders discov- 
 ered the real instigators of the plot, they very imprudentiv 
 proclaimed their intention to exact heavy vengeance upoa 
 Catherine and her favorite son Henry. 
 
 * The following account is based mainly on the narrative of Tayler. 
 
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS WARS OF FRANCE. 337 
 
 90. In this emergency Catherine convoked a secret 
 council of her friends, and there it was re- Preparations 
 solved to strike, on the eve of St. Bartholomew, edy. 
 
 a blow that would effectually crush the Huguenot party. 
 Late ivk the evening of August 23d Catherine went to 
 Charles IX., accompanied by her chosen advisers, and told 
 him that the Protestants had formed a plan for the extermi- 
 nation of the royal family, which could be frustrated only 
 by the most immediate and decisive measures. The feeble 
 monarch, who was not many degrees removed from idiocy, 
 exhibited every sign of helpless alarm : whilst in this condi- 
 tion his mother placed before him the dreadful decree of 
 extermination, and demanded his signature. Charles at 
 first refused, and for some time it was doubtful whether his 
 consent would be obtained. At length he exclaimed, " I 
 consent, provided that you kill them all, and leave no sur- 
 vivor to reproach me." 
 
 91. On the night of August 23 - 24 the dreadful tragedy 
 known as the Massacre of St. Bartholomew Bartholomew's 
 began. The tocsin was sounded at two in the ^^^• 
 morning. All had been arranged beforehand, and the 
 participants carried a scarf on the left arm and a white 
 cross in the hat, for better distinction. Death reigned 
 throughout Paris j the Huguenots rushed out of their houses 
 half naked at the sound of the tocsin and the cries of their 
 brethren, and were slaughtered in the streets. Coligny 
 was one of the first victims ; but Henry of Navarre saved 
 his life from the personal fury of the king by promising to 
 go to mass. After three days of direful destruction there 
 fell a dead silence upon the streets of Paris, — there was 
 nobody left to slaughter. Ten thousand victims are said to 
 have fallen in the city. Royal orders were then forwarded 
 through the provinces for the renewal of the massacre, and 
 forty-five thousand more victims were sacrificed. 
 
 92. Queen Catherine and her son had anticipated as the 
 
 15 V 
 
338 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 result of this blow a reign of submission and the termina- 
 Conduct of the tion of the civil wars. But they were deceived. 
 Huguenots. -pj^g Huguenots, Utterly desperate, flew to arms : 
 the war broke out with greater fury than before, and it was 
 terminated only after a year of bloodshed. 
 
 93. Less than two years after the fatal night of St. Bar- 
 France under tholomcw, Charlcs IX. died at the age of twen- 
 Henry III. ty-four (1574). His brother, the third son of 
 Catherine de Medicis, now came to the throne with the title 
 of Henry III. During his reign of fifteen years France 
 was in a frightful state of anarchy, confusion, and bloodshed, 
 and in 1589 Henry III. died by the hand of an assassin. 
 With him the House of Valois, which had ruled in France 
 during more than two centuries and a half, became extinct. 
 
 94. The crown now came of right to Henry of Navarre, 
 Henry of Na- and indeed Henry III. had before his death 
 
 varre wins .,,.., , . t-» 
 
 the crown. rccognized his right to the succession. But 
 this prince, who now took the title of Henry IV. {Henri 
 Quatre), had to fight for his throne. He won two signal 
 victories over his enemies, at Arques \ark'] (1589) and at 
 Ivry (1590), and three years later he removed all grounds 
 of opposition by himself becoming a Catholic. 
 
 95. Henry IV., the first king of the House of Bourbon, 
 Settlement of was crowncd King of France and Navarre, 
 
 the religious . ^ ^ • ^ ^i. 
 
 disputes. 1594. His first carc was to terminate the re- 
 
 ligious disputes which had so long distracted the kingdom. 
 For this purpose he in 1508 promulgated the celebrated 
 Edict of Nantes, which re-t stiblished ,ill the favors that 
 had ever been granted to the Protestants by other princes.* 
 
 * The Edict of Nantes allowed the Trotestants the exercise of their 
 worship ; it left open to them admission to all employments ; established 
 in every parliament a chamber composed of magistrates of each relig- 
 ion ; tolerated the general assemblies of the Reformers ; authorized 
 them to raise taxes among themselves for the benefit of their church; 
 provided ministers for them ; and granted them fortified places of safety, 
 the principal of which was Rochelle'. 
 
AGE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 339 
 
 The Edict of Nantes put an end to the disastrous wars 
 which for thirty-six years had desolated the kingdom. 
 
 96. The administration of Henry IV. and of his saga- 
 cious minister Sully was a blessing to France ; France under 
 agriculture revived, commerce was restored, ^^"''y ^v. 
 new branches of industry were opened, and vexatious im- 
 posts abolished. The king became the most popular of 
 sovereigns, and, despite some weaknesses of character, was 
 unquestionably the most honorable and humane. 
 
 97. The career of Henry IV. was ended in the year 
 1610 by the hand of an assassin. On the 
 
 ,«•■««■ 1 '1' 1 11 His death. 
 
 14th of May, as he was ridmg through the 
 streets of Paris in his carriage, a fanatic named Ravaillac 
 \rd-vah-yakr\ mounte'd on the wheel, removed the leather 
 curtain, and reaching over stabbed the king with two blows, 
 of which the second was instantly fatal. Such was the end 
 of Henri Quatre, surnamed by some the Great, and by 
 others the Father of his People. 
 
 5. AGE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 98. The reign of Queen Elizabeth is in every respect 
 one of the greatest eras in English history. It character of 
 was an age of wonderful activity both material ^^^ ^^^• 
 and intellectual, an age of great fullness of national life ; 
 and this appeared in bold maritime enterprises, in deeds 
 that gave England a proud pre-eminence in the politics of 
 Europe, and in the most original and powerful literary crea- 
 tions ever witnessed. 
 
 99. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII. and 
 Anne Boleyn. She came to the throne at the Genealogy of 
 age of twenty-five, in the year 1558, that is, Elizabeth, 
 eleven years after the death of her father. 
 
 Connecting Note. — The interval between Henry VIII. and Eliza- 
 beth was filled by two brief reigns. 
 
 I. Reign of Edward VI. lasted for six years {1547- 1553). Edward, 
 
340 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 who was the son of Henry VI IT. by his third wife, Jane Seymour, was 
 but ten years old when his father died ; so the government was placed 
 in the hands of one of the great nobles, Somerset, named the Protector ; 
 but Somerset was brought to the scaffold by another of the great lords, 
 named Warwick. Warwick married his son to the Lady Jane Grey, a 
 beautiful and accomplished princess of the blood royal ; and when the 
 young king Edward died at sixteen (1553), Warwick caused Lady Jane 
 Grey to assume the crown. However, she can hardly be said to have 
 worn it, for in ten days a stronger party set Mary, daughter of Henry 
 VIII. by his first wife, Katharine of Aragon, on the throne. Mary caused 
 Lady Jane Grey and her husband to be beheaded. 
 
 2. Reign of Mary lasted for five years {1553 -1558). Under Edward 
 the Protestant party had held sway in England ; but Mary, who was an 
 ardent Catholic, caused all the laws in regard to Protestantism to be re- 
 pealed, and many men were burned for their religion. The chief scene 
 of these tragedies was Smithfield, in London. ^ In order to strengthen 
 herself against the Protestant interest, she married Philip II. of Spain, 
 son of the Emperor Charles V. ; but the people, who detested the Span- 
 ish alliance, took care that Philip should have no power in England, — 
 and on the whole the result was to withdraw the English more and 
 more from the Pope. With the death of Mary in 1558 came a new turn 
 of affairs. 
 
 100. From the peculiar circumstances of her birth, Eliza- 
 Views as to beth's right of succession was denied by all the 
 the succession. Catholics at liome and abroad. By the Cath- 
 olic party in England the person looked upon as the legiti- 
 mate sovereign was the then young, beautiful, and fasci- 
 nating Mary Queen of Scots.* 
 
 101. Under these circumstances Elizabeth deemed that 
 her best course lay in restoring and maintaining the Prot- 
 
 * Mary of Scotland was the daughter of James V. of Scotland, and 
 grand-niece of Henry VIII. This princess, celebrated in history as 
 Mary Queen of Scots, had been brought up in the Catholic faith at the 
 court of France. In 1559 (the year after that in which Elizabeth came to 
 the throne) Mary was married to the Dauphin of France who, the next 
 vear, by the death of his father, became king of France, under the title of 
 Francis II. In the following year, however (1560), Francis IL died, and 
 in 1 561 Mary returned to Scotland to assume the personal government 
 of that country. 
 
AGE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 34 1 
 
 estant religion in her own country, and in seeking to support 
 it in all otliers where the people were favorable Elizabeth's 
 to it. Accordingly, soon after her accession v^^^'^y- 
 two celebrated acts — the Supremacy Bill and the Act of 
 Uniformity — were passed for the purpose of crushing the 
 political influence of Catholicism. By the Supremacy Bill 
 all clergymen and all holding offices under the crown were 
 compelled to take an oath ascribing to Elizabeth all power 
 both in the Church and State of England, and abjuring the 
 temporal and spiritual jurisdiction of any foreign prince or 
 prelate; the Act of Uniformity prohibited any one from 
 attending the ministry of any clergyman who was not of the 
 established religion. These laws were enforced with great 
 severity, and under them many Catholics suffered death. 
 
 102. It was at this time that the Puritans arose in Eng- 
 land. Many Protestants who had fled to the Rise of Puri- 
 Continent from the persecution under Mary, danism, 
 returned on the accession of Elizabeth. For a time they 
 reunited themselves with the Church of England ; but being 
 pressed to acknowledge the authority of Elizabeth as Su- 
 preme Head of the Church, they separated from that body 
 in a few years. As they professed a desire to establish a 
 purer form of worship, they received in derision the name 
 of Puritans. As they refused also to be bound by the 
 Acts of Supremacy and of Uniformity,* they were fined 
 and imprisoned in great numbers during the rest of this 
 reign. 
 
 103. Mary Queen of Scots had in 1561 returned to Scot- 
 land. After seven stormy years there she was The Queen of 
 compelled to flee across the border (her in- ^^°'^' 
 
 fant son being proclaimed King of Scotland under the title 
 of James VI. t), and came to implore the pity of Elizabeth. 
 
 * From this fact the Puritans are often called Nonconformists. 
 t James VI. of Scotland became, on the death of Elizabeth, King of 
 England, under the title of James I. See p. 350. 
 
342 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 The English queen imprisoned her in Bolton, Tutbury, and 
 Fotheringay castles for eighteen years. 
 
 104. During this time Elizabeth was constantly harassed 
 Plots and by plots formed by her Catholic subjects in be- 
 their result, j^^jf qJ ^^ Quccu of Scots. An act was passed 
 declaring that any person by or for whom any plot should 
 be made against the Queen of England should be guilty of 
 treason. When, soon after, a gentleman named Babington 
 formed a conspiracy for assassinating Elizabeth and placing 
 Mary on the throne, the latter became liable to the punish- 
 ment for treason. She was subjected to a formal trial in 
 her prison of Fotheringay Castle, and found guilty. 
 
 105. The warrant for her execution was delayed by the 
 The death- rcluctance — real or pretended — of Elizabeth, 
 warrant. ^|- j^ist the qucen signed the warrant, and 
 sent her secretary, Davidson, with it to the chancellor, that 
 it might receive the great seal. Recalling this order next 
 day, she found that she was too late : the seal was affixed, 
 and the warrant was on the way to Fotheringay. There, 
 in one of the castle halls, in the gray light of a February 
 morning (1587), Mary Stuart, aged forty-five, was beheaded. 
 
 106. The Catholic powers of the Continent formed many 
 
 schemes for annoying: or dethroning Elizabeth, 
 
 The Armada. . , ^ n i • . i • ^ • 
 
 and these finally culminated in a great invasion 
 by Spain. The Invincible Armada, the most formidable 
 fleet ever seen up to that time, was fitted out against Eng- 
 land. This armament consisted of 129 ships, 3000 can- 
 non, and 20,000 men, while 34,000 additional land forces 
 prepared to join from the Netherlands. 
 
 107. In July, 1588, the Armada entered the English 
 Account of Channel. Thirty vessels prepared to meet the 
 the action. Spanish fleet. The command was taken by 
 Lord Howard of Effingham. The English fleet attacked 
 the Armada in the Channel, and was found to have a con- 
 siderable advantage in the lightness and manageableness of 
 
AGE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 343 
 
 the vessels. After seven days, only three of which passed 
 without warm actions, though there was no decisive engage- 
 ment, the Spanish fleet was so harassed and damaged that 
 it was forced to take shelter in the roads of Calais. The 
 English during the night sent in fire-ships, which destroyed 
 several vessels, and threw the others into such confusion 
 that the Spaniards no longer thought of victory, but of es- 
 cape. At daybreak they were attacked by Howard, Drake, 
 
 .-r-x 
 
 The Armada. 
 
 and Lord Henry Seymour, and though the Spaniards fought 
 gallantly, they were completely at disadvantage ; in sea- 
 manship and gun practice they were inferior to their adver- 
 saries, and their great floating castles were no match for 
 the active little English vessels. Had not the queen's ill- 
 timed parsimony kept her fleet insufficiently supplied with 
 powder, the Armada would have been destroyed. As it was, 
 the Spanish leader, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, attempted 
 to return home by sailing round the north of Scotland ; but 
 dreadful storms arose, scattering the fleet about in the seas 
 of Scotland and Ireland ; and of the triumphant navy that 
 sailed from Lisbon but a third part returned in a wretched 
 state to tell of the calamity. 
 
 I08. This success was regarded as a triumph, not so 
 much of England as of the Protestant cause Effect of the 
 throughout Europe ; it virtually established the victory, 
 independence of the Dutch, raised the courage of the Hu- 
 
344 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 guenots in France, and completely destroyed the decisive 
 influence that Spain had acquired in the affairs of Europe. 
 
 109. The years following the defeat of the Armada 
 England as- wcrc years of splendor and triumph. The 
 cendant. fl^g Qf England became supreme on the seas ; 
 English commerce penetrated to the farthest corners of the 
 Old World, and English colonies rooted themselves on the 
 shores of the New ; while the national intellect, stimulated 
 by the excitement of sixty years, took shape in a literature 
 which is an eternal possession to mankind.* 
 
 110. At this time the chief articles exported from Eng- 
 Commerce and ^^.ud to the Continent were wool, cloth, lead, 
 manufactures. ^^^ ^-j^. Formerly these had been sent in 
 vessels belonging to the Hanse Towns ; but now English 
 ships were substituted for this trade. Birmingham and 
 Sheffield were already thriving seats of the hardware man- 
 ufacture, and Manchester was becoming distinguished for 
 making cottons, rugs, and friezes. Stocking-weaving and 
 the rnaking of sail-cloth, serge, and baize, took their rise in 
 this reign. The progress of other arts was much favored 
 by the bloody persecutions in the Netherlands, which drove 
 into England great numbers of weavers, dyers, cloth-dress- 
 ers, etc. 
 
 111. Amongst the wealthier classes the wearing of 
 Increase of handsome apparel, and of gold ornaments and 
 luxury. jewelry, made a great advance. Coaches were 
 introduced, but for a time were thought fit for the use only 
 of ladies. Great improvements were made in the building 
 of houses. Theatrical amusements were begun and became 
 very popular, though only in London. The smoking of to- 
 bacco was introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh, who became 
 acquainted with the plant in "Virginia." 
 
 112. During forty years of her reign Elizabeth was 
 guided by the advice of Lord Burleigh, a wise and cool- 
 
 * Froude, History of England, 
 
AGE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 345 
 
 tempered statesman. He rose to be Lord Treasurer, and 
 by his policy greatly increased the revenue of Elizabeth's 
 the kingdom. Sir Francis Walsingham, too, "Ministers, 
 as Secretary of State, enjoyed much of Elizabeth's favor. 
 
 113. It is remarkable that while Elizabeth increased in 
 power and resources, she became more noted 
 
 for feminine weaknesses. Her favorite in 
 middle life was Robert, Earl of Leicester, a profligate 
 and a trifler. In her latter days she listened to the ad- 
 dresses of the Earl of Essex, a young man of greater 
 courage and better principle, but also headstrong and weak. 
 Essex, who had acquired popularity by several brilliant 
 military enterprises, began at length to assume an in- 
 solent superiority over the queen, who was on one occa^ 
 sion so much provoked by his rudeness as to give him a 
 hearty box on the ear. Notwithstanding all his presump- 
 tion and caprices, the queen still dotingly forgave him, 
 until he at length attempted to raise an insurrection 
 against her in the streets of London, when he was seized 
 and condemned to die. He might still have been par- 
 doned, if a ring given to him by the queen in some moment 
 of tenderness, to be sent to her when any danger hung over 
 him, had reached her. It never came, and Essex was be- 
 headed in the Tower, aged thirty-four. 
 
 114. Some two years later the queen was entreated to 
 visit the Countess of Nottingham, who was story of 
 dying. This lady confessed that Essex had Elizabeth, 
 mtrusted the ring to her to be carried to Elizabeth ; but 
 that she, influenced by her husband, a bitter enemy of the 
 earl, had not delivered it. Rage and grief seized the 
 queen ; and it is said that she shook the dying countess in 
 her bed. 
 
 115. Never happy since the death of Essex, she sank 
 under this blow. Ten days and nights she „ . . 
 lay on cushions on the floor, taking neither 
 
346 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 Her character. 
 
 food nor medicine; and then falling into a heavy sleep 
 she died, March 24, 1603. She was in her seventieth year. 
 116. In Elizabeth's reign of forty-five years England 
 advanced politically and commercially from 
 the position of a second-rate to that of a first- 
 rate power. It follows that she was a sovereign of very 
 remarkable ability. Yet her 
 character was a strange blend- 
 ing of the base and the noble, 
 the weak and the strong. She 
 bribed and bullied and de- 
 ceived, and to the cruelty of a 
 Tudor she added personal van- 
 ity and insatiable fondness for 
 
 flattery and admiration. Still \'^^^^^^^^^^§^^^f ^ 
 she had royal traits, and the cM^^^^P^'^w'm \ 
 heart of a king^ and all she did 
 
 was for her country. Through- The Virgin Queen. 
 
 out her long and agitated reign her constant object was the 
 glory of her realm, the establishment of a united and irre- 
 sistible bulwark against foreign oppression and domestic 
 disunion. The proud pre-eminence which England held 
 before all Europe while Elizabeth grasped the scepter is 
 the noblest epitaph on the Virgin Queen. 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE i6TH CENTURY. 34/ 
 
 GREAT NAMES OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 
 ARTISTS, 
 
 Michel Angelo (1475- 1564), an Italian sculptor, painter, and archi- 
 tect. He flourished under the patronage of Lorenzo de Medici. His 
 works are characterized by exceeding massiveness and grandeur. He 
 superintended St. Peter's, but did not live to complete the dome. 
 
 Raphael ( 1483 - 1520), an Italian painter of great distinction. Madonnas 
 and sacred pieces chiefly employed his brush. His great work in 
 
 Michel Angelo. 
 
 Raphael. 
 
 Rome was the decoration of the walls of the Vatican. After producing 
 immortal works, he died at the age of thirty-seven. 
 
 Titian (1477- 1576). a Venetian portrait and landscape painter. His 
 chief works are at Venice and Madrid. By many he is considered the 
 prince of colorists. 
 
 Albert DUrer (1471 - 1528), a German painter, engraver, and sculptor. 
 He is entitled the Father of German painting, and has certainly the 
 pre-eminence. His best paintings are Christian Martyrs in Persia^ 
 Adoration of the Holy Trinity, and other sacred subjects. 
 
 Holbein (1498- 1543), next to Durer the most distinguished of German 
 artists. The greater part of his life was spent in England, under the 
 patronage of Henry VIII. He was celebrated for his portraits. 
 
 WRITERS. 
 
 Spenser, Edmund (i553-i599). one of England's greatest poets. 
 His chief work is the Faerie Queen, an allegorical poem, written in 
 stanzas of nine lines each, called the Spenserian stanza. It is not now 
 much read, for the diction is archaic, and the poem lacks anything like 
 strong human interest ; but the Faerie Queen exhibits exquisite sweet- 
 ness of language, pure and tender feeling, and fine imagination. 
 
348 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 William Shakespeare (1564- 1616), the greatest creative genius that 
 ever lived. He was born at Stratford-on-Avon, where he lies buried. 
 Removing, when a young man, to London, he 
 became an actor, a manager of a theater, and 
 a playwright. Ilis fame rests on his dramas, 
 of which he wrote thirty-seven. Among the 
 greatest are Macbeth^ King Lear, Hamlet^ 
 Othello, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tem- 
 pest, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Ju- 
 liet, and Julius Ccesar. Shakespeare has been 
 called the " Myriad-minded." Some authors 
 may be said to equal him in a particular point, 
 Shakespeare. ^^j. j^q ^azxi ever possessed his wonderlul 
 
 power of searching out and exhibiting the workings of the human heart 
 Sidney, Sir Philip (1554- 1586), a courtier of Queen Elizabeth, who 
 called him the "jewel of her dominions." Though he did not write 
 for publication, being a man of the court and the camp, he had a fine 
 poetic temperament, and he produced two works that had a powerful 
 influence on the intellectual spirit of his age. These were The Ar- 
 cadia, a heroic romance, now but little read, and the Defense of Poesie, 
 one of the earliest pieces of English criticism. 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter (1552-1618), also a courtier, a soldier, and an 
 adventurer, and necessarily a man rather of deeds than of the pen, is 
 known for one celebrated work, — his History of the World. Although 
 of course superseded in matters of fact by later works, it is regarded 
 as a model of style, and contains passages of lofty eloquence. He was 
 also a poet of no mean ability, and a great friend of Spenser. Raleigh 
 was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth ; but he incurred the displeasure of 
 James I., and was beheaded on a groundless charge of treason. 
 Cervantes {1547- 1616), a renowned Spanish writer. He led an ad- 
 venturous life, even falling into the hands of pirates, and being sold 
 into slavery. He wrote numerous plays and tales, but his immortal 
 work is Don Quixote, one of the finest pieces of humor ever penned. 
 Rabelais (1483 - 1553), a famous French satirist. He was a priest, 
 and wrote a book called the Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel. It 
 vividly illustrates the first half of the i6th century, but is immoral. 
 Montaigne (1533- 1592), the most lovable of French skeptics. He 
 was a judge and mayor of Bordeaux ; but after the Bartholomew mas- 
 sacre he retired from the court to the solitude of his own chateau. 
 Here he jotted down the observations on life and manners which were 
 afterwards published as his Essays. His motto was Que sais-Je? 
 (What do I know ?) The Essays were early translated into English, 
 and have been largely read ever since. 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE iGTII CENTURY. 349 
 
 Ariosto (1474- 1533), an Italian poet, whose great work was Orlando 
 Furioso. The Emperor Charles V. created him laureate. 
 
 Tasso (1544- 1595), an Italian poet, who celebrated the First Crusade 
 in beautiful language in his Jerusalem Delivered. 
 
 Camoens {1524- 1579), the only Portuguese poet of European reputa- 
 tion. His great poem is the Lusiad^ which celebrates the chief actors 
 in and events of Portuguese history. 
 
 PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS. 
 
 Copernicus (1473- 1545). ^ celebrated German astronomer. He was 
 
 the first to question the ancient 
 theory of the heavens (called the 
 Ptolemaic theorj-), which taught that 
 the earth was the centre round which 
 all the heavenly bodies revolved. 
 This doctrine had remained unques- 
 tioned for fifteen hundred years, 
 when Copernicus demonstrated its 
 falsity. He feared, however, to 
 shock general belief by publishing 
 his proof, and his great work, De 
 Orbium Celestium Revolutionibus, was 
 finally published by a cardinal, and 
 dedicated to Pope Paul III., himself 
 a mathematician, — a politic step to secure himself from attack. 
 Galileo (1564- 1642), a celebrated Italian astronomer. He adopted 
 the Copemican system, and making use of the then recent invention 
 of spectacle-glasses, he contrived a telescope with two such glasses in 
 a leaden tube. By the aid of this instrument he discovered the satel- 
 lites of Jupiter, the ring of Saturn, and the moonlike phases of Venus. 
 Twice he was carried before the Court of Inquisition to renounce the 
 theory of the earth's rotation, which he had put forth in his System 
 of the World. He publicly recanted, to escape torture, but on rising 
 from the ground is said to have exclaimed in an undertone : E pur si 
 muove, — " It does move, for all that ! " * 
 Tycho-Brahe (1546- 1601), an astronomer of Copenhagen. Frederick 
 II. of Denmark erected an observatory on the island of Huen, and 
 there Tycho-Brahe was established for many years, making astronom- 
 ical observations that were of great value. 
 
 • It should be said that the letters of Galileo's daughter discredit this storjt 
 
350 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GREAT EVENTS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 ( England under the Stuarts. 
 TOPICS...^ The Thirty Years' War. 
 i The Age of Louis XIV. 
 
 1. ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 
 
 117. Elizabeth was the last of the Tudors. On her 
 
 death, in 1603, James VI. of Scotland, son 
 of Mary Queen of Scots, succeeded to the 
 throne, and took the title of James I. of England.* With 
 James I. begins the Stuart period of English history, — an 
 eventful period, comprising six reigns and covering the 
 whole of the 17th century, f 
 
 118. The distinctive feature of this period is the arduous 
 Stuarts and and continuous strusfpfle on the part of the 
 
 Tudors con- , . , , . , 
 
 trasted. people agamst the arbitrary and unconstitu- 
 
 tional government of the Stuart sovereigns. The Tudors 
 had been despots, but they ruled with vigor and tact. The 
 Stuarts, at least James I., the two Charleses, and James II., 
 had none of the rugged sense of Henry VIII. and his great 
 daughter Elizabeth ; — and, besides, times were changed, for 
 
 * James VI. of Scotland was the nearest living lineal descendant of 
 Henry VII. Strictly speaking, his claim to the crown was not perfect ; 
 but Elizabeth on her death-bed declared as her will that her successor 
 should be " her cousin of Scotland." 
 
 t James I. (son of Mary 
 
 Queen of Scots) 1603 
 
 Charles I. (son) 1625 
 
 [The Commonwealth and 
 
 > Cromwell] 1649 
 
 Charles II. (son of Charles 
 
 I.) 1660 
 
 A- D. 
 
 James II. (brother) 1685 
 
 William III. (nephew), and 
 
 Mary II. (daughter) .... 1689 
 Anne (daughter of James 
 
 II.) 1702 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 35 1 
 
 the English people had in the mean time been advancing 
 greatly in intelligence/ and consequently in the love of lib- 
 erty. Blind to this significant fact, James I. no sooner came 
 to the throne than he began to proclaim that the king, by 
 Divine right to the crown, was above all laws. This is the 
 famous Stuart doctrine of the "Divine Right of Kings," 
 — on which doctrine James I. was almost crazed, and 
 which he transmitted to his son, Charles I. 
 
 119. In carrying out this policy he was guilty of the most 
 arbitrary and illegal measures, — imprisoning james and his 
 members of Parliament, and raising money by Parliament, 
 forced loans, Star-Chamber fines, and " benevolences." But 
 Parliament gained some important advantages. They de- 
 clared against monopolies and royal proclamations not au- 
 thorized by Parliament ; they secured their right of impeach- 
 ment and of deciding disputed elections ; and finally, when 
 James told them they had no right to interfere in state affairs, 
 they recorded the memorable protest that the " Liberties of 
 Parliament are the undoubted birthright of the subjects of 
 England ; that all matters of debate are fit subjects for dis- 
 cussion there ; that every member has a right to freedom of 
 speech ; and that no member can be lawfully imprisoned or 
 molested for his conduct in Parliament, except by order of 
 the House itself." 
 
 120. The reign of James I. was not marked by what are 
 usually called great events. This was owing characteristics 
 to his timid character, which induced him to °^ *^'^ '^^'^"• 
 maintain peace, at whatever sacrifice, throughout the greater 
 part of his reign. On the other hand, it may be said that 
 under the rule of this king the nation took greatly to trade 
 and maritime enterprise, and increased rapidly in wealth 
 and intelligence. 
 
 121. James I. was an oddity in human character. His 
 appearance was awkward, chiefly from the character of 
 weakness of his knees. He was weak, obstinate, J^mea i. 
 
352 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 and conceited. He made a great show of his learning, 
 which was considerable, and he wrote several books ; but 
 he was exceedingly pedantic. The French statesman, Sully, 
 called him " the wisest fool in Europe," and the phrase ex- 
 actly paints his character. 
 
 122. The respect of the English people for royalty was 
 Temper of ^ot increased by the policy or character of 
 Charles I. Jamcs I., and the folly of that king descended 
 to his son, Charles I., who came to the throne at the age of 
 twenty-five (1625). He had a higher notion than even his 
 father of the " Divine Right of Kings to govern wrong." 
 
 123. At the time of the accession of Charles I. a foolish 
 His dealings war with Spain was going on. The Parlia- 
 ment, ment having refused to grant the funds neces- 
 sary for continuing it, the king raised money by illegal 
 means. A general discontent spread over the nation. The 
 Commons, seeing that, if the king could support the state 
 by self-raised taxes, he would soon become independent of 
 all control from his parliaments, resolved to take every 
 measure in their power to check his proceedings. They 
 also assailed him respecting a right, which he assumed, of 
 impi:isoning his subjects upon his own warrant and detain- 
 ing them as long as he pleased. Having made an inquiry 
 into the ancient powers of the crown, before these powers 
 had been vitiated by the tyrannical Tudors, they embodied 
 the result in what was called a Petition of Right. With great 
 difficulty Charles was prevailed on to give his sanction to 
 this bill (1628); but soon afterwards his dispute with Par- 
 liament ran to such a height that he dissolved it in a fit of 
 Indignation, resolving nevermore to call it together. 
 
 124. For some years Charles governed the country en- 
 Progress of tircly as an irresponsible despot, levying taxes 
 despotism. ]-jy j^jg Q^j^ orders, and imprisoning such per- 
 sons as were obnoxious to him, in utter defiance of the 
 Petition of Right. How long the English people would 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 353 
 
 have borne the tyranny it is impossible to say: events 
 soon occurred that precipitated a struggle. The Scots, 
 whom Charles had roused to revolt by trying to force on 
 them the liturgy of the Church of England, crossed the 
 border in arms, and then it became necessary to summon 
 Parliament. 
 
 125. In 1640 the memorable assembly known in his- 
 torv as the Lonz Parliament* came together. Action of the 
 
 J ^ ° Long Parlia- 
 
 They resolved to curb the royal power and ment. 
 remove the grievances under which the nation had groaned 
 for the past eleven years. The king himself at last saw 
 that the torrent was irresistible, and resolved, though too 
 late, to give way to it. By the Triennial Bill it was 
 enacted that there should be a Parliament at least every 
 three years. Strafford and Laud, who were blamed as the 
 authors of the king's obstructive policy, were brought to 
 the block. The court of " Star-Chamber " was abolished. 
 Finally a bill was passed declaring that Parliament should 
 not be dissolved without their own consent. 
 
 126. By the month of November, 1641, all the abuses 
 of which* complaint had been made were re- The situation 
 moved ; and as the king by his concessions '" ^^4'- 
 
 had gained many friends, it seemed that all the troubles 
 were now at an end. But it is the nature of a revolutionary 
 movement that it gains as it goes on. The leaders of the 
 Opposition, still distrustful of the king's sincerity, resolved 
 that they would have a guaranty for the future. They ac- 
 cordingly passed in Parliament a measure called the Remon- 
 strance^ setting forth all the faults of the king's government, 
 and expressing the distrust with which his policy was still 
 regarded. 
 
 127. That the Radicals were right in their judgment of 
 the temper of the king was soon made mani- The explosion 
 fest by a despotic act committed by him. comes. 
 
 * So called because it sat for more than thirteen years. 
 
 w 
 
354 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 Early in 1642 Charles, in order to overawe the refractory 
 Commons, demanded the surrender of five of the most trou- 
 blesome members on a charge of treason. They were not 
 given up, and on the following day the king went to the 
 House, accompanied by a considerable number of armed 
 men, to seize them. They were, however, designedly ab- 
 sent. This violation of the Constitution alarmed the Com- 
 mons. There was great indignation against the king, for 
 he had insulted the nation. He left the capital and went 
 to York. 
 
 128; For some months messages passed between the 
 Steps towards king and the Parliament ; but there was no 
 civil war. desire to yield on either side. At last the Par- 
 
 liament demanded that he should give up the command of the 
 army. He refused, and Civil War became inevitable. 
 
 129. On the side of the king were the nobles, the clergy, 
 Cavaliers and and a majority of the country gentlemen. We 
 Roundheads, j^^y call these the Royalists ; but in that time 
 they received the name of Cavaliers. On the side of Parlia- 
 ment were the tradesmen and shopkeepers of the towns, the 
 yeomanry, a considerable number of the country gentlemen, 
 and a few of the nobility. The Opposition, or Parliamenta- 
 rians, were called in derision Eoundheads, from the Puritan 
 fashion of wearing closely cropped hair.* 
 
 130. On the 25th of August, 1642, the royal standard 
 General sketch was unfurled at Nottingham. In the following 
 War. month the opening battle was fought at Edge- 
 hill ; and, though indecisive, it enabled the king to approach 
 London and produce considerable alarm. He then retired 
 to Oxford, and negotiations were entered into which proved 
 unavailing. From Edgehill (1642) to Colchester (1648) we 
 may count six years of strife, and the names of the princi- 
 
 * Perhaps we may regard the Whigs and Tories who sprang up in 
 England in the following century, as well as the Liberals and Conserva- 
 tives of modern England, as in some respects the representatives of the 
 principles of the Roundheads and Cavaliers respectively. 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 
 
 355 
 
 pal actions will be found in the note below.* During the 
 first two campaigns the • Royalists were generally success- 
 ful ; but after that, and especially onward from Marston 
 Moor, the Roundheads were victorious. 
 
 131. The first leader on the side of the Roundheads was 
 the Earl of Essex : but a greater than he was First appear- 
 
 A ^ T- 1 1 Ml ^ • r ^"cs of Crom- 
 
 soon to appear. At Edgehill a captam of well, 
 horse named Oliver Cromwell had fought in the army of the 
 Parliament. He was then about forty years of age (born 
 1599)) and had up to that time lived a peaceful country 
 life in Huntingdon. As a member of the Long Parlia- 
 ment he was known chiefly as a man of homely manners, 
 slovenly dress, and rough-and-ready speech. 
 
 132. Cromwell had been captain of a troop of horse at 
 Edgehill ; after that he became a colonel of cav- His advance- 
 
 i -r-r , . . , , ment and con- 
 
 airy, lie put his regiment under the severest duct. 
 
 discipline, and soon Cromwell's "Ironsides" became famous. 
 
 * The following table exhibits the leading battles of the Civil 
 War: — 
 
 P. means Parliamentarian ; R. means Royalist. 
 
 NAME. 
 
 Edgehill 
 
 Reading (siege) . . . . 
 Chalgrove Field . . . 
 Athertoon Moor . . . 
 
 Lansdowne 
 
 Round way Down . . 
 
 Bristol (siege) 
 
 1st Newbury 
 
 Nantwich 
 
 Cropredy Bridge . . 
 Marston Moor . . . . 
 
 2d Newbury 
 
 Naseby 
 
 Bridgewater (siege), 
 
 Bristol (siege) 
 
 Pembroke 
 
 Colchester 
 
 DATE. 
 
 RESULT. 
 
 1642 
 
 Indecisive. 
 
 1643 
 
 P. victory. 
 
 1643 
 
 R. " 
 
 1643 
 
 R. « 
 
 1643 
 
 R. " 
 
 1643 
 
 R " 
 
 1643 
 
 R. " 
 
 1643 
 
 P. " 
 
 1644 
 
 P. « 
 
 1644 
 
 R. " 
 
 1644 
 
 P. « 
 
 1644 
 
 Indecisive. 
 
 1645 
 
 P. victory. 
 
 1645 
 
 P. 
 
 1645 
 
 P. " 
 
 1648 
 
 P. " 
 
 1648 
 
 P. « 
 
356 MODERN HISTOR Y. 
 
 After two or three years the army was remodeled ; and then, 
 though Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed commander-in- 
 chief of the Parliamentary forces, yet the real captain was 
 Cromwell, who received the rank of Lieutenant-General. 
 Then was organized that army, — the most wonderful ever 
 seen, and the very embodiment of Cromwell's own fervent 
 Puritan soul, — composed of stern, religious men, who prayed 
 when they did not fight, and who, marching to battle with 
 the singing of psalms, scattered like chaff the licentious and 
 roistering Royalists. Naseby (1645) "^^^s the decisive bat- 
 tle of the war ; for there the king was so completely beaten 
 that he and his party could no longer keep the field. 
 
 133. Meantime the Puritans had become divided into 
 The two i*un- two parties : the one, called Presbyterian^ and 
 tan factions, consisting of the majority of Parliament, was 
 desirous only of limiting the power of the king ; the other, 
 called Jndepejjdenf, and embracing the leaders of the army, 
 was bent upon the destruction of the throne. Cromwell 
 became the leader of the Independents. 
 
 134. After the disaster of Naseby the king fled to the 
 The king and Scots, who, howevcr, gavc him up to Parlia- 
 Cromweii. mcnt ; but Cromwell caused Charles to be 
 seized and confined as a prisoner at Hampton Court. Much 
 negotiation now went on between the king and the two par- 
 ties, and indeed at one time a satisfactory arrangement was 
 made between Charles and the Parliament for the settle- 
 ment of all difficulties. This alarmed the leaders of the 
 army ; and under the direction of Cromwell measures were 
 taken to clear the House of Commons of all members op- 
 posed to their plans. For this purpose Colonel Pride, with 
 an armed force, barred the door of the House of Commons, 
 and thus prevented the entrance of more than a hundred 
 members opposed to the army party (December, 1648). 
 This high-handed act was called Prides Purge. The re- 
 maining fifty or sixty members, all of whom were Indepen- 
 dents, received the nickname of the " Rump." 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 357 
 
 135. This remnant proceeded to nominate a High Court 
 of Justice for the trial of King Charles. The Trial of the 
 court sat in Westminster Hall, and Charles *'^"^- 
 
 was brought to the bar January 20, 1649. The king en- 
 tered a dignified protest against the right of the court to 
 try him. This, however, availed him nothing ; lengthy evi- 
 dence was given, and on the 27th he was condemned to 
 execution as a " tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy." 
 
 136. The sentence was carried out January 30, in front 
 of the banqueting-hall of Whitehall Palace. His execu- 
 Soldiers surrounded the black scaffold, on ^^°"- 
 which stood two masked headsmen beside the block. Even 
 at the last moment, with " the ruling passion strong in 
 death," the king declared that the people had no right to any 
 part in the government. He then calmly placed his head on 
 the block and gave the signal. One blow, and all was over ; 
 and the executioner, raising the dripping head of Charles 
 Stuart, cried out, " This is the head of a traitor ! " 
 
 137. The execution of Charles, the first and only king 
 of England that has died on the scaffold, was verdict on his 
 utterly unconstitutional. The one right and execution, 
 open course would have been to depose him, for he had 
 violated his Coronation Oath. But this was not a time for 
 calm measures, when the nation was in the throes of a revo- 
 lution, and the king fell a victim to the spirit of the age, 
 which he obstinately refused to understand. 
 
 138. The Parliament now governed England, and estab- 
 lished a republic under the title of The Com- The common- 
 MONWEALTH. It lasted for eleven years, which wealth, 
 years maybe divided into two periods: r. From Charles's 
 death to the appointment of Cromwell as Lord Protector j 
 2. The Protectorate of Cromwell. 
 
 139. During the first period the executive power was in- 
 trusted to forty-one members, but even under Events of tho 
 this arrangement Cromwell was the actual head. ^'*^ period. 
 
358 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 He acted with astonishing vigor. He led an army into Ire- 
 land, and rapidly overran and conquered the whole country. 
 The people of Scotland having proclaimed Charles II. 
 king, Cromwell invaded and reduced that kingdom also. 
 Charles entered England with a Scottish army; but the 
 battle of Worcester (165 1) put an end to his hopes. The 
 Dutch becoming insolent, he chastised them, and forced 
 their ships to strike their flag to the English. 
 
 140. At home Cromwell found himself surrounded *by 
 Cromwell dis- many difficulties. And the most troublesome 
 
 solves Parlia- ^ 
 
 ment. of these were caused by jealous and discon- 
 
 tented Puritans in Parliament. So one day in April, 1653, 
 he went to the Parliament House, and said, " Get you 
 gone, and give way to honester men." He stamped on 
 the floor ; musketeers stationed without poured in, the hall 
 was speedily cleared, and Oliver, locking the door, carried 
 off the key. In this forcible way was the Rump Parliament 
 dissolved. 
 
 141. Under the direction of Cromwell a new Parliament, 
 He becomes kuown as " Barcbonc's Parliament," * was 
 Protector. called. But after sitting a short time they re- 
 signed their power into the hands of Cromwell, bestowing 
 upon him the title of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. 
 He was king in all but name, and indeed had more power 
 than any king since Henry VIII. 
 
 142. In the government of England Cromwell ruled as a 
 
 despot. To insure the maintenance of his 
 authority the whole country was divided into 
 eleven districts, and each placed under the command of a 
 major-general with almost unlimited power. Resistance 
 was hopeless ; men were fined and imprisoned contrary' to 
 law, and some were sent as slaves to Barbadoes. 
 
 143. The Protector's foreign policy was as vigorous as 
 
 * So called from a London currier named Barebone, who was a lead- 
 ing member of it. 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 359 
 
 his home government. He made England honored and 
 feared. He vanquished the -Spaniards by land His foreign 
 and sea, and took from them the island of P°"«=y- 
 Jamaica. He dictated peace to Holland. He united the 
 Protestant states of Europe, and forced the Pope himself 
 to moderate the religious zeal of Catholic princes. 
 
 144. Cromwell's latter days were clouded with many 
 cares and fears. Royalists, Presbyterians, and Last days and 
 disappointed republicans plotted against him, '^eath. 
 
 and he was in constant dread of assassination. Anxiety 
 and fear at last wore out his strength, and an ague carried 
 him off in the sixtieth year of his age (September 3, 1658), 
 on the anniversary of his decisive victories of Dunbar and 
 Worcester. 
 
 145. In his person Oliver Cromwell was of a coarse and 
 heavy figure, about the middle size. His eyes character of 
 were gray and keen, his long nose was of a Cromweii. 
 
 deep red. It is a characteristic trait 
 that when a painter, wishing to flatter 
 him, represented the Protector with- 
 out a wart which deformed his face, 
 i^.JWL. i gW^ he angrily told the artist, " Paint me 
 as I am!" Yet within this rugged 
 frame there burned a great and heroic 
 soul. He had military talent of the 
 highest order ; but he was more than 
 
 Cromwell. 1 t 1 . » 
 
 a mere soldier : he was an iron char- 
 acter^ a man of terrible, fiery earnestness, fitted by Divine 
 Providence for the awful yet necessary part he had to play 
 in the history of England. 
 
 146. Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver, succeeded by his 
 father's appointment to the protectorate ; but Events to the 
 he was wholly unfit for the position, being a Restoration, 
 gentle, modest soul. Realizing his own deficiencies, he re- 
 •rvigned the office in five months. Then followed an inter- 
 
360 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 val of great confusion, in the midst of which it was clearly 
 seen that the English people were leaning towards their 
 exiled sovereign, Charles II. He was accordingly invited 
 back to his native land, and returning, he was proclaimed 
 king in May, 1660. 
 
 147. The Restoration^ as it is called, was hailed with 
 Circumstances transports of joy, — the joy of a people who 
 ration. lovcd Order and hated anarchy. Yet a people 
 may purchase order at too dear a price, and this fact soon 
 received a striking illustration in England. The nation, 
 without imposing any terms on the new sovereign, trust- 
 ed implicitly to his good disposition. Charles II. soon 
 showed his true character: though humane and amiable, 
 he was indolent, prodigal, and licentious, unfitted either to 
 support the national honor abroad, or to command respect 
 at home. 
 
 148. During the greater part of his reign Charles II. 
 The reign of rnade fcw inroads on the Constitution and 
 Charles II. laws. It is true that he issued Declarations 
 of Indulgence, removed incorruptible judges, sanctioned 
 excessive fines and punishments, and published proclama- 
 tions on his own authority. But these measures were so 
 feeble and few compared with those of his father, and they 
 were counterbalanced by so many excellent laws conducive 
 to freedom, that they excited little opposition ; and the dis- 
 like with which the king soon came to be regarded sprang, 
 not from these illegal measures, but from his disgracefully 
 licentious manner of life, and the mean acts to which he 
 resorted to procure money. 
 
 149. Towards the close of his reign he governed with- 
 His later out a Parliament, under the influence of his 
 character. brother,* and was guilty of acts as tyrannical 
 and monstrous as any committed by his father. His con- 
 duct during these last years shows him to have been as 
 
 ♦ The Duke of York, afterwards James II. 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 36 1 
 
 despotically inclined as any of the Stuarts ; and there seems 
 little doubt that only his being steeped in vicious and idle 
 pleasures during the greater part of his reign prevented his 
 being the most arbitrary monarch of his line. 
 
 150. Under the austere Puritan rule of Cromwell sculp- 
 ture and painting had been almost banished Puritan aus- 
 from the land, as savoring of idolatry. Then, ^^"ty- 
 
 too, all public amusements, especially theatrical perform- 
 ances, were forbidden, and even the innocent sports around 
 the May-pole and by the Christmas-fire were sternly put 
 down. 
 
 151. The nation, released at the Restoration from such 
 restriction, plunged wildly into the opposite Manners under 
 extreme. The king's libertine example was charies 11. 
 imitated, and morals became very corrupt. Members of 
 Parliament sold their votes, as a matter of course. The 
 plays written then, in which for the first time female per- 
 formers took the female parts, are unfit to be read, so dis- 
 gusting are the thoughts and the language. The power of 
 even the Church was but feebly exerted to stem this torrent 
 of wickedness. 
 
 152. On the other hand, it may be noticed that the Eng- 
 lish during the reign of Charles II. advanced Progress of 
 considerably in material prosperity. Naviga- England, 
 tion and commerce were encouraged. Manufactures of 
 brass, glass, silk, hats, and paper were established. The 
 post-office, set up during the Commonwealth as a means 
 of raising money, was advanced in this reign. Roads were 
 greatly improved, and stage-coach traveling was commenced, 
 though not carried to any great extent. During this reign 
 tea, coffee, and chocolate were first introduced. In 1660 
 the Royal Society was established in London, for the cul- 
 tivation of natural science, mathematics, and all useful 
 knowledge. 
 
 153. In 1685 Charles II. died, and was succeeded by 
 
 x6 
 
362 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 his brother, the Duke of York, who received the title of 
 Sketch of Tames II. His rei^n was brief and indo- 
 
 JamesII.'s \ ^ c 'A 
 
 reign. rious. James II. was a man of one idea, — 
 
 that of making Catholicism the national faith. The Ro- 
 man Catholics at this time were not the hundredth part of 
 the nation, yet the king believed he could bring back the 
 old religion, and to this end alone he directed the exercise 
 of that prerogative to which he clung with Stuart-like 
 tenacity. The efforts of James were for some time attend- 
 ed with success ; but at last they disgusted both Whigs and 
 Tories, and both parties united in inviting over William, 
 Prince of Orange, to deliver the nation. William was 
 the grandson of Charles I., and nephew and son-in-law 
 of James II., being married to that king's daughter Mary, 
 known in history as Mary II. 
 
 154. He accepted the invitation ; and collecting a large 
 William of fleet and force, landed on the coast of Eng- 
 
 Orange and , 
 
 James. land, 1 688. James did not perceive the storm 
 
 that was gathering around his head, until William had 
 landed. It was in vain that the king now turned himself 
 to the army and the people, and promised the removal of 
 every measure repugnant to the Constitution. When a 
 part of the army went over to William, and the general 
 voice declared itself against the king, James sent his wife 
 and son to France, threw the Great Seal into the Thames, 
 and then fled himself in despair from the land of his 
 fathers. He lived from this time forth at St. Germain, a 
 pensioner of Louis XIV. 
 
 155. After the flight of James the representatives of 
 Throne de- the English people declared the throne vacant, 
 Glared vacant. ^^^ agreed that the Catholic line of the House 
 of Stuart should be excluded from the government, and 
 that this should be placed in the hands of the royal pair, 
 William III. and Mary II. Instructed, however, by the 
 past, they secured the liberties of the nation against any 
 future arbitrary acts by the Bill of Rights. 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTS. 363 
 
 156. Such was what the English people call the " Glori- 
 ous Revolution of 1688." And indeed it is Benefits of the 
 not unworthy of the name ; for it presents a Revolution, 
 striking example of the salutary power of public opinion 
 directed by wisdom and aiming at just and worthy ends. 
 By the Bill of Rights the British Constitution now became, 
 in many important points, fixed and determined. This act 
 secured by guaranties all the old English liberties which 
 the Stuarts had violated. It was a triumph of the People 
 over Kings. It destroyed at one blow and forever the false 
 and pernicious doctrine that the royal prerogative is some- 
 thing more sublime and holy than the fundamental laws of 
 the realm. It laid the sure basis of the stability and the 
 prosperity of England.* 
 
 157. The Revolution was accomplished ; but James did 
 not yield without a struggle. Of this, Ireland Hostile efforts 
 was the chief scene. Besieging Londonderry o^ J^mes. 
 
 in vain, he was signally defeated at the Boyne in 1690 ; and, 
 utterly dispirited, he hastened to return to France. 
 
 158. The death of Mary in 1694 left her husband to 
 rule alone. This he did by prudently conceding a good 
 deal to the Parliament, provided that they Career and 
 
 , . ' ^ , . / death of Wil- 
 
 gave nim money to carry on the war with liam. 
 •Louis XIV. (Of this we shall have an account under the 
 Age of Louis XIV.) The treaty of Ryswick brought the 
 struggle to an end in 1697. A second war was in prepara- 
 tion when William died (March 8, 1702), in consequence 
 ot a fall from his horse. 
 
 * Some of the most important articles in the Bill of Rights are the 
 following: I. The king cannot suspend the laws or their execution. 
 2. He cannot levy money without the consent of Parliament. 3. The 
 subjects have a right to petition the crown. 4. A standing army cannot 
 be kept up in time of peace but with the consent of Parliament. 5. Elec- 
 tions and parliamentary debates must be free, and parliaments must be 
 frequently assembled. 
 
364 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 159. William was a prince of commanding ability, par- 
 ,,. ^ ticularly in military aifairs. His ruling: senti- 
 
 His character. -' •' o 
 
 ment was a wish to reduce the power of the 
 King of France, and this he was able in no small degree to 
 effect. His person was thin and feeble, and his ordinary 
 demeanor was cold, silent, and unattractive. It was only in 
 battle that he ever became animated or easy. He was a 
 conscientious man, of sober and even kindly domestic hab- 
 its, and sincerely attached to toleration in religion. 
 
 2. THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 
 
 160. The greatest event in the politics of Continental 
 Character of Europc during the first half of the 17th century 
 the war. ^^^ ^^ famous Thirty Years' War^ which be- 
 gan about 16 18, and was terminated by the Treaty of West- 
 phalia in 1648. This war had Germany for its center, and 
 it was, properly speaking, a contest between the Catholic 
 and Protestant princes of that country; but eventually 
 most of the nations of Europe were drawn into it. 
 
 161. In order to understand the nature of this struggle, 
 Events from we must jjlancc back to the affairs of Germany 
 
 Charles V.'s ' 
 
 time. ' at the period of the abdication of the Emperor 
 Charles V., the point at which our last survey of the Empire , 
 closed. Germany was at that time distracted by the politi- 
 cal factions and quarrels of its independent princes, and by 
 the contending sects of the Catholics, Lutherans, and Cal- 
 vinists. Ferdinand I., the brother and successor of Charles 
 v., attempted to reconcile these factions and unite the three 
 religions, but in vain. This state of affairs was not at all 
 changed under the succeeding three emperors down to Mat- 
 thias, who was emperor in the early part of the 17th century. 
 
 162. When Matthias, who had been King of Bohemia 
 Beginnings of ^^^ Hungary, was elected emperor, he had 
 the revolt. j^jg cousin Ferdinand made King of Bohemia. 
 
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 365 
 
 Ferdinand was intolerant towards the Protestants of Bo- 
 hemia, and they rose in revolt. While the war was yet in 
 progress Matthias died, and Ferdinand IL, to the great 
 alarm of the Protestant party, was raised to the imp'erial 
 throne, 16 19. But just about the time that Ferdinand II. 
 was crowned emperor the Bohemians renounced their alle- 
 giance, and chose as their king the Elector Palatine^ Freder- 
 ick, a Protestant prince. 
 
 163. Frederick was the son-in-law of the English king, 
 James I., and the Protestants of Bohemia in Defeat of 
 choosing Frederick trusted that he would be ^''ed^rick. 
 upheld by British influence and power. But this hope was 
 frustrated by the weakness and timidity of James. The re- 
 sult was that in the next ye^r (1620) Frederick was driven 
 out of Bohemia by the imperial army, and he presently lost 
 his own dominions as well. 
 
 164. The Emperor, blinded by his success, now deter- 
 mined to crush Protestantism in Germany. Narrative of 
 Wallenstein, a great general, but a most un- ^^^ ^^''• 
 scrupulous plunderer, was at the head of the army, and 
 ravaged the territory of the Protestant princes. It seemed 
 indeed that the Emperor would swallow up all Germany. 
 But at this crisis other powers began to step in. The first 
 was Christian IV., King of Denmark, who became the chief 
 of the Protestant League (1625). He was able to accom- 
 plish nothing, however, and was presently forced to return 
 to his own dominions. Then it was that a heroic figure 
 from the North came upon the scene. This was the famous 
 Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. 
 
 165. Gustavus was a prince of the highest military and 
 civil talents, and in every respect a noble char- Gustavus 
 
 1 -rw 111 Adolphus ap- 
 
 acter. He was a zealous Protestant, and had pears, 
 the full confidence of the Protestant princes of Germany, 
 who were ready to rally the mcment he obtained any 
 signal advantage. On the 20th of May, 1630, taking 
 
366 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 in his arms his daughter Christina, then only four years 
 of age, he presented her to the Swedish Parliament as 
 their future sovereign, and made his farewell address. 
 " No't lightly, not wantonly," said he, " am I about to in- 
 volve myself and you in this new and dangerous war. God 
 is my witness that I do not fight to gratify my own ambi- 
 tion ; but the Emperor has wronged me, — has supported my 
 enemies, persecuted my friends, trampled my religion in the 
 dust, and even stretched forth his revengeful arm against 
 my crown. The oppressed states of Germany call loudly 
 for aid, which, by God's help, we will give them." 
 
 1 66. Landing in Germany at the head of a small but 
 His career of highly disciplined army composed of moral, 
 victory. God-fcaring men, Gustavus began his career of 
 victory. At the same time aid came from other quarters. 
 The great Cardinal Richelieu, then the real chief of France, 
 made a treaty with Gustavus and helped him with money, 
 — not that he loved Protestantism (for he was then bending 
 all his energies to crush the Huguenots at home), but be- 
 cause he hated the House of Austria. England, too, though 
 she never formally joined in the cause, lent it her moral 
 support, and thousands of Englishmen and Scotchmen went 
 over to enlist under the banner of Gustavus Adolphus, the 
 " Lion of the North." 
 
 167. The career of Gustavus in Germany continued for 
 His victories two years, down to the time of his death 
 and death. (1630- 1 632). He defeated the imperial gen- 
 erals Tilly and Wallenstein, and rapidly regained all that 
 the Protestants had lost. His last and greatest battle was 
 at LUtzen in Saxony (November i6, 1632), one of the mem- 
 orable fields of history. Victory declared for the troops 
 of Gustavus, but the heroic leader himself was killed in the 
 fullness of his glory. 
 
 168. The Swedes were overwhelmed with sorrow, and 
 began almost to despair of their cause ; for the successor of 
 
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 367 
 
 Gustavus was an infant only seven years old. Fortunately, 
 the council of regency intrusted the manage- Affairs after 
 ment of the German war to Ox'enstiern, a ^^^ death, 
 statesman of the highest abilities. Under his guidance the 
 Protestant cause soon began to assume a formidable aspect ; 
 the organization of the armies was once more completed, 
 and the chief command intrusted to the Duke of Saxe-Wei- 
 mar, a worthy successor of the great Gustavus. 
 
 169. An unexpected event soon after greatly raised the 
 confidence of the Protestants. The Emperor Death of Wai- 
 Ferdinand had reason to suspect that Wallen- ie"stein. 
 stein meditated a revolt, and was about to use the imperial 
 army as a means of obtaining sovereign power. Though 
 Wallenstein's guilt was established by undoubted proof, he 
 was too powerful in the camp to be arrested. Under these 
 circumstances the Emperor had recourse to the disgraceful 
 expedient of assassination ; and Wallenstein was murdered 
 (1634) by some of his own officers, who had an imperial 
 warrant for the crime. 
 
 170. The war now assumed a new aspect, by the fact 
 that France under Richelieu took a direct part New phase of 
 in the contest. In fact, it became a war for *^® ^®'■• 
 
 the aggrandizement of France, — and all the more so as 
 most of the Protestant states of Germany made peace with 
 the Emperor in 1635. Under the guidance of Richelieu 
 and Oxenstiern the struggle went on in most parts of 
 Europe with varying success. 
 
 171. After the death of Richelieu, in 1642, his policy of 
 hostility to Austria was continued by Cardinal situation after 
 Mazarin, who succeeded to the power of Riche- i^^cheheu. 
 lieu. The Emperor Ferdinand had died five years before ; 
 so that the latter part of the Thirty Years' War went on 
 under a different emperor and different rulers, both of 
 France and Sweden, from those under whom it had begun. 
 
 172. In this latter part of the war the French armies, 
 
368 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 under their great leaders, Turenne and Conde, were 
 French sue- crowncd with such success that the Emperor 
 cesses. found it uecessary to propose a treaty in 
 
 order to prevent the dismemberment of Germany. After 
 long and tedious negotiations the Treaty of Westphalia was 
 signed at Munster, in 1648. 
 
 173. The Treaty of Westphalia is one of the most im- 
 Nature of the portant treaties in the history of Europe. It 
 treaty. established the religious independence of the 
 Protestant states, and formally acknowledged the indepen- 
 dence of Switzerland and Holland. And, what was even 
 more important, the two foreign kingdoms that had had the 
 chief share in the war, France and Sweden, obtained posses- 
 sions within the Empire,* and also as sureties of the peace 
 they obtained a general right of meddling in the affairs of 
 Germany. 
 
 174. To Germany the Thirty Years' War was most ruin- 
 Effect of the ous. The Empire was thorougfhly shattered, 
 
 war on Ger- , , ^ , . ,° ^ ^ ' 
 
 many. and became a mere lax confederation of petty 
 
 despotisms and oligarchies, with hardly any national feel- 
 ing. Whatever traces were left, either of authority in the 
 Empire or freedom in the people, quite died out. Thus 
 began that weakness and disintegration which marked 
 Germany for the next two centuries, and from which the 
 Teutonic Fatherland has only in our own day been lifted 
 into unity by mighty throes. 
 
 3. THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 
 
 75* Before narrating the . history of the age of Louis 
 
 Review of XIV. wc must glaucc at the events that con- 
 events down , . . 1 , . r T-r -r^T 
 
 to Richelieu, ncct this age With the reign of Henry IV., the 
 
 * France obtained Alsace, Brisach, Metz, Verdun, and other territo- 
 ries ; Sweden got Upper Pomerania, Stettin, the isle of Rugen, Bremen, 
 etc, with three votes at the Diet. 
 
THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 369 
 
 period at which we stopped in our last survey of French 
 history. Henry IV. died by the dagger of Ravaillac in 
 16 10. His son, Louis XIH., being then but nine, the queen- 
 mother, Mary de Medici, ruled as regent. It was a time ot 
 miserable court cabals, and France, which under Henry IV. 
 had risen to high prosperity and splendor, sank into weak- 
 ness, faction, and disorder. Louis XIII., becoming of age, 
 assumed the government ; but he was a feeble character. 
 By the advice of his favorites he banished his mother : she 
 took up her residence at Blois, rallied the dissatisfied nobles 
 around her, and for two years the kingdom was kept in a 
 state of anarchy. In the midst of these events a man came 
 to the front who was to be the real king of France, and to 
 mark an epoch in the history of Europe. This man was 
 the Cardinal de Richelieu. 
 
 176. A few years before this time a quiet-looking young 
 ecclesiastic named Armand Duplessis de Riche- Advancement 
 lieu had spoken with eloquence at a m.eeting °^ Richeheu. 
 of the States-General, and had been appointed Bishop or 
 Lu^on. Then he became spiritual adviser to Mary de 
 Medici ; and, as it was through his tact that the quarrel be- 
 tween herself and her son was made up, the queen-mother 
 succeeded in getting for him a cardinal's hat from the 
 Pope, and in having Louis XIII. agree to admit him to the 
 cabinet. He was only to give his opinion : he was to affect 
 no state, to hold no levees, and to behave in all respects as 
 a simple, humble-minded ecclesiastic. But no sooner had 
 he taken his seat at the council-board than it was evident 
 that the true man was found. For twent}^ years (1622- 
 1642), up to the time of his death, he exercised an entire 
 control over the king, making him, as was said, " the first 
 man in Europe, but the second in his own kingdom." 
 
 177. Richelieu has been compared with Wolsey of Eng- 
 land, and there are certainly points of compari- comparison 
 son. Like him he was a prelate, a minister, a ^*^^ Woisey, 
 
 16* X 
 
370 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 consummate politician, and a master of the arts of intrigue. 
 He gave his whole attention and all his vast abilities to 
 affairs of state, was prodigal of display, and entertained 
 projects of the most towering ambition. He added to his 
 ministerial and priestly dignities the emoluments and hon- 
 ors of the profession of arms, assumed the title and dress 
 of generalissimo of the French army, and wore alternately 
 the helmet of the warrior and the scarlet hat of the cardi- 
 nal. Richelieu, however, was far more crafty than the min- 
 ister of Henry VIII.,- and more unscrupulous, while at the 
 same time he pursued a more profound and comprehensive 
 policy. 
 
 178. The chief domestic object of Richelieu was the 
 Domestic poi- crushinsT of the Huguenots. Alienated by per- 
 
 icy of Riche- . ^ , , , ° , , ./ f 
 
 lieu. secution, they had attempted to throw on their 
 
 allegiance, and establish an independent state of which Ro- 
 chelle was to be capital. Richelieu laid siege to this city, 
 which, after maintaining a most obstinate resistance for a 
 year, during which 15,000 persons perished, was forced to 
 surrender (1628.) By this event the civil war was ended, 
 and the Protestant power in France finally crushed. 
 
 179. The principal aim of Richelieu's foreign policy was 
 His foreign the humiliation of Austria. This he accom- 
 poiicy. plished by giving his aid to Gustavus Adol- 
 phus in the Thirty Years' War ; and after the death of that 
 hero France took the field directly as one of the com- 
 batants of the struggle. 
 
 180. The power of the nobles was always hostile to 
 Dealings with Richelieu ; but his stern resolve and deep cratt 
 the nobles. thwarted all their schemes against him. When 
 he got them in his grasp he did not spare, as Montmorency, 
 Cinq-Mars, and De Thou — all of whom were executed for 
 plots against him — bitterly experienced. 
 
 181. In 1642 the great Cardinal died. He had extended 
 the glory of the French name to distant regions, com- 
 
THE AGE OF LOUIS ^XIV. 
 
 371 
 
 manded the respect of all the European powers, patronized 
 
 literature Death of the 
 
 and sci- 
 
 Cardinal. 
 
 Richelieu. 
 
 ence, and founded 
 the French Academy. 
 Five months later died 
 the nobody who wore 
 the crown. 
 
 182. Louis XIII. 
 left a son who was at 
 this time only five 
 years old, but who, 
 under the Reign of 
 title of Louis XIV. 
 Louis XIV., inherited 
 the throne of France. 
 The reign of this king 
 forms the main topic of this chapter. It had the extraor- 
 dinary duration of seventy-two years, lasting from 1643 to 
 17 15. It is usually regarded as one of the great periods 
 of French history, for during this space France rose to be 
 the most formidable power in Europe. 
 
 183. The long reign of Louis XIV. naturally divides it- 
 self into three eras: i. The pfovernment of 
 
 ,_ • rT^^ ^ ^ ^ , , . . Three epochs'. 
 
 Mazarm ; 2. Ihe development of the ambitious 
 policy of the king ; 3. Its retribution. 
 
 184. During the minority of Louis XIV. the regency was 
 in the hands of his mother, Anne of Austria. 
 She took as her counselor an Italian, Cardinal 
 Mazarin, who became the guide and master, and finally the 
 unacknowledged husband, of the weak and self-willed queen. 
 
 185. At this time the war against Spain and the Emperor 
 of Germany, begun by Richelieu and forming Part in the ^ 
 part of the Thirty Years' War, still continued. War. 
 
 The result was glorious for the arms of France. Conde, an 
 
 The regency. 
 
372 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 illustrious general, won a series of brilliant victories over 
 Spain and the Emperor. These victories were followed by 
 the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which concluded the Thirty 
 Years' War. The pacification, however, did not extend to 
 Spain, which continued hostilities for ten years longer. 
 
 186. Though triumphant abroad, France was meanwhile 
 Rise of the in a State of civil commotion. Mazarin, the 
 Fronde. prime minister, was the object of numerous 
 cabals, while at the same time the exhausted condition of 
 the finances brought the crown into collision with the peo- 
 ple. A reform party called the Fronde waged a civil war 
 against the court party, from 1648 to 1653. This move- 
 ment had in it promise of great good, but it came to naught, 
 and was marked by extreme frivolity. 
 
 187. On the death of Mazarin, Louis XIV., at the age 
 LouisXiv.be- o^ twenty-thrcc, assumed the direction of the 
 comes king. government himself. The President of the 
 Assembly of the Clergy desired to know to whom he should 
 now address himself on business : " To myself," said Louis ; 
 and he was sole master of France until his death. 
 
 188. Louis XIV. had the discernment to choose great 
 . . men as his ministers. Colbert and Louvois 
 
 His ministers. -„,,..- _- , 
 
 filled the highest offices, and put the finances, 
 commerce, and the army and navy on an excellent footing. 
 
 189. The king wished to enlarge his empire, and to 
 War with render his name illustrious by military renown. 
 Spain. jjg \.Qo\i advantage, therefore, of the death of 
 the Spanish king, Philip IV., to make pretensions to his 
 inheritance as the husband of Maria Theresa, Philip's 
 daughter, and to march an army into the Spanish Nether- 
 lands, 1667. By the triple alliance of England, Holland, 
 and Sweden he was compelled, by the Peace of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle (1668), to surrender, after a short campaign, the 
 greater part of his conquests ; but many of the frontier 
 towns of Flanders remained with France, and were converted 
 by the great engineer, Vauban, into impregnable fortresses. 
 
THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 373 
 
 190. As Holland had been the chief instrument in 
 checking the victorious course of the haughty war begins 
 king, so she did not fail to experience his ven- "^'*^ Holland, 
 geance. Louis won Sweden to his side, and purchased the 
 favor of the English king (Charles II.) by bribes. Thus 
 prepared and protected on every side, Louis, in 1672, 
 began a second war, which at first was directed against 
 Holland alone, but in which almost all the European states 
 were involved during the seven years of its continuance. 
 
 191. The Hollanders saw the approaching storm, and 
 turned their eyes to a young man, the de- The Dutch 
 scendant of the great Nassaus, to whom they champion, 
 owed their deliverance from the Spanish yoke, and in- 
 vited him to take the military government into his own 
 hands. This was William, Prince of Orange, whom ^e 
 have already seen as coming at a later period to the throne 
 of England. 
 
 192. Passing the Rhine, the French army pursued a 
 rapid course of victories into the territories of French 
 the United Netherlands. In forty days Hol- 
 land was overthrown, and the French were already within 
 four leagues of Amsterdam. Dc Witt, the Grand Pension- 
 ary, or chief magistrate, of the Netherlands, in despair 
 demanded terms of peace. The Embassy was insultingly 
 dismissed by the French king, and the people of the Hague 
 rushed desperately to the house of De Witt and tore him 
 and his brother Cornelius to pieces. 
 
 193. It seemed that the ruin of Holland was now com- 
 plete ; but the calm and resolute William of Deeds of Wii- 
 Orange ventured on a desperate yet success- ^*^"^°^°'"^"s®' 
 ful measure. Better, thought he, that the sea should ingulf 
 his country than that his country should lose its liberties. 
 He opened the sluices throughout the land. The German 
 Ocean and the Rhine poured over all the plain, and the 
 invading army was limited to the high grounds on which 
 
 suc- 
 cesses. 
 
374 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 their citadels were placed. William then sent forth the 
 Dutch fleet to meet his enemies on the sea, and the great 
 Admiral de Ruyter met the united French and English 
 fleets in three combats, which, though indecisive, were on 
 the whole to the adv^antage of the Dutch. 
 
 194. And now from many quarters unlooked-for aid 
 Aid to the camc to the Netherlanders. Shame took pos- 
 Dutch. session of the English Parliament at the al- 
 liance with France against a Protestant prince, and they 
 forced the mercenary Charles II. to sign, with his nephew 
 WilUam of Orange, a treaty of peace, 1674. It needed but 
 an example, and every generous heart warmed to the 
 defender of his country. The King of Spain, the German 
 Emperor Leopold, and the Elector of Brandenburg (now 
 Prussia) took arms against the oppressor. 
 
 195. A grand combat of the nations, in which Louis 
 The giant XIV. stood Opposed to half of Europe, now en- 
 struggie. sued. For four years (i 674 - 1678) the tramp 
 of a dozen armies shook the Rhine provinces, and Flanders 
 and Alsace and Franche Comte. Great generals, Turennc 
 and Cond^ and Montecuculi and William of Orange, put 
 forth the mighty efforts of their genius. Success was 
 now with the one side and now with the other, but it was 
 not decisive with either. At length longings for peace 
 seized on the heart of Europe. Louis himself was wearied 
 with the struggle, which had drained the resources of his 
 realm. Negotiations were entered into, and the war was 
 brought to a close by the Peace of Nim'eguen, 1678. 
 
 196. The treaty was especially favorable to the interests 
 Results of the of France, as it secured to Louis the provinces 
 treaty. ^f jrj-anche Comt^, Alsace, and many of the 
 strong fortresses and industrious towns of Flanders. Hol- 
 land by the treaty recovered everything, so that Spain was 
 the chief loser by the Peace of Nimeguen. 
 
 197. Louis XIV. was now at the height of his power, 
 
THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 375 
 
 and the municipal authorities conferred on him the title of 
 Great. Yet in reality the grandeur of the point of cui- 
 French monarchy had culminated, for the "^ination. 
 glory of the king had been bought at too great a cost. 
 The constant wars and the despotic home government of 
 Louis had weakened and impoverished his kingdom. 
 
 198. Avery impolitic measure was the Revocation of the 
 Edict of Nantes, granted by Henry IV. for the Edict of Nantes 
 toleration of the French Protestants.* While revoked, 
 their worship was suppressed, their churches demolished, 
 and their ministers banished, the Protestant laity were for- 
 bidden, under the most rigorous penalties, to quit the king- 
 dom (1685). The government entered also on a most cruel 
 persecution, employing dragonnades, as they were called ; 
 that is, raids by parties of dragoons, who were allowed full 
 license to insult and worry the heretics till their conversion 
 was obtained. The result was, that, in spite of the pen- 
 alties, crowds of Huguenots continued to escape from 
 France, which thus lost 500,000 of her most industrious 
 and useful subjects. 
 
 199. The Revolution of 1688 brought the Dutch Stadt- 
 holder, William of Orange, to the throne of Grand aiu- 
 England. He had been the persistent enemy ^"^^ formed, 
 of Louis, and being now at the head of a great nation, he 
 had a very formidable backing. King William became the 
 soul of a general league, called the Grand Alliance^ which 
 was now made against the aggressions of Louis. 
 
 200. The war went on almost everywhere at once, and 
 many batdes were fought and towns taken on 
 
 both sides, especially in the Netherlands. It 
 was at last ended by the Peace of Ryswick (1697), which 
 retrenched some of the unjust conquests of Louis XIV. on 
 the Rhine and in the Netherlands, and recognized William 
 III. as the lawful sovereign of England. 
 
 * See p. 338. 
 
376 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 201. Another great war in which Louis was the moving 
 War of Span- Spirit broke out in the year 1701. This is 
 ish succession, called the War of the Spanish Succession. The 
 manner in which it originated was as follows. The King 
 of Spain, Charles II., died in the year 1700, leaving no 
 children, but leaving a will by which he bequeathed the 
 succession of his house to a grandson of Louis XIV., named 
 Philip of Anjou. This at once alarmed the nations of 
 Europe as a menace to the Balance of Power, for Philip of 
 Anjou was a mere boy. The astute and ambitious Louis 
 XIV. would himself be the real ruler, and the close union 
 of two such kingdoms as France and Spain was greatly 
 to be feared. 
 
 202. Accordingly the German Emperor and William III. 
 Narrative of of England United with Holland and Prussia 
 events. ^q prevent Philip's wearing the crown of Spain. 
 They supported the claims of the Archduke Charles, second 
 son of the German Emperor, as King of Spain. William 
 III., who was the head of the coalition, died in the midst of 
 his hopes and preparations ; but two men rose in his place, 
 — one the greatest general except one in the annals of Eng- 
 land, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough; the other, 
 Prince Eugene of Savoy, who headed the armies of the 
 Emperor. 
 
 203. This War of the Spanish Succession lasted for thir- 
 Resuitofthe tccn ycars (170T-1714), and resulted in the 
 ^a^- humiliation of Louis XIV. The French king 
 was defeated in all his plans. Marlborough sent his mar- 
 shals in headlong flight from Blen'heim, Ramillies', Oude'- 
 narde, and Malplaquet. Gibraltar was wrested forever from 
 Spain and attached to England. The French fleets were 
 burned at Vigo, and Toulon was besieged by sea and land. 
 Prince Eugene in the mean time crushed the French power 
 in Italy and approached the boundaries of France. Domes- 
 tic sorrow, too, came to Louis. His only son died, then 
 
THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV. 377 
 
 two of his grandsons ; and nobody remained in the direct 
 line of succession to the old man of seventy-four but a 
 great-grandson, then a child in arms. 
 
 204. Nevertheless, Louis succeeded so far that he estab- 
 hshed Philip of Anion on the throne of Spain : Sudden sue 
 
 , , . , . , . ^ r cess of Louis 
 
 and the way in which, after so many defeats, xiv. 
 this came about is rather curious. The allies were contend- 
 ing with France to set the Archduke Charles of Austria on 
 the throne of Spain, in order to prevent too close a union 
 between Spain and France. Now, in the thirteenth year of 
 the war the Emperor of Germany died, and the Archduke 
 Charles became Emperor. If no we^e made King of Spain 
 while at the same time German Emperor, would not the 
 Balance of Power, about which the allies were so anxious, 
 be still more daringly menaced ? Accordingly Louis XIV, 
 was surprised to find his nomination of Philip to the Span- 
 ish crown suddenly ratified by England and Holland. The 
 chief point was conceded, and Philip V. became the first of 
 the Bourbon line in Spain. The treaties of Utrecht (17 13) 
 and of Rastadt (17 14) terminated the war. The next year 
 Louis XIV. died. 
 
 205. During the last thirty years of the reign of Louis 
 XIV. France stood at the culminating point of position of 
 her power abroad and of her prosperity at F^^ance. 
 home, so that the flattering chronicles of those days de- 
 scribed the period of Louis Quatorze as the golden age of 
 France. Trade and industry received a prodigious develop- 
 ment by the care of Colbert ; the woolen and silk manufac- 
 tures, the stocking and cloth weaving, which flourished in 
 the southern towns, brought prosperity ; the maritime force 
 increased ; colonies were planted ; and the productions of 
 France were carried by trading-companies to all parts of 
 the world. 
 
 206. In this age also the court of France displayed a 
 magnificence that had never before been witnessed. Sump- 
 
378 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 tuous buildings, costly libraries, splendid literary produc- 
 The court and tions, vast establishments for the natural sci- 
 manners. ences, academies and similar institutions, ex- 
 
 alted the glory and renown of the Great Monarch. The 
 refined air of society, the polished tone, the easy manners 
 of the nobility and courtiers, subdued Europe more per- 
 manently and extensively than the weapons of the army. 
 French manners and fashions bore sway from this time in 
 all the higher circles of society, and the French language 
 and French style attained supremacy in Europe. 
 
 207. Nevertheless, it was not a period which any one 
 True character who lovcs the greatest of all things, political 
 of the age. liberty and the true virtue of nations, can re- 
 gard with unmixed satisfsiction. We must, in summing up 
 the Age of Louis XIV., carefully guard against the false 
 political philosophy that would teach us to judge an epoch 
 by its mere external glitter. For beneath the polish and 
 veneer was utter rottenness. The government, though tem- 
 pered by courteous manners and superficial polish, was an 
 Oriental despotism, and Louis XIV. himself summed up 
 all the political characteristics of the reign in one signifi- 
 cant sentence, " I am the State " {L'Etat c^est mot). The 
 means to carry on the great and often unjust wars whose 
 victories are cited as the ground of our admiration, were 
 raised by a severe and unequal taxation that pressed heavily 
 on the cultivators of the soil. Under a flimsy veil of pro- 
 priety and politesse, the morals of society were exceedingly 
 corrupt. The literature of the age was brilliant, but it was 
 at the same time servile. Louis put the muses into his liv- 
 ery, as he had already done with the nobility, and artists and 
 authors took his wages to cover him with official adulation. 
 
 208. The great characteristic of the age, in fact, is its 
 Its artificial- artificiality, which pervaded everything, — lit- 
 '^y- erature, conversation, manners, life. The king 
 himself wore red heels to his shoes, four inches high, which 
 
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 379 
 
 addition was supposed to make his stature something very 
 imposing. And so when he danced in pubHc, and stalked 
 across the scene, rolling his eyes and turning out his toes, 
 it was thought the sublimest spectacle on earth ; and all the 
 gentlemen of France then walked with a strut, and stuck 
 out their elbows, and tied themselves in at the waist. The 
 whole reign was a spectacle, a theatrical display with grand 
 machinery, and calculated to excite astonishment; — and 
 the justest praise that can be given to the Grand Monarque 
 is in the sentence of Bolingbroke, who pronounced Louis 
 XIV. " the best actor of majesty that ever filled a throne." 
 
 4. PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 
 
 209. The 17th century is one of the most active and 
 progressive periods in the intellectual history character of 
 of Europe. A great revival had begun in the *^^ century, 
 previous century, and in this century it was carried forward 
 in great scientific discoveries, in striking improvements in 
 philosophy, in powerful literatures, and in a general advance 
 in the condition of the people. 
 
 210. In philosophy the most notable change was the 
 substitution of the modern method of inductive Bacon and his 
 inquiry for the barren and fruitless method of Philosophy, 
 reasoning which had come down from Aristotle to the 
 schoolmen, and which consisted in assuming causes instead 
 of interrogating Nature herself. The name of Bacon is asso- 
 ciated with the new philosophy, which, indeed, is often called 
 the Baconian method. But Bacon was not so much the 
 author of the change as an evidence that the change had 
 taken place. 
 
 211. The man to whom the new philosophy was per- 
 haps more indebted than to any other was ^ 
 
 Dcscsrtcs 
 
 the French philosopher Descartes \iid-cart'\ 
 
 He found uncertainty and doubt everywhere, and gave 
 
38o MODERN HISTORY 
 
 himself to the study of certainties by universal doubt ; not 
 nursing doubt as a skeptic, but striving to arrive at truth 
 by dismissing all prejudices. He then starts from this 
 fact, — I think ; or, as he expresses it, Cogito^ ergo sum* 
 Then, I exist y not of my oivn will^ but from some source out of 
 myself. Then, / cannot cojnefrom any source less perfect than 
 my oivn ideas of perfection^ etc. 
 
 212. A still bolder course v/as pursued contemporane- 
 
 ously by a Jew of Holland, Spino'za, who by 
 
 Spinoza. , i i • . .'11 • 
 
 a method akm to geometrical demonstration 
 proved that there must be only one " Infinite Substance," 
 of which all the various forms of existence are but emana- 
 tions. Ignorant and uncharitable persons have been accus- 
 tomed to call him an atheist,, and speak evil of him j but 
 he was one of the most virtuous and self-denying of men. 
 While speculative philosophy has any interest for the race, 
 his works will be a wonder which thinkers will consider 
 carefully as one of the grandest and, in many respects, 
 most appalling creations of human genius. 
 
 213. In astronomy Galileo led the way, in the early part 
 Kepler and of the 17th ccutury, by the discovery of the 
 Newton. satellites of the larger planets and their mo- 
 tions. Then a greater genius followed: Kepler earned 
 for himself the title of the " legislator of the heavens," by 
 investigating with enormous labor three of the great laws 
 that regulate the motions of the planets. Newton came 
 after Kepler, and completed his work. He demonstrated 
 the theory of universal gravitation, a principle which solves 
 the chief phenomena of nature and connects and regu- 
 lates the whole material universe. His theory of light and 
 colors is the foundation of the science of optics, and his 
 Principia the basis of all natural philosophy, or physics. 
 
 214. Newton was also the discoverer of that most power- 
 
 * '* I think, therefore I am" 
 
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 38 1 
 
 ful instrument of mathematics, the Calculus^ Newton and 
 which he called fluxions, — though it is a curi- Leibmtz. 
 ous fact that Leib'nitz, a German philosopher of universal 
 genius, discovered this method independently about the same 
 time. 
 
 215. The discoveries in astronomy led to improvements 
 in navigation. Napier abridged calculation by other great 
 the invention of logarithms. The Florentine "=^"^es. 
 physicist, Torricel'li, laid the foundation of hydraulics, and 
 invented the mercurial barometer. Otte Guericke [^^er'ik-ka \ 
 invented the air-pump. In 1628 Harvey published his dis- 
 covery of the circulation of the blood, having spent nearly 
 twenty years in collecting facts to establish his theory. 
 
 216. The English Royal Society, which originated from 
 private meetings of the English philosophers, scientific so- 
 was incorporated by Charles 11. in 1662, and "^^^^es. 
 greatly contributed to the advancement of the sciences and 
 the useful arts. ^ The French Academy of Sciences was insti- 
 tuted in 1666 by Louis XIV., and similar institutions were 
 founded in most of the countries of Europe. These socie- 
 ties did much for physics and chemistry. Brandt, an al- 
 chemist, discovered phosphorus in 1677. 
 
 217. The progress of literature in the 17th century was 
 equally remarkable with that of science and 
 philosophy. And here the French showed the 
 
 greatest advance. The French drama was the creation of 
 the AgQ of Louis XIV. Corneille' and Racine' brought 
 French tragedy to its highest elevation. Corneille has 
 more grandeur and sublimity than his rival, who excels him 
 in the tender and pathetic. The comedies of Molibre [7710I- 
 le-cr'^ are among the finest productions of wit ever composed, 
 
 218. The French pulpit oratory of this century can boast 
 several unrivaled names. Bossuet \bos-su-a''\ 
 
 . , , . . . . Other writers. 
 
 was a universal genius and spirit-stirnng ora- 
 tor ; Mas'sillon and Bourdaloue' were reckoned the greatest 
 
382 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 of French preachers ; Fen'elon, the author of Telemaque, 
 was an admired pastor. Pascal was a mathematician when 
 a child, and was famous in many sciences before he had 
 attained manhood. His Provincial Letters^ directed against 
 the Jesuits, are reckoned masterpieces of witty argument, 
 and he is characterized by Bayle as " one of the sublimest 
 spirits of the world." The other French writers of emi- 
 nence are Rochefoucauld \rdsh-foo-kdf\ the author of the 
 well-known keen and witty Maxims; Boileau \h7vah-ld'\ 
 the critic and writer of satirical poems ; and La Fontaine', 
 the modern ^sop, and author of the most delightful fables 
 ever written. 
 
 219. English literature continued to flourish in all its 
 English litera- splendor during the first half of the 17th 
 ^'^^^' century. Shakespeare died in 1616; but he 
 was followed by Ben Jonson and Fletcher and Mas'singer. 
 The period of civil war was not favojrable to literary prog- 
 ress, but still there were many writers of undying fame 
 even in those days of strife. In verse Milton produced 
 his great epics ; Jeremy Taylor shone in prose ; and 
 Bunyan, the " Dreamer of Bedford," gave to the world his 
 famous allegories. The period following the Restoration 
 produced many dramatic writers, of whom John Dryden 
 was the prince. The stage literature of the epoch was, how- 
 ever, marked by great licentiousness. Butler, the author of 
 Hudibras^ shines as a humorous and satirical writer. 
 
 220. In art, though the 17th century showed rather a 
 Art and the falling off from the epic grandeur of the pre- 
 school, vious century, yet there are not wanting illus- 
 trious names. At this period it is, strange to say, the Neth- 
 erlanders that lead in art. Rubens, born in the previous 
 century, was the greatest painter of the Flemish school, and 
 specially famed for his coloring and bold execution. Ru- 
 bens's famous pupil, Vandyck, was a native of Antwerp, 
 but was naturalized in England, where he lived the larger 
 
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 2>^2i 
 
 part of his life, painting those portraits that hand down to 
 us the faces of most of the beauties of Charles I.'s court. 
 The third great name of the Flemish school is Rem'brandt, 
 who excelled particularly in color and the effects of light 
 and shade. 
 
 221. Of the Spanish painters MuriHo was the most 
 celebrated durino^ this period. The land of ^ ^ 
 
 , 1 tV 1 ^ 1 1 • Other painterso 
 
 Michel Angelo and Raphael could durmg 
 this century produce no greater name than that of Salvator 
 Rosa, a second-class artist. England had but little native 
 art, though we may mention the name of Sir Christopher 
 Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 222. The social condition of the European nations dur- 
 ing the 17th century is a subject so large and Europe in the 
 diversified, that we shall confine our attention ^^th century, 
 to that people in which we are most directly interested, 
 namely, the English people.* 
 
 223. The country " gentlemen," now a polished and im- 
 portant class, were then rough and poorly edu- English gen- 
 cated. Seldom leaving their native country, ^''^ *"*^ cfergy. 
 even for London, they spent their days in field sports or 
 in attending the neighboring markets, and their evenings 
 in drinking strong beer. The ladies of the family, whose 
 accomplishments seldom rose above the baking of pastry 
 or the brewing of gooseberry-wine, cooked the meals of 
 the household. In the evening they amused themselves by 
 sewing and spinning. The country clergy stood low in the 
 scale. In most mansions there was a chaplain, or, as he 
 was often called, a Levite, who, receiving his board and 
 $ 50 a year, was no better than an upper servant. When he 
 married, his wife was usually selected from the kitchen ot 
 his patron. 
 
 * The details here given are derived chiefly from the well-known 
 third chapter of Macatilay's History of England, which should be read 
 in full for a vivid picture of English life in the 17th century, 
 
384 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 224. The yeomen, or small farmers, were numerous 
 
 and influential. It is estimated that under the 
 
 The yeomanry. 1 r , 1 , 
 
 btuarts one seventh of the whole population 
 of England cultivated lands of their own. Men of this 
 class were characterized by a spirit of independence and a 
 leaning towards Puritanism, and they formed the strength 
 of the Roundhead armies. Since then very many of the 
 small freeholds have been bought up by large proprietors, 
 and the English yeomanry of the present day are, in con- 
 sequence, much less independent in political matters than 
 the same class of men in the 17th century. 
 
 225. Of the laboring classes we know little. Four fifths 
 Laboring of them wcrc employed in agriculture, at wages 
 classes. averaging from four to six shillings (English) 
 per week. A mechanic, as late as the reign of Charles II., 
 worked for a shilling a day, but oftentimes he was com- 
 pelled to take less. The chief food of the poor was rye, 
 barley, or oats. Rude ballads were their only means of 
 complaint, and in these they poured forth their woes. The 
 " poor-rate " was the heaviest tax, for the paupers amounted 
 to no less than one fifth of the community. 
 
 226. In the English people there seems to have been a 
 Brutality of remarkable vein of coarseness and brutality ; 
 the people. ^^^ jg ^j^jg wonderful when the practice of 
 every-day life is considered. Masters beat their servants ; 
 husbands beat their wives daily. Teachers used the lash 
 as the principal means of imparting knowledge. The mob 
 rejoiced in fights of all kinds, and shouted with glee when 
 an eye was torn out, or a finger chopped off, in these savage 
 encounters. Executions were favorite public amusements. 
 The prisons were constantly full, and proved to be fruitful 
 nurseries of crime. 
 
 227. To describe the various costumes and manners of 
 Costumes of the pcHod would be impossible within brief 
 
 Cavalier and ^ - . 
 
 Roundhead. compass, — SO a few pomts on each head must 
 
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 385 
 
 suffice. The Cavalier and the Roundhead present a strik- 
 ing contrast in their dress and habits. The Cavalier cos- 
 tume consisted of a tunic of silk or satin with slashed 
 sleeves ; a rich lace collar adorned the neck, and a short 
 cloak hung gracefully over one shoulder. Short full drawers, 
 or trousers, almost reached the top of the wide boots, which 
 came half-way up the calf of the leg. A broad-brimmed 
 beaver, adorned with a rich band and a plume of feathers, 
 covered the head. The hair hung in curls over the shoul- 
 ders, and the beard was trimmed to a point, while the love- 
 locks were tied up with a pretty colored ribbon. The Puri- 
 tan Roundhead wore a cloak of sad-colored brown or black, 
 a plain collar of linen laid carelessly down on the plaited 
 cloth, and a hat with a high, steeple-shaped crown over his 
 closely clipped or lank straight hair. 
 
 228. With regard to the ladies' dresses, the farthingale 
 and stiff ruffs of the Elizabethan period p:ave 
 
 1 ^11 T n • 1 • 1 Ladies' dress. 
 
 way, under Charles L, to flowmg skirts, and 
 falling collars edged v/ith lace. The costumes of the court 
 of Charles II. were something of the same style, but the 
 dress was worn indecently low. An improvement in the lat- 
 ter respect v/as made after the Revolution of 1688. Then, 
 too, began the fashion of looping up the skirts to show 
 the rich underclothing, and the custom of wearing the hair 
 combed up like a tower. Both these fashions disappeared 
 at the close of the period, when curls and the old farthingale, 
 under the name of the hoop-petticoat, came again into use. 
 
 229. The means of communication between one place 
 and another were very deficient. The roads Means of com- 
 were in a most wretched state, and canals "^""ication. 
 were scarcely yet thought of. In wet weather it was almost 
 impossible to get along the highways in any kind of car- 
 riage. The rich traveled in their own coaches, but six 
 horses at least were required to overcome the badness of 
 the roads. The post-bags were carried on horseback at the 
 
 17 Y 
 
386 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 rate of five miles an hour ; but in many country places 
 letters were delivered only once a week. The erection of 
 toll-gates in 1663 was the first step towards improving the 
 means of transit. Bad roads and conveyances were not 
 the only drawbacks to traveling in this period. Mounted 
 highwaymen infested all the most frequented ways, and it 
 was not safe even for a public coach in broad day to pass 
 certain places unless the passengers were well armed. 
 
 230. The state of culture and education was very low. 
 Culture and There was nothing equal to our modern news- 
 education, paper, and there were few printing-presses in 
 the country except in London and at the Universities. 
 Books were therefore scarce and dear. Female education 
 was at a very low point, and the most accomplished ladies 
 spelled their letters very badly. 
 
 231. Those great branches of manufacturing industry 
 which now form the wealth of England were 
 then in their infancy. The woolen manufac- 
 ture was the leading industry, though the silk manufacture 
 began to attract attention during this period. The linen 
 manufacture was chiefly a domestic employment ; the cot- 
 ton-trade was almost unknown. The mineral wealth of the 
 country was quite neglected, and not until the close of this 
 century did it begin to receive some attention. 
 
 Industries. 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE ilTH CENTURY. 38/ 
 
 GREAT NAMES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 
 PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS. 
 
 Francis Bacon (1561- 1626), the greatest of English philosophers — 
 is called the founder of the Inductive system 
 of philosophy (as opposed to the Deductive 
 or Aristotelian system) ; for, though it was 
 applied before his time, he was the first to 
 put the method in philosophic form — his 
 great works, the Novitin Organum and the 
 Advancement of Learning; but the book by 
 which he is best known is his Essays. 
 
 Descartes (1596- 1650), a great French 
 philosopher — was brought up for the army, 
 but abandoned the profession and retired Lord Bacon. 
 
 to Holland to study philosophy — was tutor of Queen Christina of 
 Sweden — had a great influence on the method of philosophizing in 
 the 17th century. 
 
 Hobbes (1588- 1679), a famous English philosopher — was early asso- 
 ciated with Galileo and Descartes — he partly educated Prince 
 Charles — was a "freethinker," but not a deist or atheist — chief 
 works, the Leviathan and the Behemoth. 
 
 Kepler (1571 - 1630), an illustrious German mathematician and astron- 
 omer — he discovered what are known as Kepler's "Three Laws," 
 which laid the foundation of mathematical astronomy — one of the 
 greatest thinkers of any age, combining the inspiration of a prophet 
 and poet with the method of a mathematician — passed most of his life 
 in great poverty. 
 
 Harvey (1578- 1657), studied medicine at Padua, England having no 
 schools for the purpose — in 1615, as lecturer at the College of Physi- 
 cians, he first announced his discovery of the circulation of the blood. 
 
 Spinoza {1622- 1677), of Jewish birth— one of the great modern 
 philosophers — much persecuted for his inquiring and skeptical turn 
 of mind — led a very simple and virtuous life — his philosophy is very 
 profound, and his greatest work is Ethica More Geomctrica Demon- 
 strata (" Ethics Demonstrated by Geometric Method "). 
 
 Isaac Newton (1642 -1727), professor of mathematics at Cambridge 
 — discoverer of the law of universal gravitation — remarkable also for 
 his optical discoveries — chief work, Principia^ a Latin treatise on 
 natural philosophy. 
 
388 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 Leibnitz (1640- 1716), a jurist, historian, mathematician, and meta- 
 physician — the most learned of modern philosophers, and the founder 
 of the eclectic system of German philosophy. 
 
 ARTISTS. 
 
 Rubens (1577- 1640), born in Westphalia, but son of a Dutch refugee 
 from Antwerp — destined for a lawyer, but was a painter by nature — 
 his industry resulted in four thousand pictures and sketches, and his 
 wealth was immense — as a painter of portraits and historical scenes 
 was almost unrivaled — most famous pieces, the Descent from the Cross, 
 the Last Judgment., Peace and War, etc. 
 
 Vandyck (1599- 1641), son of a glass-painter — pupil of Rubens — 
 went to England in 1632 — celebrated for his portraits — those of 
 Charles I. and Strafford very fine — best historical picture, Tke 
 Crucifixion. 
 
 Rembrandt (1606- 1669), a native of Leyden, and one of the most 
 original and able painters that ever lived — excelled particularly in 
 color and the effects of light and shade, but shows lack of refinement 
 in his figures. 
 
 Poussin (1594- 1655), born at Andely in Normandy — a great painter 
 — among his works are the Death of Germanicus, the laking of Je- 
 rusalem., and the Last Supper. 
 
 Murillo (1618-1682), one of the most celebrated Spanish painters — 
 his early pictures are taken from humble life, as beggar-boys, flower- 
 girls, etc. — his later productions are religious pieces, as Madonnas, 
 holy families, etc. — died of a severe fall whilst engaged in painting 
 the interior of a church. 
 
 WRITERS. 
 
 Ben Jonson {1574- 1637), in early life a soldier — then an actor — poet- 
 laureate under James I. — author of fifteen plays extant, chiefly come- 
 dies, and numerous masques — earliest comedy. Every man in his 
 Humor. 
 
 Calderon (De la Barca) (1601 - 1681), a distinguished Spanish 
 dramatist — born at Madrid — wrote about five hundred pieces. 
 
 Corneille {1606 -1684), a great French dramatist — born at Rouen — 
 made his fame by his tragedy of the Cid — other great works, Hor- 
 ace and Cinna. 
 
 John Milton (1608- 1674), the greatest epic poet of modern times — 
 Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell — author oi Paradise Lost and 
 Paradise Regaitud, which were written in poverty and blindness — 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE i-jT/I CENTURY. 389 
 
 numerous masques and sonnets came from his pen — wrote also in 
 
 prose — his genius remained unnoticed under the Stuarts. 
 Samuel Butler (1612-1680), son of a Worcestershire farmer — author 
 
 of a mock-heroic poem called Hudibras, which was a famous satire 
 
 upon the Puritans. 
 Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), an English bishop after the Restoration 
 
 — wrote on theology — author of Liberty of Prophesying^ Holy Livins^, 
 Holy Dyiitg, and many other works — his style distinguished for its 
 ornateness and splendor of imagery. 
 
 La Fontaine (1621- 1705), a French poet and fabulist — lived a quiet, 
 lazy life in patrons' houses — chief works, his Fables. 
 
 Moliere (1622- 1673), a distinguished French dramatist and writer of 
 very charming comedies — among his many works, Le Bourgeois Gen- 
 tilhomme, Le Misanthrope, and Tartufe may be named. 
 
 Pascal (1623- 1662), an eminent French philosopher and scientist — 
 early displayed great aptitude for mathematics and science, but went 
 into the Church — wrote against the Jesuits in his Provincial Letters 
 
 — another great but fragmentary work is his Penskes. 
 
 Bossuet (1627- 1704), consecrated Bishop of Meaux in 1681 — one of 
 
 the greatest pulpit orators of France. 
 John Bunyan (1628- 1688), a tinker of Bedford — became a Baptist 
 
 preacher — imprisoned twelve years for preaching — wrote in prison 
 
 the celebrated Pilgrim's Progress. 
 John Dryden (1631-1700), a great English poet — made poet-laureate 
 
 by Charles II. — author of numerous plays and satires in verse — 
 
 chief w jrks, Absalom and Acliitophel, the most perfect and powerful 
 
 satire in our languar^e, The Hind and Panther, Alexander's Feast, etc. 
 Boileau (1636 1711), a noted French poet, remarkable for the moral 
 
 tone of his writings — chief works, his Satires and Epistles, and the 
 
 Lutrin, a mock heroic. 
 Racine (1639- 1699), the most celebrated of the French dramatists — 
 
 Andromaque w^as his first successful piece, and Phedre and Iphigenie 
 
 were the most famous — his style is founded on classic models. 
 Fenelon (1651-1715), Archbishoj) of Cambray — one of the sect called 
 
 Quietists — denounced as a heretic by Bossuet — best-known work, the 
 
 romance of Telhnaq'ue, 
 
 Jite 
 
390 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 GREAT EVENTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURYo 
 
 f England under the Georges. 
 TOPICS ... J Prussia and Frederick the Great. 
 Rise of Russia. 
 The French Revolution. 
 
 1. ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES. 
 
 232. The history of England has been traced down to 
 The successor the death of WilHam III., in 1702. He was 
 of William in. succeeded by his sister-in-law Anne, who was 
 a daughter of James II. Her reign fills the twelve years 
 between 1702 and 17 14, and with it ends the Stuart line 
 of English sovereigns. 
 
 233. The three chief events of Anne's reign are : i. The 
 Three leading uuion of Scotland with England ; 2. The cam- 
 events, paigns of Marlborough ; 3. The contests be- 
 tween the Whigs and Tories. 
 
 234. Though by the accession of James 1. to the throne 
 Hostility be- of England the two crowns were united, yet 
 
 tween England _ , , 10,11 '^^ 
 
 and Scotland. England and Scotland were still two separate 
 nations, with separate parliaments. Indeed, ever since that 
 event a feeling of jealousy and dissatisfaction had been 
 growing up in the minds of the Scotch people v/ith refer- 
 ence to England. This feeling grew apace ; and finally, at 
 the beginning of the i8th century, it became plain that a 
 separation of the two countries was nigh at hand, unless 
 something was done to allay the discontent. There was 
 even for a time a show of war upon the part of the Scots. 
 But better counsels prevailed. 
 
 235. Wise men on both sides were commissioned to draw 
 up a Treaty of Union^ and this in 1707 received the sane- 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES. 39 1 
 
 tion of the Scottish Parliament. This treaty provided that 
 the two kingdoms should form one, under the Treaty of 
 name of Great Britain ; and it is believed that Umon. 
 this measure, to a great extent, laid the foundation of Scot- 
 tish prosperity. 
 
 236. During a great part of the reign of Anne the War 
 of the Spanish Succession, about which we Marlborough's 
 learned under the account of the Age of Louis campaign. 
 XIV., went on. It was in this war that the great captain, 
 Marlborough, humbled the power of France. The contest, 
 as already seen, was brought to a close by the Treaty of 
 Utrecht, 17 13. 
 
 237. Throughout the whole of the reign of Queen Anne 
 a struggle went on between the Whigs and the strife of whigs 
 Tories for the possession of the government. ^"'^ Tories. 
 Anne, though at heart a Tory, was long compelled to yield 
 to the guidance of her Whig ministers. The strife raged 
 fiercely around two great questions, — the War and the 
 Church, The Whigs, of whom Marlborough was leader, 
 cried out for war ; the Tories sought the restoration of 
 peace. The Whigs were Low Church ; the Tories, High 
 Church. The Whigs at last were forced to succumb, a 
 Tory ministry came into power, and the Treaty of Utrecht 
 was their work. 
 
 238. Anne died of apoplexy in the year 17 14. She had 
 lost her husband (Prince George of Denmark) character of 
 six years before. Not one of her seventeen ^nne. 
 children was then living. She was a woman of little talent 
 and less learning ; simple and homely in all her tastes and 
 habits. The expression of her face was heavy, — the dull 
 look of one upon whom domestic bereavements had laid a 
 heavy hand. She had, however, an affectionate disposition, 
 and her virtues obtained for her the title of " Good Queen 
 Anne." Her reign is noted as one of the brilliant periods 
 of English literature. 
 
392 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 239. Queen Anne dying without children, the ParUa- 
 Anne's sue- ment chosc as king, George, Elector of Hano- 
 cessors. ^^j-^ ^y|-,Q ^^,^^ ^ descendant of James I. in the 
 female line, and the next Protestant heir. With him begins 
 the Guelph hne, or House of Brunswick. This dynasty still 
 continues to rule England ; * but so far as we are now con- 
 cerned we shall carry the narrative only down to George 
 III., whose rule passes over into the 19th century. 
 
 240. George I. was a German ; so that England now pre- 
 Accession of sentcd the curious spectacle of being ruled by 
 George I. ^ ^mg who could not spcak English. At the 
 time of his accession he was fifty-four years of age. His 
 person was coarse and heavy ; his mind was uncultivated ; 
 his tastes were low. His wife, Sophia of Brunswick, had 
 been left in imprisonment in Hanover, condemned to per- 
 petual confinement for some alleged misconduct. 
 
 241. George I., who was a thorough German, thought 
 Politics under ^'^'^ more of his Electorate of Hanover than 
 George I. ]^g ^y^ gf j-^jg Kingdom of Great Britain ; and 
 this partiality became a source of political complication. 
 He had been called to the throne by the Whigs, and it was 
 from this party that he chose all his advisers. The Tory 
 leaders were prosecuted and impeached. Great riots then 
 took place, for the feeling of almost the entire nation ran 
 strongly in favor of the Tories ; and opposition to the king 
 finally took shape in the rallying of a considerable party to 
 the support of the Freiender. 
 
 * The following list comprises the sovereigns of the House of Bruns- 
 wick, with the dates of their accession : — 
 
 A D. 
 
 George IV. (son) 1820 
 
 George I. (great-grandson 
 
 of James I.) 1714 
 
 George II. (son) 1727 
 
 George III. (grandson) 1760 
 
 Regency of the Prince of 
 
 Wales 181 1 
 
 William IV. (brother) 1830 
 
 Victoria (niece) 1837 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES. 393 
 
 242. This person was the son of James II., and called 
 himself James III. He had pretensions to The Pretender 
 
 and. nis inva- 
 
 the throne of England and Scotland, for, of sion. 
 course, he did not acknowledge the union of the two king- 
 doms. His supporters were called "Jacobites," from jfaco- 
 bm^ the Latin name for James. Louis XIV. had promised 
 the Pretender aid in winning the British throne ; but just 
 then the French king died, — so that when in 1715 risings 
 were made both in Scotland and England in the cause 'of 
 the Pretender, and he himself came over from France to join 
 in, he was easily defeated, and the attempt utterly failed. 
 
 243. A pacific reign, like that of George I., furnishes 
 few events of importance in history. One, south Sea 
 however, of disastrous consequence occurred, scheme. 
 
 A Scotchman named Law, who had become controller- 
 general of Erance, and amused that country with financial 
 schemes which at first promised to enrich, but finally almost 
 ruined the country, was the means in 1720 of inspiring 
 the British people with a similar visionary project, called 
 the South Sea Bubble. It seemed for a time to prosper, 
 and many realized large fortunes by selling their shares at 
 a premium to others ; but in a short time its unsoundness 
 was discovered, the price of shares fell, and thousands were 
 utterly ruined. With great difficulty the House of Com- 
 mons equalized as nearly as possible the state of gain and 
 loss among the innocent parties, and credit was restored. 
 
 244. George II., son of George L, ascended the throne of 
 Great Britain in the forty-fifth year of his age, character of 
 1727. He was a little, light-haired, fair-com- George 11. 
 plexioned man. Having resided some time in England, he 
 had a partial knowledge of the English language, which, 
 however, he spoke with a foreign accent. He cared as 
 little for science, art, or literature as did his father, and he 
 was more than once heard to growl, in his German-English, 
 that he saw no good in " bainting and boetry," 
 
 17* 
 
394 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 245. During nearly half the reign of George II. (i. e. till 
 
 1742) the office of Prime Minister was held bv 
 Sir Robert Walpole. He was a man of little 
 learning, rough and boisterous in his manners and in his life j 
 but he retained his great power with a passionate grasp, 
 preserving it, dishonorably indeed, but with consummate 
 tact. Bribery was the secret of his long reign as Premier ; 
 so that he had always at command a majority of votes in 
 Parliament. 
 
 246. During the reign of George II. there were four 
 Four wars of wars of Considerable importance : i. The war 
 George II. yf^\\\\ Spain ; 2. The war of the Austrian Succes- 
 sion ; 3. The war for the Young Pretender ; 4. The Ameri- 
 can war with France. 
 
 1. The war with Spain was begun in 1739, and was forced on George 
 II. and Walpole by the general wish of the people, wlfb were stirred 
 up by tales of wrong done to Englishmen by the Spaniards in America. 
 Little or nothing came of this war. 
 
 2. The war of the Austrian Succession broke out in 1741. It was to 
 determine whether Maria Theresa, daughter of the Emperor of Germany, 
 Charles VI., should succeed to the Austrian throne, or whether it should 
 go to another claimant, Charles, the Elector of Bavaria. Though it was 
 a quarrel with which in reality England had nothing to do, yet George 
 II. espoused the cause of Maria Theresa, while Prussia under Frederick 
 the Great, and France under Louis XV., took the side of Charles. Noth- 
 ing came of this war, as England and France gave back their conquests to 
 each other at the end of it. (Treaty of A.ix-la-Chapelle, 1748.) 
 
 3. In the year 1745 Charles Edward, the son of the Old Pretender, 
 tried with French aid to gain the British crown for his father. The battle 
 of Culloden decided against him 
 
 4. The war with France had relation to the colonies of the two coun- 
 tries in America, and is known in United States history as the " French 
 and Indian War." It began in 1755, was continued into the reign of 
 George III., who Vgan to rule in 1760, and was ended in i'"63 by the 
 Peace of Paris. By this treaty all Canada was surrendered to the British. 
 
 247. During the latter part of the reign of George IL 
 
 the great figure in politics was William Pitt, 
 known as the Great Commoner. He was bom 
 
ENGLAND UNDER THE GEORGES. 395 
 
 in 1708; he was educated at Oxford, served in the army, 
 then in Parliament, and finally giving himself up entirely 
 to politics, he won for himself a leading place in the 
 government of his country. He directed all his genius 
 to raising the glory of England both in America and in 
 India ; and it was to his clear head and admirable admin- 
 istrative faculties that Great Britain owed her formidable 
 position in the politics of Europe in the middle of the i8th 
 century. 
 
 248. George III. in 1760 ascended a glorious throne. 
 Through the energy and foresight of the Great England under 
 Commoner Britain had become the first nation George iii. 
 
 in the world. He was the first monarch of his House who 
 could be regarded as English in feeling. His first speech 
 to the Parliament contained words which showed that Eng- 
 land had obtained at last a native king. " Born and edu- 
 cated in this country," said George, " I glory in the'name of 
 Briton." 
 
 249. George III. was the best of the Georges, which, 
 however, is not saying much. He was correct character of 
 in his private life, devoted himself faithfully George 111. 
 to the duties of his station, and no doubt had the good of 
 his country at heart. But he was a man of narrow under- 
 standing and obstinate prejudices, and his very patriotism 
 led him into a series of fatal blunders. Long prone to 
 insanity, his mind quite gave way in 18 10, though he lived 
 until 1820. 
 
 250. This reign was fruitful in Colonial history. In- 
 deed, ere it was five years old, symptoms of the Events in 
 great, and to Britain disastrous, American War America, 
 began to appear. The trouble arose during the adminis- 
 tration of Mr. Grenville, showing itself decisively on the 
 passage of the Stamp Act, 1765. This was afterwards re- 
 pealed ; but other taxes were imposed which finally precipi- 
 tated tliat momentous conflict which resulted in the inde- 
 
396 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 pendence of our country and the appearance of the Repub- 
 lic of the United States among the powers of the earth. 
 
 251. It was in this reign also that the great struggle be- 
 Conquest of twccu the French and English for the possession 
 India. Qf India was settled in favor of the latter. The 
 English power in India first made great advances under 
 Clive, and after him the most famous name in the history 
 of British India was that of Warren Hastings. Not only 
 were the French subdued, but the various native princes 
 were conquered one after another, and their provinces in- 
 corporated with the British dominion ; so that now England 
 rules over 200,000,000 of people in Hindostan. 
 
 252. Aside from Colonial history, the most important 
 
 events with which Ene^land had to do durinpf 
 
 Other events. , . r , o , i 
 
 the latter part of the i8th century were the 
 events of the French Revolution, — that fearful maelstrom 
 of war fhat drew into its vortex all the nations of Europe. 
 The part which England played in this mighty epoch will, 
 however, be best related in the special section on the French 
 Revolution. (See p. 409.) 
 
 2. PRUSSIA AND FREDERICK THE GREAT. 
 
 253. We are now to trace the rise of Prussia, that great 
 Subject treated powcr which in our own times has been able 
 °^' to bind together the long-dissevered German 
 states into the mighty German Empire. 
 
 254* One of the numerous states of the German Empire 
 Beginnings of during the Middle Ages was the Electorate of 
 Prussia. Brandenburg. Lying alongside of this was a 
 
 small territory known as the Duchy of Prussia.* While 
 Elizabeth sat on the throne of England, the Electors of 
 Brandenburg added this duchy to their dominions. By 
 
 * The name Prussia is derived from the word Borussi, the name of a 
 fierce Slavonic tribe. 
 
PRUSSIA AND FREDERICK THE GREAT. 397 
 
 good management on the part of its rulers Brandenburg 
 grew apace ; and finally, towards the close of the jyth cen- 
 tury, the Elector PVederick 1 1 1, bargained to lend the Em- 
 peror aid in the War of the Spanish Succession, provided he 
 obtained the crown of Prussia. The first year of the i8th 
 century (i 701) marks the change of the last Elector of 
 Brandenburg^ Frederick III., into the first King of Prussia, 
 Frederick I. 
 
 255. The second king of Prussia was Frederick William, 
 (17 13- 1740). He was a stern old tyrant and Frederick 
 semi-savage, but he was at the same time a 'Wiiham. 
 rigid economist ; and he set himself to drilling and disciplin- 
 ing a magnificent army, which in the hands of his son was 
 to be the instrument for raising Prussia to the position of 
 one of the greatest military powers in Europe. 
 
 256. This son was the famous Frederick II., or, as history 
 calls him, Frederick the Great. He was born in Youth of 
 
 1 7 13. By his tyrannical old father, Frederick Great. 
 William, he had been kicked and raved at and fed on bread 
 and water, till he finally ran away, and was with great diffi- 
 culty saved from the death of a deserter. This was not a 
 promising training ; but there v/as the true marrow in the 
 young man, so he bided his time, while in the mean time 
 he played on the flute, and scribbled books, and kept up a 
 correspondence with Voltaire and otliers of the new French 
 school of philosophy. 
 
 257. In the year 1740 rough old Frederick William died, 
 and his son came to the throne of Prussia. He He ascends 
 had as a boy had the dream of being a great *^^ throne, 
 soldier : he was now the possessor of a full treasury and a 
 well-drilled army, — so he looked about for a war. 
 
 258. In the very year in which Frederick came to' the 
 throne the Emperor of Germany, Charles VL, . . _^ 
 
 T 1 TT' 1 1 Tv/r • rr^i ^ i Maria Theresa. 
 
 died. His daughter Maria Theresa, by a law 
 
 called a Pragmatic Sanction^ became ruler over all the 
 
39^ MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 hereditary dominions of Charles, namely, the kingdoms of 
 Hungary and Bohemia, the Archduchy of Austria, etc. — 
 and she was called by her highest title, that of Queen of 
 Hungary. The Empire, of course, was at the disposal of the 
 Electors. No sooner had Maria Theresa come to power, 
 than various princes began to lay claim to the whole or 
 part of her dominions. 
 
 259. Among others Frederick set up a claim to part of 
 Frederick's the territory of the helpless princess ; to wit, 
 
 claim and ^., . , . . . ^ ^ . . ' 
 
 conduct. bilesia, claimmg it as part of the ancient do- 
 
 minion of the House of Brandenburg. It was a mere pre- 
 text, without show of justice ; but Frederick marched an 
 army into Silesia, won two victories (1741, 1742), and Maria 
 Theresa, anxious to concentrate her energies against her 
 other foes, made over Silesia to him. This is known as 
 the First Silesian War. 
 
 260. Hostilities were renewed in 1744 ; but nothing came 
 Second war, of this Scco7id SUcsian War, though France and 
 and sequel. England Were both in it on opposite sides, and 
 it was closed the next year. Eight years of peace followed, 
 and this breathing-space was devoted by Frederick to the 
 good of Prussia, which, under his able administration, con- 
 tinued to rise in importance. 
 
 261. And it needed all the strength he could husband ; 
 Nature of the for in 1 756 there broke out another and far 
 
 Seven Years' '^ ,, , , r> rr , t^- 
 
 War. greater contest, called the Seven Years' Vvar. 
 
 This time Frederick was not to blame for drawing the sword ; 
 for though, in fact, he drew it first, the war was strictly de- 
 fensive. Austria formed a secret treaty with France, and 
 another with Russia, Poland, Saxony, and Sweden, for the 
 partition of Prussia. England, then engaged in the great 
 Colonial wars with France, took sides with Prussia ; — and 
 so it was that Frederick, unaided save by the half-hearted 
 support of Great Britain, had to confront more than half of 
 Europe, arrayed in arms to overwhelm him. 
 
PRUSSIA AND FREDERICK THE GREAT. 399 
 
 261. The story of how the Prussian captain-king bore 
 up against this " sea of troubles " that raged all around 
 his country forms one of the most wonderful The war and 
 chapters in military annals. Some of the main ^'^ results, 
 points are stated in the note below j * but, leaving aside de- 
 tails here, we may say that after the conflict two results 
 appear: i. That in Frederick himself was one of the world- 
 soldiers, one of the men that make epochs in the history 
 of war and of nations : 2. That in Prussia a new power had 
 arisen. In fact, henceforth Prussia takes rank as one of the 
 Five Great European Powers, and the Holy Roman Empire 
 is practically divided into the two great monarcJiies of Austria 
 and Prussia, ivhich till the French Revolution held the balance 
 of poiver on the Continent. 
 
 ♦ First Campaign, 1756. — Frederick assumed the aggressive, know- 
 ing that a league had been formed against him. At the head of 70,000 
 men he invaded Saxony, took Dresden, and defeated the Austrians at 
 Lo'wositz. At Dresden Frederick seized the state papers, and found 
 therein the whole story of the secret plot for the partition of Prussia : 
 these papers he published, in order to defend his action in beginning 
 hostilities. 
 
 Second Campaign, 1757. — This campaign, the greatest of the seven, 
 began with the invasion of Bohemia by Frederick. Near Prague he 
 won a great battle over the Austrians, but he suffered a severe defeat 
 at Kolin. Then a succession of terrible misfortunes burst over the 
 head of the Prussian king, — Russians breaking through his eastern 
 frontier, Swedes in Pomerania marching on Berlin, his friends the Eng- 
 lish driven in disgrace from Hanover by the French, who were rapidly 
 advancing into Saxony. It is said that at this time Frederick meditated 
 suicide, such were the disasters that overwhelmed him But presently 
 there came ^ turn in the tide. The Russian army of invasion was re- 
 called, owing to the illness of the Empress Elizabeth ; Frederick, taking 
 heart again, dashed into Saxony with only 20,000 men, and at Rossbach 
 overwhelmed an Imperialist and French army of three times the force. 
 Another crushing defeat to the Austrians took place a month afterwards 
 at Leuthen, in Silesia. The immediate result of these victories was the 
 recapture of Silesia, which had been overrun by the Austrians, and the 
 exaltation of Frederick to the greatest fame. London was a blaze of 
 illumination in his honor, and the English Parliament voted him j^ 700,000 
 a year. 
 
40O MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 262. It is estimated that, counting the losses on all 
 Prussia's loss- siclcs, a million of men fell in the Seven 
 
 es and resto- 
 ration. Years' War. Prussia bore her own sad share 
 
 in this sacrifice, while those who survived found themselves 
 in a wasted land. Frederick now set himself to repair the 
 terrible mischief done by the war. He gave corn for food 
 and seed to the starving people, and rebuilt the houses 
 that had been burnt. Silesia was freed from the payment 
 of all taxes for six years, and other districts received the 
 same boon for a shorter time. Rewards to his living 
 soldiers and pensions to the widows and children of the 
 dead were bestowed with liberal hand. Measures were 
 taken for the revival of commerce ; and though tnese meas- 
 ures were not always wise (the debasement of the coin by 
 
 Third AND Fourth Campaigns, 1758- 1759. — In the third campaign 
 the cause of the Prussian king was on the whole triumphant : he still held 
 Silesia, and the French had been driven out of Germany. But in the 
 fourth year of the war blow after blow fell heavily on Frederick. At 
 Kunersdorf. in Brandenburg, he was terribly defeated by the Russians, 
 who had again taken the field against him. Dresden was taken and 
 held by the Austrians, and an army of nearly 20,000 Prussians, hemmed 
 in by Austrian bayonets among the passes of Bohemia, was forced to 
 unconditional surrender. 
 
 Sixth Campaign, 1760. — Frederick, desperate, stood at bay, sur- 
 rounded by a gigantic host of 200,000 men. One tremendous dash he 
 made at Torgau, where he won a victory that saved the Prussian mon- 
 archy from annihilation. But he could do no more than watch his foes 
 from a strong camp' in the heart of Silesia. The outlook was so dis- 
 couraging that again, we are told, the thought of suicide crossed P'red- 
 erick's mind. 
 
 Last Year, 1762- 1763. — A death saved him. Elizabeth of Russia 
 died in January, 1762, and her cousin Peter III., Frederick's warm ad- 
 mirer and friend, not only made peace, but sent him aid. The example 
 set by Russia was followed by Sweden, Then came the Peace of Paris 
 (1763), concluded by England and France, so that Austria and Prussia 
 fronted each other alone. However, these Powers also signed the 
 Peace of Hubertsburg (1763), and this ended the Seven Years' War. 
 This treaty left the face of Germany on the whole unchanged, — Prussia 
 intact and still holding Silesia. 
 
PRUSSIA AND FREDERICK THE GREAT. 
 
 401 
 
 the king's order is a notable instance of financial unwis- 
 dom), yet, on the whole, Prussia flourished greatly under 
 Frederick. The best proof of this is, that, having inherited 
 a kingdom with a population of two millions, and six mil- 
 lion thalers in the national treasury, he died leaving seventy- 
 two millions of thalers, and a contented and happy popula- 
 tion of over six millions. 
 
 263. Frederick the Great died in the year 1 786 ; and it 
 may be noticed as an interesting fact that his character of 
 last great public act was the conclusion, in Frederick. 
 
 that year, of a commercial 
 
 treaty with the then infant 
 Republic of the United 
 States of America. He 
 was in his seventy-fifth 
 year at the time of his 
 death, and had reigned 
 forty-seven years. He was 
 a great soldier, of daring 
 courage in battle, of quick 
 and fertile genius in diffi- 
 culties, of most elastic 
 spirit in the hour of de- 
 pression. He gave him- 
 self little trouble respect- 
 ing the justice of his un- 
 dertakings ; but he was 
 distinguished from the 
 common herd of conquerors by having one fixed object, — 
 to make his country one of the great powers of Europe. 
 Carlyle selects him as a hero for the characteristic reason 
 that "he managed not to be a liar and a charlatan, as the 
 rest of his century was." And certainly, as compared with 
 his royal contemporaries, the Georges of England and the 
 Louises of France, he challenges our admiration for his 
 consummate ability, if he cannot claim our love as a man. 
 
 Fkederick iHK Great. 
 
402 MODERN HISTORY 
 
 3. THE RISE OF RUSSIA. 
 
 264. In the history of Europe down to the beginning of 
 Russian ques- the 1 8th century Russia is a blank. Why is 
 tion stated. ^his 1 The stock to which the Russians be- 
 long, the Slavic race, is inferior in capacity to no other 
 member of the Aryan family. Moreover, Russia early 
 started on the path of civilization. The foundation of the 
 kingdom was laid by the Norseman Ruric in the 9th cen- 
 tury, and in the loth century the Russians were Christian- 
 ized, adopting the faith of the Greek Church. 
 
 265. The explanation of why no progress was made is 
 
 Reason of found in the fact that Russia lies directly ex- 
 Russia's back- ■' 
 wardness. poscd to the attacks of those fierce Mongolian 
 
 savages who, from their hive in Central Asia, were wont to 
 pour themselves in devastating tides into Europe. From 
 these inroads the Slavic land had repeatedly suffered, when, 
 in the 13th century, it was completely overrun by the Tar- 
 tars of Genghis Khan. For more than two centuries Russia 
 was held in bondage by these savages, while the Poles and 
 Lithua'nians hemmed her in to the west, so that she was 
 quite cut off from any part in European affairs. 
 
 266. The deliverance of Russia from Tartar supremacy 
 Progress of was due to Ivan Vasilovitz, who became czar^ 
 Russia. Qj. emperor, about the same time that Queen 
 Elizabeth ascended the throne of England. Russia was 
 now a powerful state, but it was cut off from the Baltic by 
 the Poles and Swedes, and from the Black Sea by the Tar- 
 tars, who held the Crimea. However, the close of the 17th 
 century saw the appearance of a ruler who was to give Rus- 
 sia for the first time a place in the states-system of Europe. 
 This man was Peter the Great. 
 
 267. Peter was a son of the czar Alexis, called the Good 
 Peter's biog- (1645 " 1676), and the father of this Alexis was 
 raphy. ^ certain Michael Romanoff, who in 1613 was 
 
THE RISE OF RUSSIA. 403 
 
 made czar : from him the present royal family springs (the 
 old line of Ruric then ceasing). Peter was born in 1672, 
 and ten years later was crowned, along with his half-brother 
 Ivan ; but the latter, a poor deformed idiot, was only a 
 name in the state. Having baffled the ambitious scheme 
 of his half-sister Sophia, a bold and beautiful woman who 
 acted as regent, the young Peter, when only seventeen, 
 seized alone the scepter (1689). 
 
 268. At this time he was a tall, rough youth, sensual and 
 debauched, but showing at the same time a tre- His person 
 mendous fund of native energy and will. And, ^^^ ^^™^- 
 strangely enough, this energy and will seemed to aim, not 
 at what is ordinarily with such characters the object of am- 
 bition, namely, war and destruction, but at the elevation of 
 his people by means of those peaceful creative arts that are 
 the basis of all national prosperity. Wars he waged, indeed, 
 but he did not make war for war's sake : he made it because 
 he was forced to do so in carrying out his pacific plans. 
 
 269. The first great idea that possessed Peter seems to 
 have been that the absence of any available 
 
 . , His first idea. 
 
 seaboard was necessarily a source of weak- 
 ness to his country. Seizing Azof from the Turks (1696), 
 he obtained a footing on the Black Sea ; and, having accom- 
 plished this, he resolved to form a fleet sufficient to overawe 
 that power. 
 
 270. With this view the young monarch, leaving the gov- 
 ernment in the hands of an old noble, traveled ^{3 ^jsit to 
 to Holland and England for the purpose of *^^ '^^^*- 
 learning the art of ship-building, and of acquiring whatever 
 knowledge might be necessary for his great undertaking. 
 At Saardam in Holland he worked as a common ship-car- 
 penter, receiving his wages every Saturday night, and every 
 day boiling his own pot for dinner. At the same time he 
 picked up rope and sail making, blacksmith's work and 
 some surgery, though afterwards his surgery was mostly of 
 
404 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 a very rough kind.* In England, whither he went in 1698, 
 he was heartily received by King William III. ; but, instead 
 of passing his time in the usual entertainments of princes, 
 he busied himself visiting dock-yards and looking into all 
 the details of naval construction. 
 
 271. Returning home in the first year of the i8th cen- 
 His social tury, Peter began his social reforms. Dressing 
 reforms. himself in a brown frock-coat, he insisted on all 
 Russians, except the priests and the peasants, casting off the 
 long Asiatic national robe. He laid a tax on beards. He 
 changed the titles and lessened the power of the nobility. 
 He tolerated all sects, and gave free circulation to the Bible. 
 
 272. To obtain an outlet on the Baltic v/as now Peter's 
 r's Ian ^bjcct. The Opportunity seemed to be excel- 
 lent. Three years before this, in 1697, the 
 
 king of Sweden had died, leaving as his successor a youth 
 but fifteen years of age. He seemed to be helpless ; so, 
 in kingly fashion, Russia and Denmark and Poland entered 
 into a league for the dismemberment of his kingdom. But 
 this was not to be so easily done ; for the youth was Charles 
 XII., that astonishing meteor that for a decade swept across 
 the northern sky. 
 
 273. Charles XII. allowed his foes no time to carry their 
 Campaign of P^^t into cxccution. Moviug swiftly, first upon 
 Charles XII. Denmark and then upon the Polish army at 
 Riga, he speedily rid himself of two of his three enemies. 
 Next he turned upon a Russian force of 80,000 men that 
 was besieging Narva, a small town near the Gulf of Livonia, 
 and within the Swedish dominion. His own force was only 
 a tenth that of the Russians ; but with his gallant Swedes 
 he flung himself with such impetuosity on the enemy that 
 he utterly overthrew the Russian army, capturing most of it, 
 
 * Thus, on his return to Russia he found that his guards had made a 
 rebellion, which, however, had been quelled. With his own hand he 
 beheaded twenty of the wretched guards in one hour. 
 
THE RISE OF RUSSIA. 405 
 
 with its artillery and baggage (November 30, 1700). Peter 
 was not at the battle. " Ah," said he, when the news came 
 to him, " these Swedes, I knew, would beat us, but they will 
 soon teach us how to beat them ! " 
 
 274. The same marvelous fortune attended the Swedish 
 warrior in the operations of the next four years Proposes to in- 
 m Poland and Saxony. His success quite in- "^^^^ Russia, 
 toxicated him, and he prepared to invade Russia. Peter 
 offered terms of peace, but Charles declared that he could 
 negotiate only at Moscow. When the czar was informed 
 of this haughty answer, he coolly replied, " My brother 
 Charles affects to pla}'- the part of Alexander, but I hope he 
 will not find in me a Darius." 
 
 275* The strategy adopted by Peter for the purpose of 
 meeting this invasion was simple and sensible. Peter's strat- 
 The advance of the Swedes on the direct line ^^y- 
 to Moscow was prevented by the destruction of the roads 
 and the desolation of the country. After enduring many 
 privations Charles turned off towards the U'kraine, whither 
 he had been invited by Mazep'pa, a Cossack chief who had 
 thrown off his allegiance to the czar. The convoy and re- 
 inforcements which Charles had expected from Lithuania 
 were intercepted by the Russians ; but, notwithstanding 
 these misfortunes, he continued the campaign even in the 
 depth of winter, though the season was so severe that two 
 thousand men were at once frozen to death, almost in his 
 presence. 
 
 276. At length Charles laid siege to Pultowa, which con- 
 tained one of the czar's principal magazines. 
 
 ^ ° Pultowa. 
 
 The town was obstinately defended, and 
 
 Charles was wounded in the heel while viewing the works. 
 Before he recovered he learned that Peter was advancing 
 to raise the siege. Leaving 7000 men to guard the works, 
 the Swedes advanced to intercept the Russians, accom- 
 panied by their king borne in a litter. The battle was 
 
 k 
 
406 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 decided by the Russian artillery, for Charles in his rapid 
 march had abandoned his cannon. In less than two hours 
 the Swedish army was ruined, and Charles, with only 300 
 followers, sought shelter within the frontiers of Turkey 
 (1709). 
 
 277. To pursue the subsequent career of Charles XI I. 
 Close of would be aside from our purpose here. Suf- 
 
 Charles XII. 's _ . , , . . , • 
 
 career. fice it to Say that this astonishing man ran a 
 
 course of nine years longer, — a course of strange ups and 
 downs, and was finally killed by a cannon-ball while besieg- 
 ing the castle of Fredericshall in Norway, 1718. 
 
 " His fall was destined to a barren strand, 
 A petty fortress, and a dubious hand; 
 He left the name at which the world grew pale 
 To point a moral or adorn a tale." * 
 
 278. To Russia the winnings of the struggle with Sweden 
 Gains to Rus- were most important, for Peter gained Livonia 
 ^^*' and the other Swedish possessions east of the 
 Baltic, so that now he had a water-front on that sea as well 
 as on the Euxine. Later in his reign he extended his bor- 
 ders on the other Russian sea, the Caspian, at the expense 
 of Persia. 
 
 279. In the intervals of the war Peter the Great was not 
 His pacific forgetful of his pacific ambition. In 1704 he 
 measures. founded the city of St. Petersburg,! at the 
 mouth of the Neva, on the Gulf of Finland (a region won 
 from the Swedes), and he made it his capital in place of the 
 old metropolis, Moscow. In the internal state of the coun- 
 try he made many changes : he remodeled his army, created 
 
 * Dr. Johnson, Vanity of Human Wishes. The fine passage begin- 
 ning with " On what foundation," etc., and of which the four lines above 
 quoted form the conclusion, may be read for a summing up of the whole 
 career of the '* Madman of the North." 
 
 t So called after the name of his patron saint and name-father, the 
 Apostle Peter. 
 
THE RISE OF RUSSIA. 407 
 
 a navy, improved the administration of justice, enlarged the 
 commerce, encouraged manufactures, cut canals, built roads, 
 and introduced the printing-press. It Viras the task of a 
 giant to lift the great savage land into a position among 
 the civilized nations, but Peter did it. 
 
 280. This greatest of the czars died at the beginning of 
 the year 1725, of fever caught by wading knee- Death and 
 deep in Lake Ladoga, to aid in getting off a ^^^a^'^cter. 
 boat which had stuck on the rocks. His character is well 
 
 described by Voltaire : " He gave a 
 polish to his people, and was him- 
 self a savage ; he taught them the 
 art of war, of which he was himself 
 ignorant ; from the sight of a small 
 boat on the river Moskwa he cre- 
 ated a powerful fleet ; he made him- 
 self an expert and active shipwright, 
 sailor, pilot, and commander : he 
 
 Piter THE Great. i 1 ^1 . i 
 
 changed the manners, customs, and 
 laws of the Russians, and lives in their memory as the 
 * Father of his Country.' " 
 
 281. The history of Russia from the time of Peter the 
 Great down to the close of the century may be Peter's auc- 
 rapidly sketched. During the greater part of "ssors. 
 
 this time the throne was filled by women. There was first 
 his widow, named Catherine L, who continued the policy 
 of her great husband. Her reign, however, lasted but for 
 two years, when she was succeeded by Peter IL, the grand- 
 son of Peter the Great. His death, three years afterwards, 
 brought to the throne a niece of Peter the Great, named 
 Anne. Her rule lasted for ten years, till 1740. Then came 
 Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth, who filled the throne 
 till 1762. Elizabeth left her empire to her nephew, who 
 became Peter HL In a few months, however, he was mur- 
 dered, and his wife was raised to the throne as Catherine II., 
 surn^med the Great (1762). 
 
408 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 282. Catherine II. was, next to Peter the Great, the ablest 
 Doings of ^^''d most succcssful of the Russian autocrats. 
 Catherine. gy j^^j. yigorous generals, Potem'kin and Su- 
 warrow \soo-dr'ro\ she won greatly from the Turks, and 
 achieved the conquest of the Crimea, thus getting rid of 
 the last trace of the old Tartar dominion, and at the same 
 time obtaining free access to the Black Sea. 
 
 283. But Catherine II. won still more by her share in 
 Partition of what is Called the Partition of Poland, though 
 Poland. ^j^g means by which she won was a gross vio- 
 lation of the law of nations. The scheme for dismembering 
 the kingdom of Poland is supposed to have originated with 
 Frederick the Great of Prussia, and he and Catherine of 
 Russia and the Empress-Queen Maria Theresa, Queen of 
 Hungary, entered into it. The Poles were so weakened 
 that they could make no resistance, so the royal robbers 
 each seized certain provinces in 1772. 
 
 284. In 1792 another partition was made by Russia and 
 
 Prussia only, and in 179 s Poland was destroyed 
 
 Endof Poland. , , •'' • , , , • 
 
 altogether as an independent nation, and its 
 remaining territory was divided among its three neighbors. 
 
 "Oh ! bloodiest picture in the book of time ! 
 Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime." 
 
 Wicked as was this assassination of a nation, the accession 
 of territory to Russia was of immense importance to the 
 empire, and "brought that nation into the middle of the 
 continent and into the thick of European affairs." 
 
 285. Catherine II. died in 1796. She was succeeded by 
 Catherine's ^^^ SOU Paul ; but he was an eccentric, half- 
 successors, crazy creature, and when he was murdered, in 
 180T, his son Alexander I. came to the throne. Now this 
 Alexander I. was the grandfather of the present Alexander 
 II., Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias. 
 
THE FRENCH REVCLUTION: 
 
 409 
 
 MiRABEAU. 
 
 The Guillotine. 
 
 Robespierre. 
 
 4. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 286. " After me the deluge " {Aprh mot le dHugc)^ sighed 
 Louis XV. to his courtiers as he lay on his Remark of 
 death-bed in the year 1774, which was the very ^o"is xv. 
 year of the meeting of our " First Continental Congress." 
 The deluge came, — that dreadful deluge of fire and blood 
 known in history as the French Revolution. We are 
 now to learn about the causes, the leading facts, and the 
 results of this tremendous explosion. 
 
 287. The student will remember that the close of the 
 reign of Louis XIV. (17 15) saw France in an France and 
 exhausted and a demoralized condition. Un- ^°"'s xv. 
 der his successor, Louis XV. (1715-1774), things went 
 from bad to worse. The court, ruled by the painted favor- 
 ites of the licentious king, Pompadour and Du Barri, ex- 
 hausted every shape of costly debauchery. The last sou of 
 taxation was wrung from the starving peasants. And, to 
 add to the awful burden, a continued series of wars was car- 
 ried on for the gratification of a profligate ambition, and 
 sometimes apparently for no better reason than to afford 
 
410 MODERN HISTORY, 
 
 employment to a numerous body of idle nobility, who dis- 
 dained to follow any other profession than that of arms. 
 
 288. Louis XV. died in 1774, leaving his throne, with all 
 Accession of its embarrassments, to his grandson Louis 
 Louis XVI. XVI., a kind-hearted, amiable, pious young 
 man, but utterly destitute of the mental qualities calculated 
 to fit him for the arduous position he was called upon to oc- 
 cupy. Then twenty years of age, he had been already four 
 years married to Marie Antoinette, the beautiful daughter 
 of Maria Theresa. Surrounded by eager courtiers, and sa- 
 luted for the first time as king and queen, they fell upon 
 their knees and cried, weeping, " O God, guide us ! Pro- 
 tect us ! We are too young to reign ! " 
 
 289. And they were indeed too young and too inexperi- 
 Bad condition enccd to deal with a problem whose solution 
 of France. would havc demanded the supreme genius and 
 iron will of a Cromwell or a Napoleon. For already signs 
 of dissolution and prophecies of woe were abroad. France 
 had been sowing the wind, and was now to reap the whirl- 
 wind. Long wars and the lavish expenditures of the last 
 century and a half had reduced the finances of the king- 
 dom to a deplorable condition. The public credit was at 
 its lowest ebb. The treasury presented a deficit of two 
 hundred millions of dollars. The people were overtaxed, 
 restless, and half savage. Many abandoned agriculture 
 and sought a precarious subsistence by smuggling and spo- 
 liation. 
 
 290. A spirit of political and religious infidelity per- 
 Further de- vadcd the middle and lower classes. The 
 *^^^^* throne had been too long degraded by excess 
 and tarnished by scandal to command the affection of the 
 multitude. The nobles were scorned rather than rever- 
 enced, and not even the ancient stronghold of terror re- 
 mained. The clergy, by their cruelties, their ignorance, and 
 their debaucheries, had alienated the great body of the peo- 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 411 
 
 pie, and brought down upon themselves the satire and in- 
 dignation of the enlightened. In Voltaire \i^ol-idre'\ Rous- 
 seau \roo-so% Helvetius, and Condillac \con-de-ydk'^ the new 
 opinions had found their chief advocates and leaders. 
 Before their sweeping censures so-called Christianity, Loy- 
 alty, Tradition, had been reduced to powder. They were 
 speedily reinforced by all the intelligence of the age. A 
 host of distinguished men hastened to their support, and 
 the innovators carried all before them, — leveling good as 
 well as evil, and sapping the foundations of truth, mercy, 
 and chivalry, while compassing the necessary destruction of 
 falsehood, despotism, imposition, and vice. 
 
 291. The grand problem was the finances. The first 
 financial minister of the reign was Turgot \tur- Financial 
 go'\ an able man of extensive views, who pro- "measures, 
 posed gradually to sweep away the abuses which weighed 
 so heavily upon the kingdom ; but his reforms alarmed the 
 courtiers : they persuaded the king that such experiments 
 were dangerous, and Louis, always obedient to the last 
 adviser, dismissed Turgot in 1776. Two new ministers soon 
 gave way to Necker, a Geneva banker of good reputation 
 and the best intentions. His maxims were the reduction 
 of expenditure, so as to avoid all necessity of loans, except 
 on extraordinary occasions, and the maintenance of public 
 credit, so that money might be borrowed when requisite. 
 This clever banker held his office for five years, and in 
 1 78 1 was able to produce a balance-sheet which showed 
 a revenue larger than the expenditure. But his accounts 
 angered the nobility by revealing that they paid no taxes ; 
 so Necker was harassed into a resignation. 
 
 292. It was during the administration of Necker that 
 France became embroiled in a war with Eng- Effect of the 
 land, caused by the former country's siding with American war. 
 the Americans in the struggle for independence. To have 
 aided in founding a great democracy across the Atlantic 
 
412 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 was a subject of pride to the French j but the sight of their 
 handiwork reminded them painfully of the position still 
 occupied by themselves. Democratic doctrines from Amer- 
 ica found their way into the dull head of the French peas- 
 ant, who could not help realizing the injustice that gave 
 two thirds of the soil to the nobility (who numbered only 
 about 150,000 souls) and to the priests, both of which 
 orders were exempt from taxes, while he and his twenty-five 
 millions of brother serfs, owning but one third of the land, 
 had to bear all the burdens of the state. 
 
 293. The war with England only added to these bur- 
 Administra- dcus, wMlc the finances, no longer in the 
 tionofcaionne. gkiHed and prudent hands of Necker, were 
 managed by a brilliant financial juggler named Calonne 
 \cal-oii'\ who borrowed on every side without one thought of 
 repayment. For a time this went on ; but the day came 
 when even Calonne could get no more. It was necessary 
 to devise some new expedient, and the one adopted was 
 the assembling of the Notables. 
 
 294. The Assembly of the Notables is the name given 
 Meeting of the to a convcntiou of the chief nobles and magis' 
 Notables. tratcs of France called to consult on public 
 affairs. Such a meeting had in the previous centuries beei« 
 occasionally called by the kings in emergencies, and much 
 was now hoped from it by the nation. It met in February, 
 1787 : there were 137 members. Calonne wanted to make 
 up for the deficiency of revenue by a land-tax ; but his pro- 
 posal was rejected by these lords of the soil, and the As- 
 sembly was dissolved in May. Then came the dismissal of 
 Calonne, who v^^as soon succeeded by Brienne, Archbishop of 
 Toulon. But Brienne could do nothing to stem the rising 
 tide, so Necker was recalled in 1 788. 
 
 295. Necker, as his first act, proposed to convoke a 
 States-General^ an assembly having the rights of confer- 
 nng and petitioning. There had been no meeting of 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 413 
 
 such a body since the days of Richelieu, the last being 
 ni 1 6 14. Since that time the existence of Necker'sprop- 
 a constitution had been almost forgotten, for °sition. 
 the three kings that intervened had caused a virtual suspen- 
 sion of every power except their own. But the convocation 
 of a States-General, where, as in an English Parliament, 
 every class of society had a voice, was hailed as an ac- 
 knowledgment that power proceeded from the people. 
 
 296. All over France the elections went on, and no man 
 who wore a decent coat was refused leave to 
 
 „, .... . , , The elections. 
 
 vote. Three millions of the jDCople sent up 
 their deputies — lawyers, doctors, piiests, farmers, writers 
 for the press — to the great States-General, in which for the 
 first time during nearly two centuries the down-trodden 
 Commons were to sit in council with the nobles and the 
 high clergy. There were 1200 representatives, and they met 
 in the king's palace at Versailles \i)er-sdl2J'\ on the 5th of 
 May, 1789. 
 
 297. It soon became evident that the real strength of the 
 States-General lav in the Commons, or, as the The Commons 
 
 •' ' \. . , assert them- 
 
 French named them, the Tiers Etat \te-atrz selves. 
 a-td'\ i. e. the Third Estate.* They numbered as many mem- 
 bers as the noblesse and the clergy together. At the very 
 outset came the trial of strength. It had not been decided 
 whether the nobility, the clergy, and the Tiers Etat should 
 meet in one chamber, or be organized into two : it had been 
 assumed that the latter would be the plan. But the depu- 
 ties of the Tiers Etat would not submit to be separated 
 from the Upper House. Sitting in their own chamber, they 
 invited the nobles and the clergy to join them ; and when 
 the invitation was scornfully rejected, they constituted 
 themselves the National Assembly., by which name we 
 shall now have to call the body. 
 
 * The Clergy and the Nobility constituting the First and the Second 
 Estates. 
 
414 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 298. In vain did dukes and archbishops complain of this 
 King and Unexampled usurpation of supreme power. 
 Commons. 'pj^g Vvcig was Undecided and alarmed, and in 
 this condition he took a suicidal step. He prorogued the 
 Assembly for a month, and stationed soldiers at the door 
 to prevent the members from going in. Their president, 
 Bailly, when crossed bayonets refused them admittance, 
 led them to the Tennis-court {jfeu de paume) of the palace, 
 where they swore a solemn oath not to dissolve their Assem- 
 bly until they had formed a constitution for France. The 
 firmness of the Tiers Etat gave them the victory. A large 
 secession took place from the other orders, — most of the 
 clergy and forty-seven of the noblesse^ with the Duke of Or- 
 leans at their head, joining the Commons in their hall. 
 
 299. There was Lafayette, a pure patriot, but not a man 
 Three charac- ©^ Commanding ability. And there sat Mira- 
 ^^^^' beau \mer-d-bd'\ the wickedest and most de- 
 bauched aristocrat in France, but a man of pre-eminent 
 power and eloquence. Different from him, and near him, was 
 the small person and commonplace countenance of Robes- 
 pierre \robz-pe-air'\ — grinning, smirking, and contemptible, 
 — but who ere many months were over was to thrill with 
 terror the stoutest hearts. 
 
 300. The Court, thus foiled and acknowledging its own 
 Action of the humiliation, adopted again an unpopular 
 Assembly. coursc : Ncckcr was banished, and troops were 
 gathered around Versailles. But the Assembly proceeded 
 with their business in the most radical fashion. They abol- 
 ished all privileges of birth or profession ; taxes were imposed 
 on all equally ; the public debt was consolidated, the press 
 was declared free, and political and religious liberty was 
 guaranteed. These were great steps in advance. 
 
 301. Meanwhile all Paris was in a state of insane com- 
 Madnesa of motion. Clubs, meetings, associations of all 
 Paris. kinds, kept every quarter of the great city astir. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 415 
 
 Enthusiasm grew with every fresh event, and already the 
 thirst for blood, which so strongly distinguishes the Pari- 
 sian mob, began to fire the hearts of the rabble. A single 
 spark exploded the mine. There came a report that the 
 soldiers were on the march to dissolve the National Assembly. 
 The people rushed to the defence, guns were procured, and 
 tricolored flags hoisted on public buildings. Rioting and 
 pillage went on in various quarters, and the more so that the 
 guards, when called out to disperse the mob, refused to fire. 
 Finally on the 14th of July a definite aim was given to the 
 wild intoxication of the people by a cry which suddenly 
 went through Paris, " Let us storm the Bastile ! " 
 
 302. This ancient and fortified prison was at the time 
 defended by a feeble garrison of eighty-two capture of 
 invalids and thirty-two Swiss, under a stanch ^'^^ Bastiie. 
 old soldier, the Marquis de Launay. The wild multitude 
 raged around its walls, but the governor utterly refused to 
 surrender. Then a siege of four hours began. The be- 
 siegers were joined by the French guards, — cannon were 
 brought, — De Launay capitulated, — the drawbridge was 
 lowered, and the Bastile taken : taken by a lawless mob of 
 maddened men and women, who forthwith massacred the 
 governor, his lieutenant, and some of the aged invalids, — 
 freed the few prisoners found in the cells, — set fire to the 
 building and razed it to the ground, — garnished their pikes 
 with the evidence of murder, and so paraded Paris. 
 
 303. From this moment the people were supreme. The 
 troops were dismissed from Versailles, Necker 
 
 11 1 1 1 • • • 1 T-w • "^^^ sequel. 
 
 was recalled, the kmg visited Pans, and was 
 invested at the Hotel de Ville with the tricolored emblem of 
 democracy. Then began what is called the first emigration^ 
 — that is, a general and most cowardly, as well as most 
 imprudent, flight of the nobles, who from beyond the fron- 
 tiers witnessed the revolution in ignoble safety. The king 
 and his family remained at Versailles, sad at heart amid 
 
41^ MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 their presence-chambers and garden-groves, four leagu(, ^ 
 from volcanic Paris. 
 
 304. Hither, from time to time during the few days thf.t 
 Provincial ris- intervened between the 14th of July and tl^e 
 *"^^' 4th of August, came strange tidings of a revo- 
 lution which was no longer Parisian, but national, — tidings 
 of provincial uprisings, of burning chateaux, of sudden ven- 
 geance done upon unpopular officials, tax-gatherers, and 
 the like. It was plain that the Nobility must bow its head 
 before the five-and-twenty savage millions, make restitution, 
 speak well, smile fairly, or die. 
 
 305. The memorable 4th of August came, when the no- 
 Sweeping re- blcs did this, making ample confession of their 
 forms. weakness. The Viscount de Noailles \iw df\ 
 proposed to reform the taxation by subjecting to it every 
 order and rank, by regulating it according to the fortune 
 of the individual, and by abolishing personal servitude and 
 every remaining vestige of the feudal system. An enthusi- 
 asm, which was half fear and half reckless excitement, 
 spread throughout the Assembly. The aristocrats rose in 
 their places and publicly renounced their seignorial dues, 
 privileges, and immunities. The clergy abolished tithes 
 and tributes. Yet all this availed but little now : it should 
 have been done many months before, to have weighed with 
 the impatient Commons. The people scorned a generosity 
 that relinquished only what was untenable, and cared little 
 for the recognition of a political equality that had already 
 been established by the pike. 
 
 306. And now another false step was made by the king. 
 Another false The popular demonstrations had so alarmed 
 ^*^P- the little court yet hanging around Louis at 
 Versailles, that they persuaded him that he must have mili- 
 tary assistance. The regiment of Flanders and a body of 
 dragoons came ; and on the ist of October the newly 
 arrived officers were invited to a grand banquet by their 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 417 
 
 comrades ot the royal body-guard. After the dinner was 
 removed and the wine had begun to circulate, the queen 
 presented herself with the Dauphin in her arms, and her 
 husband at her side. Cries of loyalty and enthusiasm 
 burst forth, their healths were drunk with drawn swords, 
 the tricolored cockades were trampled under foot, and 
 white ones, emblematic of the house of Bourbon, were dis- 
 tributed by the maids of honor. 
 
 307. The news of this fatal evening flew to Paris. Ex- 
 asperated by the arrival of the soldiery, by the The mob goea 
 insults offered to the tricolor, and by hunger, *° Versailles, 
 the mob rose in fury, and with cries of " Bread ! bread ! " 
 poured out of Paris and took the road to Versailles. A 
 strange, fearful mob it was, — thousands of women of the 
 wildest appearance, maddened furies, followed by thousands 
 of haggard, cruel, revengeful men. Reaching Versailles 
 they sent messages, threats, and deputations to the king 
 and to the Assembly. They had their smooth speeches 
 from the king and their fair assurances from the Assem- 
 bly ; but they still lingered about Versailles, and though a 
 great rain came on they camped for the night around the 
 palace. 
 
 308. Towards morning a grating that led into the grand 
 court was found to be unfastened, and the mob Attack on the 
 rushed in. On they went across the marble P^^a<=e. 
 court and up the grand staircase. The body-guards de- 
 fended themselves valiantly, and raised the alarm ; the 
 queen fled, half dressed, to the king's chamber, while the 
 " living deluge " poured through galleries and reception- 
 rooms, making straight for the queen's apartments. The 
 royal family listened tremblingly to the battering of the axes 
 on the yet unbroken doors. At this moment of peril came 
 Lafayette, with the national guard of Paris, and succeeded 
 in clearing the palace, and in rescuing for the time the hap- 
 less group in the king's apartments. 
 
 I8» AA 
 
41 8 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 309. The crowd demanded that the king should come 
 Return to to Paris ; and amidst a procession of market- 
 Paris, women, at a foot pace, with human heads 
 borne aloft on pikes before the carriage, the unhappy Louis 
 and Marie Antoinette were conducted to the capital (so- 
 called Joyous Entry ^ October 6, 1789), and placed more 
 immediately under the eyes of the revolutionists. 
 
 310. During all this time the emigration of the noblesse 
 Conduct of the wcnt on. Assembling upon the German fron- 
 emigrants. ^jgj. towards the Spring of the year 1791, they 
 formed themselves into an army under the command of 
 the Prince de Conde', and adopted for their motto, " Con- 
 quer or die " ; yet they neither conquered nor died, but 
 merely hovered along the Rhine, fearful of endangering the 
 personal safety of the king by any aggressive measures. 
 
 311. The king's position was by this time not only hu- 
 The king's miliating, but perilous. Such had been the de- 
 flight, sertions, that now Louis and the queen, with 
 their two children and the king's sister, were the only mem- 
 bers of the royal family left in Paris. Flight had long been 
 talked of, frequently delayed ; but at last everything was 
 arranged for, and Monday night, June 20, 1791, was fixed 
 for the attempt. Eluding the vigilance of the guards, they 
 stole out of the palace in disguise, and entered a carriage- 
 and-four at the gate St. Martin. 
 
 312. The flight was successfully made as far as Va- 
 
 rennes ; but there, while stoppinsf to change 
 
 His capture. , , , • . i rr^i 
 
 horses, the kmg was recognized. Ihe na- 
 tional guard flew to arms ; an aide-de-camp came up in 
 breathless haste, seeking the fugitives and bearing the de- 
 cree of arrest, — the horses' heads were turned towards 
 Paris, and the last chance for life and liberty was past. 
 After a return-journey of eight days the king and his family 
 re-entered the capital, and were received in profound silence 
 by an immense concourse. More closely guarded, more 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 419 
 
 mistrusted than ever, he was now suspended by the Na- 
 tional Assembly from those sovereign functions which he 
 had so long ceased to exercise or possess. 
 
 313. In the mean time, the articles of a new constitution 
 had been drawn up, putting France on the ^^5 ^^^ ^^^_ 
 basis of a constitutional monarchy. Its arti- stitution. 
 cles were publicly ratified by the royal oath and signature, 
 on the 14th of September, 1791. 
 
 314. The National (or, as it is sometimes called, the 
 Constituent) Assembly having sat for three The new as- 
 years, now passed a resolution dissolving it- ^embiy. 
 
 self (September 29, 1791). Its place was taken by a new 
 body, called the Legislative Assembly^ which began to sit on 
 the I St of October in the same year. 
 
 315. By this time three distinct factions were clearly 
 marked out, and between them there was to The three fac- 
 be battle to the death. First were the Feuil- *^°"s- 
 
 lants^ who adhered to the law and the constitution ; they 
 formed the ghost of the vanished National Assembly, which 
 had established a constitutional monarchy, and they sat on 
 the right of the tribune. The Girondists^ or Moderate Re- 
 publicans, formed the second party. Mirabeau would have 
 been their leader, and might have wielded their influence to 
 some effect ; but that great man had died a few months 
 before this time. Occupying the highest seats in the hall, 
 and therefore called the Mountain., sat the Red Repub- 
 licans, chiefly members of the Jacobin and Cordeliers 
 Clubs ; whose rallying cry was, " No king ! " The list of 
 this third party contained those terrible names — Robes- 
 pierre, Danton, Marat [m'd-ra'] — the very sound of which 
 suggests the thought of blood. 
 
 316. The spirit of revolution which had set France in a 
 blaze menaced every throne, and it behooved Foreign inva- 
 the kmgs of Europe to see to their own safety, effect. 
 Armies were raised by Austria and Prussia to defend the 
 
420 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 royal cause, hostilities were threatened, and the Legis- 
 lative Assembly declared for war, April 20, 1792. Soon 
 afterwards a force of 70,000 Prussians and 68,000 Austri- 
 ans and emigrant French royalists crossed the frontier. 
 Perhaps no effort on the part of his most eager enemy 
 could have so injured the cause and periled the safety of 
 Louis XVI. The Assembly replied by fitting out an army 
 of 20,000 national volunteers, and giving the command to 
 General Dumouriez \ilu-moor-yea'\ who in several actions 
 repelled the invaders. 
 
 317. In the mean time, enraged at this interference of 
 Feeling to- the foreign powers, and fluctuating (accord- 
 wards Louis, jj^g ^Q ^j^g reports from the scene of war) be- 
 tween apprehension and exultation, the Parisian mob and 
 the extreme Republican party came to regard the king with 
 increased enmity. He was named in the Assembly with 
 violent opprobrium; and the mob, incited to fury by Robes- 
 pierre and his associates, demanded the deposition of 
 Louis. 
 
 318. On the loth of August the palace of the Tuileries 
 Attack on the \tweel-reez''\ was attacked. The national guards, 
 Tuiienes. ^]^q j^^^^ been appointed to the defense of the 
 court-yard, went over to the insurgents, and pointed their 
 cannon against the chateau. Only 300 Swiss guards were 
 left ; and they, overpowered by numbers and fighting gallant- 
 ly to the last, were literally cut to pieces. The king and 
 his family escaped to the Legislative Assembly, and on the 
 14th were removed to the old Temple prison. 
 
 319. From this time that awful period known in his- 
 
 tory as the Reign of Terror may properly be 
 
 Reign of Terror. .•; , , ., , ^ i • » • i t^ 
 
 said to have begun. " My advice, said Dan- 
 ton, " is to confound the agitators, and to stop the enemy 
 by striking terror into the royalists." This advice produced 
 the imprisonment of hundreds of persons considered not 
 sufficiently zealous in the revolutionary cause. A tempo- 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 42 1 
 
 rary success won by the Prussians in the capture of Verdun 
 was the death-doom of the unfortunate prisoners. The 
 news was brought in the night, and next day (September 2, 
 1792) the prisons were cleared by the death of the captives. 
 Tliree days did the horrible scene of bloodshed continue, 
 and the victims displayed the most touching traits of resig- 
 nation and heroism. This wholesale massacre is known as 
 the Massacre of September. 
 
 320. On the 2ist of September, 1792, the Legislative 
 Assembly, having sat for the allotted space of The new gov- 
 one year, was succeeded by a new body of e^nment. 
 representatives, known by the name of the National Conven- 
 tion. 
 
 321. The constitutional party of the old Legislative As- 
 sembly (the Feuillants^ had disappeared in the The parties 
 
 , /., T^ ,. II ^ ^"d their lead- 
 
 maelstrom of the Revolution, and the Conven- ers. 
 tion was divided between the Girondists and the Mountain. 
 In the Chamber the Girondists had the majority ; but the 
 Mountain, led by Danton, Robespierre, and Marat, had the 
 great revolutionary advantage of being on the aggressive ; 
 and they had, besides, the support of all the sans-culottes, or 
 rabble of Paris. Their policy was simple and well defined, 
 — the death of the king, and the establishment of a Re- 
 public. 
 
 322. To proclaim the Republic was the first act of the 
 Convention. Then came the trial of the king. Trial of the 
 On the 13th of November, 1792, Louis XVI., ^^"&- 
 
 who had been four months a prisoner in the Temple, ap- 
 peared before the tribunal of his enemies. The charges 
 brought against him were based principally upon some 
 papers that disclosed the intrigues of the Court against the 
 Revolution, and on others that seemed to indicate a knowl- 
 edge of the proceedings in favor of the royal cause in for- 
 eign countries. Some writers have pointed out that the 
 deposition of the king (which had already taken place when 
 
422 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 the Republic was proclaimed) should have barred all these 
 accusations. But this was not a time either for legal tech- 
 nicalities or calm judgment to have any weight. Robespierre 
 appealed to the will of the people. " What have not the 
 friends of liberty to fear," said he, "when they see the ax 
 unsteady in your grasp, and detect a regret for your past 
 fetters, even after your emancipation ? " 
 
 323. Louis stood before his judges with a firm counte- 
 The trial con- nancc. He required counsel, and when one 
 tinued. q£ those he selected declined the task, Males- 
 herbes \7nalz-erb'\ who had in the early part of his reign 
 been one of his ministers, came forward to undertake his 
 master's defense. Said he : " I have been twice called to 
 assist at his council-table, when such a summons was an ob- 
 ject of ambition to every one. I owe him the same service 
 now that it is a function that many persons would consider 
 dangerous." After an able defense by Malesherbes, a long 
 and earnest discussion arose. Robespierre said, " The last 
 proof of devotion which we owe to our country is to stifle in 
 our hearts every sentiment of sensibility." On the side of 
 the Girondists vigorous efforts were made in the king's de- 
 fense ; but finally the discussion was closed, and three 
 questions were put to the vote, — the guilt of Louis, the ap- 
 peal to the people, and the penalty. 
 
 324. The king by a unanimous vote was pronounced 
 
 fifuilty, and the appeal to the people rejected ; 
 
 The verdict. ^, ^' . ^ ^ , . ^ • a- \ a 
 
 the question of the penalty to be inflicted re- 
 mained. But the orators did not deliberate alone ; fo 
 around the doors of the Assembly was a savage mob, heap 
 ing threats upon all who dared to be merciful, — so that 
 even those who most desired to save the king became 
 frightened. For ten days the voting went on, and when 
 with a voice of emotion the President of the Convention, 
 Vergniaud \yern-yo''\ declared the result, he found that, out 
 of 721 votes, the sentence awarded by a majority of 26 was 
 death^ — death within twenty-four hours I 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 423 
 
 325. Louis requested the attendance of a priest (the 
 Abbe Edgeworth) to administer the offices of , 
 
 . ,...,., A sad scene. 
 
 rehgion to him m his last moments : the re- 
 quest was granted. A last interview with his family, from 
 whom he had for some time been separated, was granted 
 also ; but the keepers required that the meeting should 
 take place in a hall which had a glass door giving a view of 
 the interior. The king entered the apartment at eight, 
 and walked about for some time in expectation. At half 
 past eight a door opened, and the queen, the king's sister 
 Elizabeth, and his two children entered, casting themselves 
 with sobs into his arms. After a long and sad conference 
 Louis rose and promised to see them again on the morrow : 
 in spite of this promise, which was not to be fulfilled, the 
 farewell was heart-rending. 
 
 326. Towards midnight the king slept soundly, continuing 
 to do so till five in the morning, when he re- Execution of 
 ceived the sacrament from the priest. At eight ^°"'^ ^^^• 
 on the morning of January 21, 1793, the officers entered; 
 the procession moved between two lines of armed men, and 
 arrived, at half past ten, at the Place de la Revolution. 
 There in a large open space stood the scaffold with the fatal 
 guillotine,* surrounded by the guards and a rabble uttering 
 ferocious cries and yells. Louis attempted to speak : " I die 
 innocent ; I pardon my enemies ; and as for you, unfortunate 
 people — " but the drums drowned his voice, and while the 
 confessor poured into his ear the words, " Son of St. Louis, 
 ascend to heaven ! " die king ceased to live. 
 
 327. This act of regicide was equivalent to a declaration 
 of war with the whole of Europe. England, Foreign af- 
 HoUand, Spain, Germany, Sweden, and finally ^^^'■*- 
 
 * " La guillotine," as the French call this deadly machine, was in- 
 vented about 1755 by Dr. Guillotin, whose name in the French femi- 
 nine form it bears. It is a large loaded knife set in a wooden frame, 
 and its action is instantaneous. 
 
424 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 Russia, flew to arms. Almost at the same time the French 
 province of La Vendee broke into open insurrection, and 
 the RepubUc found itself called upon to suppress disaffec- 
 tion at home, to organize armies, and to defend France 
 from 350,000 of the best troops in Europe, now approaching 
 the frontiers upon every side. A levy of 300,000 men was 
 accordingly decreed, and Dumouriez marched into Holland, 
 where he won several victories ; but soon after, becoming dis- 
 gusted with the excesses of the republican government, he 
 went over to the enemy's camp. Other generals, however, 
 took his place, and the war went on in the Austrian Nether- 
 lands, along the Rhine, and in Italy. Though sometimes 
 beaten, the French were on the whole victorious, and were 
 able all the time to make head against the allies. The en- 
 ergy displayed by the leaders of the Revolution was truly 
 amazing. 
 
 328. These achievements of the French armies abroad 
 Excesses of the wcre, howevcr, almost effaced by the disgrace 
 revolutionists, ^hich fell upon the name of the Republic in 
 consequence of its atrocities at home. Appropriately com- 
 mencing with the abolition of religious belief, the worship 
 of Reason, and the suppression of the Sabbath, the savage 
 man who ruled the whirlwind passed on to a saturnalia of 
 blood. The queen, Marie Antoinette, the king's sister 
 Elizabeth, and hundreds of persons of rank and station 
 went to their death. The victims of the guillotine in Paris 
 amounted to seventy or eighty a day, and a sewer was con- 
 structed for the express purpose of carrying off the human 
 blood. The Girondists were slain without mercy. Two 
 hundred thousand suspected persons were cast into prison, 
 and thence day by day brought out in tumbrels to the 
 place of doom. It is shocking to record that women sat 
 and knit as calmly as in the pit of a theatre while the fear- 
 ful tragedy was being played out before their eyes. 
 
 329. During the height of the Reign of Terror all the 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 425 
 
 powers of the state were centered in a small body of Jaco- 
 bins called the " Committee of Public Safety," The leaders 
 foremost among whom were Dan ton, Robes- struggles, 
 pierre, and Marat. Marat met a deserved death at the 
 hands of Charlotte Corday, a young woman who came to 
 Paris from Caen for the express purpose of assassinating 
 him, — a purpose which she accomplished in his bath. 
 Danton, thinking that the revolution had gone far enough, 
 wished to bring back something like order. But the " sea- 
 green" Robespierre had another thought; he determined 
 to destroy his former friends, that he might stand alone 
 on the dreadful eminence of terror. He succeeded in his 
 attempt, and, as we shall see, was himself swallowed up in 
 the same abyss. 
 
 330. In the spring of the year 1794 Robespierre be- 
 came absolute ruler of the Convention, and he Robespierre 
 determined to exterminate the leaders of all "^^s^er. 
 parties. He therefore denounced on the one hand what 
 were called the anarchists as enemies to the true welfare 
 of the state, and on the other the moderates as lukewarm in 
 the cause of liberty. Among the latter were Danton and 
 his party: the leader himself, with most of his followers, 
 went to the scaffold. Robespierre ruled by murder, and 
 between June 10 and July 17, 1794? l^e sent 1285 persons to 
 the guillotine in Paris. 
 
 331. At length, terrified by the rapidity, the impartiality, 
 and the number of Robespierre's condemna- ^^ 
 
 , . . The reaction. 
 
 tions the members of the Convention re- 
 solved to rid themselves of the tyrant. No man's life was 
 certain for a day. No man knew but that his name might 
 be found upon the next list of victims. On the 27th of 
 July, 1794, Robespierre was defied in the tribune, and with 
 his brother and some of his accomplices arretted. A con- 
 test betsveen the Assembly and the Jacobins of the city 
 ensued : after many times inclining the other way, it was 
 decided in favor of the Convention. 
 
426 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 332. Robespierre, with some of his fellow-demons, had 
 Death of taken refuge in the Hotel de Ville. In despair 
 Robespierre, j^^ attempted self-destruction with a pistol, but 
 only fractured his jaw. He and his fellows were cast 
 rudely into a cart and carried to the guillotine (July 28, 
 1794), where they suffered a part of the punishment due to 
 their accumulated crimes. 
 
 333. The Reign of Terror was over. It is true that 
 
 some of the Jacobin members of the Convention 
 
 Better days. • i " i , ... . . 
 
 contmued to advocate the prmciples of the 
 revolutionary tribunals, and the sans-culoties attempted one 
 or two insurrections. But the reaction had fairly set in. 
 The people awoke as from a hideous dream. The prisons 
 were opened, the living Girondists were recalled from exile, 
 the laws of Robespierre were repealed, and the churches 
 were again devoted to the worship of God. 
 
 334. While these things were passing in Paris, the cam- 
 Foreign sue- paigns against the allies, who had all along 
 cesses. j^gp^ ^^ £gl^ against the French, were emi- 
 nently successful. All Flanders, the frontiers of Holland, 
 and many strongholds on the Rhine, as also several places 
 in Spain, submitted in 1794 to French commanders. And 
 early in 1795 the French general Pichegru marched into 
 Holland and took possession of Amsterdam. The stadt- 
 holder fled to England, and up to the close of the revolu- 
 tionary wars Holland remained a dependency of France. 
 Indeed, so successful were the French in the field, that in 
 the year 1795 both Prussia and Spain made peace with them. 
 
 335* I^ t^^is same year, 1795, France received a new con- 
 The new gov- stitution, — the third since 1789. Two legis- 
 ernment. lativc councils wcre decreed, — the Ancients 
 
 and the Five Hundred. The executive power was vested in 
 five Directors, and hence the name of the Directory is often 
 given to this phase of French government. The Directors 
 were to be chosen by the two councils, and each Director 
 was to be in tm-n President for three months. 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 427 
 
 336. The Directory was not established without a strug- 
 gle. The inhabitants of Paris were dissatisfied conflict for 
 with the change proposed by the Convention ; P^^^r- 
 
 so the citizens by their Sections, or municipal divisions, 
 joined battle with the Convention, supported by 5000 regu- 
 lar troops. The Sections, joined by the National Guards, 
 mustered 40,000 men, and had at first the advantage. The 
 Convention, however, gave command of the regular force to 
 a general named Barras. He nominated as his second in 
 command a young Corsican officer of artillery named Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte, of whom we shall soon hear a great deal. 
 
 337. Bonaparte pointed his cannon down all the streets 
 by which the Tuileries could be approached. Triumph of 
 and when the assailants attempted to advance ^^^ Directory, 
 he mowed down the mass with grape-shot (October 4, 1795). 
 This settled the matter : the Convention triumphed, and the 
 new constitution and Directory stood on firm ground. 
 With this ended the French Revolution, and here opened 
 the wonderful career of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 338. Napoleon Bonaparte was of Italian blood and name, 
 and was a native of Corsica. Only two months youth of 
 before the birth of Napoleon (which took place Napoleon. 
 
 in the year 1769) Corsica had given up its long struggle for 
 independence and was incorporated with France, — so that 
 he chanced to be born with all the privileges of French citi- 
 zenship. He was the second son of Charles Bonaparte, a 
 lawyer. At the age of ten he was sent away from home to 
 the French Military School at Brienne. Here he spent 
 over five years. At the end of that time the official report 
 made of him was as follows : '' Distinguished in mathemati- 
 cal studies, tolerably versed in history and geography, much 
 behind in Latin, belles-lettres, and other accomplishments ; 
 of regular habits, studious and well-behaved, and enjoying 
 excellent health." In 1785 he received his commission as 
 a sub-lieutenant of artillery. 
 
428 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 339' When the Revolution broke out Napoleon took the 
 popular side. He first comes to notice in connection with 
 First appear- the sicgc of Toulon. That city had made a 
 
 ance as a ,. . . "^ 
 
 soldier. royalist uprising in 1 793, and the garrison was 
 
 aided by English and Spanish ships. The Republican gen- 
 eral, Barras, made very little progress till Napoleon dis- 
 covered a mode of converging his artillery-fire on the forts in 
 the harbor, and the result was that Toulon soon fell. Barras 
 recognized the ability' of the young artillerist, and accord- 
 ingly, when he was appointed to the command of the troops 
 of the Convention to oppose the Paris Sections, he asked 
 for Lieutenant-Colonel Bonaparte as his assistant. The 
 part which Napoleon played on that occasion we have 
 already seen. 
 
 340. In the new government of the Directory, which we 
 His advance- saw formed in 1795, Barras was one of the 
 ment. ^^^ Directors. Now in the spring of 1796 
 the Republic organized three great armies to oppose the 
 allied enemies of France. One army was given to General 
 Moreau \7nor-o'\ another to General Jourdan^ The third, 
 the army of Italy, through the friendly influence of Barras 
 was conferred upon the young Corsican officer. He was 
 twenty-six years of age, and had but just married Jose- 
 phine, widow of the Count de Beauharnais \bo-harn-a'\ 
 when appointed to this important command. 
 
 341. A strict following of chronology would require us 
 Napoleon's re- here to enter upon the narrative of the cam- 
 
 lations with • i -kt \ i • t i 
 
 the Revolution, paigu that Napoleou now made in Italy, and or 
 his subsequent campaigns, up to the close of the i8th cen- 
 tury. But it will be much more convenient to treat the 
 Napoleonic wars as a whole, which we shall be able to do 
 in the next chapter. And, indeed, it is the appearance of 
 Napoleon on the stage, rather than the mere date of the 
 year 1800, that marks the close of the period under review. 
 The booming of the cannon with which, on that October 
 
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 429 
 
 day, in the year 1795, he stayed the on-coming of the 
 Sections and secured the victory of the Directory, was the 
 death-knell of the Revolution, and announced a great era 
 of French, and indeed of European, history, in which him- 
 self was for twenty years to be the central figure. France 
 had waded through revolution to a republic, but it was only 
 to find herself in the hands of a master more despotic than 
 any king that had ever sat upon her throne. 
 
 5. PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 
 
 342. The details already given under the topics em- 
 braced in this chapter show that the i8th character of 
 century was a period of wonderful changes, — ^^® century. 
 a time when old ideas and old institutions were swept away 
 in a manner that had never happened in any previous time. 
 
 343. The great characteristic of this period is the ad- 
 vance of democratic ideas. These ideas were influence of 
 first promulgated in systematic form in France, ^"^^"^^ writers, 
 where about the middle of the i8th century a series of 
 remarkable writers arose to doubt and question all existing 
 beliefs and things. There were wits and philosophers and 
 e'conomists in this school ; and its leaders were Voltaire, 
 Rousseau, Montesquieu, Diderot, Condorcet, and the En- 
 cyclopedists. They attacked the State and the Church 
 with bitter wit and telling arguments. They were not 
 always wise men, nor were their motives always noble ; but 
 they did a needed work in what was, perhaps, the only way' 
 possible. They voiced a passionate desire, that swelled in 
 the hearts of all the j^eoples, for those " inalienable rights '' 
 of which kings had robbed them. 
 
 344. These ideas, though first proclaimed as theory in 
 France, were to find their earliest practical Democracy in 
 embodiment in America. England itself was A'"^"'=3- 
 astir with the new thought, and in our own country was a 
 
430 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 constituent part of the English people, whom the circum- 
 stances of colonial life had obliged in a great measure to 
 exercise self-government, — so that, of all parts of the 
 world the American colonies were the ripest for democracy. 
 The influence of the French school of political and social 
 philosophers upon the founders of our Republic is readily 
 traceable, and the Declaration of Independence draws some of 
 its inspiration from Rousseau's Conirat Social. 
 
 345. While France by her ideas influenced America, the 
 Influence of rcflcx influence of America on France was pro- 
 France, digious. Here in the Republic of the United 
 States was a living embodiment of the gospel of democ- 
 racy. Here was a great self-ruling nation, — a government 
 of the people, for the people, and by the people. French 
 armies and fleets had fought to establish this government, 
 and the reports from across the Atlantic, and the living 
 voice of those who had shared the conflict, set the blurred 
 brain of every poor French serf into activity. 
 
 346. The result of this ferment was the French Revolu- 
 Philosophy of tion, — that savage uprising of a people against 
 Revolution. the abuscs of feudalism and the divine right of 
 kings. That this deluge swept away much that was good 
 cannot be doubted ; yet it is equally certain that all the 
 crimes and atrocities of the dreadful period between 1789 
 and 1795 were far more than counterbalanced by the per- 
 manent gains which liberty then made. 
 
 347. The influence of the French Revolution spread 
 Influence of throup^hout all the nations of Europe. Even 
 
 the revolution . ° . t • i i 
 
 generally. where there was no great political change 
 
 there was a wide social change ; and we may say, gen- 
 erally, that since that great popular upheaval there has 
 been no part of Europe where the people have been so 
 utterly down-trodden as they were before. If all the glit- 
 tering dreams of French Liberie^ Fraternity, and Egalite 
 were not destined to be realized, one immense and perma- 
 
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION: 43 1 
 
 nent gain there was : it was acknowledged that the people 
 have rights, and ever since that time there have been slow 
 yet steady advances towards the embodiment of these rights 
 in the constitution of society and nations. 
 
 348. The literature of the i8th century is distinctively 
 the literature of wit, which glitters in all 
 
 1 ■ ^ r • • 1 11 Literature. 
 
 kmds of composition, — letters, pamphlets, 
 lampoons, essays, novels, and poetry. Nearly every cele- 
 brated writer had the talent of exciting laughter not only as 
 a conspicuous talent, but as his most conspicuous. Pious 
 Addison and pious Cowper had it, surly Dr. Johnson, good- 
 natured Goldsmith, courtier Voltaire, and rustic Burns. 
 Another century of ridicule may not occur again in history, 
 but it was needed. Institutions, manners, and habits had 
 become ridiculous and vicious, and they required to be 
 laughed out of the world. (For the most eminent writers 
 of the i8th century see "Great Names," pages 437, 438.) 
 
 349. In pure philosophy the progress was hot specially 
 marked. In Endand Locke's Essay on the _, , 
 
 r-r J 7-11 , . Philosophy. 
 
 Human Undersiajiding had at the time a great 
 repute \ but the book has not held its place. Bishop 
 Berkeley propounded a form of idealism, and Reid on the 
 other hand put forth his system of Common Sense. The 
 contributions of Hume have probably had a more lasting 
 influence than those of any contemporary English phi- 
 losopher. French philosophy was almost wholly of a 
 negative and destructive character, — and hence had but 
 a temporary influence. Far deeper were the metaphysical 
 speculations which now began to engage the attention of 
 some profound German philosophers. Among these the 
 greatest name is that of Kant, whose system laid the basis 
 of all subsequent German metaphysics. 
 
 350. The fine arts were cultivated assiduously during 
 this century. It was now for the first time ^. _ 
 that England began to have native painters of 
 
432 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 some eminence and originality. The chief names in the 
 English school are Gainsborough, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
 and Benjamin West, the last of whom was born in this 
 country. But the most notable fact in the artistic history 
 of this period is the great advance in the art of music/ 
 which now began to take embodiment in truly grand com- 
 positions. It is sufficient to mention the names of Handel, 
 Haydn, and Mozart. These great composers all belonged 
 to the 1 8th century, and they were the fathers and founders 
 of modern music. 
 
 351. The progress of science during this century was 
 Science. most Striking. It was at this time that chem- 
 Chemistry. jg^j-y ^j-g^ ^qqJ^ x2J)k as a sciencc. Black dis- 
 covered carbonic acid gas ; Cavendish, the composition of 
 water, and the constituents of the atmosphere ; Priestley, 
 oxygen and more new substances than any other chemist ; 
 while the great French chemist, Lavoisier \l'd-vwdz-yea'\ sys^ 
 tematized and generalized all previous discoveries, adding 
 also other important contributions. 
 
 352. The science of electricity may be said to have 
 
 originated at this same time. Benjamin 
 ^ ^* Franklin did much for this branch of investi- 
 gation, both by theory and by experiment. He demonstrated 
 the identity of natural and artificial electricity. Then came 
 an accident that made the electric telegraph possible in our 
 own time. The wife of Galvani, a professor in Bologna, 
 had skinned some frogs, and noticed the twitching of the 
 leg of one of them when the nerve came in contact with a 
 piece of metal, — and this was the first observed manifesta- 
 tion of galvanism. To produce it Volta devised his pile, 
 but in time a battery of plates of zinc and copper was 
 found most convenient. 
 
 353* To enumerate even a tithe of the great scientific 
 Other discov- discoveries that render the i8th century illus- 
 ®"^^- trious is impossible here. It was then that 
 
inven- 
 is. 
 
 PKOGKESS OF CIP'ILIZATIOiV. 433 
 
 the basis of modern geology was laid. Botany, from a 
 jumble of pre-existing observations, was by the genius of 
 Linnaeus first brought into systematic form. Comparative 
 anatomy was created. The weight, form, and size of the 
 earth were determined. Laplace collected and elaborated 
 the mathematics of astronomy in his Mecanique Celeste; Sir 
 William Herschel discovered Uranus (1781), and resolved 
 the Milky-Way into distinct and separate stars. Adam 
 Smith, in his Wealth of Nations^ created the science of po- 
 litical economy, and thereby rendered mankind one of the 
 greatest services. 
 
 354. Striking as are these advances of pure science, we 
 are even more impressed by the mighty practi- Great 
 cal applications in the arts of industry which ^'°"' 
 science received at this time. At the right moment, when 
 human undertakings became too vast for the hand and for 
 primitive implements, Brindley, Watt, and Arkwright, and 
 other great inventive geniuses, devised machinery to meet 
 the requirements of the new industrial era. Navigable ca- 
 nals began to be made, and the genius of James Brindley 
 proved that in the construction of these highways the most 
 formidable engineering difficulties might be overcome. The 
 manufacture of iron received an immense impetus by Roe- 
 buck's process of smelting by coal instead of charcoal. 
 Machinery was applied to spinning and weaving cotton. 
 The spinning-jenny was invented by Hargreaves in 1765, 
 the spinning-frame by Arkwright in 1768, and the mule-jenny 
 by Crompton in 17 75- But the crowning achievement of 
 the age was that of the Scotchman, James Watt, who though 
 not actually the inventor of the steam-engine, so improved 
 it as to place a new power in the hands of mankind. Prob- 
 ably no material service of equal value was ever rendered to 
 humanity. Its use as a motive-power at once revolution- 
 ized all the processes of industry, and it soon drew after it, 
 though not till early in the next century, steamboat naviga- 
 
 19 BB 
 
434 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 tion, railroad traveling, and a thousand other beneficial 
 applications. 
 
 355. The following minor though important details of 
 other inven- invention and industry will be found of in- 
 
 tions. tgj-ggj- . _ 
 
 Piano-forte: invented by an organist of Dresden in 1717; the instru- 
 ment was not made in England until 1766. 
 
 Caoutchouc, or india-rubber: was brought to Europe from South 
 America in 1730. 
 
 Stereotyping : William Ged of Edinburgh first practiced the art of 
 printing from stereotype plates. 
 
 Chronometer: John Harrison (1736 -1742), in response to a Par- 
 liamentary offer of a reward of ;^ 20,000, first constructed a clock 
 which kept perfect sidereal or solar time, — invaluable in determining 
 the longitude of ships at sea. 
 
 Umbrellas: in 1778 Joseph Hanway introduced one into England, 
 probably from Spain. 
 
 Vaccination : Jenner made the first experiment of inoculatng a child 
 
 from a cow-pox pustule in 1796. 
 Hydraulic Press: invented by Bramah, an Englishman, in 1786; by 
 
 this machine a slender column of water may be made to raise the 
 
 heaviest weights. 
 Gas-lights: used by Murdoch in Cornwall in 1792, and in the foundry 
 
 of Watt and Bolton in 1798; but gas was not used for street-lighting 
 
 until this century. 
 Cotton-gin: Eli Whitney, an American, in 1793 made a machine for 
 
 separating the fiber of cotton from the seed, and cleansing it with 
 
 ease ; this invention enormously increased the demand for cotton. 
 Lithography: was invented in Germany in 1796. 
 
 356. All great inventions are essentially democratic, 
 Improvement that is, they tend to the benefit of the whole 
 of the masses, people. We therefore mark, during the i8th 
 century, a perceptible rise in the condition of the European 
 masses. It is true, there was a terrible amount of squalid 
 poverty and deplorable ignorance, as there still is ; but, as a 
 M^hole, things were on the mend. The poorer classes received 
 an amount of consideration which they never knew before ; 
 
PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 435 
 
 while they inevitably shared in tlie advantages, improve- 
 ments, and inventions created by capitalists, in bringing 
 more of the comforts of life within their reach. Public 
 libraries, mechanics' institutes, clubs, co-operative societies, 
 and Sunday-schools were now first established. It is a fine 
 proof of the enlarging humanity of the age, that there now 
 arose a considerable number of men who devoted their lives 
 to the amelioration of the condition of the poor, the down- 
 trodden, and the criminal. John Howard is famous for his 
 labors for the reform of prisons in England. Thomas Clark- 
 son and William Wilberforce are honored as the leaders of 
 the party which did away with the slave-trade in the English 
 colonies. Sir Samuel Romilly is distinguished for his 
 efforts to improve the English penal laws, at that time the 
 most severe in Europe. 
 
 357. It is worthy of note, that towards the close of this 
 century men began to lay aside the elaborate Reform in 
 fripperies of dress — the hanging cuffs and '^''^ss. 
 lace ruffles, the cocked hats, wigs, buckles, and swords — 
 that had previously constituted the costume of a gentleman, 
 and took to a sensible attire, fit for our work-a-day world. 
 Gentlemen turned their attention to more useful occupa- 
 tions than roistering, drunkenness, and gallantry. The 
 occupation of a merchant or a manufacturer became hon- 
 orable, and the morality and decorum of the higher classes 
 had a beneficial effect upon the habits of tlie common 
 people. 
 
43^ MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 GREAT NAMES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 
 PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS. 
 
 Swedenborg (1688- 1772), a Swede —distinguished for scientific and 
 religious speculations — believed himself favored with special revela- 
 tions — wrote voluminously on apocalyptic subjects — his doctrines 
 still followed by members of the New Church. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin (1706- 1790), an American philosopher and states- 
 man — his public career well known — established the identity of light- 
 ning with electricity, and contrived lightning-rods — published two 
 volumes of essays, with an autobiography. 
 
 Linnseus (1707- 1778), a Swedish botanist — simplified and popular- 
 ized botany — introduced a new system of classification by stamens 
 and pistils. 
 
 D'Alembert (1717-1783), an eminent French scientist — principal 
 contributor to the famous French Encyclopedia. 
 
 Hunter, William and John (1718- 1783, 1728- 1793), brothers, born 
 in Scotland — both distinguished as anatomists — two of the greatest 
 surgeons that ever lived. 
 
 Adam Smith (1723 - 1790), a Scotchman — professor in Glasgow 
 University — chief work, the Wealth of Nations, by which was founded 
 the science of Political Economy. 
 
 Kant (1724- 1804), a German metaphysician of the first rank — his 
 great work, The Critique of Pure Reason, which is a review and recon- 
 struction of the whole theory of human knowledge. 
 
 Priestley (1733 - 1804), by profession a Unitarian minister, but by nature 
 a. priest of. science — discovered oxygen — a voluminous writer — 
 sympathized with the French Revolution, for doing which his house, 
 library, and valuable apparatus were burned by a mob. 
 
 Galvani (1737- 1798), an Italian physician — discovered that part of 
 electricity known as galvanism. 
 
 William Herschel {1738- 1822), a great astronomer — came to Eng- 
 land as a bandman in the Hanoverian Guards — improved the reflect- 
 ing telescope — discovered Uranus in 1781. 
 
 Lavoisier (1743- 1794), one of the greatest French chemists — de- 
 vised the improved chemical nomenclature — first introduced the 
 balance into chemical analysis — was guillotined during the French 
 Revolution. 
 
 Bentham (1747- 1832), a political philosopher, and juridical reformer — 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE 1877/ CENTURY. 437 
 
 one of the deepest thinkers England ever produced — was the author 
 of Utilitarianism — chief works, The Principles of Morals and Legisla- 
 tion^ and Evidence and Penal Legislation. 
 Laplace (1749- 1827), a celebrated French mathematician — author of 
 the Mecanique Celeste^ a work that produced as great a sensation in the 
 scientific world as Newton's Principia. 
 
 WRITERS. 
 
 Jonathan Swift (1667- 1745), Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin — an 
 eminent political writer — chief work, Gulliver's Travels — wrote 
 verses also — very sarcastic — died mad. 
 
 Addison (1672- 1719), educated at Oxford ~ much engaged in politics 
 under Anne and George I. — famous for his prose papers in the Spec- 
 tator — wrote also Cato^ a Tragedy, A Letter from Italy, and other 
 poems. 
 
 Alexander Pope {1688- 1744), the son of a London linen-draper — 
 wrote good verses at twelve — chief works, the Essay on Man, The 
 Rape of the Lock, a short mock-heroic poem, and a translation of 
 Homer into English verse — lived chiefly at Twickenham on the 
 Thames — deformed, sickly, and peevish. 
 
 Richardson (1689- 1761), one of the founders of English novel-writing 
 
 — his chief works, Pamela, Clarissa Harloive, and Sir Charles Gran- 
 dtson — they are now regarded as tedious and sentimental. 
 
 Montesquieu (1689- 1755), an eminent French thinker — born near 
 Bordeaux — president in the parliament of that city — chief works, 
 Lettres Persannes, Esprit des Lois. 
 
 Voltaire (1694- 1778), the greatest of French wits and satirists- 
 author of the Llenriade, the only French epic poem — among his 
 historical works are the Age of Louis XIV., History of Charles XII. 
 
 — wrote numerous plays and minor poems — lived his last twenty 
 years at Ferney in Ain — an enemy of the Christian faith — his 
 mission was to destroy. 
 
 Buffon (1707- 1788), born at Montbard in Burgundy — a great natural- 
 ist — chief work, his Histoire Naturelle. 
 
 Fielding (1707- 1754), the greatest of the English novelists of the i8th 
 century — his chief works, Tom Jones, Jonathan Wilde, and Joseph 
 Andrews. 
 
 Samuel Johnson {1709 -1784), born at Lichfield — lived generally in 
 London — chief works, The Lives of the Poets : Rasselas, an Eastern 
 Tale ; an English Dictionary : and a poem called London. 
 
 David Hume (171 1 - 1776), a Scotch philosopher and historian — chief 
 
43^ * MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 work, History of England — held the strange doctrine that we can be 
 sure of nothing — wrote a Treatise on Human Nature and Essays. 
 
 Rousseau (1712-1778), born at Geneva — son of a watchmaker — a 
 skeptic in religious matters — author of many operas and eloquent 
 literary works — obliged to leave France on the publication of his 
 Contrat Social, an essay which maintains the equal rights of all men, 
 
 Sterne (1713-1768), prince of English humorists — author of Tristram 
 Shandy and The Sentimental Journey. 
 
 Oliver Goldsmith {1728- 1774), born in Ireland — in early life re- 
 garded as an idiot — rose, however, to be a famous writer — best- 
 known works, The Vicar of Wakefield, Deserted Village, and She 
 Stoops to Conquer — marked by charming simplicity of style, tender- 
 ness of sentiment, and racy description. 
 
 Lessing (1729- 1781), a German critic and playwright — chief works, 
 Laocoon and the Tragedy of Emilia Galotti — a very profound and sug- 
 gestive thinker. 
 
 Edmund Burke (1750- 1797), born in Dublin — a famous orator — 
 chief works, An Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful and Reflections 
 on the French Revolution. 
 
 Edward Gibbon (1737- 1794), born in Surrey — chief work. The De- 
 cline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in six volumes, written in twelve 
 years. 
 
 Robert Burns (1759- 1796), an Ayrshire farmer — famed for his lyric 
 poems — author of the Cotter's Saturday Night and Tam O'Shanter. 
 
 Schiller (1759- 1805), a distinguished German poet and prose writer — 
 made Professor of History at Jena in 1789 — the great dramatist of 
 Germany — chief works, William Tell and Wallenstein — wrote also 
 a History of the Thirty Years' War. 
 
 ARTISTS. 
 
 Handel (1684- 1759), an illustrious German musical composer — very 
 precocious as a boy — visited England in 17 10, and remained there 
 during the most of his subsequent life — his most famous oratorios 
 are Israel in Egypt, The Messiah, and Judas Maccabccus. 
 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 -1792), born in Devonshire — the first 
 President of the Royal Academy — a famous portrait and histoiical 
 painter — published Discourses on Painting — a great friend of Dr. 
 Johnson. 
 
 Thomas Gainsborough (1727- 1788), born in Suffolk — a fine painter 
 of English landscapes — lived in Ipswich, Bath, and London. 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE iZTH CENTURY. 439 
 
 Haydn (1732- 1809), born near Vienna — a great musical genius — 
 father of modern orchestral music — greatest work, The Creation, an 
 oratorio. 
 
 Benjamin West (1738- 1820), born in America: President of the 
 
 Royal Academy ; a distinguished historical painter. 
 Mozart (1756- 1792), a great German musician — lived much at Vienna 
 
 — chief works, Don Giovanni, and the celebrated Requiem, the latter 
 
 written on his death-bed — died of fever, December 5, 1792, aged 36. 
 Canova (1757- 1822), a celebrated Italian sculptor — famous for many 
 
 very beautiful statues. 
 
 INVENTORS. 
 
 James Brindley (1716-1772), native of England — engineer of the 
 canal made by Duke of Bridgewater from Worsley to Manchester, and 
 hence the founder of canal navigation. 
 
 Hargreaves (1730- 1778), bom in England — the inventor of the card- 
 ing-machine as a substitute for carding by hand — produced the spin- 
 ning-jenny in 1765 — was persecuted by the ignorant of his time. 
 
 Josiah Wedgwood {1731 - 1795), the great improver of our porcelain 
 manufacture — the son of a Staffordshire potter — inventor of the 
 " Queen's ware," made of white Dorsetshire clay mixed with ground 
 flint. 
 
 Sir Richard Arkwright {1732- 1792), born at Preston, Lancashire — 
 originally a hair-dresser — invented the spinning-frame, by which 
 hand-labor is saved in the cotton-mills — hence may be called the 
 founder of the cotton manufacture. 
 
 James Watt (1736- 1819), native of Greenock — invented the double- 
 acting condensing steam-engine, and applied it to machinery — lived 
 first in Glasgow, and then in Birmingham. 
 
 Jacquard (1752- 1834), bom in France — at first employed asaplaiter 
 of straw — the inventor of the loom for figured weaving — at first en- 
 countered much opposition among manufacturers, but his machine was 
 soon in great demand. 
 
 Crompton (1753 - 1827), the inventor oiihe mule, a machine that greatly 
 facilitated the spinning of yarn. 
 
 Robert Fulton (1765- 1815), an American engineer — studied in Eng- 
 land the adaptation of the steam-engine to boat-propulsion — applied 
 his knowledge in the construction of the first large steam-vessel, 
 which made its trial trip on the Hudson in the year 1807. 
 
440 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 GREAT EVENTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 .com: 
 
 I. THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 
 
 358. We have now come to a period that is in the strict^ 
 The period and ^st sense modcm ; for when we speak abo'it 
 its character. ^^ JVmetee?tth Ceutury^ we are speaking about 
 our own times, and many persons who are now aUve saw 
 the beginning of this period. It is an age crowded beyond 
 all the ages of history with great events, — an age fuller, 
 richer, and more varied than was ever seen before. 
 
 359. There are se:^eral broad facts that stamp the 19th 
 century with this peculiar character, Thus : First, t^'? 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 44 1 
 
 Struggles waged in this period are no longer struggles of 
 the kings with one another, but struggles be- Reasons of 
 twe^n \he kmgs and the peoples. This fact alone anty. 
 has served to work a complete change in the politics of 
 Europe. But, secondly, new problems of a political and 
 social nature have arisen, such as the questions of democ- 
 racy, of representative government, of national unity, of the 
 rights of labor, etc. ; and these have made a wonderful 
 stirring in the spirits of men. Third, The historic stage is 
 enlarged to embrace the whole world, since, on the one 
 hand, new nations have arisen in distant and hitherto un- 
 settled regions, and, on the other, the old lands of Asia 
 and Africa have shown a marked awakening, and have 
 again begun to count for something in the world's history, 
 after lying dormant for ages. 
 
 360. The first of our topics is the career of Napoleon, 
 because for fifteen years he was the great cen- iq^\c here 
 tral figure not only in the history of France, treated of. 
 but in the history of Europe. 
 
 361. In the last chapter the narrative of events in France 
 was brought up to the establishment of the gov- Retrospect of 
 ernment under the Directory, in 1795. I'^is is events, 
 known as the Constitution of the Year III.* It was the 
 third constitution France had received since the outbreak 
 of the revolution, the first being the Constitution of 1789 
 (a Constitutional Monarchy, formed by the National, or Con- 
 stituent, Assembly), and the second, the Constitution of 
 September, 1792 (a Republic, formed by the National Con- 
 vention). The establishment of the republican government 
 
 * The "Year III.," because the National Convention when, in 
 1792, it abolished the monarchy and declared France a Republic, also 
 reformed the calendar, decreeing that the new chronologic era should 
 date from the establishment of the Republic, September, 1792. The year 
 1795 of the Christian chronology was therefore the "Year III," of 
 French antichristian chronology. 
 19* 
 
442 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 under the Directory may be regarded in some sense as 
 the close of the French Revolution ; for, though there were 
 many subsequent changes, all these changes were effected 
 by the Governuieni.^ or its armies, without the interference of 
 the people. 
 
 362. It has already been seen that the French Revolu- 
 
 Position of tiou, wliich was at first political (that is, con- 
 France in the 1 • 1 , • , . . \ 
 war. cerned with the mternal constitution of the 
 
 French government and society), afterwards became military^ 
 
 or aggressive, because the European sovereigns, fearful of 
 
 its consequences in their own dominions, attacked it. The 
 
 year 1792 saw the First oi that series of Coalitions against 
 
 France into which nearly all the powers of Europe were 
 
 successively drawn. This war was still going on when, in 
 
 1795, the management of affairs fell into the hands of the 
 
 Directory, under the Constitution of the Year III. In 
 
 the spring of 1796 they fitted out three great armies, and 
 
 the command of the army of Italy was, as we have seen, 
 
 assigned to the young general, Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 363. The Republic under the Directory lasted for four 
 From Repub- years, 179=5-1799, when it came to an end, 
 
 lie to Consu- ^ , \ '^S^ ;V , ,• , 1 • 1 XT 
 
 late. and the Consulate was established, with Napo- 
 
 leon as First Consul and real master of France. The series 
 of events by which this change was brought about is pre- 
 sented in the following synoptical view, which shows side by 
 side the military operations of Napoleon and the course of 
 affairs under the Directory : — 
 
 THE DIRECTORY, 1796 -1799. NAPOLEON, 1796 - 1799. 
 
 1796: The Directory organized 1796: Italian Campaign. — Na- 
 
 three armies, — two, under Jour- poleon, being appointed by the 
 
 dan and Moreau, to operate Directory to the command of the 
 
 against Germany ; and the third, army of Italy, went, in March, 
 
 under Napoleon, to operate 1796, to his headqunrters at Nice, 
 
 against the Austrians in Italy. where he found an ill-fed, half- 
 
 The armies of Moreau and Jour- clad army of 36,000 men. He 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 
 
 443 
 
 dan, uniting in Germany, forced 
 the Austrian army, under the 
 Archduke Charles, to retreat 
 beyond the Danube. But the 
 Archduke Charles then took the 
 offensive, and defeated Jourdan, 
 while Moreau saved himself 
 only by a rapid retreat through 
 the Black Forest and over the 
 Rhine (August). An ill-concerted 
 expedition under General Hoche 
 was sent to invade Ireland, 
 towards the close of the year. 
 He returned without accomplish- 
 ing anything. 
 
 1797: The Directory found itself 
 greatly embarrassed in the at- 
 tempt to rule France. The elec- 
 tions proved more favorable to 
 the reaction than to the Repub- 
 lic. The government according- 
 ly determined to maintain its 
 position by force. Troops were 
 iDrought to Paris ; several mem- 
 bers of the Five Hundred and of 
 the Ancients were arrested, and 
 two of the Directors, Carnot and 
 Barthelemy, were banished ; so 
 
 was to operate against the Aus- 
 trians in Italy, where they had 
 a force of 60,000 men. He en- 
 tered Italy by a series of skillful 
 manoeuvers. " Two standards, 
 fifty-five pieces of cannon, five 
 victories, 15,000 prisoners, and 
 peace with the Piedmontese were 
 the results of a campaign of fif- 
 teen days." In May Napoleon 
 won the brilliant victory of the 
 Bridge of Lodi and entered Mi- 
 Ian. He next attacked the Aus- 
 trian army under Wurmser, as 
 it marched, divided, along the 
 banks of the Lago di Garda, — 
 falling upon the divisions sepa- 
 rately and overwhelming them at 
 Castiglione, Rovcredo, and Bas- 
 sano (August and September). 
 Two months afterwards he had 
 to meet, with his feeble remnant 
 of an army, a new Austrian force 
 of 60,000 under Alvinzi. But 
 Napoleon was victorious at the 
 bridge of Areola (near Verona), 
 and as the result the third Aus- 
 trian army was driven out of 
 Italy. 
 
 1797 : Wurmser, beaten the previ- 
 ous year, still lay at Mantua, where 
 Napoleon besieged him. The 
 Austrians sent a fresh force of 
 65,000 under Alvinzi across the 
 mountains to the relief of Mantua. 
 Napoleon, reinforced to 45,000 
 men, beat this army at Rivoli 
 ( Januaiy ), and took Mantua. He 
 then advanced to the Adriatic, 
 captured Venice (in consequence 
 of hostilities against the French), 
 and overthrew her ancient inde- 
 
444 
 
 MODERN HISTORY 
 
 that there were but three Direc- 
 tors in place of five. This violent 
 movement is called the *' Revolu- 
 tion of 1 8th Fructidor" (Sep- 
 tember 4, 1797). 
 
 1798 : The Directory had now to 
 meet a Second Coalition against 
 France, consisting of England, 
 Russia, and Austria Things 
 went badly ioi the French. Italy, 
 the reward of Napoleon's bril- 
 liant campaign, was recovered by 
 the Austrians, aided by the Rus- 
 sians. The finances were in the 
 worst possible condition. The 
 forced conscription ordered by 
 the government disgusted all 
 classes. The ap|>eal to the mili- 
 tary by the Directory made them 
 feel their power, and the army be- 
 gan to long for the strong hand of 
 a martial master. The members 
 of the Directory were terrified. 
 
 pendent government. He next 
 
 crossed the Alps through the 
 Tyrol into Carinthia and Styria, 
 making for Vienna; but, in con- 
 sequence of the French army 
 operating in Germany (under 
 Moreau and Jourdan) having 
 been driven back out of Ger- 
 many by the Archduke Charles, 
 Napoleon's base of operations 
 was threatened by the advance of 
 the Archduke Charles into the 
 Tyrol. He therefore ceased his 
 advance against Vienna. The 
 Austrian emperor was glad to 
 negotiate for peace. The Treaty 
 of Campo Formio (October, 1797) 
 ended the campaign. France 
 obtained possession of Milan, 
 Mantua, Modena, Ferrara, Bo- 
 logna, Corfu, Zante, and the 
 whole of the Austrian Nether- 
 lands. France ceded Venice to 
 Austria. 
 
 1798; Egyptian Campaign.— 
 Napoleon, returning at the close 
 of 1797 to France after this bril- 
 liant campaign, became the hero 
 of the PVench people. The Di- 
 rectory began to fear his popu- 
 larity and ambition ; but for 
 some months he lived very qui- 
 etly with Josephine in Paris. 
 Napoleon then proposed an in- 
 vasion of Egypt as a means of 
 attacking the commerce and 
 power of England in the East. 
 The remotene.ss of the expedition 
 influenced the jealous govern- 
 ment in giving him the command. 
 With an army of 40,000 veter- 
 ans, he landed at Alexandria; 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 
 
 445 
 
 and resigned or changed their 
 places. 
 
 and captured it (July). He then 
 overthrew the Mamelukes in 
 a brilliant action, the " Battle 
 of the Pyramids" (July 2i), 
 which opened to the conqueror 
 the gates of Cairo and made 
 him master of Egypt. While 
 Napoleon was thus engaged, 
 the whole of his vast fleet, an- 
 chored in Aboukir Bay at the 
 mouth of the Nile, was totally 
 destroyed by the English fleet 
 under Nelson ("Battle of the 
 Nile," August i). Thus left in 
 Egypt with his army, and de- 
 prived of the vessels upon which 
 he had relied for his return, Na- 
 poleon, undismayed, saw the com- 
 mencement of his Oriental career. 
 
 1799 : With the armies ol the 
 Coalition threatening the soil of 
 France, and the demoralized 
 state of things at home, the mur- 
 murs of the people grew louder 
 and louder, and the government 
 was blamed for having, in what 
 was called the banishment of 
 Napoleon, deprived France of 
 the only man who was equal to 
 the occasion. 
 
 1799 : Advancing from Egypt, 
 through the desert of Arabia 
 Petraea, into Palestine, he took 
 Gaza, and at the foot of Mount 
 Tabor defeated the Turks with 
 enormous slaughter (April) ; but 
 he received a check in the siege 
 of Acre (defended by the Turks 
 and a body of English marines 
 under Sir Sydney Smith) ; so that 
 he had to return to Egypt after 
 losing half his army (July). 
 Here, however, he won a bril- 
 liant victory over the Turks at 
 Aboukir. Finding now that 
 matters were in great confusion 
 in France, Napoleon, without 
 consulting the wishes of the 
 home government, left the army 
 in command of Kleber, and, em- 
 barking secretly on a French frig- 
 ate (August), returned to France 
 (October). 
 
446 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 364. When, in October, 1799, Napoleon suddenly re- 
 Situation on turned to P^rance from Ee^ypt, he found the 
 
 return of Na- . ^. . . , . 
 
 poieon. State of affairs in a condition similar to that 
 
 in which Caesar found Rome on his return from Egypt. 
 The Republic had broken down. Anarchy prevailed. The 
 Directory was without any support in public opinion. To 
 concentrate the executive power in a single individual 
 needed but one act of daring. Napoleon felt that his was 
 the genius to conceive and execute so bold a deed. 
 
 365. The Council of Five Hundred and the Council of 
 The loth of Ancicnts had been summoned to assemble at 
 November. g^^ Q\om6. \cloo\ on the loth of November, 1799. 
 On that day General Bonaparte, who had been appointed to 
 the command of all the troops, entered the Chamber of the 
 Ancients, and protested against the Constitution under 
 whidi they were formed. Leaving the senators overwhelmed 
 with surprise, he proceeded to the Council of Five Hun- 
 dred, accompanied by about twenty officers and grenadiers. 
 He reproached the members vehemently with their misrule, 
 refused to swear to the Constitution, and declared the Direc- 
 tory an incompetent body. But he was received with cries 
 of " Outlaw him ! Down with the Dictator ! " and, unaccus- 
 tomed to scenes like this, he retired abashed. Then mount- 
 ing his horse he harangued the troops, who saluted him with 
 acclamation. "Soldiers, can I count upon you?" cried 
 the new candidate for empire. " Yes, yes," was the reply ; 
 and Murat with a company of grenadiers cleared the hall of 
 the Assembly, drowning all remonstrance by the rattle of 
 the drums. 
 
 366. The Constitution of the Year III. was at an end. 
 Nature of new What should now be the government of France? 
 government. There was at that time in Paris a certain Abbe 
 Sieyes, a leader in politics, and a great constitution-monger. 
 He had a new constitution all ready, and it was adopted. 
 The new government was a Consulate. There were to be 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 447 
 
 three Consuls. — a First Consul, and two assistants. The 
 First Consul, it is needless to say, was Napoleon. The two 
 other Consuls, Sieyes and Ducos, it is equally needless to 
 say, were mere clerks to register his decisions. The First 
 Consul was to have the patronage of all the offices of ad- 
 ministration, of the army and navy, and of the magistracy, 
 the promulgation of laws, and the declaration of peace and 
 war. It is true, France preserved the show of a Republic (as 
 did Rome under Caesar), and provisions were made in the 
 new Constitution, called the " Constitution of the Year 
 VIII.," for a senate, legislative body, etc. ; but in reality 
 Napoleon was master of France. 
 
 367. Napoleon immediately began to assert his power : 
 he placed newspapers under the severest re- Doings of Na- 
 strictions, shut up political assemblies through- poi^on. 
 
 out the Republic, and filled France with detectives ; but at 
 the same time he improved the financial condition of the 
 country by establishing the Bank of France and removing 
 restrictions from trade ; while, aware of the national taste 
 for show, he gathered into the ball-rooms of the Tuileries 
 crowds of handsome soldiers and lovely women. At the 
 same time he bent his energies to the raising of troops, and 
 a quarter of a million of conscripts were soon marshaled 
 beneath his banners. 
 
 368. And he needed these troops ; for, though he suc- 
 ceeded in detaching Russia from the Coahtion, Hostility of 
 yet England rejected his overtures of peace, foreign powers, 
 and Austria was still against him. Indeed, England, Aus- 
 tria, and most of the European powers still acknowledged 
 Louis XVIII. as the only legitimate authority in France, 
 and regarded Bonaparte as a usurper. The " usurper," how- 
 ever, felt every inch a king when he put on his cocked hat 
 and plain gray riding-coat, and summoned his legions to 
 follow him once again to victory on the plains of Italy. It 
 was here that he proposed to humble Austria. 
 
44^ MODERN HISTORY 
 
 369. In the spring of the year 1800, having by artful 
 The Italian mancEuvers made his enemy beheve that he in- 
 campaign. tended attacking Germany by the open passage 
 of the Rhine, he secretly led his army across the lofty sum- 
 mits of the Alps, and poured like an avalanche into the valley 
 of the Po. The Austrians — two or three times his own num- 
 bers — had chosen the great level of Marengo as the field of 
 battle, and there fell upon the French on the march, June 14, 
 1800. It was the most brilliant, but at the same time the 
 most bloody, of Napoleon's earlier battles, and resulted in 
 the complete defeat of the Austrians, who were driven beyond 
 the Adige and the Brenta. Five weeks after he left Paris 
 he made his rc-entrance into that enraptured city. In No- 
 vember of the same year Moreau, whom Napoleon had 
 sent to the Rhine, defeated the Austrians at Hohenlinden. 
 These successes were followed by the treaty of Luneville, 
 February, 1801, by which Austria ceded to France Belgium 
 and the left bank of the Rhine. 
 
 370. There was now peace around all the borders of 
 Events up to France except the sea. There the English 
 the peace. ruled Supreme. In order to destroy this su- 
 premacy. Napoleon worked in the Northern courts until he 
 united Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and afterwards Prussia, in 
 a formidable league against England and her ships. But 
 Nelson, sailing into the harbor of Copenhagen, crushed the 
 naval power of Denmark in four hours (April 2, 1801). A 
 few days earlier Paul of Russia, the enthusiastic admirer of 
 Napoleon, w^as strangled by conspirators. So the giant 
 league melted into nothing, and as, at the same time, the 
 British overwhelmed the remnant of the French force in 
 Egypt, the First Consul Vv^as willing to make peace. This 
 was arranged between France and England by the Treaty 
 of Amiens, March, 1802. The peace was, however, only a 
 breathing-spell, for neither party trusted the other. 
 
 371. That Napoleon had the entire confidence of France 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 449 
 
 was proved by a decree of the senate (August, 1802), pro- 
 claiming him First Consul for life ; the votes of Napoieon-s 
 the people all over the land ratified the change, ''eforms. 
 And his own conduct showed that, to the best of his knowl- 
 edge, Napoleon had the good of France at heart. He set 
 his best lawyers to work arranging the laws of the land. 
 These were simplified and condensed into what is called the 
 Code Nap oleojt, and France still enjoys the benefit of this 
 valued legacy. Every department of government received 
 its portion of care ; public instruction, the administration of 
 justice, commerce, industry, roads, courts, arsenals, were 
 placed on an excellent footing, and the Legion of Honor 
 became the first step towards the creation of a nobility. 
 
 372. It was England that again provoked hostilities, by 
 issuing letters of marque, and imposing an Hostilities re- 
 embargo on all French vessels in English "^wed. 
 ports (May, 1803). Napoleon, in retaliation, seized upon 
 all English and Dutch subjects sojourning in the territories 
 of the Republic. In the months of May and June the 
 French armies took possession of Hanover, and menaced 
 England with invasion. Russia and Austria then coalesced 
 with England. 
 
 373. Napoleon, taking advantage of this crisis, contrived 
 with admirable diplomacy to have himself so- Napoleon Em- 
 licited by the senate to exchange the Consul- pe'"°''- 
 
 ship for the Imperial Crown. On the i8th of May, 1804, a de- 
 cree was passed giving him the title of Emperor, and this ele- 
 vation was ratified by the popular vote of France, only about 
 ^000 names being recorded against it. The Pope, Pius 
 VJI., was invited to France to crown the newly elected Em- 
 peror. At Notre Dame, on the 2d of December, 1804, the 
 ceremony of coronation was performed. The Pope blessed 
 the crown, and Napoleon, taking it from the altar, placed it 
 r>h his own head. He next passed into Italy, similarly to 
 ratify his royal authority, and in May, 1805, was proclaimed 
 
 cc 
 
450 MODERN HISTOP^. 
 
 King of Italy, and was crowned at Milan with the iron 
 crown of the Lombards. 
 
 374. In order to break the force of the EngHsh, Austrian, 
 His plan of ^^^^ Russian coaHtion, the Emperor Napoleon, 
 campaign. ^j^ ^j^g spring of 1805, formed a prodigious plan 
 of campaign. It was to begin with the invasion of England, 
 for which immense preparations were made at Boulogne. 
 
 375. While these were still going on, Napoleon heard 
 Operations in that the Austrian army, 200,000 strong, was 
 Germany. moving towards the Rhine, and that the Russian 
 army was on the march to join it. He immediately left 
 Boulogne, and crossing the Rhine with an army hi 160,000 
 men, advanced to Ulm, where he forced the Austrian Gen- 
 eral Mack to surrender with 30,000 men (October, 1805). 
 A few days afterward he entered Vienna in triumph. Pass- 
 ing beyond the capital to Aus'terlitz he gave battle to the 
 united Austrians and Russians, whom he utterly defeated, 
 inflicting on them a loss of 15,000 dead, 20,000 prisoners, 
 forty standards, and two hundred pieces of artillery, De- 
 cember 2, 1805. The next day Francis II. of Austria 
 came to the tent of Napoleon to ask for peace. The 
 request was acceded to, and a treaty was made ; but it cost 
 the House of Hapsburg the loss of twenty thousand square 
 miles of territory, and two millions and a half of subjects. 
 
 376. In the mean time an event had happened that for- 
 
 ever put a stop to Napoleon's design of invad- 
 ing England. The fleet which the Emperor had 
 counted on to protect his transports in crossing to England 
 was chased up and down the seas by the British, and finally, 
 with the ships of his ally, Spain, was blockaded in Ca'diz. 
 Lord Nelson lay hard by, watching them, and when, three 
 weeks after Napoleon crossed the Rhine, the French and 
 Spanish fleets came out, he attacked them off Cape Tra- 
 falgar' (October 21, 1805), and annihilated them. Nelson 
 died in the arms of victory, the French Admiral Ville- 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 45 1 
 
 neuve committed suicide, and Napoleon never again at- 
 tempted to dispute the dominion of the sea with England. 
 
 377. This was a severe blow, but the fruits of Napoleon's 
 own wonderful victories in Germany remained, changes in 
 And one result of his triumph was a great Germany, 
 change in the Constitution of Germany itself. Napoleon 
 raised the Electors of Bavaria and Wiirtemberg to the rank 
 of Kings \ and in the following year (1806) the Kings of 
 Bavaria and Wiirtemberg, the Elector of Baden, the Land- 
 grave of Hesse and the princes formally declared themselves 
 separated from the German Empire. They were formed 
 into a league called the Confederation of the Rhine, with 
 Napoleon as their "protector," and undertook to aid him 
 in war with an army of 60,000 men. Francis 11. re- 
 signed the Imperial Crown in the same year (August 6), 
 taking the title of Emperor of Austria, so that Germany was 
 no longer, even in name, a united state acknowledging a 
 common head. Thus it was that the " Holy Roman Em- 
 pire " came to an end. 
 
 378. At this time Napoleon began to give away king- 
 doms. Seizing Naples early in 1806, he made Napoleon as a 
 his brother Joseph king. Turning the Neth- king-maker, 
 erlands (" Batavian Republic ") into the Kingdom of Hol- 
 land, he placed its crown on the head of his brother 
 Louis.* 
 
 379. In the struggle of Germany with Napoleon, Prussia 
 had hitherto, out of selfish motives, taken no Napoleon in- 
 part. But its turn now came. By gross in- ^^^^^ Prussia, 
 suits Napoleon stung the Prussian King, Frederick William 
 TIL, into war, when Prussia was most unfit for a strug- 
 gle. Then he threw forward his armies with his usual mar- 
 velous promptitude, and in two great battles, — Auerstadt 
 \our'stat'\ and Jena \yea'na\, — fought upon the same day 
 
 * The father of the late Emperor Napoleon III. (Louis Napoleon). 
 
452 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 (October 14, 1806), he utterly crushed the military power 
 with which, but half a century ago, the Great Frederick had 
 wrought such marvels. Prussia lay writhing at his feet, 
 and Bonaparte entered Berlin in triumph. 
 
 380. What remained of the Prussian army now joined 
 Eyiau and the Russians on the Prussian frontier. At 
 Jena. Eylau \i' louJ\ (February, 1807) a battle was 
 fought of which nothing in particular came. But in June of 
 the same year there was another battle, fought at Friedland, 
 in regard to the results of which there could be no doubt, 
 for the Russians were defeated with a loss of 60,000 men. 
 The Czar now sued for peace, wliich was made by the Treaty 
 of Tilsit {]n\y, 1807). 
 
 381. The terms of peace were terribly severe to Prussia : 
 
 Terms of peace. ^^^ ^^^ ^° ^^^'^^^ Saxony, Westphalia, and 
 ' Prussian Poland; and the conqueror, in his 
 character of king-maker, elevated his third brother, Jerome, 
 to the crown of the newly formed Kingdom of Westphalia. 
 
 382. The reaction now began. Having driven the royal 
 Beginning of Housc of Bragan'za from Portugal to Brazil, 
 reaction. ^^^ having dcposcd the Bourbons from the 
 throne of Spain, he set up his brother Joseph, in place of 
 the latter, as King of Spain. Murat was promoted to fill 
 Joseph's vacant throne at Naples. This appropriation of 
 Spain was the commencement of a struggle in which the 
 British, under Wellington, first assumed an important part 
 in the military operations of Europe. Joseph was driven 
 out of Madrid, and the French were compelled to evacuate 
 Portugal. These reverses compelled Napoleon to take the 
 field in person, and his genius soon restored the French 
 prestige in the Peninsula (1808). But no sooner had he 
 conquered in one direction than he was menaced in an- 
 other. He had conquered all Europe, and all Europe was 
 arrayed against him. It was Austria this time that men- 
 aced his power. 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 453 
 
 383. Austria had never looked on the result of the battle 
 of Austerlitz as final, and was resolved to re- xhe Wagram 
 cover her lost territory. So, while Napoleon campaign, 
 was occupied in Spain, the Emperor, Francis II. of Austria, 
 mustered half a million soldiers, and committed the com- 
 mand to the Archduke Charles. On the receipt of this in- 
 telligence, Napoleon quitted Spain and took the command 
 on the Danube (May, 1809). Combats took place at As- 
 pern and Essling, which on the whole were favorable to the 
 Austrians; but in the decisive battle at Wagram (July 5, 
 1809) Napoleon was completely successful, and Austria 
 purchased peace by a large surrender of territory. 
 
 384. The treaty of peace, called the Peace of Vienna (1809), 
 was followed by negotiations for the hand of The Austrian 
 Maria Louisa, Archduchess of Austria ; and "carriage. 
 
 in the following year. Napoleon, having divorced the faith- 
 ful Josephine, married that princess. His hope in this 
 marriage was, that an heir might be born to him, and this 
 hope was realized in the birth of a son, afterwards known 
 as the Duke of Reichstadt.* 
 
 385. In the year 181 1 Napoleon was at the height of 
 his power, and his position at this time is well Napoleon 
 
 , 1 . rr-.. T-. IT-.' touches the 
 
 worth markmg. Ihe French Empire over zenith, 
 which he ruled extended from the borders of Denmark to 
 those of Naples. Holland, Naples, and Westphalia were 
 ruled by his kinsmen. His brother Joseph was on the 
 throne of Spain, though not very secure there. Bernadotte, 
 one of his generals, had been chosen Crown Prince of 
 Sweden. As Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine 
 he held the German states in subjection, as he did also the 
 Helvetic Confederation, into which he had formed the can- 
 tons of Switzerland ; Austria and Prussia crouched at his 
 feet, and Russia seemed his firm ally. Yet in a short time 
 
 ♦ Seep 468. 
 
454 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 all this was changed. " The magician's wand was broken, 
 and his magnificent theater of action had sunk into a little 
 house and garden far out in the tropic sea." 
 
 386. The beginning of Napoleon's disasters was the war 
 Invasion of which he Commenced with Russia in 18 12. 
 Russia. "Y\{vs> arosc out of Napoleon's dissatisfaction at 
 the Czar's having opened his ports to British goods. As 
 usual, Napoleon assumed the aggressive. Assembling a vast 
 army, he crossed the NiemenQune, i8i2)with 500,000 men, 
 and headed his columns towards Moscow. The Russians 
 gave battle at Borodino (September 7), and were defeated, 
 but fell back in good order towards Moscow, — the Russian 
 strategy being to lure Napoleon into the interior of the 
 country. 
 
 387. On the 14th of September the French entered the 
 
 The French aucicnt Capital of RuSSia, and beheld the tow- 
 
 in Moscow. ej.3 of ^Q Kremlin and the fantastic spires 
 of Moscow. But when they entered the city, it was silent 
 and empty, — an enchanted city, and all their own. Exult- 
 ing in their plunder and security, they spread hither and 
 thither, and proceeded to pass the night in revelry. But in 
 the midst of their merriment the city was found to be in 
 flames. The Russians, knowing no other means by which 
 to deprive their foes of winter-quarters and provisions, had 
 set fire to their ancient and beautiful capital, which after 
 four days sank into a heap of ashes, leaving the conquering 
 legions alone with famine and desolation. 
 
 388. Retreat was all that now remained for the Emperor. 
 
 It bejran on the loth of October. We shall 
 
 The retreat. t -i i i i- i • • 
 
 not describe the horrors of this journey, in 
 which the French were perpetually harassed by flying bodies 
 of Cossacks, were starved, were frozen, and were left to die 
 by the wayside. It is calculated that 125,000 perished in 
 battle; that 130,000 died of fatigue, hunger, and cold; and 
 that 190,000 were made prisoners. 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 455 
 
 389. At Smorgonoi (December 5) Napoleon abandoned 
 the wretched phantom of the grand army and Events to bat- 
 set out in a sledge for Paris, which he reached *^^ °^ Leipsic. 
 on the 1 8th. He knew that the struggle was to be one of 
 life and death. All the powers of Europe now combined 
 against him. In the Peninsula Wellington had in the 
 mean time defeated Napoleon's marshals and had entered 
 the South of France. Nevertheless, the Emperor was still 
 far from despairing. With incredible energy he marshaled 
 a fresh army, and marched to the banks of the Elbe. He 
 defeated the Prussians and Russians at Liitzen, and again 
 at Bautzen, in May, 1813. But these victories were of 
 little use to stem the great tide of enemies which had set in 
 towards Paris, for the Austrians and the Bavarians had 
 joined the coalition against him. Battle after battle was 
 fought, until he made his final stand at Leipsic. The com- 
 bat there was a crushing defeat to Napoleon, who lost up- 
 wards of 70,000 men (October 16-18, 1813). 
 
 390. The great allied host was now advancing m all 
 directions towards the frontiers of France. Events up to 
 Napoleon summoned all his energies to meet ^'^^• 
 
 the crisis, and amazed his enemies by the rapidity of his 
 movements and the fertility of his resources. At last he 
 made a false move : he dashed \o the rear of the allies, in 
 the hope that they would retreat in terror ; but instead of 
 this they marched direct upon Paris, which was surrendered 
 without a struggle (March 31, 1814). Napoleon, who came 
 up too late to save his capital, rode away to Fontainebleau 
 \fon-iai72-blo'\ Two days afterward he was deposed by a 
 decree of the senate ; on the 4th of April he signed his 
 abdication, and on the 20th he set out for the little island 
 of Elba, which was now to be all the sovereignty of the 
 once mighty potentate. 
 
 391. The Bourbon Dynasty was now restored in the 
 person of Louis XVHL, the brother of the guillotined king. 
 
456 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 But Louis XVIII. was indeed a Bourbon, — "one who forgot 
 The Bourbon nothing and who learned nothing." Indeed, so 
 Restoration. unpopular did he make himself, that soon all 
 hearts began to turn once more to the exile of Elba. And 
 he was now to startle Europe with a new appearance on 
 the stage. 
 
 392. After ten months in Elba, Napoleon escaped. 
 Napoleon's Landing near Cannes \can\ he pushed on to 
 reappearance. Pans, being joined by a small body of troops, 
 and reached the capital without firing a shot. Louis XVIIL 
 fled to Ghent. At this time a congress was sitting at 
 Vienna, and the task of reconstructing the map of Europe, 
 so roughly disturbed by Napoleon, was going merrily on 
 when the news came. The news is said to have been 
 greeted by the assembled diplomatists first with a silent 
 stare of incredulity and then with a roar of laughter. 
 
 393. But Napoleon was in Paris, levying troops ; action 
 Progress of niust bc prompt and decisive. The allies 
 events. immediately declared Bonaparte an outlaw, 
 and poured their armies toward France. Resolving to deal 
 first with the enemies nearest to him, Napoleon invaded 
 Belgium, where lay the English and Prussians under Wel- 
 lington and Bliicher. 
 
 394. The result of this campaign is told in a single 
 
 word, — Waterloo ! This decisive combat 
 
 Waterloo. , , , ,^ , /. -r « x. 
 
 took place on the i8th of June, 1815. It 
 was an overwhelming defeat to the French, and Napoleon 
 hastened to Paris to announce that all was lost. 
 
 395. On his arrival he found himself no longer treated 
 Abdication and ^s a Sovereign : his star had set, and as in his 
 surrender. grandcur he had made the best interests and 
 liberties of France subservient to his own glory, so now he 
 was cast aside that the nation might be cared for. On the 
 22d of June he signed his second abdication, and the allies, 
 entering Paris on the 7th of July, reinstated Louis XVIIL 
 
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. 457 
 
 as King of France. Napoleon now sought to escape to 
 the United States ; but this he could not do, as the British 
 cruisers watched all the coast. On the 15th of July he 
 went on board a British ship, having previously written to 
 the Prince Regent of England, to say that " he came like 
 Themistocles to claim the hospitality of the British people, 
 and the protection of their laws." 
 
 396. But the British government regarded him as a tiger 
 who was better chained than free, and orders gt. Helena 
 were sent to carry him to St. Helena. The *"^ death, 
 ship reached the lonely rock in October, 18 15, and there 
 he lived for six years. His death took place May 5, 182 1 ; 
 and his last words, as he lay dying amid the crash and 
 glare of a tropical thunder-storm v/ere, 2'ete d^armee ! 
 (" Head of the army ! ") 
 
 397. The character of Napoleon Bonaparte has been 
 matter of great discussion and of most opposed 
 
 , . . ., . V , His character. 
 
 opinion ; and this necessarily so, since, in the 
 judgment of lives, men differ so widely in their basis of 
 judgment. Viewed purely from an intellectual standpoint, 
 as a man accomplishing world- 
 ly ends by worldly arts, — by 
 generalship, by faculty of com- 
 bination, by administrative gen- 
 ius, — he was undoubtedly the 
 greatest that ever lived. But 
 as a character he was neither 
 good nor in the highest sense 
 great ; for he was not great 
 enough to be above self. We 
 
 can only say that the work he ,t 
 
 ,11 , , , Napoleon. 
 
 did needed to be done, and let 
 
 the verdict go at that. For the rest, never has the world 
 
 seen ambition so brilliant in its success, so tragic in its 
 
 fall. 
 
45 S MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 9. MODERN ENGLISH POLITICS. 
 
 398. At the time when peace came to Europe, after the 
 George III. long Napoleonic wars, George III., whose reign 
 and George IV. began far back in the previous century, was 
 still alive ; but he did not rule. Long prone to insanity, 
 his mind had given way in 18 10, and the appointment of a 
 Regent had become necessary. This office devolved upon 
 his eldest son, who held it until the death of the poor old 
 blind, crazy king, in 1820, when he ascended the throne as 
 George IV. He is said to have been a man of consider- 
 able ability ; and from his fine person and polished man- 
 ners he was called by his flatterers the " first gentleman in 
 Europe " ; but if to be a gentleman one must lead a decent 
 life and have a feeling heart, then this king deserves not 
 the name. 
 
 399. After the battle of Waterloo the sovereigns of 
 England and Austria, Russia, and Prussia entered into what 
 liance. IS Called the Holy Alliance^ by which they 
 bound themselves " to aid one another, in conformity with 
 Holy Scripture, on every occasion." By this high-sounding 
 profession they seem to have meant no more than that 
 they would crush the desire for liberty and reform which 
 began to show itself in the several countries. France also 
 joined the alliance ; but England, suspecting that its object 
 was the maintenance of despotic government, refused to 
 assent to the principle of interference with the internal 
 affairs of other states. 
 
 400. The most important political event of George IV.'s 
 A step in reign was the removal of certain grievous dis- 
 progress. abilities under which all persons who did not 
 belong to the Church of England labored. These affected 
 both Catholics and Protestant dissenters. The restriction 
 which required all persons taking office to commune 
 according to the rites of the Established Church was 
 
MODERN ENGLISH POLITICS. 459 
 
 removed in 1828 ; but many grievous laws yet remained in 
 force against Catholics, who were shut out from Parliament 
 and from many offices, franchises, and civil rights. 
 
 401. In Ireland there arose a great agitation for the re- 
 peal of these laws, and early in the reign justice to 
 Daniel O'Connell, an Irish barrister of great Catholics, 
 eloquence, organized the Catholic Association^ for the pur- 
 pose of pushing the question of emancipation. The sub- 
 iect was frequently debated in the House of Commons, and 
 motions in its favor were carried ; but the House of Lords 
 would not sanction the repeal of the penal laws. The ex- 
 citement became intense, and the Catholic Association 
 elected O'Connell to a seat in Parliament. So w^ell did he 
 fight the battle of his Church, that a bill was passed remov- 
 ing all penal laws against Catholics, and placing them 
 on the same political footing as Protestant subjects. The 
 Duke of Wellington, who was at that time Prime Minister, 
 avowed in the House of Lords that he had brought forward 
 the measure in order to avert civil war. The bill received 
 the royal assent in April, 1829. Next year the king died. 
 
 402. George IV. was succeeded by his brother, William 
 Henry, Duke of Clarence, who ascended the Accession of 
 throne as William IV. He reigned seven wiiiiam iv. 
 years, that is, till 1837. 
 
 403. At the time of William's accession, the great ques- 
 tion of Parliamentary Reform agitated the peo- Abuses of Par- 
 ple. For many years there had been a grow- representation, 
 ing demand for a change in Parliamentary representation, 
 and certainly such a change was greatly needed. Many 
 towns, such as Liverpool and Manchester, which contained 
 a teeming population, w^ere without representation at all, 
 while many small and insignificant places returned to Par- 
 liament one or more members. In such boroughs, known 
 as " pocket " or " rotten " boroughs, the property was in 
 most instances in the hands of some one large owner, by 
 
460 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 whom the elections were controlled. The large centers of 
 population, unrepresented in the national legislature, could 
 no longer suffer this state of things to continue, and loudly 
 demanded Parliamentary reform. 
 
 404. The celebrated Reform Bill was brought into Par- 
 Passage of the liamcnt in March, 183 1, by Lord John Russell. 
 Reform Bill. 'pj^g ^^^ parties in the House of Commons 
 were so evenly balanced, that another appeal was made to 
 the country, and a new House of Commons was returned, 
 pledged to carry "the Bill." After a desperate struggle 
 the measure was passed in the House of Commons by a 
 large majority, but it was thrown out in the Lords. This 
 caused great excitement throughout the country, and riots 
 broke out in many places. On the assembling of Parlia- 
 ment the following year, 1832, the Reform Bill was again 
 introduced, and passed the Lower House ; and on finding 
 both the Crown and the people against them, the Lords 
 were induced to give up their opposition to the measure. 
 
 405. By this Act three great changes were made : i. Fifty- 
 Changes it six of the pockct boroughs were disfranchised ; 
 effected. 2. Several towns which had sprung, during the 
 last century, into first-class cities, now for the first time re- 
 ceived the right of sending members to Parliament ; 3. The 
 franchise, or right of voting, was extended more widely 
 among the middle classes. The right of voting for towns 
 was given to the tenants of houses worth ;^ 10 a year or 
 upwards ; for county members all were entitled to vote who • 
 owned land worth ;^ 10 a year, or who paid an annual 
 rental of ;^ 50. 
 
 406. When the Reform Parliament met in the following 
 Abolition year, 183^, it justified the best hopes of its 
 
 of colonial r • j u . • c • A 
 
 slavery. fricnds by entering upon a course of wise and 
 
 liberal legislation. One of the most important of its acts 
 was the abolition of slavery in the British colonies. The 
 merit of this work is mainly due to William Wilberforce, 
 
MODERN ENGLISH POLITICS. 46 1 
 
 v/ho for many years had devoted himself to the question of 
 Emancipation. For the 800,000 slaves who thus received 
 their freedom, a compensation of £ 20,000,000 was paid to 
 their masters. 
 
 407. William IV. died in 1837, and was succeeded by 
 Alexandrina Victoria, daughter of his brother, Accession of 
 Edward Duke of Kent. She was then eighteen victoria, 
 years of age, and three years afterward was married to her 
 cousin, Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 
 
 408. The most important political event during the early 
 part of this reign was the Repeal of the Corn Repeal of the 
 Laws. These were laws imposing heavy duties ^"""^ ^^^s- 
 upon the importation of foreign grain. All who lived by 
 agriculture — the land-owners, the farmers, and the laboring 
 classes — wished to keep foreign grain out of the market, in 
 the belief that it was their interest, by high duties, to protect 
 home agriculture. On the other hand, those who held free- 
 trade doctrines argued that every man and nation should 
 be free to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest mar- 
 ket, and that all protective restrictions were futile. In 
 1839 a number of these men, of whom Richard Cobden 
 was the most prominent, formed what was called the Anti- 
 Corn-Law League. By vigorous agitation the cause tri- 
 umphed in 1846, when bills were carried through Parlia- 
 ment for abolishing or reducing to a merely nominal 
 amount the duties on grain, cattle, and other productions. 
 
 409. About the same time the English people were 
 p^reatly stirred up by what was called the ^, ^^ 
 
 °, ■'. . ^ •' . r 1 ^^^ Chartists. 
 
 Chartist agitation. The Chartists were for the 
 most part workingmen, and took their name from their 
 People's Charter^ — a document in which they demanded 
 six changes in the Constitution: i. Universal suffrage; 
 2. Vote by ballot ; 3. Annual Parliaments ; 4. Electoral dis- 
 tricts; 5. The abolition of property qualification for mem- 
 bers ; 6. The payment of Parliamentary representatives. 
 
4^2 MODERN' HISTORY. 
 
 After some rioting in 1839 the Chartists remained tolerably 
 quiet until 1848, when, excited by the revolutions that took 
 place during that year in France and other parts of the 
 Continent, they determined to show their strength. 
 
 410. On Kensington Common, 20,000 of them assem- 
 How they blcd, for the purpose of walking in procession 
 down. through London to the House of Commons, 
 there to present a monster petition in favor of their claims. 
 Why they should have been prevented from doing so, if 
 they broke no law, it is not easy for us in this country to 
 see j for with us every one of the six points in their Peoples 
 Charier is a part of the organic law of the land. However, 
 the government took alarm, and appealed to the people. 
 The result was that a quarter of a million of Londoners 
 enrolled themselves as special constables to prevent the 
 dreadful " red republican " demonstration. The affair, 
 however, passed off without any trouble : the Chartists 
 were not allowed to recross the bridges in procession, and 
 there the matter came to an end. From this time the 
 Chartists ceased to be of any importance as an organized 
 body, but their work was of value in educating the public 
 mind, and what they did bore fruit ; for, as we shall see, 
 most of the reforms for which they contended have since 
 become lav/. 
 
 411. Since Waterloo there had been no great European 
 
 Crimean Wa- ^^^^' ^^^ ^^^ ^'^^^ ^^54 ^^^^ sigualized by the 
 outbreak of the Crimean War. This arose 
 from the fact that the Czar of Russia, Nicholas, disturbed 
 the balance of power by seizing the Turkish Principalities 
 of Moldavia and Wallachia. Great Britain and France, 
 afterwards joined by the King of Sardinia, formed an alli- 
 ance in aid of the Sultan, and engaged in a war with Rus- 
 sia, which was carried on mainly in the Crimea. The chief 
 actions were the victories of the Alma, September, 1854, 
 and of Inkerman', November, 1854. The allied armies then 
 
REVOLUTIONS IN FRENCH POLITICS. 463 
 
 invested Sebastopol. The siege lasted 349 days, at the 
 end of which time the place was evacuated by the Russians, 
 in September, 1855 ; and in the course of the following year 
 peace was made. 
 
 412. Since this time England has been engaged in no 
 considerable war, and the history of the coun- Later English 
 try has been one of steady internal develop- p^^^^^^s. 
 ment. That slow but sure progress in political reform 
 which characterizes the English has been going on all the 
 time. In accordance with a prevalent desire for further 
 Parliamentary improvements, a new Reform Bill was in 
 1867 brought in and carried by the Tory, or Conservative, 
 Ministry then in power, the chiefs of which were the Earl 
 of Derby and Mr. Disraeli. By this the right of franchise 
 was greatly extended. In 1869 and 1870 important changes 
 were made in Ireland, by measures carried by the liberal 
 ministry under the leadership of Mr. Gladstone. By one 
 act the Irish Church was disestablished on the ground that 
 it was the church of the minority of the Irish people, — a 
 measure of justice to the Catholics. By an act passed in 
 1872 votes in Parliamentary elections are now given by bal- 
 lot, instead of open voting as heretofore. This was one of 
 the fundamental desires of the Chartists, and brings the 
 English political system still nearer to our own. 
 
 3. REVOLUTIONS IN FRENCH POLITICS. 
 
 413. The modern history of France presents a striking 
 contrast to that of Ens^land. Reform — the Character of 
 
 ^ . / 1 /• niodern French 
 
 gradual improvement of the existmg order or pontics. 
 things — has been the watchv/ord in England ; but in 
 France, since Napoleon I., the people have been able to 
 effect changes only by Rc7!oluiion. 
 
 414. Louis XVIII.* was fifty-nine years of age when he 
 
 * Louis XVIII. was brother of Louis XVI., and uncle of the Dauphin 
 (son of Louis XVI.), who would have been Louis XVII.; but he died 
 when a lad, owing to his cruel treatment during the Revolution. 
 
4^4 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 was restored to the throne of his fathers. Weary of strife, 
 Reign of exhausted alike in her finances and in her pop- 
 
 Louis XVIII. ulation, France now enjoyed tranquillity, and 
 slumbered contentedly beneath the inoffensive government 
 of her new sovereign. He was a man of easy temper, un- 
 wieldy person, and mediocre capacity. He desired sincerely 
 enough the good of his people, and wished to rule as a 
 constitutional king. But there were those around him who 
 desired nothing so much as the restoration of the old despotic 
 regime of Louis XIV. ; and among these the greatest reac- 
 tionist was the king's brother, the Count d'Artois \ar-twa'\ 
 who became king with the title of Charles X., on the death 
 of Louis XVIII., in 1824. 
 
 415. Wim Charles X. absolutism set in. He had as 
 Despotic acts Strong a mania for despotic rule as ever pos- 
 of Charles X. ggsscd the English Stuarts, and was unable, 
 poor blind man, to read the terrible lesson which he should 
 have learned when his brother's head rolled from the guil- 
 lotine block. In 1827 he disbanded the Civic Guard. In 
 1830, aided by a minister as blind and foolish as himself, he 
 issued three ordinances which kindled the Second French 
 Revolution. These were; 1. That the liberty of the press 
 was suspended ; 2. That the Chamber of Deputies was dis- 
 solved before it had met ; 3. That the elections were to be 
 made by the Prefects, who were mere creatures of the gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 416. The Parisians met these enactments in a spirited 
 
 manner ; there was a blossoming out of tricol- 
 ored cockades, a sudden irruption of barricades 
 in the streets, some brisk fights with the troops, and in three 
 days (July 27, 28, and 29, 1830) the people were masters of 
 the city. A provisional government was appointed ; and in a 
 few days Louis Philippe, of the House of Orleans, and cousin 
 to Charles X., was elected King of the French. Charles 
 sought refuge abroad, and died in Austria six years later. 
 
RE VOL UTIONS IN FRENCH POLITICS. 4 65 
 
 417. The new sovereign was now fifty-seven years of age*, 
 he had known adversity and privation, had Account of 
 been a refugee in Switzerland, where he taught ^°"^^ Philippe. 
 school for a while, had traveled extensively in the United 
 States, and finally settled down in England, where he re- 
 mained till the downfall of Napoleon. 
 
 418. Counting on the salutary effect of these his varied 
 experiences, the French people now looked ^.^ troubles 
 forward to the reign of' Louis Philippe as to a 
 
 period of genuine freedom. Yet the position of the Citizen- 
 King, as he was called, was a difficult and delicate one, 
 for he w^Cs between two extreme parties, — on the one 
 hand the republicans, on the other the partisans of the old 
 Bourbon regime. It was not long before the troubles of the 
 new reign began, — troubles at Lyons and in Paris itself. 
 Then came repeated efforts made against the king's life. 
 These things impelled him to take several very foolish steps, 
 such as abridging the liberty of the press and making fre- 
 quent prosecutions, while his want of good faith, his insa- 
 tiable avarice, and his lavish expenditures alienated the 
 moderate men on whom he might have relied for support. 
 
 419. During this period there was a young man who 
 made two separate attempts at revolution : but Early exploits 
 
 IT r ^1 1 1 1 °^ Louis Na- 
 
 these sallies were or rather a burlesque charac- poieon. 
 ter, and had little other effect than that of exciting laughter. 
 The man was Louis Napoleon, a nephew of the Great Na- 
 poleon, and son of that Louis Bonaparte who was once 
 king of Holland. He was born at Paris in 1808, educated 
 under the care of his mother, Hortense, and had spent 
 most of his time in Switzerland, where he led a quiet, studious 
 life. His one infatuation was to imitate his great uncle, and 
 it is astonishing how far he was ultimately able to carry the 
 delusion of his name. In 1836 he made an attempt to 
 excite insurrection at Strasburg ; but it failed, and he was 
 permitted to go to America. Returning to Europe, he 
 
 CD 
 
 jfi^Ji^iu^ 
 
 yy 
 
466 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 made a fresh effort in 1840, — this time at Boulogne, 
 whither he went from England with fifty friends and a tame 
 eagle. The troops at the Boulogne barracks, however, 
 would not surrender as he expected, so his crestfallen 
 party made a retreat to their vessel ; but Louis Napoleon 
 was arrested, tried, and condemned to imprisonment in the 
 fortress of Ham. After six years he managed to escape 
 in the dress of a workman, and" took up his home in Eng- 
 land. By this time events were to open for him a new 
 theater of action. 
 
 420. The murmurs of the people at the corruptions of 
 Revolution of the government were growing loud and deep. 
 '^4^- The king had become exceedingly unpopular. 
 Meetings of disaffected persons in what were called Re- 
 form Banquets were now frequent in Paris and the provin- 
 cial towns. The working-classes adopted as their motto 
 those three words, fatal to sovereigns, — Libert}^, Equal- 
 ity, and Fraternity. The crisis came in 1848, when a 
 Reform Banquet, appointed to take place on Washington's 
 birthday (February 22), was forbidden by the government. 
 There was a new "appearance of barricades in Paris streets, 
 and the citizen-king, under the very bourgeois name of Mr. 
 Smith, took his flight to England, where he lived till his 
 death, two years afterwards. 
 
 421. France was now a Republic once more, and a 
 The Republic National Assembly was elected by universal 
 and anarchy, suffrage, Opening its session. May 5, 1848. 
 Still, for several months Paris was a scene of anarchy. In 
 June especially the tumult rose to a great height, and a 
 frightful contest began between the populace, the troops, 
 and the national guard. Paris was declared in a state of 
 siege, and General Cavaignac was made Dictator. The 
 city was not quieted during a whole month, and it is cal- 
 culated that in this time 1 6,000 persons were killed or 
 wounded. 
 
REVOLUTIONS IN FRENCH POLITICS. 467 
 
 422. A new constitution, vesting the executive power in 
 a President of the RepubHc, who should be The new con- 
 chosen by all the people and should hold of- stitution, 
 fice for four years, was adopted by the National Assembly in 
 November, 1848. Louis Napoleon had returned to France, 
 having been elected a deputy for the department of the 
 Seine. He stood as candidate for the Presidency, and in 
 the following month was elected to the office by the votes 
 of five millions and a half of the French people. 
 
 423. He never agreed well with the Assembly, and it 
 was soon manifest that one or the other must The coup 
 
 be crushed. Indeed, it is quite certain that ^^'^t^*- 
 from the beginning of his Presidency he was busily engaged 
 in weaving plots to make himself master of France. The 
 plan he formed was what the French call a coup d^etat 
 (stroke of state), which in this case meant a massacre by 
 military force, and the midnight arrest of his opponents. 
 The work was done quietly on the night of December 2, 
 185 1, — so quietly that next morning Paris was in Louis 
 Napoleon's hands, and on the placarded walls men read a 
 decree proclaiming that the Assembly was dissolved, that 
 universal suffrage was restored, and that Paris was under 
 martial law. On the 4th, there was the usual Parisian up- 
 rising; but it was put down by the strong hand, after some 
 800 of those who resisted the usurpation had fallen by the 
 bullets of the soldiery. On the 14th of the following Jan- 
 uary (1852) a new constitution placed in the hands of Louis 
 Napoleon the government of France for ten years. 
 
 424. The strange success attending this extraordinary 
 seizure of power can only be accounted for by Cause of Louis 
 
 Napoleon's 
 
 the fact that France was completely demoral- success, 
 ized by the long peiiod of change and anarchy through 
 which she had passed. How thoroughly, by this time, the 
 French had lost all sense of real political liberty is evi- 
 denced by the next step in the marvelous career of Louis 
 
468 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 Napoleon. This was his elevation to be Emperor by over 
 seven millions of votes, being nearly the entire vote of 
 France. 
 
 425. On the 2d of December, 1852, he was proclaimed 
 Becomes Em- Empcror with the title of Napoleon III.* On 
 peror. ^j^g ^qj-j^ of January, 1853, he was married to 
 Eugenie de Montijo, a Spanish lady of Scottish extraction 
 and ancient birth. The ceremony was performed with great 
 splendor by the Archbishop of Paris in the Cathedral of 
 Notre Dame. 
 
 426. When Napoleon III. assumed the Imperial Crown, 
 His profession ^^ made an utterance which, it was supposed, 
 of peace. would be the key to his policy : " The Empire," 
 said he, " is peace " {U Empire c'est la paix). But indeed 
 there have been wars in Europe ever since, in which France 
 has taken the chief part. 
 
 427. The year after his accession, when there arose the 
 „. ^ quarrel between* Russia and Turkey that re- 
 
 His first war. , , . i ^ • ttt i , , . 
 
 suited m the Crimean War, he led the way m 
 forming the coalition against Russia. The nation entered 
 with eagerness enough into the contest, and it is gen- 
 erally believed, that, as between France and England, the 
 French had the greater share of glory in the operations be- 
 fore Sebastopol. 
 
 428. In 1859 hostilities broke out between Austria 
 His second ^^^ Sardinia. The French Emperor in per- 
 ^^'"* son took the field in Northern Italy as an ally 
 of Sardinia. It was given out that he intended to free 
 all Italy, from the Alps to the Adriatic ; but though the 
 French were victorious over the Austrians at Magenta and 
 Solferino, Napoleon III. stopped short and concluded the 
 mysterious Peace of Villafranca. It did not then appear 
 
 * The putative Napoleon II. was the son born to Napoleon I. and 
 Maria Louisa in 181 1. He never reigned, and on the abdication of his 
 father was created Duke of Reichstadt \\\ Austria. He died in 1832. 
 
REVOLUTIONS IN FRENCH POLITICS. 469 
 
 that his conduct was wholly disinterested, for though by his 
 action Lombardy (given up by the Austrians) was joined 
 to Sardinia, yet Victor Emanuel, the king of that state, had 
 to cede to France the two provinces of Nice and Savoy. 
 
 429. The last and greatest of Napoleon III.'s wars was 
 that which he declared against Prussia, in The German 
 1870, The reason which he assigned for ^^'■• 
 
 this act of aggression was, that there had been talk of 
 giving the crown of Spain to Leopold, a distant kinsman 
 of the King of Prussia; but the real reason was that he 
 was very jealous of the greatness of Prussia, which was 
 rapidly accomplishing the reconstitution of Germany ; and, 
 besides, he was desirous of establishing his waning pop- 
 ularity in France by means of a successful war. To take 
 away all cause of dispute, Leopold, in July, 1870, withdrew 
 from being a candidate for the crown of Spain. But this 
 did not satisfy Napoleon, whg asked the king of Prussia to 
 give formal assurances that Leopold would never in the 
 future accept of the crown of Spain. This demand was 
 refused, and France declared war. 
 
 430. In the sketch of Germany a brief account will be 
 given of the stupendous struggle which now summary of 
 ensued. It is sufficient for the present to sa}^ events. 
 
 that the French crossed the German frontier, but were 
 driven out in a few days, and then the German armies en- 
 tered France and won a series of great victories. Napofeon 
 III. himself became a prisoner. Paris was besieged, and 
 surrendered to the Germans. Meanwhile Napoleon III. 
 was declared deposed, and a republic was again set up 
 in France. The late Emperor retired to England, where 
 two years afterwards he died. 
 
 431. In thus following down through the wars waged 
 during the reign of Napoleon III., we have, for Material pros- 
 Ihe time being, neglected the internal state of France."^ 
 France. The eighteen years of imperial rule formed a 
 
470 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 period of quite marked material prosperity. Louis Napo- 
 leon had something of his uncle's genius for administrative 
 details. He did much to build up the commerce of the 
 country, to develop its railroad system and its mining 
 and manufacturing interests, and to extend and beautify its 
 cities. The French people, freed for twenty years from 
 anarchy, and directed into industrial channels, became as a 
 nation more practical than they ever were before, and the 
 material prosperity of France was never greater than under 
 the Second Empire. 
 
 432. But a nation pays too dearly for j^eace and material 
 The price it Well-being whcu it purchases them at the price 
 *^°®*- of liberty. The French are a mighty, a noble 
 
 people, and for centuries upheld the civilization of Europe ; 
 yet it is to be said of them, that for twenty years in the 
 midst of the 19th century they permitted themselves to live 
 under a rule which, in principle, if not in practice, was no 
 better than an Asiatic despotism. The real rottenness of 
 the system was clearly disclosed by the German conflict. 
 The issue on trial was this: a people, the bravest, the 
 proudest in Europe, but the great mass of whom were 
 morally enfeebled both by want of education and of in- 
 telligent participation in public affairs, opposed to a na- 
 tion brought up in the public school. The result was a 
 most significant verdict as to the merit of the two systems. 
 
 4. THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY. 
 
 433. After the Congress of Vienna (18 15), Austria hung 
 Italy, 1815- 1^^^ ^ millstone round the neck of Italy; so 
 ^848. that this beautiful land can hardly be said to 
 have had any history from 1815 to 1848. Austrians swarmed 
 in the basin of the Po, and creatures of Austria wore the 
 coronets of Tuscany, Modena, and Parma. 
 
 434. When Pius IX. became Pope, in 1846, he began to 
 
UNIFICATION OF ITALY. 47 1 
 
 make some useful changes among the people of the Papal 
 States. The Austrians, alarmed at any signs Revolution of 
 of growing freedom, entered Ferrara in 1847, ^'^'^^' 
 and all Central Italy rose in arms against the tyrants. The 
 following year saw the flame of revolution kindled in Lom- 
 bardy. The Austrian troops were driven from Milan, and 
 Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, took the field against 
 them. But the hour of triumph was short : the Austrians 
 soon reconquered Lombardy and invaded Sardinia, and 
 Charles Albert, defeated at Novara in 1849, abdicated, and 
 was succeeded by his son Victor Emanuel II. Meanwhile 
 Venice, which had again become a republic, was recovered 
 by Austria. Rome, where a republic had been set up, was 
 overcome by troops sent by the new republic of France. In 
 the other Italian States the princes who had been frightened 
 by the revolutionary movements into granting constitutions, 
 withdrew these. Thus, after 1849, Italy was left in much the 
 same case as she had been in before the uprising. 
 
 435. In this depressed state of affairs the one outlook 
 for Italian patriots, who yearned intensely for victor Eman- 
 the freedom and unity of their country, was "^^• 
 
 in Sardinia, whose new king, Victor Emanuel II., was 
 known to be liberally inclined. His subjects, the Piedmon- 
 tese, enjoyed a constitutional government, a free press, and 
 a large share of religious liberty. Victor Emanuel did not 
 disappoint the good hopes of the patriots, for he introduced 
 many reforms, and kept his word so faithfully that he won 
 for himself the honorable nickname of // Re Galantuomo 
 (The Honest King). 
 
 436. In 1853 Count Cavour became prime minister to 
 Victor Emanuel. He was one of the ablest cavour's 
 statesmen of the 19th century, and passionately p'^ns. 
 desired to see all Italy free and united. As an important 
 step towards this end, he induced the king in 1855 to enter 
 into the war which England and France were carrying on 
 
472 MOVER JV HISTORY. 
 
 against Russia in the Crimea ; for he reasoned that if Italy 
 should come to be regarded as a useful ally by the great 
 powers, her deliverance might be hastened by foreign inter- 
 ference. Accordingly, at the Congress of Paris, held the 
 following year to arrange terms of peace between the allies 
 and Russia, Cavour took the opportunity of laying before 
 the representatives of the European powers the unhappy 
 condition of his countrymen in the other Italian States. 
 This led France and England to remonstrate with the King 
 of Naples, who was one of the worst of the Italian tyrants, 
 and at length the dispute became so serious that their am- 
 bassadors were withdrawn from Naples. And now we come 
 to the eventful days that changed the little kingdom of Sar- 
 dinia into the kingdom of Italy. 
 
 437. In 1859 France and Sardinia declared war against 
 War with Austria, and the Emperor Napoleon III. said 
 Austria. ]^g would free Italy from the Alps to the Adri- 
 atic. The Austrians were beaten in the two great actions 
 of Magenta (June 4, 1859) and Solferino (June 24), and it 
 seemed as though the French Emperor would keep his 
 word. But he found that if he went further Prussia would 
 take up the cause of Austria, and so he concluded the 
 Peace of Villafranca. Austria gave up to the King of Sar- 
 dinia Lombardy to the west of the Mincio. In March, 
 i860, Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and Romagna, by a gen- 
 eral vote of the people, became subject to the King of Sar- 
 dinia. 
 
 438. In the mean time the doings of one man gave free- 
 dom to Naples and Sicily. Joseph Garibaldi,* "the hero 
 of the red shirt," issuing from the rocky islet of Caprera, 
 
 * Joseph Garibaldi, born at Nice in 1807, has had a most eventful and 
 wandering life. After making some voyages as a sailor, he engaged in 
 plots with Mazzini against Charles Albert of Sardinia. Escaping from 
 the perilous consequences of these, he carried his sword to South Amer- 
 ica, where he fought against Brazil on behalf of Rio Grande. On his 
 return to Europe he aided in defending Rome against the French (1848). 
 
THE GERMAN EMPIRE RESTORED. 473 
 
 landed in May, i860, at Marsala in Sicily, proclaiming him- 
 self Dictator for Victor Emanuel. Storming Garibaldi's 
 Palermo, the capital of Sicily, and defeating operations, 
 the troops of the King of Naples at Melazzo, he then in- 
 vaded the mainland, forcing Reggio to capitulate. The 
 King of Naples took refuge in the maritime fortress of 
 Gaeta, while Garibaldi entered the capital and nominated 
 a provincial government. 
 
 439. The troops of Sardinia soon invaded the Papal 
 States, whose armies they defeated, and whose itaiy a king- 
 seaport of Ancona they forced to capitulate. '^°'"- 
 Other victories followed, and the kingdom of the Two 
 Sicilies became a dependency of Sardinia. By vote or revo- 
 lution all the other States, except the Papal territories and 
 the Austrian province of Venetia, were in 1861 amalgamated 
 into the Kingdom of Italy, and the Italian Parliament made 
 Victor Emanuel king of Italy. 
 
 440. The rest of the story of Italian liberation is soon 
 told. When the war between Austria and ^, . 
 
 . . . Closing events. 
 
 Prussia broke out in 1866, Italy joined Prussia, 
 and Austria had to give up Venice and Verona. Lastly, 
 when the war between France and Germany (1870) caused 
 the French troops to be withdrawn from Rome, the eter- 
 nal city was at last joined to- the Italian kingdom. The 
 entrance of Victor Emanuel into Rome was the end of 
 the work of deliverance and union. Italy is nov/ free and 
 united, and has Rome for her capital. 
 
 5. THE GERMAN EMPIRE RESTORED. 
 
 441. Until the Napoleonic wars, the German Empire, 
 or "Holy Roman Empire," the true represent- Review of Ger- 
 ative of the Empire of the Caesars, had con- "'^'^ pontics. 
 
 Another turn of Fortune's wheel, — and he appears as a soap-boiler and 
 candle-maker in America ; then is transformed to a farmer on the rocky 
 islet of Caprera. 
 
474 MODERN HISIVRY. 
 
 tinued to exist in name, though, since the Peace of West- 
 phalia, the union of the German States had been very lax 
 indeed. But under Napoleon even the name of union 
 under an imperial head passed away. First he suc- 
 ceeded in detaching the two duchies of Bavaria and Wiir- 
 temberg and several smaller states, and these he formed into 
 the Confederation of the Rhine.* And at last the Emperor, 
 Francis IL, in 1806, formally resigned the imperial crown, 
 and was called simply Emperor of Austria ; — so that, after 
 this, Germany was no longer, even nominally, a united state, 
 acknowledging a common head. 
 
 442. When, after the downfall of Napoleon in 18 15, the 
 The German status of the various European nations was 
 Confederation, settled at the Cougrcss of Vienna, the jeal- 
 ousies of the greater German states, especially Austria and 
 Prussia, did not permit that the Empire should be restored. 
 Instead of this the German princes united by a lax federal 
 tie in what was called the German Confederatmi (June 8, 
 18 1 5), which union lasted until quite recent times. It was 
 made up of thirty-nine states. t Each state was to remain 
 independent in matters that affected // alone, — the object 
 of the confederation being merely the regulation of those 
 affairs common to all German states equally. A permanent 
 Diet, or Parliament, consisting of the plenipotentiaries of 
 the states, was to hold its sittings in Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
 the representatives of Austria presiding. The members of 
 the Confederation agreed never to declare war against one 
 another ; there was to be a confederate army, to which each 
 
 * See page 451. 
 
 t The principal of these were: (i) Austria, (2) Prussia, (3) Bavaria, 
 (4) Saxony, (5) Hanover, (6) Wiirtemberg, (7) Baden, (8) Hesse, 
 (9) Darmstadt, (10) Brunswick, (11) Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Nassau. 
 The votes in the Diet were so regulated that the eleven states of first 
 rank alone held a full vote, the secondary states holding merely a half 
 or the fourth of a vote. 
 
THE GERMAN EMPIRE RESTORED. 475 
 
 State was to contribute according to its population, and all 
 subjects of dispute between the various states were to be 
 referred for settlement to the Diet. 
 
 443. By the Act of Confederation all the princes prom- 
 ised free constitutions to their people. This was a conces- 
 sion to the spirit of the age ; but, in fact, most Broken prom- 
 of them forgot to make good their promise. *^®^- 
 
 This was a great disappointment to the hopes of the liberal 
 and patriotic party throughout Germany. 
 
 444. Moreover, for some time a strong feeling for the 
 real unity of Fatherland had been growing up, unity,— a step 
 especially since the war of freedom. There *°wards it. 
 was a very general desire that Germany should cease to be 
 a mere bundle of states only nominally united, and become 
 a strong power by becoming a united power. One not unim- 
 portant step tov/ards realizing this wish was taken as Prus- 
 sia gradually, from 1828 onwards, became the center of a 
 commercial union among the German states, the members 
 of which agreed to levy no duties on merchandise passing 
 from one state to another, but to levy them only at the com- 
 mon frontier. This union, called the Zollverein, or Customs' 
 Union, was gradually joined by most of the German States. 
 
 445. But, aside from this, most of the German sovereigns 
 and princes showed themselves to be thorough The govem- 
 
 , , , . ... . T-, ment and the 
 
 absolutists m prmciple and practice. Repres- people, 
 sive measures were used to crush every little manifestation 
 of independence, and the press was completely shackled. 
 But, indeed, these acts had only the effect of making the 
 desire for freedom and unity stronger. When the French 
 Revolution of 1830 took place, there were slight sympa- 
 thetic uprisings in Prussia and Austria, and especially in 
 Brunswick ; but very little came of these. 
 
 446. However, the French Revolution of 1848 (when 
 King Louis Philippe was driven out, and a The earth- 
 republic was set up) had more serious conse- qua'^c year. 
 
476 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 quences in Germany. The people this time were in earnest, 
 and resolved to obtain, at whatever cost, their chief de- 
 mands. The princes of the smaller states were alarmed^ 
 and most of them at once adopted a more liberal policy. 
 In Austria the reforming or revolutionary party everywhere 
 gained the upper hand ; and the Emperor was obliged to 
 summon a Diet, to be elected by universal suffrage in all 
 his hereditary lands. In Berlin the uprising was even 
 more determined ; there were sharp contests between the 
 people and the soldiers ; and the king, Frederick William 
 IV., was obliged to grant a new constitution. It was gen- 
 erally hoped that union as well as freedom was now to be 
 achieved in Germany, for the movement gained such height 
 that members from the various states were elected to a 
 National Assembly, which was opened at Frankfort in May, 
 1848, and which had the right of acting for r.ll Germany, 
 since the Diet had meanwhile voluntarily ceased to exist. 
 
 447. But, once again, the movement for union and in- 
 Cause of the dependence proved abortive, and this time 
 
 people's fail- , 
 
 ure. when the people seemed to have everything 
 
 their own way. This failure was due to several causes. 
 To begin with, the National Assembly was largely under 
 the influence of well-meaning, but visionary men, and showed 
 itself unequal to the task of reconstituting Germany. Then 
 the movement for independence was seriously checked by 
 the great excesses to which the revolutionary party in Austria 
 and Hungary went. 
 
 448. The Hungarians, it must be remembered, were under 
 Uprising and the Austrian dominion, and formed one of the 
 of Hungary. statcs of Fraucis II. 's " Empire." But they had 
 once been a great and an independent nation, and they 
 sighed to be freed from the yoke of the House of Haps- 
 burg. Headed by the famous orator Kossuth, they de- 
 ;nanded complete independence, and set up a republic. 
 But unluckily feuds arose between the Magyars and the 
 
THE GERMAN EMPIRE RESTORED. 47/ 
 
 other races in Hungar}^, and this greatly helped the recon- 
 quest of the country by Austria, which, however, was not 
 done without the help of Russia. 
 
 449. While these events were taking place in Hungary, 
 there was a gradual subsidence of the republi- The tide re- 
 can movement in Germany proper, so that in ^^'^^^• 
 Austria and Prussia and the other states the government 
 got the upper hand. And now that the governments were 
 freed from the fear with which the revolutionary outburst 
 had at first inspired them, they became less and less in- 
 clined to adopt any very thorough changes. Moreover, the 
 National Assembly, still sitting at Frankfort, was violently 
 divided. True, it got so far in April, 1849, as to form a 
 kind of constitution, and it oifered the Imperial power to 
 the King of Prussia, in whose family it was to be heredi- 
 tary. Frederick William, however, refused to accept the 
 title under a constitution which, he said, would not give 
 him power sufficient to fulfil the duties of an emperor. 
 
 450. All this time, and long afterwards, the greatest diffi- 
 culty in the unification of Germany arose from Jealousies of 
 
 ,"'.,., _^ •!» . Prussia and • 
 
 the jealousies between Prussia and Austria, Austria, 
 each believing that // should form the nucleus in the recon- 
 stitution of the Empire. Prussia, when Austria was en- 
 gaged in quelling the Hungarian revolt (1849), rnade an ef- 
 fort to unite Germany, leaving out Austria. Several states 
 joined Prussia in an alliance. Then Austria, alarmed by 
 the attempt of Prussia to seize the place in Germany wdiich 
 she looked on as lawfully hers, made a counter-effort, and 
 succeeded in joining with her various states in another alli- 
 ance, leaving out Prussia. Feeling ran very high, and the 
 two sections were nearly plunged into civil war on a dispute 
 that arose in regard to Hesse-Cassel. The difficulty was 
 settled by the temporary re-establishment of the Confeder- 
 ation much as it had been before 1848. But it remained 
 clear that the great question in German politics was whether 
 
4/8 MODERN HIS TO K 
 
 Austria or Prussia should occupy the first place in Ger- 
 many. 
 
 451. The years that followed the revolutionary period 
 
 begun in 1848 were on the whole prosperous. 
 
 Commerce flourished, and much was done 
 to promote popular education. In the year 1859 Austria 
 plunged into the war with Sardinia, — the war in which 
 Napoleon III. took sides with Sardinia and compelled Aus- 
 tria to give up Lombardy.* Austria tried to drag the Con- 
 federation into the struggle on her side ; but Prussia firmly 
 adhered to the principle that the Confederation could take 
 no part in any contest that did not directly affect German 
 interests. As bearing on Germany, this war is only impor- 
 tant in that the partial unification of Italy, which was the 
 result of it, gave a fresh impulse in many German minds to 
 the desire for national unity. 
 
 452. King Frederick William IV. of Prussia died in 
 Prussia under 1 86 1, and was succccded by his brother, who 
 William I. ^qq]^ ^i^g ^jj.|g ^i William I. He appointed 
 Otto von Bismarck, one of the ablest of modern states- 
 men, his prime minister and minister of foreign affairs. 
 The king was an enthusiastic soldier, and wished to see the 
 Prussian army reorganized. His efforts to achieve this end 
 led to disputes with the Parliament, which did not wish to 
 sanction the heavy expenditures required. But the king and 
 Bismarck, in direct violation of the constitution, carried out 
 the scheme. 
 
 453. All this time the relations of Prussia and Austria, 
 Progress of ^.nd of botli to the Confederation, were very 
 the quarrel. uusatisfactory. Bisinarck declared in Parlia- 
 ment that the German problem could be solved only by 
 "blood and iron." For a time the jealousies of the two 
 rival states were kept in abeyance by the absorbing inter- 
 est of what is called the " Schleswig-Holstein question." 
 
 * See page 469. 
 
THE GERMAN EMPIRE RESTORED. 479 
 
 This joined Prussia and Austria against Denmark. In Feb- 
 ruary, 1864, the united armies crossed the Eider, and drove 
 the Danes from a rampart called the Danewirk. The for- 
 tress of Diippel also was taken, and such loss was in- 
 flicted on Denmark that she consented to part with the 
 three duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lau'enbiirg, in 
 favor of the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia. 
 
 454. And now a fresh difficulty arose in regard to the 
 disposition that should be made of the duch- Relations of 
 ies. Prussia desired to annex them to her ^^® powers, 
 own territory ; Austria, though not anxious for them, was 
 still resolved that Prussia should not obtain them. The 
 dispute was finally settled amicably. However, the real 
 difficulties between the two rival powers were not lessened, 
 — and Bismarck did not desire that they should be les- 
 sened, for he saw in these complications the opportunity for 
 increasing the greatness of Prussia. 
 
 455. When a nation wishes to make war, the opportunity 
 is usually found. Prussia discovered one in The fresh out- 
 the still open dispute with Austria in regard to ^'■^^''• 
 
 the Schleswig-Holstein question. But the struggle that now 
 began, and which proved to be one of the most rapid and 
 decisive in history, had in reality very little to do with the 
 petty question with which it was nominally associated. The 
 real issue was the long-pending one of whether Austria or 
 Prussia should guide the destinies of the Fatherland. 
 
 456. The conflict was precipitated in June, 1866, and 
 was continued through what is called the Six "^^^ °^ ^.^'^ 
 Weeks' War. Italy united with Prussia in de- War. 
 daring war against Austria. For a time Austria had toler- 
 ably good fortune. The Italians were defeated at Custozza 
 by the Archduke Albert. But the Prussians, armed with the 
 needle-gun, — a breech-loading rifle of new construction, — 
 invaded Bohemia under the command of their king, and in- 
 flicted a signal defeat upon the Austrians under com.mand 
 
480 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 of Marshal Benedek at Sadowa, near Koniggratz. Austria 
 was obliged to sue for peace, which was concluded at 
 Prague, in August of the same year (1866). 
 
 457. By ,this treaty Austria was forever excluded from 
 Results of the Germany, and had to pay a heavy indemnity, 
 struggle. Besides this, several of the states that had 
 taken part with Austria — Bavaria, Baden, and two or 
 three others — entered into a secret alliance with Prussia, 
 by which their troops were placed at the disposal of Prussia 
 for the defense of Germany. 
 
 458. The final result was that all the states to the north 
 Formation of of the Main United to form the North German 
 
 North German ^ /- , , i i i i • 
 
 Confederation. Confeueralwn under the leadership of Prussia, 
 the whole military system of the Confederation being placed 
 at the disposal of that country. The first Diet of the new 
 Confederation met at Berlin in February, 1867. 
 
 459. This partial union of Germany was a great advance 
 Further pro- o^^ the old State of things, but still it was far 
 gress. horn complete. A great party — the so-called 
 National Liberal ^2iYty — had already been formed, whose 
 leading aim was the union of South Germany with the new 
 Confederation. Still, such a union seemed far off, when an 
 event happened by which, amid the rejoicing of Germany, the 
 object was attained. This event was the war with France. 
 
 460. The occasion of the war with France, as has already 
 Cause of the been stated,* was the fact that Leopold, of 
 '"^^' Hohenzollern, a kinsman of the King of 
 Prussia, allowed himself to be a candidate for the Spanish 
 throne ; but the underlying cause was the intense jealousy 
 of Napoleon III. at the success of Prussia in gathering so 
 great a part of Germany around herself. 
 
 461. In declaring war, which Napoleon III. did in July, 
 Napoleon's 1870, he hopcd that the South Germans, if 
 ^isappoin - ^^^ ^.^ ^^^ actually join France, would at 
 
 * See page 469. 
 
THE GERMAN EMPIRE RESTORED. 48 1 
 
 least remain neutral. But he was greatly disappointed. 
 The petty occasion of the dispute was soon wholly lost 
 sight of, and most of the South German states, realizing 
 that the struggle was one of aggressive and domineering 
 France against the long-humiliated Fatherland, willingly 
 united with Prussia. Austria and the other dominions of 
 the House of Austria alone held back. 
 
 462. Soon a million of men were in the field, under the 
 King of Prussia. His chief adviser was Gen- Beginning of 
 eral von Moltke, one of the ablest strategists *^^ struggle, 
 of modern times. The French, assuming the offensive, 
 crossed the frontier, fully expecting, in their blind confidence, 
 that they would soon dictate a peace at Berlin. 
 
 463. With the details of this remarkable campaign it 
 will be impossible for us to occupy ourselves ; Account of the 
 but a few of the prominent points are here ^*'■• 
 presented. 
 
 Battle of Weis'senburg. — The French having invaded Germany, ac- 
 tive operations commenced early in August, 1870. Battle of Weis- 
 senburg, fought between the German army under the Crown Prince 
 and the French, August 4th : result, the French were defeated. The 
 army of the Crown Prince now encamped on French ground. 
 
 Battle of Worth, — fought between the German forces and the French 
 army under Marshal MacMahon, August 6th: result, defeat of the 
 French ; and, as some other successes were won by the other German 
 columns about the same time, the v/hole German army now entered 
 France. 
 
 Battle of Sedan'. — The main French army under Marshal Bazaine 
 was defeated in several engagements near Metz ; and after various op- 
 erations in different quarters the French were driven from all sides 
 into Sedan, which was surrounded by the Germans (September i): 
 result, the French army of 80,000 men was forced to surrender ; the 
 Emperor Napoleon III., who was present with this army, yielded his 
 sword to King William, and received as his residence the Castle of 
 Wilhelmshohe, near Cassel. 
 
 Siege of Paris. — Soon after Sedan, two of the German armies, under 
 the Crown Prince, marched towards Paris, which they invested (Sep- 
 tember 19th), while the third German army occupied the country to the 
 south and southeast, and other forces the region to the north and 
 20 rp 
 
482 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 northeast. The French made several attempts to break through the 
 German line of investment (September and October), but were driven 
 back. 
 
 Surrender of Metz. — Meanwhile, a new French army had been raised 
 to operate with a view to the relief of Paris, but just then fresh disas- 
 ters befell France. Marshal Bazaine, surrounded by German forces 
 at Metz, after having tried several times to escape, capitulated with 
 his whole army of 170,000 men (October 27). 
 
 Surrender of Paris.— A last attempt was made by the French to es- 
 cape from Paris in January, 1871 ; but they were driven back with 
 heavy loss, and as, in spite of some partial successes, all their armies 
 in the field were defeated, the "Government of the National Defense," 
 which had taken the control of affairs after the surrender of Napoleon, 
 opened negotiations for peace. Paris formally surrendered January 
 28, 187 1. 
 
 464. The final treaty of peace between France and Ger- 
 Terms of many, called the Treaty of Frankfort^ was 
 P^^"- signed May 10, 187 1. Very severe terms were 
 imposed on France, which had to give up to the Germans 
 the provinces of Alsace and German Lorraine, and pay an 
 indemnity of 5,000,000,000 francs. 
 
 465. Even before the termination of hostilities, the long- 
 Creationofthe tlesired rcsult, the unification of Germany, was 
 Empire. accomplished. The war itself had inspired the 
 South Germans with a warm desire for a closer union with 
 the Northern Confederation. By treaties made with the 
 various South German states in November, 1870, the 
 Northern Confederation was changed into a Germafi Con- 
 federation, under the presidency of William I. of Prussia. 
 In the following month the German sovereigns proposed 
 that the President of the Confederation should receive the 
 title of German Emperor, The proposal being agreed to, 
 King William was, in the palace of Versailles, solemnly 
 proclaimed Emperor of Germany, January 18, 1871. 
 
 467. In the month of March the first Diet of the new 
 The German Empire was Opened at Berlin. By this Parlia- 
 constitution. ment a constitution was adopted for the twenty- 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE 19 TH CENTURY. 483 
 
 five states forming the Empire. Each of these regulates 
 its own affairs in so far as they do not affect other states, 
 and is allowed to send and receive diplomatic representa- 
 tives. What concerns the whole country is left to the Im- 
 perial Government. The duties of legislation rest with the 
 Federal Council, and the Diet; the executive power is 
 wielded by the Emperor. He has the right to declare war 
 and make peace, to form alliances and conclude treaties. 
 
 468. Thus it was that the greater part of Germany was 
 again united as a single power. In the mean summary of 
 time Austria and its adjuncts formed a sepa- '■^^uits. 
 rate kingdom known as the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. 
 The triumph of Prussia was complete ; but it was also the 
 triumph of Germany. The Austro-Prussian war raised 
 Prussia to the first place in Germany ; the Franco-Prussian 
 war raised Germany to the first place in Europe. 
 
 GREAT NAMES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS. 
 
 Humboldt, Alexander von (1769- 1859), born at Berlin — the greatest 
 of descriptive naturalists — chief work, his Kosmos, an account of the 
 physical phenomena of the universe. 
 
 Cuvier (1769- 1831), a Swiss, but lived most of his life in Paris — 
 a very distinguished naturalist and paleontologist — principal works, 
 The Animal Kingdovi and Discourses on the Revolutions of the Surface 
 of the Globe — employed by Napoleon as minister of education. 
 
 Hegel (1770- 1B31), a German philosopher and founder of a new 
 school of philosophy. 
 
 Davy, Sir Humphry (1778- 1829), a celebrated chemist and natural 
 philosopher — discovered a number of scientific facts and ■ principles 
 — inventor of the safety-lamp for miners. 
 
 Arago (1786- 1852), a distinguished French savant, and especially re- 
 nowned in astronomy — was superintendent of the Paris Observatory. 
 
 Hamilton, Sir William (1788- 1856), a Scotch metaphysician and 
 
484 MODERN' HISTORY. 
 
 logician — author of works on mental philosophy and logic — contrib- 
 uted greatly to advance metaphysical science as a professor and critic. 
 
 Faraday (179 1 -1869), an eminent physical philosopher — made im- 
 portant discoveries relative to magnetic electricity and light — the 
 prince of lecturers on scientific subjects. 
 
 Comte (1798- 1857), a famous French philosopher, and author of the 
 Positive Philosophy, 
 
 Liebig (1803- 1872), born at Darmstadt — a great chemist — profes- 
 sor at Munich — has written much on the chemistry of agriculture 
 and physiology. 
 
 Mill, John Stuart (1806- 1873), an eminent English philosopher — 
 author of Political Rconomy^ Logic, O71 Liberty, etc. 
 
 Brewster, Sir David (1781-1868), a distinguished Scottish scientist 
 — editor of the Edinburgh Encyclopedia — wrote Letters on Natziral 
 Magic and a Life of Newton — famous for his discoveries in optics. 
 
 Leverrier (181 1- ), a great French astronomer — proved by 
 
 mathematical calculation that there must be another planet beyond 
 the orbit of Uranus, and told when and where it would come into 
 view, August, 19, 1846 ; in September it was discovered in nearly the 
 locality indicated, and is now known as Neptune. 
 
 Tyndall, John (1820- ), a natural philosopher and most clear and 
 eloquent expounder of scientific subjects — author of Heat considered 
 as a Mode of Motion, Glaciers of the Alps, etc. 
 
 Agassiz, Louis J. R. (1807- 1873), an eminent naturalist — born in 
 Switzerland, but spent the last twenty-five years of his life in this 
 country — leading works, Poissons Fossiles, Contributions to the Natural 
 History of the United States, and Methods of Study in Natural History. 
 
 WRITERS. 
 
 Goethe (1749- 1832), bom at Frankfort-on-the-Main — one of the 
 most glorious names of Germany — chief works, Werther, Wilhelm 
 Meister, and Faust. 
 
 Richter (1763- 1825), a German author and humorist, and a most 
 original writer — principal works. Titan, Hesperus, and Levana on 
 Education. 
 
 Wordsworth, William (1770 -1850), one of the Lake Poets — chief 
 works, The Excursion and The White Doe ofRylstone — Poet Laureate 
 after Southey ; many of his poems describe common events in every- 
 day words. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832), born in Edinburgh — famed as a 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE 1<)TII CENTURY. 485 
 
 poet, and still more so as a novelist — began with a translation of 
 Burger's Leottora and The Wild Huntsman — chief poems, Lady of the 
 Lake, and Lay of the Last Minstrel. 
 Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772- 1834), one of the Lake Poets- 
 chief works, The Ancient Mariner and Christabel, an unfinished poem. 
 Campbell, Thomas (1777- 1844), born and educated in Glasgow — 
 author of Pleasures of Hope — more admired for his warlike ballads, 
 such as The Battle of the Baltic and Ye Mariners of England. 
 Beranger (1780- 1857), a noted lyric poet of France — sang of the 
 
 common people and their interests : the Burns of France. 
 Grimm, Jacob and William (1785 -1863), brothers, and associated 
 as philologists and antiquarians — through their labors comparative 
 philology was raised to the dignity of a science — greatest works, 
 Teutonic Grammar and German Dictionary — known to the young 
 as the authors of Household Tales. 
 Guizot, Francois Pierre Guillaume (1787- 1875), a prominent 
 statesman and the most distinguished modern French historian, — au- 
 thor of a " History of Civilization in Europe " and many other works. 
 Byron (1788- 1824), born in London — one of the leading British poets 
 — his chief work is Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, written in the stanza 
 of Spenser — died at Missolonghi (in Greece), of fever, aged 36. 
 Carlyle, Thomas ( 1795 - ), born in Scotland, but has lived most of 
 his life in London — one of the greatest of modern English writers — 
 distinguished for his powerful and picturesque, though somewhat 
 eccentric, style — did much to introduce German literature to the 
 knowledge of the English-speaking public — greatest works, the 
 French Revolution (a grand prose epic). Life of Frederick the Great, 
 Life of Cromwell, Sartor Resartus, etc. — has profoundly influenced 
 the thought of his age. 
 Prescott (1796- 1859), an eminent American historian — devoted him- 
 self especially to Spanish history — chief works, Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, Conquest of Mexico, etc. 
 Thiers {1797- ). a French historian and statesman — author of 
 The French Revolution and The Considate and the Empire — was made 
 President of the French Republc after the overthrow of Louis Na- 
 poleon, in 1870. 
 Pushkin (1799 -1837), the greatest of Russian poets. 
 Macaulay (1800- 1859), the finest historian of the day — chief work. 
 History of England — distinguished for his brilliant and picturesque 
 style. 
 Hugo, Victor (1802- ), a French poet, dramatist, novelist, and 
 
486 MODE RAT HISTORY. 
 
 politician — took part in the school of Romanticists in opposition to 
 the Classicists — best-known novels, Notre Dame in his earlier days, 
 and Les Miserables and Nitiety- Three in his latter days. 
 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo ( 1803 - ), the " sage of Concord " — the 
 most subtle and original thinker of America — leading works, Essays^ 
 Representative Men, etc. 
 
 Hawthorne (1805 -1864), an American novelist — distinguished for 
 the subtlety of his analysis and his graceful, powerful style — author 
 of The Scarlet Letter^ Twice- Told Tales, etc. 
 
 Tennyson, Alfred {1809- ), Poet Laureate of England — a great 
 master of rhythm and metrical harmony — his poems marked by 
 sweetness and depth of passion — leading works, The Princess, In 
 Memoriam, Idyls of the King, etc. 
 
 Thackeray (181 1 -1863), though not the most popular, yet the pro- 
 foundest, of English novelists — distinguished for his subtle analysis of 
 character — leading works, Vanity Fair, Pendennis, The Newcojnes, etc. 
 
 Dickens, Charles (1812 - 1870), the most popular of modern English 
 novelists — the Shakespeare of the 19th century — his novels distin- 
 guished as generally having some object of philanthropy or reform. 
 
 ARTISTS. 
 
 Thorwaldsen (1770 -1844), a Danish sculptor, and author of many 
 noble works — founder of the Art Museum at Copenhagen. 
 
 Beethoven (1770- 1827), a great German musician — among his many 
 works may be named The Mount of Olives, an oratorio, and Fidelio, an 
 opera. 
 
 Turner (1775- 1851), one of the best landscape painters of the English 
 school — painted also several historical pictures — died under an 
 assumed name in a humble lodging in London. 
 
 Weber {1786- 1826), a distinguished musician of the German school — 
 his greatest work, Der FreischUtz, was brought out in 1822 at Berlin. 
 
 Vernet, Horace {1789- 1863), one of the greatest of modern French 
 painters — his favorite subjects, battles and African hunting — painted 
 on very large canvases. 
 
 Rossini (1792- 1868), a great Italian musical composer — most cele- 
 brated operas, William Tell and The Barber of Seville — author also 
 of Stabat Mater. 
 
 Meyerbeer (1794 — 1864), a renowned German musical composer — at 
 six years of age astonished the public by his playing — greatest operas, 
 Kohert U Diable, The Huguenots, The Prophet, and V Africaine, 
 
GREAT NAMES OF THE i^TH CENTURY. 487 
 
 Donizetti (1798- 1848), a composer of Italian operas — best known, 
 Lucrezia Borgia and Lucia di Lammernioor. 
 
 Landseer, Sir Edwin (1802- 1873), famous for his paintings of ani- 
 mals, which have been widely popularized in engravings. 
 
 Kaulbach, "Wilhelm von (1805 -1874), the most illustrious modern 
 German painter — the leader of the idealistic school — spent most of 
 his life in Munich, the last twenty-five years as director of the art 
 academy — produced many grand paintings, his masterpieces being 
 the "Battle of the Huns" and the "Destruction of Jerusalem." 
 
 Mendelssohn (1809- 1847), born at Hamburg, of German-Jewish 
 parentage — a musician of the highest genius — chief works, his music 
 for the Midsummer Nighfs Dreain^ and his sublime oratorios, St. 
 Paul and Elijah. 
 
 Verdi {1814- ), an Italian composer — best-known operas, // Tro- 
 vatore and La Traviata. 
 
 Dore, Gustave (1833- ), a French artist — distinguished for ex- 
 
 traordinary powers of conception — well known for his illustrations of 
 the works of Dante, and of Don Quixote and the Wandering Jew, 
 
 INVENTORS. 
 
 Brunei, Sir Isambard (1769- 1849), ^ distinguished engineer — great- 
 est work, the Thames Tunnel ; begun 1826, finished 1843. 
 
 Stephenson, George (1781- 1848), born at Wylam, Northumberland 
 — the great railway engineer — inventor of the locomotive engine — 
 died at Tapton, aged 67 — his son Robert is distinguished as the engi- 
 neer of the Tubular Bridge over the Menai Strait. 
 
 Daguerre (1789 - 1851 ), inventor of the daguerreotype — the production 
 by light of images on a sensitive surface was already known, but 
 Daguerre discovered how to fix the image in hyposulphate of soda. 
 
 Morse, Professor S. F. B. {1791-1871), born in Massachusetts — 
 educated for a painter, but devoted himself to science — his world-wide 
 fame is based on his invention of the electric telegraph. 
 
Abraham, 31, 38. 
 
 Abu-Beker, 229. 
 
 Academy of Sciences, foundation of, 381. 
 
 Achaia, province of, m, 155 
 
 Acre, siege of, by Crusaders, 263, 445. 
 
 Actium, battle of, 177. 
 
 Addison, 437. 
 
 iEgos Potamos, battle of, 101. 
 
 ^neas, 133. 
 
 iEschines, 123. 
 
 iEschylus, 121. 
 
 Africa, circumnavigation of, by Da Gama, 
 
 310. 
 Agassiz, Louis J. R., 484. 
 Ages, the Dark, 272, 277. 
 Agincourt, battle of, 291. 
 Agriculture, low state of, in Middle Ages, 
 
 275. 
 Alba Longa, 134. 
 Alcaeus, 121. 
 Alcibiades, 100, loi. 
 Alcuin, 274. 
 A^exander the Great, career of, 104, 105 ; 
 
 his successors, 108. 
 Alexander I. cf Russia, 408. 
 Alfred the Great, 292. 
 Alhambra, the, 282. 
 Alliance, the Holy, 458. 
 Alphabet, the Phoenician, 45, 46, 47. 
 Alsace, 482. 
 Alva, Duke of, 332. 
 Ambrose, 200. 
 Amusements, Roman, 204. 
 Ancient History, end of, 5. 
 Andalusia, meanmg of the term, 216 
 Angelo, Michel, 347 
 Anglo-Saxon, persistence of, 292. 
 Anglo-Saxons, conquest ol Britain by, 235, 
 
 226. 
 Antioch, siege of, 358, 259. 
 
 Antony, Mark, 173, 175, 176, 177. 
 
 Aqueducts, Roman, X87. 
 
 Arago, 483. 
 
 Arbela, battle of, 105 
 
 Archaeology, definition of, i. 
 
 Architecture, Egyptian, 22; Chaldaean, 30: 
 Hindoo, S3 ; Persian, 60 ; Greek, orders 
 of, 125, 126 , Gothic, 284. 
 
 Archons, Athenian, 89. 
 
 Areola, battle of, 443. 
 
 Ariosto, 349. 
 
 Aristides, 94. 
 
 Aristophanes, 122. 
 
 Aristotle, 125. 
 
 Arkwright, 439. 
 
 Armada, the, 342, 343- 
 
 Arques, battle of, 338. 
 
 Art, Greek, 125; the Flemish Schod of, 
 382. 
 
 Arts, Assyrian, 35 ; Babylonian, 37 ; Per- 
 sian, 61. 
 
 Aryans, 3 ; proof of the unity of, 3 ; influ- 
 ence of, in history, 4; first seat of, 50. 
 
 Asia, geographical divisions of, 8, 9, 10. 
 
 Assembly, the French Legislative, during 
 the Revolution, 419. 
 
 Assyria, Empire of, 32 • 35. 
 
 Astronomy, Chaldsean, 30. 
 
 Athanasius, 200. 
 
 Athens, early history of, 88. 
 
 Attila, 210. 
 
 Auerstadt, battle of, 451 
 
 Augustine, 201. 
 
 Augustan Age, 188. 
 
 Augustus (see also Octavius), 182-189. 
 
 Austerlitz, battle of, 450 
 
 Austrian Empire, establishment of, 451. 
 
 Babylon, description of, 36. 
 
 Bacon, Roger, 281 ; Francis, 379, 387. 
 
490 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Balance of Power, nature of the, 316; wars 
 of Francis I. to preserve the, 323. 
 
 Banking, origin of, 279, 280 note. 
 
 Barras, 427. 
 
 Bassano, battle of, 443. 
 
 Bastile, capture of the, 415. 
 
 Baths, Roman, 204. 
 
 Bautzen, battle of, 455. 
 
 Bayard, 271. 
 
 Bede, 274. 
 
 Beethoven, 486. 
 
 Belisarius, 223. 
 
 Benedict, Saint, 276. 
 
 Beranger, 485. 
 
 Berkeley, 431. 
 
 Bernadotte, 453. 
 
 Bernard, Saint, 261. 
 
 Bishop of Rome, power of, 247. 
 
 Bismarck, 478. 
 
 Blood, discovery of the circulation of, 381. 
 
 Boleyn, Anne, 326-328. 
 
 Bonaparte, Joseph, 451, 452 ; Louis, 451. 
 
 Booiks, Roman, 205 ; scarcity of, in Middle 
 Ages, 273, 274; earliest printed, 313. 
 
 Bossuet, 381. 
 
 Bourbon, House of, 290 ; first king of name, 
 338. 
 
 Brewster, Sir David, 484. 
 
 Brindley, 433, 439. 
 
 Britain, conquest of, by Romans, 19) ; aban- 
 donment of, by Romans, 209. 
 
 Brunei, Sir Isambard, 487. 
 
 Brunswick, House of, 392, 392 note. 
 
 Brutus, Lucius Junius, 137 ; Marcus Jun- 
 ius, 173, 174, 176. 
 
 Buddhism, 54. 
 
 Burgundians, 216. 
 
 Burke, 438. 
 
 Burleigh, 344, 345. 
 
 Burns, 438. 
 
 Byron, 485. 
 
 Byzantium, 193. 
 
 Cabot, 312. 
 
 Cadmus, 46. 
 
 Caesar, Julius, 165-175. 
 
 Caliphs, meaning of term, 229. 
 
 Calonne, 412. 
 
 Calvin, John, 334. 
 
 Cambyses, 56; son of Cyrus, 58. 
 
 Camoens, 349. 
 
 Campbell} Thomas, 485. 
 
 Campo Formio, treaty of, 444. 
 
 Canals, first navigable, 433. 
 
 Cannae, battle of, 151. 
 
 Canova, 439. 
 
 Capet, Hugh, 288. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 485. 
 
 Carthage, founding of, 43; position of, in 
 Roman period, 48, 148; siege of, 153, 
 154- 
 
 Cassius, Caius, 173, 176. 
 
 Castes, Egyptian, 20, 21 ; Indian, 51 ; origin 
 of, 52. 
 
 Castiglione, battle of, 443. 
 
 Castile, foundation o^ 299. 
 
 Catherine II. of Russia, 407, 408 ; de Med- 
 ici, 334-338. 
 
 Catholics, persecution of, under Henry 
 VIII., 328, 329. 
 
 Catiline, 165. 
 
 Cato the Censor, 153, 158 note; the Young- 
 er, 171. 
 
 Catullus, 188. 
 
 Caucasian race, its historic representa- 
 tives, 2. 
 
 Cavaignac, 466. 
 
 Cavaliers, 354; costume of the, 384, 385. 
 
 Cavour, 471. 
 
 Celts, immigration of, into Europe, 213; in- 
 fluence of Rome on, 214. 
 
 Cervantes, 348. 
 
 Chsronea, battle of, 104. 
 
 Chaldsa, the kingdom of, 29-31. 
 
 Charlemagne, empire of, 234-239. 
 
 Charles Albert, 471. 
 
 Charles I. (of England), reign of, 352-357 J 
 Charles II. (of England), reign of, 360, 
 361 ; Charles V. (of Spain), age of, 317- 
 32s ; Charles IX. (of France), 336 - 338 ; 
 Charles X. (of France), 464 : Charles 
 XII. (of Sweden), 404-406. 
 
 Chartists, the, 461, 462. 
 
 Chaucer, 284. 
 
 Chemistry, foundation of, in i8th century, 
 432. 
 
 Cheops, 18. 
 
 Chimneys, origin of, 280. 
 
 Chivalry, 267-271. 
 
 Christ, birth of, 189. 
 
 Christianity, spread of, 194-201. 
 
 Christians, first pagan mention of, 195, 196. 
 
 Chronology, French system of, during the 
 Revolution, 441 note. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 491 
 
 Chrysostom, 201. 
 
 Church, influence of, in Dark Ages, 275. 
 
 Cicero, 164, 165. 
 
 ^incinnatus, 139. 
 
 Cities, rise of, in Middle Ages, 245, 246; the 
 growth of, in Middle Ages, 277. 
 
 Citizenship, Roman, extension of, 192. 
 
 'Civilization, connection of, with geography, 
 10 ; Assyrian, 34 ; Phoenician, 49 ; Alex- 
 andrian, 108; Grecian, 114- 129; types 
 of, in Roman Empire, 155 : sources of 
 modern, 214, 215; Byzantine, 222; in 
 Middle Ages, 272-284. 
 
 Cleopatra, 170, 176, 177, 178. 
 
 Clergy, the English, in 17th century, 383. 
 
 Clovis, 224 
 
 Code Napoleon, 449. 
 
 Coleridge, Samuel T., 485. 
 
 Coliseum, 185. 
 
 Colonies, Phoenician, 44, 45 ; Greek, in Asia 
 Minor, 82. 
 
 Columbus, 311. 
 
 Commerce, Babylonian, 64 ; Phoenician, 66 ; 
 Carthaginian, 68 ; early English, 278, 
 279 ; Italian, 279 ; Venetian, 296 ; effect 
 of circumnavigation of Africa on, 311 ; 
 English, under Elizabeth, 344. 
 
 Commonwealth, the English, 357. 
 
 Compass, invention of Mariner's, 309. 
 
 Comte, 484. 
 
 Confederation of the Rhine, 451 ; the Ger- 
 man, 474, 480. 
 
 Conformit}', Act of, 341. 
 
 Constance, Peace of, 278, 296. 
 
 Constantine, 198, 199. 
 
 Constantinople, 193, 230, 307. 
 
 Consulate, establishment of French, 446, 
 
 447- 
 Consulate and the Empire, France under 
 
 the, 440-457. 
 Copernicus, 349. 
 Corday, Charlotte, 425. 
 Coriolanus, 138. 
 Corneille, 381, 388. 
 Corn Laws, repeal of, 461. 
 Cosmo I., 298 
 Cotton-gin, 434. 
 Crassus, 163, 165, 168. 
 Crecy, battle of, 290. 
 Crimea, conquest of the, by Russia, 408. 
 Crimean war, 462, 463, 468 ; part taken by 
 
 Italy in, 471, 472. 
 
 Croesus, overthrow of, 57. 
 
 Crompton, 433, 439. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 355-359: Richard, 359. 
 
 Crusades, the, 253 - 266 ; meaning of term, 
 253 ; origin of, 254; the First, 256-260 : 
 the Second, 261, 262 ; the Third, 262, 
 263 ; later ones, 264; results of, 265, 266. 
 
 Cuneitorm, nature of characters, 30, 31, 45. 
 
 Custozza, battle of, 479. 
 
 Cuvier, 483. 
 
 Cyaxares, 56. 
 
 Cyprian, 200. 
 
 Cyrus, legends of, 56, 57 ; his conquests, 57, 
 58. 
 
 Daguerre, 487. 
 
 Damascus, siege of, by Crusaders, 262. 
 
 Dante, 284. 
 
 Darius I., 59, 91-93; Darius Codomannus, 
 105, 106. 
 
 Dark Ages, 212. 
 
 Davy, Sir Humphry, 483. 
 
 Decemvirs, the Roman, 141. 
 
 Declaration of Independence, influence of 
 French philosophy in, 430. 
 
 Democracy, contributions of Greeks to, 114. 
 
 Demosthenes, 103, 123. 
 
 Descartes, 379, 380, 387. 
 
 Desiderius, 224. 
 
 Dickens, Charles, 486. 
 
 Dictator, origin of Roman, 139. 
 
 Diet of Worms, 321. 
 
 Diocletian, 197. 
 
 Directory, French government called the, 
 426, 427 ; the French, 442. 
 
 Donizetti, 487. 
 
 Dore, Gustave, 487. ^ 
 
 Dorians, character of, 84. 
 
 Dorylseum, battle of, 258. 
 
 Draco, laws of, 89. 
 
 Drama, Grecian, 121, 122. 
 
 Dress, Grecian, 128 ; Roman, 201, aoa ; la- 
 dies', in 17th century, 385. 
 
 Dumouriez, 420, 424. 
 
 Durer, 347. 
 
 Dutch Republic, rise of, 331-333' 
 
 Dynasty, the Merovingian, 224 ; the Carlo- 
 vingian, 285 ; the Norman, in England, 
 293- 
 
 Edessa, principality of, 261. 
 Edgehill, battle of, 354. 
 
492 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Edict of Nantes, revocation of, 375. 
 
 Education among Greeks, 128. 
 
 Edward VI. of England, reign of, 339, 340. 
 
 Egbert, 291. 
 
 Egypt, 12-26; antiquity of, 12; its geog- 
 raphy, 13 ; populousness of, 14 ; liiero- 
 glyphics, 14- 16 ; chronology, 17 ; castes, 
 20, 21 ; architecture, 22 ; sculpture, 23 ; 
 religion, 24 ; manufactures, 25. 
 
 Elba, 455. 
 
 Electricity, Franklin's discoveries in, 432. 
 
 Elegy, rise of, among the Greeks, 120. 
 
 Elizabeth of England, reign of, 339-346. 
 
 Embalming, practice of, among Egyptians, 
 
 25- 
 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 486. 
 
 Emperors, the Roman, i8g, 190. 
 
 Empire, the Eastern Roman, 221 ; the 
 German, in Middle Ages, 285-287. 
 
 England, meaning of name, 226 ; Christiani- 
 zation of, 227 ; history of, in Middle 
 Ages, 291 - 295 ; effect of Norman con- 
 quest, 292; under Henry VIII., 325- 
 330 ; under the Stuarts, 350 - 364 ; social 
 condition of, in 17th century, 383, 384. 
 
 Epaminondas, 102. 
 
 Era, the Christian, true beginning of, 189 
 note. 
 
 Essex, Earl of, 345. 
 
 Essling, battle of, 453. 
 
 Ethnology, dehnition of, 1. 
 
 Etruscans, the, 131. 
 
 Euripides, 121. 
 
 Exodus, the, 19 note. 
 
 Eylau, battle of, 452. 
 
 Faraday, 484. 
 
 Fathers, the Christian, 200. 
 
 Federations, Greek, no. 
 
 Feudalism, 241 - 246 ; decline of, 314. 
 
 Fief, nature of, 241, 243. 
 
 Fielding, 437. 
 
 Florence, history of, in Middle Ages, 297, 
 298. 
 
 Food, Roman, 202. 
 
 France, meaning of the term, 216 ; founda- 
 tion of, 224 ; beginnings of, 287, 288 ; 
 under Carlovingians, 288 ; Capetian 
 kings of, 289 ; under House of Valois, 
 290 ; under Louis XIV., 368 -379. 
 
 Franchise, the Latin, 147. 
 
 Frankfort, Treaty of, 48a. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 432, 436. 
 
 Franks, meaning of the word, 216; invasion 
 
 of Gaul by, 216, 224. 
 Frederick Barbarossa, 262, 263, 296 ; Duke 
 
 of Saxony, 321 ; Elector Palatine, 365 ; 
 
 William, 397. 
 French Revolution, 409-429. 
 Fulton, 439. 
 
 Gades, 44. 
 
 Gainsborough, 438. 
 
 Galileo, 349, 380. 
 
 Gallia Cisalpina, 131. 
 
 Galvani, 432, 436. 
 
 Galvanism, origin of, 432. 
 
 Games, the four Grecian, 117, it8. 
 
 Garibaldi, 472, 473. 
 
 Gas-lights, first use of, 434. 
 
 Gaul, settlement of Teutonic tribes in, 
 224. 
 
 Gauls, seat of, in Italy, 131 ; burnmg of 
 Rome by, 133 ; capture of Rome by, 
 142. 
 
 Genseric, 210. 
 
 Gentleman, origin of the, 271. 
 
 Geology, foundation of, 433. 
 
 George I. of England, reign of, 392, 393; 
 II., reign of, 394; III., reign of, 395, 
 396; III., 458; IV., 458. 
 
 Germany, Empire of, in Middle Ages, 285- 
 287. 
 
 Ghibellines, 295, 296. 
 
 Gibbon, 438. 
 
 Gibraltar, meaning of term, 230. 
 
 Gioja, 309. 
 
 Girondists, the, 419, 421, 424. 
 
 Glass, introduction of, in windows, 280. 
 
 Godfrey of Bouillon, 260. 
 
 Goethe, 484. 
 
 Goldsmith, 438. 
 
 Good Hope, Cape of, doubled, 310. 
 
 Goths, 208, 209; original home of, 215. 
 
 Gracchus, Tiberius, 159, 160 ; Caius, 160. 
 
 Granicus, battle of, 105. 
 
 Great Britain, origin of name, 391. 
 
 Greece, history of, 73 - 129 ; race, 74 ; geog- 
 raphy of, 75 ; states of, 76 ; legends of, 
 78, 79; movements of races, 81, 82; 
 Colonies, 82 ; earliest history, 84 ; 
 growth of Sparta and Athens, 85 - 90 ; 
 Persian invasions of, 91 -98; age of 
 Pericles, 98, 99 ; Peloponnesian war. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 493 
 
 loo, loi ; Spartan and Theban suprem- 
 acy, loi, I02 ; supremacy of Macedonia, 
 103, 104; later history, 109- iii ; civili- 
 zation of, 114- 129. 
 
 Greek society, 129. 
 
 Gregory Nazianzen, 200. 
 
 Gregory VII., 250. 
 
 Granada, capture of, 299. 
 
 Grey, Lady Jane, 340. 
 
 Grimm, Jacob and William, 485. 
 
 Guelphs, the, 295. 
 
 Gunpowder effect of, 270. 
 
 Gustavus Adoiplius, 365, 366. • 
 
 Gutenberg, 313. 
 
 Hamilca;?, 150. 
 
 Hamilton, Sir William, 483. 
 
 Hamites, their representative, 3. 
 
 Handel, 438. 
 
 Hannibal, 151- 153. 
 
 Han no, 68 note. 
 
 Hapsburg, origin of House of, 287. 
 
 Hargreaves, 439. 
 
 Haroun al-Raschid, 231. 
 
 Harvey, 381. 
 
 Hawthorne, 486. 
 
 Haydn, 439. 
 
 Hebrews, the, 38 - 42. 
 
 Hegel, 483- 
 
 Hegira, date of, 228. 
 
 Hellas, 75. 
 
 Henry II. (of England), 289; VII. (of 
 England), 295 ; VIII. (of England), 
 reign of, 325-330; III. (of France), 
 338: IV. (of France), 338, 339; IV. 
 (Emperor of Germany), 250. 
 
 Henry, Prince of Portugal, 309. 
 
 Herodotus, 14 7iote, 122. 
 
 Herschel, William, 436. 
 
 Hesiod, 120. 
 
 Hieroglyphics, Egyptian, 14- 16. 
 
 Hildebrand, 249, 250. 
 
 Hindoos, the, 50-54. 
 
 History, definition of, i ; a unit, 6 ; earliest 
 theater of, 11. 
 
 Hohenlinden, battle of, 448. 
 
 Holbein, 347. 
 
 Homer, 78, 79, 90, iig, 120. 
 
 Horace, 188. 
 
 Horatius Codes, 138. 
 
 Houses, description of Roman, 206. 
 
 Howard, Catherine, 329 ; John, 435. 
 
 Hugo, Victor, 485. 
 Huguenot, origin of name, 334. 
 Humboldt, Alexander von, 483. 
 Hume, David, 431, 437, 438. 
 Hungary, revolution of, in 1848, 476, 477. 
 Hyksos, 18, 19. 
 
 Imperator, meaning of, 171. 
 
 India, Alexander's expedition to, 106 ; con- 
 quest of, by British, 396. 
 
 Innocent III., 251. 
 
 Inventions, sketch of, in i8th century, 433. 
 
 Ionia, revolt of cities of, gi. 
 
 lonians, character of, 83, 84. 
 
 Ipsus, battle of, 108. 
 
 Isabella, 299. 
 
 Israel, kingdom of, 40. 
 
 Issus, battle of, 105. 
 
 Italy, in Middle Ages, 295-298 ; unification 
 of, 470-473. 
 
 Ivry, battle of, 338. 
 
 Jacobite, origin of the name, 393. 
 
 Jacquard, 439. 
 
 James I. of England, 350-352 ; II., 362. 
 
 Janus, temple of, 186. 
 
 Jena, battle of, 451. 
 
 Jerome, 201. 
 
 Jerusalem, destruction of, by Titus, 41 ; 
 
 capture of, by Crusaders, 26o>kingdom 
 
 of, 260. 
 Jews, their place in history, 42. 
 Joan of Arc, 291. 
 John of England, 293. 
 Johnson, Samuel, 437. 
 Josephine, 428. 
 Jourdan, 428, 442, 443. 
 Judah, kingdom of, 40. 
 Jugerum, 143 note. 
 Julian the Apostate, 200. 
 Justinian, reign of, 221, 223. 
 Juvenal, 189. 
 
 Kant, 431. 
 
 Kepler, 380. 
 
 Kings, divine right of, 351. 
 
 Knight, dress and equipment of, 269« 
 
 Knighthood, ceremonial of, 268. 
 
 Koran, the, 228. 
 
 Kossuth, 476. 
 
 Labarum, the, 199, 
 
494 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lafayette, 414. 
 
 Lamian war, the, 109. 
 
 Lancaster, House of, 294. 
 
 Landseer, Sir Edwin, 487. 
 
 Languages, the Teutonic, 219; the Sla- 
 vonic, 219; the Celtic, 218; the Ro- 
 mance, 273. 
 
 Laplace, 437. 
 
 Latins, the race of the, 132. 
 
 Laud, 353. 
 
 Lavoisier, 432, 436. 
 
 Law, John, 393. 
 
 Law, the civil or Roman, 221. 
 
 Laws, English penal, 435. 
 
 League, the Achsean, 110; the Smalcaldic, 
 323; Hanseatic, 277, 2-/8; Lombard, 
 278. 
 
 Learning, revival of, 312-314. 
 
 Leibnitz, 381, 388. 
 
 Leicester, Earl of, 345. 
 
 Leipsic, battle of, 455. 
 
 Leonidas, 95, 96. 
 
 Leopold, 469. 
 
 Lepidus, 175. 
 
 Lessing, 438. 
 
 Letters, the disuse of, itj Middle Ages, 
 
 273- 
 
 Leuctra, battle of, 102. 
 
 Leverrier, 484. 
 
 Library, tjje Alexandrian, 108, 170, 229. 
 
 Licinian law, the, 143. 
 
 Lictors, the Ro.nan, 138 note. 
 
 Liebig, 484. 
 
 Literature, Hindoo, 52, 53 ; Persian, 62 ; 
 early Roman, 157; Roman, 188; char- 
 acteristics of European, i.i 18th century, 
 431 ; French, in 18th century, 429. 
 
 Lithography, invention of, 434. 
 
 Livy, 133, 134, 188. 
 
 Locke, 431. 
 
 Lodi, battle of Bridge of, 443. 
 
 Logarithms, invention of, 381. 
 
 Lombards, 217, 223, 248. 
 
 Lombardy, Charlemagne king of, 237 ; 
 League of, 296. 
 
 Long Parliament, 353. 
 
 Lorraine, 482. 
 
 Louis Napoleon, early career of, 465 ; 
 coup d'Hat by, 467 ; becomes Emperor, 
 468. 
 
 Louis Philippe, 464, 465. 
 
 Louis le Deboauaire, 239 ; IX., 264, 265; 
 
 XIIL,369; XIV., 368-379: XV., 409, 
 410; XVL, 410-423; XVIII., 4SS, 
 456, 463. 464- 
 
 Lucretius, 188. 
 
 Luneville, Treaty of, 44S. 
 
 Luther, Martin, 320. 
 
 Liitzen, battle of, 366, 455. 
 
 Luxury, Roman, 158. 
 
 Lydia, 63 7iote. 
 
 Macaulav, 485. 
 
 Macedonia under Philip, 103, 104 ; subju* 
 jation of, by Rome, 154. 
 
 Magellan, 312. 
 
 Magenta, battle of, 472. 
 
 Magianism, 61. 
 
 Magna Charta, 294. 
 
 Magna Gr^ecia, 132 ; subdued by Romans, 
 146. 
 
 Magyars, 218. 
 
 Manetho, 14. 
 
 Manners, English, 361. 
 
 Manufactures, Babylonian, 64 ; Florentin«, 
 297 ; English, 361. 
 
 Marat, 425. 
 
 Marathon, battle of, 93. 
 
 Mardonius, invasion of Greece by, 92. 
 
 Marengo, battle of, 448. 
 
 Maria Theresa, 397, 398. 
 
 Marie Antoinette, 424. 
 
 Marius, 161, 162. 
 
 Marlborough, Duke of, 376. 
 
 Marriage, Roman, 205. 
 
 Martel, Charles, 225, 230, 231. 
 
 Martial, 188. 
 
 Mary de Medici, 369. 
 
 Mary I. (of England), 340; II. (of Eng- 
 land), 362; Queen of Scots, 340-342. 
 
 Massilia, 82. 
 
 Maurice of Saxony, 323. 
 
 Medes, the, 55, 56. 
 
 Medici, Lorenzo de, 297 : Catherine de. 
 
 334-337- 
 Mendelssohn, 487. 
 Messenians, wars of Sparta with, 87. 
 Metz, surrender of, 482. 
 Meyerbeer, 486- 
 Mill, John Stuart, 484. 
 Miltiades, 93. 
 Milton, 382, 388. 
 Mirabeau, 414. 
 Mithridates, 163. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 495 
 
 Mohammed, early life of, 227 ; character of 
 religious system of, 228 ; death of, 229. 
 
 Molifere, 381- 
 
 Monks, rise of, 275, 276. 
 
 Montaigne, 348. 
 
 Montesquieu, 437. 
 
 Montfort, Sir Simon, 294, 
 
 Moore, Thomas, 485. 
 
 Moreau, 428, 443. 
 
 Morse, Professor S. F. B., 487- 
 
 Moscow, burning of, 454- 
 
 " Mountain," French Revolutionary party 
 called the, 419. 
 
 Mozart, 439- 
 
 Murat, 452. 
 
 Murillo, 383, 388. 
 
 Music, founders of modem, 432. 
 
 Mycale, battle of, 98. 
 
 Mythology, Greek, 115- 117. 
 
 Nabonassar, era of, 33. 
 
 Nabopolassar, 35. 
 
 Nantes, edict of, 338. 
 
 Napier, 381. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, 427 ; early campaign 
 
 of, 442 - 445 ; made Emperor, 449. 
 Napoleon III., 465 -47°- 
 Naseby, battle of, 356. 
 National Assembly, doings of the, 413- 
 
 419. 
 Navarre, foundation of kingdom of, 299. 
 Nebuchadnezzar, 35, 36. 
 Necker, 411, 412, 414. 
 Nelson, 448, 450. 
 Nero, 189. 
 
 Newton, 380, 381, 387. 
 Nice, 469. 
 
 Nicias, Peace of, 100. 
 Nile, battle of the, 445. 
 Nimeguen, Peace of, 374. 
 Nineteenth century, characteristics of the, 
 
 441. 
 Nineveh, description of, 34 ; its fall, 34. 
 Normans in England, 243, 244 ; origin of, 
 
 288, 289. 
 Norsemen, invasion of France by, 288. 
 Notables, Assembly of the, 412. 
 
 O'CoNNELL, Daniel, 459. 
 Octavius, 175, 178. 
 Odoacer, 216, 222. 
 Offenbach, 487. 
 
 Olympiad, the first, 84. 
 
 Omar, 229. 
 
 Oracles, 117- 
 
 Orange, William, Prince of, 36a. 
 
 Ordeal, 274. 
 
 Origen, 200. 
 
 Orleans, Maid of, 291. 
 
 Ostracism, 94. 
 
 Otho I., 2S5, 286. 
 
 Ovid, 188. 
 
 Page, meaning of term, 267. 
 Painting, rise of, in England, 431, 432. 
 Palace, mayors of the, 225. 
 Papal power, growth of the, 247-251. 
 Parliament, origin of English, 294 ; EngUsh' 
 under James I., 351 ; under Charles I.« 
 352 : the Long, 353 ; Barebone'9, 358. 
 Paris, siege of, in 1870, 481, 482. 
 Parr, Catherine, 329. 
 Parthenon, the, 127 ; cut of, 73. 
 Pascal, 382. 
 
 Patricians, the Roman, 135. 
 Pavia, battle of, 322. 
 Pelasgi, 76, 77- 
 Pelopidas, 102. 
 Pepin, 225. 
 
 Pericles, 98, 99 ; ar an orator, 123. 
 Persecutions of early Chriscians, 195 - iq8. 
 Persia, Empire of, t',-'o^- 
 Peter the Hermit, 254-256, 260 ; the Great 
 402 - 407. 
 
 Petition of Right, 352, 
 
 Ph am aces, 170, 171. 
 
 Pharsalia, battle of, 170. 
 
 Philip, King of Macedon, 103, 104; Augu* 
 tus, 262, 263, 289, 290; n., of Spain- 
 character of, 331 : marriage of, wit> 
 Mary of England, 340. 
 
 Philosophy, the scholastic, 281. 
 
 Phoenicians, the, 43 - 49- 
 
 Phrygia, 63 note. 
 
 Piano-forte, invention of, 434. 
 
 Pindar, 121. 
 
 Pisistratus, 90. 
 
 Pitt, William, 394, 395. 
 
 Pius IX., 470, 471" 
 
 Plantagenets, the, 293. 
 
 Plataea, battle of, 97. 
 
 Plato, 124, 125. 
 
 Plebeians, early oppression of RomaQ, 135, 
 140, 143. 
 
496 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pliny, 188. 
 
 Plutarch, 123. 
 
 Poitiers, battle of, 290. 
 
 Poland, partition of, 408. 
 
 Poles, their race, 217. 
 
 Political Economy, contribution of Adam 
 Smith to, 433. 
 
 Pompeii, 188, 206. 
 
 Pompey, 163, 166, 168-170. 
 
 Pope, Alexander, 437. 
 
 Pope, the, meaning of term, 248. 
 
 Popes, 247- 251. 
 
 Populus Romanus, meaning of term, 146. 
 
 Portuguese, account of discoveries in Africa, 
 309, 310 ; in the Indies, 311. 
 
 Powder, invention of, 314, 315. 
 
 Pragmatic Sanction, 397. 
 
 Prescott, 485. 
 
 Pretender, the, 393. 
 
 Pretorian Guard, the, 191. 
 
 Pride's Purge, 356. 
 
 Priests, influence of, in Egypt, 20. 
 
 Printing, origin of, 313. 
 
 Protestant, origin of name, 321. 
 
 Protestantism, origin of, 319, 320 ; French 
 form of, 334. 
 
 Prussia, beginnings of, 396 ; history of, un- 
 der Frederick the Great, 396 - 400. 
 
 Ptolemies, the, 108. 
 
 Ptolemy Soter, 108. 
 
 Punic wars, 148- 154. 
 
 Puritanism, rise of, 341. 
 
 Puritans, austerity of, 361. 
 
 Pushkin, 485. 
 
 Pydna, battle of, 111. 
 
 Pyramids, battle of the, 445. 
 
 Pythagoras, 123. 
 
 Rabelais, 348. 
 
 Race, the Italian, 132. 
 
 Races, the historical, compared, 4, 5 ; 
 
 Italian, 131 ; historical, of Europe, 213. 
 Racine, 381, 389. 
 Raleigh, 348. 
 Raphael, 347. 
 Ravenna, exarchs of, 223. 
 Rebellion, history of Great English, 354- 
 
 357- 
 Reform Bill, 460 
 Regulus, 149. 
 
 Reichstadt, Duke of, 453, 468, noU. 
 Reign of Terror, 420, 426. 
 
 Religion, Egyptian, 24 ; Hindoo, 52 , 
 Greek, 115. 
 
 Rembrandt, 388. 
 
 Republic, duration of Roman, 136. 
 
 "Restoration," the English, 360. 
 
 Revolution, the English, of 1688, 363 ; be- 
 ginning of American, 395 ; French, 409- 
 429 ; French, of 1830, 464 ; of 1848, 
 466. 
 
 Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 438. 
 
 Richard I. (Cceur de Lion), 262, zb^note. 
 
 Richelieu, Cardinal, 366, 367, 369-371. 
 
 Richter, 484. 
 
 Rights, the Bill of, 363, 363 ftote. 
 
 Rivoli, battle of, 443. 
 
 Robespierre, 414, 425, 426. 
 
 Roderick, 230. 
 
 Romance languages, origin of, 218. 
 
 Roman Empire, boundaries of, 182, 183; 
 division of, 194; downfall of, 211. 
 
 Rome, history of, 130- 211 ; its geography, 
 130: races, 131, 132; early history, 134; 
 early struggles, 136-142; Punic wars, 
 148-154; civil struggle, 159-178; the 
 Empire, 182-211; city of, 184, 185, 
 
 193- 
 Romilly, Sir Samuel, 435. 
 Romulus, 133, 134. 
 Roses, Wars of the, 294, 295. 
 Rosetta stone, 15. 
 Roundheads, 354. 
 Royal Society, foundation of, 381. 
 Rossini, 486. 
 Rotten boroughs, 459. 
 Rousseau, 438. 
 Roveredo, battle of, 443. 
 Rubens, 382, 388. 
 "Rump" Parliament, 356. 
 Russia, invasion of, by Napoleon, 454, 455. 
 Russia, rise of, 402 ; history of, under Peter 
 
 the Great, 402 - 406. 
 Ryswick, Peace of, 375. 
 
 Sadowa, battle of, 480 
 
 Saint Bartholomew, Massacre of, 337. 
 
 Saint Petersburg, foundation of, 406. 
 
 Saladin, 262, 263 note. 
 
 Salamis, battle of, 97. 
 
 Sallust, 188. 
 
 Sanction, Pragmatic, 3^7. 
 
 Sanscrit, 52. 
 
 Sappho, 121. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 497 
 
 Saracens, their Empire, 231 ; learning of, 
 282, 283 ; expelled from Spain, 299. 
 
 Satraps, the Persian, 59. 
 
 Saxons, meaning of term, 317 ; native seat 
 217; wars of Charlemagne with, 236. 
 
 Savoy, 469. 
 
 Schiller, 438. 
 
 Schleswig-Holstein question, 478. 
 
 Schoolmen, 281. 
 
 Science, Egyptian, 25 ; progress of, in iStli 
 century, 432. 
 
 Scipio, Publius, 151. 
 
 Scots, Mary Queen of, 340-342. 
 
 Sculpture, Egyptian, 23 ; Assyrian, 34 ; 
 Greek, 127. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 484. 
 
 Scotus, John, 274. 
 
 Sedan, battle of, 481. 
 
 Seleucidae, kingdom of the, 109. 
 
 Seleucus, 109. 
 
 Semites, their historical representatives, 3. 
 
 Sennacherib, 33. 
 
 Sesostris, 19. 
 
 Seven Years' War, 398. 
 
 Seymour, Jane, 329. 
 
 Shakespeare, comparison of, with Greek 
 dramatists, 122; life of, 348. 
 
 Sicily, Roman province of, 150. 
 
 Sidney, Sir Philip, 348. 
 
 Sieyes, 446. 
 
 Silesia, 398. 
 
 Silk, first manufacture of, 279. 
 
 Simonides, 120. 
 
 Slavery, Roman. 157, 158; abolition of Eng- 
 lish colonial, 460. 
 
 Slaves, price of Roman, 206. 
 
 Slavonians (see also Slaves), 217. 
 
 Smerdis, 58. 
 
 Smith, Adam, 433, 436. 
 
 Socrates, 124. 
 
 Solferino, battle of, 472. 
 
 Solomon, reign of, 40. 
 
 Solon, 89- 
 
 Sophists among the Greeks, 123, 124. 
 
 Sophocles, 121. 
 
 South Sea Scheme, 393. 
 
 Spain, history of, in Middle Ages, 298, 299. 
 
 Spanish succession, war of, 376. 
 
 Sparta, growth of, 85 ; education in, 86, 87 ; 
 constitution of, 87. 
 
 Spenser, 347. 
 
 Spinning-jenny, 433. 
 
 Spinoza. 380, 387. 
 
 Spires, Diet of, 321. 
 
 Squire, duty of, 268. 
 
 Standing armies, establishment of, 315. 
 
 Star-Chamber, abolition of, 353. 
 
 States-General, meeting of the, 412, 413. 
 
 Steam-engine, improvement of, by Watt, 
 
 433- 
 Stephenson, George, 487. 
 Stereotyping, first practice of, 434. 
 Sterne, 438. 
 St. Helena, 457. 
 Strafford, 353. 
 
 Stuarts, the line of, 350, 350 ttoie, 351. 
 Sulla, 161-163. 
 Superstition, growth of, in Middle Ages, 
 
 274 
 Supremacy, Act of, 341. 
 Swedenborg, 436. 
 Sylvester, 274. 
 
 Tacitus, 189. 
 
 Tarquinius Sup^bus, 135. 
 
 Tasso, 349. 
 
 Tennyson, Alfred, 486, 
 
 Terror, Reign of, 420, 426. 
 
 Tertullian, 200. 
 
 Teutons, the, 207, 208, 210 : historic influ« 
 
 ence of, 214 ; unity of, 2x5. 
 Thackeray, 486. 
 Thales, 123. 
 Thapsus, battle of, 171. 
 Thebes (Greek state), supremacy of, loa. 
 Themistocles, 94. 
 Theodoric, 222, 223. 
 I Theodosius, 193. 
 Thermopylae, battle of, 96. 
 Thiers, 485. 
 Thorwaldsen, 486. 
 Thucydides, 122, 123. 
 Tigris, the river, description of, 28. 
 Tilsit, Treaty of, 452. 
 Tin, Phoenician trade in, 67. 
 Titian, 347. 
 
 Tobacco, introduction of, into England, 344. 
 Tory, 354. 
 
 Toulon, siege of, 428. 
 Tournament, 269. 
 Trafalgar, battle of, 450. 
 Tribonian, 221. 
 Tribunes, establishment of Roman, 140, 
 
 J41 ; military, 142. 
 
498 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Triumvirate, the second, 176. 
 
 Troy, siege of,. 78 ; site of, 80 note. 
 
 Tudor, House of, 295. 
 
 Turgot, 411. 
 
 Turks, riseof the Ottoman, 306, 307. 
 
 Turner, 486 
 
 Twelve Tables, laws of the, 141. 
 
 Tycho-Brahe, 349. 
 
 Tyndall, John, 484, 
 
 1 yre, cohimerce of, 48. 
 
 Tyrtaeus, 120. 
 
 Ulm, capture of, 450. 
 
 Union, treaty of, between England and 
 
 Scotland, 390. 
 Universities, establishment of, in Middle 
 
 Ages, 280, 281. 
 Ur, 31. 
 Utica, 171. 
 Utrecht, Treaty of, 377. 
 
 Vaccination, discovery of, 434. 
 
 Vandals, 210, 216. 
 
 Vandyck, 382, 388. 
 
 Vassal, 241, 242. 
 
 Vedas, the, 52. 
 
 Venice, 223 ; growth of, 296. 
 
 Verdun, Treaty of, 285. 
 
 Verdi, 487. 
 
 Vernet, Horace, 486. 
 
 Victor Emanuel, 471 - 473. 
 
 Victoria, 461. 
 
 Virgil, 1S8. 
 
 Visigoths, settlement of, in Italy, 216; in 
 
 Spain, 216. - 
 Voltaire, 437. 
 
 Wagram, iiattle of, 453. 
 
 Wallenstein, 365, 367. 
 
 Walpole, Sir Robert, 394. 
 
 War, the Jugurihine, 161 ; the Thirty Years', 
 
 364-368; the Seven Years', 398, 399 
 
 note; the Franco-Prussian, 469, 480- 
 
 482 ; the Six Weeks', 479, 480. 
 Waterloo, battle of, 456. 
 Watt, James, 433, 439. 
 Weber, 486. 
 Wedgwood, 439. 
 Weissenburg, battle of, 481. 
 West, Benjamin, 439. 
 Westphalia, Treaty of, 368 ; Peace of, 333 : 
 
 kingdom of, 452. 
 Whig, 354. 
 
 Wilberforce, 435, 460. 
 William I. (of Germany), 478, 482: III. (of 
 
 England), 362 ; IV. (of England), 459 ; 
 
 the Conqueror, 289; of Orange, 332, 
 ' 333- 
 
 Wines, Roman, 204. 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 325, 326. 
 Woman, position of, among the GreekSv 
 
 129 ; education of English women in 
 
 the 17th century, 386. 
 Wool, manufacture of, 278. 
 Wordsworth, William, 484. 
 Worcester, battle of, 358. 
 Worth, battle of, 481. 
 Wycliffe, 319. 
 
 Xenophon, 56, ibnote, 123. 
 
 Xerxes, invasion of Greece by, 95, 97. 
 
 "Year III.," constitution of the, 44x0 
 York, House of, 295. 
 
 ZoUvetein, the German, 475. 
 
WEBSTER'S 
 
 DICTIONARIES 
 
 ARE THE STANDARD, because they excel all others 
 in the fullness of their 
 
 ETYMOLOGIES, SYNONYMS AND 
 DEFINITIONS. 
 
 IN all these respects the School Dictionaries, as compared 
 with other dictionaries of similar grade, are equally pre- 
 eminent with the Unabridged. A copy of 
 
 lEBSTER'S PRIMARY DICTIONARY 
 lEBSTER'S COMMON-SCHOOL DICTIONARY, or 
 lEBSTER'S HIGH-SCHOOL DICTIONARY 
 
 Should be in the hands of every pupil in our public and private 
 schools. 
 
 AVe ask especial attention of teachers and High School and 
 Academic pupils to the 
 
 ACADEMIC DICTIONARY 
 
 As in every way the best student's dictionary aside from the 
 Unabridged. In the matter of etymologies, synonyms, and 
 definitions, it is beyond all comparison the best book for the 
 pupil's desk, discriminating clearly as to the origin, use, and 
 office of every word. 
 
 In view of all these facts, we confidently urge upon school 
 officers the importance of making the use of Webster's School 
 Dictionaries in their schools as general as that of any other 
 text-book on the list. 
 
 Liberal terms will be made for the supply of these books for 
 first introduction into schools, and for specimen copies of the 
 various books for examination and the use of teachers. 
 
 IVISON, BLAKEMAN & CO. 
 
 SPENCERIAN STEEL PeInS "^^^ ^^^^ ''^S Broadway. New York 
 
 '. I ARE THE BEST "*"» 149 Wabash Avenue, Chicago 
 
WEBSTER'S 
 Unabridged Dictionary 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 G. & C. MERRIAM & CO., Springfield, Mass. 
 
 Webster's School Dictionaries 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 IVISON, BLAKEMAN & CO., New York and Chicago 
 
 EMBRACING 
 
 WEBSTER'S PRIMARY DICTIONARY 
 WEBSTER'S COMMOH-SCHOOL DICTIONARY 
 WEBSTER'S HIGH- SCHOOL DICTIONARY 
 WEBSTER'S ACADEMIC DICTIONARY 
 
 WEBSTER'S DICTIONARIES have been officially recommended 
 by the State Educational Authorities of nearly every State in the Union. 
 
 THE LEADING SERIES of School Books published in this country, 
 embracing over 25,000,000 Volumes published annually, are baseci 
 upon Webster. 
 
 From the earliest days of the Republic, Webster and W^ebster's 
 orthography have been the one practically universal element in Ameri- 
 can education. 
 
 Thus W^ebster has been an important bond in uniting and keeping the 
 American nation one people in their language, speech, and all the outward 
 forms of thought. 
 
 While in Great Britain, to quote an eminent authority, " nearly every 
 county has its local dialect, its peculiar words and forms," our own 
 vast and diversified country, with its local forms of self-government, its 
 widely varied social types and industries, and, more than all, its ingather- 
 ing of vast numbers from all nations and languages, easily assimilates all 
 forms of speech, and maintains in universal and uniform purity the noble 
 legacy of our language undefiled. 
 
 Can any one doubt that this easy victory over the most varied and 
 corrupting agencies is mainly due to Webster's Dictionaries ? 
 
 The attention of educators and of all friends of universal education is 
 solicited to the importance of perpetuating this purity of American speech 
 by maintaining the authority of Webster in every pubHc and private 
 school in the land. 
 
 While it is of the highest importance that W^ebster's Unabridged 
 should be upon the teacher's desk or reference table of every school-room, 
 it is of equal importance that Webster's School Dictionaries should 
 be placed in the hands of every child in the schools of the country. 
 
 IVISON, BLAKEMAN & CO. 
 
 SPENCERIAN STEEL PENS ^^S and 755 Broadway, New York 
 
 • • ARE THE BEST • • 149 Wabash Avenue, Chicago 
 
 9 3 6^7 
 
RETURN EDUCATION-PSYCHOLOGY LIBRARY 
 
 TO ► 2600 Tolman Hall 642-420" 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 
 ' MONOGRAPH 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 2-hour books must be renewed in person 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 APR ^ 1999 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FORM NO. DD10 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELE' 
 BERKELEY, CA 94720 
 
U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CD 
 
 5fi5fi7M5a