THE STORY OF ROME FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE END OF THE REPUBLIC

BY ARTHUR GILMAN, M. A. 

PREFACE. 

It is proposed to rehearse the lustrous story of Rome, from itsbeginning in the mists of myth and fable down to the mischievous timeswhen the republic came to its end, just before the brilliant period ofthe empire opened. 

As one surveys this marvellous vista from the vantage-ground of thepresent, attention is fixed first upon a long succession of well-authenticated facts which are shaded off in the dim distance, andfinally lost in the obscurity of unlettered antiquity. The flesh andblood heroes of the more modern times regularly and slowly pass fromview, and in their places the unsubstantial worthies of dreamytradition start up. The transition is so gradual, however, that it isat times impossible to draw the line between history and legend. Fortunately for the purposes of this volume it is not always necessaryto make the effort. The early traditions of the Eternal City have solong been recounted as truth that the world is slow to give up even theleast jot or tittle of them, and when they are disproved as fact, theymust be told over and over again as story. 

Roman history involves a narrative of social and political struggles, the importance of which is as wide as modern civilization, and theymust not be passed over without some attention, though in the presentvolume they cannot be treated with the thoroughness they deserve. Thestory has the advantage of being to a great extent a narrative of theexploits of heroes, and the attention can be held almost the whole timeto the deeds of particular actors who successively occupy the focus orplay the principal parts on the stage. In this way the element ofpersonal interest, which so greatly adds to the charm of a story, maybe infused into the narrative. 

It is hoped to enter to some degree into the real life of the Romanpeople, to catch the true spirit of their actions, and to indicate thecurrent of the national life, while avoiding the presentation ofparticular episodes or periods with undue prominence. It is intended toset down the facts in their proper relation to each other as well as tothe facts of general history, without attempting an incursion into thedomain of philosophy. 

A. G. 

CAMBRIDGE, _September_, 1885. 

CONTENTS

I. 

ONCE UPON A TIME

The old king at Troy--Paris, the wayward youth--Helen carried off--Thewar of ten years--Æneas, son of Anchises, goes to Italy--His death--Fact and fiction in early stories--How Milton wrote about earlyEngland--How Æneas was connected with England--Virgil writes aboutÆneas--How Livy wrote about Æneas--Was Æneas a son of Venus?--Italy, asÆneas would have seen it--Greeks in Italy--How Evander came fromArcadia--How Æneas died--Thirty cities rise--Twins and a she-wolf--Trojan names in Italy--How the Romans named their children andthemselves. 

II. 

HOW THE SHEPHERDS BEGAN THE CITY

Augury resorted to--Romulus and Remus on two hills--Vultures determinea question--Pales, god of the shepherds--Beginning the city--Celerkilled--An asylum--Bachelors want wives--A game of wife-snatching--Sabines wish their daughters back--Tarpeia on the hill--A duel betweentwo hills--Two men named Curtius--Women interfere for peace--Where didRomulus go?--Society divided by Romulus--Numa Pompilius chosen king--Laws of religion given the people--Guilds established--The year dividedinto months--Tullus Hostilius king--Six brothers fight--Horatia killed--Ancus Martius king--The wooden bridge. 

III. 

HOW CORINTH GAVE ROME A NEW DYNASTY

Magna Græcia--Cypselus, the democratic politician--Demaratus goes toTarquinii--Etruscan relics--Lucomo's cap lifted--Lucomo changes hisname--A Greek king of Rome--A circus and other great public works--Alight around a boy's head--Servius Tullius king--How the kingdom passedfrom the Etruscan dynasty. 

IV. 

THE RISE OF THE COMMONS

A king of the plebeians--A league with Latin cities--A census taken--The Seven Hills--Classes formed among the people--Assemblies of thepeople--How ace means one--Heads of the people--Armor of the differentclasses--A Lustration or _Suovetaurilia_--What is a lustrum?--Servius divides certain lands--A wicked husband and a naughty wife--King Servius killed--Sprinkled with a father's blood. 

V. 

HOW A PROUD KING FELL

A tyrant king--The mysterious Sibyl of Cumæ comes to sell books--Thehead found on the Capitoline--A serpent frightens a king--A seriousinquiry sent to Delphi--A hollow stick filled with gold helps a youngman--A good wife spinning--A terrible oath--The Tarquins banished--Arepublic takes the place of the kingdom--The first of the long line ofconsuls--The good Valerius--The god Silvanus cries out to some effect--Lars Porsena of Clusium and what he tried to do--Horatius the brave--Rome loses land--A dictator appointed--Castor and Pollux help the armyat Lake Regillus--Caius Marcius wins a crown--Appius Claudius comes totown. 

VI. 

THE ROMAN RUNNYMEDE

The character of the Romans--Traits of the kings--Insignificance ofLatin territory--Occupations--Art backward--A narrow religion--Who werethe _populus Romanus?_--Patricians oppress the people--Wrongs ofRoman money-lending--How a debtor flaunted his rags to good purpose--Appius Claudius defied--A secession to the Anio--Apologue of the bodyand its members--Laws of Valerius re-affirmed--Tribunes of the peopleappointed--Peace by the treaty of the Sacred Mount. 

VII. 

HOW THE HEROES FOUGHT FOR A HUNDRED YEARS

Coriolanus fights bravely--He enrages the plebeians--Women melt thestrong man's heart--Plebeians gain ground--Agrarian laws begin to bemade--Cassius, who makes the first, undermined--The family of the Fabiisupport the commons--A black day on the Cremara--Cincinnatus calledfrom his plow--The Æquians subjugated--What a conquest meant in thosedays--The Aventine Hill given to the commons--The ten men make ten lawsand afterwards twelve--The ten men become arrogant--How Virginia waskilled--Appius Claudius cursed--The second secession of the plebeians--The third secession--The commons make gains--Censors chosen--Thewonderful siege of Veii--How a tunnel brings victory--Camillus thesecond founder of Rome--How the territory was increased, but ill omensthreaten. 

VIII. 

A BLAST FROM BEYOND THE NORTH WIND

What the Greeks thought when they shivered--A warlike people come intonotice--Brennus leads the barbarians to victory--A voice from thetemple of Vesta--Tearful Allia--The city alarmed and Camillus calledfor--How the sacred geese chattered to a purpose--Brennus successful, but defeated at last--A historical game of scandal--Camillus sets towork to make a new city--Camillus honored as the second founder ofRome--Manlius less fortunate--Poor debtors protected by a law of Stolo--A plague comes to Rome, and priests order stage-plays to beperformed--The floods of the Tiber come into the circus. 

IX. 

HOW THE REPUBLIC OVERCAME ITS NEIGHBORS

Alexander the Great strides over Persia--Suppose he had attacked Rome?--The man with a chain, and the man helped by a crow--How the Samnitescame into Campania--The memorable battle of Mount Gaurus--How Carthagethought best to congratulate Rome--Debts become heavy again--How DeciusMus sacrificed himself for the army--Misfortune at the Caudine Forks--Ageneral muddle, in which another Mus sacrifices himself--Anothersecession of the commons--An agrarian law and an abolition of debts--What the wild waves washed up--Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, takes a loftymodel--How Cineas asked hard questions--Blind Appius Claudius stirs upthe people--Maleventum gets a better name--Ptolemy Philadelphus thinksbest to congratulate Rome--How the Romans made roads--The classes ofcitizens. 

X. 

AN AFRICAN SIROCCO

How an old Bible city sent out a colony--Carthage attends strictly toits own business--Sicily a convenient place for a great fight--TheMamertines not far from Scylla and Charybdis--Ancient war-vessels andhow they were rowed--The prestige of Carthage on the water destroyed--Xanthippus the Spartan helps the Carthaginians--The horrible fate ofnoble Regulus--Hamilcar, the man of lightning, comes to view--Gates ofthe temple of Janus closed the second time--A perfidious queenoverthrown--Two Gauls and two Greeks buried alive--Hannibal hates Rome--Rome and Carthage fight the second time--Scipio and Fabius theDelayer fight for Rome--Hannibal crosses the Alps--The terrible rout atLake Trasimenus--A business man beaten--Syracuse falls and Archimedesdies--Fabius takes Tarentum--A great victory at the Metaurus--Warcarried to Africa and closed at Zama--Hannibal a wanderer. 

XI. 

THE NEW PUSHES THE OLD--WARS AND CONQUESTS

Tumultuous women stir up the city--What the Oppian Law forbade--Catothe Stern opposes the women--The women find a valorous champion--Howdid the matrons establish their high character?--Two parties look atthe growing influence of ideas from Greece--What were thoseinfluences?--How Rome coveted Eastern conquests--How Flamininus foughtat the Dog-heads--How the Grecians cried for joy at the Isthmian games--Great battles at Thermopylæ and Magnesia, and their results--Philopoemen, Hannibal, and Scipio die--The battle of Pydna marks anera--Greece despoiled of its works of art--Cato wishes Carthagedestroyed--Numantia destroyed--The slaves in Sicily give trouble. 

XII. 

A FUTILE EFFORT AT REFORM

Scipio gives away his daughter--Tiberius Gracchus serves the state--Romans without family altars or tombs--Cornelia urges Gracchus to dosomewhat for the state--Gracchus misses an opportunity--Another son ofCornelia comes to the front--The younger Gracchus builds roads andmakes good laws--Drusus undermines the reformer--Office looked upon asa means of getting riches--Marius and Sulla appear--Jugurtha fights andbribes--Metellus, the general of integrity--Marius captures Jugurtha--Ashadow falls upon Rome--A terrible battle at Vercellæ--The slaves riseagain--The Domitian law restricts the rights of the senate--The ill-gotten gold of Toulouse. 

XIII. 

SOCIAL AND CIVIL WARS

The agrarian laws of Appuleius--Luxury increases and faith falls away--Rome for the Romans--Another Drusus appears--The brave Marsians menaceRome--Ten new tribes formed--A war with Mithridates of Pontus--Mariusand Sulla struggle and Marius goes to the wall--Sulla besieges Athens--Sulla threatens the senate--The capitol burned--A battle at the CollineGate--Proscription and carnage--Sulla makes laws and retires to see theeffect--A _congiarium_--A grand funeral and a cremation. 

XIV. 

THE MASTER-SPIRITS OF THIS AGE

Tendency towards monarchy--Sertorius and his white fawn--Crassus andhis great house--Cicero, the eloquent orator--Verres, the great thief--How Verres ran away--Catiline the Cruel--Cæsar, the man born to rule--Looking for gain in confusion--Lepidus flees after the fight of theMulvian bridge--How the two young men caused gladiators to fight--WhatSpartacus did--Six thousand crosses--Pompey overawes the senate. 

XV. 

PROGRESS OF THE GREAT POMPEY

Pompey the principal citizen--Crassus feeds the people at ten thousandtables--How the pirates caught Cæsar, and how Cæsar caught the pirates--Gabinius makes a move--The Manilian law sets Pompey further on--Mithridates fights and flees--Times of treasons, stratagems, andspoils--Catiline plots--The sacrilege of Clodius--Cæsar pushes himselfto the front--The last agrarian law--Cæsar's success in Gaul--Vercingetorix appears--Cæsar's conquests. 

XVI. 

HOW THE TRIUMVIRS CAME TO UNTIMELY ENDS

Pompey builds a theatre--Crassus must make his mark--Cato againstCæsar--Curio helps Cæsar--Solemn jugglery of the pontiffs--Curio warmenough--At the Rubicon--Crossing the little river--Pompey stamps invain--Cato flees from Rome--Metellus stands aside--Pompey killed--_Veni, vidi, vici_--Honors and plans of Cæsar--The calendarreformed--Cæsar has too much ambition--'T was one of those coronets--The Ides of March--Antony, the actor--Antony the chief man in Rome--What next?. 

XVII. 

HOW THE REPUBLIC BECAME AN EMPIRE

How Octavius became a Cæsar--Agrippa and Cicero give him their help--Octavius wins the soldiers, and Cicero launches his Philippics--Antony, Lepidus, and Octavius become Triumvirs--Their first work a bloody one--Cicero falls--Brutus and Cassius defeated at Philippi--Antony forgetsFulvia--Antony and Octavius quarrel and meet for discussion atTarentum--How Horace travelled to Brundusium--The duration of theTriumvirate extended five years--Cleopatra beguiles Antony a secondtime--The great battle off Actium--Octavius wins complete power, and anew era begins--The Republic ends. 

XVIII. 

SOME MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE

How did these people live?--The first Roman house--The vestibule andthe dark room--The dining-room and the parlor--Rooms for pictures andbooks--Cooking taken out of the atrium--How the houses were heated andlighted--Life in a villa--The extravagance of the pleasure villa--Whena man and a woman had agreed to marry--How the bride dressed and whatthe groom did--The wife's position and work--The _stola_ and the_toga_--Foot-gear from _soccus_ to _cothurnus_--Breakfast, luncheon, and dinner--The formal dinner--How the Romans travelled, and how theysought office--The law and its penalties. 

XIX. 

THE ROMAN READING AND WRITING

Grecian influence on Roman mental culture--Textbooks--Cato and Varro oneducation--Dictation and copy-books--The early writers--Fabius Pictor--Plautus--Terence--Atellan plays--Cicero's works--Varro's works--Cæsarand Catullus--Lucretius--Ovid and Tibullus--Sallust--Livy--Horace--Cornelius Nepos--Virgil and his works--Life at the villa of Mæcenas. 

XX. 

THE ROMAN REPUBLICANS SERIOUS AND GAY

The will of the gods sought for--The first temples--Festivals in thefirst month--Vinalia and Saturnalia--Fires of Vulcan and Vesta--Matronly and family services--No mythology at first--Colleges ofpriests needed--An incursion of Greek philosophers--Games of childhood--Checkers and other games of chance--The people cry for games--Gamesin the circus--The amphitheatre invented--Men and beasts fight--Funeralceremonies--Charon paid--The mourning procession--Inurning the ashes--The columbarium--The Roman May-day--Change from rustic simplicity tourban orgies. 

INDEX. 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

MAP OF THE ROMAN EMPIREMAP OF ANCIENT ROMEVIEW OF THE COLOSSEUM AND PORTION OF MODERN ROMETHE PLAIN OF TROY IN MODERN TIMESROMAN GIRLS WITH A STYLUS AND WRITING-TABLETA ROMAN ALTAR MONUMENT OF THE HORATII AND THE CURIATIIMOUTH OF THE CLOACA MAXIMA AT THE TIBER, AND THE SO-CALLED TEMPLE OF VESTAROMAN SOLDIERS, COSTUMES AND ARMORTHE RAVINE OF DELPHITHE CAPITOL RESTOREDROMAN STREET PAVEMENTA PHOENICIAN VESSEL (TRIREME)A ROMAN WAR-VESSELHANNIBALTERENCE, THE LAST ROMAN COMIC POETPUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUSA ROMAN MATRONROMAN HEAD-DRESSESGLADIATORS AT A FUNERALACTORS' MASKSA ROMAN MILE-STONEIN A ROMAN STUDYPLAN OF A ROMAN CAMP IN THE TIME OF THE REPUBLICPOMPEY (CNEIUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS)CAIUS JULIUS CÆSARGLADIATORSTRIUMPHAL PROCESSION OF A ROMAN GENERALINTERIOR OF A ROMAN HOUSEA ROMAN POETESSTHE FORUM ROMANUM IN MODERN TIMESAN ELEPHANT IN ARMORITALIAN AND GERMAN ALLIES, COSTUMES AND ARMORINTERIOR OF THE FORUM ROMANUMMARCUS TULLIUS CICEROCLEOPATRA'S SHOW SHIPANCIENT STATUE OF AUGUSTUSTHE HOUSE-PHILOSOPHERDINING-TABLE AND COUCHESCOVERINGS FOR THE FEETARTICLES OF THE ROMAN TOILETRUINS OF THE COLOSSEUM, SEEN FROM THE PALATINE HILLA COLUMBARIUM

THE STORY OF ROME. 

I. 

ONCE UPON A TIME. 

Once upon a time, there lived in a city of Asia Minor, not far fromMount Ida, as old Homer tells us in his grand and beautiful poem, aking who had fifty sons and many daughters. How large his family was, indeed, we cannot say, for the storytellers of the olden time were notvery careful to set down the actual and exact truth, their chief objectbeing to give the people something to interest them. That theysucceeded well in this respect we know, because the story of this oldking and his great family of sons and daughters has been told andretold thousands of times since it was first related, and that was solong ago that the bard himself has sometimes been said never to havelived at all. Still; somebody must have existed who told the wondrousstory, and it has always been attributed to a blind poet, to whom thename Homer has been given. 

The place in which the old king and his great family lived was Ilium, though it is better known as Troja or Troy, because that is the namethat the Roman people used for it in later times. One of the sons ofPriam, for that was the name of this king, was Paris, who, though veryhandsome, was a wayward and troublesome youth. He once journeyed toGreece to find a wife, and there fell in love with a beautiful daughterof Jupiter, named Helen. She was already married to Menelaus, thePrince of Lacedæmonia (brother of another famous hero, Agamemnon), whohad most hospitably entertained young Paris, but this did not interferewith his carrying her off to Troy. The wedding journey was made by theroundabout way of Phoenicia and Egypt, but at last the couple reachedhome with a large amount of treasure taken from the hospitableMenelaus. 

This wild adventure led to a war of ten years between the Greeks andKing Priam, for the rescue of the beautiful Helen. Menelaus and some ofhis countrymen at last contrived to conceal themselves in a hollowwooden horse, in which they were taken into Troy. Once inside, it wasan easy task to open the gates and let the whole army in also. The citywas then taken and burned. Menelaus was naturally one of the first tohasten from the smoking ruins, though he was almost the last to reachhis home. He lived afterwards for years in peace, health, and happinesswith the beautiful wife who had cost him so much suffering and so manytrials to regain. 

[Illustration: THE PLAINS OF TROY IN MODERN TIMES. ]

Among the relatives of King Priam was one Anchises, a descendant ofJupiter, who was very old at the time of the war. He had a valiant son, however, who fought well in the struggle, and the story of his deedswas ever afterwards treasured up among the most precious narratives ofall time. This son was named Æneas, and he was not only a descendant ofJupiter, but also a son of the beautiful goddess Venus. He did not takean active part in the war at its beginning, but in the course of timehe and Hector, who was one of the sons of the king, became the mostprominent among the defenders of Troy. After the destruction of thecity, he went out of it, carrying on his shoulders his aged father, Anchises, and leading by the hand his young son, Ascanius, or Iulus, ashe was also called. He bore in his hands his household gods, called thePenates, and began his now celebrated wanderings over the earth. Hefound a resting-place at last on the farther coast of the Italianpeninsula, and there one day he marvellously disappeared in a battle onthe banks of the little brook Numicius, where a monument was erected tohis memory as "The Father and the Native God. " According to the bestaccounts, the war of Troy took place nearly twelve hundred years beforeChrist, and that is some three thousand years ago now. It was beforethe time of the prophet Eli, of whom we read in the Bible, and longbefore the ancient days of Samuel and Saul and David and Solomon, whoseem so very far removed from our times. There had been long lines ofkings and princes in China and India before that time, however, and inthe hoary land of Egypt as many as twenty dynasties of sovereigns hadreigned and passed away, and a certain sort of civilization hadflourished for two or three thousand years, so that the great world wasnot so young at that time as one might at first think If only there hadbeen books and newspapers in those olden days, what revelations theywould make to us now! They would tell us exactly where Troy was, whichsome of the learned think we do not know, and we might, by their help, separate fact from fiction in the immortal poems and stories that arenow our only source of information. It is not for us to say that thatwould be any better for us than to know merely what we do, for poetryis elevating and entertaining, and stirs the heart; and who could makepoetry out of the columns of a newspaper, even though it were as old asthe times of the Pharaohs? Let us, then, be thankful for what we have, and take the beginnings of history in the mixed form of truth andfiction, following the lead of learned historians who are and long havebeen trying to trace the true clue of fact in the labyrinth of poeticstory with which it is involved. 

When the poet Milton sat down to write the history of that part ofBritain now called England, as he expressed it, he said: "The beginningof nations, those excepted of whom sacred books have spoken, is to thisday unknown. Nor only the beginning, but the deeds also of manysucceeding ages, yes, periods of ages, either wholly unknown orobscured or blemished with fables. " Why this is so the great poet didnot pretend to tell, but he thought that it might be because people didnot know how to write in the first ages, or because their records hadbeen lost in wars and by the sloth and ignorance that followed them. Perhaps men did not think that the records of their own times wereworth preserving when they reflected how base and corrupt, how pettyand perverse such deeds would appear to those who should come afterthem. For whatever reason, Milton said that it had come about that someof the stories that seemed to be the oldest were in his day regarded asfables; but that he did not intend to pass them over, because thatwhich one antiquary admitted as true history, another exploded as merefiction, and narratives that had been once called fables were afterwardfound to "contain in them many footsteps and reliques of somethingtrue, " as what might be read in poets "of the flood and giants, littlebelieved, till undoubted witnesses taught us that all was not feigned. "For such reasons Milton determined to tell over the old stories, if forno other purpose than that they might be of service to the poets andromancers who knew how to use them judiciously. He said that he did notintend even to stop to argue and debate disputed questions, but, "imploring divine assistance, " to relate, "with plain and lightsomebrevity, " those things worth noting. 

After all this preparation Milton began his history of England at theFlood, hastily recounted the facts to the time of the great Trojan war, and then said that he had arrived at a period when the narrative couldnot be so hurriedly dispatched. He showed how the old historians hadgone back to Troy for the beginnings of the English race, and hadchosen a great-grandson of Æneas, named Brutus, as the one by whom itshould be attached to the right royal heroes of Homer's poem. Thus wesee how firm a hold upon the imagination of the world the tale of Troyhad after twenty-seven hundred years. 

Twenty-five or thirty years before the birth of Christ there was inRome another poet, named Virgil, writing about the wanderings of Æneas. He began his beautiful story with these words: "Arms I sing, and thehero, who first, exiled by fate, came from the coast of Troy to Italyand the Lavinian shore. " He then went on to tell in beautiful words thestory of the wanderings of his hero, --a tale that has now been read andre-read for nearly two thousand years, by all who have wished to callthemselves educated; generations of school-boys, and schoolgirls too, have slowly made their way through the Latin of its twelve books. Thiswas another evidence of the strong hold that the story of Troy had uponmen, as well as of the honor in which the heroes, and descent fromthem, were held. 

In the generation after Virgil there arose a graphic writer named Livy, who wrote a long history of Rome, a large portion of which has beenpreserved to our own day. Like Virgil, Livy traced the origin of theLatin people to Æneas, and like Milton, he re-told the ancient stories, saying that he had no intention of affirming or refuting the traditionsthat had come down to his time of what had occurred before the buildingof the city, though he thought them rather suitable for the fictions ofpoetry than for the genuine records of the historian. He added, that itwas an indulgence conceded to antiquity to blend human things withthings divine, in such a way as to make the origin of cities appearmore venerable. This principle is much the same as that on which Miltonwrote his history, and it seems a very good one. Let us, therefore, follow it. 

In the narrative of events for several hundred years after the city ofRome was founded, according to the early traditions, it is difficult todistinguish truth from fiction, though a skilful historian (and manysuch there have been) is able, by reading history backwards, to make uphis mind as to what is probable and what seems to belong only to therealm of myth. It does not, for example, seem probable that Æneas wasthe son of the goddess Venus; and it seems clear that a great many ofthe stories that are mixed with the early history of Rome were writtenlong after the events they pretend to record, in order to account forcustoms and observances of the later days. Some of these we shallnotice as we go on with our pleasant story. 

We must now return to Æneas. After long wanderings and many marvellousadventures, he arrived, as has been said, on the shores of Italy. Hewas not able to go rapidly about the whole country, as we are in thesedays by means of our good roads and other modes of communication, butif he could have done this, he would have found that he had fallen upona land in which the inhabitants had come, as he had, from foreignshores. Some of them were of Greek origin, and others had emigratedfrom countries just north of Italy, though, as we now know that Asiawas the cradle of our race, and especially of that portion of it thathas peopled Europe, we suppose that all the dwellers on the boot-shapedpeninsula had their origin on that mysterious continent at some earlyperiod. 

If Æneas could have gone to the southern part of Italy, --to that partfrom which travellers now take the steamships for the East at Brindisi, he would have found some of the emigrants from the North. If he hadgone to the north of the river Tiber, he would have seen a mixedpopulation enjoying a greater civilization than the others, thearistocracy of which had come also from the northern mountains, thoughthe common people were from Greece or its colonies. These people ofGreek descent were called Etruscans, and it has been discovered thatthey had advanced so far in civilization, that they afterwards gavemany of their customs to the city of Rome when it came to power. Aconfederacy known as the "Twelve Cities of Etruria" became famousafterwards, though no one knows exactly which the twelve were. Probablythey changed from time to time; some that belonged to the union at oneperiod, being out of it at another. It will be enough for us toremember that Veii, Clusium, Fidenæ, Volsinii, and Tarquinii were ofthe group of Etruscan cities at a later date. 

The central portion of the country to which Æneas came is that known asItalia, the inhabitants of which were of the same origin as the Greeks. It is said that about sixty years before the Trojan war, King Evander(whose name meant good man and true) brought a company from the land ofArcadia, where the people were supposed to live in a state of idealinnocence and virtue, to Italia, and began a city on the banks of theTiber, at the foot of the Palatine Hill. Evander was a son of Mercury, and he found that the king of the country he had come to was Turnus, who was also a relative of the immortal gods. Turnus and Evander becamefast friends, and it is said that Turnus taught his neighbors the artof writing, which he had himself learned from Hercules, but this is oneof the transparent fictions of the story. It may be that he taught themmusic and the arts of social life, and gave them good laws. What everbecame of good Evander we do not know. 

The king of the people among whom Æneas landed was one Latinus, whobecame a friend of his noble visitor, giving him his daughter Laviniato wife, though he had previously promised her to Turnus. Æneas namedthe town in which he lived Lavinium, in honor of his wife. Turnus wasnaturally enraged at the loss of his expected bride, and made war uponboth Æneas and Latinus. The Trojan came off victorious, both the otherwarriors being killed in the struggle. Thus for a short time, Æneas wasleft sole king of all those regions, with no one to dispute his titleto the throne or his right to his wife; but the pleasure of ruling wasnot long to be his, for a short time after his accession to power, hewas killed in battle on the banks of the Numicius, as has already beenrelated. His son Ascanius left the low and unhealthy site of Lavinium, and founded a city on higher ground, which was called Alba Longa (thelong, white city), and the mountain on the side of which it was, theAlban mountain. The new capital of Ascanius became the centre andprincipal one of thirty cities that arose in the plain, over all ofwhich it seemed to have authority. Among these were Tusculum, Præneste, Lavinium, and Ardea, places of which subsequent history has much tosay. 

Ascanius was successful in founding a long line of sovereigns, whoreigned in Alba for three hundred years, until there arose one Numitorwho was dispossessed of his throne by a younger brother named Amulius. One bad act usually leads to another, and this case was no exception tothe rule, for when Amulius had taken his brother's throne, he stillfeared that the rightful children might interfere with the enjoyment ofhis power. Though he supported Numitor in comfort, he cruelly killedhis son and shut his daughter up in a temple. This daughter was calledSilvia, or, sometimes, Rhea Silvia. Wicked men are not able generallyto enjoy the fruits of their evil doings long, and, in the course oftime, the daughter of the dethroned Numitor became the mother of abeautiful pair of twin boys, (their father being the god of war, Mars, )who proved the avengers of their grandfather. Not immediately, however. The detestable usurper determined to throw the mother and her babesinto the river Tiber, and thus make an end of them, as well as of alldanger to him from them. It happened that the river was at the timeoverflowing its banks, and though the poor mother was drowned, thecradle of the twins was caught on the shallow ground at the foot of thePalatine Hill, at the very place where the good Evander had begun hiscity so long before. There the waifs were found by one of the king'sshepherds, after they had been, strangely enough, taken care of for awhile by a she-wolf, which gave them milk, and a woodpecker, whichsupplied them with other food. Faustulus was the name of this shepherd, and he took them to his wife Laurentia, though she already had twelveothers to care for. The brothers, who were named Romulus and Remus, grew up on the sides of the Palatine Hill to be strong and handsomemen, and showed themselves born leaders among the other shepherds, asthey attended to their daily duties or fought the wild animals thattroubled the flocks. 

The grandfather of the twins fed his herds on the Aventine Hill, nearerthe river Tiber, just across a little valley, and a quarrel arosebetween his shepherds and those of Faustulus, in the course of whichRemus was captured and taken before Numitor. The old man thusdiscovered the relationship that existed between him and the twins whohad so long been lost. In consequence of the discovery of their origin, and the right to the throne that was their father's, they arose againsttheir unworthy uncle, and with the aid of their followers, put him todeath and placed Numitor in supreme authority, where he rightfullybelonged. The twins had become attached to the place in which they hadspent their youth, and preferred to live there rather than to go toAlba with their royal grandfather. He therefore granted to them thatportion of his possessions, and there they determined to found a city. 

Thus we have the origin of the Roman people. We see how the earlytraditions "mixed human things with things divine, " as Livy said hadbeen done to make the origin of the city more respectable; how Æneas, the far-back ancestor, was descended from Jupiter himself, and how hewas a son of Venus, the goddess of love. How Romulus and Remus, theactual founders, were children of the god of war, and thus naturallyfitted to be the builders of a nation that was to be strong and toconquer all known peoples on earth. The effort to ascribe to theirnation an origin that should appear venerable to all who believed thestories of the gods and goddesses, was remarkably successful, and thereis no doubt that it gave inspiration to the Roman people long after theworship of those divinities had become a matter of form, if not even ofridicule. 

This was not all that was done, however, to establish the faith in theold stories in the minds of the people. In some way that it is not easyto explain, the names of the first heroes were fixed upon certainlocalities, just as those of the famous British hero, King Arthur, havelong been fixed upon places in Brittany, Cornwall, and SouthernScotland. We find at a little place called Metapontem, the tools usedby Epeus in making the wooden horse that was taken into Troy. The bowand arrows of Hercules were preserved at Thurii, near Sybaris; the tombof Philoctetes, who inherited these weapons of the hero, was atMacalla, in Bruttium, not far from Crotona, where Pythagoras had lived;the head of the Calydonian Boar was at Beneventum, east of Capua, andthe Erymanthian Boar's tusks were at Cumæ, celebrated for its Sibyl;the armor of Diomede, one of the Trojan heroes, was at Luceria, in thevicinity of Cannæ; the cup of Ulysses and the tomb of Elpenor were atCircei, on the coast; the ships of Æneas and his Penates were atLavinium, fifteen miles south of Rome; and the tomb of the hero himselfwas at a spot between Ardea and Lavinium, on the banks of the brookNumicius. Most men are interested in relics of olden times, and these, so many and of such great attractiveness, were doubtless strong proofsto the average Roman, ready to think well of his ancestors, thattradition told a true story. 

As we read the histories of other nations than our own, we are struckby the strangeness of many of the circumstances. They appear foreign(or "outlandish, " as our great-grandparents used to say), and it isdifficult to put ourselves in the places of the people we read of, especially if they belong to ancient times. Perhaps the names ofpersons and places give us as much trouble as any thing. It seems tous, perhaps, that the Romans gave their children too many names, andthey often added to them themselves when they had grown up. They didnot always write their names out in full; sometimes they called eachother by only one of them, and at others by several. Marcus TulliusCicero was sometimes addressed as "Tullius" and is often mentioned inold books as "Tully"; and he was also "M. Tullius Cicero. " It was as ifwe were to write "G. Washington Tudela, " and call Mr. Tudela familiarly"Washington. " This would cause no confusion at the time, but it mightbe difficult for his descendants to identify "Washington" as Mr. Tudela, if, years after his death, they were to read of him under hismiddle name only. The Greeks were much more simple, and each of themhad but one name, though they freely used nicknames to describepeculiarities or defects. The Latins and Etruscans seem to have had atfirst only one name apiece, but the Sabines had two, and in later timesthe Sabine system was generally followed. A Roman boy had, therefore, agiven name and a family name, which were indispensable; but he mighthave two others, descriptive of some peculiarity or remarkable event inhis life--as "Scævola, " left-handed; "Cato, " or "Sapiens, " wise;"Coriolanus, " of Corioli. "Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis" meansAppius of the Claudian family of Regillum, in the country of theSabines. "Lucius Cornelius Scipio Africanus" means Lucius, of theCornelian family, and of the particular branch of the Scipios who wonfame in Africa. These were called the prænomen (forename), nomen(name), cognomen (surname), and agnomen (added name). 

II. 

HOW THE SHEPHERDS BEGAN THE CITY. 

The proverbs says that Rome was not built in a day. It was no easy taskfor the twins to agree just where they should even begin the city. Romulus thought that the Palatine Hill, on which he and his brother hadlived, was the most favorable spot for the purpose, while Remusinclined no less decidedly in favor of the Aventine, on which Numitorhad fed his flocks. In this emergency, they seem to have asked counselof their grandfather, and he advised them to settle the question byrecourse to augury, [Footnote: Augury was at first a system of diviningby birds, but in time the observation of other signs was included. Atfirst no plebeians could take the auspices, as they seem to have had noshare in the divinities whose will was sought, but in the year 300, B. C. , the college of augurs, then comprising four patricians, wasenlarged by the admission of five plebeians. The augurs were electedfor life. ] a practice of the Etrurians with which they were probablyquite familiar, for they had been educated, we are told, at Gabii, thelargest of the towns of Latium, where all the knowledge of the regionwas known to the teachers. 

Following this advice, the brothers took up positions at a given timeon the respective hills, surrounded by their followers; those ofRomulus being known as the Quintilii, and those of Remus as the Fabii. Thus, in anxious expectation, they waited for the passage of certainbirds which was to settle the question between them. We can imaginethem as they waited. The two hills are still to be seen in the city, and probably the two groups were about half a mile apart. On one sideof them rolled the muddy waters of the Tiber, from which they had beensnatched when infants, and around them rose the other elevations overwhich the "seven-hilled" city of the future was destined to spread. From morning to evening they patiently watched, but in vain. Throughthe long April night, too, they held their posts, and as the sun of thesecond day rose over the Coelian Hill, Remus beheld with exultation sixvultures swiftly flying through the air, and thought that surelyfortune had decided in his favor. The vulture was a bird seldom seen, and one that never did damage to crops or cattle, and for this reasonits appearance was looked upon as a good augury. The passage of the sixvultures did not, however, settle this dispute, as Numitor expected itwould, for Romulus, when he heard that Remus had seen six, assertedthat twelve had flown by him. His followers supported this claim, anddetermined that the city should be begun on the Palatine Hill. It issaid that this hill, from which our word palace has come, received itsname from the town of Pallantium, in Arcadia, from which Evander cameto Italy. 

The twenty-first of April was a festal day among the shepherds, and itwas chosen as the one on which the new city should be begun (753 B. C. ). In the morning of the day, it was customary, so they say, for thecountry people to purify themselves by fire and smoke, by sprinklingthemselves with spring water, by formal washing of their hands, and bydrinking milk mixed with grape-juice. During the day they offeredsacrifices, consisting of cakes, milk, and other eatables, to Pales, the god of the shepherds. Three times, with faces turned to the east, along prayer was repeated to Pales, asking blessings upon the flocks andherds, and pardon for any offences committed against the nymphs of thestreams, the dryads of the woods, and the other deities of the ItalianOlympus. This over, bonfires of hay and straw were lighted, music wasmade with cymbal and flute, and shepherds and sheep were purified bypassing through the flames. A feast followed, the simple folk lying onbenches of turf, and indulging in generous draughts of their homelywines, such, probably, as the visitor to-day may regale himself with inthe same region. Towards evening, the flocks were fed, the stables werecleansed and sprinkled with water with laurel brooms, and laurel boughswere hung about them as adornments. Sulphur, incense, rosemary, andfir-wood were burned, and the smoke made to pass through the stalls topurify them, and even the flocks themselves were submitted to the samecleansing fumes. 

The beginning of a city in the olden time was a serious matter, andRomulus felt the solemnity of the acts in which he was about to engage. He sent men to Etruria, from which land the religious customs of theRomans largely came, to obtain for him the minute details of the ritessuitable for the occasion. 

At the proper moment he began the Etrurian ceremonies, by digging acircular pit down to the hard clay, into which were cast with greatsolemnity some of the first-fruits of the season, and also handfuls ofearth, each man throwing in a little from the country from which he hadcome. The pit was then filled up, and over it an altar was erected, upon the hearth of which a fire was kindled. Thus the centre of the newcity was settled and consecrated. Romulus then harnessed a white cowand a snow-white bull to a plow with a brazen share, and holding thehandle himself, traced the line of the future walls with a furrow(called the pomoerium [Footnote: _Pomoerium_ is composed of _post_, behind, and _murus_, a wall. The word is often used as meaning simply aboundary or limit of jurisdiction. The _pomoerium_ of Rome was severaltimes enlarged. ]), carrying the plow over the places where gates wereto be left, and causing those who followed to see that every furrow asit fell was turned inwards toward the city. As he plowed, Romulusuttered the following prayer:

_Do thou, Jupiter, aid me as I found this city; and Mavors_ [thatis, Mars, the god of war and protector of agriculture], _my father, and Vesta, my mother, and all other, ye deities, whom it is a religiousduty to invoke, attend; let this work of mine rise under your auspices. Long may be its duration; may its sway be that of an all-ruling land;and under it may be both the rising and the setting of the day. _

It is said that Jupiter sent thunder from one side of the heavens andlightnings from the other, and that the people rejoiced in the omens asgood and went on cheerfully building the walls. The poet Ovid says thatthe work of superintending the building was given to one Celer, who wastold by Romulus to let no one pass over the furrow of the plow. Remus, ignorant of this, began to scoff at the lowly beginning, and wasimmediately struck down by Celer with a spade. Romulus bore the deathof his brother "like a Roman, " with great fortitude, and, swallowingdown his rising tears, exclaimed: "So let it happen to all who passover my walls!"

Plutarch, who is very fond of tracing the origin of words, says thatCeler rushed away from Rome, fearing vengeance, and did not rest untilhe had reached the limits of Etruria, and that his name became thesynonym for quickness, so that men swift of foot were called _Celeres_by the Romans, just as we still speak of "celerity, " meaning rapidityof motion. Thus the walls of the new city were laid in blood. 

In one respect early Rome was like our own country, for Plutarch saysthat it was proclaimed an asylum to which any who were oppressed mightresort and be safe; but it was more, for all who had incurred thevengeance of the law were also taken in and protected from punishment. Romulus is said to have erected in a wood a temple to a god calledAsylæus, where he "received and protected all, delivering none back--neither the servant to his master, the debtor to his creditor, nor themurderer into the hands of the magistrate; saying it was a privilegedplace, and they could so maintain it by an order of the holy oracle;insomuch that the city grew presently very populous. " It was men, ofcourse, who took advantage of this asylum, for who ever heard of womenwho would rush in great numbers to such a place? Rome was a colony ofbachelors, and some of them pretty poor characters too, so that theredid not seem to be a very good chance that they could find womenwilling to become their wives. Romulus, like many an ardent loversince, evidently thought that all was fair in love and war, and, afterfailing in all his efforts to lead the neighboring peoples to allow theRoman men to marry their women, he gave it out that he had discoveredthe altar of the god Consus, who presided over secret deliberations, --avery suitable divinity to come up at the juncture, --and that heintended to celebrate his feast. 

Consus was honored on the twenty-first of August, and this celebrationwould come, therefore, just four months after the foundation of thecity. There were horse and chariot races, and libations which werepoured into the flames that consumed the sacrifices. The people of thecountry around Rome were invited to take part in the novel festivities, and they were nothing loth to come, for they had considerable curiosityto see what sort of a city had so quickly grown up on the PalatineHill. They felt no solicitude, though perhaps some might have thoughtof the haughtiness with which they had refused the offers of matrimonymade to their maidens. Still, it was safe, they thought, to attend afair under the protection of religion, and so they went, --they andtheir wives and their daughters. 

At a signal from Romulus, when the games were at the most excitingstage, and the strangers were scattered about among the Romans, eachfollower of Romulus siezed the maiden that he had selected, and carriedher off. It is said that as the men made the siezure, they cried out, "Talasia!" which means spinning, and that at all marriages in Romeafterwards, that word formed the refrain of a song, sung as the bridewas approaching her husband's house. We cannot imagine the disturbancewith which the festival broke up, as the distracted strangers found outthat they were the victims of a trick, and that their loved daughtershad been taken from them. They called in vain upon the god in whosehonor they had come, and they listened with suppressed threats ofvengeance to Romulus, as he boldly went about among them telling themthat it was owing to their pride that this calamity had fallen uponthem, but that all would now be well with their daughters. Each newhusband would, he said, be the better guardian of his bride, because hewould have to take the place with her of family and home as well as ofhusband. 

The brides were soon comforted, but their parents put on mourning forthem and went up and down through the neighborhood exciting theinhabitants against the city of Romulus. Success crowned their efforts, and it was not long before Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines, fromamong whose people most of the stolen virgins had been taken, foundhimself at the head of an army sufficient to attack the warlikecitizens of the Palatine. He was not so prompt, however, as hisneighbors, and two armies from Latin cities had been collected and sentagainst Romulus, and had been met and overcome by him, before hisarrangements were completed; the people being admitted to Rome ascitizens, and thus adding to the already increasing power of thecommunity. 

[Illustration: ROMAN GIRLS WITH A STYLUS AND WRITING TABLET. ]

The Romans had a citadel on the Capitoline Hill, and Tatius desired towin it. The guardian was named Tarpeius, and he had a daughter, Tarpeia, who was so much attracted by the golden ornaments worn by theSabines, that she promised to open the citadel to them if each soldierwould give his bracelet to her. This was promised, and as each enteredhe threw his golden ornament upon the poor maiden, until she fellbeneath the weight and died, for they wished to show that they hatedtreachery though willing to profit by it. Her name was fixed upon thesteep rock of the Capitoline Hill from which traitors were in afteryears thrown. 

We now have the Sabines on one hill and the Romans on another, with aswampy plain of small extent between them, where the forum wasafterward built. The Romans wished to retake the Capitoline Hill (whichwas also called the Hill of Saturn), and a battle was fought the nextday in the valley. It is said that two men began the fight, MettusCurtius, representing the Sabines, and Hostus Hostilius, the Romans, and that though the Roman was killed, Curtius was chased into theswamp, where his horse was mired, and all his efforts with whip andspur to get him out proving ineffectual, he left the faithful beast andsaved himself with difficulty. The swamp was ever after known as_Lacus Curtius_, and this story might be taken as the true originof its name (for _lacus_ in Latin meant a marsh as well as alake), if it were not that there are two other accounts of the reasonfor it. One story is that in the year 362 B. C. --that is, some fourcenturies after the battle we have just related, the earth in the forumgave way, and all efforts to fill it proving unsuccessful, the oracleswere appealed to. They replied that the spot could not be made firmuntil that on which Rome's greatness was based had been cast into thechasm, but that then the state would prosper. In the midst of thedoubting that followed this announcement, the gallant youth, Curtius, came forward, declaring that the city had no greater treasure than abrave citizen in arms, upon which he immediately leaped into the abysswith his horse. Thereupon the earth closed over the sacrifice. This isthe story that Livy prefers. The third is simply to the effect thatwhile one Curtius was consul, in the year 445 B. C. , the earth at thespot was struck by lightning, and was afterwards ceremoniously enclosedby him at the command of the senate. This is a good example of the sortof myth that the learned call _ætiological_--that is, myths thathave grown up to account for certain facts or customs. The story of thecarrying off of the Sabine women is one of this kind, for it seems tohave originated in a desire to account for certain incidents in themarriage ceremonies of the Romans. We cannot believe either, though itis reasonable to suppose that some event occurred which was the basisof the tradition told in connection with the history of differentperiods. We shall find that, in the year 390, all the records of Romanhistory were destroyed by certain barbarians who burned the city, andthat therefore we have tradition only upon which to base the historybefore that date. We may reasonably believe, however, that at some timethe marshy ground in the forum gave way, as ground often does, and thatthere was difficulty in filling up the chasm. A grand opportunity wasthus offered for a good story-teller to build up a romance, or to touchup the early history with an interesting tale of heroism. Thetemptation to do this would have been very strong to an imaginativewriter. 

The Sabines gained the first advantage in the present struggle, and itseemed as though fortune was about to desert the Romans, when Romuluscommended their cause to Jupiter in a prayer in which he vowed to erectan altar to him as Jupiter Stator--that is, "Stayer, " if he would staythe flight of the Romans. The strife was then begun with new vigor, andin the midst of the din and carnage the Sabine women, who had by thistime become attached to their husbands, rushed between the fierce menand urged them not to make them widows or fatherless, which was the sadalternative presented to them. "Make us not twice captives!" theyexclaimed. Their appeal resulted in peace, and the two peoples agreedto form one nation, the ruler of which should be alternately a Romanand a Sabine, though at first Romulus and Tatius ruled jointly. Thewomen became thus dearer to the whole community, and the feast calledMatronalia was established in their honor, when wives received presentsfrom their husbands and girls from their lovers. 

Romulus continued to live on the Palatine among the Romans, and Tatiuson the Quirinal, where the Sabines also lived. Each people adopted someof the fashions and customs of the other, and they all met for thetransaction of business in the Forum Romanum, which was in the valleyof the Curtian Lake, between the hills. For a time this arrangement wascarried on in peace, and the united nation grew in numbers and power. After five years, however, Tatius was slain by some of the inhabitantsof Lavinium, and Romulus was left sole ruler until his death. 

Under him the nation grew still more rapidly, and others were madesubject to it, all of which good fortune was attributed to his prowessand skill. Romulus became after a while somewhat arrogant. He dressedin scarlet, received his people lying on a couch of state, andsurrounded himself with a body of young soldiers called _Celeres_, from the swiftness with which they executed his orders. It was asuspicious fact that all at once, at a time when the people had becomedissatisfied with his actions, Romulus disappeared (717 B. C. ). LikeEvander, he went, no one knew where, though one of his friendspresented himself in the forum and assured the people under oath thatone day, as he was going along the road, he met Romulus coming towardhim, dressed in shining armor, and looking comelier than ever. Proculus, for that was the friend's name, was struck with awe andfilled with religious dread, but asked the king why he had left thepeople to bereavement, endless sorrow, and wicked surmises, for it hadbeen rumored that the senators had made away with him. Romulus repliedthat it pleased the gods that, after having built a city destined to bethe greatest in the world for empire and glory, he should return toheaven, but that Proculus might tell the Romans that they would attainthe height of power by exercising temperance and fortitude, in whicheffort he would sustain them and remain their propitious god Quirinus. An altar was accordingly erected to the king's honor, and a festivalcalled the Quirinalia was annually celebrated on the seventeenth ofFebruary, the day on which he is said to have been received into thenumber of the gods. 

Romulus left the people organized into two great divisions, Patriciansand Clients: the former being the _Populus Romanus_, or Roman People, and possessing the only political rights; and the others being entirelydependent upon them. The Patricians were divided into three tribes—theRomans (_Ramnes_), the Etruscans (_Luceres_), and the Sabines(_Tities_, from Tatius). Another body, not yet organized, calledPlebeians, or Plebs, was composed of inhabitants of conquered towns andrefugees. These, though not slaves, had no political rights. Each tribewas divided into ten Curiae, and the thirty Curiae composed the_Comitia Curiata_, which was the sovereign assembly of the Patricians, authorized to choose the king and to decide all cases affecting thelives of the citizens. A number of men of mature age, known as the_Patres_, composed the Senate, which Romulus formed to assist him inthe government. This body consisted of one hundred members until theunion with the Sabines, when it was doubled, the Etruscans not beingrepresented until a later time. The army was called a Legion, and wascomposed of a contribution of a thousand foot-soldiers and a hundredcavalry (_Equites_, Knights) from each tribe. 

A year passed after the death of Romulus before another king waschosen, and the people complained that they had a hundred sovereignsinstead of one, because the senate governed, and that not always withjustness. It was finally agreed that the Romans should choose a king, but that he should be a Sabine. The choice fell upon Numa Pompilius, aman learned in all laws, human and divine, and two ambassadors wereaccordingly sent to him at his home at Cures, to offer the kingdom tohim. The ambassadors were politely received by the good man, but heassured them that he did not wish to change his condition; that everyalteration in life is dangerous to a man; that madness only couldinduce one who needed nothing to quit the life to which he wasaccustomed; that he, a man of peace, was not fitted to direct a peoplewhose progress had been gained by war; and that he feared that he mightprove a laughing-stock to the people if he were to go about teachingthem the worship of the gods and the offices of peace when they wanteda king to lead them to war. The more he declined, the more the peoplewished him to accept, and at last his father argued with him that amartial people needed one who should teach them moderation andreligion; that he ought to recognize the fact that the gods werecalling him to a large sphere of usefulness. These arguments provedsufficient, and Numa accepted the crown. After making the appropriateofferings to the gods, he set out for Rome, and was met by the populacecoming forth to receive him with joyful acclamations. Sacrifices wereoffered in the temples, and with impressive ceremonies the newauthority was joyfully entrusted to him (715 B. C. ). 

As Romulus had given the Romans their warlike customs, so now Numa gavethem the ceremonial laws of religion; but before entering upon thiswork, he divided among the people the public lands that Romulus hadadded to the property of the city by his conquests, by this movementshowing that he was possessed of worldly as well as of heavenly wisdom. He next instituted the worship of the god Terminus, who seems to havebeen simply Jupiter in the capacity of guardian of boundaries. Numaordered all persons to mark the limits of their lands by consecratedstones, and at these, when they celebrated the feast of Terminalia, sacrifices were to be offered of cakes, meal, and fruits. Moses haddone something like this hundreds of years before, in the land ofPalestine, when he wrote in his laws: "Thou shalt not remove thyneighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set, in thineinheritance which thou shalt inherit, in the land that the Lord thy Godgiveth thee. " He had impressed it upon the people, repeating in asolemn religious service the words: "Cursed be he that removeth hisneighbor's landmark, " to which all the people in those primitive timessolemnly said "Amen!" You will find the same sentiment repeated in theProverbs of Solomon. When Romulus had laid out the pomoerium, he madethe outline something like a square, and called it _Roma Quadrata_, that is "Square Rome, " but he did not direct the landmarks of thepublic domain to be distinctly indicated. The consecration of theboundaries undoubtedly made the people consider themselves more securein their possessions, and consequently made the state itself morestable. 

In order to make the people feel more like one body and think less ofthe fact that they comprised persons belonging to different nations, Numa instituted nine guilds among which the workmen were distributed. These were the pipers, carpenters, goldsmiths, tanners, leather-workers, dyers, potters, smiths, and one in which all otherhandicraftsmen were united. Thus these men spoke of each other asmembers of this or that guild, instead of as Etruscans, Romans, andSabines. 

[Illustration: A ROMAN ALTAR]

Human sacrifices were declared abolished at this time; the rites ofprayer were established; the temple of Janus was founded (which wasclosed in time of peace and open in time of war); priests were ordainedto conduct the public worship, the Pontifex Maximus [Footnote: Pontifexmeans bridge-builder (_pons_, a bridge, _facere_, to make), and thetitle is said to have been given to these magistrates because theybuilt the wooden bridge over the Tiber, and kept it in repair, so thatsacrifices might be made on both sides of the river. The building ofthis bridge is, however, ascribed to Ancus Martius at a later date, and so some think the name was originally _pompifex_ (_pompa_, a solemnprocession), and meant that the officers had charge of suchcelebrations. ] being at the head of them, and the Flamens, VestalVirgins, and Salii, being subordinate. Numa pretended that he met bynight a nymph named Egeria, at a grotto under the Coelian Hill, not farfrom the present site of the Baths of Caracalla, and that from time totime she gave him directions as to what rites would be acceptable tothe gods. Another nymph, whom Numa commended to the special venerationof the Romans, was named Tacita, or the silent. This was appropriatefor one of such quiet and unobtrusive manners as this good kingpossessed. 

Romulus is said to have made the year consist of but ten months, thefirst being March, named from Mars, the god whom he delighted to honor;but Numa saw that his division was faulty, and so he added two months, making the first one January, from Janus, the god who loved civil andsocial unity, whose temple he had built; and the second February, orthe month of purification, from the Latin word _februa_. If he hadput in his extra months at some other part of the year, he might haveallowed it still to begin in the spring, as it naturally does, and weshould not be obliged to explain to every generation why the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months are still called the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth. [Footnote: We shall find that in the courseof time this arrangement of the year proved very faulty in its turn, and that Julius Cæsar made another effort to reform it. (See page247. )]

 The poets said in the peaceful days of Numa, Rust eats the pointed spear and double-edged sword. No more is heard the trumpet's brazen roar, Sweet sleep is banished from our eyes no more, and that over the iron shields the spiders hung their threads, for itwas a sort of golden age, when there was neither plot, nor envy, norsedition in the state, for the love of virtue and the serenity ofspirit of the king flowed down upon all the happy subjects. In duetime, after a long reign and a peaceful and useful life, Numa died, notby disease or war, but by the natural decline of his faculties. Thepeople mourned for him heartily and honored him with a costly burial. 

After the death of this king an interregnum followed, during which thesenate ruled again, but it was not long before the Sabines chose asking a Roman, Tullus Hostilius, grandson of that Hostus Hostilius whohad won distinction in the war with the Sabines. The new sovereignthought that the nation was losing its noble prestige through thequietness with which it lived among its neighbors, and therefore heembraced every opportunity to stir up war with the surrounding peoples, and success followed his campaigns. The peasants between Rome and Alba[Footnote: Alba became the chief of a league of thirty Latin cities, lying in the southern part of the great basin through which the Tiberfinds its way to the sea, between Etruria and Campania. ] afforded himthe first pretext, by plundering each other's lands. The Albans wereready to settle the difficulty in a peaceful manner, but Tullus, determined upon aggrandizement, refused all overtures. It was much likea civil war, for both nations were of Trojan origin, according to thetraditions. The Albans pitched their tents within five miles of Rome, and built a trench about the city. The armies were drawn up ready forbattle, when the Alban leader came out and made a speech, in which hesaid that as both Romans and Sabines were surrounded by strange nationswho would like to see them weakened, as they would undoubtedly be bythe war, he proposed that the question which should rule the other, ought to be decided in some less destructive way. 

[Illustration: MONUMENT OF THE HORATII AND THE CURIATII]

It happened that there were in the army of the Romans three brothersknown as the Horatii, of the same age as three others in the Alban armycalled the Curiatii, and it was agreed that these six should fight inthe place of the two armies. At the first clash of arms two of theRomans fell lifeless, though every one of the Curiatii was wounded. This caused the Sabines to exult, especially as they saw the remainingRoman apparently running away. The flight of Horatius was, however, merely feigned, in order to separate the opposing brothers, whom he metas they followed him, and killed in succession. As he struck his swordinto the last of the Albans, he exclaimed: "Two have I offered to theshades of my brothers; the third will I offer to the cause of this war, that the Roman may rule over the Alban!" A triumph [Footnote: A"triumph" was a solemn rejoicing after a victory, and included a_pompa_, or procession of the general and soldiers on foot withtheir plunder. Triumphs seem to have been celebrated in some style inthe earliest days of Rome. In later times they increased very much insplendor and costliness. ] followed; but it appears that a sister ofHoratius, named Horatia, [Footnote: The Romans seem in one respect tohave had little ingenuity in the matter of names, though generally theyhad too many of them, and formed that of a woman from the name of a manby simply changing the end of it from the masculine form to thefeminine. ] was to have married one of the Curiatii, and when she mether victorious brother bearing as his plunder the military robe of herlover that she had wrought with her own hands, she tore her hair anduttered bitter exclamations. Horatius in his anger and impatiencethrust her through with his sword, saying: "So perish every Roman womanwho shall mourn an enemy?" For this act, the victorious young man wascondemned to death, but he appealed to the people, and they mitigatedhis sentence in consequence of his services to the state. 

Another war followed, with the Etruscans this time, and the Albans notbehaving like true allies, their city was demolished and itsinhabitants removed to Rome, where they were assigned to the CoelianHill. Some of the more noble among them were enrolled among thePatricians, and the others were added to the Plebs, who then became forthe first time an organic part of the social body, though not belongingto the Populus Romanus (or Roman People), so called. On anotheroccasion Tullus made war upon the Sabines and conquered them, butfinally he offended the gods, and in spite of the fact that hebethought himself of the good Numa and began to follow his example, Jupiter smote him with a thunder-bolt and destroyed him and his house. 

Again an interregnum followed, and again a king was chosen, this timeAncus Marcius, a Sabine, grandson of the good Numa, a man who strove toemulate the virtues of his ancestor. It is to be noticed that the fourkings of Rome thus far are of two classes, the warlike and peacefulalternating in the legends. The neighbors expected that Ancus would notbe a forceful king, and some of them determined to take advantage ofhis supposed weakness. He set himself to repair the neglected religion, putting up tables in the forum on which were written the ceremoniallaw, so that all might know its demands, and seeking to lead the peopleto worship the gods in the right spirit. Ancus seems to have unitedwith his religious character, however, a proper regard for the rightsof the nation, and when the Latins who lived on the river Anio, madeincursions into his domain, thinking that he would not notice it, inthe ardor of his services at the temples and altars, he entered upon avigorous and successful campaign, conquering several cities andremoving their inhabitants, giving them homes on the Aventine Hill, thus increasing the lands that could be divided among the Romans andadding to the number of the Plebeians. Ancus founded a colony at Ostiaat the mouth of the Tiber, and built a fortress on the Janiculum Hill, across the river, connecting it with the other regions by means of thefirst Roman bridge, called the _Pons Sublicius_, or in simple English, the wooden bridge. This is the one that the Romans wanted to cut downat a later period, as we shall see, and had great difficulty indestroying. Another relic of Ancus is seen in a chamber of the dampMamertine prison under the Capitoline Hill, the first prison in thecity, rendered necessary by the increase of crime. After a reign oftwenty-four years, Ancus Martius died, and a new dynasty, of Etruscanorigin, began to control the fortunes of the now rapidly growingnation. 

III. 

HOW CORINTH GAVE ROME A NEW DYNASTY. 

The city of Corinth, in Greece, was one of the most wealthy andenterprising on the Mediterranean in its day, and at about the timethat Rome is said to have been founded, it entered upon a new period ofcommercial activity and foreign colonization. So many Greeks went tolive on the islands around Italy, and on the shores of Italy itself, indeed, that that region was known as _Magna Græcia_, or GreatGreece, just as in our day we speak of Great Britain, when we wish toinclude not England only, but also the whole circle of lands underBritish rule. At this time of commercial activity there came into powerin Corinth a family noted for its wealth and force no less than for theluxury in which it lived, and the oppression, too, with which it ruledthe people. One of the daughters of the sovereign married out of thefamily, because she was so ill-favored that no one in her circle waswilling to have her as wife. 

In due time the princess became the mother of a boy, of whom the oracleat Delphi prophesied that he should be a formidable opponent of theruling dynasty. Whenever the oracle made such a prophecy about a child, it was customary for the ruler to try to make away with it, and thatthe ruler of Corinth did in this case. All efforts were unsuccessful, however, because his homely mother hid him in a chest when the spiescame to the house. Now the Greek word for chest is _kupsele_, andtherefore this boy was called Cypselus. He grew up to be a fine youngman, and entered political life as champion of the people--the_demos_, as the Greeks would say, and was therefore a _democratic_politician. [Footnote: A politician is a person versed in the scienceof government, from the Greek words _polis_, a city, _polites_, acitizen. Though a very honorable title, it has been debased in familiarusage until it has come to mean in turn a partisan, a dabbler in publicaffairs, and even an artful trickster. ]

He opposed the aristocratic rulers, and at last succeeded inoverturning their government and getting into the position of supremeruler himself. He ruled thirty years in peace, and was so much loved bythe Corinthians that he went about among them in safety without anybody-guard. 

When Cypselus came into power the citizens of Corinth who belonged tothe aristocratic family were obliged to go elsewhere, somewhat as thoseprinces called _émigrès_ (emigrants) left France during the Revolution, in 1789. One of them, whose name was Demaratus, a wealthy andintelligent merchant, concluded to go westward, to Magna Græcia, into the part of the world from which his ships had brought him hisrevenues. Accordingly, accompanied by his family, a great retinue, andsome artists and sculptors, he sailed away for Italy and settled at theEtruscan town of Tarquinii. He did not go more than five or six hundredmiles from home, but his enterprise was as marked as that of ourfathers was considered when, in the last generation, they removed fromNew York to Chicago, though the distance was not nearly so great. Nowonder Demaratus thought that it would be a comfort to have with himsome of the artists and sculptors whose genius had made his Corinthianhome beautiful. 

As he had come to Tarquinii to spend all his days, Demaratus married alady of the place, and she became the mother of a son, Lucomo. Whenthis young man grew up, he found that, though a native of the city, hewas looked upon as a foreigner on his father's account, and that, though he belonged to a family of the highest rank and wealth throughhis mother's connections, he was excluded from political power andinfluence. He had inherited the love of authority that had possessedhis father's ancestors, and as his father had migrated from home togain peace, he felt no reluctance in leaving Tarquinii in the hope ofgaining the power he thought his wealth and pedigree entitled him to. There was no more attractive field for his ambition than Romepresented, and Lucomo probably knew that that city had been from itsvery foundation an asylum for strangers. Thither, therefore, he decidedto take himself. 

We can imagine the removal, as the long procession of chariots andfootmen slowly passed over the fifty miles that separated Tarquiniifrom Rome. Just above Civita Vecchia you may see on your modern map ofItaly a town called Corneto, and a mile from that, perhaps, anothernamed Turchina, which is all that remains of the old town in whichLucomo lived. Even now relics of the Tarquinians are found there, andthere are many in the museums of Europe that illustrate the ancientcivilization of the Etruscans, which was greater at this time than thatof the Romans. On his journey Lucomo was himself seated in a chariotwith his wife Tanaquil, whom he seems to have honored very highly, andthe long train of followers stretched behind them. It represented allthat great wealth directed by considerable cultivation could purchase, and must have formed an imposing sight. Rome was approached from thesouth side of the Tiber, by the way of the Janiculum Hill and over thewooden bridge. 

When the emigrants reached the Janiculum, and saw the hills and themodest temples of Rome before them, an eagle, symbol of royalty, flewdown, and gently stooping, took off Lucomo's cap. Then, after havingflown around the chariot with loud screams, it replaced it, and wassoon lost again in the blue heavens. It was as though it had been sentby the gods to encourage the strangers to expect good fortune in theirnew home. Tanaquil, who was well versed in the augury of hercountrymen, embraced her husband; told him from what divinity the eaglehad come, and from what auspicious quarter of the heavens; and saidthat it had performed its message about the highest part of the body, which was in itself prophetic of good. 

Considerable impression must have been made upon the subjects of AncusMartius as the distinguished stranger and his long suite entered thecity over the bridge, and when Lucomo bought a fine house, and showedhimself affable and courteous, he was received with a cordial welcome, and soon admitted to the rights of a Roman citizen. Seldom had the townreceived so acceptable an addition to its population. Lucomo soonchanged his name to Lucius Tarquinius, and to this, in after years, when there were two of the same family name, the word Priscus, orElder, was added. Tarquinius, as we may now call him, flattered theRomans by invitations to his hospitable mansion, where hisentertainments added greatly to his popularity, and in time Ancushimself heard of his acts of kindness, and added his name to the listof the new citizen's intimate friends. Tarquinius was admitted by theking to private as well as public deliberations about matters offoreign and domestic importance, and doubtless his knowledge of othercountries stood him in good stead on these occasions. 

The stranger had taken the king and people by storm, and when Ancusdied, he left his sons to the guardianship of Tarquinius, and thePopulus Romanus chose him to be their king. Thus Rome came to have atthe head of its affairs a man not a Roman nor a Sabine, but a citizenof Greek extraction, who was familiar with a much higher state ofcivilization than was known on the banks of the Tiber. The result isseen in the great strides in advance that the city took during hisreign. The architectural grandeur of Rome dates its beginning from thistime. Tarquinius laid out vast drains to draw away the water that stoodin the Lacus Curtius, between the Capitoline and the Palatine hills, and these remain to this day, as any one who has visited Romeremembers--the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima (the great sewer) being oneof the remarkable sights there. The king also drained other parts ofthe city; vowed to build, and perhaps began, the temple on theCapitoline; built a wall about the city, and erected the permanentbuildings on the great forum. These works involved vast labor andexpense, and must have been very burdensome to the people. Like otheroppressive monarchs, Tarquinius planned games and festivities to amusethem. He enlarged the Circus Maximus, and imported boxers and horsesfrom his native country to perform at games there, which wereafterwards celebrated annually. Besides these victories of peace, thisking conquered the people about him, and greatly added to the number ofhis subjects. He for the first time instituted the formal "triumph, " asit was afterwards celebrated, riding into the city after a victory in achariot drawn by four white horses, and wearing a robe bespangled withgold. He brought in also the augural science of his country, which hadbeen only partially known before. 

[Illustration: MOUTH OF CLOACA MAXIMA, AT THE TIBER, AND THE SO-CALLEDTEMPLE OF VESTA. ]

While Tarquinius was thus adding to the greatness of Rome, thereappeared in the palace one of those marvels that the early historiansdelighted to relate, such as, indeed, mankind in all ages has beenpleased with. A boy was asleep in the portico when a flame was seenencircling his little head, and the attendants were about to throwwater upon it, when the queen interfered, forbidding the boy to bedisturbed. She then brought the matter to the notice of her husband, saying: "Do you see this boy whom we are so meanly bringing up? He isdestined to be a light in our adversity, and a help in our distress. Let us care for him, for he will become a great ornament to us and tothe state. " Tarquinius knew well the importance of his wife's advice, and educated the boy, whose name was Servius Tullius, in a waybefitting a royal prince. In the course of time he married the king'sdaughter, and found himself in favor with the people as well as withhis royal father-in-law. 

For all the forty years of the prosperous reign of Tarquinius, thetraditions would have us believe, the two sons of Ancus had beennursing their wrath and inwardly boiling over with indignation becausethey had been deprived of the kingship, and now, as they saw thepopularity of young Servius, they determined to wrench the crown fromhim after destroying the king. They therefore sent two shepherds intohis presence, who pretended to wish advice about a matter in dispute. While one engaged Tarquin's attention, the other struck him a fatalblow with his axe. The queen was, however, quick-witted enough to keepthem from enjoying the fruit of their perfidy, for she assured thepeople from a window that the king was not killed but only stunned, andthat for the present he desired them to obey the directions of ServiusTullius. She then called upon the young man to let the celestial flamewith which the gods had surrounded his head in his youth arouse him toaction. "The kingdom is yours!" she exclaimed; "if you have no plans ofyour own, then follow mine!" For several days the king's death wasconcealed, and Servius took his place on the throne, deciding somecases, and in regard to others pretending that he would consultTarquinius (B. C. 578). Thus he made the senate and the peopleaccustomed to seeing him at the head of affairs, and when the actualfact was allowed to transpire, Servius took possession of the kingdomwith the consent of the senate, but without that of the people, whichhe did not ask. This was the first king who ascended the throne withoutthe suffrages of the Populus Romanus. The sons of Ancus went intobanishment, and the royal power, which had passed from the Romans tothe Etruscans, now fell into the hands of a man of unknown citizenship, though he has been described as a native of Corniculum, one of themountain towns to the northeast of Rome, which is never heard ofexcepting in connection with this reign. 

IV. 

THE RISE OF THE COMMONS. 

Whatever may have been the origin of the new king, he was evidently notof the ruling class, the Populus Romanus, and for this reason hissympathies were naturally with the Plebeians, or, as they would now becalled, the Commons. The long reign of Servius was marked by thevictories of peace, though he was involved in wars with the surroundingnations, in which he was successful. These conquests seemed to fix theking more firmly upon the throne, but they did not render him much lessdesirous of obtaining the good-will of his subjects, and they neverseemed to tempt him to exercise his power in a tyrannical manner. Hethought that by marrying his two daughters to two sons of Tarquin, hemight make his position on the throne more secure, and he accomplishedthis intention, but it failed to benefit him as he had expected. 

Besides adding largely to the national territory, Servius brought thethirty cities of Latium into a great league with Rome, and built atemple on the Aventine consecrated to Diana (then in high renown atEphesus), at which the Romans, Latins, and Sabines should worshiptogether in token of their unity as one civil brotherhood, though itwas understood that the Romans were chief in rank. On a brazen pillarin this edifice the terms of the treaty on which the league was basedwere written, and there they remained for centuries. The additions toRoman territory gave Servius an opportunity of strengthening his holdupon the commons, for he took advantage of it to cause a census to betaken under the direction of two Censors, on the basis of which he madenew divisions of the people, and new laws by which the plebeians cameinto greater prominence than they had enjoyed before. The census showedthat the city and suburbs contained eighty-three thousand inhabitants. 

The increase of population led to the extension of the pomoerium, andServius completed the city by including within a wall of stone all ofthe celebrated seven hills [Footnote: The "seven hills" were not alwaysthe same. In earlier times they had been: Palatinus, Cermalus, Velia, Fagutal, Oppius, Cispius, and Coelius. Oppius and Cispius, were namesof summits of the Esquiline; Velia was a spur of the Palatine; Cermalusand Fagutal, according to Niebuhr, were not hills at all. ]--thePalatine, Aventine, Capitoline, Coelian, Quirinal, Viminal, andEsquilian, --for, though new suburbs grew up beyond this wall, the legallimits of the city were not changed until the times of the empire. 

The inhabitants within the walls were divided into four "regions" ordistricts--the Palatine, the Colline, the Esquiline, and the Suburran. The subjected districts outside, which were inhabited by plebeians, were divided into twenty-six other regions, thus forming thirty tribescontaining both plebeians and patricians. The census gave Servius alist of all the citizens and their property, and upon the basis of thisinformation he separated the entire population into six classes, comprising one hundred and ninety-three subdivisions or "centuries, "thus introducing a new principle, and placing wealth at the bottom ofsocial distinctions, instead of birth. This naturally pleased theplebeians, but was not approved by the citizens of high pedigree, whothus lost some of their prestige. The newly formed centuries togetherconstituted the _Comitia Centuriata_ (gathering of the centuries), or National Assembly, which met for business on the Campus Martius, somewhat after the manner of a New England "Town Meeting. " In theseconclaves they elected certain magistrates, gave sanction tolegislative acts, and decided upon war or peace. This Comitia formedthe highest court of appeal known to Roman law. 

Besides this general assembly of the entire Populus Romanus, Serviusestablished a _Comitia_ in each tribe, authorized to exercisejurisdiction in local affairs. 

The first of the six general classes thus established comprised theHorsemen, _Equites_, Knights, or Cavalry, consisting of six patriciancenturies of Equites established by Romulus, and twelve new ones formedfrom the principal plebeian families. Next in rank to them were eightycenturies composed of persons owning property (not deducting debts) tothe amount of one hundred thousand ases (_æs_, copper, brass, bronze), and two centuries of persons not possessed of wealth, but simply_Fabrûm_, or workmen who manufactured things out of hard material, soimportant to the state were such considered at the time. One would notthink it very difficult to get admission to this high class, when it isremembered that an _as_ (originally a pound of copper in weight)[Footnote: The English word _ace_ gets its meaning, "one, " from thefact that in Latin as signified the unit either of weight or measure. Two and a half ases were equal to a sestertius, and ten ases (or foursesterces) equalled one denarius, worth about sixteen cents. ] was worthbut about a cent and a half, and that a hundred thousand such coinswould amount to only about fifteen hundred dollars; though, of course, we should have to make allowance for the price of commodities if wewished to arrive at the exact value in the money of our time. Thesecond, third, and fourth centuries were arranged on a descending gradeof property qualification, and the fifth comprised those persons whoseproperty was not worth less than twelve thousand five hundred ases, orabout two hundred dollars. The sixth class included all whosepossessions did not amount to even so little as this. These were called_Proletarii_ or _Capite Censorum_; _caput_, the Latin for head, beingused in reference to these unimportant citizens for "person, " asfarmers use it nowadays when they enumerate animals as so many "head. "

Though the new arrangement of Servius Tullius gave the plebeians power, it did not give them so much as might be supposed, because it wascontrived that the richest class should have the greatest number ofvotes, and they with the Equites had so many that they were able tocarry any measure upon which they agreed. The older men, too, had anadvantage, for every class was divided into Seniors and Juniors, eachof which had an equal number of votes, though it is apparent that theseniors must have been always in the minority. Servius did not dare toabolish the old Comitia Curiata, and he felt obliged to enact that thevotes of the new Comitia should be valid only after having received thesanction of the more ancient body. Thus it will be seen that there werethree assemblies, with sovereignty well defined. 

The armor of the different classes was also accurately ordered by thelaw. The first class was authorized to wear, for the defence of thebody, brazen helmets, shields, and coats of mail, and to bear spearsand swords, excepting the mechanics, who were to carry the necessarymilitary engines and to serve without arms. The members of the secondclass, excepting that they had bucklers instead of shields and wore nocoats of mail, were permitted to bear the same armor, and to carry thesword and spear. The third class had the same armor as the second, excepting that they could not wear greaves for the protection of theirlegs. The fourth had no arms excepting a spear and a long javelin. Thefifth merely carried slings and stones for use in them. To this classbelonged the trumpeters and horn-blowers. 

[Illustration: ROMAN SOLDIERS, COSTUMES, AND ARMOR]

These reforms were very important, and very reasonable, too, but thoughthey gained for the king many friends, it was rather among theplebeians than among the more wealthy patricians, and from time to timehints were thrown out that the consent of the people had not been askedwhen Servius took his seat upon the throne, and that without it hisright to the power he wielded was not complete. There was a very solemnand striking ceremony on the Campus Martius after the census had beenfinished. It was called the Lustration or _Suovetaurilia_. The firstname originated from the fact that the ceremony was a purification ofthe people by water, and the second because the sacrifice on theoccasion consisted of a pig, a sheep, and an ox, the Latin names ofwhich were _sus_, _ovis_, and _taurus_, these being run together in asingle manufactured word. Words are not easily made to order, and thisone shows how awkward they are when they do not grow naturally. 

On the completion of the census (B. C. 566) Servius ordered the membersof all the Centuries to assemble on the Campus Martius, which wasenclosed in a bend of the Tiber outside of the walls that he built. They came in full armor, according to rank, and the sight must havebeen very grand and impressive. Three days were occupied in thecelebration. Three times were the pig, the sheep, and the bull carriedaround the great multitude, and then, amid the flaunting of banners, the burning of incense, and the sounding of trumpets, the libation waspoured forth, and the inoffensive beasts were sacrificed for thepurification of the people. Once every five years the inhabitants werethus counted, and once in five years were they also purified, and inthis way it came to pass that that period was known as a _lustrum_. 

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, says the proverb, and it wastrue in the case of Servius, for he could never forget that the peoplehad not voted in his favor. For this reason he divided among them thelands that he had taken from the enemies he had defeated, and then, supposing that he had obtained their good-will, he called upon them tovote whether they chose and ordered that he should be king. When thevotes came to be counted, Servius found that he had been chosen with aunanimity that had not been manifested before in the selection of asovereign. Whatever confidence he may have derived from this vote, hisplace was not secure, and his fatal enemy proved to be in his ownhousehold. 

It happened that of the two husbands of the daughters of Servius, onewas ambitious and unprincipled, and the other quiet and peaceable. Thesame was true of their wives, only the unprincipled wife found herselfmated with the well-behaving husband. Now the wicked wife agreed withthe wicked husband that they should murder their partners and thenmarry together, thus making a pair, both members of which should beambitious and without principle. This was accomplished, and then thewicked wife, whose name was Tullia, told her husband, whose name wasLucius Tarquinius, that what she wanted was not a husband whom shemight live with in quiet like a slave, but one who would remember ofwhose blood he was, who would consider that he was the rightful king;and that if _he_ would not do it he had better go back to Tarquinii orCorinth and sink into his original race, thus shaming his father andTanaquil, who had bestowed thrones upon her husband and her son-in-law. The taunts and instigations of Tullia led Lucius to solicit the youngerpatricians to support him in making an effort for the throne. When hethought he had obtained a sufficient number of confederates, he one dayrushed into the forum at an appointed time, accompanied by a body ofarmed men, and, in the midst of a commotion that ensued, took his seatupon the throne and ordered the senate to attend "King Tarquinius. "That august body convened very soon, some having been preparedbeforehand for the summons, and then Tarquinius began a tirade againstServius, whom he stigmatized as "a slave and the son of a slave, " whohad favored the most degraded classes, and had, by instituting thecensus, made the fortunes of the better classes unnecessarilyconspicuous, so as to excite the envy and base passions of the meanercitizens. 

Servius came to the senate-house in the midst of the harangue, andcalled to Lucius to know by what audacity he had taken the royal seat, and summoned the senate during the life of the sovereign. Luciusreplied in an insulting manner, and, taking advantage of the king'sage, seized him by the middle, carried him out, and threw him down thesteps to the bottom! Almost lifeless, Servius was slain by emissariesof Lucius as he was making his way to his home on the Esquiline Hill(B. C. 534). The royal retinue, in their fright, left the body where itfell, and there it was when Tullia, returning from having congratulatedher husband, reached the place. Her driver, terrified at the sight, stopped, and would have avoided the king's corpse, though thenarrowness of the street made it difficult; but the insane daughterordered him to drive on, and stained and sprinkled herself with herfather's blood, which seemed to cry out for vengeance upon such a cruelact! The vengeance came speedily, as we shall see. 

V. 

HOW A PROUD KING FELL. 

The new king was a tyrant. He was elected by no general consent of thepeople he governed; he allowed himself to be bound by no laws; herecognized no limit to his authority; and he surrounded himself with abody-guard for protection from the attacks of any who might wish totake the crown from him in the way that he had snatched it from hispredecessor. As soon as possible after coming to the throne, he sweptaway all privilege and right that had been conceded to the commons, commanded that there should no longer be any of those assemblages onthe occasions of festivals and sacrifices that had before tended tounite the people and to break the monotony of their lives; he put thepoor at taskwork, and mistrusted, banished, or murdered the rich. Tostrengthen the position of Rome as chief of the confederates cities, and his own position as the ruler of Rome, he gave his daughter toOctavius Mamilius of Tusculum to wife; and to beautify the capital hewarred against other peoples, and with their spoil pushed forward thework on the great temple on the Capitoline Hill, [Footnote: This hillis said to have received its name from the fact that as the men werepreparing for the foundation of the temple, they came upon a humanhead, fresh and bleeding, from which it was augured that the spot wasto become the head of the world. (_Caput_, a head. )] a wonderfuland massy structure. 

It is said that Amalthea, the mysterious sibyl of Cumæ, one day came toTarquin with nine sealed prophetical books (which, she said, containedthe destiny of the Romans and the mode to bring it about), that sheoffered to sell. The king refused, naturally unwilling to pay forthings that he could not examine; and thereupon the unreasonable beingwent away and destroyed three of the volumes that she had described asof inestimable value. Soon after she returned and offered the remainingsix for the price that she had demanded for the nine. Once more, thetyrant declined the offer, and again the aged sibyl destroyed three, and demanded the original price for the remainder. The king's curiositywas now aroused, and he bought the three books, upon which theprophetess vanished. The volumes were placed under the new temple onthe Capitoline, no one doubting that they actually contained preceptsof the utmost importance. The wise-looking augurs came together, peeredinto the rolls, and told the king and the people that they were right, and age after age the books were appealed to for direction, though, asthe people never were permitted even to peep into the sacred cell inwhich they were hidden, they never could be quite certain that theaugurs who consulted them found any thing in them that they did not putthere themselves. 

While Tarquinius was going on with his great works, while he wasoppressing his own people and conquering his neighbors uninterruptedly, he was suddenly startled by a dire portent. A serpent crawled out frombeneath the altar in his palace and coolly ate the flesh of the royalsacrifice. The meaning of this appalling omen could not be allowed toremain uncertain, and as no one in Italy was able to explain it, Tarquin sent to the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, to ask thesignification. Delphi is a place situated in the midst of the mostsublime scenery of Greece, just north of the Gulf of Corinth. Shut inon all sides by stupendous cliffs, among which flow the inspiringwaters of the Castalian Spring, thousands of feet above which frownsthe summit of Parnassus, on which Deucalion is said to have landedafter the deluge, this romantic valley makes a deep impression on themind of the visitor, and it is not strange that at an age when signsand wonders were looked for in every direction, it should have becomethe home of a sibyl. 

[Illustration: THE RAVINE OF DELPHI]

The king's messengers to Delphi were his two sons and a nephew namedLucius Junius Brutus, a young man who had saved his life by takingadvantage of the fact that a madman was esteemed sacred by the Romans, and assuming an appearance of stupidity [Footnote: _Brutus_ inLatin means irrational, dull, stupid, brutish, which senses our word"brute" preserves. ] at a time when his tyrannical uncle had put hisbrother to death that he might appropriate his wealth. Upon hearing thequestion of the king, the oracle said that the portent foretold thefall of Tarquin. The sons then asked who should take his throne, andthe reply was: "He who shall first kiss his mother. " Brutus hadpropitiated the oracle by the present of a hollow stick filled withgold, and learned the symbolical meaning of this reply. The sonsdecided to allow their remaining brother Sextus to know the answer, andto determine by lot which of them should rule; but Brutus kept his owncounsel, and on reaching home, fell upon mother earth, as by accident, and kissed the ground, thus observing the terms of the oracle. 

The prophecy now hastened to its fulfilment. As the army lay before thetown of Ardea, belonging to the Rutulians, south of Rome, a disputearose among the sons of the king and their cousin Collatinus, as towhich had the most virtuous wife. There being nothing to keep them incamp, the young men arose from their cups and rode to Rome, where theyfound the princesses at a banquet revelling amid flowers and wine. Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, was found at Collatia among hermaidens spinning, like the industrious wife described in the Proverbs. The evil passions of Sextus were aroused by the beauty of his cousin'swife, and he soon found an excuse to return to the home of Collatinus. He was hospitably entertained by Lucretia, who did not suspect thedemon that he was, and one night he entered her apartment and with vilethreats overcame her. In her terrible distress, Lucretia sentimmediately for her father, Lucretius, and her husband, Collatinus. They came, each bringing a friend, Brutus being the companion of theoutraged husband. To them, with bitter tears, Lucretia, clad in thegarments of mourning and almost beside herself with sorrow, told thestory of crime, and, saying that she could not survive dishonor, plunged a knife into her bosom and fell in the agony of shame anddeath!

At this juncture Brutus threw off the assumed stupidity that had veiledthe strength of his spirit, and taking up the reeking knife, exclaimed:"By this blood most pure, I swear, and I call you, O gods, to witnessmy oath, that I shall pursue Lucius Tarquin the Proud, his wicked wife, and all the race, with fire and sword, nor shall I permit them or anyother to reign in Rome!" So saying, the knife was handed to each of theothers in turn, and they all took the same oath to revenge the innocentblood. The body of Lucretia was laid in the forum of Collatia, herhome, and the populace, maddened by the sight, were easily persuaded torise against the tyrant. A multitude was collected, and the march beganto Rome, where a like excitement was stirred up; a gathering at theforum was addressed by Brutus, who recalled to memory not only thestory of Lucretia's wrongs, but also the horrid murder of Servius, andthe blood-thirstiness of Tullia. On the Campus Martius the citizens metand decreed that the dignity of king should be forever abolished andthe Tarquins banished. Tullia fled, followed by the curses of men andwomen; Sextus found his way to Gabii, where he was slain; and thetyrant himself took refuge in Cære, a city of Etruria, the country ofhis father. 

There is a tradition that it had been the intention of Servius toresign the kingly honor, and to institute in its stead the office ofConsul, to be jointly held by two persons chosen annually. There seemsto be some ground for this belief, because immediately after thebanishment of the Tarquins, the republic was established with twoconsuls at its head. [Footnote: The custom of confiding the chief civilauthority and the command of the army to two magistrates who werechanged each year, was not given up as long as the republic endured, but towards its end, Cinna maintained himself in the office alone foralmost a year, and Pompey was appointed sole consul to keep him frombecoming dictator. The authority of consul was usurped by both Cinnaand Marius. The consuls were elected by the comitia of the centuries. They could not appear in public without the protection of twelvelictors, who bore bundles of twigs (fasces) and walked in single filebefore their chiefs. ] The first to hold the highest office were LuciusJunius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, husband of Lucretia. 

Some time after Tarquin had fled to Cære, he found an asylum atTarquinii, and from that city made an effort to stir up a conspiracy inhis favor at Rome. He sent messengers ostensibly to plead for therestoration of his property, but really for the purpose of excitingtreason. There were at Rome vicious persons who regretted that theywere obliged to return to regular ways, and there were patricians whodisliked to see the plebeians again enjoying their rights. Some ofthese were ready to take up the cause of the deposed tyrant. Theconspirators met for consultation in one of the dark chambers of aRoman house, and their conference was overheard. They were broughtbefore the consuls in the Comitium, and, to the dismay of Brutus, twoof his own sons were found among the number. With the unswerving virtueof a Roman or a Spartan, he condemned them to death, and they wereexecuted before his eyes. The discovery of the plot of Tarquin put anend to his efforts to regain any foothold at Rome by peaceable methods, and he made the appeal to arms. These plots led to the banishment ofthe whole Tarquinian house, even the consul whose troubles had broughtthe result about being obliged to lay down his office and leave thecity. Publius Valerius was appointed in his stead. For a time he was inoffice alone, and several times he was re-chosen. He was afterwardsknown as Poplicola, "the people's friend, " on account of certain lawsthat he passed, limiting the power of the aristocrats and alleviatingthe condition of the plebeians. [Footnote: When Valerius was consulalone he began to build a house for himself on the Velian Hill, and acry was raised that he intended to make himself king, upon which hestopped building. The people were ashamed of their conduct and grantedhim land to build on. One of his laws enacted that whoever shouldattempt to make himself king should be devoted to the gods, and thatany one might kill him. When Valerius died he was mourned by thematrons for ten months. See Plutarch, _Poplicola_. ]

In pursuance of his new plans, Tarquin obtained the help of the peopleof Veii and Tarquinii and marched against Rome. He was met by an armyunder Brutus, and a bloody battle was fought near Arsia. Brutus waskilled and the Etruscans were about to claim the victory, when, in thenight, the voice of the god Silvanus was heard saying that the killedamong the Etruscans outnumbered by one man those of the Romans. Uponthis the Etruscans fled, knowing that ultimate victory would not betheirs. This is not the way that a modern army would have acted. Valerius returned to Rome in triumph, and the matrons mourned Brutus asthe avenger of Lucretia, an entire year. 

This is the time of heroes and of highly ornamented lays, and we arenot surprised to find truth covered up beneath a mass of fulsomebombast. It is related that Tarquinius now obtained the help of Princeor Lars Porsena of Clusium in Etruria, and with a large army proceededundisturbed quite up to the Janiculum Hill on his march to Rome. Therehe found himself separated from the object of his long struggle only bythe wooden bridge. We may picture to ourselves the city stirred to itscentre by the fearful prospect before it. The bridge that had been ofso much use, that the pontifices had so carefully built and preserved, must be cut away, or all was lost. At this critical juncture, the braveHoratius Cocles, with one on either hand, kept the enemy at bay whilewilling arms swung the axes against the supports of the structure, andwhen it was just ready to fall uttered a prayer to Father Tiber, plunged into the muddy torrent, fully armed as he was, and swam to theopposite shore amid the plaudits of the rejoicing people, as related inthe ballad of Lord Macaulay. Then it was, too, that the peopledetermined to erect a bridge which could be more readily removed incase of necessity. Baffled in this attempt to enter Rome, the enemylaid siege to the city, and as it was unprepared, it soon suffered thedistress of famine. Then another brave man arose, Caius Mucius by name, and offered to go to the camp of the invaders and kill the hated king. He was able to speak the Etruscan language, and felt that a littleaudacity was all that he needed to carry his mission out safely. Thoughhe went boldly, he killed a secretary dressed in purple, instead of hismaster, and was caught and threatened with torture. Putting his righthand into the fire on the altar near by, he held it there until it wasdestroyed, [Footnote: Mucius was after this called Scævola, the left-handed. ] and said that suffering had no terrors for him, nor for threehundred of his companions who had all vowed to kill the king. The Romanwriters say that, thereupon Porsena took hostages from them and madepeace. It is true that peace was made, but Rome was forced to agree notto use iron except in cultivating the earth, and she lost ten of herthirty "regions, " being all the territory that the kings had conqueredon the west bank of the Tiber. [Footnote: See Niebuhr's_Lectures_, chapter xxiv. ]

Tarquin had been foiled in his attempts to regain his throne, but stillhe tried again, the last time having the aid of his son-in-law, Mamilius of Tusculum. It was a momentous juncture. The weakened Romanswere to encounter the combined powers of the thirty Latin cities thathad formerly been in league with them. They needed the guidance of onestrong man; but they had decreed that there should never be a kingagain, and so they appointed a "dictator" with unlimited power, for alimited time. We shall find them resorting to this expedient on otheroccasions of sudden and great trouble. A fierce struggle followed atLake Regillus, in which the Latins were turned to flight through theintervention of Castor and Pollux, who fought at the head of the Romanknights on foaming white steeds. There was no other quarter to whichTarquinius could turn for help, and he therefore fled to Cumæ, where hedied after a wretched old age. A temple was erected on the field of thebattle of Lake Regillus in honor of Castor and Pollux, and thitherannually on the fifteenth of July the Roman knights were wont to passin solemn procession, in memory of the fact that the twins had foughtat the head of their columns in the day of distress when fortune seemedto be about to desert the national cause. At this battle Caius Marcius, a stripling descended from Ancus Marcius, afterwards known asCoriolanus, received the oaken crown awarded to the man who should savethe life of a Roman citizen, because he struck down one of the Latins, in the presence of the commander, just as he was about to kill a Romansoldier. 

In the year 504 B. C. , there was in the town of Regillum, a man ofwealth and importance, who, at the time of the war with the Sabines, had advocated peace, and as his fellow-citizens were firmly opposed tohim, left them, accompanied by a long train of followers (much as wesuppose the first Tarquin left Tarquinii), and took up his abode inRome. The name of this man was Atta Clausus, or perhaps Atta Claudius, but, however that may be, he was known at Rome as Appius Claudius. Hewas received into the ranks of the patricians, ample lands wereassigned to him and his followers, and he became the ancestor of one ofthe most important Roman families, that of Claudius, noted through along history for its hatred of the plebeians. His line lasted some fivecenturies, as we shall have occasion to observe. 

VI. 

THE ROMAN RUNNYMEDE. 

The establishment of the republic marked an era in the history of Rome. The people had decreed, as has been said, that for them there nevershould be a king, and the law was kept to the letter; though, if theymeant that supreme authority should never be held among them by oneman, it was violated many times. The story of Rome is unique in thehistory of the world, for it is not the record of the life of one greatcountry, but of a city that grew to be strong and successfullyestablished its authority over many countries. The most ancient and themost remote from the sea of the cities of Latium, Rome soon became themost influential, and began to combine in itself the traits of thepeoples near it; but owing to the singular strength and rareimpressiveness of the national character, these were assimilated, andthe inhabitant of the capital remained distinctively a Roman in spiteof his intimate association with men of different origin and training. 

The citizen of Rome was practical, patriotic, and faithful toobligation; he loved to be governed by inflexible law; and it was afundamental principle with him that the individual should besubordinate to the state. His kings were either organizers, like Numaand Ancus Marcius, or warriors, like Romulus and Tullus Hostilius; theyeither made laws, like Servius, or they enforced them with thedespotism of Tarquinius Superbus. It is difficult for us to conceive ofsuch a majestic power emanating from a territory so insignificant. Wehardly realize that Latium did not comprise a territory quite fiftymiles by one hundred in extent, and that it was but a hundred milesfrom the Mediterranean to the Adriatic. It was but a short walk fromRome to the territory of the Etruscans, and when Tarquin found anasylum at Cære, he did not separate himself by twenty miles from thescene of his tyranny. Ostia was scarcely more distant, and one mighthave ridden before the first meal of the day to Lavinium, or Alba, orVeii, or to Ardea, the ancient city of the Rutuli. It is important tokeep these facts in mind as we read the story of the remarkable city. 

All towns were built on hills in these early days, for safety in caseof war, as well as because the valleys were insalubrious, but this isnot a peculiarity of the Romans, for in New England in the late ages ofour own ancestors they were obliged to follow the same custom. On thetops and slopes of seven hills, as they liked to remind themselves, theRomans built their city. They were not impressive elevations, thoughtheir sides were sharp and rocky, for the loftiest rose less than threehundred feet above the sea level. Their summits were crowned withgroves of beech trees and oaks, and in the lower lands grew osiers andother smaller varieties. 

The earlier occupations of the Roman people were war and agriculture, or the pasturage of flocks and herds. They raised grapes and madewines; they cultivated the oil olive and knew the use of its fruit. They found copper in their soil and made a pound (_as_) of it theirunit of value, but it was so cheap that ten thousand ases were requiredto buy a war horse, though cattle and sheep were much lower. They yokedtheir oxen and called the path they occupied a _jugerum_ (_jugum_, across-beam, or a yoke), and this in time came to be their familiarstandard of square measure, containing about two thirds of an acre. Twoof these were assigned to a citizen, and seven were the narrow limit towhich only one's landed possessions were for a long time allowed toextend. In time commerce was added to the pursuits of the men, and withit came fortunes and improved dwellings and public buildings. 

Laziness and luxury were frowned upon by the early Romans. Mistress andmaid worked together in the affairs of the household, like Lucretia andother noble women of whom history tells, and the man did not hesitateto hold the plow, as the example of Cincinnatus will show us. Time wasprecious, and thrift and economy were necessary to success. The fatherwas the autocrat in the household, and exercised his power with sternrigidity. 

Art was backward and came from abroad; of literature there was none, long after Greece had passed its period of heroic poetry. The dwellingsof the citizens were low and insignificant, though as time passed onthey became more massive and important. The vast public structures ofthe later kings were comparable to the task-work of the builders of theEgyptian pyramids, and they still strike us with astonishment andsurprise. 

The religion of these strong conquerors was narrow, severe, and dreary. The early fathers worshipped native deities only. They recognized godseverywhere--in the home, in the grove, and on the mountain. Theyerected their altars on the hills; they had their Lares and Penates towatch over their hearthstones, and their Vestal Virgins kepteverlasting vigil near the never-dying fires in the temples. With theart of Greece that made itself felt through Etruria, came also theinfluence of the Grecian mythology, and Jupiter, Juno, and Minervafound a shrine on the top of the Capitoline, where the first statue ofa deity was erected. The mysterious Sibylline Books are also a mark ofthe Grecian influence, coming from Cumæ, a colony of Magna Græcia. 

During the period we have considered, the city passed through fivedistinct stages of political organization. The government at first, aswe have seen, was an elective monarchy, the electors being apatriarchal aristocracy. After the invasion of the Sabines, there was aunion with that people, the sovereignty being held by rulers chosenfrom each; but it was not long before Rome became the head of a federalstate. The Tarquins established a monarchy, which rapidly degeneratedinto an offensive tyranny, which aroused rebellion and at last led tothe republic. We have noted that in Greece in the year 510 B. C. , thetyranny of the family of Pisistratus was likewise overturned. 

During all these changes, the original aristocrats and theirdescendants firmly held their position as the Populus Romanus, theRoman People, insisting that every one else must belong to an inferiororder, and, as no body of men is willing to be condemned to ahopelessly subordinate position in a state, there was a perpetualantagonism between the patricians and the plebeians, between thearistocracy and the commonalty. This led to a temporary change underServius Tullius, when property took the place of pedigree inestablishing a man's rank and influence; but, owing to the peculiarmethod of voting adopted, the power of the commons was not greatlyincreased. However, they had made their influence felt, and wereencouraged. The overturning of the scheme by Tarquin favored a union ofthe two orders for the punishment of that tyrant, and they combined;but it was only for a time. When the danger had been removed, the tiewas found broken and the antagonism rather increased, so that thesubsequent history for five generations, though exceedinglyinteresting, is largely a record of the struggles of the commons forrelief from the burdens laid upon them by the aristocrats. 

The father passed down to his son the story of the oppression of thepatricians, and the son told the same sad narrative to his offspring. The mother mourned with her daughter over the sufferings brought uponthem by the rich, for whom their poor father and brothers were obligedto fight the battles while they were not allowed to share the spoil, nor to divide the lands gained by their own prowess. The struggle wasnot so much between patrician and plebeian as between the rich and thepoor. It was intimately connected with the uses of money in thosetimes. What could the rich Roman do with his accumulations? He mightbuy land or slaves, or he might become a lender; to a certain extent hecould use his surplus in commerce; but of these its most remunerativeemployment was found in usury. As there were no laws regulating therates of interest, they became exorbitant, and, as it was customary tocompound it, debts rapidly grew beyond the possibility of payment. Asthe rich made the laws, they naturally exerted their ingenuity to framethem in such a way as to enable the lender to collect his dues withpromptness, and with little regard for the feelings or interests of thedebtor. 

It is difficult, if not impossible, for us to form a proper conceptionof the magnitude of the wrongs involved in the system of money-lendingat Rome during the period of the republic. The small farmers were everneedy, and came to their wealthy neighbors for accommodation loans. Ifthese were not paid when due, the debtor was liable to be locked up inprison, to be sold into slavery, with his children, wife, andgrandchildren; and the heartless law reads, that in case the estateshould prove insufficient to satisfy all claims, the creditors wereactually authorized to cut the body to pieces, that each Shylock mighttake the pound of flesh that he claimed. 

At last the severity of the lenders overreached itself. It was in theyear four hundred and ninety-five, B. C. , that a poor, but brave debtor, one who had been at the very front in the wars, broke out of hisprison, and while the wind flaunted his rags in the face of thepopulace, clanked his chains and told the story of his calamities soeffectually in words of natural eloquence, that the commons werearoused to madness, and resolved at last to make a vigorous effort andseek redress for their wrongs in a way that could not be resisted. Theform of this man stands out forever on the pages of Roman history, ashe entered the forum with all the badges of his misery upon him. [Footnote: See Livy, Book II. , chapter xxiii. ] His pale and emaciatedbody was but partially covered by his wretched tatters; his long hairplayed about his shoulders, and his glaring eyes and the grizzled beardhanging down before him added to his savage wildness. As he passedalong, he uncovered the scars of near twoscore battles that remainedupon his breast, and explained to enquirers that while he had beenserving in the Sabine war, his house had been pillaged and burned bythe enemy; that when he had returned to enjoy the sweets of the peacehe had helped to win, he had found that his cattle had been driven off, and a tax imposed. To meet the debts that thronged upon him, and theinterest by which they were aggravated, he had stripped himself of hisancestral farms. Finally, pestilence had overtaken him, and as he wasnot able to work, his creditor had placed him in a house of detention, the savage treatment in which was shown by the fresh stripes upon hisbleeding back. 

At the moment a war was imminent, and the forum--the entire city, infact--already excited, was filled with the uproar of the angryplebeians. Many confined for debt broke from their prison houses, andran from all quarters into the crowds to claim protection. The majestyof the consuls was insufficient to preserve order, and while thediscord was rapidly increasing, horsemen rushed into the gatesannouncing that an enemy was actually upon them, marching to besiegethe city. The plebeians saw that their opportunity had arrived, andwhen proud Appius Claudius called upon them to enroll their names forthe war, they refused the summons, saying that the patricians mightfight their own battles; that for themselves it was better to perishtogether at home rather than to go to the field and die separated. Threatened with war beyond the gates, and with riot at home, thepatricians were forced to promise to redress the civil grievances. Itwas ordered that no one could seize or sell the goods of a soldierwhile he was in camp, or arrest his children or grandchildren, and thatno one should detain a citizen in prison or in chains, so as to hinderhim from enlisting in the army. When this was known, the releasedprisoners volunteered in numbers, and entered upon the war withenthusiasm. The legions were victorious, and when peace was declared, the plebeians anxiously looked for the ratification of the promisesmade to them. 

Their expectations were disappointed. They had, however, seen theirpower, and were determined to act upon their new knowledge. Withoutundue haste, they protected their homes on the Aventine, and retreatedthe next year to a mountain across the Anio, about three miles from thecity, to a spot which afterwards held a place in the memories of theRomans similar to that which the green meadow on the Thames calledRunnymede has held in British history since the June day when King Johnmet his commons there, and gave them the great charter of theirliberties. 

The plebeians said calmly that they would no longer be imposed upon;that not one of them would thereafter enlist for a war until the publicfaith were made good. They reiterated the declaration that the lordsmight fight their own battles, so that the perils of conflict shouldlie where its advantages were. When the situation of affairs wasthoroughly understood, Rome was on fire with anxiety, and the enforcedsuspense filled the citizens with fear lest an external enemy shouldtake the opportunity for a successful onset upon the city. Meanwhilethe poor secessionists fortified their camp, but carefully refrainedfrom actual war. The people left in the city feared the senators, andthe senators in turn dreaded the citizens lest they should do themviolence. It was a time of panic and suspense. After consultation, goodcounsels prevailed in the senate, and it was resolved to send anembassy to the despised and down-trodden plebeians, who now seemed, however, to hold the balance of power, and to treat for peace, forthere could be no security until the secessionists had returned totheir homes. 

The spokesman on the occasion was Menenius Agrippa Lanatus, who waspopular with the people and had a reputation for eloquence. In thecourse of his argument he related the famous apologue which Shakespearehas so admirably used in his first Roman play. He said:

"At a time when all the parts of the body did not, as now, agreetogether, but the several members had each its own scheme, its ownlanguage, the other parts, indignant that every thing was procured forthe belly by their care, labor, and service, and that it, remainingquiet in the centre, did nothing but enjoy the pleasures afforded it, conspired that the hands should not convey food to the mouth, nor themouth receive it when presented, nor the teeth chew it. They wished bythese measures to subdue the belly by famine, but, to their dismay, they found that they themselves and the entire body were reduced to thelast degree of emaciation. It then became apparent that the service ofthe belly was by no means a slothful one; that it did not so muchreceive nourishment as supply it, sending to all parts of the body thatblood by which the entire system lived in vigor. "

Lanatus then applied the fable to the body politic, showing that allthe citizens must work in unity if its greatest welfare is to beattained. The address of this good man had its desired effect, and thepeople were at last willing to listen to a proposition for theirreturn. It was settled that there should be a general release of allthose who had been handed over to their creditors, and a cancelling ofdebts, and that two of the plebeians should be selected as theirprotectors, with power to veto objectionable laws, their persons beingas inviolable at all times as were those of the sacred messengers ofthe gods. These demands, showing that the plebeians did not seekpolitical power, were agreed to, the Valerian laws were reaffirmed, anda solemn treaty was concluded, each party swearing for itself and itsposterity, with all the formality of representatives of foreignnations. The two leaders of the commons, Caius Licinius and LuciusAlbinius, were elected the first Tribunes of the People, as the newofficers were called, with two Ædiles to aid them. [Footnote: Theduties of the ædiles were various, and at first they were simpleassistants of the tribunes. _Ædes_ means house or temple, and theædiles seem to have derived their name from the fact that they had thecare of the temple of Ceres, goddess of agriculture, a very importantdivinity in Rome as well as in Greece. ] They were not to leave the cityduring their term of office; their doors being open day and night, thatall who needed their protection might have access to them. The hillupon which this treaty had been concluded was ever after known as theSacred Mount; its top was enclosed and consecrated, an altar beingbuilt upon it, on which sacrifices were offered to Jupiter, the god ofterror and deliverance, who had allowed the commons to return home insafety, though they had gone out in trepidation. Henceforth the commonswere to be protected; they were better fitted to share the honors aswell as the benefits of their country, and the threatened dissolutionof the nation was averted. 

Towards the end of the year, Lanatus, the successful intercessor, died, and it was found that his poverty was so great that none but the mostordinary funeral could be afforded. Thereupon the plebeians contributedenough to give him a splendid burial; but the sum was afterwardspresented to his children, because the senate decreed that the funeralexpenses should be defrayed by the state. (B. C. 494. )

VII. 

HOW THE HEROES FOUGHT FOR A HUNDRED YEARS. 

There is a long story connected with the young stripling who, at thebattle of Lake Regillus received the oaken crown for saving the life ofa Roman citizen. The century after that event was filled with wars withthe neighboring peoples, and in one of them this same Caius Marciusfought so bravely at the taking of the Latin town of Corioli that hewas ever after known as Coriolanus (B. C. 493). He was a proudpatrician, and on one occasion when he was candidate for the office ofconsul, behaved with so much unnecessary haughtiness toward theplebeians that they refused him their votes. [Footnote: The wholeinteresting story is found in Plutarch's Lives, and in Shakespeare'splay which bears the hero's name. ] After a while a famine came toRome, --famines often came there, --and though in a former emergency ofthe kind Coriolanus had himself obtained corn and beef for the people, he was now so irritated by his defeat that when a contribution of grainarrived from Syracuse, in Sicily (B. C. 491), he actually advocated thatit should not be distributed among the people unless they would consentto give up their tribunes which had been assured to them by the laws ofthe Sacred Mount! This enraged the plebeians very much, and they causedCoriolanus to be summoned for trial before the comitia of the tribes, which body, in spite of his acknowledged services to the state, condemned him to exile. When he heard this sentence, Coriolanus angrilydetermined to cast in his lot with his old enemies the Volscians, andraised an army for them with which he marched victoriously towardsRome. As he went, he destroyed the property of the plebeians, butpreserved that of the patricians. The people were in the direst stateof anxious fear, and some of the senators were sent out to plead withthe dreaded warrior for the safety of the city. These venerableambassadors were repelled with scorn. Again, the sacred priests andaugurs were deputed to make the petition, this time in the name of thegods of the people; but, alas, they too entreated in vain. Then it wasremembered that the stern man had always reverenced his mother, and shewith an array of matrons, accompanied by the little ones of Coriolanus, went out to add their efforts to those which had failed. As theyappeared, Coriolanus exclaimed, as Shakespeare put it:

 "I melt, and am not Of stronger earth than others. --My mother bows; As if Olympus to a molehill should In supplication nod; and my young boy Hath an aspect of intercession, which, Great Nature cries: 'Deny not. ' Let the Volsces Plow Rome and harrow Italy; I'll never Be such a gosling to obey instinct; but stand, As if a man were author of himself, And knew no other kin!"*

The strong man is finally melted, however, by the soft influences ofthe women, and as he yields, says to them:

 "Ladies, you deserve To have a temple built you; all the swords In Italy, and her confederate arms, Could not have made this peace!"

A temple was accordingly built in memory of this event, and in honor ofFeminine Fortune, at the request of the women of Rome, for the senatehad decreed that any wish they might express should be gratified. Asfor Coriolanus, he is said to have lived long in banishment, bewailinghis misfortune, and saying that exile bore heavily on an old man. Theentire story, heroic and tragic as it is related to us, is notsubstantiated, and we do not really know whether if true it should beassigned to the year 488 B. C. , or to a date a score of years later. 

During all the century we are now considering, the plebeians wereslowly gaining ground in their attempts to improve their politicalcondition, though they did not fail to meet rebuffs, and though theywere many times unjustly treated by their proud opponents. Theseefforts at home were complicated, too, by the fact that nearly all thetime there was war with one or another of the adjoining nations. Treaties were made at this period with some of the neighboring peoples, by a good friend of the plebeians, Spurius Cassius, who was consul inthe year 486, and these to a certain extent repaired the losses thathad followed the war with Porsena after the fall of the Tarquins. Cassius tried to strengthen the state internally, too, by dividingcertain lands among the people, and by requiring rents to be paid forother tracts, and setting the receipts aside to pay the commons whenthey should be called out as soldiers. This is known as the first ofthe many Agrarian Laws (_ager_, a meadow, a field) that are recorded inRoman history, though something of the same nature is said to haveexisted in the days of Servius Tullius. 

There were public and private lands in Roman territory, just as thereare in the territory of the United States, and in those days, just asin our own, there were "squatters, " as they have been called in ourhistory, who settled upon public lands without right, and withoutpaying any thing to the government for the privileges they enjoyed. Laws regulating the use and ownership of the public lands were passedfrom time to time until Julius Cæsar (B. C. 59) enacted the last. Theyhad for their object the relief of poverty and the stopping of theclamors of the poor, the settling of remote portions of territory, therewarding of soldiers, or the extension of the popularity of somegeneral or other leader. The plan was not efficient in developing thecountry, because those to whom the land was allotted were often not atall adapted to pursue agriculture successfully, and because the evilsof poverty are not to be met in that way. 

It was a sign of the power of the people that this proposition ofCassius should have been successful; but it irritated the patriciansexceedingly, because they had derived large wealth from the improperuse of the public lands. The following year consuls came into power whowere more in sympathy with the patricians, and they accused Cassius oflaying plans to be made king. His popularity was undermined, and hisreputation blasted. Finally he was declared guilty of treason by hisenemies, and condemned to be scourged and beheaded, while his house wasrazed to the ground. For seven years after this one of the consuls wasalways a member of the powerful family of the Fabii, which had beeninfluential in thus overthrowing Cassius. The Fabians had opposed thelaws dividing the lands, and they now refused to carry them out. Theresult was that the commons, deprived of their rights, again went tothe extreme of refusing to fight for the state; and when on oneoccasion they were brought face to face with an enemy, they refused toconquer when they had victory in their hands. A little later they wentone step further, and attempted to stop entirely the raising of anarmy. One of the patrician family just mentioned, Marcus Fabius, provedtoo noble willingly to permit such strife between the classes tointerfere with the progress of the state, and determined to conciliatethe commons. He succeeded, and led them to battle, and, though his armywon victory, was himself killed in the combat (B. C. 481). The othermembers of the family took up the cause, cared kindly for the wounded, and thus still further ingratiated themselves with the army. The nextyear (B. C. 480) another Fabian was consul, and he too determined tostand up for the laws of Spurius Cassius. He was treated with scorn byhis fellow patricians, and finding that he could not carry out hisprinciples and live at peace in Rome, determined to exile himself. Going out with his followers, he established a camp on the side of theriver Cremera, a few miles above Rome, and alone carried on a waragainst the fortified city of Veii. The unequal strife was continuedfor two years; but then the brave family was completely cut off. Therewas not a member left, excepting one who seems to have refused torenounce the former opinions of the family, and had remained at Rome[Footnote: The Fabii were cut off on the Cremera on the 16th of July, aday afterwards marked by a terrible battle on the Allia, in which theGauls defeated the Romans. ] (B. C. 477). He became the ancestor of theFabii of after-history. 

The support thus received from the aristocratic Fabii encouraged thecommons, and the sacrifice of the family exasperated them. They feltanew that it was possible for them to exert some power in the state, and they promptly accused one of the consuls, Titus Menenius, oftreason, because he had allowed his army to lie inactive near Cremerawhile the Fabii were cut off before him. Menenius was found guilty, anddied of vexation and shame. The aristocrats now attempted to frightenthe commons by treachery and assassination, and succeeded, until one, Volero Publilius, arose and took their part. He boldly proposed a lawby which the tribunes of the people, instead of being chosen by thecomitia of the centuries, in which, as we have seen, the aristocratshad the advantage, should be chosen by the comitia of the tribes, inwhich there was no such inferiority of the commons. Though violentlyopposed by the patricians, this law was passed, in the year 471 B. C. Other measures were, however, still necessary to give the plebeians asatisfactory position in the state. 

In the year 458, the ancient tribe of the Æquians came down upon Rome, and taking up a position upon Mount Algidus, just beyond Alba Longa, repulsed an army sent against them, and surrounded its camp. We canimagine the clattering of the hoofs on the hard stones of the ViaLatina as five anxious messengers, who had managed to escape before itwas too late, hurried to Rome to carry the disheartening news. All eyesimmediately turned in one direction for help. There lived just acrossthe Tiber a member of an old aristocratic family, one Lucius Quintius, better known as Cincinnatus, because that name had been added to hisothers to show that he wore his hair long and in curls. Lucius waspromptly appointed Dictator--that is, he was offered supreme authorityover all the state, --and messengers were sent to ask him to accept thedirection of affairs. He was found at work on his little farm, whichcomprised only four jugera, either digging or plowing, and after he hadsent for his toga, or outer garment, which he had thrown off forconvenience in working, and had put it on, he listened to the message, and accepted the responsibility. The next morning he appeared on theforum by daylight, like an early rising farmer, and issued orders thatno one should attend to private business, but that all men of properage should meet him on the field of Mars by sunset with food sufficientfor five days. At the appointed hour the army was ready, and, sorapidly did it march, that before midnight the camp of the enemy wasreached. The Æquians, not expecting such promptness, were astonished tohear a great shout, and to find themselves shut up between two Romanarmies, both of which advanced and successfully hemmed them in. Theywere thus forced to surrender, and Cincinnatus obliged them to passunder the yoke, in token of subjugation. (_Sub_, under, _jugum_, ayoke. ) The yoke in this case was made of two spears fastened upright inthe ground with a third across them at the top. In the short space oftwenty-four hours, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus raised an army, defeatedan enemy, and laid down his authority as dictator! It was decreed thathe should enter the city in triumph. He rode in his chariot through thestreets, the rejoicing inhabitants spreading tables in front of theirhouses, laden with meat and drink for the soldiers. The defeated chiefswalked before the victor, and after them followed the standards thathad been won, while still farther behind were the soldiers, bearing therich spoils. It was customary in those days for a conqueror to takeevery thing from the poor people whom he had vanquished, --homes, lands, cattle, wealth of every sort, --and then even to carry the men, women, and children away into slavery themselves. Thus a subjugated countrybecame a desolation, unless the conquerors sent settlers to occupy thevacant homes and cultivate the neglected farms. Bad and frightful aswar is now, it is not conducted on such terrible principles as werefollowed in early times. 

Though from time to time concessions were made to the commons, theycontinued to feel that they were deprived of many of their justpolitical rights, and the antagonism remained lively between them andthe patricians. The distresses that they suffered were real, andendured even for two centuries after the time assigned to Coriolanus. We have now, indeed, arrived at a period of their sore trial, though itwas preceded by some events that seemed to promise them good. In theyear 454, Lucius Icilius, one of the tribunes of the people, managed tohave the whole of the Aventine Hill given up to them, and as it was, after the Capitoline, the strongest of all the seven, their politicalimportance was of course increased. It was but a few years later (B. C. 451) when, according to tradition, after long and violent debates itwas decided that a commission should be sent to Athens, or to somecolony of the Greeks, to learn what they could from the principles ofgovernment adopted by that ancient and wise people, which was then atthe very height of its prosperity and fame. After this commission hadmade its report (in the year B. C. 450), all the important magistrates, including the consuls, tribunes, and ædiles, were replaced by tenpatricians, known as Decemvirs (_decem_, ten, _vir_, a man), appointedto prepare a new code of laws. 

The chief of this body was an Appius Claudius, son of the haughtypatrician of the same name, and equally as haughty as he ever was. Thelaws of Rome before this time had been in a mixed condition, partlywritten and partly unwritten and traditional; but now all were to bereduced to order, and incorporated with those two laws that could notbe touched--that giving the Aventine to the plebeians, and the sacredlaw settled on the Roman Runnymede after the first secession to theSacred Mount. After a few months the ten men produced ten laws, whichwere written out and set up in public places for the people to read andcriticise. Suggestions for alterations might be made, and if the tenmen approved them, they made them a part of their report, after whichall was submitted to the senate and the curiæ, and finally approved. The whole code of laws was then engraved on ten tables of enduringbrass and put up in the comitium, where all might see them and have noexcuse for not obeying them. 

We do not know exactly what all these laws were, but enough has comedown to us to make it clear that they were drawn up with greatfairness, because they met the expectations of the people; and thisshows, of course, that the political power of the plebeians was nowconsiderable, because ten patricians would not have made the laws fair, unless there had been a strong influence exerted over them, obligingthem to be careful in their action. The ten had acted so well, indeed, that it was thought safe and advisable to continue the government inthe same form for another year. This proved a mistake, for Appiusmanaged to gain so much influence that he was the only one of theoriginal ten who was re-elected, and he was able also to cause nineothers to be chosen with him who were weak men, whom he felt sure thathe could control. When the new decemvirs came into power, they soonadded two new laws to the original ten, and the whole are now known, therefore, as the "Twelve Tables. " The additional laws proved sodistasteful to the people that they were much irritated, and seemedready to revolt against the government on the slightest provocation. The decemvirs became exceedingly ostentatious and haughty, too, intheir bearing, as well as tyrannical in their acts, so that the citywas all excitement and opposition to the government that a few weeksbefore had been liked so well. Nothing was needed to bring about anoutbreak except a good excuse, and that was not long waited for. Nations do not often have to wait long for a cause for fighting, ifthey want to find one. 

A war broke out with the Sabines and the Æquians at the same time, andarmies were sent against them both, commanded by friends of theplebeians. Lucius Sicinius Dentatus, one of the bravest, was sent outat the head of one army with some traitors, who, under orders from thedecemvirs, murdered him in a lonely place. The other commander wasLucius Virginius, who will be known as long as literature lasts asfather of the beautiful but unfortunate Virginia. While Virginius wasfighting the city's war against the Æquians, the tyrant Appius wasplotting to snatch from him his beloved daughter, who was affianced tothe tribune Lucius Icilius, the same who had caused the Aventine to beassigned to the plebeians. At first wicked Appius endeavored to enticethe maiden from her noble lover, but without success; and he thereforedetermined to take her by an act of tyranny, under color of law. Hecaused one of his minions to claim her as his slave, intending to gether into his hands before her father could hear of the danger andreturn from the army. The attempt was not successful, for trustyfriends carried the news quickly, and Virginius reached Rome in time tohear the cruel sentence by which the tyrant thought to gratify his evilintention. Before Virginia could be taken from the forum, Virginiusdrew her aside, suddenly snatched a sharp knife from a butcher's stall, and plunged it in her bosom, crying out: "This is the only way, mychild, to keep thee free!" Then, turning to Appius, he held the bloodyknife on high and cried: "On thy head be the curse of this blood. "Vainly did Appius call upon the crowd to arrest the infuriated father;the people stood aside to allow him to pass, as though he had beensomething holy, and he rushed onward toward his portion of the army, which was soon joined by the troops that Dentatus had commanded. Meantime, Icilius held up the body of his loved one before the peoplein the forum, and bade them gaze on the work of their decemvir. Atumult was quickly stirred up, in the midst of which Appius fled to hishouse, and the senate, hastily summoned, cast about for means to stopthe wild indignation of the exasperated populace; for the people werethen, as they are now, always powerful in the strength of outragedfeeling or righteous indignation. 

All was vain. The two armies returned to the Aventine united, and fromthe other parts of the city the plebeians flocked to them. This was thesecond secession, and, like the first, it was successful. The decemvirswere compelled to resign, their places being filled by two consuls;Appius was thrown into prison, to await judgment, and took his lifethere; and ten tribunes of the people were chosen to look out for theinterests of the commons, Virginius and Icilius being two of thenumber. Thus, for the first time since the days of Publius Valerius, the control of government was in the hands of men who wished to carryit on for the good of the country, rather than in the interest of aparty. Thus good came out of evil. 

Among the laws of the Twelve Tables, the particular one which had atthis time excited the plebeians was a statute prohibiting marriagesbetween members of their order and the patricians. There had been suchmarriages, and this made the opposition to the law all the more bitter, though no one was powerful enough to cause it to be abolished. Therenow arose a tribune of the people who possessed force and persistence, Caius Canuleius by name, and he urged the repeal of this law. For thethird time the plebeians seceded, this time going over the Tiber to theJaniculum Hill, where it would have been possible for them to begin anew city, if they had not been propitiated. Canuleius argued with vigoragainst the consuls who stood up for the law, and at last he succeeded. In the year 445 the restriction was removed, and plebeian girls were atliberty to become the wives of patrician men, with the assurance thattheir children should enjoy the rank of their fathers. This right ofintermarriage led in time to the entrance of plebeians upon the highestmagistracies of the city, and it was, therefore, of great politicalimportance. 

It was agreed in 444 B. C. That the supreme authority should be centredin two magistrates, called Military Tribunes, who should have the powerof consuls, and might be chosen from the two orders. The followingyear, however (443 B. C. ), the patricians were allowed to choose fromtheir own order two officers known as Censors, who were alwaysconsidered to outrank all others, excepting the dictator, when therewas one of those extraordinary magistrates. The censors wore rich robesof scarlet, and had almost kingly dignity. They made the register ofthe citizens at the time of the census, [Footnote: After the expulsionof the Tarquins, the consuls took the census, and this was the firstappointment of special officers for the purpose. ] administered thepublic finances, and chose the members of the senate, besidesexercising many other important duties connected with public andprivate life. The term of office of the censors at first was a lustrumor five years, but ten years later it was limited to eighteen months. In 421, the plebeians made further progress, for the office of quæstor(paymaster) was opened to them, and they thus became eligible to thesenate. A score of years passed, however, before any plebeian wasactually chosen to the office of military tribune even, owing to thegreat influence of the patricians in the comitia centuriata. 

All the time that these events were occurring, Rome was carrying onintermittent wars with the surrounding nations, and by her own efforts, as well as by the help of her allies, was adding to her warlikeprestige. Nothing in all the story of war exceeds in interest thepoetical narrative that relates to the siege and fall of the Etruscancity of Veii, with which, since the days of Romulus, Rome had so manytimes been involved in war. 

Year after year the army besieged the strong place, and there seemed nohope that its walls would fall. It was allied with Fidenæ, another cityhalfway between it and Rome, which was taken by means of a mine in theyear 426. A peace with Veii ensued, after which the incessant war beganagain, and fortune sometimes favored one side and sometimes the other. The siege of the city can be fittingly compared to that of Troy, Sevenyears had passed without result, when of a sudden, in the midst of anautumn drought, the waters of the Alban Lake, away off to the otherside of Rome, began to rise. Higher and still higher they rose withoutany apparent cause, until the fields and houses were covered, and thenthey found a passage where the hills were lowest, and poured down in agreat torrent upon the plains below. Unable to understand this portent, for such it was considered, the Romans called upon the oracle at Delphifor counsel, and were told that not until the waters should find theirway into the lowlands by a new channel, should not rush so impetuouslyto the sea, but should water the country, could Veii be taken. It ishardly necessary to say that no one but an oracle or a poet could seethe connection between the draining of a lake fifteen miles from Romeon one side, and the capture of a fortress ten miles away on the other. However, the lake was drained. With surprising skill, a tunnel wasbuilt directly through the rocky hills, and the waters allowed to flowover the fields below. The traveller may still see this ancientstructure performing its old office. It is cut for a mile and a half, mainly through solid rock, four feet wide and from seven to ten inheight. The lake is a thousand feet above the sea-level, and of verygreat depth. 

Marcus Furius Camillus is the hero who now comes to the rescue. He waschosen dictator in order that he might push the war with the utmostvigor. The people of Veii sent messengers to him to sue for peace, buttheir appeal was in vain. Steadily the siege went on. We must notpicture to ourselves the army of Camillus using the various engines ofwar that the Romans became acquainted with in later times throughintercourse with the Greeks, but trusting more to their strong arms andtheir simple means of undermining the walls or breaking down the gates. Their bows and slings and ladders were weak instruments against strongstone walls, and the siege was a long and wearisome labor. It proved solong in this case, indeed, that the soldiers, unable to make visits totheir homes to plant and reap their crops, were for the first time paidfor their services. 

As the unsuccessful ambassadors from Veii turned away from the senate-house, one of them uttered a fearful prophecy, saying that though theunmerciful Romans feared neither the wrath of the gods nor thevengeance of men, they should one day be rewarded for their hardness bythe loss of their own country. 

Summer and winter the Roman army camped before the doomed city, but itdid not fall. At last, to ensure success, Camillus began a mine ortunnel under the city, which he completed to a spot just beneath thealtar in the temple of Juno. When but a single stone remained to betaken away, he uttered a fervent prayer to the goddess, and made a vowto Apollo consecrating a tenth part of the spoil of the city to him. Hethen ordered an assault upon the walls, and at the moment when the kingwas making an offering on the altar of Juno, and the augur was tellinghim that victory in the contest was to fall to him who should burn theentrails then ready, the Romans burst from their tunnel, finished thesacrifice, and rushing to the gates, let their own army in. The citywas sacked, and as Camillus looked on, he exclaimed: "What man'sfortune was ever so great as mine?" A magnificent triumph wascelebrated in Rome. Day after day the temples were crowded, andCamillus, hailed as a public benefactor, rode to the capitol in achariot drawn by four white horses. The territory of the conquered citywas divided among the patricians, but Camillus won their hatred after atime by calling upon them to give up a tenth part of their rich bootyto found a temple to Apollo, in pursuance of his vow, which he claimedto have forgotten meanwhile. It was not long before he was accused ofunfairness in distributing the spoils, some of which he was said tohave retained himself, and when he saw that the people were so incensedat him that condemnation was inevitable, he went into banishment. As hewent away, he added a malediction to the prophecy of the ambassadorfrom Veii, and said that the republic might soon have cause to regrethis loss. He was, as he had expected, condemned, a fine of one hundredand fifty thousand ases being laid upon him. 

Thus was the territory of Rome greatly increased, after a hundred yearsof war and intrigue, and thus did the warrior to whom the city owed themost, and whom it had professed to honor, go from it with a maledictionon his lips. Let us see how the ill omens were fulfilled. 

VIII. 

A BLAST FROM BEYOND THE NORTH-WIND. 

When the Greeks shivered in the cold north-wind, they thought thatBoreas, one of their divinities who dwelt beyond the high mountains, had loosened the blast from a mysterious cave. The North was to them anunknown region. Far beyond the hills they thought there dwelt a nationknown as Hyperboreans, or people beyond the region of Boreas, who livedin an atmosphere of feathers, enjoying Arcadian happiness, andstretching their peaceful lives out to a thousand years. That which isunknown is frightful to the ignorant or the superstitious, and so itwas that the North was a land in which all that was alarming might beconjured up. The inhabitants of the Northern lands were called Gauls bythe Romans. They lived in villages with no walls about them, and had nohousehold furniture; they slept in straw, or leaves, or grass, andtheir business in life was either agriculture or war. They were hardy, tall, and rough in appearance; their hair was shaggy and light in colorcompared with that of the Italians, and their fierce appearance struckthe dwellers under sunnier climes with dread. 

These warlike people had come from the plains of Asia, and in Centraland Northern Europe had increased to such an extent that they could atlength find scarcely enough pasturage for their flocks. The mountainswere full of them, and it was not strange that some looked down fromtheir summits into the rich plains of Italy, and then went thither;and, tempted by the crops, so much more abundant than they had everknown, and by the wine, which gave them a new sensation, at last madetheir homes there. It was a part of their life to be on the move, andby degrees they slipped farther and farther into the pleasant land. They flocked from the Hercynian forests, away off in Bohemia orHungary, and swarmed over the Alps; they followed the river Po in itscourse, and they came into the region of the Apennines too. [Footnote:No one knows exactly when the Gauls first entered Northern Italy. Somethink that it was as long back as the time of the Tarquins, whileothers put it only ten or twenty years before the battle of the Allia--410-400 B. C. ] It was they who had weakened the Etruscans and made itpossible for the Romans to capture Veii. Afterwards they came beforethe city of Clusium (B. C. 391), and the people in distress begged foraid from Rome. No help was given, but ambassadors were sent to warn theinvaders courteously not to attack the friends of the Roman people whohad done them no harm. Such a request might have had an effect upon anation that knew the Romans better, but the fierce Northerners who knewnothing of courtesy replied that if the Clusians would peaceably giveup a portion of their lands, no harm should befall them; but thatotherwise they should be attacked, and that in the presence of theRomans, who might thus take home an account of how the Gauls excelledall other mortals in bravery. Upon being asked by what right theyproposed to take a part of the Clusian territory, Brennus, the leaderof the barbarians, replied that all things belonged to the brave, andthat their right lay in their trusty swords. 

In the battle that ensued, the Roman ambassadors fought with theClusians, and one of them killed a Gaul of great size and stature. Thiswas made the basis for an onset upon Rome itself. Then the Romans musthave remembered how just before the hero of Veii had gone intobanishment, a good and respectable man reported to the militarytribunes that one night as he was going along the street near thetemple of Vesta, he heard a voice saying plainly to him: "MarcusCædicius, the Gauls are coming!" Probably they remembered, too, howlightly they esteemed the information, and how even the tribunes madesport of it. Now the Northern scourge was actually rushing down uponthem, and Camillus was gone! In great rage the invaders pushed ontowards the city, alarming all who came in their way by their numbers, their fierceness, and the violence with which they swept away allopposition. There was little need of fear, however, for the rough mentook nothing from the fields, and, as they passed the cities, cried outthat they were on their way to Rome, and that they considered theinhabitants of all cities but Rome friends who should receive no harm. 

The Romans had a proverb to the effect that whom the gods wish todestroy they first make mad, and, according to their historian Livy, itwas true in this case, for when the city was thus menaced by a newenemy, rushing in the intoxication of victory and impelled by the furyof wrath and the thirst for vengeance, they did not take any but themost ordinary precautions to protect themselves; leaving to the usualofficers the direction of affairs, and not bestirring themselves asmuch as they did when threatened by the comparatively inferior forcesof the neighboring states. They even neglected the prescribed religiouscustoms and the simplest precautions of war. When they sent out theirarmy they did not select a fit place for a camp, nor build rampartsbehind which they might retreat, and they drew up the soldiers in sucha way that the line was unusually weak in the parts it presented to theon-rushing enemy. 

Under such unpropitious circumstances the impetuous Gauls were met onthe banks of the river Allia, ten miles from Rome, on the very day onwhich the Fabii had been destroyed by the Etruscans the century before(July 16, 390). The result was that terror took possession of thesoldiers, and the Gauls achieved an easy victory, so easy, indeed, thatit left them in a state of stupefied surprise. A part of the Romansfled to the deserted stronghold of Veii, and others to their own city, but many were overtaken by the enemy and killed, or were swept away bythe current of the Tiber. [Footnote: That this was a terrible defeat isproved by the fact that the sixteenth of July was afterward heldunlucky (_ater, _ black), and no business was transacted on it. Ovid mentions it as "the day to which calamitous Allia gives a name inthe calendar, " and on which "tearful Allia was stained with the bloodof the Latian wounds. "]

There was dire alarm in the city. The young and vigorous members of thesenate, with their wives and children and other citizens, found refugein the capitol, which they fortified; but the aged senators took theirseats in the forum and solemnly awaited the coming of Brennus and hishosts. The barbarians found, of course, no difficulty in taking andburning the city, and for days they sacked and pillaged the houses. Thevenerable senators were immediately murdered, and the invaders put thecapitol in a state of siege. 

Then the curses of the ambassador of Veii and of Camillus found theirfulfilment; and then also did the thoughts of the Romans turn to theironce admired commander, who, they were now sure, could help them. Therefugees at Veii, too, turned in their thoughts to Camillus, andmessengers were sent to him at Ardea, where he was in exile, asking himto come to the assistance of his distressed countrymen. Camillus wastoo proud to accept a command to which he was not called by the senate, while he was under condemnation for an offence of which he did not feelguilty. The senate was shut up in the capitol, and hard to get at, butan ambitious youth offered to climb the precipitous hill, in spite ofthe besieging barbarians, and obtain the requisite order. The daringman crossed the Tiber, and scaled the hill by the help of shrubs andprojecting stones. After obtaining for Camillus the appointment ofdictator, he successfully returned to Veii, and then the banishedleader accepted the supreme office for the second time. 

The sharp watchers among the Gauls had, however, noticed in the brokenshrubs and loosened stones the marks of the daring act of the messengerwho had climbed the hill, and determined to take the hint and enter thecapitol in that way themselves. In the dead of night, but by the brightlight of the moon we may suppose, since the battle of Allia was foughtat the full of the moon, the daring barbarians began slowly and withgreat difficulty to climb the rocky hill. They actually reached itssummit, and, to their surprise, were not noisy enough to awaken theguards; but, alas for them, the sacred geese of the capitol, kept foruse in the worship of Juno, were confined near the spot where theascent had been made. Alarmed by the unusual occurrence, the geeseuttered their natural noises and awakened Marcus Manlius, who quicklybuckled on his armor and rushed to the edge of the cliff. He was justin time to meet the first Gaul as he came up, and to push him over onthe others who were painfully following him. Down he fell backwards, striking his companions and sending them one after another to the footof the precipice in promiscuous ruin. In the morning the captain of thewatch was in turn cast down upon the heads of the enemies, to whom hisneglect had given such an advantage. 

Now there remained nothing for the Gauls to do but sit down and wait, to see if they could starve the Romans confined in the capitol. Monthspassed, and, indeed, they almost accomplished their object, but whilethey were listlessly waiting, the hot Roman autumn was having itsnatural effect upon them, accustomed as they were to an active life inthose Northern woods where the cool winds of the mountains fanned themand the leafy shades screened their heads from the heat of the sun. Themiasma of the low lands crept up into their camps, and the ashes of theruins that they had made blew into their faces and affected theirhealth. They might almost as well have been shut up on the hill. Theresult was that both Gaul and Roman felt at last that peace would be aboon no matter at how high a price purchased, and it was agreed byBrennus that if the Romans would weigh him out a thousand pounds ofrich gold, he would take himself and his horde back to the morecomfortable woods. The scales were prepared and the gold was broughtout, but the Romans found that their enemies were cheating in theweight. When asked what it meant, Brennus pulled off his heavy sword, threw it into the balances and said: "What does it mean, but woe to thevanquished!" "_Væ victis!_"

It was very bad for the Romans, but the story goes on to tell us thatat that very moment, the great Camillus was knocking at the gates, thathe entered at the right instant with his army, took the gold out of thescales, threw the weights, and the scales themselves, indeed, to theGauls, and told Brennus that it was the custom of the Romans to paytheir debts in iron, not in gold. The Gauls immediately called theirmen together and hastened from the city, establishing a camp eightmiles away on the road to Gabii, where Camillus overtook them the nextday and defeated them with such great slaughter that they were able todo no further damage. 

[Illustration: THE CAPITOL RESTORED. ]

It seems a pity to spoil so good a story, but it is like many othersthat have grown up in the way that reminds one of the game of "scandal"that the children play. The Roman historians always wished to glorifytheir nation, and they took every opportunity to make the storiesappear well for the old heroes. It seems that at this time some Gaulswere really cut off by the people of Cære, or some neighboring place, and, to improve the story, it was at first said that they were the veryones that had taken Rome. Then, another writer added, that the goldgiven as a ransom for the city was retaken with the captives; and, asanother improvement, it was said that Camillus was the one whoaccomplished the feat, but that it was a long time afterwards, when theGauls were besieging another city. The last step in adding to the storywas taken when some one, thinking that it could be improved still more, and the national pride satisfied, brought Camillus into the city at thevery moment that the gold was in the scales, so that he could keep itfrom being delivered at all, and then proceed to cut off all the enemy, so that not a man should be left to take the terrible tale back overthe northern mountains! The story is not all false, for there are goodevidences that Rome was burned, but the heroic embellishments aredoubtless the imaginative and patriotic additions of historians whothought more of national pride than historic accuracy. 

Camillus now proceeded to rebuild the city, and came to be honored asthe second founder of Rome. The suffering people rushed out of thecapitol weeping for very joy; the inhabitants who had gone elsewherecame back; the priests brought the holy things from their hiding-places; the city was purified; a temple was speedily erected to Rumoror Voice on the spot where Cædicius had heard the voice announcing thecoming barbarians; and there was a diligent digging among the ashes tofind the sites of the other temples and streets. It was a tedious andalmost hopeless task to rebuild the broken-down city, and the peoplebegan to look with longing to the strongly-built houses and templesstill standing at Veii, wondering why they might not go thither in abody and live in comfort, instead of digging among ashes to rebuild acity simply to give Camillus, of whom they quickly began to be jealous, the honor that had been an attribute of Romulus only. Then the senateappealed to the memories of the olden time; the stories of the sacredplaces, and especially of the head that was found on the CapitolineHill, were retold, and by dint of entreaty and expostulation thedistressed inhabitants were led to go to work to patch up the ruins. They brought stones from Veii, and to the poor the authorities grantedbricks, and gradually a new, but ill-built, city grew up among theruins, with crooked streets and lanes, and with buildings, public andprivate, huddled together just as happened to be the most convenientfor the immediate occasion. 

Camillus lived twenty-five years longer, and was repeatedly called tothe head of affairs, as the city found itself in danger from theVolscians, Æquians, Etruscans and other envious enemies. Six times washe made one of the tribunes, and five times did he hold the office ofdictator. When the Gauls came again, in the year 367, Camillus wascalled upon to help his countrymen for the last time, and though he wassome fourscore years of age, he did not hesitate, nor did victorydesert him. The Gauls were defeated with great slaughter, and it was along time before they again ventured to trouble the Romans. The secondfounder of Rome, after his long life of warfare, died of a plague thatcarried away many of the prominent citizens in the year 365. Hisvictories had not all been of the same warlike sort, however. "Peacehath her victories no less renowned than war, " and Camillus gained hisshare of them. 

Marcus Manlius, the preserver of the capitol, was less fortunate, forwhen he saw that the plebeians were suffering because the lawsconcerning debtors were too severe, and came forward as patron of thepoor, he received no recognition, and languished in private life, whileCamillus was a favorite. He therefore turned to the plebeians, anddevoted his large fortune to relieving suffering debtors. Thepatricians looking upon him as a deserter from their party, brought upcharges against him, and though he showed the marks of distinction thathe had won in battles for the country, and gained temporary respitefrom their enmity, they did not relent until his condemnation had beensecured. He was hurled from the fatal Tarpeian Rock, and his house wasrazed to the ground in the year 384. 

Eight years after the death of Manlius (B. C. 376), two tribunes of theplebeians, one of whom was Caius Licinius Stolo, proposed some new lawsto protect poor debtors, whose grievances had been greatly increased bythe havoc of the Gauls, and after nine more years of tedious discussionand effort, they were enacted (B. C. 367), and are known as the LicinianLaws, or rather, Rogations, for a law before it was finally passed wasknown as a rogation, and these were long discussed before they wereagreed to. (_Rogare_, to ask, that is, to ask the opinion of one. )So great was the feeling aroused by this discussion, that Camillus wascalled upon to interfere, and he succeeded in pacifying the city;Lucius Sextius was chosen as the first plebeian consul, and Camillus, having thus a third time saved the state, dedicated a temple toConcord. As a plebeian had been made consul, the disturbing strugglesbetween the two orders could not last much longer, and we find that theplebeians gradually gained ground, until at last the politicaldistinction between them and the patricians was wiped out forgenerations. The laws that finally effected this were those ofPublilius, in 339, and of Hortensius, the dictator, in 286. 

The period of the death of Camillus is to be remembered on account ofseveral facts connected with a plague that visited Rome in the year365. The people, in their despair, for the third time in the history ofthe city, performed a peculiar sacrifice called the _Lectisternium_(_lectus_, a couch, _sternere_, to spread), to implore the favor ofoffended deities. They placed images of the gods upon cushions orcouches and offered them viands, as if the images could really eatthem. Naturally this did not effect any abatement of the ravagingdisease, and under orders of the priests, stage plays were institutedas a means of appeasing the wrath of heaven. The first Roman play-writer, Plautus, did not live till a hundred years after this time, andthese performances were trivial imitations of Etruscan acting, whichthus came to Rome at second-hand from Greece; but, as the Romans didnot particularly delight in intellectual efforts at that time, buffoonery sufficed instead of the wit which gave so much pleasure tothe cultivated attendants at the theatre of Athens. Livy says thatthese plays neither relieved the minds nor the bodies of the Romans;and, in fact, when on one occasion the performances were interrupted bythe overflowing waters of the Tiber which burst into the circus, thepeople turned from the theatre in terror, feeling that their efforts tosoothe the gods had been despised. It was at this time that the earthis said to have been opened in the forum by an earthquake, and thatCurtius cast himself into it as a sacrifice; but, as we have read ofthe occurrence before we shall not stop to consider it again. The younghero was called Mettus Curtius in the former instance, but now the namegiven to him is Marcus Curtius. 

IX. 

HOW THE REPUBLIC OVERCAME ITS NEIGHBORS. 

We have now reached the time when Rome had brought under her sway allthe country towards Naples as far as the river Liris, and, gainingstrength, she is about to add materially to her territory and to laythe foundation for still more extensive conquests. During the centurythat we are next to consider, she conquered her immediate neighbors, and was first noticed by that powerful city which was soon to becomeher determined antagonist, Carthage. It was the time when the greatMacedonian conqueror, Alexander, finished his war in Persia, and themention of his name leads Livy to pause in his narrative, and, reflecting that the age was remarkable above others for its conquerors, to enquire what would have been the consequences if Alexander had beenminded to turn his legions against Rome, after having become master ofthe Eastern world. Alexander died, however, before he had anopportunity to get back from the East; but, as the old historian says, it is entertaining and relaxing to the mind to digress from weightierconsiderations and to embellish historical study with variety, and hedecides that if the great Eastern conqueror had marched against Rome, he would have been defeated. While Livy was probably influenced in thisdecision by that desire to magnify the prowess of his country which isplainly seen throughout his work, we may agree with him without fear ofbeing far from correct, especially when we remember that Alexanderachieved his great success against peoples that had not reached thestage of military science that Rome had by this time attained. "Theaspect of Italy, " Livy says, "would have appeared to him quitedifferent from that of India, which he traversed in the guise of areveller at the head of a crew of drunkards * * * Never were we worstedby an enemy's cavalry, never by their infantry, never in open fight, never on equal ground, " but our army "has defeated and will defeat athousand armies more formidable than those of Alexander and theMacedonians, provided that the same love of peace and solicitude aboutdomestic harmony in which we now live continue permanent. " This is whatpatriotism says for Rome, and we can hardly say less, when we rememberthat when she came into conflict with great Carthage, led by diplomaticand scientific Hannibal, she proved the victor. We are, however, moreinterested now in what the Roman arms actually accomplished than inenquiries, however interesting, about what they might have done. Theysubjugated the world, and that is enough for us. 

One of the most favored and celebrated families in the history of Romefor a thousand years was that called Valerian, and at the time to whichour thoughts are now directed, one of the members comes into prominenceas the most illustrious general of the era. Marcus Valerius Corvus wasborn at about the time when the rogations of Licinius Stolo becamelaws, and in early life distinguished himself as a soldier in anassault made on the Romans by the Gauls, who seem not to have all beenswept away for a long time. It was in the year 349. The dreaded enemyrushed upon Rome, and the citizens took up arms in a mass. One soldier, Titus Manlius, met a gigantic Gaul on a bridge over the Anio, and afterslaying him, carried off a massy chain that he bore on his neck. _Torquatus_ in Latin means "provided with a chain, " and this wordwas added to the name of Manlius ever after. It was at the same timethat Marcus Valerius encountered another huge Gaul in single combat, and overcame him, though he was aided by a raven which settled on hishelmet, and in the contest picked at the eyes of the barbarian. _Corvus_ is the Latin word for raven, and it was added to the othernames of Valerius. A golden crown and ten oxen were presented to him, and the people chose him consul. 

Corvus was no less powerful than popular. He competed with the othersoldiers in their games of the camp, and listened to their jokes like acompanion without taking offence. He thus established a bond betweenthe two orders. Six times he served as consul, and twice as dictator. Never was such a man more needed than was he now. At an unknown periodthere had come down from the snowy tops of the Apennines a strongpeople, known afterwards as Samnites, who now began to press upon theinhabitants of the region called Campania, in the midst of which is thevolcano Vesuvius. [Footnote: Among the strange customs of the oldentimes in Italy was one called _ver sacrum_ (sacred spring). In time ofdistress a vow would be made to sacrifice every creature born in Apriland May to propitiate an offended deity. In many cases man and beastwere thus offered; but in time humanity revolted against the sacrificeof children, and they were considered sacred, but allowed to grow up, and at the age of twenty were sent blindfolded out into the worldbeyond the frontier to found a colony wherever the gods might leadthem. The Mamertines in Sicily sprang from such emigrants, and it issupposed that the Samnites had a similar origin. ] There, too, were Cumæand Capua, of which we have had occasion to speak, and Herculaneum andPompeii; there was Naples on its beautiful bay, and there wasPalæopolis, the "old city, " not far distant (_Nea, _ new, _polis, _ city;_palaios, _ old, _polis, _ city). This was a part of Magna Græcia, whichincluded many rich cities in the southern portion of the peninsula, among which were Tarentum, and there had been the earliest of the Greekcolonies, Sybaris, the abode of wealth and luxury, until itsdestruction at the time of the fall of the Tarquins. 

The Campanians invoked the help of Rome against their sturdy foes, anda struggle for the mastery of Italy began, which lasted for more thanhalf a century, though there were three wars, separated by intervals ofpeace. The first struggle lasted from 343 to 341, and is important forits first battle, which was fought at the foot of Mount Gaurus, threemiles from Cumæ. It is memorable because Valerius Corvus, who liveduntil the Samnites had been finally subdued, was victorious, and thehistorian Niebuhr tells us that though we find it but little spoken of, it is one of the most noteworthy in all the history of the world, because it indicated that Rome was to achieve the final success, andthus take its first step towards universal sovereignty. After thisvictory the Carthaginians, with whom Rome was to have a desperate warafterwards, sent congratulations, accompanied by a golden crown for theshrine of Jupiter in the capitol. It is said that at the time of theexpulsion of the Tarquins, the Romans and Carthaginians had enteredinto a treaty of friendship, which had been renewed five years beforethe war with the Samnites, but we are not certain of it. 

The results of the burning of Rome by the Gauls had not all ceased tobe felt, and many of the plebeians were still suffering under theburden of debts that they could not pay. A portion of the army, composed, as we know, of plebeians, was left to winter at Capua. Thereit saw the luxurious extravagance of the citizens, and felt its ownburdens more than ever by contrast. A mutiny ensued, and though it wasquelled, more concessions were made to the plebeians, and their debtswere generally abolished. Meantime the Latins saw evidence that thepower of Rome was growing more rapidly than their own, and they, therefore, determined to go to war to obtain the equality that theythought the terms of the treaty between the nations authorized them toexpect. The Samnites were now the allies of Rome, and fought with her. The armies met under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. In a vision, so thestory runs, it had been foretold to the Romans that the leader of onearmy and the soldiers of the other were forfeited to the gods; andwhen, during the battle, the plebeian consul, Marcus Decius Mus, whohad been a hero in the previous war, saw that his line was fallingback, he uttered a solemn prayer and threw himself into the thickest ofthe fight. By thus giving up his life, as the partial historians liketo tell us that many Romans have done at various epochs, he ensuredvictory on this occasion, and subsequently the conquest of the world, to his countrymen. Other battles and other victories followed, and thepeople of Latium became dependent upon Rome. The last engagement was atAntium, an ancient city on a promontory below Ostia, which, having alittle navy, had interfered with the Roman commerce. The prows of thevessels of Antium were set up in the Roman forum as an ornament to the_suggestum_, or stage from which orators addressed the people. This wascalled the _rostra_ afterward. (_Rostra_, beaks of birds or ships. )

Thus the city kept on adding to its dependents, and increasing itspower. In 329, the Volscians were overcome and their long warfare withRome ended. Two years later, the Romans declared war against Palæopolisand Neapolis, and after taking the Old City, made a league with theNew. One war thus led to another, and as the Samnites, getting jealousof the increasing power of their ally, had aided these two cities, Romedeclared war the second time against them, in 326. It proved the mostimportant of the three Samnite wars, lasting upward of twenty years. The aim of each of the combatants seems to have been to gain as manyallies as possible, and to lessen the adherents of the enemy. For thisreason the war was peculiar, the armies of Rome being often found inApulia, and those of the enemy being ever ready to overrun Campania. 

Success at first followed the Samnite banners, and this was notably thecase at the battle of Caudine Forks, fought in a pass on the road fromCapua to Beneventum (then Maleventum), in the year 321, when the Romanswere entrapped and all obliged to pass under the yoke. Such a successis apt to influence allies, and this tended to strengthen the Samnites. It was not until seven years had passed that the Romans were able tomake decided gains, and though their cause appeared quite hopeful, thevery success brought new troubles, because it led the Etruscans to takepart with the Samnites and to create a diversion on the north. Thisoutbreak is said to have been quelled by Fabius Maximus Rullus, (ageneral whose personal prowess is vaunted in the highest terms by thehistorians of Rome, ) who defeated the Etruscans at Lake Vadimonis, B. C. 310. Success followed in the south, also, and in the year 304, Bovianum, in the heart of Samnium, which had been before taken by them, fell into the hands of the Romans and closed the war, leaving Rome themost powerful nation in Central Italy. 

Unable to overcome its northern neighbor, Samnium now turned to attackLucania, the country to the south, which reached as far as theTarentine Gulf, just under the great heel of Italy. Magna Græcia wasthen in a state of decadence, and Lucania was an ally of Rome, whichtook its part against Samnium, not as loving Samnium less, but asloving power more. The struggle became very general. The Etruscans hadbegun a new war with Rome, but were about to treat for peace, when theSamnites induced them to break off the negotiations, and they attackedRome at once on the north and the south. The undaunted Romans struckout with one arm against the Etruscans and their allies the Gauls onthe north, and with the other hurled defiance at the Samnites on thesouth. The war was decided by a battle fought in 295, on the ridge ofthe Apennines, near the town of Sentinum in Umbria, where the allieshad all managed to unite their forces. On this occasion it is relatedthat Publius Decius Mus, son of that hero who had sacrificed himself atMount Vesuvius, followed his father's example, devoted himself and theopposing army to the infernal gods, and thus enabled the Romans toachieve a splendid victory. 

The Samnites continued the desperate struggle five years longer, but inthe year 290 they became subject to Rome; their leader, the hero of thebattle of the Caudine Forks, having been taken two years previously andperfidiously put to death in Rome as the triumphal car of the victorascended the Capitoline Hill. This is considered one of the darkestblots on the Roman name, and Dr. Arnold forcibly says that it showsthat in their dealings with foreigners, the Romans "had neithermagnanimity, nor humanity, nor justice. "

The Etruscans and the Gauls did not yet cease their wars on the north, and in 283 they encountered the Roman army at the little pond, betweenthe Ciminian Hills and the Tiber, known as Lake Vadimonis, on the spotwhere the Etrurian power had been broken thirty years before by FabiusMaximus, and were defeated with great slaughter. The constant wars hadmade the rich richer than before, while at the same time the poor weregrowing poorer, and after the third Samnite war we are ready to believethat debts were again pressing with heavy force upon many of thecitizens. Popular tumults arose, and the usual remedy, an agrarian law, was proposed. There was a new secession of the people to the Janiculum, followed by the enactment of the Hortensian laws, celebrated in thehistory of jurisprudence because they deprived the senate of its vetoand declared that the voice of the people assembled in their tribes wassupreme law. Debts were abolished or greatly reduced, and seven jugeraof land were allotted to every citizen. We see from this that thecommotions of our own days, made by socialists, communists, andnihilists, as they are called, are only repetitions of such agitationsas those which took place so many centuries ago. 

In the midst of a storm in the especially boisterous winter season ofthe year 280, the waves of the Mediterranean washed upon the shores ofSouthern Italy a brave man more dead than alive, who was to take thelead in the last struggle against the supremacy of Rome among itsneighbors. The winds and the waves had no respect for his crown. Theyknew not that he ruled over a strong people whose extensive mountainousland was known as the "continent, " and that he had left it withthousands of archers and slingers and footmen and knights; and that hehad also huge elephants trained to war, beasts then unknown in Italianwarfare, which he expected would strike horror into the cavalry of thecountry he had been cast upon. 

As we study history, we find that at almost every epoch it centresabout the personality of some strong man who has either power tocontrol, or sympathetic attractiveness that holds to him those who arearound him. It was so in this case. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, was bornseven years after the great Alexander died, and was at this timethirty-seven years of age. Claiming descent from Pyhrrus, son ofAchilles, and being a son of Æacides, he was in the direct line theKings of Epirus. He was also cousin of an Alexander, who, in the year332, had crossed over from Epirus to help the Tarentines against theLucanians, had formed an alliance with the Romans, and had finally beenkilled by a Lucanian on the banks of the Acheron, in 326. After avariety of vicissitudes, Pyrrhus had ascended the throne of his fatherat the age of twenty-three, and, taking Alexander the Great as hismodel, had soon become popular and powerful. Aiming at the conquest ofthe whole of Greece, he attacked the king of Macedonia and overcamehim. After resting a while upon his laurels, he found a life ofinactivity unbearable, and accepted a request, sent him in 281, tofollow in the footsteps of his cousin Alexander, and go to the help ofthe people of Tarentum against the Romans, with whom they were then atwar. This is the reason why he was voyaging in haste to Italy, and itwas this ambition that led to his shipwreck on a winter's night. 

Pyrrhus had a counsellor named Cineas, who asked him how he would usehis victory if he should be so fortunate as to overcome the Romans, whowere reputed great warriors and conquerors of many peoples. The Romansovercome, replied the king, no city, Greek nor barbarian, would dare tooppose me, and I should be master of all Italy. Well, Italy conquered, what next? Sicily next would hold out its arms to receive me, Pyrrhusreplied. And, what next? These would be but forerunners of greatervictories. There are Libya and Carthage, said the king. Then? Then, continued Pyrrhus, I should be able to master all Greece. And then?continued Cineas. Then I would live at ease, eat and drink all day, andenjoy pleasant conversation. And what hinders you from taking now theease that you are planning to take after such hazards and so muchblood-shedding? Here the conversation closed, for Pyrrhus could notanswer this question. 

Once on the Italian shore the invading king marched to Tarentum, andfound it a city of people given up to pleasures, who had no thought offighting themselves, but expected that he would do that work for themwhile they enjoyed their theatres, their baths, and their festivities. They soon found, however, that they had a master instead of a servant. Pyrrhus shut up the theatres and was inflexible in demanding theservices of the young and strong in the army. His preparations weremade as promptly as possible, but Rome was ahead of him, and her armywas superior, excepting that the Grecians brought elephants with them. The first battle was fought on the banks of the river Liris, and theelephants gave victory to the invader, but the valor of the Romans wassuch that Pyrrhus is said to have boasted that if he had such soldiershe could conquer the world, and to have confessed that another suchvictory would send him back to Epirus alone. It is not to be wonderedat, therefore, that he sent Cineas to Rome to plead for peace. TheRomans were on the point of entering into negotiations, when aged andblind Appius Claudius, hearing of it, caused himself to be carried tothe forum, where he delivered an impassioned protest against theproposed action. So effectual was he that the people became eager forwar, and sent word to Pyrrhus that they would only treat with him whenhe should withdraw his forces from Italy. Pyrrhus then marched rapidlytowards Rome, but when he had almost reached the city, afterdevastating the country through which he had passed, he learned thatthe Romans had made peace with the Etruscans, with whom they had beenfighting, and that thus another army was free to act against him. Hetherefore retreated to winter quarters at Tarentum. The next year thetwo forces met on the edge of the plains of Apulia, at Asculum, but thebattle resulted in no gain to Pyrrhus, who was again obliged to retirefor the winter to Tarentum. (B. C. 279. )

In the last battle the brunt of the fighting had fallen to the share ofthe Epirots, and Pyrrhus was not anxious to sacrifice his comparativelyfew remaining troops for the benefit of the Tarentines. Therefore, after arranging a truce with Rome, he accepted an invitation from theGreeks of Sicily to go to their help against the Carthaginians. For twoyears he fought, at first with success; but afterwards he met repulses, so that being again asked to assist his former allies in Italy, hereturned, in 276, and for two years led the remnants of his troops andthe mercenaries that he had attracted to his standard against theRomans. His Italian career closed in the year 274, when he encounteredhis enemy in the neighborhood of Maleventum, and was defeated, theRomans having learned how to meet the formerly dreaded elephants. Thename of this place was then changed to Beneventum. Two years laterstill, in 272, Tarentum fell under the sway of Rome, which soon hadovercome every nation on the peninsula south of a line marked by theRubicon on the east and the Macra on the west, --the boundaries ofGallia Cisalpina. (_Cis_, on this side, _alpina_, alpine. )

Not only had Rome thus gained power and prestige at home, but she hadbegun to come in contact with more distant peoples. Carthage hadoffered to assist her after the battle of Asculum, sending a largefleet of ships to Ostia in earnest of her good faith. Now, when thenews of the permanent repulse of the proud king of Epirus was spreadabroad, great Ptolemy Philadelphus, the Egyptian patron of art, literature, and science, sent an embassy empowered to conclude a treatyof amity with the republic. The proposition was accepted withearnestness, and ambassadors of the highest rank were sent toAlexandria, where they were treated with extraordinary consideration, and allowed to see all the splendor of the Egyptian capital. 

Rome had now reached a position of wealth and physical prosperity; therich had gained much land, and the poor had been permitted to share thegeneral progress; commerce, agriculture, and, to some extent, manufactures had advanced. Rome kept a firm hold upon all of theterritory she had won, connecting them with the capital by good roads, but making no arrangements for free communication between the chiefcities of the conquered regions. The celebrated military roads, ofwhich we now can see the wonderful remains, date from a later period, with the exception of the Appian Way, which was begun in 312, and, after the conquest of Italy was completed to Brundusium, through Capua, Tres Taberna, and Beneventum. Other than this there were a number ofearth roads leading from Rome in various directions. One of the mostancient of these was that over which Pyrrhus marched as far asPræneste, known as the Via Latina, which ran over the Tusculum Hills, and the Alban Mountain. The Via Ostiensis ran down the left bank of theTiber; the Via Saleria ran up the river to Tibur, and was afterwardcontinued, as the Via Valeria, over the Apennines to the Adriatic. 

[Illustration: ROMAN STREET PAVEMENT. ]

The population of Italy (at this time less than three million) wasdivided into three general classes: first, the _Roman Citizens_, comprising the members of the thirty-three tribes, stretching from Veiito the river Liris, the citizens in the Roman colonies, and in certainmunicipal towns; the _Latin Name_, including the inhabitants ofthe colonies generally, and some of the most flourishing towns ofItaly; and the _Allies_, or all other inhabitants of the peninsulawho were dependent upon Rome, but liked to think that they were notsubjects. The Romans had been made rich and prosperous by war, and wereready to plunge into any new struggle promising additional power andwealth. 

X. 

AN AFRICAN SIROCCO. 

All the time that the events that we have been giving our attention towere occurring--that is to say, ever since the foundation of Rome, another city had been growing up on the opposite side of theMediterranean Sea, in which a different kind of civilization had beendeveloped. Carthage, of which we have already heard, was founded bycitizens of Phoenicia. The early inhabitants were from Tyre, that oldcity of which we read in the Bible, which in the earliest times wasfamous for its rich commerce. How long the people of Phoenicia hadlived in their narrow land under the shadow of great Libanus, we cannottell, though Herodotus, when writing his history, went there to findout, and reported that at that time Tyre had existed twenty-threehundred years, which would make its foundation forty-five hundred yearsago, and more. However that may be, the purple of Tyre and the glass ofSidon, another and still older Phoenician city, were celebrated longbefore Rome was heard of. It was from this ancient land that the peopleof Carthage had come. It has been usual for emigrants to call theircities in a new land "new, " (as Nova Scotia, New York, New England, NewTown, or Newburg, ) and that is the way in which Carthage was named, forthe word means, in the old language of the Phoenicians, simply newcity, just as Naples was merely the Greek for new city, as we havealready seen. 

[Illustration: A PHOENICIAN VESSEL (TRIREME). ]

Through six centuries, the people of Carthage had been permitted by themother-city to attend diligently to their commerce, their agriculture, and to the building up of colonies along the southern coast of theMediterranean, and the advantages of their position soon gave them thegreatest importance among the colonies of the Phoenicians. There wasUtica, near by, which had existed for near three centuries longer thanCarthage, but its situation was not so favorable, and it fell behind. Tunes, now called Tunis, was but ten or fifteen miles away, but it alsowas of less importance. The commerce of Carthage opened the way forforeign conquest, and so, besides having a sort of sovereignty over allthe peoples on the northern coast of Africa, she established colonieson Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and other Mediterranean islands, andhistory does not go back far enough to tell us at how early a date shehad obtained peaceable possessions in Spain, from the mines of whichshe derived a not inconsiderable share of her riches. 

Perhaps it may be thought strange that Carthage and Rome had not comeinto conflict before the time of which we are writing, for the distancebetween the island of Sicily and the African coast is so small that buta few hours would have been occupied in sailing across. It may beaccounted for by the facts that the Carthaginians attended to their ownbusiness, and the Romans did not engage to any extent in maritimeenterprises. On several occasions, however, Carthage had sent hercompliments across to Rome, though Rome does not appear to havereciprocated them to any great degree; and four formal treaties betweenthe cities are reported, B. C. 509, 348, 306, and 279. 

It is said that when Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, was about to leaveSicily, he exclaimed: "What a grand arena [Footnote: _Arena_ inLatin meant "sand, " and as the central portions of the amphitheatreswere strewn with sand to absorb the blood of the fighting gladiatorsand beasts, an arena came to mean, as at present, any open, publicplace for an exhibition. To the ancients, however, it brought to mindthe desperate combats to which the thousands of spectators were wont topay wrapt attention, and it was a much more vivid word than it now is. ]this would be for Rome and Carthage to contend upon!" It did notrequire the wisdom of an oracle to suggest that such a contest wouldcome at some time, for the rich island lay just between the two cities, apparently ready to be grasped by the more enterprising or thestronger. As Carthage saw the gradual extension of Roman authority overSouthern Italy, she realized that erelong the strong arm would reachout too far in the direction of the African continent. She was, accordingly, on her guard, as she needed to be. 

At about the time of the beginning of the war with Pyrrhus, a band ofsoldiers from Campania, which had been brought to Sicily, tookpossession of the town of Messana, a place on the eastern end of theisland not far from the celebrated rocks Scylla and Charybdis, oppositeRhegium. Calling themselves Mamertines, after Mars, one form of whosename was Mamers, these interlopers began to extend their power over theisland. In their contests with Hiero, King of Syracuse, they foundthemselves in need of help. In the emergency there was a fatal divisionof counsel, one party wishing to call upon Rome and the other thinkingbest to ask Carthage, which already held the whole of the western halfof the island and the northern coast, and had for centuries been aimingat complete possession of the remainder. Owing to this want of unitedpurpose it came about that both cities were appealed to, and it verynaturally happened that the fortress of the Mamertines was occupied bya garrison from Carthage before Rome was able to send its army. 

The Roman senate had hesitated to send help to the Mamertines becausethey were people whom they had driven out of Rhegium, as robbers, sixyears before, with the aid of the same Hiero, of Syracuse, who was nowbesieging them. However, the people of Rome, not troubled with thehonest scruples of the senate, were, under the direction of theconsuls, inflamed by the hope of conquest and of the riches that theyexpected would follow success, and a war which lasted twenty-threeyears was the result of their reckless greed (B. C. 264). 

The result was really decided during the first two years, for theRomans persuaded the Mamertines to expel the Carthaginians fromMessana, and then, though besieged by them and by Hiero, drove themboth off, and in the year 263 took many Sicilian towns and evenadvanced to Syracuse. Then Hiero concluded a peace with Rome to whichhe was faithful to the time of his death, fifty years afterward. TheSicilian city next to Syracuse in importance was Agrigentum, and thisthe Romans took the next year, thus turning the tables and makingthemselves instead of the Carthaginians masters of most of theimportant island, with the exception of Panormus and Mount Eryx, nearDrepanum (B. C. 262). 

The Carthaginians, being a commercial people, were well supplied withlarge ships, and the Romans now saw that they, too, must have a navy. Possessing no models on which to build ships of war larger than thosewith three banks of oars, [Footnote: The ancient war vessels were movedby both sails and oars; but the oars were the great dependence in afight. At first there was but one bank of oars; but soon there were tworows of oarsmen, seated one above the other, the uppermost having longoars. After awhile three banks were arranged, then four, now five, andlater more, the uppermost oars being of immense length, and requiringseveral men to operate each. We do not now know exactly how so manyranges of rowers were accommodated, nor how such unwieldly oars weremanaged. The Athenians tried various kinds of ships, but concluded thatlight and active vessels were better than awkward quinquiremes. ] theytook advantage of the fact that a Carthaginian vessel of five banks (a_quinquireme_) was wrecked on their shores, and in the remarkablyshort space of time of less than two months built and launched onehundred and thirty vessels of that size! They were clumsy, however, andthe crews that manned them were poorly trained, but, nevertheless, thebold Romans ventured, under command of Caius Duilius, to attack theenemy off the Sicilian town of Mylæ, and the Carthaginians wereoverwhelmed, what remained of their fleet being forced to seek safetyin flight. The naval prestige of Carthage was destroyed. There was agrand celebration of the victory at Rome, and a column adorned with theornamental prows of ships was set up in the forum. 

[Illustration: A ROMAN WAR VESSEL. ]

For a few years the war was pursued with but little effect; but in theninth year, when the favorite Marcus Atilius Regulus was consul, it wasdetermined to carry it on with more vigor, to invade Africa with anoverwhelming force, and, if possible, close the struggle. Regulussailed from Economus, not far from Agrigentum, with three hundred andthirty vessels and one hundred thousand men, but his progress was sooninterrupted by the Carthaginian fleet, commanded by Hamilcar. After oneof the greatest sea-fights of all time, in which the Carthaginians lostnearly a hundred ships and many men, the Romans gained the victory, andfound nothing to hinder their progress to the African shore. The enemyhastened with the remainder of their fleet to protect Carthage, and theconflict was transferred to Africa. Regulus prosecuted the war withvigor, and, owing to the incompetence of the generals opposed to him, was successful to an extraordinary degree. Both he and the senatebecame intoxicated to such an extent, that when the Carthaginians madeovertures for peace, only intolerable terms were offered them. Thisresulted in prolonging the war, for the Carthaginians called to theiraid Xanthippus, a Spartan general, who showed them the weakness oftheir officers, and, finally, when his army had been well drilled, offered battle to Regulus on level ground, where the dreaded Africanelephants were of service, instead of among the mountains. The Romanarmy was almost annihilated, and Regulus himself was taken prisoner(B. C. 255). 

The Romans saw that to retain a footing in Africa they must first havecontrol of the sea. Though the fleet that brought back the remains ofthe army of Regulus was destroyed, another of two hundred and twentyships was made ready in three months, only, however, to meet a similarfate off Cape Palinurus on the coast of Lucania. The Romans, atPanormus (now Palermo), were, in the year 250, attacked by theCarthaginians, over whom they gained a victory which decided thestruggle, though it was continued nine years longer, owing to the richresources of the Carthaginians. After this defeat an embassy was sentto Rome to ask terms of peace. Regulus, who had then been five years acaptive, accompanied it, and, it is said, urged the senate not to maketerms. He then returned to Carthage and suffered a terrible death. Thecharacter given him in the old histories and his horrible fate madeRegulus the favorite of orators for ages. 

The Romans now determined to push the war vigorously, and began thesiege of Lilybæum (now Marsala), which was the only place besidesDrepanum, fifteen miles distant, yet remaining to the enemy on theisland of Sicily (B. C. 250). It was not until the end of the war thatthe Carthaginians could be forced from these two strongholds. Six yearsbefore that time (B. C. 247), there came to the head of Carthaginianaffairs a man of real greatness, Hamilcar Barca, whose last name issaid to mean lightning; but even he was not strong enough to overcomethe difficulties caused by the faults of others, and in 241 hecounselled peace, which was accordingly concluded, though Carthage wasobliged to pay an enormous indemnity, and to give up her claim toSicily, which became a part of the Roman dominion (the first "province"so-called), governed by an officer annually sent from Rome. Hamilcarhad at first established himself on Mount Ercte, overhanging Panormus, whence he made constant descents upon the enemy, ravaging the coast asfar as Mount Ætna. Suddenly he quitted this place and occupied MountEryx, another height, overlooking Drepanum, where he supported himselftwo years longer, and the Romans despaired of dislodging him. 

In their extremity, they twice resorted to the navy, and at last, witha fleet of two hundred ships, defeated the Carthaginians off the ÆgusæIslands, to the west of Sicily, and as the resources of Hamilcar werethen cut off, it was only a question of time when the armies at Eryx, Drepanum, and Lilybæum would be reduced by famine. It was in view ofthis fact that the settlement was effected. 

A period of peace followed this long war, during which at one time, inthe year 235, the gates of the temple of Janus, which were always openduring war and had not been shut since the days of Numa, were closed, but it was only for a short space. After this war, the Carthaginiansbecame involved with their own troops, who arose in mutiny because theycould not get their pay, and Rome took advantage of this to rob them ofthe islands of Sardinia and Corsica, and at the same time to demand alarge addition to the indemnity fund that had been agreed upon at thepeace (B. C. 227). Such arbitrary treatment of a conquered foe could notfail to beget and keep alive the deepest feelings of resentment, ofwhich, in after years, Rome reaped the bitter fruits. 

The Adriatic Sea was at that time infested with pirates from Illyria, the country north of Epirus, just over the sea to the east of Italy, and as Roman towns suffered from their inroads, an embassy was sent tomake complaint. One of these peaceful messengers was murdered bydirection of the queen of the country, Teuta, by name, and of coursewar was declared, which ended in the overthrow of the treacherousqueen. Her successor, however, when he thought that the Romans were toomuch occupied with other matters to oppose him successfully, renewedthe piratical incursions (B. C. 219), and in spite of the other warsthis brought out a sufficient force from Rome. The Illyrian sovereignwas forced to fly, and all his domain came under the Roman power. 

Meantime the Romans had begun to think of the extensive tracts to thenorth acquired from the Gauls, and in 232 B. C. , a law was passeddividing them among the poorer people and the veterans, in theexpectation of attracting inhabitants to that part of Italy. Thebarbarians were alarmed by the prospect of the approach of Romancivilization, and in 225, united to make a new attack upon their oldenemies. When it was rumored at Rome that the Gauls were preparing tomake a stand and probably intended to invade the territory of theirsouthern neighbors, the terrible days of the Allia were vividly broughtto mind and the greatest consternation reigned. The Sibylline or othersacred books were carefully searched for counsel in the emergency, andin obedience to instructions therein found, two Gauls and two Greeks (aman and a woman of each nation) were buried alive in the Forum Boarium, [Footnote: The Forum Boarium, though one of the largest and mostcelebrated public places in the city, was not a regular marketsurrounded with walls, but an irregular space bounded by the Tiber onthe west, and the Palatine Hill and the Circus Maximus on the east. TheCloaca Maxima ran beneath it, and it was rich in temples and monuments. On it the first gladiatorial exhibition occurred, B. C. 264, and theretoo, other burials of living persons had been made, in spite of thelong-ago abolishment of such rites by Numa. ] and the public excitementsomewhat allayed in that horrible way. A large army was immediatelyraised, and sent to meet the Gauls at Ariminum on the Adriatic, butthey avoided it by taking a route further to the west. They were met bya reserve force, however, which suffered a great defeat, probably nearClusium. Afterwards the main army effected a junction with another bodycoming from Pisa, and as the Gauls were attacked on both sides at once, they were annihilated. This battle occurred near Telamon, in Etruria, not far from the mouth of the Umbria. The victory was followed up, andafter three years, the whole of the valley of the Po, between the Alpsand the Apennines, was made a permanent addition to Roman territory. Powerful colonies were planted at Placentia and Cremona to secure it. 

[Illustration: HANNIBAL. ]

No greater generals come before us in the grand story of Rome thanthose who are now to appear. One was born while the first Punic war wasstill raging, and the other in the year 235, when the gates of thetemple of Janus were, for the first time in centuries, closed in tokenthat Rome was at peace with the world. Hannibal, the elder of the twowas son of Hamilcar Barca, and inherited his father's hatred of Rome, to which, indeed, he had been bound by a solemn oath, willingly swornupon the altar at the dictation of his father. 

When Livy began his story of the second war between Rome and Carthage, he said that he was about to relate the most memorable of all wars thatever were waged; and though we may not express ourselves in suchgeneral terms, it is safe to say that no struggle recorded in theannals of antiquity, or of the middle age, surpasses it in importanceor in historical interest. The war was to decide whether the conquerorof the world was to be self-centred Rome; or whether it should be anation of traders, commanded by a powerful general who dictated to themtheir policy, --a nation not adapted to unite the different peoples inbonds of sympathy, --one whose success would, in the words of Dr. Arnold, "have stopped the progress of the world. "

Hannibal stands out among the famed generals of history as one of thevery greatest. We must remember that we have no records of his owncountrymen to show how he was estimated among them; but we know thatthough he was poorly supported by the powers at home, he was able tokeep together an army of great size, by the force of his ownpersonality, and to wage a disastrous war against the strongest peopleof his age, far from his base of supplies, in the midst of the enemy'scountry. It has well been said that the greatest masters of the art ofwar, from Scipio to Napoleon, have concurred in homage to his genius. 

The other hero, and the successful one, in the great struggle, wasPublius Cornelius Scipio, who was born in that year when the temple ofJanus was closed, of a family that for a series of generations had beennoted in Roman history, and was to continue illustrious for generationsto come. 

Another among the many men of note who came into prominence during thesecond war with Carthage was Quintus Fabius Maximus, a descendant ofthat Rullus who in the Sabine wars brought the names Fabius and Maximusinto prominence. His life is given by Plutarch under the name Fabius, and he is remembered as the originator of the policy of delay in war, as our dictionaries tell us, because his plan was to worry his enemy, rather than risk a pitched battle with him. On this account the Romanscalled him _Cunctator_, which meant delayer, or one who is slowthough safe, not rash. He was called also _Ovicula_, or the lamb, on account of his mild temper, and _Verrucosus_, because he had awart on his upper lip (_Verruca_, a wart). 

The second Punic war was not so much a struggle between Carthage andRome, as a war entered into by Hannibal and carried on by him againstthe Roman republic in spite of the opposition of his own people; andthis fact makes the strength of his character appear in the strongestlight. Just at the close of the first war, the Carthaginians hadestablished in Spain a city which took the name of New Carthage--thatis, New New City, --and had extended their dominion over much of thatcountry, as well as over most of the territory on the south shore ofthe Mediterranean Sea. Hannibal laid siege to the independent city ofSaguntum, on the northeast of New Carthage, and, after several monthsof desperate resistance, took it, thus throwing down the gauntlet toRome and completing the dominion of Carthage in that region (B. C. 218). Rome sent ambassadors to Carthage, to ask reparation and the surrenderof Hannibal: but "War!" was the only response, and for seventeen yearsa struggle of the most determined sort was carried on by Hannibal andthe Roman armies. 

After wintering at New Carthage, Hannibal started for Italy with agreat army. He crossed the Pyrenees, went up the valley of the Rhone, and then up the valley of the Isère, and most probably crossed the Alpsby the Little St. Bernard pass. It was an enterprise of the greatestmagnitude to take an army of this size through a hostile country, overhigh mountains, in an inclement season; but no difficulty daunted thisgeneral. In five months he found himself in the valley of the Duria(modern Dora Baltea), in Northern Italy, with a force of twentythousand foot and six thousand cavalry (the remains of the army ofninety-four thousand that had left New Carthage), with which heexpected to conquer a country that counted its soldiers by the hundredthousand. The father of the great Scipio met Hannibal in the plainswest of the Ticinus, and was routed, retreating to the west bank of theTrebia, where the Romans, with a larger force, were again defeated, though the December cold caused the invading army great suffering andkilled all the elephants but one. The success of the Carthaginians ledthe Gauls to flock to their standard, and Hannibal found himself ableto push forward with increasing vigor. 

[Illustration: TERENCE, THE LAST ROMAN COMIC POET. ]

Taking the route toward the capital, he met the Romans at LakeTrasimenus, and totally routed them, killing the commander, CaiusFlaminius, who had come from Arretium to oppose him. The defeat wasaccounted for by the Romans by the fact that Flaminius, always carelessabout his religious observances, had broken camp at Ariminum, whence hehad come to Arretium, though the signs had been against him, and hadalso previously neglected the usual solemnities upon his election asconsul before going to Ariminum. The policy of Hannibal was to makefriends of the allies of Rome, in order to attract them to his support, and after his successes he carefully tended the wounded and sent theothers away, often with presents. He hoped to undermine Rome by takingaway her allies, and after this great success he did not march to thecapital, though he was distant less than a hundred miles from it, because he expected to see tokens that his policy was a success. 

The dismay that fell upon Rome when it was known that her armies hadtwice been routed, can better be imagined than described. The senatecame together, and for two days carefully considered the critical stateof affairs. They decided that it was necessary to appoint a dictator, and Fabius Maximus was chosen. Hannibal in the meantime continued toavoid Rome, and to march through the regions on the Adriatic, hoping toarouse the inhabitants to his support. In vain were his efforts. Eventhe Gauls seemed now to have forgotten him, and Carthage itself did notsend him aid. Fabius strove to keep to the high lands, where it wasimpossible for Hannibal to attack him, while he harassed him or triedto shut him up in some defile. 

In the spring of the year 216, both parties were prepared for a moreterrible struggle than had yet been seen. The Romans put their forcesunder one Varro, a business man, who was considered the champion ofpopular liberty. The armies met on the field of Cannæ, on the banks ofthe river Aufidus which enters the Adriatic, and there the practicalman was defeated with tremendous slaughter, though he was able himselfto escape toward the mountains to Venusia, and again to return toCanusium. There he served the state so well that his defeat was almostforgotten, and he was actually thanked by the senate for his skill inprotecting the remnant of the wasted army. 

The people now felt that the end of the republic had come, but stillthey would not listen to Hannibal when he sent messengers to ask termsof peace. They were probably surprised when, instead of marching upontheir capital, the Carthaginian remained in comparative inactivity, inpursuance of his former policy. He was not entirely disappointed thistime, in expecting that his brilliant victory would lead some of thesurrounding nations to declare in his favor, for finally the rich cityof Capua, which considered itself equal to Rome, opened to him itsgates, and he promised to make it the capital of Italy (B. C. 216). WithCapua went the most of Southern Italy, and Hannibal thought that thewar would soon end after such victories, but he was mistaken. 

Two other sources of help gave him hope, but at last failed him. PhilipV. , one of the ablest monarchs of Macedon, who had made a treaty withHannibal after the battle of Cannæ, tried to create a diversion in hisfavor on the other side of the Adriatic, but his schemes were notenergetically pressed, and failed. Again, a new king of Syracuse, whohad followed Hiero, offered direct assistance, but he, too, wasovercome, and his strong and wealthy city taken with terrible carnage, though the scientific skill of the famous Archimedes long enabled itsruler to baffle the Roman generals (B. C. 212). The Romans overran theSpanish peninsula, too, and though they were for a time brought to astand, in the year 210 the state of affairs changed. A young man ofpromise, who had, however, never been tried in positions of greattrust, was sent out. It was the great Scipio, who has been alreadymentioned. He captured New Carthage, made himself master of Spain, andwas ready by the year 207 to take the last step, as he thought it wouldbe, by carrying the war into Africa, and thus obliging Hannibal towithdraw from Italy. 

At home, the aged Fabius was meantime the trusted leader in publiccounsels, and by his careful generalship Campania had been regained. Capua, too, had been recaptured, though that enterprise had beenundertaken in spite of his cautious advice. Hannibal was thus obligedto withdraw to Lower Italy, after he had threatened Rome by marchingboldly up to its very gates. The Samnites and Lucanians submitted, andTarentum fell into the hands of Fabius, whose active career thenclosed. He had opposed the more aggressive measures of Scipio whichwere to lead to success, but we can hardly think that the old commanderwas led to do this because, seeing that victory was to be the result, he envied the younger soldier who was to achieve the final laurels, though Plutarch mentions that sinister motive. The career of Fabius, which had opened at the battle of Cannæ, and had been successful eversince, culminated in his triumph after the fall of Tarentum, whichoccurred in B. C. 209. 

[Illustration: PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUS. ]

Now the Carthaginian army in Spain, under command of Hasdrubal, made aneffort to go to the help of Hannibal, and, taking the same route by theLittle St. Bernard pass, arrived in Italy (B. C. 208) almost before theenemy was aware of its intention. Hannibal, on his part, began to marchnorthward from his southern position, and after gaining someunimportant victories, arrived at Canusium, where he stopped to waitfor his brother. The Romans, however, managed to intercept thedispatches of Hasdrubal, and marched against him, in the spring of 207, after he had wasted much time in unsuccessfully besieging Placentia. The two armies met on the banks of the river Metaurus. TheCarthaginians were defeated with terrible slaughter, and the Romansfelt that the calamity of Cannæ was avenged. Hasdrubal's head was sentto his brother, who exclaimed at the sight: "I recognize the doom ofCarthage!"

For four years Hannibal kept his army among the mountains of SouthernItaly, feeling that his effort at conquering Rome had failed. MeantimeScipio was making arrangements to carry out his favorite project, though in face of much opposition from Fabius and from the senate, which followed his lead. The people were, however, with Scipio, andthough he was not able to make such complete preparations as he wished, by the year 204 he had made ready to set out from Lilybæum for Africa. At Utica he was joined by his allies, and, in 203, defeated theCarthaginians and caused them to look anxiously across the sea towardtheir absent general for help. Pretending to desire peace, they tookadvantage of the time gained by negotiations to send for Hannibal, whoreached Africa before the year closed, after an absence of fifteenyears, and took up his position at Hadrumentum, where he looked overthe field and sadly determined to ask for terms of peace. Scipio wasdesirous of the glory of closing the long struggle, and refused to maketerms, thus forcing Hannibal to continue the war. The Romans went aboutravaging the country until, at last, a pitched battle was brought aboutat a place near Zama, in which, though Hannibal managed his army withhis usual skill, he was overcome and utterly routed. He now againadvised peace, and accepted less favorable terms than had been beforeoffered. Henceforth Carthage was to pay an annual war-contribution toRome, and was not to enter upon war with any nation in Africa, oranywhere else, without the consent of her conquerors. Scipio returnedto Rome in the year 201, and enjoyed a magnificent triumph, the nameAfricanus being at the same time added to his patronymic. Other honorswere offered him, but the most extraordinary of them he declined toaccept. 

Hannibal, though overcome, stands forth as the greatest general. At theage of forty-five he now found himself defeated in the proud plans ofhis youth; but, with manly strength, he refused to be cast down, andset about work for the improvement of his depressed city. It was notlong before he aroused the opposition which has often come to publicbenefactors, and was obliged to flee from Carthage. From that time, hewas a wanderer on the earth. Ever true to his hatred of Rome, however, he continued to plot for her downfall even in his exile. He went toTyre and then to Ephesus, and tried to lead the Syrian monarchAntiochus to make successful inroads upon his old enemy. Obliged toflee in turn from Ephesus, he sought an asylum at the court of Prusias, King of Bithynia. At last, seeing that he was in danger of beingdelivered up to the Romans, in despair he took his own life at Libyssa, in the year 182 or 181. Thus ignominiously ended the career of the manwho stood once at the head of the commanders of the world, and whosememory is still honored for the magnificence of his ambition in daringto attack and expecting to conquer the most powerful nation of histime. 

XI. 

THE NEW PUSHES THE OLD--WARS AND CONQUESTS. 

There were days of tumult in Rome in the year 195, which illustrate thetemper of the times, and show how the city and the people had changed, and were changing, under the influence of two opposite forces. A vividpicture of the scenes around the Capitol at the time has beenpreserved. Men were hastening to the meeting of the magistrates fromevery direction. The streets were crowded, and not with men chiefly, for something which interested the matrons seemed to be uppermost, andwomen were thronging in the same direction, in spite of custom, whichwould have kept them at home; in spite even of the commands of many oftheir husbands, who were opposed to their frequenting publicassemblies. Not only on one day did the women pour out into all theavenues leading to the forum, but once and again they thrust themselvesinto the presence of the law-makers. Nor were they content to stand orsit in quiet while their husbands and brothers argued and made eloquentspeeches; they actually solicited the votes of the stronger sex inbehalf of a motion that was evidently very important in their minds. 

Of old time, the Romans had thought that women should keep at home, andthat in the transaction of private business even they should be underthe direction of their parents, brothers, or husbands. What had wroughtso great a change that on these days the Roman matrons not onlyventured into the forum, but actually engaged in public business, andthat, as has been said, in many instances, in opposition to thoseparents, brothers, and husbands who were in those old times theirnatural directors? We shall find the reason by going back to the dayswhen the cost of the Punic wars bore heavily upon the state. It wasthen that a law was passed that no woman should wear any garment ofdivers colors, nor own more gold than a half-ounce in weight, nor ridethrough the streets of a city in a carriage drawn by horses, nor in anyplace nearer than a mile to a town, except for the purpose of engagingin a public religious solemnity. The spirited matrons of Rome were everready to bear their share of the public burdens, and though somethought this oppressive, but few murmurs escaped them as they read theOppian law, as it was called, when it was passed, for the days weredark, and the shadow of the defeat at Cannæ was bowing down all hearts, and their brothers and parents and husbands were trembling, strong menthat they were, at the threatening situation of the state. Now, however, the condition of affairs had changed. The conquests of thepast few years had brought large wealth into the city, and was it to beexpected that women should not wish to adorn themselves, as of yore, with gold and garments of richness?

[Illustration: A ROMAN MATRON. ]

When now the repeal of the law was to be discussed, the excitementbecame so intense that people forgot that Spain was in a state ofinsurrection, and that war threatened on every side. Women thronged tothe city from towns and villages, and even dared, as has been said, toapproach the consuls and other magistrates to solicit their votes. Marcus Porcius Cato, a young man of about forty years, who had beenbrought up on a farm, and looked with the greatest respect upon thevirtue of the olden times, before Grecian influences had crept in tosoften and refine the hard Roman character, represented the party ofconservatism. Now, thought he, is an opportunity for me to standagainst the corrupting influence of Magna Græcia. He therefore rose andmade a long speech in opposition to the petition of the matrons. Hethought they had become thus contumacious, he said, because the men hadnot individually exercised their rightful authority over their ownwives. "The privileges of men are now spurned, trodden under foot, " heexclaimed, "and we, who have shown that we are unable to stand againstthe women separately, are now utterly powerless against them as a body. Their behavior is outrageous. I was filled with painful emotions ofshame as I just now made my way into the forum through the midst of abody of women. Will you consent to give the reins to their intractablenature and their uncontrolled passions? The moment they had arrived atequality with you, they will have become your superiors. What motivethat common decency will allow is pretended for this femaleinsurrection? Why, that they may shine in gold and purple; that theymay ride through our city in chariots triumphing over abrogated law;that there may be no bounds to waste and luxury! So soon as the lawshall cease to limit the expenses of the wife, the husband will bepowerless to set bounds to them. " As the uttermost measure of theabasement to which the women had descended, Cato declared withindignation that they had solicited votes, and he concluded by sayingthat though he called upon the gods to prosper whatever action shouldbe agreed upon, he thought that on no account should the Oppian law beset aside. 

When Cato had finished, one of the plebeian tribunes, Lucius Valerius, replied to him sarcastically, saying that in spite of the milddisposition of the speaker who had just concluded, he had uttered somesevere things against the matrons, though he had not argued veryefficiently against the measure they supported. He referred his hearersto a book of Cato's, [Footnote: Livy is authority for this statement, but it has been doubted if Cato's book had been written at the time. ]called _Origines_, or "Antiquities, " in which it was made clearthat in the old times women had appeared in public, and with goodeffect too. "Who rushed into the forum in the days of Romulus, andstopped the fight with the Sabines?" he asked. "Who went out and turnedback the army of the great Coriolanus? Who brought their gold andjewels into the forum when the Gauls demanded a great ransom for thecity? Who went out to the sea-shore during the late war to receive theIdæan mother (Cybele) when new gods were invited hither to relieve ourdistresses? Who poured out their riches to supply a depleted treasuryduring that same war, now so fresh in memory? Was it not the Romanmatrons? Masters do not disdain to listen to the prayers of theirslaves, and we are asked, forsooth, to shut our ears to the petitionsof our wives!

"I have shown that women have now done no new thing. I will go on andprove that they ask no unreasonable thing. It is true that good lawsshould not be rashly repealed; but we must not forget that Rome existedfor centuries without this one, and that Roman matrons establishedtheir high character, about which Cato is so solicitous, during thatperiod, the return of which he now seems to think would be subversiveof every thing good. This law served well in a time of trial; but thathas passed, and we are enjoying the return of plenty. Shall our matronsbe the only ones who may not feel the improvement that has followed asuccessful war? Shall our children, and we ourselves, wear purple, andshall it be interdicted to our wives? Elegances of appearance andornaments and dress are the women's badges of distinction; in them theydelight and glory, and our ancestors called them the women's world. Still, they desire to be under control of those who are bound to themby the bonds of love, not by stern law, in these matters. The consuljust now used invidious terms, calling this a female 'secession' asthough our matrons were about to seize the Sacred Mount or theAventine, as the plebeians did of yore; but their feeble nature isincapable of such a thing. They must necessarily submit to what youthink proper, and the greater your power the more moderation should youuse in exercising it. "Thus, day after day, the men spoke and the womenpoured out to protest, until even stern and inflexible Cato gave way, and women were declared free from the restrictions of the Oppian law. 

[Figure: ROMAN HEAD-DRESSES. ]

Cato and Scipio represented the two forces that were at this timeworking in society, the one opposing the entrance of the Grecianinfluence, and the other encouraging the refinement in manners andmodes of living that came with it, even encouraging ostentation and thelavish use of money for pleasures. When Scipio was making hisarrangements to go to Africa, he was governor of Sicily, and lived inluxury. Cato, then but thirty years old, had been sent to Sicily toinvestigate his proceedings, and act as a check upon him; but Scipioseems to have been little influenced by the young reformer, telling himthat he would render accounts of his _actions_, not of the moneyhe spent. Upon this Cato returned to Rome, and denounced Scipio'sprodigality, his love of Greek literature and art, his magnificence, and his persistence in wasting in the gymnasium or in the pursuit ofliterature time which should have been used in training his troops. Joining Fabius, he urged that an investigating committee be sent tolook into the matter, but it returned simply astonished at theefficient condition of the army, and orders were given for promptadvance upon Carthage. 

[Illustration: GLADIATORS AT A FUNERAL. ]

The influences coming from Greece at this time were not all the best, for that land was in its period of decadence, and Cato did well intrying to protect his countrymen from evil. While literature in Greecehad reached its highest and had become corrupt, there had been none inRome during the five centuries of its history. All this time, too, there had been but one public holiday and a single circus; but duringthe interval between the first and second Punic wars a demagogue hadinstituted a second circus and a new festival, called the plebeiangames. Other festivals followed, and in time their cost becameexceedingly great, and their influence very bad. Fights of gladiatorswere introduced just at the outbreak of the first Punic war, on theoccasion of the funeral of D. Junius Brutus, and were given afterwardon such occasions, because it was believed that the manes, the spiritsof the departed, loved blood. Persons began to leave money for thispurpose in their wills, and by degrees a fondness for the frightfulsport increased, for the Romans had no leaning towards the ideal, anddelighted only in those pursuits which appealed to their coarse, strong, and, in its way, pious nature. Humor and comedy with thembecame burlesque, sometimes repulsive in its grotesqueness. Dramaticart grew up during this period. We have seen that dramatic exhibitionswere introduced in the year 363, from Etruria, at a time of pestilence, but they were mere pantomimes. Now plays began to be written. Trustworthy history begins at the time of the Punic wars, and theannals of Fabius Pictor commence with the year 216, after the battle ofCannæ. 

Rome itself was changed by the increased wealth of these times. Thestreets were made wider; temples were multiplied; and aqueducts werebuilt to bring water from distant sources; the same Appius whoconstructed the great road which now bears his name, having built thefirst, which, however, disappeared long ago. Another, forty-three milesin length, was paid for out of the spoils of the war with Pyrrhus, andportions of it still remain. With the increase of wealth and luxurycame also improvement in language and in its use, and in the year 254, studies in law were formally begun in a school established for thepurpose. 

[Figure: ACTORS MASKS. ]

The Romans had conquered Italy and Carthage, and the next step was tomake them masters of the East. Philip V. , King of Macedon, was, as wehave seen, one of the most eminent of monarchs of that country. Histreaty with Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ, involved him in warwith the Romans, which continued, with intermissions, until Scipio wasabout to go over into Africa. Then the Romans were glad to make peace, though no considerable results followed the struggle, and it had indeedbeen pursued with little vigor for much of the time. By the year 200, Philip had been able to establish himself in Greece, and the Romanswere somewhat rested from the war with Carthage. The peace of 205 hadbeen considered but a cessation of hostilities, and both people weretherefore ready for a new war. There were pretexts enough. Philip hadmade an alliance with Antiochus the Great, of Syria, against PtolemyEpiphanes, of Egypt, who applied to Rome for assistance; and he hadsent aid to soldiers to help Hannibal, who had fought at the battle ofZama. Besides this he had attempted to establish his supremacy in theÆgean Sea at the expense of the people of Rhodes, allies of Rome, whowere assisted by Attalus, King of Pergamus, likewise in league withRome. 

The senate proposed that war should be declared against Philip, but thepeople longed for rest after their previous struggles, and were onlypersuaded to consent by being told that if Philip, then at the pitch ofhis greatness, were not checked, he would follow the example ofHannibal, as he had been urged to follow that of Pyrrhus. No greatprogress was made in the war until the command of the Roman army inGreece was taken by a young man of high family and noble nature, wellacquainted with Greek culture, in the year 197. Flamininus, for thiswas the name of the new commander, met the army of Philip that year ona certain morning when, after a rain, thick clouds darkened the plainon which they were. The armies were separated by low hills known as theDog-heads (Cynocephalæ), and when at last the sun burst out it showedthe Romans and Macedonians struggling on the uneven ground with varyingsuccess. The Macedonians were finally defeated, with the loss of eightthousand slain and five thousand prisoners. In 196 peace was obtainedby Philip, who agreed to withdraw from Greece, to give up his fleet, and to pay a thousand talents for the expenses of the war. 

At the Isthmian games, the following summer, Flamininus caused atrumpet to command silence, and a crier to proclaim that the Romansenate and he, the proconsular general, having vanquished Philip, restored to the Grecians their lands, laws, and liberties, remittingall impositions upon them and withdrawing all garrisons. So astonishedwere the people at the good news that they could scarcely believe it, and asked that it might be repeated. This the crier did, and a shoutrose from the people (who all stood up) that was heard from Corinth tothe sea, and there was no further thought of the entertainment thatusually engrossed so much attention. Plutarch says gravely that thedisruption of the air was so great that crows accidentally flying overthe racecourse at the moment fell down dead into it! Night only causedthe people to leave the circus, and then they went home to carousetogether. So grateful were they that they freed the Romans who had beencaptured by Hannibal and had been sold to them, and when Flamininusreturned to Rome with a reputation second only, in the popular esteem, to Scipio Africanus, these freed slaves followed in the procession onthe occasion of his triumph, which was one of the most magnificent, andlasted three days. 

Scarcely had Flamininus left Greece before the Ætolians, who claimedthat the victory at Cynocephalæ was chiefly due to their prowess, madea combination against the Romans, and engaged Antiochus to take theirpart. This monarch had occupied Asia Minor previously, and would havepassed into Greece but for Flamininus. This was while Hannibal was atthe court of Antiochus. The Romans declared war, and sent an army intoThessaly, which overcame the Syrians at the celebrated pass ofThermopylæ, on the spot where Leonidas and his brave three hundred hadbeen slaughtered by the Persians two hundred and eighty-nine yearsbefore (B. C. 191). Lucius Cornelius Scipio, brother of Africanus, closed the war by defeating Antiochus at Magnesia, in Asia Minor, atthe foot of Mount Sipylus (B. C. 190). The Syrian monarch is said tohave lost fifty-three thousand men, while but four hundred of theRomans fell. Antiochus resigned to the Romans all of Asia west of theTaurus mountains, agreed to pay them fifteen thousand talents, and tosurrender Hannibal. The great Carthaginian, however, escaped to thecourt of Prusias, King of Bithynia, where, as we have already seen, hetook his own life. Scipio carried immense booty to Rome, where hecelebrated a splendid triumph, and, in imitation of his brotherAfricanus, added the name Asiaticus to his others. 

The succeeding year, the Ætolians were severely punished, their landwas ravaged, and they were required to accept peace upon humiliatingterms. Never again were they to make war without the consent of Rome, whose supremacy they acknowledged, and to which they paid an indemnityof five hundred talents. At this time the most famous hero of laterGrecian history comes before us indirectly, just as the greatness ofhis country was sinking from sight forever. Philopoemen, who was bornat Megalopolis in Arcadia (not far from the spot from which old Evanderstarted for Italy), during the first Punic war, just before Hamilcarappeared upon the scene, raised himself to fame, first by improving thearmor and drill of the Achæan soldiers, when he became chief of theancient league, and then by his prowess at the battle of Mantinea, inthe year 207, when Sparta was defeated. He revived the ancient league, which had been dormant during the Macedonian supremacy; but in 188, hetook fierce revenge upon Sparta, for which he was called to account bythe Romans; and five years later, in 183, he fell into the hands of theMessenians, who had broken from the league, and was put to death bypoison. It was in the same year that both Hannibal and Scipio, the twoother great soldiers of the day died. [Footnote: See the Student'sMerivale, ch. Xxv. , for remarks about these three warriors. ]

Philip V. Of Macedon followed these warriors to the grave five yearslater, after having begun to prepare to renew the war with Rome. Hisson Perseus continued these preparations, but war did not actuallybreak out until 171, and then it was continued for three years withoutdecisive result. In 168 the Romans met the army of Perseus at Pydna, inMacedonia, north of Mount Olympus, on the 22d June, [Footnote: Thisdate is proved by an eclipse of the sun which occurred at the time. Ithad been foretold by a scientific Roman so that the army should not seein it a bad omen. ] and utterly defeated it. Perseus was afterward takenprisoner and died at Alba. From the battle of Pydna the great historianPolybius, who was a native of Megalopolis, dates the completeestablishment of the universal empire of Rome, since after that nocivilized state ever confronted her on an equal footing, and all thestruggles in which she engaged were rebellions or wars with"barbarians" outside of the influence of Greek or Roman civilization, and since all the world recognized the senate as the tribunal of lastresort in differences between nations; the acquisition of Romanlanguage and manners being henceforth among the necessaryaccomplishments of princes. Rome had never before seen so grand atriumph as that celebrated by Æmilius Paulus, the conqueror ofMacedonia, after his return. Plutarch gives an elaborate account of it. 

In pursuance of its policy of conquest a thousand of the noblestcitizens of Achæa were sent to Italy to meet charges preferred againstthem. Among them was the historian Polybius, who became well acquaintedwith Scipio Æmilianus, son by adoption of a son of the conqueror ofHannibal. For seventeen years these exiles were detained, their numbersconstantly decreasing, until at last even the severe Cato was led tointercede for them and they were returned to their homes. Exasperatedby their treatment they were ready for any desperate enterprise againsttheir conquerors, but Polybius endeavored to restrain them. Thehistorian went to Carthage, however, and while he was away disputeswere stirred up which gave Rome an excuse for interfering. Corinth wastaken with circumstances of barbarous cruelty, and plundered of itspriceless works of art, the rough and ignorant Roman commander sendingthem to Italy, after making the contractors agree to replace any thatmight be lost with others of equal value! With Corinth fell theliberties of Greece; a Roman province took the place of the state thatfor six centuries had been the home of art and eloquence, theintellectual sovereign of antiquity; but though overcome and despoiledshe became the guide and teacher of her conqueror. 

When Carthage had regained some of its lost riches and population, Romeagain became jealous of her former rival, and Cato gave voice to thefeeling that she ought to be destroyed. One day in the senate he drewfrom his toga a bunch of early figs, and, throwing them on the floor, exclaimed: "Those figs were gathered but three days ago in Carthage; soclose is our enemy to our walls!" After that, whenever he expressedhimself on this subject, or any other, in the senate, he closed withthe words "_Delenda est Carthago_, "--"Carthage ought to be destroyed!"Internal struggles gave Rome at last an opportunity to interfere, andin 149 a third Punic war was begun, which closed in 146 with the utterdestruction of Carthage. The city was taken by assault, the inhabitantsfighting with desperation from street to street. Scipio Æmilianus, whocommanded in this war, was now called also Africanus, like his ancestorby adoption. 

For years the tranquillity of Spain, which lasted from 179 to 153, hadbeen disturbed by wars, and it was not until Scipio was sent thitherthat peace was restored. That warrior first put his forces into aneffective condition, and then laid siege to the city of Numantia, situated on an elevation and well fortified. The citizens defendedthemselves with the greatest bravery, and showed wonderful endurance, but were at last obliged to surrender, and the town was levelled to theground, most of the inhabitants being sold as slaves. 

The great increase in slaves, and the devastation caused by long andexhaustive wars, had brought about in Sicily a servile insurrection, before the Numantians had been conquered. It is said that the number ofthose combined against their Roman masters reached the sum of twohundred thousand. In 132, the strongholds of the insurgents werecaptured by a consular army, and peace restored. The barbarism of Romanslavery had nowhere reached such extremes as in Sicily. Freedmen whohad cultivated the fields were there replaced by slaves, who were ill-fed and poorly cared for. Some worked in chains, and all were treatedwith indescribable brutality. They finally became bandits in despair, and efforts at repression of their disorders led to the open andfearful war. The same year that this war ended, the last king ofPergamos died, leaving his kingdom and treasures to the Roman people, as he had no children, and Pergamos became the "province" of Asia. Besides this, Rome had the provinces of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, Spain, Gallia Cisalpina, Macedonia, Illyricum, Southern Greece (Achæa), and Africa, to which was soon to be added the southern portion of Gaulover the Alps, between those mountains and the Pyrenees called_Provincia Gallia_ (Provence). 

XII. 

A FUTILE EFFORT AT REFORM. 

One day when the conqueror of Carthage, Scipio Africanus, was feastingwith other senators at the Capitol, the veteran patrician was asked bythe friends about him to give his daughter Cornelia to a young man ofthe plebeian family of Sempronia, Tiberius Gracchus by name. This youngman was then about twenty-five years old; he had travelled and foughtin different parts of the world, and had obtained a high reputation formanliness. Just at this time he had put Africanus under obligations tohim by defending him from attacks in public life, and the old commanderreadily agreed to the request of his friends. When he returned to hishome and told his wife that he had given away their daughter, sheupbraided him for his rashness; but when she heard the name of thefortunate man, she said that Gracchus was the only person worthy of thegift. The mother's opinion proved to be correct. The young people livedtogether in happiness, and Cornelia became the mother of threechildren, who carried down the good traits of their parents. One ofthese was a daughter named, like her mother, Cornelia, who became thewife of Scipio Africanus the younger, and the others were her twobrothers. Tiberius and Caius, who are known as _the_ Gracchi. TiberiusGracchus lived to be over fifty years old, and won still greaterlaurels in war and peace at home and in foreign lands. Cicero says thathe did a great service to the state by gathering together on theEsquiline the freedmen who had spread themselves throughout thetribes, and restricting their franchise (B. C. 169). Thus, Cicerothought, he succeeded for a time in checking the ruin of the republic. [Footnote: The freedmen had been confined to the four city tribes in220 B. C. ]

There was sad need of some movement to correct abuses that had grown upin Rome, and the men destined to stand forth as reformers were the twoGracchi, sons of Cornelia and Tiberius. Their father did not live tocomplete their education, but their mother, though courted by greatmen, and by at least one king, refused to marry again, and gave up hertime to educating her sons, whom she proudly called her "jewels" whenthe Roman matrons, relieved from the restrictions of the Oppian law, boastfully showed her the rich ornaments of gold and precious stonesthat they adorned themselves with. The brothers had eminent Greeks togive them instruction, and grew up wise, able and eloquent, though eachexhibited his wisdom and ability in a different way. 

Tiberius, who was nine years older than his brother, came first intopublic life. He went to Africa with his brother-in-law, when theyounger Africanus completed the destruction of Carthage, and afterwardhe took part in the wars in Spain. It is said that, as he went throughEtruria on his way to Spain, he noticed that the fields were cultivatedby foreign slaves, working in clanking chains, instead of by freemen;and that because the rich had taken possession of great ranges ofterritory, the poor Romans had not even a clod to call their own, though they had fought the battles by which the land had been madesecure. The sight of so much distress in a fertile country lying wasteaffected Tiberius very deeply, and when he returned to Rome, hebethought himself that it was in opposition to law that the richcontrolled such vast estates. He remembered that the Licinian Rogation, which became a law more than two hundred years before this time, forbade any man having such large tracts in his possession, and thoughtthat so beneficent a law should continue to be respected. He told thepeople of Rome that the wild beasts had their dens and caves, while themen who had fought and exposed their lives for Italy enjoyed in itnothing more than light and air, and were obliged to wander about withtheir wives and little ones, their commanders mocking them by callingupon them to fight "for their tombs and the temples of their gods, "--things that they never possessed nor could hope to have any interestin. "Not one among many, many Romans, " said he, "has a family altar oran ancestral tomb. They have fought to maintain the luxury of thegreat, and they are called in bitter irony the 'masters of the world'while they do not possess a clod of earth that they may call theirown!"

It was a noble patriotism that filled the heart of Tiberius, but it wasnot easy to carry out a reform like the one he contemplated. It may nothave appeared difficult to re-enact the old law, but we must rememberthat, during two centuries of its neglect, generations of men hadpeaceably possessed the great estates, of which its enforcement woulddeprive them all at once. Was it to be supposed that they would quietlypermit this to be done? Was it just to deprive men of possessions thatthey had received from their parents and grandparents without proteston the part of the nation? Cornelia urged Tiberius to do some greatwork for the state, telling him that she was called the "daughter ofScipio, " while she wished to be known as the "mother of the Gracchi. "The war in Sicily emphasized the troubles that Tiberius wished to putan end to, and in the midst of it he was elected one of the tribunes, the people hoping something from him, and putting up placards all overthe city calling upon him to take their part. 

The people seemed to feel sure that Gracchus was intending to dosomething for them, and they eagerly came together and voted for him, and when he was elected, they crowded into the city from all theregions about to vote in favor of the re-establishment of the Licinianlaws, with some alterations. They were successful; much to the disgustof the aristocrats, [Footnote: Aristocrat is a word of Greek origin, and means one of a governing body composed of the best men(_aristos_, best) in the state. The aristocrats came to be calledalso _optimatos_, from _optimus_, the corresponding Latin word forbest. ] who hated Gracchus, and thenceforth plotted to overthrow him andhis power. For a while, the lands that had been wrongfully occupied bythe rich were taken by a commission and returned to the government. 

When Attalus, the erratic king of Pergamus, left his estates to Rome, Gracchus had an opportunity to perform an act of justice, by refundingto the rich the outlays they had made on the lands of which they hadbeen deprived. This would have been politic as well as just, butGracchus did not see his opportunity. He proposed, on the other hand, to divide the new wealth among the plebeians, to enable them to buyimplements and cattle for the estates they had acquired. 

It was easy at that excited time to make false accusations againstpublic men, and to cause the populace to act upon them, and, accordingly, the aristocrats now stirred up the people to believe thatGracchus was aspiring to the power of king, which, they were reminded, had been forever abolished ages before. No opportunity was given him toexplain his intentions. A great mob was raised and a street fightprecipitated, in the midst of which three hundred persons were killedwith sticks and stones and pieces of benches. Among them was Gracchushimself, who thus died a martyr to his patriotic plans for the Romanrepublic. [Footnote: The course of Gracchus was not understood at thetime by all good citizens; and even for ages after he was considered adesigning demagogue. It was not until the great Niebuhr, to whom we oweso much in Roman history, explained fully the nature of the agrarianlaws which Gracchus passed, that the world accepted him for the heroand honest patriot that he was. ]

Caius Gracchus was in Spain at the time of his brother's murder, andScipio, his brother-in-law, was there also. So little did Scipiounderstand Tiberius, that when he heard of his death he quoted thewords of Minerva to Mercury, which he remembered to have read in hisHomer, "So perish he who doth the same again!" The next year brotherand brother-in-law returned from Spain, but Caius did not seem to careto enter political life, and as he lived in quiet for some years, itwas thought that he disapproved his brother's laws. Little did thepublic dream of what was to come. 

Meantime Scipio became the acknowledged leader of the optimates, and inorder to keep the obnoxious law from being enforced, proposed to takeit out of the hands of the commission and give it to the senate. Hisproposition was vigorously opposed in the forum, and when he retired tohis home to prepare a speech to be delivered on the subject, a numberof friends thought it necessary to accompany him as protectors. Thenext morning the city was startled by the news that he was dead. Hisspeech was never even composed. No effort was made to discover hismurderer, though one Caius Papirius Carbo, a tribune, leader of theopposing party, was generally thought to have been the guilty one. 

The eloquence of young Gracchus proved greater than that of any othercitizen, and by it he ingratiated himself with the people to such anextent, that in the year 123 B. C. They elected him one of theirtribunes. Though the aristocrats managed to have his name placed fourthon the list, his force and eloquence made him really first in allpublic labors, and he proceeded to use his influence to further hisbrother's favorite projects. He was impetuous in his oratory. As hespoke, he walked from side to side of the rostra, and pulled his togafrom his shoulder as he became warm in his delivery. His powerful voicefilled the forum, and stirred the hearts of his hearers, who felt thathis persuasive words came from an honest heart. 

[Illustration: A ROMAN MILE-STONE. ]

The optimates were of course offended by the acts of the new tribune, who abridged the power of the senate, and in all ways showed anintention of working for the people. He was exceedingly active in worksof public benefit, building roads and bridges, erecting mile-stonesalong the principal routes, extending to the Italians the right tovote, and alleviating the distressing poverty of the lower orders bydirecting that grain should be sold to them at low rates. The lawsunder which he accomplished these beneficent changes are known, fromthe family to which the Gracchi belonged, as the Sempronian Laws. Incarrying out the necessary legislation and in executing the laws, Caiuslabored himself with great assiduity, and his activity afforded hisenemies the opportunity to say falsely that he made some private gainfrom them. 

The optimates soon saw that the labors of Gracchus had drawn the peopleclose to him, and they determined to weaken his influence by indirectmeans, rather than venture to make any immediate display of opposition. They according adopted the sagacious policy of making it appear thatthey wished to do more for the people than their own champion proposed. They allowed a rich and eloquent demagogue, Marcus Livius Drusus, toact for them, and he deceived the people by proposing measures thatappeared more democratic than those of Gracchus, whose power over thepeople was thus somewhat undermined. The next step was then taken. Inthe midst of an election a tumult was excited, and Gracchus was obligedto flee, over the wooden bridge, to the Grove of the Furies. Death washis only deliverance. The optimates tried to make it out that he hadbeen an infamous man, but the common people afterward loved both thebrothers and esteemed them as great benefactors who had died for them, The fall of the Gracchi left the people without a leader, and theoptimates easily kept possession of the government, though they did notyet feel disposed to proceed at once to carry out their own wishesfully, for fear that they might sting the _populares_ beyondendurance. They stopped the assignments of lands, however, allowingthose who had occupied large tracts to keep them, and thus thedesolation and retrogression which had so deeply moved Gracchuscontinued and increased even more rapidly than it had in his time. Thestate fell into a condition of corruption in every department, andoffice was looked upon simply as a means of acquiring wealth, not assomething to be held as a trust for the good of the governed. Thenation suffered also from servile insurrections; the seas were overrunwith pirates; the rich plunged into vice; the poor were pushed down todeeper depths of poverty; judicial decisions were sold for money; theinhabitants of the provinces were looked upon by the nobles as fitsubjects for plunder, and the governors obtained their positions bypurchase; everywhere ruin stared the commonwealth in the face, thoughthere seems to have been no one with perceptions clear enough toperceive the trend of affairs. 

In this degenerate time there arose two men of the most diverse traitsand descent, whose lives, running parallel for many years, furnish atonce instructive studies and involve graphic pictures of publicaffairs. The elder of them was with Scipio when Numantia fell into hishands, and with Jugurtha, a Numidian prince, won distinction by hisvalor on that occasion. Caius Marius was the name of this man, and hebelonged to the commons. He was twenty-three years of age, and hadrisen from the low condition of a peasant to one of prominence inpublic affairs. Fifteen years after the fall of Numantia we find him atribune of the people, standing for purity in the elections, againstthe opposition of the optimates. Rough, haughty, and undaunted, hecarried his measures and waited for the gathering storm to furnish himmore enlarged opportunities for the exercise of his strength andambition. 

The opponent and final conqueror of this commoner was but four years ofage when Numantia fell, and came into public life later than Marius. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was an optimate of illustrious ancestry andhereditary wealth, a student of the literature and art of Greece andhis native land, and he united in his person all the vices as well asaccomplishments that Cato had been accustomed to denounce with theutmost vigor. 

Marius and Sulla, the plebeian and the optimate, the man withouteducation of the schools, and the master of classic culture, werebrought together in Africa in the year 107. Numidia had long been anally of Rome, but upon the death of one of its kings, Jugurtha, who hadgained confidence in himself during the Numantian campaign, attemptedto gain control of the government. Rome interfered, but so accessiblewere public men to bribes, that Jugurtha obtained from the senate adecree dividing the country between him and the rightful claimant ofthe throne. Not contented with this, he attempted to conquer his rivaland obtain the undivided sway. This action aroused the Roman people, who were less corrupt than their senate, and they forced their rulersto interfere. War was declared, but the first commander was corruptedby African gold, and the struggle was intermitted. Jugurtha was calledto Rome, with promise of safety, to testify against the officer who hadbeen bribed, and remained there awhile, until he grew bold enough toassassinate one of his enemies, when he was ordered to leave Italy. Ashe left, he is said to have exclaimed [Footnote: "_Urbem venalem, etmature perituram, si emptorem invenerit_"--Sallust's "Jugurtha, "chapter 35. ]: "A city for sale, ready to fall into the hands of thefirst bidder!" These memorable words, whether really uttered by theNumidian or not, well characterize the state of affairs at this corruptperiod. 

[Illustration: IN A ROMAN STUDY. ]

One general and another were sent to oppose Jugurtha, but he proved toomuch for them, either corrupting them by bribes or overcoming them byskill of arms. The spirit of the Roman people was at last fullyaroused, and an investigation was made, which resulted in convictingsome of the optimates, one of them being Opimius, the consul, who hadbeen cruelly opposed to Caius Gracchus. A general of integrity waschosen to go to Africa. He was Cæcilius Metellus, member of a familywhich had come into prominence during the first Punic war. Marius waswith him, and when Jugurtha saw that men of this high character wereopposed to him, he began to despair. While the struggle progressed, Marius remembered that a witch whom he had had with him in a former warhad prophesied that the gods would help him in advancing himself, andresolved to go to Rome to try to gain the consulship. Metellus at firstopposed this scheme, but was finally persuaded to allow Marius toleave. Though but few days elapsed before the election, after Mariusannounced himself as a candidate, he was chosen consul, and then hebegan to exult over the optimates who had so long striven to keep himdown. He vaunted his lowly birth, declared that his election was avictory over the pusillanimity and license of the rich, and boldlycompared his warlike prowess with the effeminacy of the nobility, whomhe determined to persecute as vigorously as they had pursued him. 

[Illustration: THE ROMAN CAMP]

Marius brought the Numidian War to a close by obtaining possession ofJugurtha in the year 106, but as his subordinate, Sulla, was theinstrument in actually taking the king, the enemies of Marius claimedfor the young aristocrat the credit of the capture, and Sulla irritatedhis senior still more by constantly wearing a ring on which he hadcaused to be engraved a representation of the surrender. Marius did notimmediately return to Rome, but remained to complete the subjugation ofNumidia, Sulla the meantime making every effort to ingratiate himselfwith the soldiers, sharing every labor, and sitting with them about thecamp-fires as they softened the asperities of a hard life by tellingtales of past experience, and making prophesies of the future. 

Sulla was not a prepossessing person. His blue eyes were keen andglaring; but they were rendered forbidding and even terrible at timesby the bad complexion of his face, which was covered with red blotchesthat told the story of his debaucheries. "Sulla is a mulberry sprinkledover with meal, " is the expression that a Greek jester is said to haveused in describing his frightful face. 

It was the first of January, 104, when Marius entered Rome in triumph, accompanied by evidences of his victories, the greatest of which wasthe pitiful Numidian king himself, who followed in the grandprocession, and was afterwards ruthlessly dropped into the horribleTulliarium, or Mamertine prison, to perish by starvation in the waterychill. He is said to have exclaimed as he touched the water at thebottom of the prison, "Hercules! how cold are thy baths!"

During the absence of Marius in Africa, there had come over Rome theshadow of a greater peril than had been known since the days whenHannibal's advance had made the strongest hearts quail. The tumultuousmultitudes who inhabited the unexplored regions of Central Europe, theCelts and Germans, [Footnote: The Cimbri, who formed a portion of thisinvading body, had their original home in the modern peninsula ofJutland, whence came also early invaders of Britain, and they wereprobably a Celtic people. ] had gathered a mass comprising, it is said, more than three hundred thousand men capable of fighting, besides hostsof women and children, and were marching with irresistible forcetowards the Roman domains. Nine years before (B. C. 113), thesebarbarians had defeated a Roman army in Noricum, north of Illyricum, and after that they had roamed at will through Switzerland, adding totheir numbers, and ravaging every region, until at last they had pouredover into the plains of Gaul. Year after year passed, and army afterarmy of the Romans was cut to pieces by these terrible barbarians. 

As Marius entered the city he was looked upon as the only one who couldstem the impetuous human torrent that threatened to overwhelm therepublic, for, in the face of the supreme danger, as is usual in suchcases, every party jealousy was forgotten. The proud commoner acceptedthe command with alacrity, setting out for distant Gaul immediately, and taking Sulla as one of his subordinates. After two years ofinconsequent strategy, he overcame the barbarians at a spot twelvemiles distant from _Aquæ Sextiæ_ (the Springs of Sextius, the modernAix, in Provence), (B. C. 102). He collected the richest of the spoil tograce a triumph that he expected to celebrate, and was about to offerthe remainder to the gods, when, just as he stood amid the encirclingtroops in a purple robe, ready to touch the torch to the pile, horsemendashed into the space, announcing that the Romans had for the fifthtime elected him consul! The village of Pourrières (_Campi Putridi_)now marks the spot, and the rustics of the vicinity still celebrate ayearly festival, at which they burn a vast heap of brushwood on thesummit of one of their hills, as they shout _Victoire! victoire!_ inmemory of Marius. 

During this period Sulla gained renown by his valorous deeds, but thejealousy that had begun in Africa increased, and in 103 or 102, he leftMarius and joined himself to his colleague Lutatius Catulus, who wasendeavoring to stem another torrent of barbarians, this time pouringdown toward Rome from the valley of the Po. When Marius reached homeafter his victories in Gaul, he was offered a triumph, but refused tocelebrate it until he had marched to the help of Catulus, who, hefound, was then retreating before the invaders in a panic. After thearrival of Marius the flight was stopped, and the barbarians totallydestroyed at a battle fought near Vercellæ. Though much credit for thiswonderful victory was awarded to both Catulus and Sulla, the wholehonor was at Rome given to Marius, who celebrated a triumph, was calledthe third founder of the city (as Camillus had been the second), andenjoyed the distinction of having his name joined with those of thegods when offerings and libations were made. The jealousy of Sulla wasall this time growing from its small beginnings. 

While Marius and Sulla were fighting the barbarians there had been asecond insurrection among the slave population of Italy, and it was notdistant Sicily only that was troubled at this time, for though theuprising spread to that island, many towns of Campania were afflicted, and at last the contagion had affected thousands of the slaves, whoarose and struck for freedom. The outbreak in Campania was repressed in103, but it was not until 99 that quiet was restored on the island, andthen it was by the destruction of many thousands of lives. Largenumbers of the captives were taken to Rome to fight in the arena withwild beasts, but they disappointed their sanguinary masters by killingeach other instead in the amphitheatre. The condition of the slavesafter this was worse than before. They were deprived of all arms, andeven the spear with which the herdsmen were wont to protect themselvesfrom wild beasts was taken away. 

At this time the power of the optimates was rather decreasing, andsigns of promise for the people appeared. In the year 103, a law hadbeen passed which took from the senate the right to select the chiefpontiffs, and it had been given to the populares. [Footnote: Thisimportant law was passed through the tribune Cneius DomitiusAhenobarbus, in order to effect his own election as pontiff in theplace of his father, and is known as the Domitian law. The peopleelected him afterward out of gratitude. The chief pontiff was aninfluential factor in politics, as he pronounced the verdict of theSibylline books on public questions, and gave or withheld the divineapproval from public acts, besides appointing the rites andsacrifices. ] An agrarian law was proposed in the following year, aspeaker on the subject asserting that in the entire republic there werenot two thousand landholders, so rapidly had the rich been able toconcentrate in themselves the ownership of the land. The powers of thesenate were still further restricted in the year 100, by a law intendedto punish magistrates who had improperly received money, and to takefrom the senators the right to try such offences. [Footnote: The exactdate of this law is uncertain. It was directed against QuintusServilius Cæpio, who, when the barbarians were threatening Italy, commanded in Gaul, and enriched himself by the wealth of Tolosa, whichhe took (B. C. 106), thus giving rise to the proverb, "He has gold ofToulouse"--ill-gotten gains (_aurum Tolosanum habet_). He was alsoheld responsible for a terrible defeat at Arausio (Orange), whereeighty thousand Romans and forty thousand camp-followers perished, October 6, B. C. 105. The day became another black one in the Romancalendar. ] At the same time the right of citizenship was offered to allItalians who should succeed in convicting a magistrate of peculation orextortion. Thus it seemed as though the reforms aimed at by the Gracchimight be brought about if only the man for the occasion were to presenthimself. Marius presented himself, but we shall find that he mistookhis means, and only cast the nation down into deeper depths of misery. His star was at its highest when he celebrated his triumph, and itwould have been better for his fame had he died at that time. 

XIII. 

SOCIAL AND CIVIL WARS. 

Marius was brave and strong and able to cope with any in the rush ofwar, but he knew little of the arts of peace and the science ofgovernment. Sulla, his enemy, was at Rome, living in quiet, but thesame, fiery, ambition that animated Marius, and the same jealousy ofall who seemed to be growing in popularity, burned in his bosom andwere ready to burst out at any time. The very first attempts of Mariusat government ended in shame, and he retired from the city in the year99. He had supported two rogations, called the Appuleian laws, from thedemagogue who moved them, Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, and they werecarried by violence and treachery. They enacted that the lands acquiredfrom the barbarians should be divided among both the Italians and thecitizens of Rome, thus affording relief to all Italy; and that cornshould be sold to Romans by the state at a nominal price. 

When Marius retired, the authority of the senate was restored, but thestate was in a deplorable condition, for the violence and bloodshedthat had been familiar for the half century since the triumph overGreece and Carthage, were bearing their legitimate fruits. Not only wasthe separation between the rich and poor constantly growing greater, but the effect of the luxury and license of the wealthy was debauchingthe public conscience, and faith was everywhere falling away. Impostorsand foreign priests had full sway. 

Opposed to Saturninus was a noble of the most exalted type ofcharacter, Marcus Livius Drusus, son of the Drusus who had opposed theGracchi. A genuine aristocrat, possessed of a colossal fortune, strictin his morals and trustworthy in every position, he was a man ofacknowledged weight in the national councils. In the year 91, he waselected tribune, and endeavored to bring about reform. He obtained theadherence of the people by laws for distributing corn at low prices, and by holding out to the allies hopes of the franchise. The allies hadlong looked for this, and as their condition had been growing worseyear by year, their impatience increased, until at last they were nolonger willing to brook delay. The Romans (whose party cry was "Romefor the Romans") ever opposed this measure, and now they stirred upopposition to the conservative Drusus, who paid the penalty of his lifeto his efforts at civil reform and the alleviation of oppression. Though he tried to please all parties, the senate first rendered hislaws nugatory, and their partisans not satisfied with his civil defeat, afterwards caused him to be assassinated. [Footnote: VelleiusPaterculus, the historian, relates that as Drusus was dying, he lookedupon the crowd of citizens who were lamenting his fortune, and said, inconscious innocence: "My relations and friends, will the commonwealthever again have a citizen like me?" He adds, as illustrating the purityof his intentions, that when Drusus was building a house on thePalatine, his architect offered to make it so that no observer couldsee into it, but he said: "Rather, build my house so that whatever I domay be seen by all. "] It was then enacted that all who favored theallies should be considered guilty of treason to the state. Manyprominent citizens were condemned under this law, and the alliesnaturally became convinced that there was no hope for them except inrevolution. 

Rome was in consequence menaced by those who had before been herhelpers, and the danger was one of the greatest that she had everencountered. The Italians were prepared for the contest, but the Romanswere not. It was determined by the allies that Rome should bedestroyed, and a new capital erected at Corfinum, which was to be knownas Italica. On both sides it was a struggle for existence. 

The Marsians were the most prominent among the allies in one division, and the Samnites were at the head of another. [Footnote: The Marsianswere an ancient people of Central Italy, inhabiting a mountainousdistrict, and had won distinction among the allies for their skill andcourage in war. "The Marsic cohorts" was an almost proverbialexpression for the bravest troops in the time of Horace and Virgil. ]The whole of Central Italy became involved in the desperate struggle. The Etruscans and Umbrians took the part of Rome, being offered thesuffrage for their allegiance. At the end of the first campaign thiswas offered also to those of the other antagonistic allies who wouldlay down their arms, and by this means discord was thrown into the campof the enemy. The campaign of 89 was favorable to the Romans, who, ledby Sulla, drove the enemy out of Campania, and captured the town ofBovianum. The following year the war was closed, but Rome and Italy hadlost more than a quarter of a million of their citizens, while theallies had nominally obtained the concessions that they had fought for. 

Ten new tribes were formed in which the new citizens were enrolled, thus keeping them in a body by themselves; and it was natural thatthere should be much discontent among them on account of the manner inwhich their privileges had been awarded. The franchise could only beobtained by a visit to Rome, which was difficult for the inhabitants ofdistant regions, and there was besides no place in the city largeenough to contain all the citizens, if they had been able to come. Thenew citizens found, too, that there was still a difference betweenthemselves and those who had before enjoyed the suffrage, somethinglike that which existed between the freedmen and the men who had neverbeen enslaved. 

Marius and Sulla, the ever-vigilant rivals, had both been engaged inthe Marsic war, but they came out of it in far differing frames ofmind. The young aristocrat boasted that fortune had permitted him tostrike the last decisive blow; and the old plebeian, now seventy yearsof age, found his heart swelling with indignation because he receivedonly new mortifications in return for his new services to the state, inwhose behalf he had this time fought with reluctance. A spirit of direvengeance was agitating his heart, the results of which we are soon toobserve. 

The troubles of the state now seemed to accumulate with terriblerapidity. Two wars broke out immediately upon the close of that whichwe have just considered, one at home and the other in Asia. The one wasthe strife of faction, and the other an effort to repel attacks uponallies of the republic. Mithridates the Great, King of Pontus, thesixth of his name, was remarkable for his physical and mentaldevelopment, no less than for his great ambition and boundlessactivity. Under his rule his kingdom had reached its greatest power. This monarch had attempted to add to his dominion Cappadocia, thecountry adjoining Pontus on the south, by placing his nephew on thethrone, but Sulla, who was then in Cilicia, prevented it. Mithridatesnext interfered in the government of Bithynia, to the southwest, expecting that the oppressive rule of the Roman governors would leadthe inhabitants to be friendly to him, while the troubles of the Romansat home would make it difficult for them to interfere. The close of theMarsian struggle, however, left Rome free to engage the Easternconqueror, and war was determined upon. 

The success of Sulla in the East made it plain that he was the one tolead the army, but Marius was still ambitious to gain new laurels, andin order to prove that he was not too old to endure the hardships of acampaign, he went daily to the Campus Martius and exercised with theyoung men. His efforts proved vain, and he determined to take morepositive measures. He procured the enactment of a law distributing thenew citizens, who far out-numbered the old ones, among the tribes, knowing that they would vote in his favor. It was not without muchopposition that this law was enacted, but Marius was then appointed, instead of Sulla, to lead the army against Pontus. Sulla meantimehastened to the army and obtained actual command of the soldiers, wholoved him, caused the tribunes of Marius to be murdered, and left theold commander without support. Marius in turn raised another army byoffering freedom to slaves, and with it attempted to resist Sulla, butin vain. He was obliged to fly, and a price was placed upon his head. He sailed for Africa, but was thrown back upon the shores of Italy, wascast into prison, and ordered to execution; but the slave commissionedto carry out the judgment was frightened by the flashing eyes of theaged warrior and refused to perform the act, as he heard a voice fromthe darkness of the cell haughtily asking: "Fellow, darest thou killCaius Marius?" The magistrates, struck with pity and remorse, as theyreflected that Marius was the preserver of Italy, let him go to meethis fate on other shores, and at last he found his way to Africa. 

The departure of both Marius and Sulla from Rome left it exposed to anew danger. As soon as Sulla had left for Pontus, Lucius CorneliusCinna, one of the consuls, began to form a popular party, composedlargely of the newly made citizens, for the purpose of overpowering thesenate and recalling Marius. A frightful conflict ensued on a day ofvoting, and thousands were butchered in the struggle. Cinna was drivenfrom the city, but received the support of a vast number of Italians, which enabled him to march again upon Rome. 

Meantime Marius returned from Africa, captured Ostia and other places, and joined Cinna. Then, by cutting off its supplies, he caused the cityto yield. Marius and Cinna entered the gates, and again the streets ranblood; for every one who had given Marius cause to hate or fear him washunted to the death without mercy, and with no respect to rank, talent, or former friendship. Cinna and Marius named themselves consuls for theyear 86 without the form of election, [Footnote: See note on page 64. ]but the firm constitution of the old hero was completely undermined byhis sufferings and fatigues, and he succumbed to an attack of pleurisyafter a few days, during which, as Plutarch tells us, he was terrifiedby dreams and by the anticipated return of Sulla. The people rejoicedthat they were freed from the cruelty of his ruthless tyranny, littleknowing what new horrors the grim future had in store for them. 

We return now to Sulla. When he had driven Marius from Rome, he wasobliged to hasten away to carry on the war in Asia, though he marchedfirst against Athens, which had become the head-quarters of the alliesof Mithridates in Greece. The siege of this city was long andobstinate, and it was not until March I, 86, that it was overcome, whenSulla gave it up to rapine and pillage. He then advanced into Boeotia, and success continued to follow his arms until the year 84, when hecrossed the Hellespont to carry the war into Asia. Mithridates had putto death all Roman citizens and allies, wherever found, with all thereckless ferocity of an Asiatic tyrant, but had met many losses and wasnow anxious to have peace. Sulla settled the terms at a personalinterview at Dardanus, in the Troad. Enormous sums (estimated at morethan $100, 000, 000) were exacted from the rich cities, and a singlesettled government was restored to Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor. The soldiers were compensated for their fatigues by a luxurious winterin Asia, and, in the spring of 83, they were transferred, in 1, 600vessels, from Ephesus to the Piraeus, and thence to Brundusium. Sullacarried with him from Athens the valuable library of Apellicon of Teos, which contained the works of Aristotle and his disciple, Theophrastus, then not in general circulation, for he did not forget his interest inliterature even in war. Thus it was that the rich thoughts of the greatphilosopher came to the knowledge of the Roman students. [Footnote:Aristoteles, sometimes called the Stagirite, because he was born inStagira, in Macedonia, lived at Athens in the fourth century before ourera. Theophrastus was his friend and disciple, both at Stagira andAthens. ]

Sulla sent a letter to the senate, announcing the close of the war andhis intention to return, in the course of which he took occasion torecount his services to the republic, from the time of the war withJugurtha to the conquest of Mithridates, and announced that he shouldtake vengeance upon his enemies and upon those of the commonwealth. Thesenate was alarmed, and proposed to treat with him for peace, but Cinnahastened to oppose the arrogant conqueror with force. He was, however, assassinated by his own soldiers. 

On the sixth of July, after the arrival of Sulla at Brundusium (B. C. 83), Rome was thrown into a state of consternation by the burning ofthe capitol and the destruction of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, with the Sibylline oracles, those valuable books which had directed thecounsels of the nation for ages, and the close of a historic eraapproached. [Footnote: Ambassadors were afterwards sent to variousplaces in Greece, Asia, and Italy, to make a fresh collection, and whenthe temple was rebuilt it was put in the place occupied by the lostbooks. ] Sulla easily marched in triumph through lower Italy on his wayto Rome, for his opponents were not well organized, but it was notuntil months had passed that the fierce struggle was decided. He wasbesieging Præneste, when the Samnites, after finding that they couldnot relieve it, marched directly upon Rome. Sulla followed them, and abloody battle was fought at the Colline gate, on the northern side ofthe city. It was a fight for the very existence of Rome, for PontiusTelesinus, commander of the Samnites, declared that he intended to razethe city to the ground. Fifty thousand are said to have fallen on eachside, and most of the leaders of the party of Marius perished or wereafterward put to death. All the Samnites (8, 000) who were taken werecollected by Sulla in the Campus Martius and ruthlessly butchered. 

If the former scenes had been terrible, much more so were those thatnow followed. Sulla was made dictator, an officer that had been unknownfor a century and a quarter, and proceeded to show his adhesion to theoptimates by attempting to blot out the popular party. He announcedthat he would give a better government to Rome, but he found itnecessary to kill all whom he pretended to think her enemies. It wasMarius who had brought on the era of carnage by attempting to depriveSulla of his command in the war against Mithridates, and accordinglythe body of the great plebeian was torn from its tomb and cast into theAnio. A list was drawn up of those whose possessions were to beconfiscated, and who were themselves to be executed in vengeance. Onthis the names of the family of Marius came first. Fresh lists wereconstantly posted in the forum. Each of these was called a _tabulaproscriptionis_, a list of proscription, and it presents the firstinstance of a proscription in Roman history. [Footnote: A proscriptionhad formerly been an offering for sale of any thing by advertisement;but Sulla gave it a new meaning, --the sale of the property of thoseunfortunates who were put to death by his orders. The victims were saidto be proscribed. The meaning given by Sulla still lives in the Englishword. ] Sulla placed on these lists not only the names of enemies of thestate, but his personal opponents, those whose property he coveted, andthose who were enemies of friends whom he desired to please. No man wassafe, for his name might appear at any time on the terrible lists, andthen he would be an outlaw, whom any one might kill with impunity. Especially were the rich and prominent liable to find themselves inthis position. Many thousands of unfortunate citizens perished beforeSulla was content to put a stop to the horrors. He then celebrated withexceeding magnificence the postponed triumph on account of his victoryover Mithridates, and received from a trembling people the title_Felix_, the lucky. 

It has been said that after having killed the men with his sword, Sullamade it his work to kill the party that opposed him, by laws. He wishedto have in Rome the silence and the autocracy of a camp. He put somethree hundred new members into the senate, and gave that body the powerto veto legislative enactments, while at the same time he restrictedthe authority of the tribunes of the people and of the _comitiatributa, _ the general convention of the tribes. On the other hand, he reduced debts by one fourth, to conciliate the masses, and paid hissoldiers for their services in the civil strife with vast amounts ofbooty and great numbers of slaves. The _pomoerium_ was extended toembrace all Italy, and, as is supposed, the northern boundary of Romanterritory was extended to the Rubicon. New courts were established andthe judicial system was reorganized; the censors were practicallyshelved, but sumptuary laws were passed to prevent extravagance andluxury. All of the laws of Sulla were submitted to the people forformal approval; but as no one was hardy enough to differ from thedictator, it mattered little what the people thought. 

By the beginning of the year 79, Sulla considered that his reforms werecomplete, and bethought himself of retiring to see at a little distancethe effect of his regulations. He felt that no danger could overtakehim, for he had settled his old veterans (called Cornelians), to thenumber of more than a hundred thousand, in colonies scatteredthroughout Italy, on the estates and in the cities that he hadconfiscated, and thought that they would prove his supporters in anyevent. He boldly summoned the people and, announcing his purpose, offered to render an account of his official conduct. He gave the crowda _congiarium_, as it was called--that is, he glutted them withthe costliest meats and the richest wines, and so great was hisprofusion that vast quantities that the gorged multitude were unable toeat were cast into the Tiber. He then discharged his armed attendants, dismissed his lictors, descended from the rostra, and retired on footto his house, accompanied only by his friends, passing through themidst of the populace which he had given every reason to desire towreak vengeance upon him. It was audacity of the supremest sort. Sullaafterwards withdrew to his estate at Puteoli, where he spent the briefremainder of his life in the most remarkable alternation of nocturnalorgies and cultured enjoyment, sharing his time with male and femaledebauchees and learned students of Greek literature, and concluding thememoirs of his life and times, in which, through twenty-two books, herecorded the story of his deeds, colored doubtless to a great extent byhis own magnificent self-love. In the last words of his "Memoirs" hecharacterized himself, with a certain degree of truth from his ownpoint of view, as "fortunate and all-powerful to his last hour. "

The senate voted Sulla a gorgeous funeral, in spite of opposition onthe part of the consul Lepidus, and his body was carried to the CampusMartius, preceded by the magistrates, the senate, the equites, thevestal virgins, and the veterans. There it was burned, that no futuretyrant could treat it as that of Marius had been, though up to thattime the Cornelian gens, to which Sulla belonged, had always buriedtheir dead. 

Thus lived and thus died the man who, though he relieved Rome of thelast of her invaders, infused into her system a malady from which shewas to suffer in the future; for the pampered veterans whom he haddistributed throughout Italy in scenes of peace, all unwonted to such alife, were to be the ones on which another oppressor was to depend inhis efforts to subvert the government. 

XIV. 

THE MASTER SPIRITS OF THIS AGE. 

Rome was now ruled by an oligarchy, --that is, the control of publicaffairs fell into the hands of a few persons. There was an evidenttendency, however, towards the union of all the functions ofgovernmental authority in the person of a single man, whenever oneshould be found of sufficient strength to grasp them. The youngerGracchus had exercised almost supreme control, and Marius, Cinna, andSulla had followed him; but their power had perished with them, leavingno relics in the fundamental principles of the government, except as itmarked stages in the general progress. Now other strong men arise whopursue the same course, and lead directly up to the concentration ofsupreme authority in the hands of one man, and he not a consul, nor atribune, nor a dictator, but an emperor, a titled personage neverbefore known in Rome. With this culmination the life of the populusRomanus was destined to end. 

A dramatist endeavoring to depict public life at Rome during the periodfollowing the death of Sulla, would find himself embarrassed by themultitude of men of note crowding upon his attention. One of the eldestof these was Quintus Sertorius, a soldier of chivalric bravery, who hadcome into prominence during the Marian wars in Gaul. He had at thattime won distinction by boldly entering the camp of the Teutonesdisguised as a spy, and bringing away valuable information, before thebattle at Aix. When Sulla was fighting Mithridates, Sertorius was onthe side of Cinna, and had to flee from the city with him. When thebattle was fought at the Colline gate, Sertorius served with his oldcomrade Marius, whom he did not admire, and with Cinna, but we do notknow that he shared the guilt of the massacre that followed. Certainlyhe punished the slaves that surrounded Marius for their cruel excesses. When Sulla returned, Sertorius escaped to Spain, where he raised anarmy, and achieved so much popularity that the Romans at home grew veryjealous of him. [Footnote: Sertorius is almost the only one among thestatesmen of antiquity who seems to have recognized the modern truth, that education is a valuable aid in making a government firm. Heestablished a school in Spain in which boys of high rank, dressed inthe garb of Romans, learned the languages that still form the basis ofa classical education, while they were also held as hostages for thegood behavior of their elders. He was not a philanthropist, but asagacious ruler, and the author of Latin colonies in the West. He wasfor a time accompanied by a white fawn, which he encouraged thesuperstitious barbarians to believe was a familiar spirit, by means ofwhich he communicated with the unseen powers and ensured his success. ]He did not intentionally go to live in Spain, but having heard thatthere were certain islands out in the Atlantic celebrated since thedays of Plato as the abode of the blest; where gentle breezes broughtsoft dews to enrich the fertile soil; where delicate fruits grew tofeed the inhabitants without their trouble or labor; where the yellow-haired Rhadamanthus was refreshed by the whistling breezes of Zephyrus;he longed to find them and live in peace and quiet, far from the rushof war and the groans of the oppressed. From this bright vision he wasturned, but perhaps his efforts to establish a merciful government inSpain may be traced to its influence. 

Another prominent man on the stage at this time was a leader of thearistocratic party, Marcus Crassus, who lived in a house that isestimated to have cost more than a quarter of a million dollars. Probably he would not have been very prominent if his father had notleft him a small fortune, to which he had added very largely by methodsthat we can hardly consider noble. It is said that when the Sullanproscription was going on, he obtained at ruinously low prices theestates that the proscribed had to give up, and, whenever there was afire, he would be on the spot ready to buy the burning or ruinedbuildings for little or nothing. He owned many slaves who wereaccomplished as writers, silversmiths, stewards, and table-waiters, whom he let out to those who wished their services, and thus addedlargely to his income. He did not build any houses, except the one inwhich he lived, for he agreed with the proverb which says that foolsbuild houses for wise men to live in, though "the greatest part of Romesooner or later came into his hands, " as Plutarch observes. He was ofthat sordid, avaricious character which covets wealth merely for thedesire to be considered rich, for the vulgar popularity thataccompanies that reputation, and not for ambition or enjoyment. He wassaid to be uninfluenced by the love of luxury or by the other passionsof humanity. He was not a man of extensive learning, though he waspretty well versed in philosophy and in history, and by pains andindustry had made himself an accomplished orator. He could thus wield agreat influence by his speeches to the people from the rostra. 

Among the aristocrats who composed the oligarchy that ruled at aboutthis time were two men born in the same year (106 B. C. ): the egotistic, vain, and irresolute, but personally pure orator, Marcus TulliusCicero; and the cold and haughty soldier, Cneius Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey the Great. The philosophical, oratorical, andtheological writings of Cicero are still studied in our schools asmodels in their different classes. Inheriting a love of culture fromhis father, a member of an ancient family, he was afforded everyadvantage in becoming acquainted with all branches of a politeeducation; and travelled to the chief seats of learning in Greece andAsia Minor with this end in view. When he was twenty-six years of age, he made his first appearance as a public pleader, and soon gained thereputation of being the first orator at the Roman bar. Besides thesepursuits, Cicero had had a brief military experience, during the warbetween Sulla and Marius. 

Pompey, likewise, began to learn the art of war under his father, inthe same struggle, but he continued its exercise until he became aconsummate warrior. For his success in pursuing the remains of theMarian faction in Africa and Sicily, Pompey was honored with the nameMagnus (the Great), and with a triumph, a distinction that had neverbefore been won by a man of his rank who had not previously held publicoffice. 

[Illustration: POMPEY (CNEIUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS). ]

Older than these men there was one whose character is forever blackenedon the pages of history by the relentless pen of Cicero, Caius LiciniusVerres, who, if we may believe the only records we have regarding him, was the most phenomenal freebooter of all time. The story of his careeris a vivid demonstration of the manner in which the people of the Romanprovinces were outraged by the officers sent to rule over them, and weshall anticipate our story a little in tracing it. The provincialgovernors were, as a class, corrupt, and Verres was as vile as any ofthem, but he was also brutal in his manners and natural instincts, rapacious, licentious, cruel, and fond of low companions. At first, oneof the Marian faction, he betrayed his associates, embezzled the fundsthat had been entrusted to him, and joined himself to Sulla, who senthim to Brundusium, allowing him a share in the confiscated estates. Thence he was transferred to Cilicia, where again he proved a traitorto his superior officer, and stole from cities, private persons, temples, and public places, every thing that his rapacity coveted. Onecity offered him a vessel as a loan, and he refused to return it;another had a statue of Diana covered with gold, and he scraped off theprecious metal to put it in his pocket. Using the money thus gained toensure his election to office at Rome, Verres enjoyed a year at theCapitol, and then entered upon a still more outrageous career asgovernor of the island of Sicily. Taking with him a painter and asculptor well versed in the values of works of art, he systematicallygathered together all that was considered choice in the galleries andtemples. Allowing his officers to make exorbitant exactions upon thefarmers, he confiscated many estates to his own use, and reaped thecrops. Even travellers were attacked to enrich this extraordinarythief, and six vessels were afterward dispatched to Rome with theplunder, which he asserted was sufficient to permit him to revel inopulence the remainder of his life, even if he were obliged to give uptwo thirds in fines and bribes. 

The people Verres had outraged did not, however, suffer in quiet. Theyengaged Cicero to conduct their case against him, and this the greatorator did with overwhelming success. [Footnote: The orations of Ciceroagainst Verres are based upon information which the orator gathered bypersonally examining witnesses at the scenes of the rascality heunveiled. The orator showed a true Roman lack of appreciation of Greekart, and exercised his own love of puns to a considerable extent, playing a good deal upon the name Verres, which meant a boar. Theextreme corpulence of the defendant, too, offered an opportunity forgross personal allusions. Cicero compared him to the Erymanthean boar, and called him the "drag-net" of Sicily, because his name resembled theword _everriculum_, a drag-net. ] Though protected by Hortensius, an older advocate, who, during the absence of Cicero, on his travels, had acquired the highest rank as an orator, so terrible was thearraignment in its beginning that, at the suggestion of Hortensius, Verres did not remain to hear its close, but hastened into voluntaryexile. He precipitately took ship for Marseilles, and for twenty-sevenyears was forced to remain in that city. Would that every misdoer amongthe provincial governors had thus been followed up by the law!

The representative of the Sullan party at this time was Lucius SergiusCatiline, an aristocrat, who, during the proscription, behaved withfiendish atrocity towards those of the opposite party, torturing andkilling men with the utmost recklessness. His early years had beenpassed in undisguised debaucheries and unrestrained vice, but in spiteof all his acts, he made political progress, was prætor, governor ofAfrica, and candidate for the consulship by turn. Failing in the lasteffort, however, he entered into a conspiracy to murder the successfulcandidates, and was only foiled by his own impatience. We shall findthat he was encouraged by this failure which so nearly proved asuccess. 

There was one man among the host of busy figures on the stage at thiseventful period who seems to stalk about like a born master, and thelapse of time since his days has not at all dimmed the fame of hisdeeds, so deep a mark have they left upon the laws and customs ofmankind, and so noteworthy are they in the annals of Rome. Caius JuliusCæsar was six years younger than Pompey and Cicero, and was of thepopular or Marian party, both by birth and tastes. His aunt Julia waswife of the great Marius himself, and though he had married a youngwoman of high birth to please his father, he divorced her as soon ashis father died, and married Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, the devotedopponent of Sulla, to please himself. 

When Sulla returned to Rome from the East, he ordered Pompey to putaway his wife, and he obeyed. He ordered Cæsar, a boy of seventeen, togive up his Cornelia, and he proudly replied that he would not. Ofcourse he could not remain at Rome after that, and he fled to the landof the Sabines until Sulla was induced to grant him a pardon. Still, hedid not feel secure at Rome, and a second time he sought safety inexpatriation. Upon the death of the dictator, he returned, havinggained experience in war, and having developed his talents as an oratorby study in a school at Rhodes. He plunged immediately into public lifeand won great distinction by his effective speaking. 

These are enough characters for us to remember at present. Theyrepresent four groups, all striving for supreme power. There are themen of the oligarchy, represented by Pompey and Cicero, actuallyholding the reins of government; and Crassus, standing for thearistocrats, who resent their claims; Cæsar, foremost among theMarians, the former opponents of Sulla and his schemes; and Catiline, at the head of the faction which included the host of warriors thatSulla had settled in peaceful pursuits throughout Italy, --in peacefulpursuits that did not at all suit their impetuous spirits, ever eageras they were for some revolution that would plunge them again intostrife, and perchance win for them some spoil. 

[Illustration: CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR. ]

The consuls at the time of the death of Sulla were Lepidus and Catulus, who now fell out with one another, Lepidus taking the part of theMarians, and Catulus holding with the aristocrats. This was the sameLepidus who had opposed the burial of the dictator Sulla in the CampusMartius. As soon as the Marians saw that one consul was ready to favorthem, there was great excitement among the portion of the communitythat looked for gain in confusion. Those who had lost their riches andcivic rights, hoped to see them restored; young profligates trustedthat in some way they might find means to gratify their love of luxury;and the people in general, who had no other reason, thought that afterthe three years of the calm of despotism, it would be refreshing to seesome excitement in the forum. Lepidus was profuse in promises; he toldthe beggars that he would again distribute free grain; and the familiesdeprived of their estates, that they might soon expect to enjoy themagain. Catulus protested in vain, and the civil strife constantlyincreased, without any apparent probability that the Senate, now weakand inefficient, would or could successfully interfere. Finally it wasdecreed that Lepidus and Catulus should each be sent to the provincesunder oath not to turn their swords against each other. 

Lepidus slowly proceeded to carry out his part of this decree, butCatulus remained behind long enough to complete a great temple, whichtowered above the forum on the Capitoline Hill. The foundations onlyremain now, but they bear an inscription placed there by order of thesenate, testifying that Catulus was the consul under whom the structurewas completed. Lepidus did not consider his oath binding long, and thefollowing year (B. C. 77) he marched straight to Rome again, announcingto the senators that he came to re-establish the rights of the peopleand to assume the dictatorship himself. He was met by an army underPompey and Catulus, at a spot near the Mulvian bridge and the CampusMartius, almost on the place where the fate of the Roman Empire was tobe determined four centuries later by a battle between Maxentius andConstantine (A. D. 312). Lepidus was defeated and forced to flee. Shortly after, he died on the island of Sardinia, overcome by chagrinand sorrow. One would expect to read of a new proscription, after thissuccess, but the victors did not resort to that terrible vengeance. Thus Pompey found himself at the head of Roman affairs. 

His first duty was to march against the remnant of the party of theMarians. They had joined Sertorius in Spain. It was the year 76 whenPompey arrived on the scene of his new operations. He found his enemymore formidable than he had supposed, and it was not until five yearshad passed, and Sertorius had been assassinated, that he was able toachieve the victory and scatter the army of the Marians. Meantime theRomans had been fearing that Sertorius would actually prove strongenough to march upon the capital and perhaps overwhelm it. Hardly hadtheir fears in this respect been quieted than they found themselvesmenaced by a still more frightful catastrophe. 

We remember how, in the year 264 B. C. , two young Romans honored thememory of their father by causing men to fight each other to the deathwith swords to celebrate his funeral, and hints from time to time haveshown how the Romans had become more and more fond of seeing humanbeings hack and hew each other in the amphitheatres. The men who wereto be "butchered to make a Roman holiday, " as the poet says, weretrained for their horrid work with as much system as is now used in ourbest gymnasiums to fit men to live lives of happy peace, if not withmore. They were divided into classes with particular names, accordingto the arms they wore, the hours at which they fought, and their modesof fighting, and great were the pains that their instructors took tomake them perfect in their bloody work. Down at Capua, that celebratedcentre of refinement and luxury, there was a school of gladiators, keptby one Lentulus, who hired his fierce pupils out to the nobles to beused at games and festivals. 

While Pompey was away engaged with Sertorius, the enemies of Romeeverywhere thought it a favorable moment to give her trouble, and thesegladiators conspired in the year 73 to escape to freedom, and thuscheat their captors out of their expected pleasures, and give their ownwives and children a little more of their lives. So large was theschool that two hundred engaged in the plot, though only seventy-eightwere successful in escaping. They hurried away to the mountains, armedwith knives and spits that they had been able to snatch from the stallsas they fled, and, directed by one Spartacus who had been leader of aband of robbers, found their way to the crater of Mount Vesuvius, not acomfortable resort one would think; but at that time it was quitedifferent in form from what it is now, the volcano being extinct, sothat it afforded many of the advantages of a fortified town. From everyquarter the hard-worked slaves flocked to the standard of Spartacus, and soon he found himself at the head of a large army. His plan was tocross the Alps, and find a place of refuge in Gaul or in his nativeThrace; but his brutalized followers thought only of the present. Theywere satisfied if they could now and then capture a rich town, and fora while revel in luxuries; if they could wreak their vengeance byforcing the Romans themselves to fight as gladiators; or, if they hadthe opportunity to kill those to whom they attributed their formerdistresses. They cared not to follow their leader to the northward, andthus his wiser plans were baffled; but, in spite of all obstacles, helaid the country waste from the foot of the Alps to the most southernextremity of the toe of the Italian boot. For two years he was able tokeep up his war against the Roman people, but at last he was driven tothe remotest limits of Bruttium, where his only hope was in gettingover to Sicily, in the expectation of gaining other followers; but hisarmy was signally defeated by Crassus, a small remnant only escaping tothe northward, where they were exterminated by Pompey, then returningfrom Spain (B. C. 71). From Capua to Rome six thousand crosses, eachbearing a captured slave, showed how carefully and ruthlessly the man-hunt had been pursued by the frightened and exasperated Romans. BothCrassus and Pompey claimed the credit of the final victory, Pompeyasserting that though Crassus had scotched the serpent, he had himselfkilled it. 

[Illustration: GLADIATORS. ]

On the last day of the year 71 Pompey entered Rome with the honor of atriumph, while Crassus received the less important distinction of anovation, [Footnote: In a triumph in these times, the victoriousgeneral, clad in a robe embroidered with gold, and wearing a laurelwreath, solemnly entered the city riding in a chariot drawn by fourhorses. The captives and spoils went before him, and the army followed. He passed along the Via Sacra on the Forum Romanum, and went up to theCapitol to sacrifice in the temple of Jupiter. In the ovation thegeneral entered the city on foot, wore a simple toga, and a wreath ofmyrtle, and was in other respects not so conspicuously honored as inthe triumph. The two celebrations differed in other respects also. ] asit was called, because his success had been obtained over slaves, lesshonorable adversaries than those whom Pompey had met. Each desired tobe consul, but neither was properly qualified for the office, andtherefore they agreed to overawe the senate and win the office forboth, each probably thinking that at the first good opportunity hewould get the better of the other. In this plan they were successful, and thus two aristocrats came to the head of government, and theoligarchy, to which one of them belonged, went out of power, and soonPompey, who all the time posed as the friend of the people, proceededto repeal the most important parts of the legislation of Sulla. Thetribunes were restored, and Pompey openly broke with the aristocracy towhich by birth he belonged, thus beginning a new era, for the socialclass of a man's family was no longer to indicate the political partyto which he should give his adherence. 

[Illustration: TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION OF A ROMAN GENERAL]

XV. 

PROGRESS OF THE GREAT POMPEY. 

The master spirits of this remarkable age were now in full action onthe stage, and it is difficult to keep the eye fixed upon all of themat once. Now one is prominent and now another; all are pushing theirparticular interests, while each tries to make it appear that he hasnothing but the good of the state at heart. Whenever it is evident thata certain cause is the popular one, the various leaders, opposed onmost subjects, are united to help it, in the hope of catching thepopular breeze. During the consulship of Pompey and Catulus, Pompey wasthe principal Roman citizen, and he tried to make sure that hisprestige should not be lessened when he should step down from his highoffice. 

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A ROMAN HOUSE]

Crassus, aristocrat by birth and aristocrat by choice, had been acandidate for the senate in opposition to Pompey, but he soon foundthat his interest demanded that he should make peace with his powerfulcolleague, and as he did it, he told the people that he did notconsider that his action was in any degree base or humiliating, for hesimply made advances to one whom they had themselves named the Great. Crowds daily courted Pompey on account of his power; but a multitudeequally numerous surrounded Crassus for his wealth, and Cicero onaccount of his wonderful oratory. Even Julius Cæsar, the strong Marian, who pronounced a eulogy upon his aunt, the widow of Marius, seemed alsoto pay homage to Pompey, when, a year later, he took to wife Pompeia, arelative of the great soldier (B. C. 67). 

Both Cæsar and Pompey saw that gross corruption was practised by thechiefs of the senate when they had control of the provinces, and knewthat it ought to be exposed and effectually stopped, but Cæsar was thefirst to take action. He was quickly followed by Pompey, however, whoencouraged Cicero to denounce the crimes of Verres with the successthat we have already noticed. Cicero loftily exclaimed that he did notseek to chastise a single wicked man who had abused his authority asgovernor, but to extinguish and blot out all wickedness in all places, as the Roman people had long been demanding; but with all his eloquencehe was not able to make the people appreciate the fact that theinterests of Rome were identical with the well-being and prosperity ofher allies, distant or near at hand. 

Both Crassus and Pompey retired from the consulship amid the plauditsof the people and with the continued friendship of the optimates. Crassus, out of his immense income, spread a feast for the people onten thousand tables; dedicated a tenth of his wealth to Hercules; anddistributed among the citizens enough grain to supply their familiesthree months. With all his efforts, however, he could not gain thefavor which Pompey apparently held with ease. For two years Pompeyassumed royal manners, and gave himself up to the enjoyment of hispopularity, but then beginning to fear that without some new evidenceof genius he might lose the admiration of the people, he began to makebroad plans to astonish them. 

For years the Mediterranean Sea had been infested by daring pirates, who at last made it unsafe for a Roman noble even to drive to his sea-side villa, or a merchant to venture abroad for purposes of trade. Cities had been ravaged, and the enemies of Rome had from time to timemade alliances with the marauders. The pirates dyed their sails withTyrian purple, they inlaid their oars with silver, and they spread goldon their pennants, so rich had their booty made them. Nor were theyless daring than rich; they had captured four hundred towns ofimportance, they had once kidnapped Cæsar himself, and held him forenormous ransom, [Footnote: This occurred in the year 76 B. C. , whenCæsar, at the age of twenty-four, was on his way to Rhodes, intendingto perfect himself in oratory at the school of Apollonius Molo, theteacher of Cicero, lie was travelling as a gentleman of rank, and wascaptured off Miletus. After a captivity of six weeks, during which hemingled freely with the games and pastimes of the pirates, thoughplainly assuring them that he should one day hang them all, Cæsar wasliberated, on payment of a ransom of some fifty thousand dollars. Goodas his word, he promptly collected a fleet of vessels, returned to theisland, seized the miscreants as they were dividing their plunder, carried them off to Pergamos, and had them crucified. He then went onto Rhodes, and practised elocution for two years. ] and now theythreatened to cut off the entire supply of grain that came from Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily, The crisis was evident to all, and in it Pompey saw his opportunity. Inthe year 67, he caused a law to be introduced by the tribune Gabinius, ordaining that a commander of consular rank should be appointed forthree years, with absolute power over the sea and the coasts about itfor fifty miles inland, together with a fleet of two hundred sail, withofficers, seamen, and supplies. When the bill had passed, Gabiniusdeclared that there was but one man fit to exercise such remarkablepower, and it was conferred with acclamations upon Pompey, whom henominated. The price of grain immediately fell, for every one hadconfidence that the dread crisis was passed. The people were right, forin a few weeks the pirates had all been brought to terms. Pompey haddivided the sea into thirteen parts, and in each of them thefreebooters had been encountered in open battle, driven into creeks andcaptured, or forced to take refuge in their castles and hunted out ofthem, so that those who were not taken had surrendered. 

The next move among the master spirits led to the still greateradvancement of Pompey. His supporters at Rome managed to have himappointed to carry on a war in the East. In the year 74, when otherenemies of the republic seized the opportunity to rise against Rome, Mithridates, never fully conquered, entered upon a new war. LuciusLicinius Lucullus, who had gained fame in the former struggle withMithridates, was sent again to protect Roman interests in Pontus. Hecompletely broke the power of the great monarch, in spite of his vastpreparations for the struggle, but, under a pretext, he was nowsuperseded by Pompey, who went out with a feigned appearance ofreluctance, to pluck the fruit just ready to drop (B. C. 66). Cicerourged Pompey to accept this new honor, [Footnote: When the Manilian lawwhich enlarged the powers of Pompey was under discussion, Cicero madehis first address to the Roman people, and though vigorously opposed byHortensius and Catulus, carried the day against the senate and theoptimates whom they represented. This oration contains a panegyric ofPompey for suppressing piracy, and argues that a public servant who hasdone well once deserves to be trusted again. ] and Cæsar, who enjoyedthe precedents that Pompey had established, in adopting monarchicalstyle, was now glad to have a rival removed from the country, that hemight have, better opportunity to perfect his own plans. 

[Illustration: A ROMAN POETESS. ]

The third or great Mithridatic war lasted from the year 74, whenLucullus was sent out, to 61. By the terms of the Manilian law, Pompeywent out with unlimited power over the whole of Asia, as far asArmenia, as well as over the entire Roman forces; and as he already wassupreme over the region about the Mediterranean Sea, he was practicallydictator throughout all of the dominions of the republic. He plannedhis first campaign with so much skill that he cut Mithridates off fromall help by sea, and destroyed every hope of alliances with otherrulers. So clearly did it appear to the Pontic monarch that resistancewould be vain, that he sued for peace. Pompey would accept no terms butunconditional surrender, however, and negotiations were broken off. Mithridates determined to avoid battle, but Pompey finally surprisedand defeated him in Lesser Armenia, forcing him to flight. He found aretreat in the mountainous region north of the Euxine Sea, where Pompeywas unable to follow him. There he meditated grand schemes against theRomans, which he was utterly unable to carry out, and at last he fell avictim to the malevolence of one of his former favorites (B. C. 63). 

Pompey continued his conquering progress throughout Asia Minor, and didnot return to Rome until he had subdued Armenia, Syria, Phoenicia, andPalestine, [Footnote: There was civil war in Palestine at the time, andthe king surrendered to Pompey, but the people refused, took refuge inthe stronghold of the temple, and were only overcome after a seige ofthree months. Pompey explored the temple, examined the golden vessels, the table of shew bread, and the candlesticks in their places, but wassurprised to find the Holy of Holies empty, there being norepresentation of a deity. He reverently refrained from touching thegold, the spices, and the money that he saw, and ordered the place tobe cleansed and purified that service might be resumed. ] hadestablished many cities, and had organized the frontier of the Romanpossessions from the Euxine to the river Jordan. When he arrived atRome, on the first of January, 61, he found that affairs hadconsiderably changed during his absence, and it was not easy for him todetermine what position he should assume in relation to the politicalparties. Cicero offered him his friendship; Cato, grandson of the sternold censor, and an influential portion of the senate opposed him;Crassus and Lucullus, too, were his personal enemies; and Cæsar, whoappeared to support him, had really managed to prepare for him asecondary position in the state. On the last day of September, Pompeycelebrated the most splendid triumph that the city had ever seen, andwith it the glorious part of his life ended. Over three hundred captiveprinces walked before his chariot, and brazen tablets declared that hehad captured a thousand fortresses, many small towns, and eight hundredships; that he had founded thirty-nine cities, and vastly raised thepublic revenue. 

The year following the departure of Pompey for the East was renderednoteworthy by the breaking out of a conspiracy that will never beforgotten so long as the writings of Cicero and Sallust remain. Thesewere times of treasons, stratagems, and greed for spoils. Vice andimmorality were rampant, and among the vicious and debased none hadfallen lower than Lucius Sergius Catiline, a ferocious man of powerfulbody and strong mind, who first appears as a partisan of Sulla and anactive agent in his proscription. All his powers were perverted toevil, and when to his natural viciousness there was added the intensityof disappointed political ambition, he was ready to plunge his countryinto the most desperate strife to gratify his hate. He stands for theworst vices of this wretched age. He had been a provincial governor, and in Africa had perpetrated all the crimes that Cicero could imputeto a Verres, and thus had proclaimed himself a villain of the deepestdye, both abroad and at home. 

Gathering about him the profligate nobles and the criminals who hadnothing to lose and every thing to gain by revolution, Catiline plottedto murder the consuls and seize the government; but his attempt wasfoiled, and he waited for a more favorable opportunity. Two years laterhe was defeated by Cicero as candidate for the consulship, and the plotwas renewed, it being then determined to add the burning of the city tothe other atrocities contemplated. Cicero discovered the scheme, andunveiled its horrid details in four orations; but again the miserablebeing was permitted to escape justice. He was present and listened inrage to the invective of Cicero until he could bear it no longer, andthen rushed wildly out and joined his armed adherents, an open enemy ofthe state. His plot failed in the city through imprudence of theconspirators and the skill of Cicero, and he himself fled, hoping toreach Gaul. He was, however, hemmed in by the Roman army and killed ina battle. Catiline's head was sent to Rome to assure the governmentthat he was no more. Cicero, who had caused nine of the conspirators tobe put to death, [Footnote: Under Roman law no citizen could legally beput to death except by the sanction of the Comitia Curiata, thesovereign assembly of the people, though it often happened that theregulation was ignored. If nobody dared or cared to object, no noticewas taken of the irregularity, but we shall see that Cicero paid dearlyfor his action at this time. ] now laid down his consular authority amidthe plaudits of the people, who, under the lead of Cato and Catulus, hailed him as the Father of his Country. 

Cicero was apparently spoiled by his success. Carried away by his ownoratorical ability, he too often reminded the people in his long andeloquent speeches of the great deeds that he had done for the country. They cheered him as he spoke, but after this they never raised him topower again. 

Just about this time a noble named Publius Clodius Pulcher, who was ademagogue of the worst moral character, in the pursuance of his baseintrigues, committed an act of sacrilege by entering the house ofCæsar, disguised as a woman, during the celebration of the mysteries ofthe Bona Dea, to which men were never admitted. He was tried for theimpiety, and, through the efforts of Cicero, was almost convicted, though he managed to escape by bribery. He was ever afterward adetermined enemy of the great orator, and, by the aid of Pompey, Cæsar, and Crassus, finally succeeded in having him condemned for putting todeath the Catilinian conspirators without due process of law. Cicerodoes not appear manly in the story of this affair. He left Rome, fearing to face the result; and after he had gone Clodius caused a billto be passed by which he was declared a public enemy, and every citizenwas forbidden to give him fire or water within four hundred miles ofRome (spring of 58). He found his way to Brundusium and thence toGreece, where he passed his time in the most unmanly wailings andgloomy forebodings. His property was confiscated, his rich house on thePalatine Hill and his villas being given over to plunder anddestruction. Strange as it appears, Cicero was recalled the next year, and entered the city amid the hearty plaudits of the changeful people, though his self-respect was gone and his spirit broken. 

Meantime, Cæsar had been quietly pushing himself to the front. He hadreturned from Spain, where he had been governor, at about the time thatPompey had returned from the East. He reconciled that great warrior toCrassus (called from his immense wealth _Dives_, the rich), and withthe two made a secret arrangement to control the government. This wasknown as the _First Triumvirate_ [Footnote: Each of the three pledgedhimself not to speak nor to act except to subverse the common interestof all, though of course they were not sincere in their promises ofmutual support. ] or government of three men, though it was only acoalition, and did not strictly deserve the name given it (B. C. 60). Cæsar reaped the first-fruits of the league, as he intended, bysecuring the office of consul, through the assistance of hiscolleagues, whose influence proved irresistible. 

[Illustration: THE FORUM ROMANUM IN MODERN TIMES. ]

Entering upon his office in the year 59, Cæsar very soon obtained thegood-will of all, --first winning the people by proposing an agrarianlaw dividing the public lands among them. This was the last law of thissort, as that of Cassius (B. C. 486) had been the first. [Footnote: Seepage 83. ] He rewarded Crassus by means of a law remitting one third ofthe sum that the publicans who had agreed to farm the revenues in AsiaMinor had contracted to pay to the state; and satisfied Pompey by aratification of all his acts in the East. The distribution of the landsamong the people was placed in the hands of Pompey and Crassus. 

At the end of his term of office Cæsar was made governor of Gaul, anoffice which he sought no more for the opportunity it afforded ofgaining renown by conquering those ancient enemies who had formerlyvisited Rome with such dire devastation, than because he hoped to winfor himself an army and partisans who would be useful in carrying outfurther ambitious ends. 

Cæsar now entered upon a wonderful career of conquest, which lastednine years. The story of what he accomplished during the first seven isgiven in his "Commentaries, " as they are called, which are still readin schools, on account of the incomparable simplicity, naturalness, andpurity of the style in which they are written, as well as because theyseem to give truthful accounts of the events they describe. Sixty yearsbefore this time the Romans had possessed themselves of a little stripof Gaul south of the Alps, which was known as the Province, [Footnote:See pages 166 and 182. ] and though they had ever since thought thatthere was a very important region to the north and west that might beconquered, they made no great effort to gain it. Cæsar was now to winimperishable laurels by effecting what had been before only vaguelydreamed of. He first made himself master of the country of the Helvetii(modern Switzerland), defeated the Germans under their famous generalAriovistus, and subjected the Belgian confederacy. The frightfulcarnage involved in these campaigns cannot be described, and thethousands upon thousands of brave barbarians who were sacrificed to theextension of Roman civilization are enough to make one shudder. Whenthe despatches of Cæsar announcing his successes reached Rome, thesenate, on motion of Cicero, though against the protestations of Cato, ordained that a grand public thanksgiving, lasting fifteen days, shouldbe celebrated (B. C. 57). This was an unheard-of honor, the mostostentatious thanksgiving of the kind before--that given to Pompey, after the close of the war against Mithridates--having lasted but tendays. 

Pompey and Crassus had fallen out during the absence of Cæsar, and henow invited them to meet and consult at Lucca, at the foot of theApennines, just north of Pisa, where (April, 56) he held a sort ofcourt, hundreds of Roman senators waiting upon him to receive thebribes with which he ensured the success of his measures during hisabsences in the field. [Footnote: Pompey had left Rome ostensibly forthe purpose of arranging for supplies of grain from Africa andSardinia. He was followed by many of his most noted adherents, theconference counting more than two hundred senators and sixscorelictors. Cæsar, like a mighty magician, caused the discordant spiritsto act in concert. The power of the triumvirs is shown by the changethat came over public opinion, and the calmness with which their actswere submitted to, though it was evident that the historic form ofgovernment was to be overturned, and a monarchy established. ] Here thethree agreed that Pompey should rule Spain, Crassus Syria, and CæsarGaul, which he had made his own. Cæsar still kept on with hisconquests, meeting desperate resistance, however, from the hordes ofbarbarians, who would not remain conquered, but engaged in revolts thatcaused him vast trouble and the loss of large numbers of soldiers. Incidentally to his other wars, he made two incursions into Britain, the home of our forefathers (B. C. 55 and 54), and nominally conqueredthe people, but it was not a real subjugation. Shakespeare did not makea mistake when he put into the mouth of the queen-wife of Cymbeline thewords:

 * * * "A kind of conquest Cæsar made here; but made not here his brag Of 'came' and 'saw' and 'overcame, '"

and certainly the brave Britons did not continue to obey their self-styled Roman "rulers. "

In the sixth year of Cæsar's campaigns in Gaul, it seemed as if all wasto be lost to the Romans. There arose a young general namedVercingetorix, who was much abler than any leader the Gauls had everopposed to their enemies, and he united them as they had never beenunited before. This man persuaded his countrymen to lay their owncountry waste, in order that it might not afford any abiding place forthe Romans, but contrary to his intentions one town that was stronglyfortified was left, and to that Cæsar laid siege, finally taking it andbutchering all the men, women, and children that it contained. Vercingetorix then fortified himself at Alesia (southeast of Paris), where he was, of course, besieged by the Romans, but soon Cæsar foundhis own forces attacked in the rear, and surrounded by a vast army ofGauls, who had come to the relief of their leader. In the face of suchodds, he succeeded in vanquishing the enemy, and took the place, achieving the most wonderful act of his genius. The conquered chief wasreserved to grace a Roman triumph, and to die by the hand of a Romanexecutioner. [Footnote: The historian Mommsen says of this unfortunate"barbarian": "As after a day of gloom the sun breaks through the cloudsat its setting, so destiny bestows on nations in their decline a lastgreat man. Thus Hannibal stands at the close of the Phoenician historyand Vercingetorix at the close of the Celtic. They were not all to savethe nations to which they belonged from a foreign yoke, but they sparedthem the last remaining disgrace--an ignominious fall. .. . The wholeancient world presents no more genuine knight [than Vercingetorix], whether as regards his essential character or his outward appearance. "]The fate of Gaul was now certain, and Cæsar found comparatively littledifficulty in subduing the remaining states, the last of which wasAquitania, the flat and uninteresting region in the southwest of modernFrance, watered by the Garonne and washed by the Atlantic. Theconqueror treated the Gauls with mildness, and endeavored in every wayto make them adopt Roman habits and customs. As they had lost all hopeof resisting him, they calmly accepted the situation, and thefoundation of the subsequent Romanizing of the west of Europe was laid. Three million Gauls had been conquered, a million had been butchered, and another million taken captive, while eight hundred cities, centresof active life and places of the enjoyment of those social virtues forwhich the rough inhabitants of the region were noted, had beendestroyed. Legions of Roman soldiers had been cut to pieces inaccomplishing this result, the influence of which upon the history ofEurope can hardly be over-estimated Cæsar had completely eclipsed themilitary prestige of his rival, Pompey the Great. 

XVI. 

HOW THE TRIUMVIRS CAME TO UNTIMELY ENDS. 

It was agreed at the conference of Lucca that Pompey should rule Spain, but it did not suit his plans to go to that distant country. Hepreferred to remain at Rome, where he thought that he might dosomething that would establish his influence with the people, and givehim the advantage over his colleagues that they were each seeking toget over him. In order to court popularity, he built the first stonetheatre that Rome had ever seen, capable of accommodating the enormousnumber of forty thousand spectators, and opened it with a splendidexhibition (B. C. 55). [Footnote: This theatre was built after the modelof one that Pompey had seen at Mitylene, and stood between the CampusMartius and Circus Flaminius. Adjoining it was a hall affording shelterfor the spectators in bad weather, in which Julius Cæsar wasassassinated. The Roman theatres had no roofs, and, in early times, noseats. At this period there were seats of stone divided by broadpassages for the convenience of the audience in going in and out. Acurtain, which was drawn down instead of up, served to screen theactors from the spectators. Awnings were sometimes used to protect theaudience from rain and sun. A century before this time the Senate hadstopped the construction of a theatre, and prohibited dramaticexhibitions as subversive of good morals. The actors usually woremasks. See page 159. ] Day after day the populace were admitted, and oneach occasion new games and plays were prepared for theirgratification. For the first time a rhinoceros was shown; eighteenelephants were killed by fierce Libyan hunters, and five hundredAfrican lions lost their lives in the combats to which they wereforced; the vehement, tragic actor Æsopus, then quite aged, came out ofhis retirement for the occasion, and uttered his last words on thestage, the juncture being all the more remarkable from the fact thathis strength failed him in the midst of a very emphatic part; gymnastscontended, gladiators fought to the death, and the crowd cheered, but, alas for Pompey! the cheers expressed merely temporary enjoyment at thescenes before them, and did not at all indicate that he had beenreceived to their hearts. 

Crassus, in the meantime, was thinking that he too must accomplishsomething great or he would be left behind by both of his associates. He reflected that Cæsar had won distinction in Gaul, and Pompey byovercoming the pirates and conquering the East, and determined to showhis skill as a warrior in his new province, Parthia. There was no causefor war against the people of that distant land, but a cause mighteasily be found, or a war begun without one, the great object aimed atbeing the extension of the sovereignty of Rome, and marking the name ofCrassus high on the pillar of fame. This would surely, he thought, givehim the utmost popularity. Thus, in the year 54, he set out for Syria, and the world saw each of the triumvirs busily engaged in pushing hisown cause in his own way. Ten years later not one of them was alive toenjoy that which they had all so earnestly sought. 

[Illustration: AN ELEPHANT IN ARMOR]

It is not necessary to follow Crassus minutely in his campaign. Hespent a winter in Syria, and in the spring of 53 set out for the stilldistant East, crossing the Euphrates, and plunging into the desertwastes of old Mesopotamia, where he was betrayed into the hands of theenemy, and lost, not far from Carrhæ (Charran or Haran), the City ofNahor, to which the patriarch Abraham migrated with his family from Urof the Chaldees. Thus there remained but two of the three ambitiousseekers of popular applause. 

Pompey had been in some degree attached to Cæsar through his daughterJulia, whom he had married; but she died in the same year that Crassuswent to the East, and from that time he gravitated toward thearistocrats, with whom his former affiliations had been. The ten yearsof Cæsar's government were to expire on the 1st of January, 48, and itbecame important for him to obtain the office of consul for thefollowing year; but the senate and Pompey were equally interested tohave him deprived of the command of the army before receiving any newappointment. The reason for this was that Cato [Footnote: This Cato wasgreat-grandson of Cato the Censor (see page 152), was a man whoendeavored to remind the world constantly of his illustrious descent byimitating the severe independence of his great ancestor, and byassuming marked peculiarity of dress and behavior. His life, blightedby an early disappointment in love, was unfortunate to the last. He wasa consistent, but often ridiculous, leader of the minority opposed tothe triumvirs. ] had declared that as soon as Cæsar should become aprivate citizen he would bring him to trial for illegal acts of whichhis enemies accused him; and it was plain to him, no less than to allthe world, that if Pompey were in authority at the time, convictionwould certainly follow such a trial. One of Cicero's correspondentssaid on this subject: "Pompey has absolutely determined not to allowCæsar to be elected consul on any terms except a previous resignationof his army and his government, while Cæsar is convinced that he mustinevitably fall if he has once let go his army. "

In the year 50, Cæsar went into Cisalpine Gaul, that is, into theregion which is now known as Northern Italy, and was received as agreat conqueror. He then went over the mountains to Farther Gaul andreviewed his army--the army that he had so often led to victory. He didnot lose sight of the fact that it was now, more than ever before, necessary for him to have some one in Rome who would look out for hisinterests in his absences, and he bethought himself of a man whom hehad known from his youth, Caius Scribonius Curio by name, a spendthriftwhom he had vainly tried to inspire with higher ambition than the meregratification of his appetites. He was married to Fulvia, a schemingwoman of light character, widow of Clodius (who afterwards become wifeof Marc Antony), and he was harassed by enormous debts. Though Curiowas allied to the party of Pompey, Cæsar won him over by paying hisdebts, [Footnote: The debts of this young man have been estimated ashigh as $2, 500, 000, and their vastness shows by contrast how wealthyprivate citizens sometimes became at this epoch. ] and he then begancautiously to turn his back upon his former associates. At first, hepretended to act against Cæsar as usual; then he cautiously assumed theappearance of neutrality; and, when the proper opportunity arrived, hethrew all the weight of his influence in favor of the master to whom hehad sold himself. Curio was not the only person whom Cæsar bought, forhe distributed immense sums among other citizens of influence, as hehad not hesitated to do before, and they quietly interposed objectionsto any movement against him, though outwardly holding to Pompey'sparty. 

The senate, assisted by the solemn jugglery of the pontiffs, who hadcharge of the calendar and were accustomed to shorten or lengthen theyear according as their political inclinations impelled them, proposedto weaken Cæsar's position by obliging him to resign his authorityNovember 13th, though his term did not expire, as we know, until thefollowing January. 

Under these circumstances, Curio, then one of the tribunes of thepeople, began his tactics by plausibly urging that it would be onlyfair that Pompey, who was not far from the city at the head of an army, should also give up his authority at the same time before entering thecity. Pompey had no intention of doing this, though everybody saw thatit was reasonable, and Curio took courage and went a step farther, denouncing him as evidently designing to make himself tyrant. [Footnote: A tyrant was simply a ruler with dictatorial powers, and itwas not until he abused his authority that he became the odiouscharacter indicated by the modern meaning of the title; but any thingthat looked like a return to the government of a king was hateful tothe Romans. ] However, in order to keep up his appearance ofimpartiality, he approved a declaration that unless both generalsshould lay down their authority, they ought to be denounced as publicenemies, and that war should be immediately declared against them. Pompey became indignant at this. Finally it was decided that eachcommander should be ordered to give up one legion, to be used againstthe Parthians, in a war which it was pretended would soon open. Pompeyreadily assented, but craftily managed to perform his part without anyloss; for he called upon Cæsar to return to him a legion that he hadborrowed three years before. The senate then sent both legions to Capuainstead of to Asia, intending, in due time, to use them against Cæsar. Cæsar gave up the two legions willingly, because he thought that withthe help of the army that remained, and with the assistance of thecitizens whom he had bribed, he would be able to take care of himselfin any emergency, but nevertheless he endeavored to bind the soldiersof these legions more firmly to him by giving a valuable present toeach one as he went away. [Footnote: One of Cicero's correspondentswriting in January, 50, says in a postscript: "I told you above thatCurio was freezing, but he finds it warm enough just at present, everybody being hotly engaged in pulling him to pieces. Just because hefailed to get an intercalary month, without the slightest ado he hasstepped over to the popular side, and begun to harangue in favor ofCæsar. " In replying to this, Cicero wrote: "The paragraph you added wasindeed a stab from the point of your pen. What! Curio now become asupporter of Cæsar. Who could ever have expected this but myself? for, upon my life, I really did expect it. Good heavens! how I miss ourlaughing together over it. " ] Not long after this Curio went to Ravennato consult Cæsar. 

We see on our maps a little stream laid down as the boundary betweenItaly and Gaul. It is called the Rubicon; but when we go to Italy andlook for the stream itself we do not find it so easily, because thereare at least two rivers that may be taken for it. However, it is not ofmuch importance for the purposes of history which was actually theboundary. North of the Rubicon we see the ancient city of Ravenna, which stood in old times like Venice, on islands, and like it wasintersected in all directions by canals through which the tide pouredvolumes of purifying salt water twice every day. Now the canals are allfilled up, and the city is four miles from the sea, so large have beenthe deposits from the muddy waters that flow down the rivers into theAdriatic at that place. Thirty-three miles south of Ravenna and ninemiles from the Rubicon, the map shows us another ancient town calledAriminum. Connected directly with Rome by the Flaminian road, which wasbuilt some two hundred years before the time of which we are writing. Ravenna was the last town in the territory of Cæsar on the way to Rome, and there he took his position to watch proceedings, for it was notallowed him to leave his province. 

[Illustration: ITALIAN AND GERMAN ALLIES, COMSTUMES, AND ARMOR. ]

On the first of January, 49, Curio arrived at Rome with a letter fromCæsar offering to give up his command provided Pompey would do thesame. The consuls at that time were partisans of Pompey, and they atfirst refused to allow the letter to be read; but the tribunes of thepeople were in favor of Cæsar, and they forced the senators to listento it. A violent debate followed, and it was finally voted that unlessCæsar should disband his army within a certain time he should beconsidered an enemy of the state, and be treated accordingly. On thesixth of the same month the power of dictators was given to theconsuls, and the two tribunes who favored Cæsar--one of whom was MarcAntony--fled to him in disguise, for there was no safety for them inRome. 

Now there was war. On the one side we have Pompey, proud and confident, but unprepared because he was so confident; and on the other, Cæsar, cool and unperturbed, relying not only on his army, but also upon thefriends that his money and tact had made among the soldiers with him, no less than among those at Capua and elsewhere, upon which hisopponent also depended. 

The moment is one that has been fixed in the memory of men for all timeby a proverbial expression based upon an apochryphal event that mightwell have happened upon the banks of the little Rubicon. As soon asCæsar heard of the action of the senate he assembled his soldiers andasked them if they would support him. They replied that they wouldfollow him wherever he commanded. The story runs that he then orderedthe army to advance upon Ariminum, but that when he arrived at thelittle dividing river he ordered a halt, and meditated upon his course. He knew that when he crossed that line blood would surely flow fromthousands of Romans, and he asked himself whether he was right inbringing such woes upon his countrymen, and how his act would berepresented in history. 

It is not improbable that the great conqueror entertained thoughts likethese, for he was a writer of history as well as one of the mightiestmakers of it; but he mentions nothing of the sort in his own story ofthe advance, and we may well doubt whether it was not invented bySuetonius, or some other historian, who wished to make his account aspicturesque as possible. It is said that after these thoughts Cæsarexclaimed: "The die is cast; let us go where the gods and the injusticeof our enemies direct us!" He then urged his charger through thestream. 

There had been confusion in the capital many a time before, butprobably never was there such a commotion as arose when it was knownthat the conqueror of Gaul, the man who had for years marched throughthat great region as a mighty monarch, was on the way towards it. Thatthe consuls were endowed with dictatorial power for the emergency, availed little. A few days before, some one had asked Pompey what heshould do for an army if Cæsar should leave his province with hissoldiers, and he replied haughtily that he should need but to stamp onthe ground and soldiers would spring up. Now he stamped, and stamped invain; no volunteers came at his call. The venerable senators, successors of those who had remained in their seats when the barbarianswere coming, hastened away for dear life; they did not make the usualsacrifices; they did not take their goods and chattels; they evenforgot the public treasure, which would have been of the utmost use tothem and to the cause of Pompey. 

Cæsar's army supported him as a whole, but there was one self-importantman among the leaders of it who proved an exception. Titus Labienus, who had been with Cæsar in Spain, who had performed some brilliantfeats when Vercingetorix revolted, and who was in all his master'sconfidence, had allowed his little mind to become filled with pride andambition until he began to believe that he was at the bottom of Cæsar'ssuccess, and probably as great a general as he! He was ready to allowthe Pompeians to beguile him from his allegiance, and at last went overto them. Cæsar, to show how little he cared for the defection ofLabienus, hastened to send his baggage after him; but in Rome he waswelcomed with acclamations. Cicero, the trimmer, exclaimed: "Labienushas behaved quite like a hero!" and believed that Cæsar had received atremendous blow by his defection. This deserter's act had, however, noeffect whatever on the progress of Cæsar, who, though it was the middleof winter, marched onwards, receiving the surrender of city after city, giving to all the conquered citizens the most liberal terms, and thusbinding them firmly to his cause. [Footnote: As Cæsar approached Rome, Cato took flight, and, determined to mourn until death the unhappy lotof his country, allowed his hair to grow, and resigned himself tounavailing grief. Too weak and perplexed to stand against opposingtroubles, he fondly thought that resolutions and laws and a temporizingpolicy might avail to bring happiness and order to a distraughtcommonwealth. ]

Pompey did not even attempt to interrupt the triumphant career of hisenemy, but determined to find safety out of Italy, and hastened toBrundusium as fast as possible. After mastering the whole country, Cæsar reached the same port before Pompey was able to get away, andbegan a siege, in the progress of which Pompey escaped. Cæsar was notable to follow, on account of a want of vessels. He therefore turnedback to Rome, where he encountered no opposition, except from Metellus, a tribune of the people, who attempted to keep him from takingpossession of the gold in the temple of Saturn, traditionally supposedto have been that which Camillus had recovered from Brennus. It wasintended for use in case the Gauls should make another invasion, butCæsar said that he had conquered the Gauls, and they need be feared nomore. "Stand aside, young man!" he exclaimed; "it is easier for me todo than to say!" Metellus saw that it was not worth while to discussthe question with such a man, and prudently stepped aside. 

Cæsar did not remain at Rome at this time, but hastened to Spain, wherepartisans of Pompey were in arms, leaving Marc Antony in charge ofItaly in general, and Marcus Lepidus responsible for order in the city. Both of these men were destined to become more prominent in the future. At the same time, legions were sent to Sicily and Sardinia, and theirsuccess, which was easily gained, preserved the city from a scarcity ofgrain. Cæsar himself overcame the Pompeians in Spain, and, inaccordance with his policy in Italy, dismissed them unharmed. Most oftheir soldiers were taken into his own army. He then felt free tocontinue his movements against Pompey himself, and returned to thecapital. 

For eleven days Cæsar was dictator of Rome, receiving the office fromLepidus, who had been authorized to give it by those senators who hadnot fled with Pompey. In that short period he passed laws calling homethe exiles; giving back their rights as citizens to the children ofthose who had suffered in the Sullan proscription; and affording reliefto debtors. Then, causing the senate to declare him consul, he startedfor Brundusium to pursue his rival. It was the fourth of January, 48, when he sailed for the coast of Epirus, and the following day he landedon the soil of Greece. He met Pompey at Dyrrachium, but his force wasso small that he was defeated. He then retreated to the southeast, andanother battle was fought on the plain of Pharsalia, in Thessaly, June6, 48. The forces were still very unequal, Pompey having more than twosoldiers to one of Cæsar's; but Cæsar's were the better warriors, andPompey was totally defeated. Feeling that every thing was now lost, Pompey sought an asylum in Egypt; and there he was assassinated byorder of the reigning monarch, who hoped to win the favor of Cæsar inhis contest with his sister, Cleopatra, who claimed the throne. 

Cæsar followed his adversary with his usual promptness, and when he hadreached Egypt was shown his rival's severed head, from which he turnedwith real or feigned sadness and tears. This alarmed the king and hispartisans, and they still further lost heart when Cleopatra won Cæsarto her support by the charms of her personal beauty. 

After a brief struggle known as the Alexandrine War, which closed inMarch, 47, Cæsar placed the queen and her brother on the throne. It wasat this time that the great Library and Museum at Alexandria weredestroyed by fire. Four hundred thousand volumes were said to have beenburned. The next month Cæsar was called from Egypt to Pontus, where ason of Mithridates was in arms, and, after a campaign of five days, hegained a decisive victory at a place called Zela, boastfully announcinghis success to the senate in three short words: "_Veni, vidi, vici_"(I came, I saw, I overcame). In September, Cæsar was again in Rome, where he remained only three months, arranging affairs. There werefears lest he should make a proscription, but he proceeded to no suchextremity, exercising his characteristic clemency towards those who hadbeen opposed to him. A revolt occurred at this time among the soldiersat Capua, and they marched to Rome, but Cæsar cowed them by a displayof haughty coolness. 

The remnant of the adherents of Pompey gathered together and went toAfrica, whither Cæsar followed, and after a short campaign defeatedthem on the field of Thapsus, April 6, 46. They were commanded byScipio, father-in-law of Pompey, and by Cato, who had accepted theposition after it had been declined by Cicero, his superior in rank. After the defeat of Thapsus Cato retreated to Utica, where hedeliberately put an end to his life after occupying several hours inreading Plato's _Phædo_, a dialogue on the immortality of thesoul. From the place of his death he is known in history as Cato ofUtica. 

When the news of this final victory reached Rome Cæsar was appointeddictator for ten years, and a thanksgiving lasting forty days wasdecreed. He was also endowed with a newly created office-that ofOverseer of Public Morals (_Præfectus Morum_). Temples and statueswere dedicated to his honor; a golden chair was assigned for his usewhen he sat in the senate; the month Quintilis was renamed after himJulius (July); and other unheard of honors were thrust upon him by aservile senate. He was also called the Father of his Country (a titlethat had been before borne by Camillus and Cicero), and four triumphswere celebrated for him. On his own part, Cæsar feasted the people attwenty-two thousand tables, and caused combats of wild animals andgladiators to be celebrated in the arenas beneath awnings of therichest silks. 

The great conqueror now prepared to carry out schemes of a beneficentnature which would have been of great value to the world; but theirachievement was interfered with, first by war and then by his owndeath. He intended to unify the regions controlled by the republic byabolishing offensive political distinctions, and to develop them bymeans of a geographical survey which would have occupied years tocomplete under the most competent management; and he wished to codifythe Roman law, which had been growing up into a universaljurisprudence, a work which Cicero looked upon as a hopeless thoughbrilliant vision, and one that Justinian actually accomplished, thoughnot until six hundred years later. He contemplated also the erection ofvast public works. His knowledge of astronomy led him to accomplish oneimportant change, for which we have reason to remember him to-day. Hereformed the calendar, substituting the one used until 1582 (known fromhim as the Julian calendar) for that which was then current. [Footnote:The Gregorian calendar was introduced in the Catholic states of Europein 1582, but owing to popular prejudice England did not begin to use ituntil 1752, in which year September 3d became, by act of Parliament, September 14th. Usage in America followed that of the mother country. ]Three hundred and fifty-five days had been called a year from the timeof Numa Pompilius, but as that number did not correspond with theactual time of the revolution of the earth around the sun, it had beencustomary to intercalate a month, every second year, of twenty-two andtwenty-three days alternately, and one day had also been added to makea fortunate number. This made the adaptation of the nominal year to theactual a matter of great intricacy, the duty being intrusted to thechief pontiffs. These officers were often corrupted, and managed toeffect political ends from time to time by the addition or omission ofthe intercalary days and months. At this time the civil calendar wassome weeks in advance of the actual time, so that the consuls, forexample, who should have entered office January 1, 46, really assumedtheir power October 13, 47. The Julian calendar made the year toconsist of 365 days and six hours, which was correct within a fewminutes; but, by the time of Pope Gregory XIII, this had amounted toten days, and a new reform was instituted. Cæsar now added ninety daysto the year in order to make the year 45 begin at the proper time, inserting a new month between the 23d and 24th of February, and addingtwo new months after the end of November, so that the long year thusmanufactured (445 days) was very justly called the "year of confusion", or "the last year of confusion. "

Cæsar had also in mind plans of conquest. He had not forgotten that theRoman arms had been unsuccessful at Carrhæ, and he wished to subdue theParthians, but the ghost of Pompey would not down. His sons raised thebanner of revolt in Spain, and the officers sent against them did notsucceed in their efforts to assert the supremacy of Rome. It wasnecessary that Cæsar himself should go there, and accordingly he setout in September. Twenty-seven days later he was on the ground, andthough he found himself in the face of greater difficulties than he hadanticipated, a few months sufficed to completely overthrow the enemy, who were defeated finally at the battle of Munda, not far fromGibraltar (March, 17, 45). Thirty thousand of them perished. Cæsar didnot return to Rome until September, because affairs of the provincerequired attention. Again he celebrated a triumph, marked by games andshows, and new honors from the senate. 

Cæsar's ambition now made him wish to continue the supreme power in hisfamily, and he fixed upon a great-nephew named Octavius as hissuccessor. In the fifth year of his consulate (B. C. 44), on the feastof Lupercalia (Feb. 15th), he attempted to take a more important step. He prevailed upon Marc Antony to make him an offer of the kinglydiadem, but as he immediately saw that it was not pleasing to thepeople that he should accept it, he pushed the glittering coronet fromhim, amid their plaudits, as though he would not think of assuming anysign of authority that the people did not freely offer him themselves. [Footnote: "I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown; yet 't was not acrown neither, 't was one of these coronets; and, as I told you, heput it by once; but for all that, to my thinking, he would fain havehad it. Then he offered it to him again; then he put it by again; butto my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it. And then heoffered it the third time; he put it the third time by, and still ashe refused it, the rabblement shouted and clapped their chapped hands, and threw up their sweaty night-caps, and uttered such a deal ofstinking breath because Cæsar refused the crown, that it had almostchoked Cæsar; for he swooned and fell down at it. " Casca's account, inShakespeare's _Julius Cæsar_, act i. , sc. 2. ] Cæsar still longedfor the name of king, however, and became irritated because it was notgiven him. This was shown in his intercourse with the nobles, and theywere now excited against him by one Caius Cassius Longinus (commonlycalled simply Cassius), who had wandered and fought with Crassus inParthia, but had escaped from that disastrous campaign. He had been afollower of Pompey, and had fallen into Cæsar's hands shortly after thebattle of Pharsalia. Though he owed his life to Cæsar, he waspersonally hostile to him, and his feelings were so strong that heformed a plot for his destruction, in which sixty or eighty personswere involved. Among these was Marcus Junius Brutus, then about fortyyears of age, who had also been with Pompey at Pharsalia. He was ofillustrious pedigree, and claimed to be descended from the shadowy heroof his name, who is said to have pursued the Tarquins with suchpatriotic zeal. His life also had been spared by Cæsar at Pharsalia, and he had made no opposition to his acts as dictator. Cato was hispolitical model, and at about this time, he divorced his wife to marryPortia, Cato's daughter. Cassius had married Junia Tertulla, half-sister of Brutus, and now offered him the place of chief adviser of theconspirators, who determined upon a sudden and bold effort toassassinate the dictator. They intended to make it appear thatpatriotism gave them the reason for their act, but in this they failed. 

The senate was to convene on the Ides of March, and Cæsar was warnedthat danger awaited him; but he was not to be deterred, and entered thechamber amid the applause of the people. The conspirators crowded abouthim, keeping his friends at a distance, and at a concerted signal hewas grasped by the hands and embraced by some, while others stabbed himwith their fatal daggers. He fell at the base of the statue of Pompey, pierced with more than a score of wounds. It is said that when henoticed Brutus in the angry crowd, he exclaimed in surprise and sorrow:"_Et tu Brute!_" (And thou, too, Brutus!). 

Brutus had prepared a speech to deliver to the senate, but when helooked around, he found that senators, centurions, lictors, andattendants, all had fled, and the place was empty. He then marched withhis accomplices to the forum. It was crowded with an excited multitude, but it was not a multitude of friends. The assassins saw that there wasno safety for them in the city. Lepidus was at the gates with an army, and Antony had taken possession of the papers and treasures of Cæsar, which gave him additional power; but all parties were in doubt as tothe next steps, and a reconciliation was determined upon as giving timefor reflection. Cassius went to sup with Antony, and Brutus withLepidus. This shows plainly that the good of the republic was not thecause nearest the hearts of the principal actors; but that each, like awary player at chess, was only anxious lest some adversary should getan advantage over him. 

The senate was immediately convened, and under the direction of Cicero, who became its temporary leader, it was voted that the acts of Cæsar, intended as well as performed, should be ratified, and that theconspirators should be pardoned, and assigned to the provinces thatCæsar had designated them for. 

Antony now showed himself a consummate actor, and a master of the artof moving the multitude. He prepared for the obsequies of the dictator, at which he was to deliver the oration, and, while pretending toendeavor to hold back the people from violence against the murderers, managed to excite them to such an extent that nothing could restrainthem. He brought the body into the Campus Martius for the occasion, andthere in its presence displayed the bloody garment through which thedaggers of the conspirators had been thrust; identified the rents madeby the leader, Cassius, the "envious Casca, " the "well-beloved Brutus, "and the others; and displayed a waxen effigy that he had prepared forthe occasion, bearing all the wounds. He called upon the crowd thewhile, as it swayed to and fro in its threatening violence, to listento reason, but at the same time told them that if he possessed theeloquence of a Brutus he would ruffle up their spirits and put a tonguein every wound of Cæsar that would move the very stones of Rome to risein mutiny. He said that if the people could but hear the last will ofthe dictator, they would dip their kerchiefs in his blood--yea, beg ahair of him for memory, and, dying, mention it in their wills as a richlegacy to their children. 

The oration had its natural effect. The people, stirred from one degreeof frenzy to another, piled up chairs, benches, tables, brushwood, evenornaments and costly garments for a funeral pile, and burned the wholein the forum. Unable to restrain themselves, they rushed with brandsfrom the fire towards the homes of the conspirators to wreak vengeanceupon them. Brutus and Cassius had fled from the city, and the otherscould not be found, so that the fury of their hate died out for want ofnew fuel upon which to feed. 

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE FORUM ROMANUM]

Antony was now the chief man of Rome, and it was expected that he woulddemand the dictatorship. To the astonishment of all, he proposed thatthe office itself should be forever abolished, thus keeping up hispretence of moderation; but, on the other hand, he asked for a body-guard, which the senate granted, and he surrounded himself with a forceof six thousand men. He appointed magistrates as he wished, recalledexiles, and freed any from prison whom he desired, under pretence offollowing the will of Cæsar. 

It soon became apparent that, in the words of Cicero addressed toCassius, the state seemed to have been "emancipated from the king, butnot from the kingly power, " for no one could tell where Antony wouldstop his pretence of carrying out the plans of Cæsar. The republic wasdoubtless soon to end, and it was not plain what new misery was instore for the distracted people. 

XVII. 

HOW THE REPUBLIC BECAME AN EMPIRE. 

When Cæsar had planned to go to Parthia, he sent in that direction someof his legions, which wintered at Apollonia, just over the Adriatic, opposite Brundusium, and with them went the young and sickly nephewwhom Cæsar had mentioned in his will as his heir. While the young manwas engaged in familiarizing himself with the soldiers and their life, a freedman arrived in camp to announce from his mother the tragedy ofthe Ides of March. The soldiers offered to go with him to avenge hisuncle's death, but he decided to set out at once and alone for thecapital. At Brundusium he was received by the army with acclamations. He did not hesitate to assume the name Cæsar, and to claim thesuccession, though he thus bound himself to pay the legacies that Cæsarhad made to the people. He was known as Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus, or, briefly, as Octavius. [Footnote: Octavius was son of Caius Octaviusand Atia, daughter of Julia, sister of Julius Cæsar, and was born Sept. 23, B. C. 63. His true name was the same as that of his father, but heis usually mentioned in history as Augustus, an untranslatable titlethat he assumed when he became emperor. His descent was traced fromAtys, son of Alba, an old Latin hero. ] Cæsar had bequeathed hismagnificent gardens on the opposite side of the Tiber to the public asa park, and to every citizen in Rome a gift of three hundred sesterces, equal to ten or fifteen dollars. These provisions could not easily becarried out except by Antony, who had taken possession of Cæsar'smoneys, and who was at the moment the most powerful man in therepublic. Next to him stood Lepidus, who was in command of the army. These two seemed to stand between Octavius and his heritage. 

Octavius understood the value of money, and took possession of thepublic funds at Brundusium, captured such remittances from theprovinces as he could reach, and sent off to Asia to see how much hecould secure of the amount provided for the Parthian expedition, justas though all this had been his own personal property. 

Thus the timid but ambitious youth began to prepare himself for supremeauthority. When he reached Rome his mother and other friends warned himof the risks involved in his course, but he was resolute. He had madethe acquaintance at Apollonia of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, then twentyyears of age, who afterwards became a skilful warrior and always was avaluable adviser, and now he determined to make a friend of Cicero. This remarkable orator had already been intimate with all the prominentmen of his day; had at one time or another flattered or cajoled Curio, Cassius, Crassus, Pompey, Antony, and Cæsar, and now, after thoroughlycanvassing the probabilities, he decided to take the side of Octavius, though he was loth to break with either Brutus or Antony. His weaknessis plainly and painfully presented by his own hand in his interestingletters, which add much light to the story of this period. [Footnote:James Anthony Froude says: "In Cicero, Nature half-made a great man andleft him uncompleted. Our characters are written in our forms, and thebust of Cicero is the key to his history. The brow is broad and strong, the nose large, the lips tightly compressed, the features lean and keenfrom restless intellectual energy. The loose, bending figure, the necktoo weak for the weight of the head, explain the infirmity of will, thepassion, the cunning, the vanity, the absence of manliness andveracity. He was born into an age of violence with which he was toofeeble to contend. The gratitude of mankind for his literary excellencewill forever preserve his memory from too harsh a judgment. "--"Cæsar, aSketch, " chapter xxvii. ]

Octavius gathered together enough money to pay the legacies of Cæsar bysales of property, and by loans, in spite of the fact that Antonyrefused to give up any that he had taken. He artfully won the soldiersand the people by his liberality (that could not fail to be contrastedwith the grasping action of Antony), and by the shows with which heamused them. Thus with it all he managed to make the world believe thathe was not laying plans of ambition, but simply wished to protect thestate from the selfish designs of his rival. In this effort he wassupported by the oratory of Cicero, who began to compose and deliver orpublish a remarkable series of fourteen speeches known as Philippics, from their resemblance to the four acrimonious invectives againstPhilip of Macedon which the great Demosthenes launched at Athens duringthe eleven years in which he strove to arouse the weakened Greeks frominactivity and pusillanimity (352-342 B. C. ). 

Cicero entered Rome on the first of September, and delivered his firstPhilippic the next day, in the same Temple of Concord in which he haddenounced Catiline twenty years before. He then retired from the city, and did not hear the abusive tirade with which Antony attempted toblacken his reputation. In October he prepared a second speech, whichwas not delivered, but was given to the public in November. This is themost elaborate and the best of the Philippics, and it is also much morefierce than the former. The last of the series was delivered April 22, 43. Antony was soon declared a public enemy, and Cicero in his speechesconstantly urged a vigorous prosecution of the war against him. 

Octavius gained the confidence of the army, and then demanded theconsulate of the senate. When that powerful office had been obtained, he broke with the senate, and marched to the northward, ostensibly toconquer Antony and Lepidus, who were coming down with another greatarmy. Instead of precipitating a battle, Lepidus contrived to have ameeting on a small island in a tributary of the Po, not far from thepresent site of Bologna, and there, toward the end of October, it wasagreed that the government of the Roman world should be peaceablydivided between the three captains, who were to be called Triumvirs forthe settlement of the affairs of the republic. They were to retaintheir offices until the end of December, 38, Lepidus ruling Spain;Octavius, Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa; and Antony, the two Gauls;while Italy was to be governed by the three in common, their authoritybeing paramount to senate, consuls, and laws. This is known as theSecond Triumvirate, though we must remember that the formerarrangement, made by Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus, was simply a privateleague without formal sanction of law. The second triumvirate wasproclaimed November, 27, 43 B. C. 

[Illustration: MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. ]

The first work of the three rulers was to rid themselves of all whomthey feared as enemies, and we have to imagine them sitting down tomake out a list of those who, like the sufferers at the dreadful timeof Marius and Sulla, were proscribed. Among the prominent men seventeenwere first chosen to be butchered, and on the horrid list are found thenames of a cousin of Octavius, a brother of Lepidus, and an uncle ofAntony. To the lasting execration of Octavius, he consented thatCicero, who had so valiantly fought for him, should be sacrificed tothe vengeance of Antony, whom the orator had scarified with his burningwords. 

This was but the beginning of blood-shedding, for when the triumvirsreached Rome they issued list after list of the doomed, some namesbeing apparently included at the request of daughters, wives, andfriends to gratify private malice. The head and hands of Cicero werecut off and sent to be affixed to the rostra, where they had so oftenbeen seen during his life. It is said that on one occasion a head waspresented to Antony, and he exclaimed: "I do not recognize it, show itto my wife"; and that on another, when a man begged a few moments ofrespite that he might send his son to intercede with Antony, he wastold that it was that son who had demanded his death. The details aretoo horrible for record, and yet it is said that the massacre was notso general as in the former instance. In this reign of terror, threehundred senators died, and two thousand knights. 

While these events had occurred in Rome, Brutus and Cassius had beensuccessfully pursuing their conquests in Syria and Greece, and were nowmasters of the eastern portion of the Roman world. When they heard ofthe triumvirate and the proscription, they determined to march intoEurope; but Antony and Octavius were before them, and the opposedforces met on the field of Philippi, which lies nine miles from theÆgean Sea, on the road between Europe and Asia, the Via Egnatia, whichran then as now from Dyrrachium and Apollonia in Illyricum, by way ofThessalonica to Constantinople, or Byzantium, as it was then called. Brutus engaged the forces of Octavius, and Cassius those of Antony. Antony made head against his opponent; but Octavius, who was less of acommander, and fell into a fit of illness on the beginning of thebattle, gave way before Brutus, though in consequence of misinformationof the progress of the struggle, Cassius killed himself just before amessenger arrived to tell him of his associate's success. Twenty daysafterwards the struggle was renewed on the same ground, and Brutus wasdefeated, upon which he likewise put an end to his own life. If themurderers of Cæsar had fought for the republic, there was no hope forthat cause now. The three rulers were reduced to two, for Lepidus wasignored after the victory of his associates, and it only remained toeliminate the second member of the triumvirate to establish themonarchy. For the present, Octavius and Antony divided the governmentbetween them, Antony taking the luxurious East, and leaving to Octaviusthe invidious task of governing Italy and allotting lands to theveterans. 

Thousands of the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul were expelled from theirhomes to supply the soldiers with farms, but still they remainedunsatisfied, and Italy was filled with complaints which Octavius wasunable to allay. Antony, on the other hand, gave himself up to thegrossest dissipation, careless of consequences. At Tarsus, he had aninterview with Cleopatra, then twenty-eight years of age, whom he hadseen years before when he had accompanied Gabinius to Alexandria, andlater, when she had lived at Rome the favorite of Cæsar. Henceforth hewas her willing slave. She sailed up the river Cydnus in a vesselpropelled by silver oars that moved in unison with luxurious music, andfilled the air with fragrance as she went, while beautiful slaves heldthe rudder and the ropes. The careless and pleasure-loving warriorforgot every thing in his wild passion for the Egyptian queen. Heforgot his wife, Fulvia, but she was angry with Octavius because he hadrenounced his wife Claudia, her daughter, and stirred up a threateningrevolt against him, which she fondly hoped might also serve to recallAntony from the fascinations of Cleopatra. With her supporters sheraised a considerable army, by taking the part of the Italians who hadbeen dispossessed to give farms to the veterans, and by pretending alsoto favor the soldiers, to whom rich spoils from Asia were promised. They were, however, pushed from place to place until they foundthemselves shut up in the town of Perusia, in Etruria, where they werebesieged and forced to surrender, by the military skill of Agrippa, afterwards known as one of the ablest generals of antiquity. 

Meantime, Antony's fortunes in the East were failing, and he determinedupon a brave effort to overthrow Octavius. He sailed for Brundusium, and laid siege to it; but the soldiers on both sides longed for peace. Fulvia had died, and mutual friends prevailed upon Octavius and Antonyto make peace and portion out the world anew. Again the East fell toAntony and the West to his colleague. Antony married Octavia, sister ofOctavius, and both repaired to the capital, where they celebrated gamesand festivities in honor of the marriage and the reconciliation. Thiswas at the end of the year 40 B. C. 

[Illustration: CLEOPATRA'S SHOW-SHIP. ]

The next year peace was effected with Sextus, a son of the greatPompey, who had been proscribed as one of the murderers of Cæsar, though he had really had no share in that deed. He had been engaged inmarauding expeditions having for their purpose the injury of thetriumvirs, and at this time had been able to cut off a considerableshare of the supply of grain from Sicily and Africa. He was indemnifiedfor the loss of his private property and was given an important commandfor five years. This agreement was never consummated, for Antony hadnot been consulted and refused to carry out a portion of it thatdepended upon him. Again Pompey entered upon his marauding expeditions, and the price of grain rose rapidly at Rome. Two years were occupied inpreparing a fleet, which was placed under command of Agrippa, whodefeated Pompey off Naulochus, on the northwestern coast of Sicily(Sept. 3, 36. )

In the midst of the preparations for the war with Pompey, (B. C. 37)discord had arisen between Antony and Octavius, and the commander ofthe Eastern army set out for Italy with a fleet of three hundred sail. Octavius forbade his landing, and he kept on his course to Tarentum, where a conference was held. There were present on this memorableoccasion, besides the two triumvirs, Agrippa, the great general;Octavia, sister of one triumvir and wife of the other, one of thenoblest women of antiquity; and Caius Cilnius Mæcenas, a wealthypatron of letters, who had also been present when the negotiations weremade previous to the peace of Brundusium, three years before. Probablythe satiric poet Horace was also one of the group, for he gives, in oneof his satires, an account of a journey from Rome to Brundusium, whichhe is supposed to have made at the time that Mæcenas was hurrying tothe conference. 

Horace says that he set out from Rome accompanied by Heliodorus, arhetorician whom he calls by far the most learned of the Greeks, andthat they found a middling inn at Aricia, the first stopping-place, onthe Appian Way, sixteen miles out, at the foot of the Alban mount. 

Next they rested, or rather tried to rest, at Appii Forum, a placestuffed with sailors, and then took a boat on the canal for Tarracina. He gives a vivid picture of the confusion of such a place, where thewatermen and the slaves of the travellers were mutually liberal intheir abuse of each other, and the gnats and frogs drove off sleep. Drunken passengers, also, added to the din by the songs that theirpotations incited them to. At Feronia the passengers left the boat, washed their faces and hands, and crawled onward three miles up to theheights of Anxur, where Mæcenas and others joined the party. Slowlythey made their way past Fundi, and Formiæ, where they seem to havebeen well entertained. The next day they were rejoiced by the additionof the poet Virgil and several more friends to the party, andpleasantly they jogged onwards until their mules deposited their pack-saddles at Capua, where Mæcenas was soon engaged in a game of tennis, while Horace and Virgil sought repose. The next stop was not far fromthe celebrated Caudine Forks, at a friend's villa, where they were veryhospitably entertained, and supplied with a bountiful supper, at whichbuffoons performed some droll raillery. Thence they went directly toBeneventum, where the bustling landlord almost burned himself and thosehe entertained in cooking their dainty dinner, the kitchen fire fallingthrough the floor and spreading the flames towards the highest part ofthe roof. It was a ludicrous moment, for the hungry guests andfrightened slaves hardly knew whether to snatch their supper from theflames or to try to extinguish the fire. 

From Beneventum the travellers rode on in sight of the Apuleianmountains to the village of Trivicum, where the poet gives us a glimpseof the customs of the times when he tells us that tears were brought totheir eyes by the green boughs with the leaves upon them with which afire was made on the hearth. Hence for twenty-four miles the party wasbowled away in chaises to a little town that the poet does not name, where water was sold, the worst in the world, he thought it, but wherethe bread was very fine. Through Canusium they went to Rubi, reachingthat place fatigued because they had made a long journey and had beentroubled by rains. Two days more took them through Barium and Egnatiato Brundusium, where the journey ended. 

At this conference it was agreed that the triumvirate should continuefive years longer, Antony agreeing to assist Octavius with 120 shipsagainst Pompey, and Octavius contributing a large land force to helpAntony against the Parthians. After Pompey had been overcome, Lepidusclaimed Sicily, but Octavius seduced his soldiers from him, and obligedhim to throw himself upon his rival's mercy. He was permitted to retireinto private life, but was allowed to enjoy his property and dignities. He lived in the ease that he loved until 13 B. C. , first at Circeii, notfar from Tarracina, and afterwards at Rome, where he was deprived ofhonors and rank. Lepidus had not been a strong member of thetriumvirate for a long time, but after this he was not allowed tointerfere even nominally in affairs of government. Antony and Octaviuswere now to wrestle for the supremacy, and the victor was to beautocrat. 

For three years after his marriage with Octavia, Antony seems to havebeen able to conquer the fascinations of the Egyptian queen, but then, when he was preparing to advance into Parthia, he allowed himself tofall again into her power, and the chances that he could hold his ownagainst Octavius were lessened (B. C. 37). He advanced into Syria, butcalled Cleopatra to him there, and delayed his march to remain withher, overwhelming her with honors. When at last he did open thecampaign, he encountered disaster, and, hardly escaping the fate ofCrassus, retreated to Alexandria, where he gave himself up entirely tohis enchantress. He laid aside the dress and manners of a Roman, andappeared as an Eastern monarch, vainly promising Cleopatra that hewould conquer Octavius and make Alexandria the capital of the world. The rumors of the mad acts of Antony were carried to Rome, whereOctavius was growing in popularity, and it was inevitable that acontrast should be made between the two men. Octavius easily made thepeople believe that they had every thing to fear from Antony. Thenobles who sided with Antony urged him to dismiss Cleopatra, and enterupon a contest with his rival untrammelled; but, on the contrary, inhis infatuation he divorced Octavia. 

War was declared against Cleopatra, for Antony was ignored, andOctavius as consul was directed to push it. Mæcenas was placed incommand at Rome, Agrippa took the fleet, and the consul himself theland forces. The decisive struggle took place off the west coast ofGreece, north of the islands of Samos and Leucas, near the promontoryof Actium, which gained its celebrity from this battle (September 2, B. C. 31). The ships of Agrippa were small, and those of Antony large, but difficult of management, and Cleopatra soon became alarmed for hersafety, She attempted to flee, and Antony sailed after her, leavingthose who were fighting for them. Agrippa obtained a decisive victory, and Octavius likewise overcame the forces on land. 

Agrippa was sent back to Rome, and for a year Octavius busied himselfin Greece and Asia Minor, adding to his popularity by his mildness inthe treatment of the conquered. He had intended to pass the winter atSamos, but troubles among the veterans called him to Italy, where hecalmed the rising storm, and returned again to his contest, after anabsence of only twenty-seven days. 

Both Cleopatra and Antony sent messengers to solicit the favor ofOctavius, but he was cold and did not satisfy them, and calmly pushedhis plans. An effort was made by Cleopatra to flee to some distantArabian resort, but it failed: Antony made a show of resistance, butfound that his forces were not to be trusted, and both then put an endto their lives, leaving Octavius master of Egypt, as he was of the restof the world. He did not hasten back to Rome, where he knew thatMæcenas and Agrippa were faithfully attending to his interests, butoccupied himself another year away from the capital in regulating theaffairs of his new province. 

[Illustration: ANCIENT STATUS OF AUGUSTUS. (THE RIGHT ARM IS ARESTORATION. )]

In the summer of the year 29, however, Octavius left Samos, where hehad spent the winter in rest, and entered Rome amid the acclamations ofthe populace, celebrating triumphs for the conquest of Dalmatia, ofActium, and of Egypt, and distributing the gold he had won with suchprodigality that interest on loans was reduced two thirds and the priceof lands doubled. Each soldier received a thousand sesterces (about$40), each citizen four hundred, and a certain sum was given to thechildren, the whole amounting to some forty million dollars. 

Octavius marked the end of the old era by himself closing the gates ofthe temple of Janus for the third time in the history of Rome, and bydeclaring that he had burned all the papers of Antony. Several monthslater, by suppressing all the laws of the triumvirate he emphasizedstill more the fact which he wished the people to understand, that hehad broken with the past. 

The Roman Republic was ended. The Empire was not established in name, but the government was in reality absolute. The chief ruler united inhimself all the great offices of the state, but concealed his strengthand power, professing himself the minister of the senate, to which, however, he dictated the decrees that he ostentatiously obeyed. 

XVIII. 

SOME MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE. 

We have now traced the career of the people of Rome from the time whenthey were the plain and rustic subjects of a king, through their longhistory as a conquering republic, down to the period when they lost thecontrol of government and fell into the hands of a ruler moreautocratic than their earlier tyrants. The heroic age of the republichad now long since passed away, and with it had gone even theadmiration of those personal qualities which had lain at the foundationof the national greatness. 

History at its best is to such an extent made up of stories of thedoings of rulers and fighting-men, who happen by their mere strengthand physical force to have made themselves prominent, that it is oftenread without conveying any actual familiarity with the people it isostensibly engaged with. The soldiers and magistrates of whom we haveourselves been reading were but few, and we may well ask what themillions of other citizens were doing all these ages. How did theylive? What were their joys and griefs? We have, it is true, not failedto get an occasional glimpse of the intimate life of the people whowere governed, as we have seen a Virginia passing through the forum toher school, and a Lucretia spinning among her maidens, and we havelearned that in the earliest times the workers were honored so muchthat they were formed into guilds, and had a very high position amongthe centuries (see pages 31 and 50), but these were only suggestionsthat make us all the more desirous to know particulars. 

Rome had not become a really magnificent city, even after seven hundredyears of existence. We know that it was a mere collection of huts inthe time of Romulus, and that after the burning of the principaledifices by the Gauls, it was rebuilt in a hurried and careless manner, the houses being low and mean, the streets narrow and crooked, so thatwhen the population had increased to hundreds of thousands the crowdsfound it difficult to make their way along the thoroughfares, andvehicles with wheels were not able to get about at all, except in twoof the streets. The streets were paved, it is true, and there wereroads and aqueducts so well built and firm that they claim ouradmiration even in their ruins. 

[Illustration: THE HOUSE-PHILOSOPHER. ]

The Roman house at first was extremely simple, being of but one roomcalled the _atrium_, or darkened chamber, because its walls werestained by the smoke that rose from the fire upon the hearth and withdifficulty found its way through a hole in the roof. The aperture alsoadmitted light and rain, the water that dripped from the roof beingcaught in a cistern that was formed in the middle of the room. Theatrium was entered by way of a vestibule open to the sky, in which thegentleman of the house put on his toga as he went out. [Footnote: WhenCincinnatus went out to work in the field, he left his toga at home, wearing his tunic only, and was "naked" (_nudus_), as the Romanssaid. The custom illustrates MATT, xxiv. , 18. (See p. 86. )] Doubledoors admitted the visitor to the entrance-hall or _ostium_. Therewas a threshold, upon which it was unlucky to place the left foot; aknocker afforded means of announcing one's approach, and a porter, whohad a small room at the side, opened the door, showing the caller thewords _Cave canem_ (beware of the dog), or _Salve_ (welcome), orperchance the dog himself reached out toward the visitor as far ashis chain would allow. Sometimes, too, there would be noticed in themosaic of the pavement the representation of the faithful domesticanimal which has so long been the companion as well as the protector ofhis human friend. Perhaps myrtle or laurel might be seen on a door, indicating that a marriage was in process of celebration, or a chapletannouncing the happy birth of an heir. Cypress, probably set in pots inthe vestibule, indicated a death, as a crape festoon does upon our owndoor-handles, while torches, lamps, wreaths, garlands, branches oftrees, showed that there was joy from some cause in the house. 

[Illustration: DINING TABLE AND COUCHES. ]

In the "black room" the bed stood; there the meals were cooked andeaten, there the goodman received his friends, and there the goodwifesat in the midst of her maidens spinning. The original house grewlarger in the course of time: wings were built on the sides, and theRomans called them wings as well as we (_ala_, a wing). Beyond theblack room a recess was built in which the family records and archiveswere preserved, but with it for a long period the Roman house stoppedits growth. 

Before the empire came, however, there had been great progress inmaking the dwelling convenient as well as luxurious. Another hall hadbeen built out from the room of archives, leading to an open court, surrounded by columns, known as the _peristylum_ (_peri_ about, _stulos_, a pillar), which was sometimes of great magnificence. Bedchambers were made separate from the atrium, but they were small, and would not seem very convenient to modern eyes. 

The dining-room, called the _triclinium_ (Greek, _kline_, a bed) fromits three couches, was a very important apartment. In it were threelounges surrounding a table, on each of which three guests mightbe accommodated. The couches were elevated above the table, and eachman lay almost flat on his breast, resting on his left elbow, andhaving his right hand free to use, thus putting the head of one nearthe breast of the man behind him, and making natural the expressionthat he lay in the bosom of the other. [Footnote: In the earliest timesthe Romans sat at table on benches. The habit of reclining wasintroduced from Greece, but Roman women sat at table long after the menhad fallen into the new way. ] As the guests were thus arranged bythrees, it was natural that the rule should have been made that a partyat dinner should not be less in number than the Graces nor more thanthe Muses, though it has remained a useful one ever since. 

Spacious saloons or parlors were added to the houses, some of whichwere surrounded with galleries and highly adorned. In these the dining-tables were spread on occasions of more ceremony than usual. After thecapture of Syracuse, and the increase of familiarity with foreign art, picture-rooms were built in private dwellings; and after the secondPunic war, book-rooms became in some sort a necessity. Before therepublic came to an end, it was so fashionable to have a book-room thatignorant persons who might not be able to read even the titles of theirown books endeavored to give themselves the appearance of erudition bybuilding book-rooms in their houses and furnishing them with elegance. The books were in cases arranged around the walls in convenient manner, and busts and statues of the Muses, of Minerva, and of men of note wereused then as they are now for ornaments. [Footnote: The books wererolls of the rind (_liber_) of the Egyptian papyrus, which earlybecame an article of commerce, or of parchment, written on but one sideand stained of a saffron color on the other. Slaves were employed tomake copies of books that were much in demand, and booksellers boughtand sold them. ] House-philosophers were often employed to open to theuninstructed the stores of wisdom contained in the libraries. 

As wealth and luxury increased, the Romans added the bath-room to theirother apartments. In the early ages they had bathed for comfort andcleanliness once a week, but the warm bath was apparently unknown tothem. In time this became very common, and in the days of Cicero therewere hot and cold baths, both public and private, which were wellpatronized. Some were heated by fires in flues, directly under thefloors, which produced a vapor bath. The bath was, however, considereda luxury, and at a later date it was held a capital offence to indulgein one on a religious holiday, and the public baths were closed whenany misfortune happened to the republic. 

Comfort and convenience united to take the cooking out of the atrium(which then became a reception-room) into a separate apartment known asthe _culina_, or kitchen, in which was a raised platform on whichcoals might be burned and the processes of broiling, boiling, androasting might be carried on in a primitive manner, much like thearrangement still to be seen at Rome. On the tops of the houses, aftera while, terraces were planned for the purpose of basking in the sun, and sometimes they were furnished with shrubs, fruit-trees, and evenfishponds. Often there were upwards of fifty rooms in a house on asingle floor; but in the course of time land became so valuable thatother stories were added, and many lived in flats. A flat was sometimescalled an _insula_, which meant, properly, a house not joined toanother, and afterwards was applied to hired lodgings. _Domus_, ahouse, meant a dwelling occupied by one family, whether it were an_insula_ or not. 

The floors of these rooms were sometimes, but not often, laid withboards, and generally were formed of stone, tiles, bricks, or some sortof cement. In the richer dwellings they were often inlaid with mosaicsof elegant patterns. The walls were often faced with marble, but theywere usually adorned with paintings; the ceilings were left uncovered, the beams supporting the floor or the roof above being visible, thoughit was frequently arched over. The means of lighting, either by day ornight, were defective. The atrium was, as we have seen, lighted fromabove, and the same was true of other apartments--those at the sidebeing illuminated from the larger ones in the middle of the house. There were windows, however, in the upper stories, though they were notprotected by glass, but covered with shutters or lattice-work, and, ata later period, were glazed with sheets of mica. Smoking lamps, hangingfrom the ceiling or supported by candelabra, or candles, gave a gloomylight by night in the houses, and torches without. 

The sun was chiefly depended upon for heat, for there were no properstoves, though braziers were used to burn coals upon, the smokeescaping through the aperture in the ceiling, and, in rare cases, hot-air furnaces were constructed below, the heat being conveyed to theupper rooms through pipes. There has been a dispute regarding chimneys, but it seems almost certain that the Romans had none in theirdwellings, and, indeed, there was little need of them for purposes ofartificial warmth in so moderate a climate as theirs. 

Such were some of the chief traits of the city houses of the Romans. Besides these, there were villas in the country, some of which weresimply farm-houses, and others places of rest and luxury supported bythe residents of cities. The farm villa was placed, if possible, in aspot secluded from visitors, protected from the severest winds, andfrom the malaria of marshes, in a well-watered place near the foot of awell-wooded mountain. It had accommodations for the kitchen, the wine-press, the farm-superintendent, the slaves, the animals, the crops, andthe other products of the farm. There were baths, and cellars for thewine and for the confinement of the slaves who might have to bechained. 

Varro thus describes life at a rural household: "Manius summons hispeople to rise with the sun, and in person conducts them to the sceneof their daily work. The youths make their own bed, which labor renderssoft to them, and supply themselves with water-pot and lamp. Theirdrink is the clear fresh spring; their fare, bread, with onions as arelish. Every thing prospers in house and field. The house is no workof art, but an architect might learn symmetry from it. Care is taken ofthe field that it shall not be left disorderly, and waste or go to ruinthrough slovenliness or neglect; and, in return, grateful Ceres wardsoff damage from the produce, that the high-piled sheaves may gladdenthe heart of the husbandman. Here hospitality still holds good; everyone who has but imbibed mother's milk is welcome. The bread-pantry, thewine-vat, and the store of sausages on the rafter, --lock and key are atthe service of the traveller, and piles of food are set before him;contented, the sated guest sits, looking neither before him nor behind, dozing by the hearth in the kitchen. The warmest double-wool sheepskinis spread as a couch for him. Here people still, as good burgesses, obey the righteous law which neither out of envy injures the innocent, nor out of favor pardons the guilty. Here they speak no evil againsttheir neighbors. Here they trespass not with their feet on the sacredhearth, but honor the gods with devotion and with sacrifices; throw tothe familiar spirit his little bit of flesh into his appointed littledish, and when the master of the household dies accompany the bier withthe same prayer with which those of his father and of his grandfatherwere borne forth. "

The pleasure villa had many of the appointments of the town house, butwas outwardly more attractive, of course. It stood in the midst ofgrassy slopes, was approached through avenues of trees leading to theportico, before which was a terrace and ornaments made of box-trees cutinto fantastic forms representing animals. The dining-room stood outfrom the other buildings, and was light and airy. Perhaps a grandbedchamber was likewise built out from the others, so that it mighthave the warmth of the sun upon it through the entire day. Connectedwith the establishment were walks ornamented with flowerbeds, closelyclipped hedges, and trees tortured into all sorts of unnatural shapes. There were shaded avenues for gentle exercise afoot or in litters;there were fountains, and perhaps a hippodrome formed like a circus, with paths divided by hedges and surrounded by large trees in which theluxurious owner and his guests might run or exercise themselves in thesaddle. [Footnote: Roman extravagance ran riot in the appointments ofthe villa. One is mentioned that sold for some $200, 000, chieflybecause it comprised a desirable fish-pond. A late writer says of thesite of Pompey's villa on a slope of the Alban hills: "It has neverceased in all the intervening ages to be a sort of park, and very fineruins, from out of whose massive arches grow a whole avenue of liveoaks, attest to the magnificence which must once have characterized theplace. The still beautiful grounds stretch along the shore of the lakeas far as the gate of the town of Albano. .. . The house in Rome Ioccupy, stands in the old villa of Mæcenas, an immense tract of landcomprising space enough to contain a good-sized city. .. . Where did thePlebs live? and what air did they and their children breathe? Who caredor knew, so long as Pompey or Cæsar fared sumptuously? What marvel thatthere were revolutions!"]

In such houses the Roman family lived, composed as families must be, ofparents and children, to which were usually added servants, for afterthe earlier times of simplicity had passed away it became sofashionable to keep slaves to perform all the different domesticlabors, that one could hardly claim to be respectable unless he had atleast ten in his household. The first question asked regarding astranger was: "How many slaves does he keep?" and upon its answerdepended the social position the person would have in the inquirer'sestimation. The son did not pass from his father's control while thatparent lived, but the daughter might do so by marriage. The power ofthe father over his children and grandchildren, as well as over hisslaves was very great, and the family spirit was exceedingly strong. 

When a man and a woman had agreed to marry, and the parents and friendshad given their consent, there was sometimes a formal meeting at themaiden's house, at which the marriage-agreement was written out ontablets and signed by the engaged persons. It seems, too, that in somecases the man placed a ring on the hand of his betrothed. It was noslight affair to choose the wedding-day, for no day that was marked_ater_ on the calendar would be considered fit for the purpose ofthe rites that were to accompany the ceremony. The calends (the firstday of the month), the nones (the fifth or seventh), and the ides (thethirteenth or fifteenth), would not do, nor would any day in May orFebruary, nor many of the festivals. 

In early times, the bride dressed herself in a long white robe, adornedwith ribbons, and a purple fringe, and bound herself with a girdle onher wedding day. She put on a bright yellow veil and shoes of the samecolor, and submitted to the solemn religious rites that were to makeher a wife. The pair walked around the altar hand in hand, received thecongratulations of their friends, and the bride, taken with apparentforce from the arms of her mother, as the Sabine women were taken inthe days of Romulus, was conducted to her new home carrying a distaffand a spindle, emblems of the industry that was thought necessary inthe household work that she was to perform or direct. Strong men liftedher over the threshold, lest her foot should trip upon it, and herhusband saluted her with fire and water, symbolic of welcome, afterwhich he presented her the keys. A feast was then given to the entiretrain of friends and relatives, arid probably the song was sung ofwhich _Talasia_ was the refrain. [Footnote: See page 22. ]Sometimes the husband gave another entertainment the next day, andthere were other religious rites after which the new wife took herproud position as mater-familias, sharing the honors of her husband, and presiding over the household. 

The wives and daughters made the cloth and the dresses of thehousehold, in which they had ample occupation, but their labors did notend there. [Footnote: Varro contrasts the later luxury with pastfrugality, setting in opposition the spacious granaries, and simplefarm arrangements of the good old times, and the peacocks and richlyinlaid doors of a degenerate age. Formerly even the city matron turnedthe spindle with her own hand, while at the same time she kept her eyeupon the pot on the hearth; now the wife begs the husband for a bushelof pearls, and the daughter demands a pound of precious stones: thenthe wife was quite content if the husband gave her a trip once or twicein the year in an uncushioned wagon; now she sulks if he go to hiscountry estate without her, and as she travels my lady is attended tothe villa by the fashionable host of Greek menials and singers. ] Thegrinding of grain and the cooking was done by the servants, but thewife had to superintend all the domestic operations, among which wasincluded the care of the children, though old Cato thought it wasnecessary for him to look after the washing and swaddling of hischildren in person, and to teach them what he thought they ought toknow. The position of the woman was entirely subordinate to thehusband, though in the house she was mistress. She belonged to thehousehold and not to the community, and was to be called to account forher doings by her father, her husband, or her near male relatives, notby her political ruler. She could acquire property and inherit moneythe same as a man could, however. When the pure and noble period ofRoman history had passed, women became as corrupt as the rest of thecommunity. The watering-places were scenes of unblushing wickedness;women of quality, but not of character, masquerading before the gayworld with the most reckless disregard of all the proprieties of life. [Footnote: Cato the Elder, who enjoyed uttering invectives againstwomen, was free in denouncing their chattering, their love of dress, their ungovernable spirit, and condemned the whole sex as plaguy andproud, without whom men would probably be more godly. ]

[Illustration: COVERINGS FOR THE FEET. ]

The garments of Roman men and women were of extreme simplicity for along period, but the desire of display and the love of ornamentsucceeded in making them at last highly adorned and varied. Both menand women wore two principal garments, the tunic next to the body, andthe pallium which was thrown over it when going abroad; but they alsoeach had a distinctive article of dress, the men wearing the_toga_ (originally worn also by women), a flowing outer garment whichno foreigner could use, and the women the _stola_, which fell over thetunic to the ankles and was bound about the waist by a girdle. Boys andgirls wore a toga with a broad border of purple, but when the boybecame a man he threw this off and wore one of the natural white colorof the wool. 

Sometimes the stola was clasped over the shoulder, and in someinstances it had sleeves. The _pallium_ was a square outer garmentof woollen goods, put on by women as well as men when going out. Itcame into use during the civil wars, but was forbidden by Augustus. Both sexes also wore in travelling a thick, long cloak without sleeves, called the _pænula_, and the men wore also over the toga a darkcloak, the _lacerna_. 

On their feet the men wore slippers, boots, and shoes of variouspatterns. The _soccus_ was a slipper not tied, worn in the house;and the _solea_ a very light sandal, also used in the house only. The _sandalium_ proper was a rich and luxurious sandal introducedfrom Greece and worn by women only. The _baxa_ was a coarse sandalmade of twigs, used by philosophers and comic actors; the _calcæus_was a shoe that covered the foot, though the toes were often exposed;and the _cothurnus_, a laced boot worn by horsemen, hunters, men ofauthority, and tragic actors, and it left the toes likewise exposed. 

An examination of the mysteries of the dressing-rooms of the ladies ofRome displays most of the toilet conveniences that women still use. They dressed their hair in a variety of styles (see page 155), and usedcombs, dyes, oils, and pomades just as they now do. They had mirrors, perfumes, soaps in great variety, hair-pins, ear-rings, bracelets, necklaces, gay caps and turbans, and sometimes ornamental wigs. 

[Illustration: ARTICLES OF THE ROMAN TOILET. ]

The change that came over Rome during the long period of the kingdomand the republic is perhaps as evident in the table customs as in anyrespect. For centuries the simple Roman sat down at noon to a plaindinner of boiled pudding made of spelt (_far_), and fruits, which, with milk, butter, and vegetables, formed the chief articles of hisdiet. His table was plain, and his food was served warm but once a day. When the national horizon had been enlarged by the foreign wars, andAsiatic and Greek influences began to be felt, hot dishes were servedoftener, and the two courses of the principal meal no longer sufficedto satisfy the fashionable appetite. A baker's shop was opened at thetime of the war with Perseus, and scientific cookery rapidly came intovogue. 

We cannot follow the course of the history of increasing luxury in itsdetails. Towards the end of the republic, breakfast (_jentaculum_), consisting of bread and cheese, with perhaps dried fruit, was taken ata very early hour, in an informal way, the guests not even sittingdown. At twelve or one o'clock luncheon followed (_prandium_). Therewas considerable variety in this meal. The principal repast of the day(_cæna_) occurred late in the afternoon, some time just before sunset, there having been the same tendency to make the hour later and laterthat has been manifested in England and America. There were three usualcourses, the first comprising stimulants to the appetite, eggs, olives, oysters, lettuce, and a variety of other such delicacies. For thesecond course the whole world was put under requisition. There wereturbots and sturgeon, eels and prawns, boar's flesh and venison, pheasants and peacocks, ducks and capons, turtles and flamingoes, pickled tunny-fishes, truffles and mushrooms, besides a variety ofother dishes that it is impossible to mention here. After these camethe dessert, almonds and raisins and dates, cheese-cakes and sweets andapples. Thus the egg came at the beginning, and the apple, representative of fruit in general, at the end, a fact that gave Horaceground for his expression, _ab ovo usque ad mala_, from the egg to theapple, from the beginning to the end. [Footnote: The practical side ofthe Roman priesthood was the priestly _cuisine_; the augural andpontifical banquets were, as we may say, the official gala days in thelife of a Roman epicure, and several of them form epochs in the historyof gastronomy: the banquet on the occasion of the inauguration of theaugur Quintus Hortensius, for instance, brought roast peacocks intovogue. --Mommsen. Book IV. , chap. 12. ]

The Roman dinner was served with all the ostentatious elegance andformality of our own days, if not with more. The guests assembled ingay dresses ornamented with flowers; they took off their shoes, lestthe couch, inlaid with ivory, perhaps, or adorned with cloth of gold, should be soiled; and laid themselves down to eat, each one adjustinghis napkin carefully, and taking his position according to his relativeimportance, the middle place being deemed the most honorable. About thetables stood the servants, dressed in the tunic, and carrying napkinsor rough cloths to wipe off the table, which was of the richest woodand covered by no cloth. While some served the dishes, often ofmagnificent designs, other slaves offered the feasters water to rinsetheir hands, or cooled the room with fans. At times music and danceswere added to give another charm to the scene. 

The first occupation of the Romans was agriculture, in which wasincluded the pasturage of flocks and herds. In process of time tradeswere learned, and manufactures (literally making with the hand, _manus_, the hand, _facere_, to make) were introduced, but not, ofcourse, to any thing like the extent familiar in our times. There weremillers and shoe-makers, butchers and tanners, bakers and blacksmiths, besides other tradesmen and laborers. In the process of time there werealso artists, but in this respect Rome did not excel as Greece had longbefore. There were also physicians, lawyers, and teachers, besidesoffice-holders. [Footnote: There were office-seekers, also, and of themost persistent kind, throughout the whole history of the republic, andthey practised the corrupt arts of the most ingenious of the class inmodern times. The candidate went about clad in a toga of artificialwhiteness (_candidus_, white), accompanied by a _nomenclator_, who gavehim the names of the voters they might meet, so that he couldcompliment them by addressing them familiarly, and he shook them by thehand. He "treated" the voters to drink or food in a very modernfashion, though with a more than modern profusion; and he went to theextreme of bribing them if treating did not suffice. Against thesepractices Coriolanus haughtily protests, in Shakespeare's play. Sometimes candidates canvassed for votes outside of Rome, as Ciceroproposed in one of his letters to Atticus. ]

When the Roman wished to go from place to place he had a variety ofmodes among which to choose, as we have already had suggested by Horacein his account of the trip from Rome to Brundusium. He might have hishorse saddled, and his saddle-bags packed, as our fathers did of yore;he could do as one of the rich provincial governors described by Cicerodid when, at the opening of a Sicilian spring, he entered his rose-scented litter, carried by eight bearers, reclining on a cushion ofMaltese gauze, with garlands about his head and neck, applying adelicate scent-bag to his nose as he went. There were wagons and cars, in which he might drive over the hard and smooth military roads, andcanals; and along the routes, there were, as Horace has told us, taverns at which hospitality was to be expected. 

The Roman law was remarkable for embodying in itself "the eternalprinciples of freedom and of subordination, of property and legalredress, " which still reign unadulterated and unmodified, as Mommsensays; and this system this strong people not only endured but actuallyordained for itself, and it involved the principle that a free mancould not be tortured, a principle which other European peoplesembraced only after a terrible and bloody struggle of a thousand years. 

One of the punishments is worthy of mention here. We have alreadynoticed its infliction. It was ordered that a person might not live ina certain region, or that he be confined to a certain island, and thathe be interdicted from fire and water, those two essentials to life, incase he should overstep the bounds mentioned. These elements with theRomans had a symbolical meaning, and when the husband received hisbride with fire and water, he signified that his protection should everbe over her. Thus their interdiction meant the withdrawal of theprotection of the state from a person, which left him an outlaw. Such alaw could only have been made after the nation had become possessed ofregions somewhat remote from its centre of power. England can now exileits criminals to another hemisphere, and Russia to a distant region ofdeserts and cold, but neither country could have punished by exilebefore it owned such regions. 

XIX. 

THE ROMAN READING AND WRITING. 

In the earliest times the education of young Romans was probablyconfined to instruction in dancing and music, though they becameacquainted with the processes of agriculture by being called upon topractise them in company with their elders. It was not long before theelementary attainments of reading, writing, and counting were broughtwithin their reach, even among the lower orders and the slaves, and weknow that it was thought important to make the latter class proficientin many departments of scholarship. 

The advance in the direction of real mental culture was, however, notgreat until after the contact with Greece. So long as the Romansremained a strong and self-centred people, deriving little but tributefrom peoples beyond the Italian peninsula, and looking with disdainupon all outside that limit, there was not much to stimulate theirmental progress; but when contrast with another civilization showedthat there was much power to be gained by knowledge, it was naturallymore eagerly sought. The slaves and other foreigners, to whom theinstruction of the children was assigned, were familiar with the Greeklanguage, and it had the great advantage over Latin of being the casketin which an illustrious literature was preserved. For this reason Romanprogress in letters was founded upon that of Greece. 

The Roman parent for a long time made the Twelve Tables the text-bookfrom which his children were taught, thus giving them a smattering ofreading, of writing, and of the laws of the land at once. Romanauthorship and the study of grammar, however, were about coincident intheir beginnings with the temporary cessation of war and the secondclosing of the temple of Janus. Cato the elder prepared manuals for theinstruction of youth (or, perhaps, one manual in several parts), whichgave his views on morals, oratory, medicine, war, and agriculture (asort of encyclopædia), and a history entitled _Origines_, whichrecounted the traditions of the kings, told the story of the origin ofthe Italian towns, of the Punic wars, and of other events down to thetime of his own death. [Footnote: See page 153. "Cato's encyclopædia. .. Was little more than an embodiment of the old Roman householdknowledge, and truly when compared with the Hellenic culture of theperiod, was scanty enough. "--MOMMSEN, bk. IV. , ch. 12. ] This seems tohave originated in the author's natural interest in the education ofhis son, a stimulating cause of much literature of the same kind since. 

The Roman knowledge of medicine came first from the Etruscans, to whomthey are said to have owed so much other culture, and subsequently fromthe Greeks. The first person to make a distinct profession of medicineat Rome, however, was not an Etruscan, but a Greek, named Archagathus, who settled there in the year 219, just before the second Punic warbroke out. He was received with great respect, and a shop was boughtfor him at the public expense; but his practice, which was largelysurgical, proved too severe to be popular. In earlier days the fatherhad been the family physician, and Cato vigorously reviled the foreigndoctors, and like the true conservative that he was, strove to bringback the good old times that his memory painted; but his efforts didnot avail, and the professional practice of the healing art not onlybecame one of the most lucrative in Rome, but remained for a longperiod almost a monopoly in the hands of foreigners. Science, among thelatest branches of knowledge to be freed from the swaddling-clothes ofempiricism, received, in its applied form, some attention, thoughmathematics and physics were not specially favored as subjects ofinvestigation. 

The progress of Roman culture is distinctly shown by a comparison ofthe curriculum of Cato with that of Marcus Terentius Varro, a long-timefriend of Cicero, though ten years his senior. [Footnote: Varro is saidto have written of his youth. "For me when a boy there sufficed asingle rough coat and a single undergarment, shoes without stockings, ahorse without a saddle. I had no daily warm bath, and but seldom ariver bath. " Still, he utters warnings against over-feeding and over-sleeping, as well as against cakes and high living, pointing to his ownyouthful training, and says that dogs were in his later years morejudiciously cared for than children. ] Varro obtained from Quintilianthe title "the most learned of the Romans, " and St. Augustine said thatit was astonishing that he could write so much, and that one couldscarcely believe that anybody could find time even to read all that hewrote. He was proscribed by the triumvirs at the same time that Cicerowas, but was fortunate enough to escape and subsequently to be placedunder the protection of Augustus. Cato thought that a proper man oughtto study oratory, medicine, husbandry, war, and law, and was at libertyto look into Greek literature a little, that he might cull from themass of chaff and rubbish, as he affected to deem it, some serviceablemaxims of practical experience, but he might not study it thoroughly. Varro extended the limit of allowed and fitting studies to grammar, logic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music, medicine, andarchitecture. 

Young children were led to their first studies by the kindergarten pathof amusement, learning their letters as we learned them ourselves bymeans of blocks, and spelling by repeating the letters and words inunison after the instructor. Dictation exercises were turned to accountin the study of grammar and orthography, and writing was taught byimitation, though the "copy-book" was not paper, but a tablet coveredwith a thin coating of wax, and the pen a stylus, pencil-shaped, sharpat one end and flat at the other, so that the mark made by the pointmight be smoothed out by reversing the instrument. Thus _verterestilum_, to turn the stylus, meant to correct or to erase. [Footnote:See illustrations on pages 23 and 219. ] The first school-book seems tohave been an Odyssey, by one Livius Andronicus, probably a Tarentine, who was captured during the wars in Southern Italy. He became a slave, of course, and was made instructor of his master's children. Hefamiliarized himself with the Latin language, and wrote dramas in it. Thus though he was a native of Magna Græcia, he is usually mentioned asthe first Roman poet. It is not known whether his Odyssey and otherwritings were imitations of the Greek or translations, but it matterslittle; they were immediately appreciated and held their own so wellthat they were read in schools as late as the time of Horace. Thisfirst awakener of Roman literary effort was born at the time of Pyrrhusand died before the battle of Zama. 

A few other Roman writers of prominence claim our attention. With somereason the Romans looked upon Ennius as the father of their literature. He, like Andronicus, was a native of Magna Græcia, claiming lordlyancestors, and boasting that the spirit of Homer, after passing throughmany mortal bodies, had entered his own. His works remain only infragments gathered from others who had quoted them, and we cannot formany accurate opinion of his rank as a poet; but we know that hissuccess was so great that Cicero considered him the prince of Romansong, that Virgil was indebted to him for many thoughts andexpressions, and that even the brilliance of the Augustan poets did notlessen his reputation. His utterances were vigorous, bold, fresh, andfull of the spirit of the brave old days. He found the language rough, uncultivated, and unformed, and left it softer, more harmonious, andpossessed of a system of versification. He was born in 239 B. C. , theyear after the first plays of Andronicus had been exhibited on theRoman stage, and died just before the complete establishment of theuniversal empire of Rome as a consequence of the battle of Pydna. [Footnote: See Page 164. ]

At the head of the list of Roman prose annalists stands the name ofQuintus Fabius Pictor, at one time a senator, who wrote a history ofhis nation beginning, probably, like other Roman works of its class, with the coming of Æneas, and narrating later events, to the end of thesecond Punic war, with some degree of minuteness. He wrote in Greek, and made the usual effort to preserve and transmit a sufficiently goodimpression of the greatness of his own people. That Pictor was asenator proves his social importance, which is still furtherexemplified by the fact that after the carnage of Cannæ, he was sent toDelphi to learn for his distressed countrymen how they might appeasethe angry gods. We only know that his history was of great value fromthe frequent use that was made of it by subsequent investigators in theantiquities of the Roman people, because no manuscript of it has beenpreserved. 

Titus Maccius, surnamed, from the flatness of his feet, Plautus, wasthe greatest among the comic poets of Rome. Of humble origin, he wasdriven to literature by his necessities, and it was while turning thecrank of a baker's hand-mill that he began the work by which he is nowknown. He wrote three plays which were accepted by the managers of thepublic games, and he was thus able to turn his back upon menialdrudgery. Born at an Umbrian village during the first Punic war, notfar from the year when Regulus was taken, [Footnote: See page 133. ] hecame to Rome at an early age, and after he began to write, produced ascore or more of plays which captivated both the learned and theuneducated by their truth to the life that they depicted, and they heldtheir high reputation long after the death of the author. Moderns havealso attested their merit, and our great dramatist in his amusing_Comedy of Errors_ imitated the _Menoechmi_ of this early play-wright. [Footnote: Rude farces, known as _Atellanæ Fabula_, were introducedinto Rome after the contact with the Campanians, from one of whosetowns, Atella, they received their name. Though they were at a latertime divided into acts, they seem to have been at first simplyimprovised raillery and satire without dramatic connection. The Atellanplays were later than the imitations of Etruscan acting mentioned onpage 110. ]

Publius Terentius Afer, commonly known as Terrence, the second and lastof the comic poets, was of no higher social position than Plautus, andwas no more a Roman than the other writers we have referred to, for hewas a native of Carthage, Rome's great rival, where he was born at thetime that Hannibal was a refugee at the court of Antiochus at Ephesus. In spite of his foreign origin, Terence was of sufficient ability toexchange the slave-pen of Carthage for the society of the best circlesin Rome, and he attained to such purity and ease in the use of hisadopted tongue that Cicero and Cæsar scarcely surpass him in thoserespects. His first play, the _Andria_ (the Woman of Andros), wasproduced in 166 B. C. , the year before Polybius and the other Achæanswere transported to Rome. [Footnote: See page 164; and portrait, page141] It has been imitated and copied in modern times, and notably bySir Richard Steele in his _Conscious Lovers_. Andria was followedby _Hecyra_ (the Stepmother), _Heautontimoroumenos_, (the Self-Tormentor), _Eunuchus_ (the Eunuch), _Phormio_ (named from a parasitewho is an active agent in the plot), and _Adelphi_ (the Brothers), theplot of which was mainly derived from a Greek play of the same title. This foreign influence is further shown in the names of these plays, which are Greek. 

Cato, the Censor, found time among his varied public labors tocontribute to the literature of his language. His _Origines_ andother works have already been mentioned. [Footnote: See pages 153 and239. ] The varied literary productions of Cicero have also come underour notice, [Footnote: See page 202] but they deserve more attention, though they are too many to be enumerated. Surpassing all others in theart of public speaking, he was evidently well prepared to write onrhetoric and oratory as he did; but his general information andscholarly taste led him to go far beyond this limit, and he madeconsiderable investigations in the domains of politics, history, andphilosophy, law, theology, and morals, besides practising his hand inhis earlier years on the manufacture of verses that have not added tohis reputation. The writings of Cicero of greatest interest to us noware his orations and correspondence, both of which give us intimateinformation concerning life and events that is of inestimable value, and it is conveyed in a literary style at once so appropriate andattractive that it is itself forgotten in the impressive interest ofthe narrative. The period covered by the eight hundred letters ofCicero that have been preserved is one of the utmost importance inRoman history, and the author and his correspondents were in thehottest of the exciting movements of the time. 

When he writes without reserve, he gives his modern readersconfidential revelations of the utmost piquancy; and when he words hisepistles with diplomatic care, he displays with equal acuteness, to thestudent familiar with the intrigues of public life at Rome at the time, the sinuosities of contemporary statesmanship and the wiles of the warypolitician, and the revelation is all the more entertaining andimportant because it is an unintentional exhibition. The orations ofCicero are likewise storehouses of details connected with public andprivate life, gathered with the minute care of an advocate persistentlyin earnest and determined not to allow any item to pass unnoticed thatmight affect the decision of his cause. 

The learned Varro, already mentioned, deserves far more attention thanwe can afford him. He had the advantage at an early age of theacquaintance of a scholar of high attainments in Greek and Latinliterature, who was well acquainted also with the history of his owncountry, from whom he imbibed a love of intellectual pursuits. Duringthe wars with the pirates (in which he obtained the naval crown) andwith Mithridates, he held a high command, and after supporting Pompeyand the senate during the civil struggles, he was compelled tosurrender to Cæsar (though he was not changed in his opinions), andpassed over to Greece, where he was finally overcome by the dictator, and owed his subsequent opportunities for study to the clemency of hisconqueror, who gave him pardon after the battle of Pharsalia. All therest of his life was passed aloof from the storm that raged around him, the circumstances of his proscription and pardon being the onlyindication of his personal connection with it. He died in the year 28B. C. , after the temple of Janus had been closed the third time, whenAugustus had entered upon the enjoyment of his absolute power. 

Of nearly five hundred works that Varro is said to have written, oneonly has come down to our time complete, though some portions ofanother are also preserved. The first is a laboriously methodical andthorough treatise on agriculture. The other work (a treatise on Latingrammar) is of value in its mutilated and imperfect state (it seemsnever to have received its author's final revision), because itpreserves many terms and forms that would otherwise have been lost, besides much curious information concerning ancient civil and religioususages. In regard to the derivation of words, his principles are sound, but his practice is often amusingly absurd. We must remember, however, that the science of language did not advance beyond infancy until afterour own century had opened. The great reputation of Varro was foundedupon a work now lost, entitled "Book of Antiquities, " in the first partof which he discussed the creation and history of man, especially ofman in Italy from the foundation of the city in 753 B. C. (which date heestablished), not omitting reference to Æneas, of course, andpresenting details of the manners and social customs of the peopleduring all their career. In a second part Varro gave his attention toDivine Antiquities, and as St. Augustine drew largely from it in his"City of God, " we may be said to be familiar with it at second hand. Itwas a complete mythology of Italy, minutely describing every thingrelating to the services of religion, the festivals, temples, offerings, priests, and so on. Probably the loss of the works of Varromay be accounted for by their lack of popular interest, or by theirinfelicities of style, which rendered them little attractive toreaders. 

Julius Cæsar must be included among the authors of Rome, though most ofhis works are lost, his _Commentaries_ (mentioned on p. 226) beingthe only one remaining. This book is written in Latin of great purity, and shows that the author was master of a clear style, though thenature of the work did not admit him to exhibit many of the graces ofdiction. The Commentaries seem to have been put into form in winterquarters, though roughly written during the actual campaigns. Cæsaralways took pleasure in literary pursuits and in the society of men ofletters. 

Valerius Catullus, a contemporary of the writers just named, was bornwhen Cinna was Consul (B. C. 87), and died at the age of thirty orforty, for the dates given as that of his death are quite doubtful. Hisfather was a man of means and a friend of Cæsar, whom he frequentlyentertained. Catullus owned a villa near Tibur, but he took up hisabode at Rome when very young, and mingled freely in the gayestsociety, the expensive pleasures of which made great inroads upon hismoderate wealth. Like other Romans, he looked to a career in theprovinces for means of improving his fortune, but was disappointed, andlike our own Chaucer, but more frequently, he pours forth lamentationsto his empty purse. He was evidently a friend of most of the prominentmen of letters of his time, and he entered freely into the debaucheryof the period. Thus his verse gives a representation of the debasedmanners of the day in gay society. His style was remarkably felicitous, and it is said that he adorned all that he touched. Most of his poemsare quite short, and their subjects range from a touching outburst ofgenuine grief for a brother's death to a fugitive epigram of the mostvoluptuous triviality. His verses display ease and impetuosity, tumultuous merriment and wild passion, playful grace and slashinginvective, vigorous simplicity and ingenious imitation of the learnedstiffness and affectation of the Alexandrian school. They are stronglynational, despite the author's use of foreign materials, and madeCatullus exceedingly popular among his countrymen. 

Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus) was a native of Italy, whose birth issaid to have occurred B. C. 95, His death was caused by his own hand, orby a philtre administered by another, about 50 B. C. , and very little isknown about his life. His great work, entitled About the Nature ofThings (_De Rerum Natura_), is a long poem, in which an attempt ismade to present in clear terms the leading principles of the philosophyof Epicurus, and it is acknowledged to be one of the greatest of theworld's didactic poems. He undertakes to demonstrate that the miseriesof men may be traced to a slavish dread of the gods; and in order toremove such apprehensions, he would prove that no divinity everinterposed in the affairs of the earth, either as creator or director. The Romans were not, as we have had occasion to observe, inclined tophilosophic pursuits, and Lucretius certainly labored with all theforce of an extraordinary genius to lead them into such studies. Hebrought to bear upon his task the power of sublime and graceful verse, and it has been said that but for him "we could never have formed anadequate idea of the strength of the Latin language. We might havedwelt with pleasure upon the softness, flexibility, richness, andmusical tone of that vehicle of thought which could represent with fulleffect the melancholy tenderness of Tibullus, [Footnote: AlbiusTibullus was a poet of singular gentleness and amiability, who wroteverses of exquisite finish, gracefully telling the story of his worldlymisfortunes and expressing the fluctuations that marked his indulgencein the tender passion, in which his experience was extensive and hisrecord real. He was a warm friend of Horace. ] the exquisite ingenuityof Ovid, [Footnote: Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) was born March 20, B. C. 43, and did not compose his first work, The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria), until he was more than fifty years of age. He wrote subsequently TheMetamorphoses, in fifteen books; The Fasti, containing accounts of theRoman festivals; and the Elegies, composed during his banishment to atown on the Euxine, near the mouth of the Danube, where he died, A. D. 18. Niebuhr places him after Catullus the most poetical among the Romanpoets, and ranks him first for facility. He did not direct his geniusby a sound judgment, and has the unenviable fame of having been thefirst to depart from the canons of correct Greek taste. ] the inimitablefelicity and taste of Horace, the gentleness and high spirit of Virgil, and the vehement declamation of Juvenal, but, had the verses ofLucretius perished, we should never have known that it could giveutterance to the grandest conceptions with all that sustained majestyand harmonious swell in which the Grecian Muse rolls forth her loftiestoutpourings. "

Caius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust) was born the year that Marius died(B. C. 86) of a plebeian family, and during the civil wars was apartisan of Cæsar, whom he accompanied to Africa, after having broughtto him the news of the mutiny of his troops in Campania (B. C. 46). [Footnote: See page 245. ] Left as governor, Sallust seems to havepursued the methods common to that class, for he became immensely rich. Upon his return from Africa, he retired to an extensive estate on theQuirinal Hill, and lived through the direful days which followed thedeath of Cæsar. He died in the year 34 B. C. , his last years beingdevoted to diligent pursuits of literature. His two works are_Catilina_, a history of the suppression of the conspiracy ofCatiline, and _Jugurtha_, a history of the war against Jugurtha, in both of which he took great pains with his style. As he witnessedmany of the events he described, his books have a great value to thestudent of the periods. Roman writers asserted that he imitated thestyle of Thucydides, but there is an air of artificiality about hiswork which he did not have the skill to conceal. He has the honor ofbeing the first Roman to write history, as distinguished from mereannals. 

Livy (Titus Livius) was born in the year of Cæsar's first consulship(B. C. 59), at Patavium (Padua), and died A. D. 17. His writings, likethose of Ovid, come therefore rather into the period of the empire. Hisgreat work is the History of Rome, which he modestly called simply_Annales_. Little is known of his life, but he was of very highrepute as a writer in his own day, for it is said by Pliny that aSpaniard travelled all the way from his distant home merely to see him, and as soon as his desire had been accomplished, returned. Livy'shistory comprised one hundred and forty-two books, of which thirty-fiveonly are extant, though with the exception of two of the missing booksvaluable epitomes are preserved. Though wanting many of the traits ofthe historian, and though he was of course incapable of looking athistory with the modern philosophic spirit, Livy was honest and candid, and possessed a wonderful command of his native language. His workenjoyed an unbounded popularity, not entirely to be accounted for bythe fascinations of his theme, He realized his desire to present aclear and probable narrative, and no history of Rome can now be writtenwithout constant reference to his pages. 

Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) was born on the river Aufidus, in theyear 65 B. C. , and was son of a freeman who seems to have been apublican or collector of taxes. At about the age of twelve, afterhaving attended the local school at Venusia, to which the children ofthe rural aristocracy resorted, he was taken to Rome, where he enjoyedthe advantages of the best means of education. He studied LiviusAndronicus, and Homer, and was flogged with care by at least one of hismasters. He was accompanied at the capital by his father, of whom healways speaks with great respect, and because he mingled with boys ofhigh rank, was well dressed and attended by slaves. The gentlewatchfulness of the father guarded Horace from all the temptations ofcity life, and at the age of eighteen he went to Athens, as most well-educated Romans were obliged to, and studied in the academic groves, though for a while he was swept away by the youthful desire to acquiremilitary renown under Brutus, who came there after the murder of Cæsar. Like the others of the republican army, he fled from the field ofPhilippi, and found his military ardor thoroughly cooled. Hethenceforth devoted himself to letters. Returning to Rome, he attractednotice by his verses, and became a friend of Mæcenas and Virgil, theformer of whom bestowed upon him a farm sufficient to sustain him. Hislife thereafter was passed in frequent interchange of town and countryresidence, a circumstance which is reflected with charming grace in hisverses. His rural home is described in his epistles. It was notextensive, but was pleasant, and he enjoyed it to the utmost. Hispoetry is deficient in the highest properties of verse, but as thefresh utterances of a man of the world who was possessed of quickobservation and strong common-sense, and who was honest and bold, theyhave always charmed their readers. The Odes of Horace are unrivalledfor their grace and felicitous language, but express no great depth offeeling. His Satires do not originate from moral indignation, but thewriter playfully shoots folly as it flies, and exhibits a wonderfulkeenness of observation of the ways of men in the world. His Epistlesare his most perfect work, and are, indeed, among the most original andpolished forms of Roman verse. His Art of Poetry is not a completetheory of poetic art, and is supposed to have been written simply tosuggest the difficulties to be met on the way to perfection by aversifier destitute of the poetic genius. The works of Horace wereimmediately popular, and in the next generation became text-books inthe schools. 

Cornelius Nepos was a historical writer of whose life almost noparticulars have come down to us, except that he was a friend ofCicero, Catullus, and probably of other men of letters who lived at theend of the republic. The works that he is known to have written are alllost, and that which goes under his name, The Biographies ofDistinguished Commanders (_Excellentium Imperatorum Vitæ_), seemsto be an abridgment made some centuries after his death, and tediousdiscussions have been had regarding its authorship. The lives are, however, valuable for their pure Latinity, and interesting for thelofty tone in which the greatness of the Roman people is celebrated. The life of Atticus, the friend and correspondent of Cicero, is the oneof the biographies regarding which the doubts have been least. The workis still a favorite school-book and has been published in innumerableeditions. 

This brief list of celebrated writers whose works were in the hands ofthe reading public of Rome during the time of the republic, must beclosed with reference to Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), the writerwho stands at the head of the literature of Rome, sharing his pre-eminence only with his younger friend, Horace. Born on his father'ssmall estate near Mantua, Virgil studied Greek at Naples, and otherbranches, probably, at Rome, where in time he became the friend of themunificent patron of letters, Mæcenas, with whom we have already seenhim on the noted journey to Brundusium. It was at the instigation ofMæcenas that Virgil wrote his most finished work, the agricultural poementitled _Georgica_, which was completed after the battle of Actium(B. C. 31), when Augustus was in the East. It had been preceded by tenbrief poems called Bucolics (_Bucolica_, Greek, _boukolos_, a cowherd), noteworthy for their smooth versification and many natural touches, though they have only the form and coloring of the true pastoral poem. The Æneid, which was begun about 30 B. C. , occupied eleven years incomposition, and yet lacked the finishing touches when the poet was onhis death-bed. His death occurred September 22, B. C. 19, at Brundusium, to which place he had come from Greece, where he had been in companywith Augustus, and he was buried between the first and secondmilestones on the road from Naples to Puteoli, where a monument isstill shown as his. 

Though always a sufferer from poor health, and therefore debarred fromentering upon an oratorical or a military career, Virgil wasexceptionally fortunate in his friendships and enjoyed extraordinarypatronage which enabled him to cultivate literature to the greatestadvantage. He was fortunate, too, in his fame, for he was a favoritewhen he lived no less than after his death. Before the end of his owngeneration his works were introduced as text-books into Roman schools;during the Middle Age he was the great poet whom it was heresy not toadmire; Dante owned him as a master and a model; and the people finallyembalmed him in their folk-lore as a mysterious conjurer andnecromancer. His _Æneid_, written in imitation of the great Greekpoem on the fall of Troy, is a patriotic epic, tracing the wanderings, the struggles, and the death of Æneas, and vaunting the glories of Romeand the greatness of the royal house of the emperor. 

Thus, through long ages the Roman wrote, and thus he was furnished withbooks to read. For centuries he had no literature excepting those rudeballads in which the books of all countries have begun, and all traceof them has passed away. When at last, after the conquest of the Greekcities in Southern Italy, the Tarentine Andronicus began to imitate theepics of his native language in that of his adoption, the progress wasstill quite slow among a people who argued with the sword and sawlittle to interest them in the fruit of the brain. As the republictotters to its fall, however, the cultivators of this field increase, and we must suppose that readers also were multiplied. At that time andduring the early years of the empire, a Mæcenas surrounded himself withauthors and stimulated them to put forth all their vigor in the effortto create a native literature. 

On the Esquiline Hill there was a spot of ground that had been a placeof burial for the lower orders. This the hypochondriacal invalidMæcenas bought, and there he laid out a garden and erected a loftyhouse surmounted by a tower commanding a view of the city and vicinity. Effeminate and addicted to every sort of luxury, Mæcenas calmed hissometimes excited nerves by the sweet sound of distant symphonies, gratified himself by comforting baths, adorned his clothing withexpensive gems, tickled his palate with dainty confections of the cook, and regaled himself with the loftier delights afforded by thecompanionship of the wits and virtuosi of the capital. Magnificent wasthe patronage that he dispensed among the men of letters; and that hewas no mean critic, his choice of authors seems to prove. They were thegreatest geniuses and most learned men of the day. At his table satVirgil, Horace, and Propertius, besides many others, and his name hasever since been proverbial for the patron of letters. No wealthy publicman has since arisen who could rival him in this respect. 

XX. 

THE ROMAN REPUBLICANS SERIOUS AND GAY. 

It is easier to think of the old Roman republicans as serious than gay, when we remember that they considered that their very commonwealth wasestablished upon the will of the gods, and that no acts--at least nopublic acts--could properly be performed without consulting thosespiritual beings, which their imagination pictured as presiding overthe hearth, the farm, the forum--as swarming throughout everydepartment of nature. The first stone was not laid at the foundation ofthe city until Romulus and Remus had gazed up into the heavens, somysterious and so beautiful, and had obtained, as they thought, someindication of the fittest place where they might dig and build. Theshe-wolf that nurtured the twins was elevated into a divinity with thename Lupa, or Luperca (_lupus_, a wolf), and was made the wife ofa god who was called Lupercus, and worshipped as the protector of sheepagainst their enemies, and as the god of fertility. On the fifteenth ofFebruary, when in that warm clime spring was beginning to open thebuds, the shepherds celebrated a feast in honor of Lupercus. Itsceremonies, in some part symbolic of purification, were rude and almostsavage, proving that they originated in remote antiquity, but theycontinued at least down to the end of the period we have considered, and the powerful Marc Antony did not disdain to clothe himself in awolfskin and run almost naked through the crowded streets of thecapital the month before his friend Julius Cæsar was murdered. [Footnote: see page 248*] It was a fitting festival for the month ofwhich the name was derived from that of the god of purification(_februare_, to purify). 

It was at the foot of a fig-tree that Romulus and Remus were fabled tohave been found by Faustulus, and that tree was always looked upon withspecial veneration, though whenever the Roman walked through the woodshe felt that he was surrounded by the world of gods, and that such aleafy shade was a proper place to consecrate as a temple. A temple wasnot an edifice in those simple days, but merely a place separated andset apart to religious uses by a solemn act of dedication. When theaugur moved his wand aloft and designated the portion of the heavens inwhich he was to make his observations, he called the circumscribed areaof the ethereal blue a temple, and when the mediæval astrologer did thesame, he named the space a "house. " On the Roman temple an altar wasset up, and there, perhaps beneath the spreading branches of a royaloak, sacred to Jupiter, the king of the gods, or of an olive, sacred toMinerva, the maiden goddess, impersonation of ideas, who shared withhim and his queen the highest place among the Capitoline deities, prayers and praises and sacrifices were offered. 

When the year opened, the Roman celebrated the fact by solemnizing inits first month, March, the festivity of the father of the Roman peopleby Rhea Silvia, the god who stood next to Jupiter; who, as MarsSilvanus, watched over the fields and the cattle, and, as Mars Gradivus(marching), delighted in bloody war, and was a fitting divinity to beappealed to by Romulus as he laid the foundation of the city. [Footnote: See page 19. ] As spring progressed, sacrifices were offeredto Tellus, the nourishing earth; to Ceres, the Greek goddess Demeter, introduced from Sicily B. C. 496, to avert a famine, whose character didnot, however, differ much from that of Tellus; and to Pales, a god ofthe flocks. At the same inspiring season another feast was observed inhonor of the vines and vats, when the wine of the previous season wasopened and tasted. [Footnote: This was the, _Vinalia urbana_ (_urbs_, acity), but there was another festival celebrated August 19th, when thevintage began, known as the _Vinalia rustica_ when lambs weresacrificed to Jupiter. While the flesh was still on the altar, thepriest broke a cluster of grapes from a vine, and thus actually openedthe wine harvest. ]

In like manner after the harvest, there were festivals in honor of Ops, goddess of plenty, wife of that old king of the golden age, Saturnus, introducer of social order and god of sowing, source of wealth andplenty. The festival of Saturnus himself occurred on December 17th, andwas a barbarous and joyous harvest-home, a time of absolute relaxationand unrestrained merriment, when distinctions of rank were forgotten, and crowds thronged the streets crying, _Io Saturnalia!_ even slaveswearing the _pileus_ or skullcap, emblem of liberty, and all throwingoff the dignified toga for the easy and comfortable _synthesis_, perhaps a sort of tunic. 

Other festivals were devoted to Vulcanus, god of fire, without whosehelp the handicraftsmen thought they could not carry on their work; andNeptunus, god of the ocean and the sea, to whom sailors addressed theirprayers, and to whom commanders going out with fleets offeredoblations. Family life was not likely to be forgotten by a people amongwhom the father was the first priest, and accordingly we find thatevery house was in a certain sense a temple of Vesta, the goddess ofthe fireside, and that as of old time the family assembled in theatrium around the hearth, to partake of their common meal, the renewalof the family bond of union was in later days accompanied with acts ofworship of Vesta, whose actual temple was only an enlargement of thefireside, uniting all the citizens of the state into a single largefamily. In her shrine there was no statue, but her presence wasrepresented by the eternal fire burning upon her hearth, a fire thatÆneas was fabled to have brought with him from old Troy. The purifyingflames stood for the unsullied character of the goddess, which was alsobetokened by the immaculate maidens who kept alive the sacred coals. AsVesta was remembered at every meal, so also the Lares and Penates, divinities of the fireside, were worshipped, for there was apurification at the beginning of the repast and a libation poured uponthe table or the hearth in their honor at its close. When one wentabroad he prayed to the Penates for a safe return, and when he cameback, he hung his armor and his staff beside their images, and gavethem thanks. In every sorrow and in every joy the indefinite divinitiesthat went under these names were called upon for sympathy or help. 

In the month of June the mothers celebrated a feast called_Matralia_, to impress upon themselves their duties towards children;and at another they brought to mind the good deeds of the Sabine womenin keeping their husbands and fathers from war. [Footnote: see page 26]This was the _Matronalia_, and the epigrammatist Martial, who livedduring the first century of our era, called it the Women's Saturnalia, on account of its permitted relaxation of manners. At that timehusbands gave presents to their wives, lovers to their sweethearts, andmistresses feasted their maids. 

The _Lemuria_ was a family service that the father celebrated onthe ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth of May, when the ghosts of thedeparted were propitiated. It was thought that these spirits were wontto return to the scenes of their earthly lives to injure those who werestill wrestling with the severe realities of time, and specially didthey come up during the darkness of night. Therefore it was that atmidnight the father rose and went forth with cabalistic signs, skilfully adapted to keep the spectres at a distance. After thricewashing his hands in pure spring water, he turned around and tookcertain black beans into his mouth, and then threw them behind him forthe ghosts to pick up. The goodman then uttered other mysticexpressions without risking any looks towards the supposed sprites, after which he washed his hands, and beat some brazen basins, and ninetimes cried aloud: "Begone, ye spectres of the house!" Then could helook around, for the ghosts were harmless. 

Thus the Roman forefathers worshipped personal gods, but they did not, in the early times, follow the example of the imaginative Greeks, andrepresent them, as possessing passions like themselves, nor did theyerect them into families and write out their lines of descent, orcreate a mythology filled with stories of their acts good and bad. Thegods were spiritual beings, but the religion was not a spiritual life, nor did it have much connection with morality. It was mainly based onthe enjoyment of earthly pleasures. If the ceremonious duties weredone, the demands of Roman religion were satisfied. It was a hard andnarrow faith, but it seemed to tend towards bringing earthly guilt andpunishment into relation with its divinities, and it contained the ideaof substitution, as is clearly seen in the stories of Curtius, DeciusMus, and others. [Footnote: "When the gods of the community were angry, and nobody could be laid hold of as definitely guilty, they might beappeased by one who voluntarily gave himself up. "--MOMMSEN, Book I. , chapter 12. ]

As time passed on the rites and ceremonies increased in number andintricacy, and it became necessary to have special orders to attend totheir observance, for the fathers of the families were not able to givetheir attention to the matter sufficiently. Thus the colleges ofpriests naturally grew up to care for the national religion, the mostancient of them bearing reference to Mars the killing god. They werethe augurs and the pontifices, and as the religion grew more and moreformal and the priests less and less earnest, the observances fell intodull and insipid performances, in which no one was interested, and intime public service became not only tedious, but costly, pennycollections made from house to house being among the least onerousexpedients resorted to for the support of the new grafts on the tree ofdevotion. 

As early as the time of the first Punic war, a consul was bold enoughto jest at the auspices in public. Superstitions and imposturesflourished, the astrology of ancient Chaldea spread, the Orientalceremonies were introduced with the pomps that accompanied thereception of the unformed boulder which the special embassy broughtfrom Pessinus when the weary war with Hannibal had rendered any sourceof hope, even the most futile, inspiring. [Footnote: B. C. 204. See page153. ] Then the abominable worship of Bacchus came in, and thousandswere corrupted and made vicious throughout Italy before the authoritieswere able to put a stop to the midnight orgies and the crimes thatdaylight exposed. 

Cato the elder, who would have nothing to do with consulting Chaldeansor magicians of any sort, asked how it were possible for two suchministers to meet each other face to face without laughing at their ownduplicity and the ridiculous superstition of the people they deceived. [Footnote: It had been in early times customary to dismiss a politicalgathering if a thunder-storm came up, and the augurs had takenadvantage of the practice to increase their own power by laying down anoccult system of celestial omens which enabled them to bring any suchmeeting to a close when the legislation promised to thwart their plans. They finally reached the absurd extreme of enacting a law, by the termsof which a popular assembly was obliged to disperse, if it should occurto a higher magistrate merely to look into the heavens for signs of theapproach of such a storm. The power of the priests under such a law wasimmeasurable. (See pages 236 and 247). ] Cato was very much shocked bythe preaching of three Greek philosophers: Diogenes, a stoic;Critolaus, a peripatetic; and Carneades, an academic, who visited Romeon a political mission, B. C. 155; because it seemed to him that they, especially the last, preached a doctrine that confounded justice andinjustice, a system of expediency, and he urged successfully that theyshould have a polite permission to depart with all speed. Thephilosophers were dismissed, but it was impossible to restrain theRoman youth who had listened to the addresses of the strangers with anavidity all the greater because their utterances had been foundscandalous, and they went to Athens, or Rhodes, to hear more of thesame doctrine. 

Thus in time the simplicity of the people was completely undermined, and while they became more cosmopolitan they also grew more lax. Theyused the Greek language, and employed Greek writers, as we have seen, to make their books for them, which, though bearing Greek titles, werecomposed in Latin. The public men performed in the forenoon their civiland religious acts; took their siestas in the middle of the day;exercised in the Campus Martius, swimming, wrestling, and fencing, inthe afternoon; enjoyed the delicacies of the table later, listening tosinging and buffoonery the while, and were thus prepared to seek theirbeds when the sun went down. At the bath, which came to be the politeresort of pleasure-seekers, all was holiday; the toga and the foot-coverings were exchanged for a light Greek dressing-gown, and the timewas whiled away in gossip, idle talk, lounging, many dippings into theflowing waters, and music. Pleasure became the business of life, andmorality was relaxed to a frightful extent. 

When we consider the gay moods of the Roman people we turn probablyfirst to childhood, and try to imagine how the little ones amusedthemselves. We find that the girls had their dolls, some of which havebeen dug out of ruins of the ancient buildings, and that the boysplayed games similar to those that still hold dominion over the youngEnglish or American school-boy at play. In their quieter moods theyplayed with huckle-bones taken from sheep, goats, or antelopes, orimitated in stone, metal, ivory, or glass. From the earliest days thesewere used chiefly by women and children, who used five at a time, whichthey threw into the air and then tried to catch on the back of thehand, their irregular form making the success the result ofconsiderable skill. The bones were also made to contribute to a varietyof amusements requiring agility and accuracy; but after a while theelement of chance was introduced. The sides were marked with differentvalues, and the victor was he who threw the highest value, fourteen, the numbers cast being each different from the rest. This throwobtained at a symposium or drinking party caused a person to beappointed king of the feast. 

One of the oldest games of the world is that called by the Romanslittle marauders (_latrunculi_), because it was played like draughts orcheckers, there being two sets of "men, " white and red, representingopposed soldiers, and the aim of each player being to gain advantageover the other, as soldiers do in a combat. This game is as old asHomer, and is represented in Egyptian tombs, which are of much greaterantiquity than any Grecian monuments. In this game, too, skill was allthat was needed at first, but in time spice was given by the additionof chance, and dice (_tessera_, a die) were used as in backgammon; butgambling was deemed disreputable, and was forbidden during therepublic, except at the time of the Saturnalia, though both Greeks andRomans permitted aged men to amuse themselves in that way. [Footnote: Agambler was called _aleator_, and sometimes his implement was spoken ofas _alea_, which meant literally gaming. When Suetonius makes Cæsarsay, before crossing the Rubicon, "The die is cast, " he uses the words_Jacta alea est!_]

The games of the Romans range from the innocent tossing of huckle-bonesto the frightful scenes of the gladiatorial show. Some were celebratedin the open air, and others within the enclosures of the circus or theamphitheatre. Some were gay, festive, and abandoned, and others wereserious and tragic. Some were said to have been instituted in theearliest days by Romulus, Servius Tullius, or Tarquinius Priscus, andothers were imported from abroad or grew up naturally as the nationprogressed in experience or in acquaintance with foreign peoples. Thegreat increase of games and festivals and their enormous cost weresigns of approaching trouble for the republic, and foretold theterrible days of the empire, when the rabblement of the capital, accustomed to be amused and fed by their despotic and corrupt rulers, should cry in the streets: "Give us bread for nothing and gamesforever!" It was gradually educating the populace to think of nothingbut enjoyment and to abhor honest labor, and we can imagine thecorruption that must have been brought into politics when honors wereso expensive that a respectable gladiatorical show cost more thanthirty-five thousand dollars (£7, 200). If money for such purposes couldnot be obtained by honest means, the nobles, who lived on popularapplause, would seek to force it from poor citizens of the colonies orwin it by intrigue at home. 

There were impressive games celebrated from the fourth to the twelfthof September, called the great games of the Roman Circus, but it is adisputed point what divinities they were in honor of. Jupiter wasthought surely to be one, and Census another, by those who believed thelegends asserting that they were a continuation of those established byRomulus when he wished to get wives from the Sabines. Others think thatTarquinius Priscus, after a victory over the Latins, commemorated hissuccess by games in a valley between the Aventine and the Palatinehills, where the spectators stood about to look on, or occupied stagesthat they erected for their separate use. The racers went around in acircuit, and it is perhaps on this account that the course and itsscaffolds was called the circus (_circum, _ round about). The course waslong, and about it the seats of the spectators were in after timesarranged in tiers. A division, called the _spina (spine)_, was builtthrough the central enclosure, separated the horses running in onedirection from those going in the other. 

A variety of different games were celebrated in the circus. The racesmay be mentioned first. Sometimes two chariots, drawn by two horses orfour each (the _biga_ or the _quadriga_), entered for the trial ofspeed. Each had two horsemen, one of whom, standing in the car with thereins behind his back to enable him to throw his entire weight on them, drove, while the other urged the beasts forward, cleared the way, orassisted in managing the reins. Before the race lists of the horseswere handed about and bets made on them, the utmost enthusiasm beingexcited, and the factions sometimes even coming to blows and blood. Thetime having arrived, the horses were brought from stalls at the end ofthe course, and ranged in line, a trumpet sounded, or a handkerchiefwas dropped, and the drivers and animals put forth every exertion towin the prize. Seven times they whirled around the course, the applauseof the excited spectators constantly sounding in their ears. Now andthen a biga would be overturned, or a driver, unable to control hisfiery steeds, would be thrown to the ground, and, not quick enough tocut the reins that encircled him with the bill-hook that he carried forthe purpose, would be dragged to his death. Such an accident would notstop the onrushing of the other competitors, and at last the victorwould step from his car, mount the _spina_, and receive the sum ofmoney that had been offered as the prize. 

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE COLOSSEUM SEEN FROM THE PALATINE HILL]

Another game was the Play of Troy, fabled to have been invented byÆneas, in which young men of rank on horses performed a sham fight. Onanother occasion the circus would be turned into a camp, andequestrians and infantry would give a realistic exhibition of battle. Again, there would be athletic games, running, boxing, wrestling, throwing the discus or the spear, and other exercises testing theentire physical system with much thoroughness. One day the amphitheatrewould be filled with huge trees, and savage animals would be brought tobe hunted down by criminals, captives, or men especially trained forthe desperate work, who made it their profession. 

For the purposes of these combats the circus was found not to be thebest, and the amphitheatre was invented by Curio for the celebration ofhis father's funeral games. It differed from a theatre in permittingthe audience to see on both sides (Greek _amphi_, both), but thedistinctive name was first applied to a structure built by Cæsar, B. C. 46. The Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Colosseum, of whichthe ruins now stand in Rome, was the culmination of this sort ofbuilding, and affords a good idea of the general arrangement of thosethat were not so grand. That of Cæsar was, however, of wood, whichmaterial was used in constructing theatres also; the first one of stonewas not erected until 30 B. C. , when Augustus was consul. [Footnote:History gives an account of one edifice of this kind made of wood thatfell down owing to imperfect construction, killing many thousandspectators, and of another that was destroyed by fire. Pompey's theatreof stone, built B. C. 55, has already been mentioned (page 231). ]

Variety was given to the exhibitions of the amphitheatre by introducingsufficient water to float ships, and by causing the same wretched classthat fought the wild beasts to represent two rival nations, and tofight until one party was actually killed, unless preserved by theclemency of the ruler. 

It must not be supposed that all these exhibitions were known in earlytimes, for, in reality, they were mostly the fruit of the increasedlove of pleasure that characterized the close of the period of therepublic, and reached their greatest extravagance only under theemperors. 

The departure of a Roman from this world was considered an event ofgreat importance, and was attended by peculiar ceremonies, some ofwhich have been imitated in later times. At the solemn moment thenearest relative present tried to catch in his mouth the last expiringbreath, and as soon as life had passed away, he called out the name ofthe departed and exclaimed "Vale!" (farewell). The ring had beenpreviously taken from the finger, and now the body was washed andanointed by undertakers, who had been called from a place near thetemple of Venus Libitina, where the names of all who died wereregistered, and where articles needed for funerals were hired and sold. [Footnote: Libitina was an ancient Italian divinity about whom littleis known. She has been identified with both Proserpina (the infernalgoddess of death and queen of the domain of Pluto her husband) and withVenus. ]

A small coin was placed in the mouth of the deceased to pay Charon theferryman who was to take it across the rivers of the lower world, thebody was laid out in the vestibule, with its feet toward the door, wearing the simple toga, in the case of an ordinary citizen, or thetoga _prætexta_ in case of a magistrate, and flowers and leaveswere used for decorations as they are at present. If the deceased hadreceived a crown for any act of heroism in life, it was placed upon hishead at death. We have already seen that cypress was put at the door toexpress to the passer-by the bereavement of the dwellers in the house. If the person had been of importance, the funeral was public, andprobably it would be found that he had left money for the purpose; butif he had omitted to do that, the expenses of burial would devolve onthose who were to inherit his property. These charges in case of a poorperson would be but slight, the funeral being celebrated; as in theolden times of the republic, at night and in a very modest style. 

The master of the funeral, as he was called, attended by lictorsdressed in black, directed the ceremonies in the case of a person ofimportance. On the eighth day the body would be taken to its cremationor burial, accompanied by persons wearing masks, representing theancestors of the deceased and dressed in the official costumes that hadbeen theirs, while before it would be borne the military and civicrewards that the deceased had won. 

Musicians playing doleful strains headed the procession, followed byhired mourners who united lamentations with songs in praise of thevirtue of the departed. Players, buffoons, and liberated slavesfollowed, and of the actors one represented the deceased, imitating hiswords and actions. The couch on which the body rested as it was carriedwas often of ivory adorned with gold, and was borne by the nearrelatives or freedmen, though Julius Cæsar was carried by magistratesand Augustus by senators. 

Behind the body the relatives walked in mourning, which was black ordark blue, the sons having their heads veiled, and the daughterswearing their hair dishevelled, and both uttering loud lamentations, the women frantically tearing their cheeks and beating their breasts. As the procession passed through the forum it stopped, and an orationwas delivered celebrating the praises of the deceased, after which itwent on through the city to some place beyond the walls where the bodywas burned or buried. We have seen that burial was the early mode ofdisposing of the dead, and that Sulla was the first of his gens to beburned. [Footnote: See page 197. ] In case of burning, the body wasplaced on a square, altar-like pile of wood, still resting on thecouch, and the nearest relative, with averted face, applied the torch. As the flames rose, perfumes, oil, articles of apparel, and dishes offood were cast into them. Sometimes animals, captives, or slaves wereslaughtered on the occasion, and, as we have seen, gladiators werehired to fight around the flaming pile. [Footnote: See pages 158 and210]

When the fire had accomplished its work, and the whole was burned down, wine was thrown over the ashes to extinguish the expiring embers, andthe remains were sympathetically gathered up and placed in an urn ofmarble or less costly material. A priest then sprinkled the ashes withpure water, using a branch of olive or laurel, the urn was placed in aniche of the family tomb, and the mourning relatives and friendswithdrew, saying as they went _Vale, vale_! When they reached theirhomes they underwent a process of purification, the houses themselveswere swept with a broom of prescribed pattern, and for nine days themourning exercises, which included a funeral feast, were continued. Inthe case of a great man this feast was a public banquet, andgladiatorial shows and games were added in some instances, and theywere also repeated on anniversaries of the funeral. 

[Illustration: A COLUMBARIUM. ]

The public buried the illustrious citizens of the nation, and thosewhose estates were too poor to pay such expenses; the former being fora long time laid away in the Campus Martius, until the site becameunhealthy, when it was given to Mæcenas, who built a costly house onit. The rich often erected expensive vaults and tombs during their ownlives, and some of the streets for a long distance from the city gatewere bordered with ornamental but funereal structures, which must havemade the traveller feel that he was passing through unending burial-places. If a tomb was fitted up to contain many funeral ash-urns, itwas known as a columbarium, or dove-cote (_columba_, a dove), theashes of the freedmen and even slaves being placed in niches covered bylids and bearing inscriptions. The Romans ornamented their tombs in avariety of ways, but did not care to represent death in a directmanner. The place of burial of a person, even a slave, was sacred, andone who desecrated it was liable to grave punishment--even to death, --if the bodies or bones were removed. Oblations of flowers, wine, andmilk were often brought to the tombs by relatives, and sometimes theywere illuminated. 

Almost every country lying under a southern sun is accustomed torejoice at the annual return of flowers, and ancient Rome was notwithout its May-day. Festivals of the sort are apt to degeneratemorally, and that, also, was true of the Floralia, as these feasts werecalled at Rome. It is said that in the early age of the republic therewas found in the Sibylline books a precept commanding the institutionof a celebration in honor of the goddess Flora, who presided overflowers and spring-time, in order to obtain protection for theblossoms. The last three days of April and the first two of May wereset apart for this purpose, and then, under the direction of theædiles, the people gave themselves up to all the delights and, it mustbe confessed, to many of the dissipations of the opening spring. Theamusements were of a varied character, including scenic and othertheatrical shows, great merriment, feasting, and drinking. Dance andsong added to the gay pleasures, and flowers adorned the scenes thatmet the eye on every hand. Probably no particular deity was honored atthese festivals at first. They were simply the unbending of the rusticsafter the cold of winter, the rejoicings natural to man in spring; butfinally the personal genius of the flowers was developed and her namegiven to the gay festival. 

The rustic simplicity represented well the primal homeliness of thenation during the heroic ages; the orgies of the crowded city may beput for the growing decay of the later period when, enriched andintoxicated by foreign conquest and maddened by civil war, the republicfell, and the way was made plain for the great material growth of theempire, as well as for the final fall of the vast power that had for somany centuries been invincible among the nations of the earth;--a powerwhich still stands forth in monumental grandeur, and is to-day studiedfor the lessons it teaches and the warnings its history utters tomankind.