Rome, from the earliest times down to 476 A.D.

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GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY.

Professor PenneWs Text- Books.

HISTORY OF GREECE, from the Earliest
Times down to 146 B.C. 16mo. Cloth. $0.75.

HISTORY OP ROME, from the Earliest Times
down to 476 a.d. 16mo. Cloth. $0.75.

THE LATIN SUBJUNCTIVE. A Manual
for Preparatory Schools. 16mo. Sewed.

$0.30.

John Allyn, Publisher, Boston, Mass.

ROME,

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
DOWN TO 476 A.IX

COMPILED BY

R. F. PENNELL,

PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY.

£<*c

BOSTON:
JOHN ALLYN, PUBLISHER.

1876.

Utonc. tts&L

GIFT OF

Copyright, 1876,
By John Alltn.

EDUCATION DEPT«

CAMBRIDGE!
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.

PREFACE.

^l^HIS book is intended to be a companion to
my History of Greece. It is compiled chiefly
from Mommsen and Niebuhr. For the entire
history, from the Battle of Actium, and for por-
tions previous to that date, I am indebted to Dr.
D. F. Wells, whose assistance I was obliged to
ask on account of press of duties.

R. F. Pennell.

The Phillips Exkter Academy,
10 July, 1876.

924220

GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY

INTRODUCTION.

ITALY is a long, narrow peninsula in the southern
part of Europe, situated between the 38th and
46th parallels of North Latitude. It is 720 miles long,
from the Alps to the southern extremity of Bruttii ;
and 330 miles broad in its widest part, i.e. from the
Little St. Bernard to the hills north of Trieste. Its
area is about the same as that of the State of Nevada ;
viz., 110,000 square miles.

Italy is bounded on the north and north-west by the
Alps ; on the east by the Adriatic ; on the south by
the Mediterranean ; and on the west by the Tyrrhe-
nian sea. It may be divided, for convenience' sake,
into Northern, Central, and Southern Italy.

Northern Italy included Liguria, Gallia Cisalpina,
and Venetia. The chief towns of Liguria were Genua
(Genoa), Nicaea (Nice), and Asta (Asti). The chief
places of Venetia were Patavium and Aquileia. Gal-
lia Cisalpina contained many flourishing cities. Among
these, south of the Padus (Po), were Ariminum (Ri-
mini), Bononia (Bologna), Mutina (Modena), Parma,
Placentia, Ravenna ; north of the Padus were Augusta
Taurinorum (Turin), Cremona, Ticinum (Pavia), Me-
diolanum (Milan), Mantua, and Verona.

1 a

2 GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY.

Cehvril Italy,

separated from "Northern Italy by the rivers Rubicon
in •' jMuoni. in'.dudod Etrurvi, Latium, and Campania
on the west, Umbria, Picenum, and Samnium on the
east. Of the many cities of Etruria, the following will
be mentioned : Arretium, Caere, Cortona, Clusium,
Faerii, Faesulse, Pisa3, Veii, and Volaterrse.

The most important city of Latium was Rome. In
Campania were Capua, Cumae, Herculaneum, Neapolis,
Pompeii, and Salernum.

In Umbria were Iguvium, Sentinum, and Spoletium.

In Picenum, Ancona, and Asculum.

In Samnium, Beneventum.

Southern Italy

included Lucania and Bruttii on the west ; Apulia and
Iapygia (or Messapia) on the east. The chief towns
of Lucania were settled by the Greeks : they were
Ileracleia, Metapontum, Pandosia, Sybaris, and Thurii.

In Bruttii were Croton, Locri, and Rhegium.
i Apulia, the most level of the countries south of the
Rubicon, was a rich and fertile plain, well watered.

The chief places were Arpi, Canusium, Cannae, and
Venusia.

In Iapygia were Tarentum and Brundisium.

The mountains of Italy consist of two chains, the
Alps and Apennines. The former separate Italy on
the north and north-west from the rest of Europe,
ranging from 4,000 to 15,000 feet in height, and with
but few passes. The highest peak in this range is Mt.
Blanc. The Apennines are merely a continuation of
the Alps, and extend down through the whole length

GEOGRAPHY OF ITALY. 3

of Italy. The vojcano of Vesuvius, so famous, is in
Campania.

The plains of Italy are small, with but two exceptions :
the plain of the Padus (Po), from 100 to 150 miles in
width on either side of that river ; and the plain in
Apulia, mentioned above. There are small plains in
Etruria, Latium, and Campania.

The rivers of Italy are very numerous. The largest
river is the Padus, of about 400 miles in length, and
draining most of Northern Italy.

Its chief tributaries on the north are the Ticinus and
Mincius ; on the south, the Trebia.

Other rivers, emptying into the Adriatic, are the
Athesis (Adige), Rubicon, Metaurus, Aternus, and Au-
fidus ; emptying into the Tyrrhenian sea are the Arnus,
Tiber, Liris, and Volturnus.

There are many lakes in Italy ; but we shall mention
only the Alban Lake, Lake Regillus, and Trasimenus.

The islands about Italy are very important.

Sicily (about 10,000 square miles, might be compared
with New Hampshire in size) is triangular in shape, and
for this reason called often by the poets Trinacria (with
three promontories). It contains many important cities,
as Syracuse, Agrigentum, Messana, Catana, Camarina,
Gela, Selinus, Egesta (or Segesta), and Panormus.

Sicily is mountainous. The highest mountain is the
volcano ^Etna (10,700 feet).

Sardinia is of about the same size as Sicily. Corsica,
directly north, is considerably smaller. Between Cor-
sica and the mainland of Italy is the small island of
Ilva (Elba) ; Igilium, off Etruria ; Capreae, in the Bay
of Naples ; Strongyle (Stromboli) and Lipara, north
of Sicily ; also the iEgates Insulae west of it.

IAPYGIANS AND ETKUSCANS.

CHAPTER I.

The Early Inhabitants of Italy.

So far as we know, the primitive inhabitants of Italy-
were divided into three races ; viz., the Iapygian, Etrus-
can, and Italian.

The Iapygians were the first to people Italy. They
came probably from the north over the Apennines, and
were pushed south by later immigrations.

The colonies planted in early times by the Greeks
on the southern coast of Italy possessed a superior
civilization to that of the Iapygians, and was produc-
tive of a gradual improvement among them, until,
finally, we lose sight of the old inhabitants as a dis-
tinct race, their language and customs becoming ab-
sorbed by their more polished colonists.

The Etruscans, at the time when Roman history
begins, were a powerful and warlike race, far superior
to the Latins in civilization and the arts of life. The
origin of this people is a matter of controversy, and
will probably never be known. Their dominion, at the
period of highest prosperity, extended from the Alps
as far south as Lucania, concentrating its strength
chiefly in twelve cities, between the rivers Arno and
Tiber.

THE ITALIANS. 5

In this region most of the monuments of Etruscan
art have been found. , m

At an early period (according to Roman traditions,
in the sixth century B.C.) the Etruscans were expelled
from the valley of the Po by the less civilized Gauls, —
a race of the Celtic stock, from whom, in Roman times,
the valley of the Po derived the name of Gallia Cisal-
pina.

The Italians were of the same common ancestry as
the Hellenes, their forefathers having come from one
Aryan race, who lived, long before recorded history,
somewhere in the western part of Central Asia.

While the Hellenes were settling in Greece, the
Italians pushed further west, and passed over the
Apennines into Italy.

At this time, the Italians had made considerable ad-
vance in civilization. They understood, to some de-
gree, the art of agriculture ; the building of houses ;
the use of -wagons and of boats ; of fire in preparing
food, and salt for seasoning it. They could make out
of copper and silver various weapons and ornaments ;
also, the husband and -wife were recognized, and the
dividing of people into clans (tribes).

That branch of the Italians known as the Latins in-
habited a plain which is bounded on the east and south
by mountains ; on the west by the Tyrrhenian sea ; on
the north by the high lands of Etruria.

This plain, called Latium, — comprising a district of
only 700 square miles (one-half as large as the State
of Rhode Island), with a coast of only fifty miles, with
no good harbors, — is watered by two rivers, the
Tiber, and its tributary, the Auio. Hills emerge here
and there ; as Soracte in the north-east, and the pro-

6 THE LATINS.

montory of Circeium in the south-west ; Janiculum,
near Rome ; and the Alban range further south.

The climate is made unhealthy during the summer
months by the malaria, which prevails to a great extent.

The soil is fairly productive!

The neighborhood of the Alban mountains is the
healthiest part of Latium, and best adapted for a strong-
hold ; and so it was here, naturally, that the Latins
built their first town, Alba.

Afterwards, many other towns sprung up, as Lanu-
vium, Aricia, Tusculum, Tibur, Praeneste, Roma, Lau-
rentum, Lavinium, &c.

All these towns were at first politically independent
of one another, i.e. each was governed by a prince of its
own, and a select body of elders and warriors who
acted as advisers to the prince.

The inhabitants of these towns or communities (30
at first), owing to their common origin and interests,
soon formed a perpetual league, and chose Alba, as the
oldest town, to be the head of the league, and the
place for all the people of Latium to assemble annu-
ally, and offer sacrifice to their common god, Jupiter
(Latiaris).

Thus the Latins preserved their individual independ-
ence, and at the same time, by having this common
centre for meeting at stated periods, and celebrating
their festivals, laid the foundation of that national
union which, in after ages, became so powerful.

CHAPTER II.

The Romans and their Early Government.

We have learned the probable origin of the Latins ;
how they settled in Latium, and founded numerous
towns. We have also taken a cursory glance at their
manner of government. We shall now examine more
particularly that one of the Latin towns which was des-
tined soon to outstrip all her sisters in prosperity and
power.

Fourteen miles from the mouth of the Tiber, the
monotonous level of the plain through which the river
flows is broken by a cluster of hills rising to a consid-
erable height, around one of which once settled a tribe
of Latins called Ramnes (gradually changed to Ro-
mans).

We have no means of ascertaining when this settle-
ment was formed ; tradition says in 753 b.c. In all
probability it was centuries earlier.

The district included in the township of Rome at
this time did not exceed 115 square miles.

The people were divided into thirty districts (curiae),
and each district into ten clans (gentes).

The chief ruler was a king, holding office for life,
whose duties were to command the army, to perform
certain sacrifices, and to preside in the Senate.

This body was a council of elders, who advised the
king, and at his death directed the government until
his successor was elected from their own body.

8 DIVISIONS OF THE PEOPLE.

The original inhabitants assembled by districts
(curiae) from time to time, and were called the Comitia
Curiata. This assembly alone had the power to change
the laws, declare war or peace, and confirm the election
of kings made by the Senate.

The original founders of Rome and their direct
descendants were called the Patricians, who formed a
class distinct from all others, jealously protecting their
rights against all intruders.

Attached to the Patricians was a class of people
called Clients, who, though personally free, had no civil
rights {i.e. could take no part in the government), and
were obliged to assist the Patrician to whom they were
bound, in every way. In return, the Patricians gave
them their support, and looked after all their interests.

There were also the Slaves, who were the mere prop-
erty of their masters, and could be bought or sold at
pleasure.

By the side of these three classes (viz. Patricians,
Clients, Slaves), there gradually grew up another class,
composed of the former inhabitants of conquered states
and others who had fled to Rome for refuge.

This class, called Plebeians (multitude), the very
name of which shows their numbers, belonged to
no " district " or " clan," but were personally free, and
allowed to own property and engage in trade.

The Plebeians were constantly increasing, and, as
numbers give power, began to demand more rights.
This demand was met by the so-called Servian reform
of the constitution, the addition of a new assembly
called the Comitia Centuriata, into which the Ple-
beians were admitted as citizens, and the whole popu-
lation ranked according to property.

THE C0MIT1A CENTUR1ATA. 9

At the same time, all were called upon to serve in
the armies, which service had been before performed
by the Patricians.

The whole population was now divided into six
classes, according to their property. The several
classes were subdivided into 193 "centuries," each
" century " representing the same afnount of property.

The people thus classified met from time to time on
the Campus Martius, a plain outside of the city, and
voted upon subjects coming under their jurisdiction.

In this assembly, called, as stated above, the " Comi-
tia Centuriata," each " century" had one vote, and its
vote was decided by the majority of the individual
voters.

The tendency of this system was to give to the wealthy
the whole power; for, since each "century" repre-
sented the same amount of property, the " centuries "
in the upper or richer classes were much smaller than
those in the lower or poorer classes, so that a majority
of the centuries might represent a small minority of
the people.

1*

CHAPTER III.

The Consuls and Tribunes.

In the previous chapter, we learned something about
the early government of the Romans.

This form of government, called the regal form,
lasted for two or three centuries ; but the abuse of the
regal power led to the abolition of a monarchy ; and
in the place of one king, who held his office for life,
two consuls were elected annually from the Patricians,
each of whom possessed supreme power, and acted as
a salutary check upon the other ; so that neither was
likely to abuse his power.

In great emergencies, a person could be appointed
by one of the consuls, to have authority over all others,
called the Dictator, whose tenure of office never ex-
ceeded six months.

It was at this time (about 500 B.C.) that the Comitia
Centuriata, explained in the previous chapter, came to
be a very important assembly of the people, super-
seding in a measure the Comitia Curiata.

All appeals in criminal cases were brought before
this assembly ; in it magistrates were nominated, laws
adopted or rejected.

We have seen how the system of voting in the Comi-
tia Centuriata left the power practically in the hands
of a few of the wealthy. Yet this assembly was a gain
for the Plebeians, as property was its basis ; for many

THE PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS. 11

Plebeians were very rich, and could take precedence
of Patricians of less property.

Moreover, the Senate, which heretofore had con-
sisted solely of Patricians, now admitted into its
ranks a number not belonging to the nobility, called
Conscripti, who, however, were not on the same foot-
ing as the old members, not being allowed to take part
in debates or to hold magistracies.

In the Senate thus constituted, the nomination of all
magistrates made in the Comitia Centuriata was con-
firmed or rejected. Thus it had control of the election
of the consuls (whose duties, we must remember, were
those of supreme administrators, judges, and generals,
though every Roman citizen had a right to appeal from
their decision to the Comitia Centuriata, in cases in-
volving life) .

Two subordinate officers, chosen from the Patricians,
were appointed by the consuls, called Quaestores, whose
duties were to manage the finances under the direction
of the Senate.

The result of all these changes was that, although
the Plebeians were admitted to a voice in the govenir
ment through the Comitia Centuriata, yet the Patricians
became more exclusive than ever, having, as they did,
the control of the elections of the Consuls and Quaestors,
and since all the sacred priesthoods were filled from
their ranks.

This government, resting, as far as the Plebeians
were concerned, upon a property basis, led to the
amassing of a large amount of landed property by sin-
gle individuals, and the crushing of the smaller land-
owners. The rich land-owners also increased their
wealth immensely by "farming" the public revenues;

VI THE PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS.

i.e., the Roman State would let out to them, for a good
round sum, the collecting of all import duties and other
revenues. They, in turn, would manage by extortion
to enrich themselves very rapidly, and thus acquire
great power. Hence only the wealthy Plebeians,
with the Patricians, had any voice at all in the govern-
ment. The rights of all the rest were utterly disre-
garded.

These became more and more oppressed, and only
wanted a good opportunity to rise and remonstrate
against their hard lot. They were much better off,
they thought, under the old regal government ; then
they could make a tolerable and even comfortable liv-
ing ; then they were allowed to enjoy the public past-
ure j and, whenever new lands were conquered, portions
of them were always assigned by the state to the poor
for occupation ; taxes then were not oppressive, nor
were they obliged to sell or mortgage all they had, and
even give up their own persons into slavery, to satisfy
the demands of their creditors. They did not then see
hundreds of their companions thrown into prison, be-
cause unable to pay their debts.

It is not strange, therefore, that they became uneasy.

The opportunity for rebelling against this unjust and
cruel oppression was soon offered. Rome was hard
pressed by a neighboring state, and needed extra men
to defend her honor. One of the consuls liberated all
who were confined in prison for debt, and, through their
aid, the danger was averted.

Upon the return of the army, the other consul in-
sisted upon enforcing the law for debt, and confined
again all who had been set free, although they had done
such good service for their city.

FIRST SECESSION OF THE PLEBEIANS. 13

The next- year Rome was threatened with the same
danger. Again the prisoners were called upon to de-
fend their city ; but, remembering the reward of the
previous year, they refused at first, and only consented
finally when the higher authority of the Dictator was
exercised.

Again, the Romans were victorious ; but the idea of
a second time being thrown into chains was so unen-
durable to the soldiers, that, when they arrived near
their city walls, they deserted the general, and, march-
ing in martial order to a hill near by, occupied it,
threatening to found a new city in this the most fertile
part of Latium, unless their oppressors were willing to
make some concessions.

The Patricians and richer Plebeians saw that a rec-
onciliation must be brought about, or their own ruin
would be the result. Thus the seceders carried the
day, and returned to the city.

The name of " Sacred Mount " was given to this hill
by the Plebeians.

The results of the secession were felt throughout all
Roman history, and marked a truly sacred era in the
history of the common people.

A law was now passed that the Plebeians should
choose annually from their own body two officers,
called "Tribuni Plebis," who should look after their
interests, and have the power of vetoing any action
taken by any magistrate in the city.

For many years the Consuls and Tribunes repre-
sented, in a measure, opposing interests. The former
had a positive power ; i.e., the power of commanding :
the latter only a negative power ; i.e., that of forbid-
ding. The latter had a more unlimited sway ; for the

14 THE CONSULS AND TRIBUNES.

Consul was obliged to submit to any veto from him,
while the Tribune never submitted to the Consul at all
within the city. But, outside of the city walls, the
Tribunes had no authority ; and when the consuls as-
sumed command (imperium) of the armies, their actions
could be restrained in no way ; also the Dictator, whose
authority was of a military character, and exercised
outside of the city, could not be interfered with by the
Tribunes.

Two subordinate officers, chosen annually from the
Plebeians, called .ffidiles, held nearly the same position
in reference to the Tribunes as the Quaestors to the
Consuls.

They had special charge of the temple of Ceres, and
derived their name from aedes (temple). In this tem-
]jle were deposited for safe keeping all the decrees of
the Senate.

The .aidiles also assisted the Tribunes in the per-
formance of their various duties.

These two offices, the result of the secession, were
filled every year by elections at first held in the Comi-
tia Centuriata, but afterwards in an assembly called the
Comitia Tributa, which met now inside and now out-
side of the city walls.

This assembly was composed chiefly of Plebeians,
who voted by tribes (hence the name tributa = com-
posed of tribes), each tribe being entitled to one vote,
and its vote being decided by the majority of its indi-
vidual voters.

Measures passed in this assembly were, at first, not
binding upon the people at large ;• but, as we shall see,
became soon as important as those passed in either the
Comitia Centuriata or Curiata.

CHAPTER IV.

The Decemvieate. — Second Secession. — Valerio-
Horatian Laws, Licinian Rogations, Horten-
sian Law.

The aim of the Patricians was now to lessen the
power of the Tribunes in every way possible ; that of
the Plebeians, to restrain the power of the Consuls, and
extend that of the Tribunes. Party spirit ran high ;
even hand-to-hand contests took place in the streets
of Rome. Many families left the city, and settled in
neighboring places to escape the quarrels. It is a
wonder that the government held together at all, so
fierce were the passions on both sides.

The Agrarian laws are now first heard of. These
laws, which had reference to the distribution of the
public lands among the poorer classes, were violently
opposed by the Patricians. The first law, although
passed, cost its advocate (Spurius Cassius) his life, and
was itself never enforced.

These quarrels finally culminated in the murder of
one of the Tribunes (Gnaeus Genucius) for attempting
to veto some of the proceedings of the consuls. A law
was now passed (471 b.c) by the violent effort of the
Plebeians (called the Publilian Law, from Publilius,
its proposer), which enacted that the Tribunes should
be chosen in the Comitia Tributa, instead of the Comi-

16 . THE DECEMVIRI.

tia Centuriata. Thus the Plebeians could now elect
their Tribunes freely, and gained a step in power which
they never lost.

For the next twenty years, the struggle between the
rich and poor at Rome continued unabated. The de-
mand of the latter was a written code of laws. Finally,
it was arranged that the Comitia Centuriata should
choose from the people at large ten men, called the
Decemvirate, who should hold office for one year.
These magistrates wTere to supersede all others, and
direct the government. But their chief duty was to
draw up a code of laws, and submit it to the approval
of the people.

These laws were approved, and engraved on ten tables
of copper, and were placed in the Forum in front of the
Senate house. Two more tables were added the next
year ; making, in all, twelve, — the only Roman code.

The Decemviri should have resigned as soon as these
laws were drawn up and approved ; but they neglected
to do so, and began gradually to act in a cruel and
tyrannical manner.

The people grew more and more uneasy, and medi-
tated a revolution, which broke out finally, when one of
the Decemviri passed so unjust a sentence as to bring
an innocent maiden into his own power for the gratifi-
cation of his lusts. The father saved his daughter's
honor by stabbing her to the heart ; and, fleeing himself
to the camp, he called upon the soldiers to put down
so unjust a government.

A second time the army left their leaders, and se-
ceded to the Sacred Mount, where they nominated
their own tribunes. Then, marching into the city, they
compelled the Decemviri to resign.

THE VALERW-HORATIAN LAWS. 17

A compromise was now made with the Patricians,
resulting in the Valerio-Horatian laws, the substance
of which was as follows : —

I. Every Roman citizen could appeal to the Comitia
Centuriata against the decision of the supreme magis-
trate.

II. All the decisions of the Comitia Tributa (called
Plebiscita) were made binding (if sanctioned by the
Senate and Comitia Curiata) upon the Patricians and
Plebeians alike. This assembly now became of equal
importance with the other two.

III. The person of the Tribunes, iEdiles, and other
Plebeian officers, was to be considered sacred.

IV. The Tribunes could take part in the debates of
the Senate, and veto any of its decisions.

Thus we see the Plebeians gradually gaining ground,
notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of the Patricians
to keep them down.

A few years after the Valerio-Homtian laws, the
Canuleian law (445 B.C.) was passed, making valid any
marriage between a Patrician and a Plebeian, and enact-
ing that all children of such marriage should follow
the rank of the father.

At the same time, in the place of the two consuls,
six military Tribunes were elected annually by the
Comitia Centuriata, the office being open to all citi-
zens.

To offset this gain for the Plebeians, the Patricians
obtained (435 b.c.) the appointment of two new officers,
called Censores, elected from their own ranks in the
Comitia Centuriata once in every five years, to hold
office for eighteen months.

The duties of the Censors were : —

18 THE LIC1NIAN ROGATIONS.

I. To see that the citizens of every class and order
were properly registered.

II. To punish immorality by removal from the Sen-
ate of any of its members.

III. To have a general supervision of the finances
and public works of the state.

This office became, in after years, the most coveted
in Rome.

But again (421 b.c.) the Plebeians were amply com-
pensated for this gain of the Patricians, by obtaining
the right of electing one of their number as Quaestor.
There were now four Quaestors.

Thus the nobility, in spite of the most obstinate re-
sistance, sustained loss after loss. Even the rich Ple-
beians, who had heretofore generally found it for their
interest to side with the Patricians, now joined the
farmers and lower classes.

Finally (367 b. c), the Tribunes of the Plebeians
(Licinius and . Sextus) proposed the following bills,
called the Licinian Rogations : —

I. To abolish the six military Tribunes, who had
superseded the two consuls, and reinstate the latter,
choosing one of them from the Plebeians.

II. To forbid any citizen holding more than 500
jugera (300 acres) of the public lands, and feeding
thereon more than 100 oxen and 500 sheep.

III. To compel all landlords to employ on their fields
a certain number of free laborers, proportionate to the
number of their slaves.

IV. To allow all interest hitherto paid on borrowed
money to be deducted from the principal, and the rest
be paid in three yearly instalments.

These Rogations, we see, were a great gain for the

HORTENSIAN LAW. 19

poorer classes. It gave them an opportunity for labor,
which had been done in so great a measure before by
the slaves. They could feel less burdened by their
debts, having some prospect of paying them.

But especially, since they had accession to the high-
est office at Rome, viz. the consulship, they felt that
their interests would be better protected.

However, the struggle went on, with scarcely una-
bated energy, for nearly thirty years. The Plebeians
had gained so much that they could not stop until they
were placed on an equal footing with the nobility in
civil rights.

First, they obtained the right of having the office of
Dictator open to them ; then those of Censor and Prae-
tor ; until, finally, by the law of Hortensius, the Dicta-
tor (286 b.c), all the decrees (Plebiscita) of the Comi-
tia Tributa stood on the same footing of equality with
those of the Comitia Centuriata, not being conditional,
as heretofore, upon the approval of the Senate and
Comitia Curiata.

Thus the strife that had lasted for 200 years was
virtually ended ; and although the Roman nobility
still held aloof from the commons, yet their rights as
citizens were no greater than those of the Plebeians.

CHAPTER V.

External History.

The Samnite Wars.

The first authentic history of Rome begins about
400 b.c. The city then possessed but little beyond her
own walls. She was surrounded by hostile peoples,
ready to destroy her if an opportunity offered.

About this time, a barbarous tribe from Gaul
(France) invaded Italy, and captured and sacked Rome.
All records of the city's history were destroyed ; and
thus, previous to this date (390 B.C.), we have no reli-
able data.

It was nearly half a century before Rome recovered
from the effects of the Gallic invasion, obliged, as she
was, to struggle continually with neighboring states.

At this date (340 b.c), Rome began a series of wars
for the subjugation of Italy. Her strongest enemies
were the Samnites, — a race who had established them-
selves in the mountainous districts of Central Italy,
and early extended their authority over the entire Cam-
pania.

Between the Samnites and Romans a treaty had been
made (354 b.c). Since then, both had, independently of
each other, been waging war against the Yolsci. The
Samnites went so far as to attack Teanum, a city of
Northern Campania, which appealed to Capua for aid.
The Samnites at once appeared before Capua, which,
unable to defend itself, asked aid of Rome.

SAMNITE WAR. 21

Alarmed at the advances of the Samnites, Rome
only awaited an excuse to break her treaty. This
was furnished by the Capuans surrendering their city
unconditionally to Rome, so that, in attacking the Sam-
nites, she would only be defending her subjects.

Thus began the

Samnite War, *-"

which lasted for fifty years, with varying success,
and was interrupted by two truces. Hence it is usual to
divide it into three portions, and to describe them as
the First, Second, and Third Samnite wars. It was
fought with great stubborness on both sides, and the
enemies were pretty evenly matched. The First
Samnite war was speedily brought to a close, without
any material advantage to either side, by a renewal of
the class struggle at Rome, and also because the Latin
allies were showing unequivocal symptoms of discon-
tent. The civil strife resulted in the extension of the
Licinian law of debt, so that debts were abolished
altogether, and in the making of both consulships open
to the common people. The Latins were only quieted
by being subdued.

Hitherto the Latins had been allies to the Romans ;
but it now became necessary either to subdue them or
to admit them to an equal share in the government, and
form a single consolidated union. A proposition was
sent to Rome by the Latins, by the terms of which they
sue to have one of the two consuls and 300 members
of the Senate ; but it was rejected. The great Latin
War (340-338 b.c.) followed, in the first year of which
a battle was fought near Vesuvius. The Romans,
with their Samnite allies, were victorious through

22 LATIN WAR.

the efforts of the consul, T. Manlius Torquatus, one of
the illustrious names of this still doubtful period.
The remainder of the operations was rather a series
of expeditions against individual cities than a general
war. .

By the Latin Conquest, not only Latium, but also the
country of the Volscians and Aruncans, was added to
Roman territory, and partitioned among the people.

It was the policy of Rome always to punish a fallen
enemy severely, but at the same time to hold out
to them, as inducement to future loyalty, a prospect
that they might by good conduct earn the privileges
of the most favored. At the same time, full or partial
citizenship was often granted to a portion of a con-
quered people, which influenced the remainder to strive
to attain a like position. In accordance with this
policy, some of the Latin communities were at once
incorporated with the Roman territory, while the rest
held the position of conquered country.

During the interval between the Latin and the
Second, or Great, Samnite Avars, Rome occupied her-
self in strengthening her frontier, by placing colonies
along her Samnite boundary, and preparing for the
struggle which was inevitable. While thus engaged,
she constantly gave evidence of her determination to
renew the war. Privernum, one of the newly con-
quered Volscian cities, revolted (330 B.C.), but was soon
reduced. The deputies, being asked what was due to
such rebellious conduct, asked, " What is due to brave
men who have fought for freedom ? " " Well, but if
we spare you ? " " Peace, if you treat us well ; if ill, a
speedy return of war," was the reply. The inhabitants
of Privernum were admitted to Roman citizenship.

PALAEOPOLIS DESTROYED. 23

Three years later (327 b.c), the Senate sent to Palaa-
opolis, a Greek town near Neapolis (Naples), to com-
plain of outrages committed upon Roman subjects in
Campania. Satisfaction was refused at the instiga-
tion of the Tarentines, a Greek colony of Southern
Italy, whose representations were the more readily
listened to, as, in case of war, the Samnites might be
counted on for assistance against the common enemy,
Rome. Palaeopolis was utterly destroyed ; and then
the Senate turned their attention once more to the
Samnites.

It was charged that, in addition to their assistance to
Palaeopolis, they had instigated the revolt of Priver-
num. The charges were indignantly denied, and war
was declared. It will be observed that, whenever Rome
found a powerful enemy, whom she was unable at once
to crush, peace was made, which was but a truce for
the purpose of strengthening positions and completing
preparations for a renewal of war. These preparations
were in themselves virtual, and often actual, demon-
strations of hostility. In distress Rome was always
ready for such a peace ; but, when her position was
more favorable, pretexts were never wanting on which
to break it. Roman faith was kept with strangers only
so long as it pleased Rome.

During the first five years (326-322 b.c.) of the war,
the Romans were usually successful ; and the Samnites
were compelled to sue for peace. A truce of a year
was granted, and then hostilities were renewed. By
this time the Samnites had found a worthy leader in
C. Pontius, by whose skill and wisdom the fortune of
war was turned against the Romans during seven long
years (321-315 b.c). In the first year of his com-

24 CAUDINE FORKS.

mand, he induced the consuls to hasten to the assist-
ance of the town of Luceria. Their way led them into
a small plain, at each end of which was a defile. On
gaining this plain, they found Pontius strongly posted
to oppose them. After a bloody but fruitless attempt
to force his position, a retreat was ordered ; but, in the
mean time, the defile in rear had been occupied, and
nothing remained but a capitulation.

A treaty was signed by the consuls and all the supe-
rior officers, according to which peace was to be made,
and every thing which had been taken from the Sam-
nites was to be restored. Such was the affair at the
Caudine Forks, — one of the most humiliating dis-
graces which ever befell the Roman arms. The army
was made to pass under the yoke, stripped of every
thing but their under-garments, and then suffered to
depart. Rome was filled with dismay at the news.
The citizens dressed in mourning ; business and amuse-
ments were suspended ; and every energy was devoted
to repairing the disaster. The results of the delibera-
tions were eminently characteristic of the people.
Compliance was refused with the terms of the treaty,
on the ground that the consuls had no authority to
make a treaty ; and it was determined to deliver the
signers as prisoners to the enemy. This was done ;
but Pontius demanded either good faith, or the return-
ing of the army to its position at the Forks.

War was renewed, and dragged on for seven years,
when the Samnites were so utterly defeated by Fabius,
who had been appointed Dictator, that they were unable
to meet the Romans again on the field with any chance
of success. The war was finally ended by the Samnites
agreeing to relinquish all their sea-coast, giving up all

BATTLE OF SENTIUM. 25

alliances and conquests, and acknowledging the su-
premacy of Rome (304 B.C.).

The Samnites had only yielded to the direst ne-
cessity in concluding peace, and immediately set to
work uniting Italy against Rome. In this they were
so successful, that, after six years, began what is
known as the Third Samnite war, under the leadership
of Gellius Egnatius. The fortune of this war was de-
termined in a sanguinary battle at Sentium, where the
Samnites were entirely routed by Fabius and Decius,
after a long and doubtful struggle, in which both
Decius and Gellius lost their lives. The battles which
followed during the five remaining years of the war
only confirmed the supremacy of Rome.

With the exception of a fruitless rising, when the
arrival of Pyrrhus seemed to offer an opportunity to
retrieve their losses, the Samnites gave Rome no further
trouble. The hero of the last two Samnite wars was
Q. Fabius, by whose assistance his son won the final
battle of the contest (290 B.C.). Pontius, who was once
more in command of his countrymen, was taken pris-
oner, and, after gracing the triumph of father and son,
was put to death in prison.

During the Samnite war, the gradual union of the
Patricians and Plebeians continued. The Plebeians
grew wealthy, those more destitute being sent off to
colonize the new conquests ; while the Patricians be-
came more used to the division of honors. But a new
class had forced itself into notice, — the Freedmen.
Under this name are included those who were de-
scended from slaves, as well as those who had been
liberated from bondage. They were, many of them,
wealthy, and their numbers had increased, so that they
2

26 THE FREEDMEN.

would have become a power, had not their citizenship
been limited by restricting them to one of the four city-
tribes. They were placed by Appius Claudius on the
lists of any tribe they might select. Thus they would
have made themselves a third element, constantly
increasing in influence, had they not, five years later,
been restored by Q. Fabius and P. Decius (307 B.C.) to
their four city tribes; so that, no matter how powerful
they became, their voice might be readily neutralized
by the action of the remaining tribes.

CHAPTER VI.

Pyrehus (281-272 B.C.).

In the early times of Rome, while, indeed, she was
scarcely known even to her own neighbors, it had been
the custom of the Greeks to send their colonies away
from home to relieve the pressure of too rapid increase.
We find them in Spain, France, Asia Minor, and notably
in the island of Sicily and South Italy, where the coun-
try became so thoroughly Grecianized that it received
the name of Graacia Magna.

Here were many fine and flourishing cities, such
as Syracuse, Tarentum, Sybaris, Croton, and Thurii.
These had, by the time of their contact with Rome,
greatly fallen from their former grandeur, partly from
the inroads of barbarians from the north, partly from
civil dissensions, and still more from their jealousies
of one another ; so that they were uuable to oppose
any firm and united resistance to the southern progress
of the Roman arms. It had been their custom to rely
largely upon strangers for the recruiting and manage-
ment of their armies, — a fact which explains the ease
with which they were overcome.

Of these cities, Tarentum was now the chief; and
with it a treaty had been made by which the Ta-
rentines agreed to certain limits beyond which their
fleets were not to pass, the Romans binding themselves
not to allow their vessels to appear in the Gulf of
Tarentum, nor their armies to pass a particular temple

28 BATTLE OF HER AC LEI A.

(Lacinian Juno). As usual, the Romans found no dif-
ficulty in evading this treaty whenever it should profit
them.

Thurii was attacked by Lucanians, and, despair-
ing of aid from Tarentum, called on Rome for pro-
tection. As soon as domestic affairs permitted, war
was declared against the Lucanians, and the wedge
was entered wdiich was to deliver Grecian Italy to
Rome. Pretending that the war was instigated by the
Tarentines, the Romans decided to ignore the treaty,
and sent a little fleet of ten vessels into the Bay of
Tarentum. It was a gala day, and the people were
assembled in the theatre overlooking the bay when the
ships appeared. It was determined to punish them.
A fleet was manned, and four of the Roman squadron
were destroyed.

A demand for satisfaction was treated with insult and
contempt ; so the next year one of the consuls was
ordered to the south. The Tarentines had already
sent envoys, asking aid from Pyrrhus, the young and
ambitious king of Epeirus, who hoped, by a powerful
western empire, to overmatch the exhausted monarchies
of the east, which had risen on the death of Alexander
of Macedon (281 b.c).

Pyrrhus landed in Italy with a force of 20,000 foot,
about 3,000 horse, and 20 elephants, and at once set
about compelling the effeminate Greeks to prepare for
their own defence. Places of amusement were closed ;
the people were forced to do military duty ; disturbers
of the public safety were put to death ; and other re-
forms were made which the dangers of the situation
seemed to demand.

The armies met on the plain of Heracleia (280 B.C.),

BATTLE OF BENEVENTUM. 29

where the level nature of the country was every way in
favor of the Grecian method of fighting. The Romans
were defeated : their horses would not face the ele-
phants ; but, in spite of all, they retired in good order.
Pyrrhus is said to have been much impressed by the
heroic conduct of the foe, and to have remarked :
" Another such victory will send me back without a
man to Epeirus." He recognized the inferior qualities
of his allies, and determined to make a peace. A
trusted messenger was sent to Rome ; but he received
for answer to his propositions, that Rome would not
treat of peace till Pyrrhus should leave Italy.

Pyrrhus then tried force, and, hastily advancing north-
ward, soon appeared within eighteen miles of Rome, hav-
ing carried every thing before him. Here his danger
became great. The defection he had hoped among the
Latins did not take place ; and the armies which had
been operating elsewhere were now ready to unite
against himself. He therefore retired to winter quar-
ters at Tarentum ; and there received the famous em-
bassy of C. Fabricius, sent to propose an interchange
of prisoners. It was in vain that bribes and threats
were employed to shake the courage of the men sent by
the Senate ; and, on his part, Pyrrhus refused to grant
the exchange desired.

Hostilities were renewed. The Romans were de-
feated at the plain of Apulian Asculum (279 b.c.) ; but
it was only another of those Pyrrhic victories which are
almost as disastrous as defeat. Pyrrhus soon after made
peace with the Romans, and retired to Sicily to ope-
rate against the Carthaginians, where he remained above
two years. The next time he met the Romans was
near Beneventum (274 B.C.), where he was utterly

30 ROME MISTRESS OF ITALY.

routed. By this time the Romans had become used
to the elephants, and used burning arrows against them.
The wounded became furious and unmanageable, and
threw the army into confusion. With the battle at
Beneventum ended the career of Pyrrhus in Italy. He
returned home, and, two years later, was accidentally
killed by a woman at Argos.

The departure of Pyrrhus left all Italy at the mercy
of Rome ; but the conquest was yet to be completed.
Tarentum was still in the hands of Milo, a general of
Pyrrhus; the various nations who had espoused the
cause of the Greeks were still in arms ; and the north
was still hostile. But among her enemies there was
nowhere any head or unity; while Rome acted with
both prudence and energy.

Rome showed as much prudence in her policy for
the retaining her conquests, as she did bravery in their
acquisition. She did this by separating them from each
other with the utmost care, and by making therii de-
pendent on herself to the greatest possible extent. By
making the interests of each distinct and individual, she
prevented any union which might be dangerous ; while,
by her control of those interests, she prevented defec-
tion.

In accordance with this plan, her dependencies were
divided into three classes. The Prefectures were ruled
by an officer appointed at Rome ; their condition
resulted from their attempts to throw off the Roman
yoke. The inhabitants were subjected to all the bur-
dens of citizenship, with none of its privileges. The
Municipal Towns ruled themselves, were exempt from
all but local taxation, and held their position by treaty.
They were obliged, however, to furnish a military con-

THE ROMAN ROADS. 31

tingent, and, except by special act, could not enjoy the
political or public rights of citizenship. The Colonies
consisted either of Roman soldiers and their families,
who were placed in strong and fortified places for the
purpose of overawing the inhabitants, or parties of
citizens who took up their abode in the conquered
districts. In either case, they formed a firm protection
against revolt ; and in the latter, a valuable relief for the
poorer classes. There were also, at this time, certain
towns independent of Roman rule, and only bound by
treaties ; these, however, gradually disappeared as
Rome grew more powerful, and took their places
among the municipal towns.

Even at this early date, the necessity of easy com-
munication with the capital seems to have been well
understood. Roads were pushed in every direction, —
broad, level roads, over which intelligence might be
speedily carried or armies marched ; they were chains
which bound her possessions indissolubly together.
Some of them remain to-day, — a monument of Roman
thoroughness, enterprise, and sagacity, and the wonder
and admiration of modern road-builders. By these
means did Rome fasten solidly together the constantly
increasing fabric of her empire, so that not even the
successes of Hannibal could cause more than a momen-
tary shaking of fidelity, for which ample punishment
was both speedy and certain.

CHAPTER VI.

Foreign Conquest. — Carthage. — First Punic
War (264-241 b.c).

While Rome was gradually enlarging her territory
from Latium to the Straits of Messana ; on the other
shore of the Mediterranean, opposite Italy, and less
than 100 miles from Sicily, sprung up, through industry
and commerce, the Carthaginian power.

Like Rome, Carthage had an obscure beginning ; as
in the case of Rome, it required four centuries to form
its power.

It was the policy of Carthage to make a successful
revolt of her subdued allies an impossibility, by con-
suming all their energies in the support of her immense
population and the equipment of her numerous fleets
and armies. Hence all the surrounding tribes, once
wandering nomads, were compelled to become tillers
of the soil ; and, with colonies sent out by herself,
they formed the so-called Libyo-Phcenician population,
open to the attack of all, and incapable of defence.

The country around Carthage was thus very weak ;
and, the moment a foreign enemy landed in Africa,
the war was merely a siege of its chief city.

The power of Carthage lay in her commerce.
Through her hands passed the gold and pearls of the
Orient ; the famous Tyrian purple ; ivory, slaves, and
incense of Arabia ; the silver of Spain ; the bronze of
Cyprus; and the iron of Elba.

CARTHAGE, ROME, AND SICILY. S3

But the harsh and gloomy character of the people ;
their cruel religion, which sanctioned human sacrifice ;
their disregard for the rights of others ; and their well-
known treachery, — shut them off from the higher
civilization of Rome and Greece.

The government of Carthage was an aristocracy.
A council composed of a few of high birth, and another
of the very wealthy, managed the state. Only in times
of extraordinary danger were the people summoned
and consulted.

Rome was now (280 b.c.) a great power. Italy, from
the Rubicon south, was under her control. The city
itself was strongly fortified, and most of its subject
towns were walled ; thus forming a chain, as it were,
of fortresses commanding the whole of Italy.

In leaving Sicily, Pyrrhus cried out, " What a beau-
tiful battle-field for Rome and Carthage ! " Neither
could afford to give up to any rival power this great
island situated in the centre of the Mediterranean,
almost touching Italy, and within sight of Africa.

If Carthage was mistress of it, Rome would be shut
up in her own peninsular ; if Rome was in possession
of it, the commerce of Carthage was intercepted, and
a good breeze of one night would bring the Roman
legions to her walls. ,v

Three powers shared the island, — Hiero, king of
Syracuse ; the Carthaginians ; and the Mamertines, a
band of robbers, coming from Campania.

The latter had made Messana their head-quarters,
and from there devastated the whole island. Hiero
had managed to drive them back into Messana, and
there besieged them. They now applied to Rome for
assistance. The ambition of Rome was a mixture of
2* c /

84 THE SIEGE OF MESSANA.

pride and .avidity : she wished to command, because
she believed herself already the greatest power of the
world ; she wished to make conquest, because she could
enrich her treasure ; and Sicily was such a rich prey.
Therefore, although she was in alliance with Hiero, and
had but recently executed 300 mercenaries for doing
the same thing in Rhegium that the Mamertines had
done in Sicily, she determined to aid them. But,
while making preparations to send troops, the Cartha-
ginians had, as a neutral power, arranged a peace be-
tween Hiero and the Mamertines ; the siege of Messana
was raised ; the Carthaginian fleet lay in the harbor ;
and a Carthaginian garrison, commanded by Hanno,
held possession of the citadel.

The Mamertines, now under Carthaginian influence,
informed the Romans, with thanks, that they no longer
needed their aid.

Nevertheless, the Roman commander, Claudius,
pushed on to Messana, succeeded in landing, and com-
pelled Hanno to give up the citadel.

Thus the Romans gained their first foothold outside
of Italy.

A double alliance was formed with Messana and
Syracuse ; and the whole of the eastern coast of Sicily
was under Roman control.

Two legions were sent to the island the next year
(262 b.c), who, aided by the Sicilian Greeks, compelled
the Carthaginians everywhere to take refuge in their
fortresses.

Hannibal, son of Gisco, commander-in-chief of the
Carthaginians, collected the best of his troops into
Agrigentum, their most important inland city. The
Romans besieged the city for some time, until the gar-

CAPTURE OF AGRIGENTUM. 35

rison, numbering 50,000, began to suffer from want of
food. At this point, Hanno, the Carthaginian admiral,
landed at Heracleia, and cut off the supplies of the
Romans.

Both the besieged and besiegers at Agrigentum now
suffered much. A battle was decided upon to bring
the matter to an issue. In this battle, the Roman
cavalry proved as inferior to the Carthaginian cavalry
as did the Carthaginian infantry to the Roman infan-
try ; but the infantry decided the day, and Agrigen-
tum fell into the hands of the Romans. The whole
of Sicily was now in their power, except a few mari-
time fortresses held by Hamilcar, the successor of
Hanno.

The Romans now began to feel the need of a fleet.
That of the Carthaginians ruled the sea without a
rival : it not only kept control of many of the sea-
ports of Sicily, but also threatened Italy itself.

The energy evinced by the Romans in building a
fleet is very, remarkable. A wrecked Carthaginian ves-
sel was taken as a model ; and, by the spring of 260
B.C., a fleet of 120 sail was ready for use.

The ships were made the more formidable by a
heavy iron beak, for the purpose of running clown and
sinking the enemy's vessels ; also a kind of hanging
stage was placed on the front of the ship, which could
be lowered in front or on either side. It was furnished
on both sides with parapets, and had space for two
men in front. On coming to close quarters with the
enemy, this stage was quickly lowered, and fastened
to the opposing ship by means of grappling-irons ; thus
enabling the Roman marines to board with ease their
opponent's ship, and carry on the fight as if on land.

36 ENGAGEMENT OFF MYLuE.

In 260 B.C., the Roman consul and admiral, Gnaeus
Cornelius Scipio, set sail for Messana with the vanguard
of the fleet, consisting of 17 sail. On his way, he at-
tempted to surprise Lipara, but was captured, with all
his vessels, by a division of the Carthaginian fleet sta-
tioned at Panormus.

The main part of the Roman fleet, however, sailed
soon after for Messana. It was commanded by the
second consul, Gaius Duilius.

The Carthaginians, commanded by Hannibal, son of
Gisco, sailed from Panormus, and met the Roman fleet
off the promontory of Mylse, to the north-west of
Messana.

In this, the first naval contest of any importance be-
tween the Romans and Carthaginians, the comparative
merit of their fleets was tested. The newly invented
" stages," or boarding-bridges, of the Romans, were
found to be very efficient. The enemy could not ap-
proach near without these bridges descending with
their grappling-irons, and joining them fast to the Ro-
man vessel.

The Romans were victorious ; and nearly half of the
enemy's fleet was either sunk or captured.

The effect of the victory off MylaB was very great.
Rome suddenly became a naval power. She could
now protect her commerce, and wrest from Carthage
the sole control of the seas.

A bronze column, composed of the beaks of the cap-
tured vessels, was erected in Rome in honor of this
victory of Duilius. The pedestal of it is still standing,
on which are inscribed some of the oldest inscriptions
in the Latin tongue.

Two plans were now open to the Romans ; viz.,

MYLM AND ECNOMUS. 37

cither to attack the strongholds of the Carth.iginians,
on the coasts of ' Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, or to
carry the war into Africa, and harass the Carthaginians
in their own homes.

The former plan was first adopted. The year after
the battle of Mylae (259 B.C.), the consul, Lucius Scipio,
captured Aleria, a seaport of Corsica ; thus making
the island a naval station against Sardinia.

No other permanent progress, however, was made
by the Romans for some time. In 257 B.C., an unde-
cisive, though hard-fought, naval engagement took
place off the promontory of Tyndaris.

In 256 b.c, the Romans, becoming weary of their
want of progress, decided to carry the war into Africa.
Accordingly, a fleet of 330 sail, containing 100,000
sailors and a land army of 40,000, was ordered to at-
tack Africa. The two consuls, Marcus Atilius Regulus
and Lucius Manlius Volso, were in command.

The Carthaginian fleet, composed of 350 sail, and
manned by as many troops as the Roman fleet, met it
off Ecnomus.

After a bloody battle, in which 30 Carthaginian and
24 Roman vessels were sunk, and 64 of the enemy's
ships captured, the Punic fleet hastened to the coast of
Africa, and prepared, in the Gulf of Carthage, for a
second battle. But the Romans sailed to the eastern
side of the peninsular, which helps to form the Gulf of
Carthage, and landed without opposition.

After fortifying a camp on a hill near Clupea, the
Romans pillaged the surrounding country, and sent as
many as 20,000 slaves to Rome.

The Carthaginians were disheartened ; the towns
in the vicinity of Carthage surrendered, and the capital

38 DEFEAT OF REGULUS.

itself was in clanger. They sued for peace ; but the
conditions proposed were too humiliating to be ac-
cepted. Seeing that they must fight, they occupied
the winter in active preparations. With their gold
they were enabled to hire large forces, among them the
celebrated Spartan captain, Xanthippus, whose talent
as a commander was great.

In the mean while, the Roman general, Regulus, re-
mained inactive at Tunes, near Carthage, neglecting
even to secure a line of retreat to his fortified camp at
Clupea.

In the following spring (255 b.c), the Carthaginians
were ready for the field, and determined to attack
Regulus before he could receive re- enforcements from
Rome.

Regulus foolishly accepted battle, although greatly
outnumbered in cavalry by his opponents. His own
cavalry, stationed upon the wings (as was the cus-
tom in Roman armies), was immediately put to flight
by the Carthaginian horsemen, and his infantry out-
flanked.

Although the Romans fought bravely, it was of no
avail ; they were cut down, but few escaping to Clupea.
Regulus himself was captured, and died afterwards in
Carthage.

The Romans, as soon as they heard of this defeat,
sent a fleet of 350 sail to the aid of their forces shut
up in Clupea. On its way, it gained a victory over
the Carthaginians off the Herrnean promontory, sinking
114 of their ships. The fleet arrived off Clupea just in
time to save its friends. The Romans, very foolishly,
evacuated their position, and, abandoning their nume-
rous African allies, set sail for Italy.

CAPTURE OF PANORMUS, ETC. 39

Had the Romans sent re-enforcements to Regains,
they would have prevented this humiliating defeat, and
probably ended the war with Carthage for ever, by
destroying the city.

On its return home, the Roman fleet was overtaken
by a severe storm, in which three-fourths of the vessels
were wrecked, and their crews drowned ; only eighty
readied port.

The Romans were obliged now to build a new fleet ;
and in the course of three months 220 new vessels were
ready for use.

In the spring of 254 B.C., this fleet, with the remnants
of the old one, — numbering in all about 300 vessels, —
appeared on the northern coast of Sicily, and captured
Panormus, the most important seaport of the Car-
thaginians. Soon after, some smaller places fell into
the hands of the Romans, until, of the north coast of
the island, Thermae alone remained under the Punic
control.

In the following year (253 B.C.), the consuls, instead
of following up their advantage in Sicily, preferred to
try another attack upon Africa, and to plunder the coast
towns. They accomplished their object, but, upon
their return, were overtaken by another storm, and lost
150 ships.

In the year 252 B.C., ThermaB and the island of Li-
para were captured by the Romans. The next year
(251 B.C.), the consul, Gaius Caecilius Metellus, gained
a brilliant land victory over the enemy, the result of
which was that Eryx fell into the hands of the Romans
(249 B.C.). Drepana and Lilybaeum were the only
places in Sicily now held by the Carthaginians.

A regular siege of Lilybanim was decided upon, and

40 SIEGE OF L1LYBJEUM.

accordingly the city was blockaded by land and sea ;
but the besieging party suffered fully as much as the
besieged, as their supplies were frequently cut off by
the cavalry of the Carthaginians, and their ranks began
to be thinned by disease.

Disheartened at the want of success, a sudden attack
was ordered to be made by the blockading squadron
upon the Carthaginian fleet stationed at Drepana.

The attack was unsuccessful ; and more than three-
fourths of the Roman squadron was captured.

This was the only great naval victory gained by the
Carthaginians during the war.

Also a fleet of 120 vessels, sent with provisions
to aid the blockading squadron at Lilybasum, was
wrecked by a severe storm.

The Romans were now in perplexity. The war had
lasted for fifteen years. They had lost four large fleets
and one-sixth of their fighting population.

They had tried a landing in Africa, but had failed.
They had attempted to storm Sicily, place by place.
The smaller places had fallen ; but the two strongest,
Lilybaeum and Drepana, stood more invincible than
ever. What were they to do ? They became despon-
dent and inactive, and almost entirely abandoned their
fleet ; while on land they allowed the war to languish
and nearly die out.

Had the Carthaginians been energetic, now would
have been the time to humble their antagonist. But,
having got rid of the Roman fleet, they foolishly al-
lowed their own also to fall into decay, and contented
themselves with petty warfare in and around Sicily.

Thus for six years (248-243 b.c.) the war dragged
along ingloriously for both parties.

VICTORY OFF AGATES INSULjE. 41

During this period (247 B.C.), Hamilcar Barca
(i.e. lightning) was placed in command of the Cartha-
ginians in Sicily. A man of great activity and military
genius, entertaining the most bitter hatred against the
Romans, he found it hard to endure the apathy and
apparent indifference of the government at home.

Yet, with so much to contend against, he slowly
gained power over the Romans in the island. No
Roman general was a match for him. His privateers
were continually appearing upon the Italian coast, and
plundering the neighboring towns.

In a word, he was in a fair way of accomplishing
from Sicily with his fleet what his more famous son
afterwards undertook from Spain with a land force.

Finally, some private Romans of wealth, fearing
that the Senate would never arouse from its state of
inactivity, built, at their own expense, a fleet of 200
ships, and manned it with 60,000 sailors.

This fleet, placed under command of the consul,
Gaius Lutatius Catulus, occupied the harbors of Lily-
baeum and Drepana in 242 b.c. The Carthaginians were
taken by surprise, and equipped a fleet in such haste
that it was very-inefficient ; so that, the following spring
(241 b.c), when it met the Romans off the -SJgates
Insulee, it was utterly defeated. The honor of this vic-
tory belonged to the praetor, Publius Valerius Falto,
who had succeeded the wounded consul in command.

Hamilcar thus saw the fruits of his heroic labors of
seven years undone by the haste of others.

Sicily was surrendered, and peace made. Carthage
agreed to pay the costs of the war, — about $3,000,000 ;
one-third down, the remainder in ten annual payments.

Thus ended the First Punic War, — one of the

42 END OF FIRST PUNIC WAR.

longest the Romans ever waged, the final battles of
which were fought by soldiers who were not born
when the war began.

The war, as a whole, was marked by many blunders
on the part of both Romans and Carthaginians. The
former had not yet learned the character of their enemy,
and that a war with Carthage meant something different
from one with Samnium. The wretched system of the
Romans, oi changing commanders every year, shut off
even an able general from perfecting his plans.

Again, had the Carthaginians seconded their ablest
commander, Hamilcar Barca, in his endeavors to re-
cover Sicily and gain a foothold in Italy, the result of
this war would have undoubtedly been far different.

Thus Rome had to thank the gods and the errors of
her opponents for her victory, far more than her own
prowess or skill.

CHAPTER VII.

Rome and Carthage between the Fiest and
Second Punic Wars (241-218 B.C.).

Twenty-three years elapsed between the First and
Second Punic Wars.

The Carthaginians were occupied the first few years
in putting down a rebellion of their neighboring sub-
jects.

Rome, taking advantage of the position in which
Carthage was placed, took possession of Sardinia, and,
when Carthage objected, threatened to renew war, and
obliged her to pay a fine of over one million dollars
(237 b.c).

Shortly after, Rome also annexed Corsica.

The acquisition of the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and
Corsica introduced a new system in the government of
Rome ; viz., the provincial system.

Heretofore, the two chief magistrates of Rome,
the consuls, had exercised their functions over all the
Roman possessions.

Now Sicily was made what the Romans called a
provincia, or province. (Sardinia and Corsica formed
another province.) Over each province was appointed
an officer, called proconsul, who was inferior in rank
to the consul, and equal to the praetor ; whose duties
combined those of commander-in-chief, chief magis-
trate, and supreme judge.

44 SUBJUGATION OF CISALPINE GAUL.

The finances of the provinces were intrusted to one
or more quaestors. The dependants of Rome in Italy
were obliged to furnish a certain number of troops to her
army and navy ; but her provincial dependants, instead
of this burden, paid a tenth of their produce, and five
per cent of the value of their imports and exports, into
tin1 Roman treasury.

About this time, the commerce of the Adriatic sea
Buffered muoh from the depredations of the IHyriaii
pirates. Ambassadors were sent from Rome to re-
monstrate with the king of the Ulyrians ; and since
not only no satisfactory answers were given, but also
one of the ambassadors was murdered on his return
home, by the order of the king of Illyricum, as it was
said, Rome had no alternative but to declare war.

A fleet was sent up the Adriatic in 229 b.c. ; and the
sea was cleared of pirates. The Ulyrians on the coast
were made dependants of Rome ; and the Greek cities
of Epidamnus, Corcyra, and Apollonia, attached them-
selves to her.

Thus most of the stations in the Adriatic became sub-
ject, like Sicily and Sardinia, to the authority of Rome.

In 225 B.C., Rome began the subjugation of the
country between the Rubicon and the Alps. This
tract of land, watered by the Po, and by far the most
fertile in Italy, was in the hands of barbarous Gallic
tribes.

In a short time (three years), the whole of this coun-
try, called Cisalpine Gaul (i.e. Gaul this side of the
Alps), was subdued.

Colonies were planted by Rome in various localities
in this newly acquired territory, in order to maintain a
stronger possession.

HANNIBAL. 45

The most important of these were Placentia, Cre-
mona, Mutina.

The Flaminian "Way, already completed as far as
Spoletium, was continued to Arinrinum, thus giving a
direct road from Rome to the valley of the Po.

While Rome was thus rapidly gaining power, Car-
thage was not idle. As soon as the revolt mentioned
above (page 43) had been subdued (237 B.C.), through
the efforts of Ilamilcar Barca, a project was formed of
obtaining Spain in compensation for the loss of Sicily,
Sardinia, and Corsica. Between 236 and 228 B.C.,
Hamilcar established a firm foothold in the whole of
Southern and South-eastern Spain.

At the death of Hamilcar, his son-in-law, Hasdrubal,
carried on the conquest. Many towns also were built ;
trade prospered ; agriculture flourished. Rich silver
mines about Carthago Nova were discovered, and en-
riched the treasury at home.

Hamilcar was assassinated in 220 B.C. Hannibal, his
eldest son, was now looked to by all. He was still a
young man, in his twenty-ninth year ; but his life had
been one of varied experience. While yet a boy, he
had followed his father to the camp, and soon distin-
guished himself. His light and firmly built frame made
him an excellent runner and fencer, and a fearless rider.
The privation of sleep did not affect him ; and he knew,
like a soldier, how to enjoy or to want his food.

He entered the army at an early age, and learned his
first lessons in fighting under his father's eye, whom he
saw fall by his side.

At the accession of Hasdrubal (his sister's husband),
he commanded the cavalry, and distinguished himself
by brilliant personal bravery, as well as by his talents
as a leader.

46 FALL OF SAGUNTUM.

Such was the person now called upon to lead the
Carthaginians, and one worthy of the trust. He was a
great man wherever he went, and riveted the eyes of all.

Hannibal resolved to commence war as soon as
elected to the chief command. He laid siege (219 B.C.)
to Saguntum, a town of Spain allied to Rome ; and
thus virtually declared war with Rome herself.

In eight months, Saguntum surrendered ; and the
Roman ambassadors appeared at Carthage, demanding
satisfaction.

When they declared that they were ready for peace
or war, the Carthaginians accepted the latter (in the
spring of 218 B.C.)

Thus the Second Punic War was declared.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Second Punic War. — Hannibal's March
from Spain to Italy.

Hannibal set out in the spring of 218 b.c. from
New Carthage with his army. It consisted of 90,000
infantry, and 12,000 cavalry, and 37 elephants.

With this force, he intended to invade Italy. The
Romans had at their disposal more than 500,000 troops,
and a fleet of 220 quinqueremes.

With this large force, they were still dilatory, and
neglected their own interests.

When Hannibal had practically declared war by at-
tacking Saguntum the year before, they should have
sent an army immediately into Spain, and saved the
town.

But after Saguntum finally surrendered, and the war
had been formally declared, the Romans could have
massed an army on the banks of the Ebro, and there
met Hannibal. They neglected to do even this.

Finally, however, an army and fleet were made ready,
not to meet Hannibal, but for an expedition into Africa ;
while only a small force was sent, under the consul,
Pubiius Cornelius Scipio, to the Ebro. But he pro-
ceeded leisurely ; and, when an insurrection broke out
on the Po, he employed the army ready for embarka-
tion in suppressing the revolt, and levied new legions
for the Spanish expedition.

48 HANNIBAL'S MARCH.

Thus Hannibal reached the Pyrenees without meet-
ing any Roman army. He was violently opposed,
however, by the Spanish allies of the Romans, and was
occupied about two months in conquering them.

At the Pyrenees, Hannibal sent home a part of his
troops, retaining 50,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry, all
veteran forces. With these, he crossed the mountains
without difficulty ; then he marched along the coast by
Narbo (Narbonne) and Nemausus (Nimes), through
the Celtic territory, with but little opposition. He ar-
rived at the Rhone, opposite Avenio (Avignon), the
last of July. There he first met the Romans.

Meanwhile, the consul, Scipio, had voyaged leisurely
towards Spain, touching at Massilia (Marseilles) to-
wards the end of June. Learning there that he was
too late to intercept Hannibal in Spain (for he had al-
ready crossed into Gaul), he resolved to meet the Car-
thaginians on the Rhone.

Massilia was friendly to the Romans ; and through
her influence the Celtic tribes of that region were in-
duced to assist Scipio in his attempt to check Hannibal.
When the latter arrived at the Rhone, only a body of
Celtic troops were ready to oppose his crossing ; while
the main army of Scipio, consisting of 22,000 infantry
and 2,000 cavalry, were still in Massilia, four days'
march distant.

It was Hannibal's policy to cross the Rhone before
Scipio arrived with his troops. He bought up all the
boats that could be found in the region, and con-
structed numerous rafts, so as to enable him to trans-
port his forces in a body.

He also sent a detachment up the river, with orders
to cross at the first available place, and, returning on

HANNIBAL'S MARCH. 49

the other bank of the river, surprise the Celtic forces in
the rear.

Hannibal's plan worked admirably. At a given sig-
nal, the attack was made upon the rear of the Celtic
camp, and the crossing of the troops begun. The
Celts were taken by surprise, and fled, offering but
little resistance.

Hannibal now was sure of an unobstructed march to
the Alps.

Scipio, while Hannibal was acting, was holding coun-
cils in Massilia as to the best method of obstructing the
enemy's crossing. Although the Carthaginian was de-
layed five days before he could perfect his plans for
crossing, yet Scipio neglected to send aid to the Celts ;
and, when finally he did move, Hannibal's rear was
three days' march from Avenio.

Scipio returned to Massilia in disgust. His course
now should have been to embark his troops for North-
ern Italy, and make preparations to meet Hannibal
as soon as he crossed the Alps. But he seemed to
go from one blunder to another. The main body of
his forces was sent to Spain, under his brother, Gneeus
Scipio; and he himself, with a few men, sailed for
PisaB.

Meanwhile, Hannibal hurried up the valley of the
Rhone, across the Isara (Isere), through the fertile
country of the Allobroges, arriving in sixteen days at
the crossing of the first Alpine chain (over Mont du
Chat). Crossing this pass with some difficulty, owing
to the nature of the country and the resistance of the
Celts, he hastened on through the country of the Cen-
trones, along the north bank of the Isara. As he was
leaving this river, and approaching the foot of the pass
8 D

50 HANNIBAL'S MARCH.

of the Little St. Bernard, he was again attacked by the
Celts, and obliged to make the ascent amidst continual
and bloody encounters. Finally, after toiling a day and
night, the army reached the summit of the pass. Here,
on a table-land (the source of the river Dora), Hannibal
allowed his troops a brief rest.

The hardships of the descent were even greater than
those of the ascent.

The fertile valley of the Po must have been a wel-
come sight to the half-famished and exhausted soldiers,
when, in the middle of September, they encamped, and
were suffered to recruit their worn-out energies.

This was the time for Scipio to have had his army
ready to attack the Carthaginians.

Had the Romans met them before they had recovered
from their hard march, Hannibal's chances for victory
would have been slight.

This march of Hannibal from the Rhone, so famous,
of over 500 miles, through hostile countries, over high
mountains, lasted for thirty-three days, and cost him
20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry.

CHAPTER IX.

The Second Punic War. — From the Passage op
the Alps to the Battle of Cannje.

When Hannibal arrived in Italy, the Romans were
unprepared to meet him. One of their armies was in
Spain under Gnaeus Scipio ; the other in Sicily (under
the consul, Sempronius), on its way to Africa.

A recent insurrection of the Gauls, in the valley of the
Po, though put down (see page 47), had compelled the
Romans to leave some troops in that vicinity to over-
awe their rebellious subjects. These were the only
forces immediately available against Hannibal.

The consul, Publius Scipio, who had arrived from
Massilia, took command of these forces. They were
inferior in numbers and discipline to the Carthaginian
troops ; and in the first encounter, a cavalry engage-
ment, the Romans were discomfited. This skirmish
(October, 218 b.c.) — for it was hardly worthy of the
name of battle — was fought near the river Ticinus, a
tributary of the Po. The consul himself was wounded,
and his life saved by his son, a lad of seventeen, after-
wards the famous Scipio Africanus. The loss of the
Romans was considerable.

The Romans now retreated rapidly, crossing the Po at
Placentia, and destroying the bridge behind them. Here
(at the confluence of the Trebia and Po) Sempronius,
the other consul, was face to face with the army of Han-
nibal, drawn up on a field chosen by himself. The bat-

52 BATTLE OF TREBIA.

tie (December, 218 b.c.) was lost, unless the main body-
crossed the stream : hungry, weary, and wet, the Romans
came on, and hastened to form in order of battle ; the
cavalry, as usual, on the wings, the infantry in the centre.
In the engagement that followed, the Roman cavalry
was quickly repulsed by the Carthaginian ; but the in-
fantry, as usual, showed its superiority over that of the
enemy, and was steadily advancing, until the cavalry of
Hannibal, returning from the pursuit of the Roman cav-
alry, attacked them in the rear. The Roman centre was
then broken up, and scattered. Only one division, of
10,000 men, fought its way through the enemy's ranks,
and reached Placentia. The rest were mostly killed.

The loss of the Carthaginians was quite severe.

The result of the victory of Trebia was the insurrec-
tion of all the Celtic tribes in the valley of the Po, who
increased Hannibal's army by more than 60,000 infan-
try and 4,000 horsemen. The remains of the Roman
army wintered in the fortresses of Placentia and Cre-
mona. Sempronius managed to escape to Rome.

Hannibal remained where he was for the winter.

No great exertions were made at Rome during this
winter for the coming campaign. The consuls, Gaius
Flaminius and Gnaeus Servilius, were stationed to
guard the two highways leading north from Rome, one
of which terminated at Arretium, the other at Arimi-
num. The former was occupied by Flaminius, the latter
by Servilius. There they were joined by the troops
that had wintered in Placentia and Cremona.

The Romans thought that Hannibal would, of course,
march into Central Italy by one of these two highways.
The only other route was through Etruria, which in
the spring, in the neighborhood of the river Arno, is

BATTLE OF TRAS1MENUS. 53

inundated, and almost impassable. Therefore, the Ro-
mans felt safe in this direction. Hannibal, however,
determined to take this route, and outflank the enemy.

The march through the marshes of Etruria was a
hard one. Many men perished ; and Hannibal him-
self lost the use of one eye. He finally arrived at
Faesulae.

A report of Hannibal's march reached Flaminius
at Arretium, who broke up his camp without delay,
and endeavored to intercept him. Hannibal, however,
had gained a few days' march upon him, and was now
near Lake Trasimenus. Here was a narrow defile be-
tween two steep mountain walls, closed at its outlet by
a high hill, and at its entrance by the lake. Hannibal,
with the flower of his infantry, barred the outlet. The
light-armed troops and cavalry were drawn up in con-
cealment on either side. The Roman column advanced
without hesitation to the unoccupied pass, the thick
morning mist concealing from them the position of the
enemy. As the head of the Roman line approached
the hill at the outlet of the pass, Hannibal gave the
signal for battle. The cavalry, advancing behind the
heights, closed up the entrance of the pass; and, at
the same time, the mist rolled away, and revealed the
Phoenician arms on the right and left. It was not a
battle, but a mere rout. The main body of the Ro-
mans was cut to pieces, with scarcely any resistance ;
and the consul himself was killed. Fifteen thousand of
the Romans fell, and as many more were captured ;
while the Carthaginians lost but 1,500, most of whom
were the Gallic allies of Hannibal. The battle was
fought in the early part of the month of May, 217 B.C.

Results. — All Etruria was lost ; and Hannibal could

54 HANNIBAL IN P1CENUM.

march without hindrance to Rome. The Romans now
prepared for the worst. The bridges over the Tiber
were broken down. Quintus Fabius Maximus was
appointed dictator. Hannibal, however, did not march
on to Rome, as expected, but directed his course
through Umbria, devastating the country as he went.
He crossed the Apennines, and halted on the shores of
the Adriatic, in Picenum. Here he rested some time,
to recruit his army after the hardships of the spring
campaign. Then he marched slowly along the coast
into Southern Italy.

As soon as the Romans found out that Hannibal was
not going to attack the city immediately, they raised
an army of considerable dimensions, putting it under
the command of the same Quintus Fabius Maximus,
the dictator. Fabius was a man advanced in years, of
determination and firmness. Seeing that Hannibal
had come off so easily victorious aforetime, he de-
termined on a new plan of action; viz., to avoid a
pitched battle, and follow the Carthaginian army, har-
assing and keeping it from supplies as far as possi-
ble. Hannibal, learning from spies how matters stood,
adjusted the plan of his campaign accordingly. Pass-
ing the Roman army, he marched over the Apennines
again, into the heart of Italy, towards Beneventum, and
thence to Capua, which was the most important of all
the Italian cities dependent on Rome. He had formed
connections, which led him to hope that it would revolt
from Rome on his arrival. During this march of Han-
nibal, the dictator had followed along the heights, con-
demning his soldiers to the melancholy task of looking
on with arms in their hands ; while the Numidian cav-
alry plundered their faithful allies.

HANNIBAL'S MAN(EUVRES. 55

At length, Fabius obtained the opportunity so long
looked for by the Roman army of attacking Hannibal.
Hannibal, finding that Capua did not open its gates
to him, and not being prepared to conduct a siege,
commenced his retreat towards the Adriatic. Fabius
intercepted his route near Casilinum, a town of Cam-
pania, on the left bank of the Volturnus. The heights
that secured the right bank of the river were occupied
by his main army ; and the road itself, which led across
the river, was guarded by a division of 4,000 men.

Hannibal, however, during the night, ordered his
light-armed troops to climb the heights which rose up
on the side of the road, and to drive before them a
number of oxen with fagots tied to their horns, so that
it seemed as if the Carthaginian army was marching
off by torchlight. The Roman line, which filled up the
road, thinking that they were evaded, and that a fur-
ther guarding of the road was needless, marched by a
side route to the same heights along the road. This
left Hannibal's retreat easy. With the bulk of his army,
he marched through without encountering the enemy.
The next morning, without difficulty, but with severe
loss to the Romans, he disengaged and recalled his
light-armed troops, which had been sent up to the
heights with the oxen.

Hannibal then continued his march, without opposi-
tion, in a north-easterly direction, and by a widely
circuitous route. He finally arrived, with much booty
and a full chest, at Luceria, just as the harvest was
about to begin. He encamped and entrenched him-
self at Geronium, twenty-five miles north of Luceria,
in a plain furnished with grain and grass amply suffi-
cient to support his immense cavalry.

56 THE CUNCTATOR.

»

Meanwhile, at Rome, the policy of Fabius was being
criticised very severely, — so much so that he was
surnamed Cunctator, " the delayer." His enemies ac-
cused him of cowardice for not attacking Hannibal
boldly. It was hard, indeed, for them to see their
beautiful fields devastated, without even a show of re-
sistance. In the assembly of the people, the most vio-
lent invectives were daily cast at the obstinate old man ;
and a resolution was carried to the effect that his com-
mand should be shared by one of his lieutenants, Mar-
cus. The army was thus divided into two separate
corps ; Marcus at the head of one, intending to attack
Hannibal at the first opportunity ; Fabius, at the head
of the other, adhering more than ever to his former
policy of avoiding a direct battle. Marcus soon found
an opportunity, in the open plain of Apulia, of attack-
ing Hannibal ; and, in his impetuosity and want of gen-
eralship, his army would have been entirely annihilated,
had not the good old Fabius come to his assistance,
and helped him withdraw his troops. Then Hannibal
spent the winter of 217 and 216 b.c. unmolested.

The Romans had a stormy time at home. They
were all determined to resist Hannibal ; but how ? was
the question. They saw it would not do to follow the
policy of Fabius; for, if the fields of Italy were devas-
tated for successive seasons, they would be deprived of
all means of support. But, on the other hand, whom
could they appoint suitable to meet Hannibal in open
battle ? He was an enemy truly to be feared ; and they
dreaded the shock of arms with him. First, however,
they must have an army. After great exertion, they got
together 80,000 infantry, one-half allies, and 6,000 cav-
alry, two-thirds allies, and concluded to put in command

BATTLE OF CANNjE. 57

of this force Lucius iEmilius Paulus and Caius Terentius
Varro, — names that will go down with all Roman his-
tory, as connected with the greatest defeat the Roman
arms ever met. Hannibal's army was composed of
10,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry. He wished for
nothing so much as a battle ; for he knew that he had
never been conquered, and never could be by such men
as Paulus and Varro. He was especially desirous of
an engagement on this plain, wrhere he could use to
advantage his cavalry.

The Romans arrived at Cannae in June, 216 B.C., and
encamped, partly on the right, and partly on the left,
bank of the Aufidus. The bulk of the Roman army
wras on the right bank. Early one morning in June,
the Romans crossed all their forces to the left bank.
The cavalry was stationed on the wings, the right com-
manded by Paulus, and the left by Varro ; in the cen-
tre, the infantry, under command of the proconsul,
Gnaaus Servilius.

Hannibal had drawn up his forces in the form of a
crescent, on the left wing his cavalry under Hasdrubal,
on the right the Numidian horsemen. The battle
which followed was a terrible one. The Romans knew
that they were fighting for their homes, their wives,
their children, every thing they held dear ; and, if they
were conquered here, their city might become a mere
dependant on her rival, Carthage.

Hannibal managed this battle with his usual skill ;

and the Romans, although double the number of the

Carthaginians, were entirely annihilated. Seventy

thousand dead were left upon the field. Paulus and

Servilius, and many officers, and 180 men of Senatorial

rank, were killed. ,

3* U—

CHAPTER X.

From Cannae to Zama.

As soon as the Romans recovered from their first
feelings of despair, caused by the defeat of Cannae, they
made the utmost exertions to raise an army. All the
Latin allies were summoned to render aid in the com-
mon peril. Boys and old men alike took up arms ;
and the slaves even were promised freedom if they
would join the ranks.

Hannibal, after his brilliant victories, had turned his
steps towards Campania, and proceeded to Capua,
which he induced to join him before the Romans could
send a garrison ; and so this, the second city of Italy,
fell into his power. He hoped the smaller cities in the
neighborhood would follow the example of Capua, and
open their gates to him ; but he was disappointed.
The winter of 215-214 b.c. came on, without his having
accomplished any thing further; and his army went
into winter quarters at Capua. The luxurious habits
of the citizens were fraught with danger to the soldiers.

Hannibal saw that, although he had gained so many
brilliant victories, he was no nearer the subjugation of
Italy than when he entered the basin of the Po. He
had expected that the Latin allies of Rome would be
dazzled by the brilliancy of his campaigns, and imme-
diately side with him, leaving Rome to fight for herself ;
but they had remained true to their allegiance, and,
up to this time, Capua was the only city of any im-
portance under the control of Hannibal. It was an

HANNIBAL'S POSITION. 59

easy thing for him to conquer the Romans on the field
of battle ; but his own army must be supported, which
was no easy matter, after having devastated all Italy
from north to south. The Roman granaries, on the
other hand, were kept well supplied from their posses-
sions in Sicily.

Hannibal must therefore bestir himself, and take
some other active means than those already used. Ac-
cordingly, he sends to Carthage with an appeal for aid.
He also endeavors to have an alliance formed with
the king of Macedonia, and earnestly urges upon the
commander of the Carthaginians in Spain, Hasdrubal
Barca, to cross the Pyrenees and Alps, and come down
to his assistance ; hoping, with this army from the north,
with sustenance and reinforcements from Carthage, and
with such troops as he might obtain from Macedonia,
to concentrate a force around Rome large enough to
compel her into submission.

The Romans realized the position of Hannibal, and
determined to counteract his plans, if possible. There-
fore, they kept what troops they could spare in Spain,
under the command of the two Scipios, Publius and
Gnseus, to keep back any forces coming from that quar-
ter to the assistance of Hannibal. They also managed
to keep an army in Northern Greece, to engage the at-
tention of Philip of Macedonia, with whom Hannibal
had formed an alliance.

In Spain, the two Scipios were very successful in
their endeavors to harass the Carthaginian forces, —
in fact, almost dislodge them from the country. But,
when they were on the eve of acquiring this result, the
Carthaginians made a desperate effort ; and, by bring-
ing into Spain three armies, managed to separate the

60 PUBL1US SC1PIO IN SPAIN.

Scipios and their armies, and, surprising them both,
not only defeated the armies, but killed both their
generals. Thus fell two of the bravest Romans that
history has seen.

When this news of the defeat in Spain was received
at Rome, it was seen that, unless active measures were
taken to check the Carthaginians, they would come
down from the Alps, and, uniting with the forces of
Hannibal, would place Rome herself in jeopardy. But
whom should they send to Spain ? No one seemed
competent to check these large armies. At last a
young man, twenty-seven years old, Publius Scipio
(whom we first saw at the battle of Ticinus), came for-
ward, and said he would undertake the difficult task,
and avenge the death of his relatives. It was in
210 b.c. that he set out on this momentous mission ;
and his appearance on the field of Spain was signalized
by a bold and fortunate movement. For early in the
spring of 209 b.c, with an army of 30,000 men, he at-
tacked New Carthage, and captured it on the same day.
Eighteen vessels of war, 63 transports, $600,000, and
10,000 captives fell into the hands of the Romans.
The same year (209 B.C.), Hasdrubal (brother of Han-
nibal) determined, at any cost, to cross the Pyrenees
and Alps with his army, and assist his brother. Scipio
endeavored to stop him at a place called Baecula. Has-
drubal, however, fought his way, step by step, until he
reached the Pyrenees. These he crossed. The winter
of 209-208 b.c. was spent by him in Gaul.

Two Carthaginian generals were now left in Spain,
— Hasdrubal, son of Gisco, and Mago, — who retired,
the former to Lusitania, the latter to the Baleares,
waiting for reinforcements from Carthage.

SPAIN CONQUERED. 61

The whole east coast of Spain thus fell into the
hands of the Romans.

In the year 206 B.C., an army was collected, composed
of 32 elephants, 4,000 cavalry, and 70,000 infantry.

Scipio met these forces at Baecula, and thoroughly
whipped them.

Hasdrubal and Mago escaped to Gades, which was
the only place of all Spain now held by the Carthagin-
ians. Soon after, this place was also abandoned ; and
the whole of Spain was converted into a Roman prov-
ince. Scipio now returned to Rome.

In the mean time, in Italy Hannibal had made no
permanent progress. In 210 B.C., he lost Capua ; and
since then had spent his time in Southern Italy, ravag-
ing the country. He took Tarentum, which, however,
did not injure the Romans much. In the midst of
the difficulties, from which he saw no way of extricat-
ing himself without aid, news came that Hasdrubal
had crossed the Alps, in the autumn of 208 B.C., and
was on his way to meet Hannibal. Hannibal immedi-
ately left Southern Italy, and marched up the coast,
with the intention of joining his brother. The Romans
were very much alarmed, and made strenuous efforts
to raise an army large enough to meet the combined
forces of Hannibal and Hasdrubal. An army of 40,000
men, under command of G. Nero, hastened north, to
intercept Hannibal before he could meet his brother.

Hannibal had followed the coast of the Adriatic
north, up through Lucania, into Apulia. The army of
Nero, although it managed to intercept that of Han-
nibal, was unable to stop it ; for the Carthaginian, as
usual, outgeneralled his adversary. Hannibal pro-
ceeded a short distance further, and halted, owing to

62 THE METAURUS.

some despatches which he had received from Hasdru-
bal, who wished to join hitn near this place in Sam-
nium. The Romans, who followed Hannibal closely,
also halted here. Thus the two armies remained inac-
tive some time. Hasdrubal now sent another despatch
to Hannibal, giving further particulars of his route.
These despatches were intercepted by the scouts of the
enemy, and fell into the hands of Nero. By means of
them, Nero found out the exact movements Hasdrubal
proposed to make. He immediately sent forward a
portion of his army for the purpose of intercepting
Hasdrubal, who, abandoned by his guides, lost in a
strange country, and fighting under disadvantages
arising both from his position and ignorance of country,
was himself slain, and his army defeated. The first
intimation Hannibal (who had been waiting anxiously
to hear from Hasdrubal) received of this defeat was
the sight of his brother's head, which was thrown into
the camp by Nero. This defeat occurred in the spring
of 207 B.C., at the Metaurus, a small river south of the
Rubicon, and flowing into the Adriatic. Hannibal
now abandoned Apulia and Lucania, and retired to
Bruttii, where he remained four years.

The Romans determined now to act on the offensive
more than before, and to send an army into Africa,
hoping thereby that Hannibal would be induced to
abandon Italy and protect his own city. Publius Scipio,
who had been so successful in Spain, was put in com-
mand of 30,000 men, 40 vessels of war, and 400 trans-
ports, and sailed for Africa in the early part of 204 b.c.
Here he was very successful ; and, although the Afri-
cans, with the aid of their neighbors, the Numidians,
made strenuous efforts to drive him from their country,

ZAMA. 63

he defeated them with great loss ; and the Cnrthagin-
ians were forced to recall Hannibal from Italy. We
can imagine the feelings of the Carthaginian hero, as
he left Italy, and the prize which he had coveted so
much, and which had been almost within his grasp,
not to return in triumph to his native city, but to en-
deavor to preserve it from that same enemy which he
had hoped to have made subject to himself.

He saw, upon his arrival home, that desperate ef-
forts must be made, or Carthage herself would fall into
the hands of the Romans. All those capable of bear-
in <r arms came forward, and in a short time he had
collected a large force. The two armies meet, in the
spring of 202 B.C., on the field of Zama, — a name
which has been immortalized in history ; for it was
there that Hannibal met his first and only defeat, and
the illustrious P. Scipio won his cognomen of " Afri-
canus." The battle was a hard one ; and, after all the
newly enrolled troops of Hannibal had been killed or
put to flight, his veterans, who had remained by him
in Italy, although surrounded on all sides by forces far
outnumbering their own, fought on, and were killed
one by one around their old chief. The army was
fairly annihilated. Hannibal, with only a handful,
managed to escape to Hadrumetum. The best paral-
lel of this battle in history is that of Waterloo, where
the body-guard of Napoleon fought so desperately
around their beloved leader.

With Zama, the Second Punic War closed ; and
Rome became mistress of the Mediterranean, and of
Spain, which she divided into two provinces. Car-
thage, which had before been her rival, was now
merely a defenceless town.

N

CHAPTER XL
First and Second Macedonian Wars.

The overthrow of Carthage, the only power in the
West capable of competing with Rome in the career of
conquest, left the future mistress of the world in a
position to add new nations to her list of subjects.

On the death of Alexander, his vast empire was torn
in pieces by his generals ; and, after a long and bitter
struggle, marked by the blackest crimes, finally resolved
itself into the following kingdoms : Persia, which con-
tinued independent until its overthrow by the Mahom-
etans, long after Rome fell a prey to the barbarians;
Egypt, Syria, and Macedon, which ultimately went to
swell the limits of Roman authority.

Egypt owed her decay to the dissensions and weak-
ness of the reigning family rather than to outside in-
fluences.

Syria fell, because, composed of various nations which
had always enjoyed a sort of semi-independence under
the rule of Persia, her encroachments on Egypt and
Macedon lessened rather than increased her strength ;
and, under incompetent rulers, she saw portion after
portion of her dominions fall from her, and assume
the dignity of new kingdoms. Thus arose Fergamus,
Pontus, Cappadocia, Phrygia, and other familiar king-
doms.

Macedon never had any stability. Her crown was

FIRST MACEDONIAN WAR. 65

a bone of contention from the first ; her people were
irritated by the memories of former greatness, jealous
of each other and of their new mistress, and constantly-
striving and plotting for a prominence they had neither
the ability to acquire nor the wisdom to maintain.

Thus we see that the East was divided and feeble
from intestine wars ; while Rome, in the full tide of
victory, was only shaken firmly together by her strug-
gles with Carthage. The memories of one were those
of a past influence, a present weakness and decay.
Against this, Rome brought the traditions of disasters
repaired and overcome, a present full of healthy vigor
and hope.

Rome began her interference with the affairs of the
East in Macedon. Immediately after the battle of
Cannae, Philip V., king of Macedon, sent an embassy
to Hannibal, offering him assistance ; but, as the mes-
sengers fell into the hands of the Romans, the alliance
was not concluded till some years later. Rome sent a
small force into Greece, which was soon largely in-
creased by the dissatisfied subjects of Philip.

During this, the First Macedonian War, as it is
called, the only object of Rome -was to prevent Philip
from lending aid to the Carthaginians ; and in this
they were successful.

Philip was not by any means separated from his
alliance with Hannibal, as is shown by the fact that he
had four thousand men at the battle of Zama. Some
of these were made prisoners by the Romans, whom
Philip demanded should be returned to him. He re-
ceived for an answer that, if he wished war, he should
have it.

There were several other circumstances which led to

66 SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR.

the Second Macedonian War (200-197 B.C.). Philip
had made a treaty with Antiochus, king of Syria, for
the partition of Egypt, as soon as the death of Philopater
should place his young son, Epiphanes, on the throne.
The ministers of Egypt at once sought the protection
of Rome ; and the envoys who were to assume the of-
fice of protectorship remonstrated with Philip on their
journey. In Asia Minor, Philip had conducted him-
self with such barbarity that the people rose against
him ; and Greece was driven from a similar cause to
seek alliances which could protect her against him.
Still Rome was unwilling to undertake a new war ;
and the people were induced to vote for it on the
representation that the only means of preventing an
invasion of Italy was to carry the war into Greece
(200 b.c). The hero of the Second Macedonian War
was T. Quinctius Flaminius, the third leader whom
Rome sent to subdue Philip. After a protracted
struggle, the Macedonians were utterly overthrown at
Cynoscephalae (197 b.c), and were then quite ready to
listen to reason. The terms of the peace were the same
as had been offered early in the war : Philip was to
withdraw his garrisons from all the Grecian cities,
leave them independent for the future, make reparation
for past injuries, and pay a sum of money. The Greeks
were dismayed at the mildness shown ; but the Romans
tempered their victories with wisdom, and were of no
mind to give up their hold on Greece by removing
Philip, the cause of their interference. The Senate
confirmed the terms of peace ; and, after putting the
affairs of the country in order, Flaminius, contrary to
all expectation, restored liberty to Greece, removing
all the Roman garrisons, and urging the people to

SECOND MACEDONIAN WAR. 67

" show themselves worthy of the gift of the Roman
people," and returned home to receive a glorious tri-
umph. The results of the war were the overthrow of
every controlling influence in Greece, and the establish-
ing of a de facto Roman protectorate. The last trace
of domestic unity was destroyed by the practical disso-
lution of the famous Achaean League, whose members
were so divided on the question of which side they
should espouse in the conflict that its authority was
destroyed. In addition to this, the wedge had been
entered, and the interference of Rome in eastern
affairs was assured ; also two of the divisions of the
empire of Alexander, Greece and Egypt, were under
the immediate protection of Rome, so that the debris
of Syria were alone independent.

CHAPTER XII.

The Syrian War

Antiochus, king of Syria, showed no disposition to
listen to the remonstrance of Flaminius, but crossed
the Hellespont, and thus brought himself in collision
with Rome. This is one of the junctures in history at
which we are prone to pause, and consider what might
have been. Hannibal, fleeing from home, escaped to
Ephesus, the seat of the Syrian court, and offered the
monarch every inducement to go to war with Rome.
His counsels were listened to only so far as the raising
of an army and the invading of Greece. Much time
was wasted in idleness ; and, after an unsuccessful at-
tempt to hold the pass of Thermopylae, which terminated
in utter defeat, he fled back into Asia. Lucius Scipio
was placed in command of the Roman forces destined
to the invasion of Asia, and at once hastened to the
scene of action. Antiochus raised an immense army,
with which he hoped to crush the invaders ; but he
met with disaster from the first. Hannibal's Phoeni-
cian fleet was overthrown and dispersed by the Rho-
dians ; and the war was terminated by a crushing
defeat at Magnesia (190 b.c), where 53,000 of the
Syrian army were left dead on the field, the Roman
loss amounting to but 400 men. Scipio returned to
Rome to enjoy his triumph, and added Asiaticus to his
name, as his brother had taken that of African us, in
commemoration of his victory.

WAR IN GAL ATI A. 69

The successor of Scipio in the East, Cn. Manliua
Vulso, found nothing to do which could add to his
renown. So he marched against the Gauls, who had set-
tled in Galatia about a century before, and had become
very wealthy from continual plunderings. The excuse
for the attack was that they had served in the army of
Antiochus ; the reason was their wealth, and the ambi-
tion of the consul for glory. They were easily over-
thrown, their wealth was seized, and they themselves
speedily became assimilated to their neighbors. The
possessions of Antiochus in Asia Minor were distributed
among the allies of Rome.

The most marked result of the Syrian war was the
introduction into Rome of immense wealth, which laid
the foundation of the Oriental extravagance and luxury
which finally undermined the integrity of the state.
From Greece were brought learning and refinement ;
from Asia, immorality and effeminacy. The rigor and
tone of Roman society are nowhere more forcibly shown
than in the length of time it took for its subjugation
by these ruinous exotics.

Another innovation was at this time introduced into
the conduct of war by the Roman generals ; for the
conquest of the Galatians was the first instance in
which the authority of the Senate had been dispensed
with in making war ; and the triumph which rewarded
its success stamped it as legal, and made it a precedent
which was afterwards but too frequently taken advan-
tage of.

CHAPTER XIII.
Third Macedonian War (171-168 B.C.).

Philip was now subjugated. Still his ambition
would not let him rest. He placed both his finances
and his army on the best footing possible, and soon
began to enlarge his boundaries. Complaints were
made at Rome; and his son, Demetrius, was sent
thither as an hostage, and to offer explanations. The
mind of the king was poisoned against this son by-
Perseus (Perses), his half-brother ; and Demetrius was
put to death by the command of Philip, on a charge of
treason (179 B.C.). The discovery of the fraud weighed
on the king's mind, so that he died soon after ; and Per-
seus reaped the reward of his villany.

At first, the new monarch made good use of his op-
portunities, and soon offended the Senate by his inter-
ference in the affairs of Greece. War was declared
(171 b.c.) ; but the forces sent by Rome were no match
for the excellent army of the Macedonians ; and nothing
was gained until L. iEmilius Paulus was made consul,
and took charge of the war (168 b.c). A single battle,
at Pydna (June 22), annihilated the army of Perseus ;
and the king fled to Samothrace with his treasures and
his family. He was taken, brought to Rome, and
served to adorn the triumph of his conqueror. The
Macedonian monarchy ceased to exist. Perseus died
soon after ; and his son became a clerk in Rome. The

THE PSEUDO-PHILIP. 71

Romanizing of Greece was complete. By separating
the country into four independent republics, whose
members could not intermarry or trade with each other,
utter demoralization soon ensued, and proved a certain
preventive to all alliances which could shake the au-
thority of the conqueror. Once, indeed, under the
leadership of Pseudo-Philip, who pretended (148 b.c.)
to be the son of Philip V., the Macedonians showed
signs of disaffection ; but Macedon fell without a strug-
gle, and was soon formed into a Roman province. In
146 b.c, Greece fell with the capture of Corinth by
Mummius, and was also formed into a province, under
the name of Achaia.

CHAPTER XIV.

Cabthage between the Second and Thied Punic
Wars. — Her Fall.

Fifty years intervened between the Second and
Third Punic Wars.

This was a period of great commercial prosperity for
Carthage ; but her government was weak, being con-
tinually divided into factions, each working for its own
interests.

Masinissa, king of the Numidians (a people neigh-
boring to the Carthaginians), an ally of Rome, was
bitterly complained of by Carthage to Rome. He
snatched from her one district after another. Carthage,
bound by her treaty with Rome not to undertake any
war without her sanction, was obliged first to complain
to Rome.

The Romans, for appearance' sake, sent over some
persons to act as mediators between Carthage and
Masinissa. But these commissioners did not bring
any thing to a decision. They allowed things to go
on as they might, without pronouncing a sentence
either one way or the other. At last, a war broke out
between the Carthaginians and Masinissa. The latter
was victorious. The Carthaginian army surrendered
their arms ; the best part of their territory was given
up, and Carthage had to pay $5,000,000.

The Romans had, as usual, sent commissioners, who,
with a truly diabolic spirit, deferred giving any deci-

DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 73

sion, but instigated Masinissa. They sent their reports
to Rome, informing the Senate of the great resources
which Carthage still possessed. It was at this time
that Cato kept reiterating in the Senate his famous
sentence, " Delenda est Carthago," — " Carthage must
be destroyed."

After the victory of Masinissa, things came to a
crisis. The Romans, imagining that it was an easy
affair, determined upon the destruction of Carthage.

The Carthaginians were called upon to give an ac-
count for their conduct towards the Numidian king.
Desponding and broken-hearted, they sent ambassadors
to Rome. The answer there given them was obscure.
They were requested to make reparation to Rome ;
but, at the same time, they were assured that nothing
should be undertaken against Carthage herself. But,
in 149 B.C., the consuls, Manius Manilius and Lucius
Marcius Censorinus, led an army, consisting, it is said,
of 80,000 foot and 4,000 horse to Sicily, where the
troops were organized, and other Carthaginian ambas-
sadors waited for.

When they appeared, the consuls declared that the
Senate did not wish to encroach upon the freedom of
the Carthaginian people ; but, as they were divided
into so many parties, it desired to have some security ;
and for this purpose it demanded that, within thirty
days, 300 children of the noblest Carthaginian families
should be delivered up into their hands as hostages.

These children were sent over to Sicily by their
parents, in heart-rending despair.

After the Romans had, in this manner, secured the
submission of Carthage, their army crossed over to
Africa. The Roman consuls now informed the Car-
4

74 CRUEL CONDUCT OF ROME.

thaginians that tjiey were ready to treat with them on
any thing that had not been previously settled.

When the Carthaginian ambassadors appeared before
the consuls, they were told that Carthage must deliver
up all her arms and artillery ; for they said, as Rome
was able to protect her, there was no reason for Car-
thage to possess arms. Hard as this command was,
it was obeyed; and the Carthaginians now believed
that they had satisfied the Romans in every respect.
But, when they had their last audience, they were told
that the government of Carthage had indeed shown its
good will, but that Rome had no control over the city
so long as it was fortified. The preservation of peace,
therefore, required that the people should quit the city,
give up their navy, and build a new town, without walls,
at a distance of ten miles from the sea-coast.

The indignation and fury which this demand excited
in Carthage were so great, that all the gates were in-
stantly closed ; and all the Romans and Italians who
happened to be within the city were massacred.

The consuls imagined that Carthage might be taken
by storm in an instant. The city, situated on a penin-
sula, was protected on one side by a treble wall ; but
on the side towards the Bay of Tunis it had only one
low wall. The Romans, who expected to find a de-
fenceless population, attempted to storm both walls.
But despair had suggested to the Carthaginians means
of defence on both sides ; and they repelled the assault.
Everybody was engaged, day and night, in the manu-
facture of arms.

The result of the war was not decided until four years
after its commencement. The history of it is very
distressing. There can be nothing more heart-rending

FALL OF CARTHAGE. 75

than this last struggle of despair, which was necessary,
and yet could not end otherwise than in the destruc-
tion of Carthage.

* Two years after the war began, Publius Cornelius
Scipio was made consul. He was the son of -aJmilius
Paulus, the hero of Pydna, and the adopted son of
Cornelius Scipio, the son of the conqueror of Hannibal.

This Scipio was truly a very eminent general and
a great man, but a strong conservative, persisting in
upholding the actual state of things, no matter in how
deplorable a condition they might be.

Scipio began to besiege Carthage with all his energy.
He stopped up the mouth of the harbor, and finally got
within the walls of the city. The houses were con-
quered one by one, by breaking through the walls from
room to room and from house to house. The struggle
was, at the same time, carried on upon the flat roofs of
the houses. A complete famine raged in the city ; and
the living fed upon the bodies of the dead.

During this unspeakable misery, the Romans gradu-
ally advanced to the highest part of the city, which
they finally took. Thus Carthage fell (146 B.C.), and
her destruction was complete. A part of her territory
was given to Numidia, and the rest made a Roman
province, called Africa.

CHAPTER XV.
Rome and Spain.

Rome formed her possessions in Spain into two
provinces shortly after the Second Punic War (198 B.C.).
This was followed by a general rising of the Spaniards,
doubtless from fear that a conquest of the entire coun-
try was intended ; but they were speedily repressed by
the consul, M. Portius Cato (195 B.C.), who exhibited
genuine Roman energy in their subjection, and Ro-
man ferocity in their punishment. A desultory strug-
gle, however, soon arose, which was terminated (179
B.C.), after sixteen years, by the more moderate meas-
ures of Tib. Sempronius Gracchus. The Spaniards
bound themselves to pay certain yearly dues to the
Senate, and not to fortify any city without its con-
sent.

The rapacity of the governors led to much complaint ;
and, finally, the inhabitants of the town of Segeda, on
the Tagus, entered into an alliance with the Nuraan-
tines, who lived further up the river, and began to
rebuild their walls. Several commanders were sent
against them, and Lucullus compelled them to sue for
peace ; but the Senate refused to grant terms, and the
war continued.

At the same time, the Lusitanian shepherds made
frequent inroads on the further province, which the
praetor Galba endeavored to repress, but was defeated,

CAPTURE OF NUMANTIA. 77

and barely escaped with a few horse. The next year,
he forced them to make submission, but, receiving
them with pretended kindness, ordered them to meet
him in three bodies, at different places, and, when
they came, fell upon them, and massacred them.
Viriathus then took command of the Lusitanians who
had escaped ; and for several years his successes were
only interrupted daring the brief command of Metellus
Macedonicus ; for, when he was succeeded by Q. Pom-
peius, matters returned to their former state.

The consul Mancinus (137 B.C.) was obliged to
capitulate, and, to save himself and his army, made a
treaty, which the Senate refused to sanction ; and
Mancinus was delivered up to the enemy, as Postu-
mius had been surrendered to the Sabines; but the
Spaniards, like the Sabines, refused to accept him as a
substitute for the fulfilment of the treaty.

Viriathus was assassinated soon after, and his people
were then subdued ; and the pacification was ably con-
ducted by Dec. Junius Brutus (138 B.C.). The Numan-
tine War continued, until by the strictest blockade,
under Scipio, the inhabitants of the town of Numantia
were reduced to the verge of starvation ; and then,
only, they surrendered (133 b.c). The town was so
effectually destroyed that even its site cannot be dis-
covered. Scipio added to his name "Numantinus," in
honor of the conquest.

CHAPTER XVI.
The Gracchi.

While the Numantine War was still in progress,
the slaves in Sicily broke into rebellion ; and their
numbers increased so rapidly that it was five years
before they could be subdued.

For a long time, slave labor had been taking the
place of that of freemen. The supply was rendered
enormous by constant wars, and by regular slave-trade
carried on with the shores of the Black Sea and Greece.
The owners of the slaves became an idle aristocracy,
rendered so by their perfect immunity from labor.
They were jealous of each other and of the more
powerful classes of the state ; and, having full leisure
to shape their discontents into action, they^only needed
a leader to divide the Roman Empire against itself.

The steady growth of the power of the people en-
couraged still further encroachments on the preroga-
tives of the senatorial class ; so that every thing was
ripe, on the advent of Tiberius Gracchus, for the array-
ing of the people against the Senate, thus ushering in
the contest which only ended with the Republic, and
brought to the surface some of the proudest names of
Roman history.

On one side or the other, we find them — Marius and
Sulla, Pompey and Ceesar, Antony and Augustus —
arraying Rome against herself, till the glories of the

REFORMS OF THE GRACCHI. 79

republic were swallowed up in the misrule and dis-
honor of the empire.

Tiberius Gracchus, immediately on his election as
tribune, set about reforming the abuses which had
crept into the state ; but he did this in a manner so
peremptory and violent as to deprive his efforts of all
their effect. He proposed to limit the amount of pub-
lic lands any head of a family could own to five hun-
dred jugera (about 320 acres). This was a direct blow
at the wealthy classes, as they naturally had obtained
possession of the greater portion of the lands. Another
tribune was induced to veto the bill; and Gracchus
immediately procured the deposition of his adversary,
after which the law was passed.

Having injured his popularity by his indiscretion, he
sought to regain it by presenting laws certain of popular
approval. The term of military service was to be
shortened ; jurors were to be chosen from all owning a
certain amount of property, not from the senators only ;
and an appeal was to be established from the courts to
the assembly of the people. These reforms enabled him
to obtain a second election, which was claimed to be
illegal ; and, to prevent his profiting by it, he was mur-
dered, with some three hundred of his followers, in a
brawl.

Thus was shed the first blood of the Civil War (b.c.
133). His mantle fell to his brother Caius Gracchus,
who persisted in the course laid out by Tiberius. He
also endeavored to admit all the Italians to the privi-
leges of Roman citizenship, and to limit the price of
bread, as a means of increasing his popularity. Against
the Senate he established the first permanent court of
justice in Rome, — that for trying the cases of provin-

80 CAIUS MARIUS.

cial magistrates accused of corrupt dealings in their
government. He took all judicial power from the
Senate's hands, and gave it to a council ; deprived it of
its supervision of public roads, and the apportionment
of the provinces between the consuls.

The enlargement of the privileges of the Italians
ruined the popularity of Caius Gracchus ; and (121 B.C.),
like his brother, he fell in a* riot. By his death, the
senatorial party recovered somewhat of their authority ;
but the fierceness with which party strife raged made
the people eager to accept the rule of any one who
should have the ability to control the factions of the
state.

This man was found in Caius Marius, born at Arpi-
num, whose sole recommendations were that he was in-
flexible in his determination, and an excellent soldier.
He sprung from an old, though rustic family ; contemned
the polite education of the times ; was very supersti-
tious ; and always accompanied by a Syrian prophetess,
in whose counsels he had implicit faith. He flattered
the populace, and delighted to appear among them as
an equal. He possessed great wealth, acquired in war,
and was considered a man of incorruptible integrity.
His talents as a general were marked. He had few
friends ; for the prominent features of his character were
bitterness, hatefulness, and cruelty. But he was, at the
same time, the man to save Rome, the degradation
of which had been brought about by those who op-
posed him. At the siege of Numantia, in Spain, Scipio
had noticed the courage of Marius, and predicted a
brilliant career for him.

In 119 B.C., he obtained the office of tribune ; two
years later, that of praetor. Not long after, he married

JUGURTHA. 81

the great-aunt of Caesar, Julia. He then went to Nu-
midia, as lieutenant of Metellus, to assist in conducting
the war against Jugurtha.

The foreign wars during this period were impor-
tant. The Balearic Isles, Pergamus, and Dalmatia
were added to the Roman empire. But by far the
most important war was that against Jugurtha (118-
104 b.c).

After the destruction of Carthage, the most impor-
tant kingdom in Africa was Numidia, which contained
numerous and flourishing cities, the centres of great
commerce.

Upon the death of Masinissa, the kingdom had been
divided among his three sons, two of whom soon died,
leaving the government wholly in the hands of Micipsa,
the surviving son. He had two sons, between whom
he intended to divide the kingdom. With these two
sons, he had educated also a natural son of one of his
deceased brothers, named Jugurtha, who was adopted
by Micipsa, and shared with his two cousins the king-
dom at Micipsa' s death (118 b.c).

Jugurtha was very talented, but bold, cunning, and
adroit. He had no idea of the sanctity of an oath, no
honesty, and no humanity. He soon quarrelled with
his cousins, murdered one, and compelled the other to
flee. The exile went to Rome, and there pleaded his
case. Jugurtha hastened ajso to Rome, to convince
the Senate with what had now become the weightiest
of arguments, gold, of the propriety of his conduct.

The Senate was purchased, and decreed that Numidia
should be divided between Jugurtha and the fugitive.

Jugurtha now made war on his cousin, and, gaining
possession of his person, put him to death.
4* . p

82 JUGURTIIINE WAR.

Again Rome interfered, and again the Senate was
bought off; but the people refused to make any terms
with the murderer, and war was declared with Jugur-
tha.

The conduct of the war fell, after some reverses, to
Metellus (109 B.C.), who restored the discipline of the
army, and drove Jugurtha from his throne. In this
he was ably seconded by Marius, who was at this time
about fifty years old.

During this war, Marius returned to Rome, and ob-
tained the office of consul (107 b.c.) ; and also received
the command to bring the war against Jugurtha to a
close. Metellus retired to Rome in disgust. It required
two campaigns for Marius to conclude the war.

The capture of Jugurtha was directly due to Lucius
Cornelius Sulla (Sylla), who delivered him to Marius,
but claimed all the honor of the exploit.

In 104 b.c, Marius returned to Rome, and entered
the city in triumph. Jugurtha was thrown into a dun-
geon, and there starved to death.

CHAPTER XVIL

The Cimbri and Teutones. — The Social War.

The war against Jugurtha was thus concluded, and
it was none too soon ; for Rome required the talents of
Marius in a war compared with which that against
the Numidian king was. insignificant.

The Cimbri and Teutones, races from Northern
Europe, were threatening the frontiers of Italy. The
Roman armies had been annihilated by these barbarians
a short time previous to this (106 B.C.), on the banks of
the Rhone.

Marius, now the only man on whom the nation fixed
its hopes, was made consul for a second time (104 B.C.).

The barbarians, after their victory on the Rhone, had
fortunately turned to Spain, and spent a few years in
roaming over and laying waste that country.

Marius now devoted his energies to forming and
training a new army.

The elements of which the Roman armies had former-
ly consisted had degenerated of late years. The task of
Marius to make well-disciplined soldiers out of the ma-
terial he had on hand was a difficult one. He chose
the field on the banks of the Rhone, in the southern
part of Gaul, as the best for exercising his troops.
Here he accustomed them to the greatest possible ex-
ertions. Many perished under the hardships ; but those
who survived became hardened soldiers. At length, in

84 AQUJE SEXTIJE.

his fourth consulship (102 b.c.), he marchea against the
enemy.

When the barbarians returned from Spain (102 b.c),
they separated their forces, the Cimbri marching around
the northern foot of the Alps towards Noricum, with
the intention of invading Italy from that quarter, the
Teutones remaining in Gaul.

Marius finally came to an engagement with the Teu-
tones in the neighborhood of Aquae Sextiae (Aix), in the
summer of 102 b.c. The battle raged for two days,
and ended in the utter defeat of the barbarians. Those
who survived the battle put an end to themselves of
their own accord.

The Cimbri, in the mean while, had crossed the Alps,
and were ravaging the fertile fields of Lombard y, meet-
ing with but little opposition by Catulus, the other
consul.

The next year, Marius, now consul for the fifth time,
joined Catulus, and won a decisive victory near Ver-
cellae. The fate of the Cimbri was the same as that of
the Teutones. The victories of Aquae Sextiae and
Vercellae raised Marius to a dangerous eminence.

Never, since the establishment of the republic, had
a single citizen so far outshone all rivals.

Had Marius possessed real statesmanship, he might
have anticipated the work of Julius Caesar, and have
become the permanent head of the state. But, though
sufficiently ambitious, he lacked judgment and firm-
ness. He had no clear and definite views, either of the
exact position to which he aspired, or of the means
whereby he was to attain it. His course was marked
by hesitation and indecision. Endeavoring to please
all parties, he pleased none. At first, he gave his sane-

SATURNINUS AND GLAUCIA. 85

tion to a long series of measures which aimed at secur-
ing the favor of the lower orders.

It is hard to give a clear account of what happened
at Rome at this time. Marius formed connections with
two rascals, Apuleius Saturninus and Servilius Glaucia.
The former, a plebeian by birth, an eloquent speaker,
and bitter enemy of the Senate, was appointed tribune of
the people ; the latter, of noble origin, was chosen prae-
tor. Their election was stained by the murder of one
Nonius, who was a competitor of Saturninus for the
tribuneship.

Saturninus caused to be passed some agrarian laws,
which granted (1) to the poor citizens all the country
which had been occupied by the Cimbri in the northern
part of Italy, north of the Po ; (2) one hundred acres
of land in Africa to the veterans of Marius.

The Senate refused at first to sanction these laws,
but afterwards consented, except Metellus Numidicus,
who was exiled for his refusal.

At the next consular elections, riots occurred. The
Senate declared Saturninus and Glaucia public enemies,
and thereupon seized the capitol.

Marius, seeing his associates likely to be worsted,
deserted them. They were seized, and put to death.

The fall of Saturninus was followed (99 b.c.) by the
recall of Metellus from banishment, and the voluntary
exile of the haughty and now generally unpopular
Marius. That great general, but poor statesman, retired
to Asia, and visited the court of Mithridates, king of
Pontus. For the next eight years (99-91 b.c), Rome
enjoyed a season of comparative quiet.

Livius Drusus, of noble birth and large fortune, a
thorough aristocrat, full of energy and pride, when

86 SOCIAL WAR.

elected tribune undertook to conciliate the people by
the redivision of lands, and the distribution of wheat,
and the admittance of the Italians to the rights of Ro-
man citizenship.

But the Roman conservatives violently opposed him,
and finally had him assassinated (91 B.C.).

The death of Drusus drove the Italians to despair ;
and, finding their champion murdered, and their hopes
dashed to the ground, they rose in arms. Eight nations
entered into close alliance, chose Corfinium, in the
Pelignian Apennines, for their capital, and formed a
federal republic, to which they gave the name of Italia.

This war, called the Social War (90-88 B.C.), i.e. war
of the allies, was at first attended with great success.
The allies overran Campania, defeated the Romans a
number of times, and entered into negotiations with
the Northern Italians, whose fidelity began to waver.

Rome, seeing that she could not subdue the rebellion
by force of arms, determined to make concessions, and,
by the Julian and Plotian laws, granted to the Italians
all that they ever demanded.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Maeius and Sulla.

With the name of Marius is usually coupled that of
Sulla, who was over twenty years his junior. Sulla and
Marius were men of two different generations; and
this circumstance added to the aversion which existed
between them. While the former was of noble birth,
the latter was a soldier, who had risen by his talents
and fortune.

In the Jugurthine war, Sulla had been quaestor of
Marius, and had taken a prominent part in the capture
of the king. Fortune accompanied him everywhere ;
and it was this good fortune that drew the attention of
the people towards him. Marius acquired great merits
in the Social War ; but Sulla eclipsed his fame. Marius
was under the influence of the sad feeling — which
must be particularly painful to an old man — that the
rising sun outshone him, and made him invisible.
Sulla thus called forth in Marius a spirit of opposition.

Marius, who was insatiable in his ambition and love
of power, was now anxious to obtain the command of
the war against Mithridates, king of Pontus. But the
Senate gave the command to Sulla. Marius, impelled
by his irresistible desire to humble his adversary, in-
duced the tribune, Publius Sulpicius, to make a plebis-
citum {i.e. a law passed by the comitia tributa, at the
motion of the tribune), by which the command was

88 FLIGHT OF MARIUS.

taken from Sulla. Sulla was naturally exasperated at
this unjustifiable course, and immediately marched to
Rome at the head of six legions, compelling Marius to
leave the city. He fled to Ostia, and from there along
the coast to Minturnse, from which place he sailed to
Africa, where for a time he lived quietly, watching
the course of events.

Meanwhile, at Rome, Sulla proscribed his enemies,
repealed the bill of Sulpicius, and put Sulpicius himself
to death. But he could not remain long at the capital.
The affairs of the East called him away ; and no sooner
was he gone than the flames of civil war burst out
afresh.

A man named Cinna now came forward as the head
of the party of Marius. He recalled the aged exile ;
and, supported by the Italians, marched upon Rome.
The city was captured. Marius caused himself to be
made consul the seventh time (January, 86 B.C.), and
Cinna the second. The victory thus gained was fol-
lowed by the wildest cruelties. Marius had a body-
guard of slaves, whom he sent out to murder those
whom he wished to get rid of. The houses of the rich
were plundered ; and the honor of the noble families
exposed to the mercy of slaves. But the death of
Marius, sixteen days after he entered upon his consul-
ship, put an end to the shedding of blood, but not to
the bitter party spirit.

During the three years which followed the death of
Marius, Sulla was conducting the war against Mithri-
dates in Achaia and Asia, and Italy was completely
under control of the party of Cinna.

In 84 B.C., Cinna himself was murdered, when on the
eve of setting out against Sulla in Asia.

CHAPTER XIX.
The Mitheidatic Wae.

The kingdom of Pontus, an offshoot of Persia, was
founded by Ariobarzanes I. in 363 b.c. Six kings of
little note followed him, until, in 120 B.C., Mithridates
VI., surnamed the " Great," ascended the throne. He
was yet a minor when his father died. But he em-
ployed his time well in training both his mind and
body, — the former, by the study of languages, of which
he is said to have spoken twenty-five ; the latter, by
perpetual hunting expeditions in the roughest and most
remote regions.

On reaching the age of twenty, he endeavored to ex-
tend his dominions, wherever he could, without coming
in contact with the Romans. In the short space of
seven years, he added to his kingdom Lesser Armenia,
Colchis, the entire eastern coast of the Black Sea, the
Chersonesus Taurica (Crimea).

Mithridates first came in contact with the Romans as
follows : —

The family of the kings of Cappadocia had become
extinct, and Mithridates gave the throne to his brother ;
but the Romans set up an opposing king against him.

Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, was also incited by the
Romans to attack the king of Pontus, but was defeated ;
and his own brother was set up against him by Mithri-
dates.

90 CHMRONEIA.

The Romans now openly interfered, and spoke to
Mithridates in a tone as if he had been the offender.
Nothing could be more unjust. They collected three
armies against him (composed chiefly of effeminate in-
habitants of Asia Minor), which were easily defeated
by the well-disciplined troops of Mithridates.

The whole of Asia Minor soon recognized Mithri-
dates as their sovereign. This induced him to cross
over into Greece, where he was received with univer-
sal joy ; and nearly the whole of Greece submitted to
him.

Most of the Greek towns in Lydia and Caria were
provoked by the Romans; and, being encouraged by
Mithridates, put to death on one day some 80,000 Ro-
mans. This act demanded vengeance, and called forth
the utmost exertions on the part of the Romans.

The Senate, as we have seen, gave the command to
Sulla, 87 B.C. The same year, Sulla went to Thessaly.

Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, held possession
of Greece. Sulla met his forces on the field of Chaero-
neia, 86 B.C., and totally defeated them. He then at-
tacked Athens, which was occupied by a Pontic garrison,
and, after a long siege, captured the city, and thus ob-
tained control of the whole of Greece.

Sulla then concluded a peace with Mithridates on
these conditions : The king was to give up Bithynia,
Paphlagonia, and Cappadocia, and withdraw to his for-
mer dominions. He was also to pay a sum of $2,000,-
000, and surrender 70 ships of war.

Having thus settled matters in Asia Minor, and pun-
ished the Lydians and Carians, in whose dominions the
Romans had been massacred, by compelling them to pay
at once five years' tribute, Sulla was ready to return to

THE MARIAN FACTION. 91

Rome. But this was an undertaking of no slight pro-
portions.

The Marian faction had at their disposal an army of
nearly 200,000 men, ready to repel Sulla as soon as he
attempted to land on his native shores.

CHAPTER XX.

Sulla in Italy. — Sertorius in Spain. — Spar-
tacus.

Sulla had early announced his intention of punish-
ing his enemies in Italy ; and every preparation was
made by the Marian party for his reception. An at-
tempt was made to win the people by means of the
ever popular agrarian law, and the extension of the
franchise ; but no sooner did Sulla land in Italy (83
B.C.) than the soldiers were induced to desert in im-
mense numbers ; and, what with incapacity on the one
hand and bribery on the other, Sulla soon found him-
self in possession of all lower Italy.

Among those who hastened to the standard of Sulla
was young Cn. Pompey, then but twenty-three years
old, who was destined to become a great man at a
time when great men were plenty. It was to his efforts
that Sulla's success was largely due. The next year,
the Marian party was joined by the Samnites ; and war
raged hotter than ever. At length, however, Sulla
was victorious under the walls of Rome ; and the city
lay at his mercy. His first act, an order for the
slaughter of 6,000 Samnite prisoners, whom he had
taken, was a fit prelude to his conduct in the city.
Every effort was made to eradicate the last trace of
Marian blood and sympathy from Italy. Citizens were
placed on the proscription lists, which condemned
them to death, and their property to be sold. To what

DEATH OF SULLA. 93

extent this was carried, we may learn from the fact
that nearly 5,000 persons are said to have lost their
lives in this manner. The sales of confiscated property
were carried on under the eye of the conqueror, and
the proceeds were disposed of at his caprice. After
annihilating the popular party, and enacting a series of
laws re-establishing the supremacy of the Senate, Sulla
retired, content with a single term as consul, to a coun-
try seat, where he abandoned himself to every species
of debauchery, and died a miserable death after about
a year (79 B.C.).

He had quieted the contentions of the state by mur-
dering all who opposed him. As in all measures of
unrestrained violence some fatal error undoes the work
intended, so Sulla, by ill-judged clemency, permitted
the escape of one whose fame was destined to eclipse
his own, and who finally overthrew both the Senate
and the people. This was C. Julius Caesar, son-in-law
to Cinna, and nephew to Marius. When Sulla ordered
all to divorce their wives of Marian lineage, Caesar
refused, and was permitted to escape.

On the death of Sulla, Crassus and M. .ffimilius Le-
pidus were chosen consuls ; but such was the instability
of the times, that they were sworn not to raise an army
during their consulship. Lepidus attempted to evade
his oath by going to Gaul ; and, when ordered by the
Senate to return, he marched at the head of his forces.
He was defeated (78 b.c.) near the city by Crassus and
Pompey, and soon after died.

In Spain, affairs were as bad as possible. Quintus
Sertorius, a partisan of Marius, had escaped (83 b.c.)
thither during the proscription of Sulla, and by his
talents and ability had united the Spaniards and Marian

94 SERTORIUS AND SPARTACUS.

refugees under his standard (78 B.C.). Success followed
him, and with it popularity, till finally the Romans in
Spain became jealous of the favors bestowed on the
Spaniards, and created a faction. Both Metellus and
Pompey were sent against him ; but, owing to their
mutual jealousy, the rebel held his ground. Sertorius
was not proof against the temptations of prosperity, and
began to conspire to reinstate his party (the Marians)
in power at Rome. Perpema, who had been a general
under Lepidus, after his commander's defeat (cf. page
93), fled to Sertorius with the remnant of his army ;
and, imagining that he might supplant Sertorius in
popularity, caused him to be assassinated. With the
death of Sertorius fell the Marian party in Spain
(72 b.c).

At the same time, a still more dangerous enemy
was threatening Italy. At Capua, a band of gladiators,
under the leadership of one of their number, named
Spartacus, escaped (73 B.C.) from the training school,
and took up a strong position on Mt. Vesuvius. They
were joined by large numbers of slaves and outcasts of
every description, and were soon in a position to defeat
two praetors who were sent against them. The next
year, they assumed the offensive ; and Spartacus found
himself at the head of 100,000 men. Four generals sent
against him were defeated ; and, for two years, he
ravaged Italy as he pleased, and even threatened Rome.
But intestine division showed itself in his ranks : his
lieutenants grew jealous of him.

In 71 b.c, the command of the war was given to
Crass us (the same who won the battle before Rome
for Sulla), who finished it in six months. Spartacus
fell fighting bravely near Brundisium.

SERT0R1US AND SPARTACUS. 95

Pompey, returning from the Sertorian war in Spain,
met 5,000 of those who had escaped from the army of
Spartacus, whom he slew to a man. Crassus pointed
the moral of his victory by hanging 6,000 captives,
whom he had taken along the road from Rome to
Capua (72 B.C.).

CHAPTER XXI.

POMPEY AND CRASSUS. MlTHRIDATIC WAR.

Pompet and Crassus both put themselves forward
for the consulship ; and, though neither was eligible
according to law, both were elected (70 B.C.). Reforms
were immediately begun ; the legislation of Sulla was
undermined ; and the power of the nobles received a
check from which it never after recovered.

No good could be hoped from the union of Crassus
with Pompey; for each was mortally jealous of the
other, and each retained his army near Rome. Neither,
fortunately, desired to proceed to blows. Pompey's
popularity soon began to wane ; for, though naturally
allied to the senatorial party, he endeavored to lead
that of the people. Thus he lost the confidence of the
one, without gaining that of the other. At this time,
affairs in the East brought him again prominently to
favor.

Mithridates, taking advantage of the trouble at
Rome, was again in arms. Lucullus was sent (74 b.c.)
against him, and was everywhere successful ; but one of
his generals risked an unfortunate battle, and was de-
feated (67 b.c). The army now mutinied, and refused
to march further eastward. Thus he was compelled to
suspend operations ; and, before they could be renewed,
the command had passed (66 b.c.) to Pompey.

Pompey earned his appointment to the East by his

WAR WITH THE PIRATES. 97

successes against the Greek pirates. From the earliest
times, these marauders had been in the habit of depre-
dating on the shores of the Mediterranean. During
the civil wars of Rome, they had become much bolder ;
so that the city was compelled to take an active
part against them. Pompey was placed in charge (67
B.C.) of the undertaking, and in three months the
pirates were swept from the sea ; and he was now
named as the man to conclude the Mithridatic war.
His appointment was violently opposed by the Senate ;
but Cicero came to his assistance with his first political
speech (Pro lege Manilia). The command was at once
given to him ; and he became virtually dictator in the
East.

Pompey went to Asia, speedily drove Mithridates
from his kingdom, and converted Syria to a Roman
province. At this time, he was invited to act as
judge between two aspirants to the Jewish throne,
and, his decision being contrary to the desires of the
people, led his army against Jerusalem, which he
captured after a siege of three months, and installed
his protege on the throne on condition of an annual
tribute. Mithridates now returned to Pontus for the
prosecution of his old design ; but so great was the
terror inspired by the Roman arms, that even his own
son refused to join him. Desperate at the turn affairs
had taken, the aged monarch put an end to his own
life (63 b.c.) ; and with him ended the last formidable
opposition to Rome in Asia for many years. After an
absence of nearly seven years, Pompey returned to
Rome, and received a well-earned triumph.

CHAPTER XXII.

Conspiracy of Catiline.

While Pompey was absent in the East, matters
at Rome were daily becoming worse, and shaping
themselves for the speedy overthrow of the republic.
There were many who had suffered under Sulla, and
who were anxious to regain what they had lost ; and
there were many who, enriched by the dictator, had
squandered their ill-gotten wealth, and now only waited
a leader to renew the assault upon the state. The
Senate was alarmed at the power of the people ; and
the people distrusted the Senate. One of the creations
of the time was L. Sergius Catiline, a man of immense
strength and courage, of good manners, and with all the
attributes for popularity both with the army and the
people, but with a character utterly devoid of honesty,
virtue, or patriotism. Disappointed in his hope of
obtaining the consulship, he formed (65 B.C.) a plot
to murder the consuls, and seize their offices. The
scheme failed, the signal for the attack being prema-
turely given ; yet, though the guilt of Catiline was
beyond doubt, he not only escaped punishment, but
became a formidable candidate for the consulship two
years later (63 B.C.), when Cicero was elected. Catiline
then entered into a new plot, which added to the de-
signs of the former the burning of the city. This con-

CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. 99

spiracy was discovered by Cicero, and became the occa-
sion of his four orations against Catiline. The master-
spirit was even then allowed to escape ; indeed, so weak
were the authorities, that his departure from Rome was
the one thing they most desired. Others of the conspira-
tors were arrested, and the great danger was passed ; for
Catiline and his small army were of little importance in
the field, however dangerous they might be in the city.
A serious difficulty now arose as to the disposition to be
made of the prisoners. Cato and Cicero advocated their
being put to death ; while Caesar opposed to this impris-
onment for life. The motives of the men are so charac-
teristic that they form a complete key to their several
public careers. Cicero, vain and selfish, weak in coun-
cil, and distrustful of the temper of the people and his
own ability to rule their factions, feared lest they
become dangerous enemies to himself : Cato, desiring
the reformation of the state, would have made
them an example and warning for the future. The
one, forgetful of the state, was overcome by personal
fears : the other, unmindful of self, would have purity
at any cost. Caesar, careless alike of danger and re-
form, would have every thing done in .strict accordance
with the laws ; and, a bold and wise statesman, urged
that nothing was more impolitic than lawless violence
on the part of rulers. On the one hand, we have the
timid magistrate and the injudicious reformer: on
the other, the statesman and politician, with less in-
tegrity of purpose, perhaps, than the one, less disinter-
ested patriotism than the other, but, with keener knowl-
edge and a stronger hand, a far safer guide. A sentence
of death was voted ; and Cicero, with unseemly haste,
caused the conspirators to be executed that very night.

100 CICERO EXILED.

Catiline was defeated in the field (62 B.C.), and his army
exterminated. By the suppression of the conspiracy,
Cicero earned his title of Father of his Country ; by his
indiscreet use of his power, he brought upon himself
exile and loss of influence.

CHAPTER (X&tf&v,

* • • • • -,

G/ESAR, POMPEY, AND CRA$?U«.-^Ta3S &A>HAG ,

WabsV';*,:* ••^., ■•::;/£,

In the absence of Pompey, the guidance of affairs
at Rome had been assumed chiefly by three men, Cato,
Cicero, and Caesar. Crassus, who is sometimes men-
tioned with them as a leader, was too indolent, and too
weak in character, to be of any importance, and was
influential only by means of his immense wealth.

Cato was at the head of the senatorial party ; Caesar
was the acknowledged chief of the Marians ; while
Cicero held an intermediate position, depending for his
power almost entirely on his unrivalled eloquence, and
having the confidence of neither of the two great par-
ties. Of the three, the one whose influence was the
greatest was Caesar. Though bankrupt in fortune,
such was the adroitness of his conduct that at every
turn of affairs he rose the higher. His star was clearly
in the ascendant, when Pompey, after an unwise delay
in the East, at length returned to Rome soon after
Caesar had gone to Spain to complete the conquest of
Lusitania.

On the return of Pompey, who, during his absence,
had become more and more an object of suspicion to
the Senate, the city (cf. page 96) was comparatively
quiet. Caesar was in Spain; Crassus was unable to
form a dangerous opposition ; Cato only opposed, with

102 THE GALLIC WARS.

seeming success, the desires of the Eastern Conqueror ;
while Cicero was abject in his overtures for friendship.

Caesar's return from Spain, where he had been entirely
successful, offered an opportunity for a change ; and
every thing was , ripe .for a coalition against the sena-
torial, or ruling, party. Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus
united their interests, and formed what was called
fifee JU'ir.t trrumvirate. Caesar was elected consul. He
increased his popularity in everyway, — notably, by
an agrarian law, so carefully framed and worded that
even its enemies could find no fault with it. And,
when his term of office was nearly ended, he procured
his appointment as proconsul to Gaul for five years,
that he might be near Rome, and watch the events at
the capital, which his army would enable him largely to
control. The Senate more readily agreed to this, as Gaul
was at that time in a state of ferment, and threatened
serious, if not doubtful, war ; and a failure on the part
of Caesar would remove him from the number of dan-
gerous enemies. Caesar increased his intimacy with
Pompey by giving him his daughter Julia in marriage.
Before leaving Rome, he procured (58 b.c.) the banish-
ment of Cicero, on the ground of putting to death the
Catilinian prisoners without a trial ; and Cato was sent
to Cyprus, to enforce a law by which that island was
incorporated in the republic. Cicero was forced to
take the proconsulship of Cilicia. It was the design of
Caesar to leave the Senate without a leader who could
work injury to his cause during his absence ; and in
this he was eminently politic and successful.

News from Gaul now called for his immediate presence
(58 b.c.) ; and for nine years he continued his efforts for
the subjugation of the country. When peace seemed

THE GALLIC WARS. 103

secure, he even carried his conquests to Britain ; and,
though he obtained no permanent foothold, he opened
the way for the future conquest of the island. During
this time, he was called upon to repel several inroads
of Germans into Gaul, and pursued them into their own
country. It is said that in these wars not less than one
million of Gauls and Germans perished. But, if Cassar
made the defeat of his enemies terrible", when war was
over, he was a kind and judicious ruler ; and by these
means he cemented his conquests so firmly to Rome
that for centuries the loyalty of Gaul was never shaken ;
and, even then, not before the empire was tottering
with decrepitude, and compelled to leave Gaul to its
own devices (52 B.C.).

CHAPTER XXIV.

Caesar's Struggle with Pompey.

During the nine years (59-50 B.C.) passed by Caesar
in Gaul, many great events occurred at Rome. In the
interior, anarchy prevailed. The republic needed a
strong, firm hand, which, at the price even of liberty,
should ensure security for it, and stop the shedding of
blood. Pompey had attempted to bring about this re-
sult ; but it was beyond his ability. Shut up at home
with his young wife, he let the affairs of state go, and
gave up every thing to Clodius, who, since Cicero was
exiled, and Cato away from Rome, ruled supreme.
Finally, however, Pompey shook off his inertia, and
obtained the recall of Cicero (57 B.C.), who returned
triumphant, " borne upon the shoulders of all Italy."

This was the signal for a reaction against Clodius.
Milo placed himself at the head of the Senate, and
slew his adversary upon the Appian Way. ' Pompey,
delighted at having got rid of Clodius, obtained the
exile of Milo.

During the interval of the two campaigns of 57-56
B.C., Caesar renewed his alliance with his two colleagues
in interviews that took place at Ravenna and Lucca.
He renewed for himself the command of Gaul ; Pom-
pey, that of Spain ; Crassus, that of Syria.

Crassus was jealous of the exploits of Caesar. He
wished also to obtain military renown, and undertook

DEATH OF CRASSUS. 105

the war against the Parthians. His son, who had dis-
tinguished himself in Gaul, accompanied him as lieu-
tenant (55 B.C.). They arrived at Zeugma, a city of
Syria, on the Euphrates ; and the Romans, seven legions
strong, with 4,000 cavalry, drew themselves up along the
river. The quaestor Cassius, a man of ability, proposed
to Crassus a plan of the campaign, which consisted in
following the river as far as Seleucia, in order not to
be separated from his fleet and provisions, and to avoid
being surrounded by the cavalry of the enemy. But
Crassus allowed himself to be deceived by an Arab chief,
who allured him to the sandy plains of Mesopotamia.

The forces of the Parthians, divided into many bodies,
suddenly rushed upon the Roman ranks, and drove
them back. The young Crassus attempted a charge at
the head of 1,500 horsemen. The Parthians yielded,
but only to draw him into an ambush, where he perished,
after great deeds of valor. His head, carried on the
end of a pike, was borne before the eyes of his unhappy
father, who, crushed by grief and despair, gave the
command into the hands of Cassius.

Cassius gave orders for a general retreat. The Par-
thians subjected the Roman army to continual losses.
Crassus, shortly after, was killed (53 B.C.) in a con-
ference.

Thus terminated the expedition of Crassus. In this
disastrous campaign there perished more than 20,000
Romans. Ten thousand prisoners were taken, and com-
pelled to serve as slaves in the army of the Parthians.

The death of Crassus broke the triumvirate ; that of
Julia broke the family ties between Caesar and Pompey,
who then married Cornelia, the widow of the young
Crassus.
5*

106 CJESAR CROSSES THE RUBICON.

Caesar wished to become a second time candidate
for the consulship the year following the termination
of his proconsulship in Gaul. But he wished first to
celebrate his triumph, and would not, on this account,
disband his army ; for, according to the Roman cus-
tom, he could not triumph without it. According to
another custom, however, he was obliged to disband it
before he could offer himself as a candidate for the con-
sulship. But, setting aside this custom, he demanded
permission to become a candidate, wrhile he was in his
province in command of the army.

He then intended, after his election, to return with
his forces to Rome, celebrate his triumph, and then dis-
band his troops.

The party of Pompey demanded that he should dis-
band his army, come to Rome as a private citizen, and
thus sue for the consulship ; but he was convinced that
such a course could be taken only at the peril of his life.

The question was discussed in the Senate. The
party of Pompey was predominant. He had troops in
the city ; but it was resolved that Caesar should be
ordered to resign his command.

The tribunes opposed the decree, but were not lis-
tened to, and were even threatened by the consuls, and
compelled to flee. They went directly to Ravenna, on
the frontier of Cisalpine Gaul, where Caesar and his
army were stationed.

When Caesar received the command of the Senate to
give up his army, his passion gained the upper hand,
and he resolved to march upon Italy. He crossed (49
B.C.) the Rubicon, and went to Arimirium, where he met
the tribunes who had fled to him.

Here he was met by ambassadors from Pompey, with

G^D

CjESAR'S manceuvres. 107

orders that he should withdraw from Ariminimi, return
to Gaul, and disband his army. Caesar considered this
an unjust demand, as it would leave Ponipey with entire
control over Italy.

Accordingly, he despatched his lieutenant, Marcus
Antonius, to take possession of Arretium, and himself
remained at Ariminum with two legions, and deter-
mined to hold a levy there.

He also occupied Pisaurus, Fanus, and Ancona. In
a word, all Italy was soon at his feet. Pompey went to
Brundisium. He wished to keep this place, in order
to have a landing-place for his fleet, in case Caesar went
to Spain.

Caesar also took this place. He now went to Rome,
where he acted as absolute master. He had the treas-
ury broken open, as the keys were concealed ; and he
disposed of every thing as a sovereign. Thus ,all Italy
was under his control.

In Spain, Pompey's party was predominant. Afra-
nius and Petreius, Iris lieutenants, were there with
seven legions.

Africa was also occupied by his party ; and it was
confidently hoped that Gaul would rise against Caesar.

After having arranged matters at Rome, Caesar
marched to Southern Gaul on his way to Spain. He
left troops to lay siege to Massilia, and hastened him-
self to Spain.

Afranius and Petreius were stationed at Ilerda, in
Northern Spain.

Caesar brought all his military talent into play, and
soon compelled them to capitulate. Thus Caesar was at
once master of all Spain. Shortly afterwards, Massilia
was also captured.

108 CAESAR IN EPIRUS.

On his return to Rome, Caesar was made dictator :
within a very short time, he made the most necessary
regulations at Rome. After his army had returned
from Spain, and new legions were levied, he set out
towards Brundisium. It was now nearly twelve
months since Pompey had left Rome.

He had taken up his winter quarters in Thessaly,
where he had collected troops in great numbers. He
also had at his disposal a large fleet.

Caesar, through the neglect of the Pompeian ad-
mirals, crossed the Adriatic unopposed, January, 48 B.C.

With forces very inferior to those of Pompey, Caesar
advanced towards Dyrrachium, and ventured to besiege
Pompey, who was stationed there. This was an attack
which Pompey did not care much about, as he received
his supplies from the sea. Caesar, who had no such
means of providing for his army, was obliged to forage
in the country. He tried to bring the war to a close
at Dyrrachium. On one occasion, when he made an
attack upon the place, he was repulsed with consider-
able loss. His soldiers began to despond ; and he him-
self nearly despaired of success.

After this catastrophe, Caesar left Dyrrachium, and
marched through Epirus into Thessaly.

Pompey followed him into Thessaly, where the lat-
ter had already chosen his position in the neighbor-
hood of Pharsalus, situated upon a rocky eminence,
attached to the chain of the Othrys. Pharsalus is sur-
rounded by a vast plain. There was fought one of the
decisive battles in the world's history. The army of
Pompey, consisting of 47,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry,
was twice as large as that of Caesar in infantry, and
seven times as large in cavalry ; but the disdainful

PHARSALUS AND ZELA. 109

confidence of the Pompeians increased the strength of
the well-practised legions of Caesar.

The battle (August, 48 b.c.) lasted a long time, be-
fore either party gained any advantage. Finally, Pom-
pey's forces were defeated. Pompey threw off his
insignia of command, mounted his horse, and hastened
the shortest way to the sea, and, seeing a vessel weigh-
ing anchor, embarked with a few companions, who ac-
companied him in his flight.

Pompey went to Mitylene, and from there to Egypt,
hoping to obtain an asylum from the young king,
Ptolemy. Upon his arrival, he was seized and be-
headed (28th September, 48 B.C.).

Meanwhile, Caesar pursued his victory with an inde-
fatigable activity, and set sail for Egypt. Upon his
arrival, the head of his enemy was brought to him.
Caesar turned from the sight, with tears in his eyes.
The murderers now saw what would be their fate.
Ptolemy was at variance with his sister, the famous
Cleopatra. Caesar took the part of the sister against
the brother. The inhabitants of Alexandria revolted,
and besieged Caesar in the palace ; but, with a handful
of soldiers, he bravely baffled their attacks. Setting
fire to the neighboring buildings, he escaped to his
ships. Afterwards he returned, and wreaked ven-
geance upon the Alexandrians, establishing Cleopatra
firmly upon the throne (47 b.c).

Satisfied with this vengeance, Caesar left Egypt and
went to Pontus, where Pharnaces, son of Mithridates,
was inciting a revolt against Rome.

Caesar attacked and defeated him at Zela (47 b.c.)
with a rapidity rendered proverbial by the words, Veni,
vidi, vici.

110 SUCCESS OF CAESAR.

Upon his return to Rome, Caesar conciliated the
people by liberal measures.

Next, Caesar crossed over into Africa, where the
Pompeians gathered around Cato, Metellus Scipio, and
Juba, king of Numidia.

On the 4th of April, 46 B.C., Caesar invested Thapsus,
which Scipio endeavored in vain to defend. Scipio
wished to take refuge in Spain ; but, overtaken by a
storm, and fearing to fall into the hands of the enemy,
he threw himself into the sea.

Cato took refuge in Utica, and, seeing that all was
lost, committed suicide.

The two sons of Pompey, Cneius and Sextus, fled to
Spain, and were the only ones who could now even
make a show of resisting Caesar. After some bloody
but indecisive engagements, the Pompeians posted
themselves at Munda for a final battle. This was
fought on the 17th of March, 45 B.C., and ended in a
complete victory for Caesar. Spain submitted.

CHAPTER XXV.
CLesar Peepetual Dictator. — His Murder.

CLesar now returned to Rome, and centred in him-
self all power, creating himself dictator for life, sole
consul, tribune, pontifex maximus, &G. The Senate,
at the proposal of Cicero, gave him the title of " Father
of his Country," and the right to wear a crown of
laurels. The fifth month (Quintilis), in which he was
born, was named Julius (July).

In his first triumph, he displayed, among other
wonders, the Rhine, the Rhone, and the ocean, repre-
sented in gold, as a reminder of the conquest of Gaul.

In his second triumph, the images of the Nile, and
of Arsinoe, wife of King Ptolemy, were displayed all
sparkling in the light.

The third triumph represented Pharnaces and Pon-
tus.

The fourth, Juba, the Moors, and Spain twice subju-
gated. ,

Cato, Petreius, and Scipio were represented as pierc-
ing themselves with their swords.

Caesar, now absolute master of Rome and of the
entire world, conceived and carried into execution
great reforms and useful works. He built a temple to
Mars, reformed the calendar, and built a large h arbor
at Ostia (north of the Tiber) ; also a road from the
Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian sea, over the Apennines.

112 CONSPIRACY AGAINST CAESAR.

An immense amphitheatre was built at the foot of the
Tarpeian rock in Rome.

In the midst of these plans, he was stopped by death.

Cassius Longinus, an old lieutenant of Crassus, had
shown great courage in the war against the Parthians.
At Pharsalus, he fought on Pompey's side, but was
afterwards pardoned by Caesar. He was married to a
sister of Brutus, whom he won over to his designs of
a conspiracy for the murder of Caesar.

Marcus Junius Brutus, nephew and son-in-law of
Cato, generous, but narrow-minded, a firm Stoic, had
also fought at Pharsalus on Pompey's side, and been
pardoned by Caesar. Caesar had great affection for
him, and called him his son. Brutus believed it his
duty to crush all tender sentiments, and to aid Cassius
in the re-establishment of the republic.

Cassius, 'twas said, hated the tyrant ; and Brutus,
tyranny. These conspirators were soon joined by
others. Among them were persons of all parties ; and
men, who had fought against one another at Pharsalus,
now went hand in hand. No proposals were made to
Cicero, who was at an advanced age, and could not
have consented to take away the life of him to whom
he himself owed his own. Caesar's conduct towards
those who had fought in the ranks of Pompey, and
afterwards returned to him, was extremely noble. All
who knew Cicero must have been convinced that he
would not have given his consent to the plan of the
conspirators. And, if they themselves ever gave the
matter a serious thought, they must have owned that
it was, in fact, very absurd to fancy that the republic
could be restored by the death of Caesar.

It is said that the murder of Caesar was the most

DEATH OF CMS All. 113

senseless act that the Romans ever committed ; and a
truer word was never spoken.

Caesar was cautioned in various ways to be on his
guard, as more danger threatened him ; but to no pur-
pose.

On the morning of the 15th of March, 44 B.C., Deci-
mus Brutus treacherously enticed him to go with him
to the Senate-house. As soon as Caesar took his seat,
the conspirators came around him, and Tullius Cimber
advanced to pray for the pardon of his exiled brother;
and, while the rest joined their entreaties, laid hold of
Caesar's hand, and kissed his head and breast.

As Caesar resisted their importunity, and suddenly
attempted to rise, Cimber, with both hands, pulled
Caesar's garment down from the shoulders ; and an-
other, who had placed himself behind the chair, stabbed
him in the neck. Turning round, Caesar seized the
dagger, and held it fast. " What are you doing, vil-
lain ! " he cried. The first blow was struck ; and the
whole pack fell upon their noble victim. Wherever he
turned, he met only bare daggers, and was driven about
like a wild beast. Cassius stabbed him in the face, and
Marcus Brutus in the groin. He made no more resist-
ance, but wrapped his gown over his head and the
lower part of his body, and fell, mortally wounded, at
the base of Pompey's statue, which was drenched with
blood.

The tumult and commotion were now great ; and, in
their alarm, most of the senators took to flight. Both
parties were blind at the moment, and knew not what
was to be done for the future. The tumult at Rome
lasted for some days. Caesar had fallen on the 15th of
March, between eleven and twelve o'clock a.m. On

114 FUNERAL OF CAESAR.

the 17th, there was a meeting of the Senate to delibe-
rate upon what was to be done. The conspirators had
fled to the Capitol ; and public opinion in the city was
decidedly against them. A great number of Caesar's
soldiers were in the city, and many others flocked
thither from other parts ; and the excitement was so
great that there was ground for apprehending acts of
extreme violence.

At the funeral of Caesar, Antony, his nearest relative,
delivered the oration. It produced a fearful effect
upon the minds of the people ; for he not only dwelt
upon the exploits of Caesar, amid roars of applause, but,
after he had excited their minds in the highest degree
by his recital, he lifted up the bloody toga, and showed
the people the wounds of the great deceased. The
multitude were seized with such indignation and rage
that, instead of allowing the body to be carried to the
Campus Martius (where it had been resolved to have
it buried), they immediately raised a pile in the
forum, and burnt it there. The people then dispersed
in troops : they broke into the houses of the conspira-
tors, and destroyed them. Brutus and Cassius fled
from the city ; and the other conspirators dispersed
over the provinces.

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Second Tkiumvirate.

Caesar, in his will, had appointed C. Octavius, the
grandson of his sister Julia, heir to three-fourths of his
property ; and his other relatives were to have the re-
maining fourth.

Young Octavius was in his nineteenth year when
Caesar was murdered. When he received the sad in-
telligence of Caesar's death, he went to Rome, and
claimed the inheritance of his uncle. Caesar's widow,
Calpurnia, had intrusted to Marcus Antonius all the
money in the house, — a large sum ; and she also had
delivered to him all the dictator's writings and memo-
randa.

The arrival of Octavius to claim his inheritance was
disagreeable to Antony ; for he was unwilling to let the
property go out of his hands, and tried to deter the
young man from accepting it.

But Octavius compelled Antony to surrender Caesar's
will ; and he put himself in possession of his inheritance,
so far as it had not been already disposed of by Antony,
who had secreted a greater part of the money. The
exasperation between Octavius and Antony rose very
high at this time : each suspected the other of attempts
at assassination.

Strengthened by the support of the people and Sen-
ate, and by the eloquence of Cicero, who hurled his

116 DISTRIBUTION OF THE PROVINCES.

famous "Philippics " against Antony, Octavius appealed
to the veterans of Caasar, and accepted the struggle.
Two legions of Antony went over to him. Octavius
began a campaign with the two consuls, and seized the
camp of Antony, whom he compelled to leave Italy.

Octavius now returned to Rome, was nominated
consul, and became reconciled with Antony.

A second triumvirate was formed by Octavius, An-
tony, and Lepidus, November 27, 43 B.C., forming a self-
constituted board of three, who were to rule the state
conjointly for five years.

The provinces were divided as follows : —

Lepidus was to have Spain and Gallia Narbonensis ;
Antony, the rest of Gaul beyond the Alps and Gallia
Cisalpina ; Octavius, Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. A
bloody proscription followed : among its victims were
Cicero and 300 senators* and 2,000 knights.

The triumvirs could now concentrate their energies
upon the East, whither Brutus and Cassius, the mur-
derers of Caesar, had fled.

In 42 B.C., military operations began. Antony and
Octavius crossed from Italy to Epirus, with forces
amounting to 130,000 men. They marched unresisted
through Epirus and Macedonia, and reached Thrace
before they met Brutus and Cassius. These had col-
lected the full strength of the East, amounting to
80,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry.

The two armies met at Philippi (November, 42 B.C.) ;
and the fate of the Roman world was decided in a two-
fold battle.

In the first fight, Brutus defeated Octavius ; but
Antony gained a decisive advantage over Cassius, who,
unaware of his colleague's victory, committed suicide.

BATTLE OF PHILIPPI. 117

In the second fight, three weeks later, the army of
Brutus was completely overcome ; and, escaping from
the field, he could only follow the example of Cassius,
and kill himself.

With Brutus fell the republic. The absolute ascen-
dency of individuals, which is monarchy, was then
established.

The immediate result of the victory at Philippi was
a fresh arrangement of the Roman world among the
triumvirs. As Antony preferred the East, Octavius
consented to relinquish it to him ; and, as a compensa-
tion, Italy and Spain were given to Octavius. Africa
fell to Lepidus.

Octavius tried to establish order in Italy ; but many
obstacles were to be overcome. Sextus Pompeius,
who had escaped from Munda, by preventing corn-
ships from reaching Rome exposed the city to great
danger from famine. Octavius was obliged to get to-
gether a fleet. At first, he was defeated by Pompey ;
but finally, in 36 B.C., he conquered him, together with
Lepidus, who had joined Pompey through jealousy of
Octavius's rising power.

During these events, Antony was in the East, charmed
by the fascinations of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. He
also began to be jealous of Octavius, who was master of
Italy, and at the head of a powerful party. Antony,
however, had adopted many customs of the East, and
was daily becoming more unpopular at Rome.

Thus, gradually, these two men became more and
more estranged, until war was openly declared, and
decided at the battle of Actium, September 2, 31 b.c.
In this battle, Antony cowardly deserted his fleet be-
fore the result was decided, and fled with Cleopatra to

118 DEATH OF ANTONY.

Egypt. When Antony fled, his fleet lost heart, and
was annihilated. His land force, after waiting a week
for his return, surrendered.

Octavius, the next year, went to Egypt ; and An-
tony, after a slight resistance, committed suicide.
Cleopatra followed his example.

Octavius was now sole master of the Roman world.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Augustus.

• Octayius was received with great enthusiasm at
Rome ; for all were anxious to secure his favor, while
they were entirely ignorant as to what course the con-
queror would pursue. His first acts, however, removed
every fear of a renewal of the proscriptions of Marius
and Sulla, and the revival of the dictatorship. While
very careful to retain complete control of his conquests,
by procuring from the Senate the office of Imperator, or
general of the armies, he did not hesitate to lay down,
of his own free will, all unusual honors which could in
any way excite suspicion, and then proceeded to make
himself the centre of the state by the vote of the Sen-
ate. To restore this body to something of its ancient
respectability, he purged it of the additions made by
Caesar and the triumvirate, and put himself at its head
as Princeps, or chief. It was the policy of the early
leaders of the revolution to debase the Senate, the sole
relic of the republic, as an enemy, and to destroy it by
making it contemptible. It was the policy of Augustus
to so far restore its character that, by its authority, he
might establish his government on a basis of plausible
legality. Under senatorial sanction, he invested him-
self successively with the consulship, tribunate, cen-
sorship, and chief pontificate ; while he claimed for
himself universal proconsular powers. Thus, while

120 THE ROMAN PEACE.

laying down his titles won by the sword, he, in fact,
retook them by means of a subservient Senate ; and,
while pretending to restore the glories of the republic,
he deprived it of every republican feature.

The people not only submitted to these usurpations,
but encouraged them. Fifty years of civil war had
made them anxious for any change which promised
peace, and an enjoyment of the vast wealth which was
continually pouring in from the provinces. Peace at
any price was the universal desire ; and it was to this
fact that Octavius owed his success.

As the title of king was so obnoxious to the Romans,
a new one was invented for Octavius, — that of Augus-
tus, which lent him dignity, if it did not increase his
authority ; and it is by this title that he is generally
known. So gradually and unobtrusively were the
reforms of Augustus made, and so anxious were the
Romans for a rest from strife, that we find only two
very harmless attempts to shake his authority ; and
when he declared the " Roman Peace," closing the
gates of the temple of Janus for the first time in more
than two hundred years (234 B.C.), the people seem to
have been so charmed with their new luxury that they
were willing to submit to any rule rather than to
endanger it even by a murmur.

One of the first cares of Augustus was to secure the
tranquillity of the outlying portions of the empire.

The Parthians in the East, and the Germans on the
Rhine, made a protracted struggle against the Roman
power, during which the Germans, under Herrman,
inflicted on the legions of Varus the most sanguinary
defeat which had befallen the Roman arms since the
battle of Cannse. Still, by extending the rights of

REIGN OF AUGUSTUS. 121

citizenship to the inhabitants of the provinces, Augus-
tus not only fastened his empire together, but gave to
the border nations a new and vital interest in the
integrity of its boundaries. By taking the control of
provincial affairs into his own hands, he put an end to
the misrule of the creatures of the Senate, and replaced
tyrannical oppression by firm and even justice. The
empire had reached its limits. After Augustus, but
two additions, Britain and Dacia, were made to its do-
minions ; and Rome was abundantly satisfied if able to
maintain its authority over what it already possessed.

At home, while he remodelled the state, he found
time to beautify the capital, and, without burdening his
subjects, changed it so completely that he was able to
boast that he found the city of brick, and left it of
marble.

In his family, the first emperor was singularly unfor-
tunate. Having no sons of his own, he adopted those
of his relatives, and saw the most promising of these
pass away, and himself threatened with the loss of
every heir. The conduct of his only child, Julia, caused
her banishment ; while his anxiety to prevent the em-
pire from falling to pieces for want of a head did not
permit him to disinherit her children.

Augustus died, after seeing his empire well estab-
lished, at the age of seventy-six years (14 a.d.). Ho
was frugal and correct in his personal habits ; quick and
shrewd in his dealings with men ; bold and ambitious
in the affairs of state. His greatness consisted rather
in the ability to abstain from abusing the advantages
presented by fortune than in the genius which moulds
the current of affairs to the will. His success depended
on the temper of the people and the peculiar circum-
6

122 CHARACTER OF AUGUSTUS.

stances of the time. His clearest title to greatness is
found in the fact that he compelled eighty millions of
people to live in peace for forty-four years.

In estimating the character of Augustus, we must
take into account the writers whose names have given
to his its brightest lustre, and have made the Augustan
Age a synonym for excellence in culture, art, and
government. Yergil, Ovid, Horace, Livy, and a host of
others, have given his reign a brilliancy unmatched in
time, which is rather enhanced than diminished by the
fame of Cicero, Csesar, and Sallust, who preceded him,
and Tacitus, Seneca, and others, who came after ; for
they belong to an epoch in which Augustus stands the
central figure in all which pertains to the arts of peace.
Tf Roman art and Roman literature were a copy of the
Greek, it was a noble imitation ; and if it added to
its sublimity, its grace and elegance, a subservience
which borders on servility, it is but an evidence of
the utter demoralization wrought by the civil wars,
and of the ecstasy with which peace filled every mind.
Much allowance must be made for the extravagant
praises lavished on their hero ; and he must be judged
by the result of his labors. He made the world to
centre on one will ; and the destruction of the mighty
fabric began the moment it fell to feebler or less sincere
hands. The horrors which marked the reigns of his
successors were the legitimate result of the irrespon-
sible sovereignty he established. He formed his em-
pire for the present, to the utter ignoring of the future.
Thus it would seem, then, that the part he played was
that of a shrewd politician, rather than of a wise states-
man.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The Julian Emperors.

We now turn our backs for ever on the old Roman
world, the last vestige of which was swept away by-
Augustus. The virtues, and even the more respectable
vices, of the greater Rome, were entire strangers to the
empire ; and, of all that had made her great, there re-
mained only an empty name and a still emptier pride.

Augustus was succeeded by Tiberius, son of Livia,
wife of Augustus and her former husband, Tiberius
Claudius Nero. During the later years of the life of
Augustus, Livia had exercised an almost boundless in-
fluence over the emperor, and, as long as she lived,
managed to keep her unruly son somewhat within
bounds of decency. On the death of Livia, Tiberius
confined himself to a retreat at Capreae, where he
abandoned himself to brutal sensuality. His throne
was secured by the murder of Agrippa Posthumus,
who might, from the popularity of his father's name,
have become dangerous ; and, somewhat later, by that
of Germanicus, his nephew.

Tiberius had shown himself a good soldier and a
brave man ; and every thing promised well for his
reign. But he was morose, sullen, and suspicious. He
dared not trust the people, but surrounded himself with
a guard of the Praetorians. He dared not trust his son,
and set up a favorite, Sejanus, on whom he lavished

124 . CALIGULA.

every favor, and to whom he intrusted every com-
mand. The favorite soon found means to carry off the
young prince by poison, and even looked with longings
to the crown. After a brief rule, the minister fell
under well-merited suspicion, and was put to death.
Then followed a general proscription, in which all
who could interfere with the safety of the state were
sacrificed. Not even yet did Tiberius dare to visit his
capital. Once, indeed, he made the attempt, and sailed
up the Tiber, having guards on either bank, who drove
away the populace gathered to welcome his return.
.On coming within sight of the gardens of Caesar, he
turned back, and did not stop till he regained his island
retreat. Now began a remarkable period of suicides.
The wealthy and wise shrunk from witnessing the
horrors of the times ; and many sought to escape by
putting an end to their own lives. The misery of the
reign was, however, confined to the city ; and there is
no reason to doubt that the rest of the empire enjoyed
a considerable amount of prosperity. After a reign of
thirteen years (14-27 a.d.), Tiberius died either in a
fainting fit or, as is quite as possible, from being
smothered by his attendants.

Caligula (37-41 a.d.).

He was succeeded by Caius, son of Germanicus, bet-
ter known as Caligula, — a nickname given him by the
soldiers from the buskins he wore. Caligula was twenty-
five years old when he began to reign. His constitu-
tion was weakly. He was subject to fits. He slept
but little, and then was troubled with most frightful
dreams. At first, he showed great moderation and

CALIGULA. . 125

affability. By burning the accusations sent him by
informers, he won the hearts of the people, eager
to change the morose old Tiberius for any other
master.

This lasted but a very brief time. The celebration
of his birthday was on a scale of the greatest grandeur ;
and, from that time, he plunged into every excess. An
illness caused by these excesses convinced him of the
affections of the people ; and, on his recovery, he threw
off every restraint. After squandering the wealth he
had inherited, he put to death wealthy citizens, and
confiscated their possessions. He is said to have ex-
pressed a wish that the Roman people had but one
neck, that he might slay them all at a blow. His
famous bridge, from the Palatine to the capital, was
quite equalled by a bridge across the Bay of Baise. It
may be the intention was to increase the safety of the
harbor ; but, at all events, it never served any purpose.
During this period of his reign, he found time to make
an expedition into Gaul, and even meditated and pre-
pared an invasion of Britain.

After a rule of four years, a conspiracy was formed
by a tribune of the Praetorian guard ; and the emperor
was assassinated. At first, the Senate endeavored to
regain their lost power. But though a strong party
was in favor of a return to the republic, so many of
the influential citizens put in claims for the vacant
office that it became apparent that such a return was
now impossible. All doubt was dispelled, however,
when the Praetorians discovered Claudius, an uncle of
Caligula, hidden in the palace, and, taking him to their
camp, proclaimed him emperor (41 a.d.).

126 CLAUDIUS AND NERO.

Claudius (41-54 a.d.).

The new monarch had escaped the fate of the
other members of the family, only because he did
not seem to have wit enough to become dangerous.
He, however, appears to have devoted himself to
business with much energy and perseverance ; and his
chief faults, perhaps, were a too great indulgence in
the luxuries of the table, and a too ready submission to
the rule of his wives* At home, his rule was mild and,
without doubt, beneficial. The rigor of his govern-
ment in the provinces cannot be questioned. The
conquest of Britain was undertaken by Claudius ; and,
after a campaign of but sixteen days, he had laid firmly
the foundation of its final subjection.

The last wife of Claudius was his niece, Agrippina,
sister to Caligula. This woman had a son by her for-
mer husband, Domitius, who was also named Domitius.
Agrippina induced the emperor to adopt her son,
who took the name of Nero, by which he is generally
known, and, to secure still further his succession, be-
trothed him to Octavia, daughter of Claudius. Every
thing being ripe, the faithless wife caused her husband
to be poisoned, and her son to be proclaimed in his
stead. Claudius, under the influence of evil coun-
sellors, persecuted some of the noble Romans ; but,
even in this respect, he was a model of mildness com-
pared with his predecessors. The obloquy which
surrounds his name is doubtless due to the necessity
of disparaging him, that Nero might be the more
favorably received.

NERO. 127

Nero (54-68 a.d.).

Nero was sixteen years old when he began (54 a.d.)
to reign. During the first five years of his reign, he
was under the influence of Seneca and Burrhus, pre-
fect of the Praetorians ; and his government was, with
few exceptions^ the most respectable since Augustus.
It was certainly during this period that Britannicus, son
of the late emperor, was put to death. But this was
due rather to the fears and policy of Agrippina than to
the cruelty or malice of Nero.

His masters kept the young emperor amused, and
removed from the cares of state, until he became en-
tangled with Poppaea, wife of Salvius Otho. Both
were married ; but Nero, who had only used Octavia
as a stepping-stone to fortune, felt no scruples in di-
vorcing her ; and Otho was sent on a distant mission,
and afterwards divorced with as little compunction.
The only real obstacle was the active and dangerous
Agrippina, who was entirely unwilling to share her au-
thority over her son with another. Her death was
determined on ; and neither Seneca nor Burrhus felt
strong enough to refuse to counsel, or at least connive
at, her murder. An attempt was made to drown her in
the Bay of Baiaa, and, that failing, she was despatched
by the hands of assassins. Poppaea then obtained com-
plete control of the emperor. Octavia was banished,
and afterwards murdered, when Poppaea became her
successor.

It would be useless to follow the crimes of Nero from
this time in detail. Poppaea died from a kick adminis-
tered by her imperial husband. The wealthy were
plundered and put to death. The death of Burrhus

128 GALEA.

and the withdrawal of Seneca released Nero from every
restraint; and he no longer hesitated to outrage the
feelings of his subjects in every way. He appeared in
public, contending first as a musician and afterwards
in the sports of the circus. The great fire which at
this time destroyed a great part of the city was as-
cribed to him, but without sufficient evidence ; and the
stories of his conduct during the conflagration are,
doubtless, pure fictions. It was, however, necessary to
fix the guilt on some one ; and the fittest objects ap-
peared to be the Jews and Christians, who were perse-
cuted without mercy, until public opinion compelled
their safety.

Conspiracies now arose, in which Seneca and Lucan
were implicated ; and both were ordered to take their
own lives. In a tour made of Greece, Nero conducted
himself so scandalously that even Roman morals were
shocked, and Roman patience could endure him no
longer. The army in hither Spain revolted, and
marched on Rome. Nero felt that he was not safe in
the city, and fled in abject fear to the villa of a freed-
man, Phaon. Here, after a struggle with his horror of
death, which was only overcome by the greater horror
of the punishment decreed against him by the Senate,
he put an end to his own life just in time to escape
capture at the hands of the soldiers. Nero was thirty
years old, and had reigned fourteen years. With him
ended the line of the adopted sons of the Julii.

Galea (68-69 a.d.).

Galba had been proclaimed emperor by his soldiers,
about two months before the death of Nero : and the

OTHO AND VITELLIUS. 129

most important features of this revolution were the re-
volt of the army, and the proclaiming of an emperor
elsewhere than at Rome. A precedent was now formed,
which was followed many times.

Galba entered the city as a conqueror without much
opposition. He soon became unpopular from his par-
simony and austerity ; and the selection of Piso Licini-
anus as an associate did not help matters, as he was too
much like Galba in character. The soldiers mutinied ;
and the new emperors were murdered the fifteenth day
after Galba entered Rome. .

Otho (69a.d.).

Otho, from whom Nero had taken his wife, Poppaea,
was the leader of the insurrection against Galba, and
was declared emperor. No sooner did the news of his
accession reach Gaul, than Vitellius, a general of the
army of the Rhine, revolted. Although safe in Rome,
Otho found it necessary to march against the rebels.
He was defeated at Bedriacum, near the junction of
the Po and Adda, and put an end to his life, after a
reign of three months.

Vitellius (69 a.d.).

Vitellius became successor to the vacant throne. He
was coarse and brutal. His march to Rome was marked
by great cruelty and excesses. The Romans were dis-
gusted with him before his arrival. He was therefore
compelled to take measures for their conciliation.
Thus far, the revolts against the crown had been con-
fined to the West : the East had shown but little in*
6* i

130 VTTELLIUS.

terest in tliem. Now, however, Vespasian, a lieutenant
in Syria, began to attract attention ; and his soldiers
declared him emperor (July 1). This made the third
imperator who had been declared during the year (69
a.d.). Unmindful of the threatening dangers, Vitel-
lius, after a few concessions to the people, surrendered
himself to the grossest debauchery ; while Vespasian,
leaving his son Titus to continue the wrar in Palestine,
took every measure to insure a speedy and successful
march on Rome. The command of the army was in-
trusted to Mucianus and Antonius Primus ; and the
war was only concluded in the city itself by the capture
of the Praetorian camp, and the death of Vitellius, who
was murdered with every indignity (December 21,
a.d. 69).

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Flavian Empeeoeb.
fc, Vespasian (69-79 a.d.).

Vespasian was absent at the Jewish war when he
was proclaimed emperor. The Jews had undergone
many changes of government since the death of Augus-
tus. They had been separated from the empire, under
native princes, and rejoined to it. Under Nero, the
oppression of the imperial governors drove the people
to a rebellion, which brought to the surface all the
fanaticism and frenzy of which human nature is capable.
On determining to seize the imperial crown, Vespasian
left the conduct of the war to his son Titus, who, as
soon as affairs became settled at Rome, inarched at
once on Jerusalem, and utterly destroyed it. The
horrors of the siege were aggravated by every circum-
stance which can make war terrible. Famine, pesti-
lence, and the sword, discord within the walls, and the
unsparing sword of the Romans without, made this one
of the most awful of the calamities which stain the
pages of history.

The capture of Jerusalem (70 a.d.) virtually ended the
war ; and Titus hastened to Rome to assist his father.
An insurrection in Gaul at one time threatened serious
complications ; but it disappeared before the first ad-
vance of the Roman forces. This rebellion was entirely
a military movement ; for by this time Gaul had become

132 TITUS AND DOMITIAN.

so thoroughly Romanized that no movement to throw
off the imperial yoke was possible among the people.

Vespasian was active and prudent in public affairs,
and frugal and virtuous in his private life. His reign
of ten years was marked by peace and prosperity at
home and abroad.

Titus (79-81 a.d.).

Vespasian was succeeded by his son Titus, who
emulated the virtues of his father to such an extent
that he was called the "darling of mankind." His
early life had not been exemplary ; but, on his acces-
sion to the throne, his conduct changed, to the univer-
sal delight of his people. His peaceful reign has left
its monuments in the ruins of the Colosseum (which had
been begun by his father), the arch, and baths of Titus
at Rome. It was during this reign that the cities of
llerculaneum and Pompeii were destroyed by an erup-
tion of Vesuvius, being covered and preserved as an
example of the civilization and culture of the empire at
the period of its highest grandeur.

After a prosperous and happy reign of two years,
Titus left his throne to his brother Domitian, who has
been suspected of having carried off his brother by
poison. This suspicion, however, is due to the subse-
quent career of Domitian, rather than to any evidence
of his guilt.

Domitian (81-96 a.d.).

Domitian departed entirely from the virtue and sim-
plicity of his predecessors. While indulging in every
luxury, he endeavored to reform the state. To support
his extravagances, and the demands of the army, he

NERVA AND TRAJAN. 133

levied forced loans on the people, — a sure sign of
weakness and misgovern ra en t. He lived in constant
dread of assassination, and oppressed and irritated all
classes, especially the nobles. He was murdered, after
a reign of fifteen years, during which he earned the
hatred and contempt of his subjects by his crimes and
inconsistencies. With Domitian, ended the line of
Flavian emperors. He was also the last of those
known as the Twelve Caesars.

Neeva (96-98 A.D.).

Domitian was succeeded by Cocceius Nerva, who
was appointed by the Senate, and was the first emperor
who did not owe his advancement to military force or
influence. Nerva associated with himself M. Ulpius
Trajan, then in command of the army on the Rhine.
Nerva survived his elevation but sixteen months ; but
during that time he had curbed the Praetorian guard,
whose camp within the city gave them an almost supreme
influence over the government, restored tranquillity to
the people, and avoided giving offence to any, while
conferring happiness and prosperity on every class.

^ Tbajan (98-117 a.d.).

Nerva was succeeded by Trajan, without a murmur
on the part of the people. The character of Trajan
has its surest guarantee in the love and veneration of
his subjects ; and it is said that, long afterwards, the
highest praise which could be bestowed on a ruler was
that he was " more fortunate than Augustus, and better
than Trajan." Trajan was a soldier ; and, if he lacked

134 REIGN OF HADRIAN.

the refinements of peaceful life, he was nevertheless a
wise and firm master.

He added to the empire Dacia, the country included
between the Danube and the Theiss, the Carpathians
and the Pruth. This territory became so thoroughly
Romanized that the language of its inhabitants to-day
is founded on that of their conquerors of nearly eigh-
teen centuries ago. It was in honor of his campaign
into Dacia that Trajan erected his famous column at
Rome, which still remains.

Alter the Dacian war, Trajan remained a few years
at Rome, where he expended vast sums in public im-
provements ; but the money so expended was the fruit
of his wars, not spoils forced from his subjects. The
last two years of his reign were spent in wars against
the Parthians and Armenians. In these he was so
successful as to add them to the empire ; but the bond
which held them was so loose that they fell away im-
mediately on his death. Trajan died after a reign of
nineteen years, during which he enjoyed almost unin-
terrupted prosperity.

There had been a great change in the feelings of the
Roman people since we saw them opposing so strongly
the admission of the Italians to citizenship, as may be
seen from the fact that Trajan was not only not a Ro-
man citizen, but was not even born in Italy. The
family from which he descended had been for a long
time settled in Spain, whither they had immigrated
from the imperial city.

Hadrian (117-138 a.d.).

Trajan was succeeded by P. JElius Hadrianus, son
of his cousin, and also a native of Spain. One of tho

REIGN OF HADRIAN. 135

first acts of Hadrian was to relinquish the recent con-
quests of Trajan, and to restore the old boundaries of
the empire. The reasons of this are obvious. The ut-
most limits had already been reached which could lend
strength to the power of Rome, or be held in subjection
without constant and expensive military operations.
The people occupying the new conquests were hardy and
warlike, scattered through a country easy of defence,
and certain to strive continually against a foreign yoke.

The early portion of the reign of Hadrian was full of
labor and hardship. He was constantly busied in dif-
ferent parts of the empire struggling to preserve the
boundaries which had been established before Trajan,
and in repressing rebellion. He was scarcely on the
throne before disturbances arose everywhere. He
visited Britain, where he curbed the inroads of the
Caledonians, and built a fortified line of works (known
as the Picts' Wall), extending from sea to sea. He
made an expedition into Dacia, but found it useless to
attempt to hold the country. Thence he was called in
haste to Rome to quell an insurrection, which he ac-
complished with merited severity. He was compelled
to visit the East, where the Jews were making serious
trouble by a revolt, and completed their dispersion by
their overthrow. Indeed, there was scarcely a portion
of his vast domain which did not seem to demand his
presence, and to which he did not journey.

On his return to Rome, Hadrian devoted himself
to the adornment of the city. Several of his works,
more or less complete, as his Mole, or tomb, still remain
to us.

Hadrian was afflicted with poor health, suffering
much by diseases from which he could find no relief.

136 REIGN OF HADRIAN.

To secure a proper succession, he associated with him-
self in the government Titus Aurelius Antoninus, and
required him to adopt M. Annius Verus, his sister's
son, and Lucius Verus, a child. Soon after this ar-
rangement was made, Hadrian died (138 a.d.), and left
the empire to Titus and his sons.

CHAPTER XXX.

The Antonines (138-192 a.d.).

Antoninus Pius (138-161 a.d.).

Op the new emperors, Antoninus was already fifty-
two years old. He was a native of Gaul, and well
earned the name by which he is universally known,
"Pius." This title was conferred upon him by the
Senate as a mark of affectionate respect which he had
showed for Hadrian. Aurelius was much younger, —
not yet twenty years old, — and was connected with
his colleague by marriage with his daughter, Faustina.

The Antonines ruled solely with a view to making
their people happy ; and, with the exception of Augus-
tus, none of the emperors are so distinguished. Frugal
almost to parsimony in what concerned themselves,
they were lavish in their expenditures for the benefit
of the state. By wisdom and prudence, they succeeded
in winning the respect and affection both of the soldiers
and nobles, and caused the affairs of state to move so
smoothly that their reign presents but few of the inci-
dents of which history is made. On their accession,
conspiracies were formed against them ; but these were
easily quelled, and the twenty-four years of their reign
are years of honorable and dignified tranquillity.

Marcus Aurelius (161-180 a.d.).

On the death of Antoninus, Marcus associated with
himself Verus, of whom Antoninus had taken no notice

138 MARCUS AURELIUS.

during his reign. The troubles of Marcus began with
his accession. The Moors had made an irruption into
S] min ; barbarians had broken into Gaul ; the army in
Britain had attempted to set up Statins Priscus as em-
peror ; and the attitude of Parthia in the East was
threatening. The eastern war was fortunately termi-
nated ; but the returning army brought with it a pesti-
lence, which spread devastation throughout the West.
An insurrection on the Danube called for the greatest
activity on the part of the empire, and was only par-
tially settled.

The early death of Verus (168 a.d.) released Marcus
from a colleague who attracted attention only by his
unfitness for his position, and relieved the emperor of
embarrassments which might well have become his
greatest danger.

The remainder of his reign, however, was scarcely
less unhappy. One of his generals revolted in the East,
but was put to death by his own soldiers. Scarcely
had Marcus returned to Rome, when he was called
against the Sarmatians. Rome had now not only
passed the age of conquest, but had outlived her ability
to defend what she already possessed. Marcus died
(180 a.d.) before peace was made with these barbarians,
— a peace which was purchased from them with money,
by his thus setting the example, so often followed in
later times, of buying with gold what Rome lacked
strength and courage to enforce by arms.

Marcus Aurelius was the " Philosopher " of the em-
pire. His tastes were quiet ; he was unassuming, and
honestly intent on the good of his people. Their wel-
fare drove him into active military life, full of cares
and hardships from which he never shrank. His faults

COMMODUS. 139

were amiable weaknesses ; his virtues, those of a hero.
With him ended the line of " good emperors."

Commodus (180-192 A.D.).

Commodus, who succeeded Marcus, was the unworthy-
son of an indulgent father. His mother was Faustina,
daughter of Antoninus, a lady whose name has become
even more dishonorable than she deserved on account
of the vices of her son.

On the death of Marcus, Commodus hastened to
Rome, and was received by both the Senate and army"
without opposition. . His character, tolerably well veiled
before his accession, soon became apparent. He united
the low tastes of the gladiator with a ferocity and vin-
dictiveness almost unequalled even among the emperors
of unhappy Rome. His sister conspired against his
life ; but the assassin was unsuccessful. As he struck
the blow, he said, " The Senate sends you this ; " and
from that moment Commodus persecuted the Senate
with unrelenting hate. Informers were highly re-
warded ; and by their means he rid himself of the most
distinguished members of that body. He gave the
government into the hands of ministers so ingenious in
their corruption, that even the patient Roman populace
rose against them, and demanded their lives. Commo-
dus abandoned his favorites without compunction.
Owing to misrule, the army in Britain joined in the
demand for their punishment ; and they paid the pen-
alty of their crimes with their lives.

At length, a conspiracy of his servants rid the em-
pire of this monster, after a reign of twelve years. PIo

140 COMMODUS.

was the equal of Nero in his crimes, the inferior in
every manly attribute except brute strength ; a mon-
arch whose proudest boasts were his triumphs in the
amphitheatre, and his ability to kill a hundred lions
with a hundred arrows.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Peeiod op Militaey Despotism (193-306 a.d.).

Peetinax (192-193 a.d.).

Commodus was succeeded by Pertinax, the prefect
of the city, an old and distinguished senator (192 a.d.).
Pertinax was a well-meaning, conscientious statesman,
and did what he could to restore tranquillity to the
city. He corrected abuses, and recalled many citizens
who had been banished under Commodus. It was his
misfortune to have no military support with which to
enforce his measures, and provide for his own safety.
After a reign of three months, the Praetorian guard
broke into revolt, and ended his reforms by his murder.

Julianus (193 A.D.).

The Praetorians then set the imperial crown up at
auction, and sold it to the highest bidder. The man
who sought to purchase the debased honors of his
country was Didius Julianus. He enjoyed them but
two months, when he was deposed, condemned, and
executed.

Septimus Seveeus (193-211 a.d.).

In the mean time, several soldiers had been declared
emperor by their respective armies. Among these was
Septimus Severus, an African, belonging to the army
of the Danube. Severus at once marched on Rome ;

142 CARACALLA AND MACRINUS.

and, at his approach, the Praetorians deserted their
creature for the new master, making for themselves the
best terms they could. They were disarmed, and ban-
ished from the city. Secure of the capital, Severus
devoted himself to subduing the other aspirants for
the purple, which occupied his attention for three
years. Returning to Rome, he put out of the way all
of the senators who were unfriendly to him, and, hav-
ing thus insured the stability of his rule, spent most of
his time abroad. He died in Britain, where he carried
on a considerable war against the barbarians of the
North, after a reign of eighteen years (211 a.d.).

Caracalla (211-217 a.d.).

Severus left two sons, both of whom he had associated
with himself in the government. No sooner was he
dead than they quarrelled with each other; and the
elder, Bassianus, better known by his nickname of
Caracalla, murdered his brother with his own hands.

Caracalla was one of the most bloody-minded of the
Roman emperors ; and his name is linked by his crimes
to those of Nero and Commodus. There was nothing
in his character to admire or respect. The number
of his illustrious victims is said to have amounted to
several thousands. He spent most of his time away
from Rome, everywhere displaying the same wanton
cruelty. After a reign of six years, he was murdered
by a common soldier (217 a.d.).

Macrintts (217-218 a.d.).

Caracalla was succeeded by Maciinus, who perished
the next year in an attenrpt to reduce the pay of the

HEL10GABALUS. 143

soldiers. The military were the power behind the
throne. They made and unmade the monarchs, as we
have seen. That their pay was too large is certain ;
for it was the price of their toleration of a master.
But they were all-powerful ; and any attempt to cur-
tail their privileges was full of danger.

Heliogabalus (218-222 a.d.).

Heliogabalus, a priest of the sun, at Edessa, was next
raised to the throne. This man had few virtues ; but
his vices seem to have been entirely of a personal char-
acter. He, however, carried these to such an extent
as to disgust all his subjects. After a reign of three
years, the Praetorians revolted, and murdered him
(222 a.d.).

Alexander Seveeus (222-235 a.dj.

Heliogabalus had associated with himself Alexander,
who took the name of Severus, a youth, seventeen
years of age ; and by him he was succeeded. Alex-,
ander proved one of the mildest and most virtuous of
the Roman emperors. For a time, he was greatly influ-
enced by his mother, a crafty woman, of much talent,
at whose instigation some cruelties were perpetrated.
The Praetorians soon perceived that the young empe-
ror proposed to be master, and rebelled. Not, indeed,
against Alexander, but against his minister, Ulpian,
one of the most distinguished of Roman jurists. Alex-
ander, supported by the people, in vain endeavored
to save Ulpian, whom they put to death ; and the em-
peror was for a time compelled to dissemble before

144 ALEXANDER SEVER US.

his soldiers. Afterwards, however, the crime was
punished.

Alexander's reign was, at first, free from wars; so
he was enabled to devote himself to the advancement
of his subjects. He curbed the soldiers, and protected
the people, releasing them from many taxes, and secured
for them unusual tranquillity and prosperity. In the
latter portion of his reign, he undertook a war against
Persia, which resulted in the loss of a portion of Meso-
potamia. Thence he was called to the Danube to resist
the Sarmatians and Germans, when he was soon after
murdered by his soldiers, under the lead of a gigantic
peasant, a Thracian, named Maximinus, after a reign of
thirteen years (235 a.d.).

For some time, the history of Rome becomes quite
barren. The names of her rulers have nothing of in-
terest connected with them. The state drifted along,
monarch after monarch rising and falling in rapid suc-
cession, and leaving nothing but a name to tell that he
had lived.

In the mean time, her enemies on the frontiers were
becoming daily more dangerous and threatening. In
the West, the movement of the German tribes had be-
gun, which ended in the conquests of Gaul and Britain.
On the Danube, the Goths had made their appearance,
and were soon found scouring both land and sea, and
carrying off their plunder to their wild homes in the
North. In the East, Persia had just undergone a revo-
lution which had placed a native dynasty on the throne ;
and was now able to regain its power and dignity, and
to maintain an advantageous war against Rome, lasting
many years.

MAXIMINUS AND THE GORDIANS. 145

Maximinus (235-238 a.d.).

The usurpation of Maximinus was strongly resented
by the Senate, though it was as yet powerless to offer
open resistance. Gordian, prefect of Africa, and his son,
were, however, encouraged to assume the purple. They
met with reverses in the field : the son was killed, and
the father put an end to his own life. In encouraging
the Gordians, the Senate had taken a step from which
there was no retreat. On hearing of their misfortune,
it at once placed Maximus and Balbinus on the throne
in opposition to Maximinus, and, at the urgent demand
of the people, added to them, as " Caesar," a third Gor-
dian. The end came speedily. Maximinus was mur-
dered by his guards (238 a.d.) ; and, about five months
later, Maximus and Balbinus suffered the same fate at
the hands of the Praetorians.

The Gordians (238-244 a.d.).

The Gordians (I., II., and III.) were now sole em-
perors, and put the management of the government
into the hands of their minister, Misitheus, who cor-
rected considerably the manners of the court. In 242
a.d., Gordian III. opened the gates of the temple of
Janus for the last time in history, and marched in
person against the Persians, over whom he gained a
brilliant victory. He was soon after murdered by his
soldiers, at the instigation of Philippus, an Arabian
(244 a.d.), by whom he was succeeded.

Philip (244-249 a.d.).

The five years of this reign present nothing of inter-
est, unless it be the fact that Philip has been claimed

146 PHILIP, DECIUS, AND GALLUS.

as a convert to Christianity, on no sufficient grounds.
His army in Maesia revolted ; and Decius, the officer
sent to suppress the rebellion, after defeating the pre-
tender, placed himself at the head of the soldiers, and
assumed the purple. Philip met them at Verona, where
he was defeated and slain (249 a.d.).

Decius (249-251 a.d.).

Decius undertook the role of a reformer. He was
of old Roman stock, and earnestly sought the restora-
tion of the early traditions. He was soon called to
march against the Goths, by whom he was twice de-
feated, and finally slain. Decius was the first Roman
emperor who fell on the field of battle (251 a.d.).

Gallus (251-253 a.d.).

The Senate at once appointed Gallus to the vacant
throne, who obtained from the Goths a momentary
peace for a considerable payment in money. The pur-
chase raised a cloud of enemies against Gallus at Rome,
and induced the Goths speedily to renew their assault
on the empire. iEmilianus, an officer of the army of
the Danube, headed a revolt. The emperor was as-
sassinated ; and iEmilianus was raised by the soldiers
to the throne thus made vacant (253 a.d.).

uEmilianus (253 a.d.).

uEmilianus was not without a claim on the gratitude
of the people. He had boldly attacked the Goths on

_ jEMILIANUS AND VALERIAN. 147

their last inroad, and driven them beyond the Danube.
He was, however, allowed no time to demonstrate his
fitness or unfitness for rule. Valerian quickly brought
against him a powerful army from Gaul and Germany ;
and, deserted by his own troops, ^Emilianus fell, like
his predecessor, by the hand of an assassin, after a reign
of but three months.

Valekian (253-259 a.d.).

Valerianus associated with himself Gallienus; and
a poorer choice could scarcely have been made. The
Franks had become very troublesome in Gaul ; and
against them Gallienus pretended to march. He, how-
ever, remained at Treves, leaving the conduct of the
campaign to a general. The empire was now sorely
beset. The Franks carried their depredations through
Spain, and even crossed to Africa. The Alemanni (Ger-
mans) appeared before Ravenna ; and the emperor was
fain to purchase peace by marrying Pipa, the daughter
of their king. The Goths were even more open and
bold in their ravages than before. Sapor, king of
Persia, attacked the empire on the East ; and Valerian
hastened to oppose him. The Persians were victorious
near Edessa (259 a.d.) ; and Valerian was captured.
Sapor is said to have used his prisoner with every in-
dignity, compelling Valerian to assist him in mounting
his horse, and to perform other degrading offices, and,
after his death, to have had his skin stuffed and hung
in a temple. It is to these misfortunes that Valerian
owes his greatest fame.

148 GALLIENUS AND CLAUDIUS.

Gallienus (259-268 a.d.).

No effort was made by Gallienus to repair the for-
tunes of Rome in the East ; and the Persians would
have continued in their victorious career, but for the
bravery of Odenathus, king of Palmyra, who took the
title of Augustus, and defended effectually his own
territory from the Persians.

In every part of the empire now arose claimants to
imperial honors, who generally looked to the complete
sovereignty of the empire, with occasionally one more
modest than his fellows, whose ambition did not extend
beyond his own frontier. Of the latter class was Ode-
nathus, who was the only one on whom Gallienus called
for assistance, and on whom the title was legitimately
bestowed. These usurpers are known as the Thirty-
Tyrants, although their number was but nineteen or
twenty. After an inaction of about six years, Gal-
lienus marched to the Italian frontier against one of
these aspirants (Aureolus), and was killed in a tumult
in his own camp (268 a.d.).

Claudius (268-270 a.d.).

The final act of Gallienus was the nomination of
Claudius as his successor, — a man who was able to re-
store for a moment a share of success to the arms of
Rome, and some dignity to her name. He gained a signal
victory over the Goths, who had invaded the empire
in large numbers, and destroyed their fleet. So great
was the disaster that almost the entire body perished
before the end of the next year. In honor of this vie-

AURELIAN. 149

tory, Claudius added the title of " Gothicus " to his
name. He also concluded a treaty with the rest of the
Goths and the Vandals, and received the Gsetae, another
barbarous tribe, into friendship. He increased the ef-
ficacy of the array by salutary reforms ; but was cut off
by pestilence, after a brilliant reign of two years.

Aurelian (270-275 a.d.).

Claudius's successor was an Illyrian peasant, named
Aurelian, who proved himself one of the ablest gen-
erals of the imperial line. Aurelian defeated the
Goths, but recognized the necessity of abandoning
the northern bank of the Danube. He also defeated
the Alemanni ; but, being called elsewhere, left two of
his generals to complete their destruction. The bar-
barians broke through the Roman lines ; and it was
only after three bloody battles (at Placentia, Pisa, and
Pa via) that they were finally overthrown.

Having restored peace in the West, he marched
against Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, who had succeeded
to that kingdom on the death of her husband, Odena-
thus. In this lady Aurelian found a worthy foe, one
whose political ability was rendered more brilliant by
her justice and courage. Defeated in the field, she
fortified herself in Palmyra, which was taken after a
siege, and, having rebelled, was destroyed. Zenobia
was taken to Rome, where she graced the triumph of
Aurelian, and was permitted to live in a private station.

Aurelian was the first who built the walls of Rome
in their present position. They have since been several
times rebuilt, but on the same lines. He was engaged
in an expedition against Persia, when he was murdered

150 TACITUS, PROBUS, AND CARUS.

(275 a.d.) by one of his generals. So salutary was the
influence of the last two reigns that the empire was
without a master for six months ; and yet there arose
neither rebellion nor usurper. At length, the army re-
quested the Senate to appoint a successor ; and Tacitus
was chosen.

Tacitus (275-276 a.d.).

Tacitus was over seventy years old when he began
to reign ; and five months of exertion were all his wasted
strength permitted. He died in an expedition against
the Alani.

Peobxjs (276-282 a.d.).

The army now selected Probus, an Illyrian, and an
excellent general, as their chief, who for six years
more than sustained the now fast-fading honors of the
Roman arms. He defeated and drove back into Ger-
many a, most formidable conjunction of barbarians,
inflicting on them so severe a blow that one of their
principal tribes was never heard of afterwards. He
compelled an honorable peace from Persia ; and, after
suppressing several revolts, finally fell by the hand of
an assassin (282 a.d.), because the soldiers were no
longer willing to submit to the discipline necessary
to make them useful.

Carus (282-283 a.d.).

Carus, a native of Gaul, was appointed next emperor
by the soldiers. Carus was sixty years of age, but vig-
orous enough to signalize his accession by the defeat
of the Sarmatians. He then marched to the East, leav-
ing his son, Carinus, in charge of the western portion
•

DIOCLETIAN. 151

of the empire, and taking Numerian, another son, with
him. He led his forces further than the emperors had
previously penetrated beyond the Tigris ; but there his
career was cut short by the dagger of Aper, one of his
generals, or, as has been reported with much less prob-
ability, by a stroke of lightning (a.d. 283). Nume-
rian led back the forces of his father to a place of
safety. In less than two years, both the sons of Carus
had fallen ; and Diodes, or Diocletianus, had been
placed in their stead.

Diocletian (284-305 a.d.).

Diocletian was a native of Dalmatia. He had been
elected before the death of Carinus, after which he
mounted the throne, a successful usurper, as sole and
undisputed monarch of the Roman world. Seeing the
necessity for a more united country and a firmer rule,
Diocletian associated with himself, in the second year
of his reign, Maximian, a gigantic soldier, who signal-
ized his accession by subduing a dangerous revolt of
the peasantry in Gaul.

The empire had long been constantly, though slowly,
disintegrating ; and the bonds which held it together
were now very feeble. The war with Persia had be-
come chronic ; the Goths threatened the frontier on the
Danube, the Germans that on the West ; Britain re-
volted under Carausius, and Africa under Julian ; the
peasants of Gaul rose to relieve themselves of the dou-
ble burden of spoliation by the enemy and taxation by
the government. From this, we can appreciate the
state of affairs which induced Diocletian to associate, as
Caesars, Galerius and Constantius (a.d. 292), the former

152 DIOCLETIAN AND MAX1M1AN

of whom was given charge of the East, and finally
compelled an honorable peace from Persia, soon to be
broken, however ; while the latter restored order to the
West. The war in Africa occurred later; but the
causes which made it possible were fully recognized.

Having united the empire by multiplying its rulers,
all of whom worked in harmony, Diocletian introduced
other sweeping changes into the state. Old Rome was
dead. Her Senate had lost the last remnant of its
respectability. Her censors, tribunes, — all the signs
and tokens of her freedom, — were gone; and their
last vestige was now swept away. The crown and a
court were adopted by each emperor, who no longer
even pretended to regard Rome as the capital. The
government was consolidated by centring every office
in the crown ; and the nominally limited monarchy be-
came unreservedly dependent on the will of its master.
The seat of government was changed according to the
necessities of the times or the caprice of the rulers.
Rome was deserted by the court ; and Milan, Nicome-
dia, or any other place which struck the fancy, or
offered inducements to the emperor, became for the
moment her successor. Now each emperor had his
court and his capital ; and Rome, except in her tradi-
tions, was but little more than a provincial town.

The new arrangement worked miracles. As Galerius
had succeeded in the East, and Constantius in Britain,
so Diocletian put an end to a serious revolt in Africa,
and Maximian drove the Germans beyond the frontier.
Having imposed peace and good order on the world,
Diocletian and Maximian surprised their subjects by
resigning the purple, and withdrawing to private life
(305 a.d.).

EMPERORS OF ROME. 153

Instead of allowing the two Caesars to assume the
rank of Augusti, and to nominate each a Caesar to
assist himself, Diocletian placed this very important
matter in the hands of his son-in-law, Galerius. The
choice for the East fell on an Illyrian shepherd, who
assumed the name of Maximinus ; and for the West
(passing over the claims of Constantine, son of Con-
stantius), on Flavius Severus.

The Six Emperors op Rome (306-323 a.d.).

Constantius died at York, Britain, the year after the
abdication ; and the army of Britain declared Constan-
tine, his son, to be his successor. Except in the ex-
treme West, however, the empire was ruled by Galerius
and Severus, as Augusti, or emperors, who recognized
Constantine only as Caesar. Rome now seized an op-
portunity to regain her prominence, and, as the em-
perors had chosen Nicomedia and Milan for their
capitals, looked about for some one to oppose against
them. The Romans were further urged to this by an
attempt to levy taxes on them ; for, since the con-
quest of Macedon, citizens of Rome had been exempt
from personal taxation.

Choice fell upon Maxentius, who, as the son of
Maximian, and, as he had married a daughter of Ga-
lerius, promised to meet with but little opposition.
Maxentius was a weak, vicious prince ; but his father
still lived to assist him. Severus marched to dethrone
him ; and, at the request of both the Senate and the
people, Maximian resumed the purple. Severus was
overcome, and put to death (307 a.d.) ; and, to
strengthen the cause of his son, Maximian visited

154 EMPERORS OF ROME.

Constantiue, heaping upon him every honor, and giv-
ing him his daughter in marriage. Constantine wisely-
refused to commit himself to either party.

An invasion of Italy by Salerius was repelled ; and,
seeing no way to impair the power of the new emperor
of the West but by multiplying the office, he created
Licinius emperor, and at the same time was compelled
to recognize the right of Maximin, who had usurped
the power in Egypt and Syria, to the same rank and
title. Thus the Roman world was now in the hands of
six emperors (308 a.d.), — Maximian, Maxentius, and
Constantine in the West, and Galerius, Licinius, and
Maximin in the East.

This state of affairs could not continue. Maximian
and his son quarrelled about the possession of Italy
before affairs were fairly settled. The father escaped
to Constantine, who was compelled to put him to death
to prevent his seizing the entire West (310 a.d.). The
next year, Galerius died from disease. Maxentius now
attempted to come into collision with Constantine,
and, failing to provoke that cautious ruler to action,
raised an immense army to invade Gaul. His trouble
was that any tax which he could collect in Italy was
insufficient to maintain him in the reckless extrava-
gance of his career.

Constantine moved at once on Italy ; and, after a
series of brilliant victories, defeated Maxentius at Saxa
Rubra, near Rome, who was drowned in attempting to
escape from the field (312 a.d.). The family of the
deceased emperor were all put to death by his brother-
in-law ; but no general massacre was allowed. Licinius
and Constantine appeared to be firm friends ; and Li-
cinius married the sister of the western monarch, which

EMPERORS OF ROME. 155

might be supposed to cement their union. Licinius
soon overcame Maximin (313 a.d.) ; and thus the six
emperors of Rome dwindled away to two.

Licinius abused his power by putting to death the
children of Maximin ; but he affixed an indelible
stain on his name, and forfeited every claim to sym-
pathy in his own distress, by his persecutions of the
wife and daughter of Diocletian. After driving them
from place to place, he ordered them put to death.

The peace between the East and the West lasted
about a year, when a quarrel arose which enabled Con-
stantine to add Macedonia and Greece to his possessions.
For about nine years nothing occurred to disturb the
serenity of their relations ; and both seemed satisfied
with the existing state of affairs. Constantine then
invaded the East without provocation (323 a.d.), de-
feated Licinius in two pitched battles, and once more
united the government of the world in his own person.
Licinius was soon after put to death, though he had
surrendered all his honors to the conqueror (324 a.d.).

CHAPTER XXXII.

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT (306-327 A.D.).

Having .attained the undivided sovereignty, Constan-
tine determined to build for his empire a new capital,
which should be worthy of him. He selected the site
of Byzantium as offering the greatest advantages ; for,
being defended on two sides by the sea and the Golden
Horn, it could easily be made almost impregnable,
while as a seaport its advantages were unrivalled, — a
feature not in the least shared by Rome. The project
was entered upon with characteristic energy ; and the
city was built. To people it, the seat of government
was permanently removed thither ; and every induce-
ment was offered to immigration. The empire was now
repartitioned and reorganized. Thus was born the
Greek empire, destined to drag out a miserable exist-
ence for nearly a thousand years after Rome had fallen
a prey to the barbarians.

The later years of his reign did not add much to the
fame of Constantine. He became jealous of his own
family, and hired informers to testify against them.
Among the more illustrious of his victims were his son
Crispus, who had shown himself in every way worthy
to become his successor, and the empress, Fausta,
daughter of Maximian. A bright spot in his declining
years was the defeat of the Goths. These invaded the

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 157

empire, but were repelled with all the vigor and energy
which characterized his youth. Constantine died, after
a reign of thirty years, in the sixty-fourth year of his
age (337 a.d.).

Constantine earned his title of " Great " by his mili-
tary talents, his bravery, and his wisdom. He is en-
titled to great credit for the uniform kindness with
which he treated his Christian subjects. It is said that
his mother, Helena, was a Christian, and that it was to
her influence that this mildness was due. Very early
in the existence of the empire the struggle between
the religion of Christ and that of Rome had attracted
attention. A compromise was usually made by the
Romans after a conquest, by their adopting the gods of
the vanquished into their own mythology, and intro-
ducing their own gods into that of their new subjects.
In the case of the Christians, no such arrangement was
possible. Under several of the emperors, they suffered
severe persecution ; and all calamities were unhesitat-
ingly laid at their doors. Even Diocletian, at the
instigation of Galerius, did not scruple to decree most
violent measures against them, but with no more per-
manent result than had followed similar action on the
part of his predecessors. The sect had increased, and
in the main had prospered, until now, under Constan-
tine, we find them very powerful in the state ; and
after him the old religion was swept away beyond the
possibility of revival. Thus, whether the favor of Con-
stantine was due to early training, or to the recognition
of the certainty of the ultimate predominance of Chris-
tianity and a desire to gain the support of an already
powerful faction, the fact remains that, under him, the
Christians became the dominant body, and their ad-

158 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.

vancement did infinite credit to either his head or his
heart.

The great deeds of Constantine were the uniting
of the Roman world ; the change of capital, resulting
in the final separation of the East from the West ; and
the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the
state. In person, he was tall and majestic ; he w:is
dexterous in all warlike accomplishments ; he was in-
trepid in war, affable in peace ; he was patient and
prudent in council, bold and unhesitating in action.
He was prudent in adversity; but he did not seem
able to bear prosperity. Ambition alone led him to
attack the East ; and the very madness of jealousy
marked his course after his success. He was filial in
his affection toward his mother ; but he can scarcely be
called affectionate who put to death his father-in-law,
his brother-in-law, his wife, and his son. If he was
great in his virtues, in his faults he was contemptible.

Constantine II., Constantius, Constans
(337-353 a.d.).

Constantine was succeeded by his three sons, Con-
stantine, Constantius, and Constans, who divided the
empire among themselves. Constantius and Constans
almost immediately went to war over the possession of
Italy, which belonged by right to Constans. The dif-
ficulty ended in the death of Constantine ; and for
some time the two remaining brothers lived in har-
mony, because the Persian war in the East occupied
the one, while the other was satisfied with a life of
indolence and dissipation. Constans was murdered by
his soldiers (350 a.d.) ; and Constantius had little

JULIAN. lo9

difficulty in uniting the empire. The eastern war was
prosecuted with some vigor, until at length it became
apparent that nothing could be gained by it ; and then
peace was concluded.

While Constantius was thus engaged, his nephew,
Julian, was winning for himself laurels in the West by
his energetic and successful movements against the
Germans. In these he was so fortunate that he excited
the jealousy of the emperor, who ordered him to Con-
stantinople. The troops mutinied on receipt of the
order, and compelled Julian to assume the purple, and
to march to the East. Constantius hastened to meet
him ; but, worn out by his cares and labors, he died on
the way (360 a.d.), and was quietly succeeded by his
rival.

Julian (360-363 a.d.).

Julian was a good soldier, and was a man calculated
to win the love and respect of all. He had been edu-
cated a Christian, but had been won over by the philo-
sophers of the day, and attempted to restore the old
religion ; thus gaining for himself the epithet of
"Apostate." The change made by Constantine had
given to the Christians too firm a hold in the state to
admit of their power being shaken ; and the failure of
Julian precluded for ever afterward any attempt at
such a revolution.

Julian was scarcely more successful in an invasion
which he made into Persia. Deceived by his guides,
he pushed far into the country ; the Persian monarch
refusing an engagement, and retiring before him.
When it became necessary to retreat, the rear of the
Romans was attacked, and was saved only by the

160 VALENTIN1AN AND VALENS.

courage and management of Julian. He was mortally
wounded in a surprise (363 a.d.).

Jovian (363-364 a.d.).

Jovian was selected on the field as the successor of
Julian. He led the army into safety, but died before
reaching Constantinople, after a reign of seven months.

Valentinian and Valens (364-375 a.d.).

After a brief interregnum, the throne was bestowed
on Valentinian, who associated with himself his brother
Valens ; and the empire was divided for a third time,
and this time finally. Valens received for his share
the East, with Constantinople as his capital. Valen-
tinian took the West, making Milan the seat of his
government. So completely had Rome fallen from her
ancient position, that it is very doubtful if Valentinian
visited the city during the twelve years of his reign.
His time was chiefly occupied in repelling invasions of
the barbarians into Gaul ; and he died during a cam-
paign on the Danube (375 a.d.). Although he was
able for the time to repulse his enemies, he could not
produce any permanent effect.

Gratian (375-383 a.d.).

Valentinian was succeeded by his eldest son, Gratian,
who followed the footsteps of his father in discouraging
Paganism, and increasing the spread of Christianity.
He adopted his half-brother, Valentinian, and conferred
upon him every honor. The reign of Gratian was quite

MAXIMUS, VALENT1NTAN II. 161

prosperous as regarded the frontiers, and was peaceful
at home. It was at this time that Valens was slain in
battle against the Goths ; but so completely were the
two empires sundered, that Gratian, instead of attempt-
ing to bring them under one rule, appointed Theodosius
to the vacant throne.

Gratian now gave himself up to pleasure, under the
direction of Alaric, a barbarian. His soldiers in Britain
became dissatisfied, and mutinied under a leader named
Maximus.

Maximus (383-388 a.d.).

Gratian hastened to oppose the usurper; but his
troops refused to fight, and he was compelled to seek
aid from Valentinian II. He was captured and put to
death, while on his journey (383 a.d.).

Valentinian II. (387-392 a.d.).

Valentinian appealed to the eastern emperor; but
the only assistance he could obtain was a guarantee
that Maximus should not interfere with Italy, Illyrium,
and Africa. These stipulations were observed for about
four years, when Maximus suddenly appeared before
Milan, which Valentinian had made his capital; and
he, and his mother, who was regent during his minority,
had barely time to escape. Theodosius now moved,
and arrayed an army of Huns, Goths, and other barba-
rians, against the Germans and Gauls, who supported
Maximus ; while the Romans looked on, without, ap-
parently, taking much interest in the result. Maximus
was overthrown and slain (388 a.d.). For three years,
Theodosius remained in Italy, wielding the real power

162 EUGEN1US AND HONORIUS.

in both empires, while he permitted Yalentinian to re-
install himself in his imperial office. Shortly after his
departure, Valentinian was assassinated by a general
of the Franks (392 a.d.), who, however, declined to
seize the throne, but placed on it Eugenius, a man of
fine appearance, a scholar, and an orator.

Eugenius (392-394 a.d.).

Eugenius was emperor only in name ; while his offi-
cer was the power which managed the government.
Theodosius marched to the West to avenge the death of
Valentinian, and to repress what might have terminated
in a persecution of the Christians. Eugenius was taken
prisoner and put to death, after a reign of two years
(394 a.d.) ; and Honorius, son of Theodosius, was
placed on the throne.

Honorius (395-423 a.d.).

Honorius was only six years old when he began to
reign ; so he was placed under the care of a Vandal
named Stilicho, to whom he was allied by marriage.
Even in this, the last effort of the Roman empire, the
government was made not only respectable, but formi-
dable. The barbarians were driven from the frontiers
on the Rhine and in Britain ; a revolt in Africa was sup-
pressed ; and, having placed the affairs of the West in a
state of safety, the emperor went east, and protected
Arcadius, who had succeeded Theodosius, from the
machinations of his enemies. His chief fame rests on
his operations against the more dangerous hordes who
were now bursting upon Southern Europe, and whom
we shall shortly consider.

VALENT1NIAN III. AND MAXIMUS. 163

Honorius was weak, vacillating, and jealous. The
glories of his reign are those of his general, whom he
did not scruple to put to death the moment he con-
ceived that his throne could exist without him.

The sack of Rome by Alaric followed; and, when
this evil was survived, numerous contestants arose in
different parts of the empire, each eager for a portion
of the fabric which was now so obviously crumbling to
pieces. Britain, as usual, took the lead ; but the usur-
per's claims had no stability, and he was quickly sup-
planted by another. It was not until four rivals, each
claiming to be emperor of Rome, had disposed of each
other, that Honorius was able to bring the West into
subjection. In Gaul and Spain, the same restless spirit
was shown.

Valentinian III (423-455 a.d.).

Honorius was succeeded, after one of the longest
reigns of the imperial line, by Valentinian III. (423
a.d.). His empire was but a relic of its former self.
Gaul, Spain, and Britain were practically lost ; Illyria
and Pannonia were in the hands of the Goths ; and
Africa was soon after seized by the barbarians. Va-
lentinian was fortunate in the possession of jEtius, a
Scythian by birth, who for a time upheld the Roman
name, winning for himself the title of "Last of the
Romans." He was assassinated by his ungrateful
master.

Maximus (455 a.d.).

A few months later, Valentinian fell by the hand of
Maximus, a senator ; and the state was relieved of a

164 AV1TUS, RICIMER.

monster weaker, more cruel, and more contemptible
than even Honorius (455 a.d.). The reign of Maximus
lasted but three months, and is included in the inva-
sion of the Vandals.

Avitus (455-456 a.d.).

Maximus was followed by Avitus, a noble of Gaul ;
but he was deposed the next year by Count Ricimer,
and retired to Gaul, where he was soon after assassi-
nated.

Ricimer (457-467 a.d.).

Ricimer was a Sueve, a man of considerable ability.
For some time, he managed entirely the affairs of the
empire, making and unmaking its monarchs at pleasure.
After the removal of Avitus, ten months were allowed
to elapse before a successor was appointed ; and then
the crown was bestowed on a Sueve, named Majoram
(457 a.d.). During this reign, an unsuccessful war was
waged against the Vandals in Africa, in which the Ro-
man fleet was destroyed off Carthage. This was made
an excuse for compelling Majoram to resign. Ricimer
now (461 a.d.) placed Libius Severus on the throne, still
holding the power in his own hands. Libius was chosen
as being too weak and forceless to interfere with the
plans of Ricimer. An usurper was finally set up against
him, who succeeded in holding Dalmatia for a time un-
molested. After the death of Severus, Ricimer ruled
under the title of Patrician, when the people demanded
an emperor, and he gave them Anthemius, on the rec-
ommendation of the emperor of the East.

ANTHEMIUS AND AUGUSTULUS. 165

Anthemius (467-472 a.d.).

Anthemius attempted to strengthen his position by
marrying a daughter of Ricimer; but jealousy soon
sprung up between them. Ricimer threw off his alle-
giance, and invited a horde of barbarians across the
Alps, with whom he captured and sacked Rome, and
put Anthemius to death. The name of his successor
was Olybrius, who died before the end of the year (472
a.d.). In the mean time, Ricimer died of a painful dis-
order ; but his death occurred too late to benefit the
doomed empire. Names, which appear only as names,
now follow each other so rapidly as to be useless even
to mark time as it passed. Glycerus, the successor of
Olybrius, was forced to give place to Julius Nepos
(474 a.d.), who was compelled to abdicate the fol-
lowing year. Orestes, the leader of the barbarians,
who made this change, placed his son on the throne
under the name of Augustulus. The barbarians now de-
manded a third of the land of Italy, which was refused
them. Under the lead of Odoacer, they slew Orestes,
and deposed his son (476 a.d.). Zeno, emperor of the
East, was now persuaded to declare the office of em-
peror of the West abolished, and to give the govern-
ment of " the Diocese of Italy " to Odoacer, with the
title of " Patrician."

CHAPTER

Invasion and Distribution op the Barbarians.

The sieges and captures of Rome by the barbarians
have been arranged in a chapter by themselves, instead
of in their chronological places in the narrative of the
emperors, because by this plan a better idea of the opera-
tions can be given ; and especially because a clearer
and more distinct conception of the rise of the nations,
which, tearing in pieces the empire of Rome, have
made up modern Europe, can be obtained.

The Huns, who caused the movement which over-
turned the western empire, are supposed to have
come originally from the eastern portion of Asia,
where they were at one time very powerful. A series
of defeats gave rise to defection among their tribu-
taries, and soon after (about the time of Trajan) they
were overthrown by a tribe of Tartars. A large body
of the Huns then went westward, and divided into two
branches : one occupied the country east of the Caspian
Sea, and became known as the "White Huns ; while the
other turned towards the Volga, and received the name
of Black Calmucks of Russia.

The first enemy met by the Huns in Europe were
the Alans, an Asiatic tribe, which had mingled largely
with the Germans. The Alans were brave and war-
like, but the march of the Huns was irresistible. The
Alans divided into three portions : one escaped to the

THE OSTROGOTHS. 167

region between the* Black and Caspian Seas ; another
to Germany, whom we shall again meet ; and a third
joined the army of the Huns. The defeat of the Alans
brought the Huns in contact with the Goths (375
a.d.), a powerful tribe, who lived to the north of the
Danube, and who were then ruled by a king named
Hermanric.

The Gothic nation consisted of two branches, the
Ostrogoths, or eastern Goths, and Visigoths, those liv-
ing to the west. Hermanric had recently succeeded
in uniting these two tribes, and in compelling the kings
of the Visigoths to abandon the royal title for that of
Judge. He built up a large kingdom for the Ostrogoths ;
but, on the approach of the Huns, his dependencies fell
from him. He and his successor both lost their lives in
attempting the defence of their people ; the Ostrogoths
were compelled to submit to the Huns, and were
absorbed as the Alans had been. A portion, how-
ever, escaped southward towards the Roman empire.

The Visigoths, under one of their judges, named
Athanaric, at first showed signs of attempting to de-
fend the country between the Pruth and the Danube,
but the hideous appearance and wild shouts of the
Huns so terrified their young men that they fled back
upon the Danube, and besought the Romans to allow
them to place the river between them and their enemy.
They were allowed to cross, but were compelled to
undergo every privation and indignity. The remnant
of the Ostrogoths now arrived at the Danube, and they
also desired to cross. To them permission was refused ;
but fear of the Huns was greater than fear of the
Romans. They seized shipping, and crossed the river,
despite the prohibition of the empire.

168 THE GOTHS.

Arrived in the Roman territory, they found their
Yisigothic brethren in so sad a condition that they
united with them to compel from Constantinople the
decent treatment refused to their misfortunes. An
attempt to assassinate the Gothic judges brought
matters to a crisis. The Goths broke into open revolt,
and, after defeating the army sent against them, burst
into Thrace, ravaging the country as they went. It
may be seen that, by their hesitating and perfidious
policy, the eastern empire made for itself an enemy,
which might easily have been converted into a strong
ally against the Huns.

Valens, emperor at Constantinople, sent an army
against the Goths, but without obtaining any advan-
tage. He now took the field in person, but was de-
feated (378 a.d.) and wounded. He was carried to a
hut, where he was burned to death. After attempting
to capture both Hadrianople and Constantinople, with-
out success, the Goths moved southward and westward
into Greece, everywhere ravaging the country.

Many of the Gothic youth had been received as
hostages by the Greek (or eastern) empire, and had
been scattered through the cities of Asia. These now
caused much alarm, lest they should rise to assist their
countrymen; so an order was issued for their mas-
sacre, and on a certain day they were gathered to-
gether, and remorselessly slaughtered. It is well to
note the different methods employed by ancient Rome
and by her offspring, the Greek empire, in carrying on
wars and treating an enemy.

Soon after the massacre of the Gothic youth, the
western emperor appointed Theodosius "the Great"
to the throne, which had been vacant since the death

ALARIC AND STILICHO. 169

of Yalens. Instead of meeting the barbarians in the
field, Theodosius fortified strong points, whence he
might watch the enemy, and select a favorable time
for an attack. By means of a deserter, he surprised
their camp and gained a complete victory. The Goths
were now taken into the service of the empire, and
the first chapter of the barbarian invasion of the empire
was brought to a close. A little later, the Ostrogoths
attempted to imitate the exploits of the Visigoths, but
were defeated ; and the remnant of their army was
planted in Lydia and Phrygia.

We now meet two of the great names connected with
the fall of Rome, — Alaric and Stilicho. Theodosius
was succeeded by Arcadius ; and before the end of the
year the Goths broke into open revolt, under the leader-
ship of Alaric. Athens was ransomed ; Corinth, Argos,
and Sparta were taken and plundered. No place was
strong enough to offer effectual resistance. At this
juncture, Stilicho, general of the western empire,
hastened to the scene, and succeeded in surrounding
the Goths. Allowing his troops to relax their disci-
pline, Alaric burst through his lines, and escaped. The
war was now ended by the Goths making peace with
Constantinople ; and the pusillanimous court bestowed
on Alaric the office of "master-general of Illyrium."
How sincere the barbarian was in his offers of peace
may be seen from the fact that in two years he in-
vaded Italy (400 a.d.).

The emperor of the West was Honorius, a man so
weak that even the genius of Stilicho could not save
his name with honor. His most prominent attribute
was cowardice ; his next, wanton cruelty. No sooner
did this ruler of men learn of the approach of Alaric
8

170 ALARIC.

than he hastened to find a place of safety for himself ;
while Stilicho should arrange for the defence of the
empire. Troops were called from Britain, Gaul, and
the other provinces far and near, leaving their
places vacant and defenceless. Honorius attempted
to escape to Gaul, but was surprised by the Gothic
cavalry, and took refuge in Asta, a fortified town,
where he was besieged by Alaric until the arrival
of Stilicho, who at once laid siege to the besiegers.
On Easter day, Stilicho attacked the Goths, and utterly
routed them, after a severe and bloody battle. Alaric's
officers were now ready to fall from him ; but, good
terms being offered by Stilicho, peace was made. In
his retreat, Alaric attempted to lay siege to Verona ;
but he was betrayed, suffered a second defeat fully as
serious as the first, and only escaped by the fleetness
of his horse. It will be seen that in this contest no
faith was kept by any party, Stilicho alone appearing
to possess either manliness or integrity. Honorius
now went to Rome to enjoy the honor of a triumph
(404 a.d.).

Rome had scarcely time to congratulate herself upon
her escape from the Goths, when a new enemy burst
upon her. Pushing westward, the Huns dislodged the
northern tribes of Germany, dwelling on the Baltic, —
the Alans, Sueves, Vandals, and Burgundians, who
marched south, under the leadership of Radagaisus, to
the number of about two hundred thousand fighting
men. The safety of Italy was again intrusted to Stili-
cho : the North was abandoned to the invaders.

The troops were speedily recalled, conscription was
rigorously enforced, and every measure was adopted by
which an army could be raised ; yet barely thirty or

THE HUNS. 171

forty thousand men was the limit of that empire, whose
capital alone had placed a much larger force in the
field during the days of the republic. To these were
added some barbarian auxiliaries, a handful to whom
was intrusted the preservation of Rome.

Meeting with no opposition, the army of Radagaisus
poured into Italy. They laid siege to Florence, where
they were detained by the obstinate bravery of its in-
habitants until the arrival of Stilicho. As before, in
the case of the Goths, the Romans surrounded the
enemy with a fortified camp, and reduced them by
hunger. In despair, the barbarians attempted to break
through the Roman lines, but were overthrown. Rada-
gaisus surrendered, and was beheaded, after about one-
third of his forces had fallen in the battle.

The survivors of the army of Radagaisus burst into
Gaul, ravaged the lower portion of the country, and
finally separated : one portion, the Burgundians, re-
mained on the frontier, and gave their name to their
possessions. There they passed through various vicis-
situdes, — under their kings, opposing the spread of the
Franks ; later, under their dukes, peers of the proud-
est monarchs of Christendom, making alliances or
waging war with Germany, France, and England ; and
finally, after the death of Charles the Bold, passing to
the house of Austria, as the inheritance of his daughter,
and becoming a bone of contention between France
and Germany. The Alans, Sueves, and Vandals pushed
into Spain, where they established their kingdoms.
The Alans occupied the country at the foot of the
Pyrenees, corresponding nearly to modern Catalonia
and Aragon. They were soon after subdued by the
Visigoths.. The Sueves settled in the north-west.

172 DEATH OF STILICHO.

Their territory included modern Galicia, a portion of
Leon and Old Castile, and the states bordering on the
Bay of Biscay. Like the Alans, they fell a prey to
Visigoths, and were absorbed by them. The Vandals
occupied the southern portion of Spain, whence they
went to Africa, where they maintained themselves for
nearly a century, — at one time powerful enough to
capture Rome itself, as we shall see, and then being
extinguished by the genius of Belisarius.

Rome was now delivered from her enemy ; and the
emperor no longer needed his general. Stilicho and
his friends were attacked by slanderers, who persuaded
Honorius that he was plotting for the throne. A
wholesale slaughter of his friends ensued ; and at
length Stilicho himself was put to death at the com-
mand of the master whose crown he had twice saved.
With Stilicho Rome fell.

Having murdered his general, Honorius ordered a
massacre of his foreign troops. Those who escaped
naturally looked to Alaric for protection, and to him
they went. By this stroke of policy, the empire lost
about thirty thousand of its bravest troops. Scarcely
two months elapsed after the death of Stilicho before
Alaric appeared again in Italy. Pillaging the cities
which were in his way, he marched directly on Rome,
and, sitting down before it, sought to reduce the city by
hunger rather than to capture it by assault. Famine
and pestilence raged in the city ; and Rome purchased
the retreat of her enemy, as she had done that of the
Gauls in early times. Alaric was induced to accept the
ransom, as an early winter made it necessary for him to
provide for his men. He offered peace to the empe-
ror, who, though unable to make resistance, refused to
accept it.

PILLAGE OF ROME. 173

The next year, Alaric appeared before Rome a second
time, and endeavored to enforce his demands on Hono-
rius by raising Attalus to the throne. Attalus did not
show the ability required to maintain his position, and
was beset with every trouble. Heraclius, prefect of
Africa, stopped the exportation of grain to Italy, — an
order which inflicted on Rome the evils of famine.
The people rose. Attalus was now deposed by Alaric ;
and his purple was sent to Honorius as a pledge of
peace. The emperor was inexorable ; and Alaric
marched on Rome a third time. The gates were
opened from within ; and Rome, after the lapse of
eight centuries, became a second time a prey to bar-
barians (a.d. 410, August 24).

After plundering the city for five days, the Goths
marched out of Rome, and ravaged the country. But
the days of Alaric were almost spent. Before the end
of the year, he died, after a brief illness ; and, a little
later, Rome saw his army, under the leadership of his
brother-in-law, march into France, there to establish a
kingdom which should reach from the Loire and the
Rhone to the Straits of Gibraltar. They were gradu-
ally overcome in France, and their possessions restricted
to Spain. They were overwhelmed by the Arabs in
their invasion of Spain, but escaped to the mountains,
and there, preserving their religion and their race,
handed them down to their descendants, the modern
Spaniards.

The Germans had been a source of constant annoyance
to the Romans. Defeat only compelled them to return
to their impregnable forests, whence they would issue on
the first opportunity. When Stilicho first assumed the
duties of master-general of the armies, he made a rapid

174 FRANKS ESTABLISHED IN FRANCE.

journey down the Rhine for the purpose of converting
these troublesome enemies into friends, on whom he
could rely for the defence of the boundaries of Gaul.
In this he succeeded so well that, when the remains of
the army of Radagaisus invaded the country, they were
met by a determined resistance, which nearly proved
fatal to the Vandalic portion of the army. From this
time, they lived in firm friendship with Rome, main-
taining the strictest fidelity to the empire until her
fall.

At length, prompted by the example of the Burgun-
dians and Visigoths, they began a series of attempts
to enlarge their boundaries, under their king, Clodion,
who, in a reign of twenty-five years, established himself
firmly in all the country from the Rhine to the Somme.
He attempted to surprise lower Belgium, but was de-
feated by ^Etius, of whom we shall see more, and was
compelled to retreat. Clodion returned soon after
(447 a.d.) ; and the Franks thenceforth possessed the
land, giving their name to the country, and establish-
ing the present French nation in France. The death
of Clodion left two pretenders to his throne; and,
although by German custom the sons of the deceased
monarch should have divided his possessions between
them, both of these worthies sought to obtain the whole
kingdom. The elder appealed to the Huns to support
him in his pretensions ; the younger, Merovius, looked
to Rome for aid.

The narrative now returns to the Huns. Instead of
uniting for the settlement of some portion of Russia or
northern Germany, the Huns confined their operations
to predatory excursions, scarcely recognizing any au-
thority but their own individual wills. Their chief

THE HUNS. 175

seat was the country now known as Hungary, from a
fancied connection with them of the Magyars, who oc-
cupied it in the ninth century. The Huns were now
ruled by two kings named Attila and Bleda ; but Bleda
was speedily murdered by his brother; and Attila,
" the Scourge of God," ruled alone over their wild
hordes. The portrait of Attila is thus painted. His
features bore the mark of his eastern origin. He had
a large head, a swarthy complexion, small, deep-seated
eyes, a flat nose, a few hairs in place of a beard, broad
shoulders, and a short, square body of nervous strength,
though disproportioned form. This man wielded at
will an army of, legends say, five, or even seven, hun-
dred thousand men ; a statement to be received with
a liberal allowance for exaggeration.

The first operations of Attila were against the east-
ern empire, whose armies he overthrew in the field,
and he afterward even appeared before the walls of
Constantinople (441. a.d.). It was to the Huns that
the Vandals owed much of their success in Africa ; for
the empire was obliged to recall in haste, for its own
protection, the soldiers who had been intended for
the chastising of that bold band of barbarians. The
advent of Marcian to the eastern throne ended the
sufferings of that empire at the hands of the Huns.
By his peaceful yet firm demeanor, he so impressed
Attila that he allowed his attentions to be diverted
towards the West.

It was at this time that Attila received the invitation
of the son of Clodion to interfere in the affairs of
Gaul. He was then threatening both empires with
invasion ; but the prospect of an ally in Gaul, with
an opportunity of afterwards attacking Italy from the

176 THE HUNS.

West, was too favorable to be neglected. The Romans
were perfectly willing to transfer the scene of conflict
from Italy to Gaul, where they might expect a valuable
ally in Theodoric, king of the Visigoths. The Stilicho
of this contest was iEtius, " the Last of the Romans,"
who had already won the confidence of his master by
his bold operations in Gaul; and the respect of his
adversary, to whom he was personally known, by an
exhibition of such virtues as were most likely to win
the esteem of a savage.

A march of six hundred miles brought the Huns to
the Rhine, which they crossed in the winter ; and, con-
tinuing their progress, they sacked and burned the
cities they found on their way. Metz fell ; but Troyes
was saved by the courage of its bishop, St. Loup, and
Orleans by that of Agnanus, supplemented by the
bravery and courage of its citizens and soldiers.

After some delay, the Visigoths decided to take part
with the Romans ; and both armies appeared before
Orleans, after the Huns were within the city, but in
time to save it from plunder. Attila now began a
cautious retreat, followed so closely by the allies that
the Huns lost fifteen thousand men before they arrived
at Chalons, where the great battle was fought, which
saved, perhaps, the civilization of western Europe from a
fate as severe as befell that of Russia, at the hands of the
Tartars, some centuries later. Attila began the attack,
though warned of his defeat by his soothsayers. He
was bravely met by the Romans ; and a charge of the
Visigoths, who had lost their king in the fight, under
his son, the Voan Torresiend, completed the discom-
fiture of the savages. Night alone saved the hosts of
Attila from utter destruction (451 a.d.).

RISE OF VENICE. 177

iEtius refused to push the Huns to extremities, and
permitted them to retreat, which they did in the direc-
tion of Italy, being followed by the prudent Merovius,
who each night lighted up the neighboring hills with
watch-fires, until his enemy was well past the furthest
limits of his possessions. It was this Merovius who
gave name to the first dynasty of French monarchs,
the Merovingians.

For some indiscretion, Honoria, princess of the west-
ern empire, had been banished to Constantinople. While
there, she sent to Attila, offering herself as his bride,
and urging him to demand her as already betrothed to
him. At first, Attila had paid no attention to her mes-
sage ; but the advantage of having a claim on Italy
induced him to demand her hand of the emperor.
The affairs in Gaul prevented immediate action on
his receiving a refusal ; but, now these were decided, he
marched on Italy, to enforce his demand and grow
rich with plunder. For three weeks, Aquileia resisted
his efforts (for, as we must have noticed, the .barba-
rians were seldom successful in the siege of a bravely
defended walled city) ; but an unguarded portion of the
wall was finally discovered, and Aquileia was swept
from the face of the earth. The " Scourge " raged
over the whole country, only sparing those who pre-
served their lives by the surrender of their wealth.

It was to this invasion that Venice owed its rise.
The inhabitants who fled from the approach of the
Huns found on the islands in the lagoons, at the head
of the Adriatic, a harbor of safety. There they planted
the seeds of the republic whose ships so long carried
the commerce of the world, who maintained her liber-
ties till within a century, and now at length, within a

8* L

178 DEATH OF ATTILA.

few years, has been reunited with Italy under one gov-
ernment, with Rome as its capital.

Rome now sent an embassy to Attila, among whom
was Leo the Great, who, by the promise of the hand
of Honoria, purchased peace. Attila died soon after
from the bursting of a blood-vessel (453 a.d.), and
at his death the empire of the Huns ceased to exist.
Honoria was punished for her share in the misfortunes
of her country by marriage with an obscure husband,
and was then condemned to perpetual imprisonment.

The story of Stilicho is the story of iEtius. When
the empire was safe, and the general was no longer
necessary, he was murdered, — stabbed by the emperor
with his own hands. By the wanton insult of one of
his subjects, named Maximus (455 a.d., March 16),
Valentinian lost his life. Maximus seized the throne,
and forcibly married the empress Eudoxia. As if still
further to insure her enmity, he confessed to her the
murder of her husband, and she determined to rid her-
self of her master at any cost. She could expect no
aid from the East ; so she turned to Genseric, king of
the Vandals, who had established themselves in Africa,
making Carthage their capital, and were ravaging the
coasts of the Mediterranean with a large fleet.

Genseric was in Sicily when the message arrived,
and at once set sail for the mouth of the Tiber. Max-
imus attempted to escape, but was killed with stones
by the populace (June 12). The evil had been done.
Genseric left Ostia three days later ; the city was
delivered into his hands on promise of sparing the
property of the church, and for fourteen days the
barbarians ravaged it at pleasure. Among the spoils
taken were the sacred implements of the temple, which

ROME AND THE CHURCH. 179

Titus had brought from Jerusalem ; but the vessel which
carried them was lost at sea or in the Tiber. Genseric
left Rome, which he could not hope to hold, taking with
him Eudoxia, the author of the disaster, and her daugh-
ters, one of whom he married to his son.

The rest has been told : it is only the story of the
misrule of Count Ricimer, and the final abolishing of
the western empire. Of the twenty-one years between
the capture of the city by Genseric and the end of the
empire, all but three belong to the rule of Ricimer ; and
the condition in which he left his charge may be judged
from its sudden death, only three years after he had
made himself master of its capital by force.

Rome soon after began to regain her power by means
of the Church, of which she became the chief seat ; and
soon we find her exercising an absolute sway over the
monarchs of Europe, deposing them when obdurate,
and rewarding them when obedient. A little more
than three hundred years after the fall of the western
empire, it was revived by the coronation of Charle-
magne, king of France, at Rome ; and an attempt was
made to transmit the title of emperor to his posterity.
Charlemagne had added Germany to the kingdom of the
Franks, and had done much to Christianize and civilize
the country. It was soon, however, sundered from
France ; and the imperial title passed over to Germany,
whose monarch claimed to be the head of the Holy Ro-
man Empire. The first Napoleon is said also to have
had a desire to restore the wrestern empire, with France
as its corner-stone, but did not accomplish it. The
western empire is now dead, and in its place we have
the kingdom of Italy, with Rome as its capital.

The eastern empire dragged on a miserable exist-

180 END OF EASTERN EMPIRE.

ence, until about thirty-eight years before the discovery
of America by Columbus, when it was overthrown by
the Turks, an Asiatic people, who, like the Huns, owed
their march into the West to the victories of the
Tartars. The dissensions of the eastern empire were
but the partial cause of its downfall. It wa"s utterly
demoralized. The Arabs had taken from it all of Asia,
the North had fallen away, Constantinople had been
captured by the French. It fell because it was ripe, —
over-ripe, rotten to the core ; and the Turkish empire
by which it was succeeded is now fast fading away.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Roman Literature.*

Plautus (254-184 B.C.).

One of the earliest Roman writers was Plautus, the
comic poet. He was born at Sarsina, in Umbria, of free
but poor parents. He at first worked on the stage at
Rome, but lost his savings through speculation. He
then for some time worked in a treadmill, and after-
wards gained his subsistence by Latin versions of Greek
comedies, until his death.

Twenty of his plays are extant.

Ennius (139-69 b.c).

Quintus Ennius gained great renown as an epic poet.
He was bora at Rudiae, served in the Roman army in
Sardinia, and was taken to Rome by Marcus Porcius
Cato. Here he gained a livelihood by giving instruc-
tion in Greek. His first poem, the " Annales," relates
the traditional Roman history, from ^Eneas's arrival in
Italy down to the poet's own day.

Terence (195-159 b.c).

Publius Terentius (Afer), the comic poet, was a
native of Carthage, but at an early age came to Rome,
where he was the slave of a senator, Terentius, by

* Taken mostly from Teuffel's " Roman Literature."

182 CICERO.

whom lie was educated like a freeman and soon lib-
erated. He wrote six comedies, all of which are
preserved.

Cicero (106-43 b.c).

Marcus Tullius Cicero was born January 6, 106 B.C.,
at Arpinum. He was the son of a Roman knight. He
employed every means of studying rhetoric in all
its branches, and pleaded his first cause under Sulla's
dictatorship. To perfect himself still further, he spent
two years (79-77 b.c.) in Greece and Asia. He was
afterwards Quaestor in Sicily (75 b.c), JEdilis curulis
(72 b.c), Praetor urbanus (66 b.c.), and Consul (63 b.c).
The Catilinarian conspiracy, which broke out during
Cicero's consulship, was suppressed by him. In 58 b.c,
Cicero was exiled by the first triumvirate. During his
exile, he lived in Thessalonica and Dyrrachium. One
year later, he was allowed to return to Rome. From
July 51 to July 52 b.c, he was proconsul over the
province Cilicia.

On his return to Rome, the contention between
Caesar and the Senate, with Pompey at its head, had
already broken out. After some hesitation, Cicero joined
Pompey at Dyrrachium, with whom he remained until
the battle of Pharsalus, 48 b.c The next year Cicero
lived at Brundisium, awaiting permission from Caesar
to return to Rome. The next two years were spent in
literary occupations. His Philippics, delivered against
Antony, caused his proscription by the second trium-
virate, and subsequent murder, December, 743 b.c

Cicero was endowed by nature with great talents.
But he was always under the sway of the moment,

CICERO. 183

and therefore little qualified to be a statesman ; yet he
had not sufficient self-knowledge to see it. Hence the
attempts he made to play a part in politics served only
to lay bare his utter weakness. Thus it happened that
he was used and then pushed aside, attracted and
repelled, deceived by the weakness of his friends and
the strength of his adversaries ; and at last threatened
by both extreme parties, between which he tried to
steer his way.

As an orator, Cicero had a very happy natural
talent. The extreme versatility of his mind; his lively
imagination ; his great sensitiveness ; his inexhaustible
richness of expression, which was never at a loss for
a word or tone to suit any circumstance or mood ; his
felicitous memory ; his splendid voice and impressive
figure, — all contributed to render him an excellent
orator.

But he himself did every thing to attain perfec-
tion. Not until he had spent a long time in laborious
study and preparation did he make his debut as
an orator ; nor did he ever rest and think himself per-
fect, but was always working, and never pleaded a
cause without careful preparation. Each success was
to him only a step to another still higher achievement ;
and by continual meditation and study he kept himself
fully prepared for his task. Hence he succeeded, as
is now universally admitted, in gaining a place beside
Demosthenes, or at all events immediately after him.

There are extant fifty-seven orations of Cicero, and
fragments of twenty more.

In rhetoric, Cicero was a disciple of the Greeks. His
chief writings on this subject are as follows : —

De Inventione (an early and unripe production).

184 CAESAR.

De Oratore, three books.

Brutus, De Claris Oratoribus.

Orator ad M. Brutum.

The correspondence of Cicero was great, and furnishes
an inexhaustible treasure of contemporaneous history.
There are extant eight hundred and sixty-four letters
upon both personal and political matters.

Cicero was a lover of philosophy. His writings on
this subject are as follows : —

De Republica.

De Le gibus.

De Finibus Bonorum et Mai o rum.

Academica.

Tusculanae Disputationes.

De Natura Deorum.

De Senectute, or Cato Major.

De Divinatione.

De Amicitia, or Laelius.

De Officiis.

Oesab (100-44 b.c).

Caius Julius Caesar was born July 12, 100 b.c. As
he was related to Marius, his life was in danger when
Sulla was victorious. He served in Asia in 80 b.c,
and commenced his oratorical and political career with
charges of extortion against members of the nobility.
He then continued his studies in Rhodes (79 b.c),
became Quaestor (67 b.c) in Hispania ulterior, JEdile
(65 b.c), Pontifex maximus (63 b.c), Praetor (62 b.c),
Propraetor in Hispania ulterior (61 B.C.), Consul (59
b.c). He was proconsul in Gaul (58-50 b.c), which
he subjugated and rearranged; but at the same time he
opened numerous resources to himself, and trained an

NEPOS, LUCRETIUS, SALLUST. 185

army. By means of this, he gained absolute power in
the years 49-46 b.c. He was murdered the 15th of
March, 44 b.c.

Caesar possessed the most varied talents. Hardly an
orator of his times spoke Latin so well. Of his liter-
ary works, the most important are the " Commentarii,"
containing the history of the first seven years of the
Gallic war, in seven books; and the history of the Civil
war, down to the Alexandrine war, in three books.

After Caesars death, his nearest friends thought it
incumbent upon them to describe also those expedi-
tions which he had not narrated himself ; viz., his last
year in Gaul, and the Alexandrine, African, and Span-
ish wars. They are by three writers. Aulus Hirtius
probably wrote the account of his last year in Gaul and
the Alexandrine war.

Nepos (94-24 b.c).

Cornelius Nepos was born in Upper Italy, and was a
friend of both Cicero and Atticus. He was a prolific
writer ; but only a portion of one of his works, " De
Viris Illustribus," has come down to us, which shows
neither historical accuracy nor good style.

Lucretius (98-55 b.c).

Titus Lucretius Carus has left a didactic poem, " De
Rerum Natura," in six books. The tone pervading the
work is sad, and in many places even bitter.

Sallust (87-34 b.c).

Caius Sallustius Crispus, of Amiternum, has left two
historical productions : " Catilina," or Conspiracy of

186 CATULLUS, VERGIL.

Catiline ; and " Jugurtha," or the Jugurthine War. His
style is rhetorical, and often chronologically inaccurate.
Sallnst excels in delineations of character. He took
great pains in his composition ; and, following Thucy-
dides as a model, he endeavored to be brief and con-
cise, even so as to become oftentimes obscure.

Catullus (87-47 B.C.).

Caius Valerius Catullus, of Verona, is the greatest
lyric poet of Roman literature. One hundred and
sixteen of his poems are preserved.

Vergil (70-19 B.C.).

Publius Vergilius Maro was born at Andes, near
Mantua, October 15, 70 b.c. He was educated at
Cremona and Mediolanum. After completing his edu-
cation, he retired to his paternal estate. In the division
of land among the soldiers after the battle of Philippi
(42 b.c), Vergil was deprived of his property ; but it
was afterwards restored, at the command of Octavius.
After this, Vergil lived partly at Rome, partly in Cam-
pania. His health was poor. He died at Brundisium
in his fifty-second year, September 22, 19 b.c.

Vergil was of a childlike, innocent, and amiable dis-
position, a good son and faithful friend, honest, and
full of devotion to persons and ideal interests, but not
competent to grapple with the tasks and difficulties of
practical life.

His extant poems are as follows : —

1. Bucolica, ten eclogues, written in 44-42 b.c, and
imitated and partially translated from Theocritus.

2. G-3oigica, in four books, written in 37-30 b.c.

HORACE, OVID. 187

The first book treats of agriculture ; the second, of
the cultivation of trees ; the third, of domestic animals ;
and the fourth, of bees. The poem is considered the
most perfect production of Roman art-poetry.

3. iEneis, in twelve books, commenced 29 B.C., and
not finished when the poet died, and published contrary
to his express wish. The ^Eneid gives an account of
the wanderings of ^Eneas from Troy to Italy, and his
struggles in Italy to found a city for his followers, from
whom descended the Romans.

Horace (65-8 b.c).

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, the poet, was born at
Venusia, but received his education at Rome and
Athens. Of his poems, we have four books of Odes,
one of his Epodes, two books of Satires, two books of
Epistles, and the Ars Poetica.

Tibullus (54-29 B.C.).

Albius Tibullus, an elegiac poet, celebrated in ex-
quisitely fine poems the beauty and cruelty of his
mistresses.

Pkopertius (49-15 b.c).

Sextus Propertius was a native of Umbria, but
educated at Rome. He also is an elegiac poet, and
treats mostly of love.

Ovid (43 b.c-18 a.d.).

Publius Ovidius Naso, a native of Sulmo, devoted
himself exclusively to poetry, for which he had un-
common talent. His writings consist of three books

188 LIVY, PH.EDRUS, SENECA.

of Amores ; one of the Heroides ; the Ars Amatoria ;
Remedia Amoris ; the Metamorphoses (fifteen books) ;
the Tristia ; the Fasti.

LlVY (59 B.C. - 17 A.D.).

Titus Livius, the most important prose writer of the
Augustine period, was a native of Patavium (Padua),
a man of rhetorical training, and who spent the greater
part of his life at Rome. His history of Rome, from
the foundation of the city until the death of. Drusus,
consisted of one hundred and forty-two books, of which
only thirty-five have come down to us.

PHuEDRUS.

Fhaedrus, a writer of fables, flourished in the reign
of Tiberius (14-37 a.d.). He was originally a slave,
brought from Thrace or Macedonia. His fables are
ninety-seven in number, and written in Iambic verse.

Seneca (4 b.c- 64 a.d.).

Lucius Annceus Seneca, among other things, wrote
tragedies, eight in number. He was born at Corduba,
in Spain.

Curtius.

Quintus Curtius Rufus wrote, during the reign of
Claudius (41-54 a.d.), the Historiae de Rebus Gestis
Alexandri Magni, in ten books.

Peksius (34-62 a.d.).

Among the poets of the time of Nero, the youthful
Aulus Persius Placcus, of Volaterraa, wrote six satires,
which are of an obscure style, and hard to understand.

LUC AN, PLINY, STATIUS. 189

Lucan (39-65 A.D.).

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, nephew of Seneca, was a
fertile writer in both prose and poetry. "We possess
his Pharsalia, in ten books, an unfinished epic poem on
the civil war between Caesar and Pompey.

Pliny the Elder (23-79 a.d.).

Caius Plinius Secundus, of Upper Italy, was a great
scholar in history, grammar, rhetoric, and natural
science. Of his writings, we possess one on Natural
History, in thirty-seven books.

Statius (45-96 a.d.).

Publius Papinius Statius, of Naples, had consid-
erable poetical genius. His largest work is the The-
baid. He also wrote the Achilleis (unfinished) and
the Silvae.

Martial (42-102 a.d.).

Marcus Valerius Martialis, from Bilbilis, in Spain,
wrote epigrams, of which we have fifteen books.

QUINTILIAN (35-95 A.D.).

Marcus Pabius Quintilianus, of Calagurris, in Spain,
was educated at Rome, and a public professor of elo-
quence in that city. He wrote a volume, in twelve
books, on the complete training of an orator, — "De
Institutione Oratoria."

190 JUVENAL, TACITUS.

Juvenal (47-130 a.d.).

Decimus Junius Juvenalis, of Aquinum, was a
great satirist. We have sixteen of his Satires, de-
scribing the vices of Roman society in an eloquent
manner.

Tacitus (54-119 a.d.).

Cornelius Tacitus was the great historian of this
period. His birthplace is unknown. His works are
as follows : —

1. Dialogus de Oratoribus.

2. De Vita et Moribus Julii Agricolae Liber, a bio-
graphy of Tacitus's father-in-law.

3. De Moribus et Populis Germanise, an ethnogra-
phical description of the Germans.

4. Historiae, a narrative of the events of the reigns
of Galba, Otho, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.

5. Annales, a history of the reign of Tiberius, Ca-
ligula, Claudius, and Nero.

Pliny the Younger (62-113 a.d.).

Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, the adopted son
of Pliny the Elder, of Comum, composed letters, of
which we have nine books. These letters touch a large
number of subjects, and their diction is fluent and
smooth.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Vim Romance.*

Via = a public road. It was not until the time of
the Samnite wars that the Romans felt the necessity of
securing a safe means of communication between the
city and their armies.

The first great public road was the Via Appia, which
extended at first from Rome to Capua, and was made
in 312 b.c.

The general construction of the Roman road was as
follows : In the first place, two shallow trenches (sulci)
were dug parallel to each other, marking the breadth
of the proposed road, which was from thirteen to fif-
teen feet. The loose earth between the trenches was
then removed, and the excavation continued until a solid
foundation (gremium) was reached, upon which the ma-
terials of the road might firmly rest. If this could not
be attained in consequence of the swampy nature of
the ground, or from any peculiarity in the soil, a basis
was formed artificially by driving piles (festucationes).
Above the gremium were four distinct strata. The
lowest was the statumen, consisting of stones not
smaller than the hand could just grasp ; above the sta-
tumen was the rudus, a mass of broken stones cemented
with lime, rammed down hard, and nine inches thick.

* From Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities.

192 Vl^E ROMANJS.

Above the nidus came the nucleus, composed of frag-
ments of brick and pottery, the pieces being smaller
than in the rudus, cemented with lime, and six inches
thick. Uppermost was the pavimentum, composed
of large polygonal blocks of the hardest stone (silex),
irregular in form, but fitted and jointed with the
greatest nicety, so as to present a perfectly even
surface.

Regular foot-paths were raised upon each side, and
strewed with gravel.

Stone blocks were set up at moderate intervals on
the side of the foot-paths, in order that travellers on
horseback might be able to mount without assistance.
Finally, milestones were erected along the whole ex-
tent of the great highways, marking the distances from
Rome.

The chief roads which issued from Rome were : —

1. Via Appia, passing through Capua, Beneventum,
Tarentum, and ending at Brundisium.

2. Via Latina, passing through Aquinum, Teanum,
and joining the Via Appia at Beneventum.

3. Via Flaminia, the great north road. It proceeded
nearly north of Ocriculum and Narnia, in Umbria.
Here a branch struck off, making a sweep to the east
through Spoletium, and joined the main trunk at Ful-
ginia. It continued through Fanum, Flaminii, and
Nuceria, where it a£ain divided, one line running
nearly straight to Fanum Fortunee, on the Adriatic ;
while the other, diverging to Ancona, continued from
there along the coast to Fanum Fortunae, where the two
branches, uniting, passed on to Ariminum through Pi-
saurum. From here, it was extended, under the name of
Via -Emilia, and traversed the heart of Cisalpine Gaul

VIM ROMANCE. 193

through Bononia, Mutina, Parma, Placentia (where it
crossed the Po), to Mediolanum.

4. Via Aurelia, the great coast road, reached the
coast at Alsium, and followed the shore along Etruria
and Liguria, by Genoa, as far as Forum Julii, in Gaul.

There were numerous other smaller roads.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Pkovincle.*

Provincia (shortened form of providentia). After
Italy had been conquered by Rome, all the countries
added to the Roman dominions were called Provinciaa.
Sicily was the first country made a province. A con-
quered country either received its provincial organi-
zation from the Roman commander, whose acts re-
quired the approval of the Senate ; or the govern-
ment was organized by the commander, and a body
of commissioners were appointed by the Senate out
of their own number. The mode of dealing with a
conquered country was not uniform. When consti-
tuted a province, it did not become to all purposes
an integral part of the Roman state : it retained its
national existence, though it lost its sovereignty. At
first, praetors were appointed to govern the pro-
vinces ; but afterwards persons who had been praetors
were appointed, at the expiration of their office,
with the title of Propraetor. In later times of the re-
public, the consuls also, after the expiration of their
year of office, received the government of a province,
with the title of Proconsuls: such provinces were
called Provinciae Consulares. The provinces were
generally distributed by lot; but their distribution

* From Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities.

PROVINCE. 195

was sometimes arranged by agreement among the per-
sons entitled to them. A province was generally held
for a year ; but the time was often prolonged. When
a new governor arrived in his province, his predecessor
was required to leave it within thirty days.

The governor was assisted by two quaestors, who
received from the Roman treasury the necessary sums
for the administration of the province, and who also
collected most of the taxes.

The Roman provinces, up to the battle of Actium,
were as follows : —

1. Sicilia. 10. Asia.

2. Sardinia and Corsica. 11. Cilicia.

3. Hispania Citerior. 12. Syria.

4. Hispania Ulterior. 13. Bithynia and Pontus.

5. Gallia Citerior. 14. Cyprus.

6. Gallia Narbonensis. 15. Africa.

7. Illyricum. 16. Cyrenaica and Creta.

8. Macedonia. 17. Numidia.

9. Achaia. 18. Mauritania.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Legendary Rome.

iEneas, son of Anchises and Venus, fled from Troja,
after its capture by the Greeks (1184 B.C.), and came to
Italy with his son and a number of followers. Latin us,
who was king of the region where ^Eneas landed, re-
ceived him kindly and gave him his daughter Lavinia
in marriage. iEneas then founded a city and named
it Lavinium, in honor of his wife. After the death of
iEneas, his son Ascanius became king. He transferred
the capital to another place, and founded a new city on
Mount Albanus, which he called Alba Longa. A num-
ber of kings ruled in succession at Alba Longa, until
Silvius Procas, who left two sons, Numitor and Amulius.
Amulius, who was the younger, gave his brother the
choice of the throne or his father's property. Numitor
chose the property, and thus Amulius became king.

Numitor had two children, a son and daughter.
Amulius, fearing that they might aspire to the throne,
had the son murdered, and made the daughter, named
Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin. These vestal virgins were
not permitted to marry. She, however, became preg-
nant by Mars, and brought forth twin-sons, whom she
called Romulus and Remus. When Amulius discov-
ered this, he cast Rhea into prison, and ordered the
boys to be thrown into the Tiber.

LEGENDARY ROME. 197

At this time, .the Tiber had overflown its banks ; and,
since the boys had been placed in a shallow place, the
water, when it subsided, left them on dry land. A
she-wolf, hearing their cries, ran to them and suckled
them. Faustulus, a shepherd of this neighborhood,
seeing this, took up the boys and carried them home.

Romulus and Remus, thus saved, when they grew
up and found out who their mother had been, killed
Amulius and restored the kingdom to their grandfather
Numitor. Then (753 B.C.) they founded a city upon
Mount Aventinus, which Romulus called Rome from
his own name. While they were surrounding this
city with walls, Remus was killed in a quarrel with his
brother.

Romulus, first king of Rome (753-716 B.C.). Romulus
found that he needed citizens to people the city ; so,
to increase the number of citizens, he opened an asy-
lum, to which many refugees fled. But wives were
wanting. To supply this want, Romulus celebrated
games, and invited the neighboring people to join in
the celebration. When they were all busily engaged
in looking on, the Romans suddenly rushed in and
snatched away the virgins who were present. This
bold robbery caused a war with the Sabines (the peo-
ple from whom the virgins were stolen), which finally
ended in a compromise, and a sharing of the city with
the Sabines.

Romulus then chose a hundred senators, and called
them Patres. He divided the people into thirty wards.
He died in the thirty-seventh year of his reign.

Numa Pompilius (716-673 B.C.). After the death
of Romulus, there was an interreign of one year. Then
Numa Pompilius, of Cures, a city in the Sabine terri-

198 LEGENDARY ROME.

tory, was appointed king. He was a great law-giver,
and also instituted many sacred rites for the purpose
of civilizing his uncultivated subjects. He died in the
forty-third year of his reign.

Tullus Hostilius (673-641 B.C.). His reign was
noted for the destruction of Alba Longa.

Ancus Marcius (640-616 B.C.). Ancus was the
grandson of Nuraa, and was like his grandfather in
character. He conquered the Latins, enlarged the
city, and built new walls around it. He was the first
to build a prison. He also founded a city at the mouth
of the Tiber, which he called Ostia.

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (616-578 B.C.). Tarquin
was a native of Corinth, and had fled into Etruria ;
from there he went to Rome. At Rome, he became
a favorite of king Ancus, and was appointed by him
guardian of his children. Tarquin took the govern-
ment from the sons. He increased the senators whom
Romulus appointed by one hundred. He also carried
on with success a great many wars, and increased
considerably the territory of the city. He introduced
a system of drainage, and began the capital. He was
killed in the thirty-eighth year of his reign by the sons
of Ancus, from whom he had snatched the kingdom.

Servius Tullius (578-534 b.c). Servius was the
son of a female slave, and the son-in-law of king
Tarquin. He enlarged the city, and took a census of
all. It was found that the city and suburbs contained
eighty-three thousand souls. Servius was killed by his
daughter Tullia and her husband Tarquinius Superbus,
the son of Tarquinius Priscus.

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (534-510 b.c.) was ener-
getic in war, and conquered many neighboring peoples.

LEGENDARY ROME. 199

He built a temple in honor of Jupiter on the Capitoline
Hill. Soon after, Tarquin laid siege to Ardea, a city of
the Rutulians, and captured it.

Lucius Brutus Collatinus, and several others, now
conspired against the king, who had violated Lucretia,
the wife of Collatinus. They closed the gates of the
city against him. Tarquin fled with his wife and
children.

A republic was then established, and two consuls
ruled instead of one king. Tarquin made three at-
tempts to recover the power at Rome, all unsuccessful.
In the last attempt (508 B.C.), Porsena, king of the
Etruscans, assisted Tarquin. The contest was decided
by the battle of Lake Regillus. Tarquin fled to Cumae,
and there died.

Coriolanus was one of the heroes of Roman legend-
ary history ; also Cincinnatus, for accounts of whom,
see Classical Dictionary.

200

CHRONOLOGY.

CHRONOLOGY.

(The dates up to 389 B.C. are conjectural.)
B.C.

753. Foundation of Rome.

753-716. Reign of Romulus.

716-673. Reign of Numa Pompilius.

673-641. Reign of Tullus Hostilius.

640-616. Reign of Ancus Marcius.

616-578. Reign of Tarquinius Priscus.

578-534. Reign of Servius Tullius.

534-510. Reign of Tarquinius Superbus.

509. Establishment of the Republic.

494. Tribuni Plebis.

451. The Decemviri.

389. Capture of Rome by the Gauls.

( Laws of Licinius and Sextius, aiming to

366. I make the Patricians and Plebeians

( equal at Rome.

343-341. First Samnite War.

340-338. The Latin War.

326-304 Second Samnite War.

298-290. Third Samnite War.

290. Romans the Chief People in Italy.

274. Defeat of Pyrrhus.

264-241. First Punic War.

219-202. Second Punic War.

260. Victory off Mylae by Duilius.

241. Victory off Mgates Insulae.

218. Ticinus, Trebia.

217. Trasimenus.

216. Cannae.

CHRONOLOGY. zOl

B.C.

207.

Metaurus.

202.

Zama.

200-160.

The Romans conquer the East.

150.

The Romans conquer Spain.

146.

Destruction of Carthage.

133.

Tiberius Gracchus.

123-121.

Caius Gracchus.

111-106.

Jugurthine War.

102.

The Cimbri and Teutones.

91-89.

The Italian War.

88-82.

Sulla and Marius quarrel.

74-61.

( Cnaeus Pompeius victorious over Rome's
I Rebels.

58-49.

Julius Caesar in Gaul.

49-48.

War between Caesar and Pompey.

48.

Pharsalus.

44.

Murder of Caesar.

42.

Philippi.

31.

Actium.

The Empire.

A.D.

30-14.

Reign of Augustus.

14-37.

Reign of Tiberius.

37-41.

Reign of Caligula.

41-54.

Reign of Claudius.

54-68.

Reign of Nero.

68.

End of Julian Emperors.

69.

Beginning of Flavian Emperors.

69-79.

Reign of Vespasian.

70.

Destruction of Jerusalem.

79-81.

Reign of Titus.

9*

202

CHRONOLOGY.

A.D.

81-96.

98-117.

117-138.

138-161.

161-180.

180-192.

192-284.

284-337.

337-476.

Reign of Domitian.
Reign of Trajan.
Reign of Hadrian.
Reign of Antoninus Pius.
Reign of Aurelius Antoninus.
Reign of Commodus Antoninus.
From Pertinax to Diocletian.
From Diocletian to Constantine's death.
From Constantine to Romulus Augus-
tulus.

INDEX.

[The numbers refer to the pages.]

Achaean League, 67.

Actium, battle of, 117.

^Ediles, 14, 17.

iEgates Insula?, battle off, 41.

^Emilianus, as Emperor, 146.

^Emilius Paulus, 70.

j<Eneas, legend of, 196.

uEqui, defeated by Cincinnatus, see
Cincinnatus.

^Etius, 174, 176.

Agrarian laws, 15, 79.

Agrigentum, capture of, 35.

Agrippina, 126, 127.

Alaric, 169, 170.

Alexander the Great, 64.

Alexander Severus, 143, 144.

Alexandria, 109.

Alps, crossed by Hannibal, 49, 50.

Ancus Marcius^ 198.

Anthemius, 165.

Antiochus, 68.

Antonini, the, 137, 138.

Antonius, 114, 115, 116, 117 ; death
of, 118.

Appian Way, 192.

Aquae Sextiae, 84.

Arimlnum, 106.

Arsinoe, 111.

Athens, taken by Sulla, 90 ; ran-
somed, 169.

Attlia, 175.

Augustus Caesar, 119, sq.

Aurelian, 149.

Avitus, 164.

B.

Barbarians, the, 166, sq.
Beneventum, 29.
Britain, 103.

Brutus, D. J., 77.

Brutus, Decimus, 113.

Brutus, Junius, 112, 113, 116, 117.

Caesar, C. J., refuses to divorce his
wife, 93 ; leaves Rome. ib. ; speech
against the killing of the conspir-
ators, 99; chief of the Marians,
101 ; forms the first triumvirate,
102 ; marries his daughter Julia
to Pompey, 102; conquests in
Gaul and Britain, 103; crosses the
Rubicon, 106; captures Brundi-
sium, 107; at Pharsalus, 108; in
Egypt, 109; at Zela, ib. ; at Thap-
sus, 110 ; at Munda, ib. ; absolute
ruler, 111 ; is murdered, 113 ; as
a writer, 184, 185.

Caligula, 124, 125.

Calpurnia, 115.

Campus Martius, 9, 114.

Cannae, 57.

Canuleian law, 17.

Capua, Hannibal winters at, 58.

Caracalla, 142.

Carinus, 150.

Carthage, rise of, 32 ; policy of, ib. ;
power of, ib. ; government of, 33 ;
1st war with Rome, 34, sq. ; 2d
war, 47, sq. ; fall of, 75.

Carus, 150.

Cassius, lieutenant of Crassus, 105,
112, 113.

Catilina, conspiracy of, 98, sq.

Cato the Elder, 73.

Cato the Younger, 99.

Catulus, 41.

Caudine Forks, 24.

Chaeroneia, 90.

Cicero, M., life, character, and writ-

204

INDEX.

ings, 181, sq. ; speaks for Pompev,
97 ; against Catiline, 98, 99 ; ban-
ishment of, 102 ; supports Octa-
vius, 115; Philippics of, 116;
murder of, ib.

Cimbri, 83, sq.

Cincinnatus, 199.

Cinna, 88.

Claudius, 126.

Claudius Appius, 26.

Cleopatra, 109, 117, 118.

Clients, 8.

Clodius, 104.

Comitia Centuriata, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14,
17, 19.

Comitia Curiata, 8, 10, 14, 17, 19.

Comitia Tributa, 14, 15, 17.

Commodus, 139.

Constans, 158.

Constant ine the Great, 156, sq.

Constantine II., 158*.

Constantius, 158.

Consuls, 10, 13, 14.

Corfinium, 86.

Crassus, 94, 96, 101, 102, 105.

Cynoscephalae, 66.

Dacia, 121, 134.
Debtors, 12.
Decemvirs, 16.
Decius, 146
Dictator, 10.
Diocletian, 151, sq.
Domitian, 132, sq.
Drepana, 39, 40.
Drusus, L., 85.
Duilius, 36.

E.

Egypt, Caesar in, 109.
Ennius, 181.
Etruscans, 4.
Eugenius, 162.

F.

Fabius Maximus, 54
Flaminian Way, 45, 192.
Flaminius, C, 52, 53.
Flaminius, Q., 66.

G.

Galba, 128.
Galerius, 153.
Gallienus, 148.
Gallus, 146.

Gaul, subjugation of, 102, 103 ; sub-
jugation of Cisalpine, 44.
Gauls, invade Italy, 20.
Genseric, 178.
Germans, 120.
Glaucia, 85.
Glycerius, 165.
Gordians, the, 145.
Goths, the, see Barbarians.
Gracchi, the, 78, sq.
Gratian, 160.

Greece, conquered by Rome, 71.
Greek pirates, 97.

H.

Hadrian, 134, 135.

Hamilcar, 41, 45.

Hannibal, son of Gisco, 34.

Hannibal, character of, 45 ; captures
Saguntum, 47 ; crosses the Alps,
50; at Ticlnus, 51 ; at Trebia,
52 ; at Trasimenus, 53 ; in l'i-
cenum, 54; at Cannae, 57; at
Capua, 58 ; at Zama, 63.

Hanno, 34, 35.

Hasdriibal, son of Gisco, 60, 61.

Hasdrubal, brother of Hannibal, 60,
61.

Heracleia, 28.

Herculaneum, destruction of, 132.

Hiero, 33.

Honorius, 162, 169.

Horatius, 187.

Huns, the, 175, 176.

I.

Italians, 5 ; admitted to rights of
Roman citizenship, 86.

J.

Janus, 120.

Jerusalem, 97 ; destroyed, 131.

Jovian, 160.

Juba, 110.

INDEX.

205

Jugurtha, 81, 82.

Julia, daughter of Caesar, 102, 105 ;

daughter of Augustus, 121.
Julian, 159.
Julianus, 111.

L.

Latins, 6, 21, 22.

Laws, Valerio-Horatian, 17; Julian

and Plotian, 86.
Lepidus, 116, 117.
Licinian Rogations, 18.
Licinius, 151, 155.
Livius Drusus, 85.
Livy, 188.
Lucan, 189.
Lucullus, 96.

M.

Macedon, 64, 65, 71.

Macrinus, 142.

Magnesia, 68.

Mamertines, the, 33, 34.

Mancinus, 77.

Manlius Torquatus, 22.

Marius, 80; at Aquae Sextiae, 84,

85, 86, sq. ; death of, 88.
Marriage of Patrician and Plebeian

made valid, 17.
Masinissa, 72, 73, 81.
Massilia, 107.
Maxentius, 153, 154.
Maximian, 152.
Maxitninus, 145.
Maximus, 161.
Messana, 33.
Metaurus, the, 62.
Metellus Numidleus, 82, 85.
Metellus Scipio, 110.
Milo, 104.
Mithridates, 89, sq.
Mummius, 71.
Myla;, 36.

N.

Navv, first Roman, 35.
Nepos, 185.

Nero, 127.
Nicomede, 89.
Numa Pompilius, 197.
Numantia, 77.

Numidia. see Masinissa and Jugur-
tha,

O.

Octavius, see Augusti
Odoacer, 165.
Orestes, 165.
Ostia, 88, 198.
Ostrogoths, 167.
Otho, 129.
Ovid, 187.

P.

Panormus, 39.

Parthians, the, 105.

Patricians, the, 8, 9, sq.

Perseus, 70.

Pertinax, 141.

Pharnaces, 109.

Pharsalus, 109.

Philip I., 65 ; Pseudo, 71.

Philip, Emperor, 145.

Philippi, 117.

Plautus, 181.

Plebeians, 8, 11, 12, sq.

Pliny the Elder, 189.

Pliny the Younger, 190.

Pompeii, destruction of, 132.

Pompeius, Cn., 92 ; sent against
Sertorius, 94 ; slays 5000 follow-
ers of Spartacus, 95; chosen consul,
96 ; obtains the command of the
war against Mithridates, 97; con-
quers the pirates, 97 ; is a mem-
ber of the first triumvirate, 102 ;
marries Julia, 102 ; conquered at
Pharsalus, 109 ; is murdered, 109.

Pompeius Sextus, 110.

Porsena, 199.

Praetor, the, 19.

Probus, 150.

Proconsul, 43.

Provincial, 194, sq.

Punic Wars, see Carthage.

Pydna, 70.

Pyrrhus, 27, sq.

206

INDEX.

R.

Radagaisus, 170, sq.
Regiliiu, Lake, 199.
Regains, 37.
Renins, 197.
Rhea Silvia. 196.
Riclmer, 164.
Roads, 191, sq.
Romulus, 197.
Romulus Augustulus, 165.
Rubicon, 106.

S.

Sabines, the, 197.

Saguntum, 46.

Sail ust, 185.

Samnites, 20, sq.

Sardinia, 43.

Saturnlnus,<85.

Scipio ^Emilianus, destroys Car-
thage, 74, 75.

Scipio Africauus, saves his father
at Ticinus, 51 ; takes command
in Spain. 60 ; at Zama, 63.

Scipio Publius at Massilia, 48 ;
wounded at Ticlnus, 51 ; killed
in Spain, 60.

Scipio Asiatlcus, 68.

Scipio Metellus, 110.

Sempronhu, 52.

Seneca, 188.

Sentium, battle of, 25.

Sertorius, 9-4.

Servius Tullius, 197.

Severus Alexander, 143.

Sicilv, made a province, 43.

Social War, 86.

Spain, conquered, 61.

Spartacus, 94, 95.

Stillcho, 169, sq.

Sulla, 82, 87, 88; in Asia Minor,
89,90; death, 93.

Tacitus, Emperor, 150; historian,

190.
Tarentum, 27, 28.
Tarquinius Priscus, 198 ; Superbus,

ib.
Terence, 181.
Teutones, 83.
Theodosius, 161, 162.
Tiberius, 123, 124.
Titus, 132.
Trajan, 133.
Trasimenus, 53.
Tribuni, 13, 14.
Triumvirate, the first, 102; second,

115.
Tullus Hostilius, 198.

Valens, 160, 168.
Valentinian I., 160;

163.
Valerian, 147.
Vandals, 170, sq.
Vercelhe, 84.
Vespasian, 131.
Via-, the, 191, sq.
Viriathus, 77.
Visigoths, 167, sq.
Vitellius, 129.

X.

Xanthippus, 38.

z.

II., 161; III.,

Zama, 63.
Zenobia, 149.

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