The _Phædo_ is a record of the last conversation of Socrates with his
disciples--an immortal argument for the immortality of the soul.

Plato believed not only in a future life (post-existence), but also in
pre-existence; teaching that the ideas of reason, or our intuitions, are
reminiscences of a past experience. [Footnote: In the following lines from
Wordsworth we catch a glimpse of Plato's doctrine of pre-existence:--
 "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
  The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
  Hath had elsewhere its setting,
  And cometh from afar:
  Not in entire forgetfulness,
  Nor yet in utter nakedness,
  But trailing clouds of glory, do we come
  From God, who is our home."--_Ode on Immortality_.] Plato's
doctrines have exerted a profound influence upon all schools of thought
and philosophies since his day. In some of his precepts he made a close
approach to the teachings of Christianity. "We ought to become like God,"
he said, "as far as this is possible; and to become like Him is to become
holy and just and wise."

ARISTOTLE.--As Socrates was surpassed by his pupil Plato, so in turn was
Plato excelled in certain respects by his disciple Aristotle, "the master
of those who know." In him the philosophical genius of the Hellenic
intellect reached its culmination. He was born in the Macedonian city of
Stagira (384 B.C.), and hence is frequently called the "Stagirite." As in
the case of Socrates, his personal appearance gave no promise of the
philosopher. His teacher, Plato, however, recognized the genius of his
pupil, and called him the "Mind of the school."

After studying for twenty years in the school of Plato, Aristotle became
the preceptor of Alexander the Great. When Philip invited him to become
the tutor of his son, he gracefully complimented the philosopher by saying
in his letter that he was grateful to the gods that the prince was born in
the same age with him. Alexander became the liberal patron of his tutor,
and aided him in his scientific studies by sending him large collections
of plants and animals, gathered on his distant expeditions.

At Athens the great philosopher delivered his lectures while walking about
beneath the trees and porticoes of the Lyceum; hence the term
_peripatetic_ (from the Greek _peripatein_, "to walk about") applied to
his philosophy.

[Illustration: ARISTOTLE.]

Among the productions of his fertile intellect are works on rhetoric,
logic, poetry, morals and politics, physics and metaphysics. For centuries
his works were studied and copied and commented upon by both European and
Asiatic scholars, in the schools of Athens and Rome, of Alexandria and
Constantinople. Until the time of Bacon in England, for nearly two
thousand years, Aristotle ruled over the realm of mind with a despotic
sway. All teachers and philosophers acknowledged him as their guide and
master.

ZENO AND THE STOICS.--We are now approaching the period when the political
life of Hellas was failing, and was being fast overshadowed by the
greatness of Rome. But the intellectual life of the Greek race was by no
means eclipsed by the calamity that ended its political existence. For
centuries after that event the poets, scholars, and philosophers of this
intellectual people led a brilliant career in the schools and universities
of the Roman world.

From among all the philosophers of this long period, we can select for
brief mention only a few. And first we shall speak of Zeno and Epicurus,
who are noted as founders of schools of philosophy that exerted a vast
influence upon both the thought and the conduct of many centuries.

Zeno, founder of the celebrated school of the Stoics, lived in the third
century before our era (about 362-264). He taught at Athens in a public
porch (in Greek, _stoa_), from which circumstance comes the name applied
to his disciples.

The Stoical philosophy was the outgrowth, in part at least, of that of the
Cynics, a sect of most rigid and austere morals. The typical
representative of this sect is found in Diogenes, who lived, so the story
goes, in a tub, and went about Athens by daylight with a lantern, in
search, as he said, of a _man_. The Cynics were simply a race of pagan
hermits.

The Stoics inculcated virtue for the sake of itself. They believed--and it
would be very difficult to frame a better creed--that "man's chief
business here is to do his duty." They schooled themselves to bear with
perfect composure any lot that destiny might appoint. Any sign of emotion
on account of calamity was considered unmanly and unphilosophical. Thus,
when told of the sudden death of his son, the Stoic replied, "Well, I
never imagined that I had given life to an immortal."

Stoicism became a favorite system of thought with certain classes of the
Romans, and under its teachings and doctrines were nourished some of the
purest and loftiest characters produced by the pagan world. It numbered
among its representatives, in later times, the illustrious Roman emperor
Marcus Aurelius, and the scarcely less renowned and equally virtuous slave
Epictetus. In many of its teachings it anticipated Christian doctrines,
and was, in the philosophical world, a very important preparation for
Christianity.

[Illustration: EPICURUS.]

EPICURUS AND THE EPICUREANS.--Epicurus (342-270 B.C.), who was a
contemporary of Zeno, taught, in opposition to the Stoics, that
_pleasure_ is the highest good. He recommended virtue, indeed, but
only as a means for the attainment of pleasure; whereas the Stoics made
virtue an end in itself. In other words, Epicurus said, "Be virtuous,
because virtue will bring you the greatest amount of happiness"; Zeno
said, "Be virtuous, because you ought to be."

Epicurus had many followers in Greece, and his doctrines were eagerly
embraced by many among the Romans during the corrupt period of the Roman
empire. Many of these disciples carried the doctrines of their master to
an excess that he himself would have been the first to condemn. Allowing
full indulgence to every appetite and passion, their whole philosophy was
expressed in the proverb, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." No
pure or exalted life could be nourished in the unwholesome atmosphere of
such a philosophy. Epicureanism never produced a single great character.

THE SKEPTICS; PYRRHO.--About the beginning of the third century B.C.
skepticism became widespread in Greece. It seemed as though men were
losing faith in everything. Many circumstances had worked together in
bringing about this state of universal unbelief. A wider knowledge of the
world had caused many to lose their faith in the myths and legends of the
old mythologies. The existence of so many opposing systems of philosophy
caused men to doubt the truth of any of them. Many thoughtful minds were
hopelessly asking, "What is truth?"

Pyrrho (about 360-270 B.C.) was the doubting Thomas of the Greeks. He
questioned everything, and declared that the great problems of the
universe could not be solved. He asserted that it was the duty of man, and
the part of wisdom, to entertain no positive judgment on any matter, and
thus to ensure serenity and peace of mind.

The disciples of Pyrrho went to absurd lengths in their skepticism, some
of them even saying that they asserted nothing, not even that they
asserted nothing. They doubted whether they doubted.

THE NEO-PLATONISTS.--Neo-Platonism was a blending of Greek philosophy and
Oriental mysticism. It has been well called the "despair of reason,"
because it abandoned all hope of man's ever being able to attain the
_highest_ knowledge through reason alone, and looked for a Revelation. The
centre of this last movement in Greek philosophical thought was Alexandria
in Egypt, the meeting-place, in the closing centuries of the ancient
world, of the East and the West.

Philo the Jew (b. about 30 B.C.), who labored to harmonize Hebrew
doctrines with the teachings of Plato, was the forerunner of the Neo-
Platonists. But the greatest of the school was Plotinus (A.D. 204-269),
who spent the last years of his life at Rome, where he was a great
favorite.

CONFLICT BETWEEN NEO-PLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY.--While the Neo-Platonists
were laboring to restore, in modified form, the ancient Greek philosophy
and worship, the teachers of Christianity were fast winning the world over
to a new faith. The two systems came into deadly antagonism. Christianity
triumphed. The gifted and beautiful Hypatia, almost the last
representative of the old system of speculation and belief, was torn to
pieces in the streets of Alexandria by a mob of fanatic Christian monks
(A.D. 415). Finally the Roman emperor Justinian forbade the pagan
philosophers to teach their doctrines (A.D. 529). This imperial edict
closed forever the Greek schools, in which for more than a thousand years
the world had received instruction upon the loftiest themes that can
engage the human mind. The Greek philosophers, as living, personal
teachers, had finished their work; but their systems of thought will never
cease to attract and influence the best minds of the race.

SCIENCE AMONG THE GREEKS.

The contributions of the Greek observers to the physical sciences have
laid us under no small obligation to them. Some of those whom we have
classed as philosophers, were careful students of nature, and might be
called scientists. The great philosopher Aristotle wrote some valuable
works on anatomy and natural history. From his time onward the sciences
were pursued with much zeal and success. Especially did the later Greeks
do much good and lasting work in the mathematical sciences.

MATHEMATICS: EUCLID AND ARCHIMEDES.--Alexandria, in Egypt, became the seat
of the most celebrated school of mathematics of antiquity. Here, under
Ptolemy Lagus, flourished Euclid, the great geometer, whose work forms the
basis of the science of geometry as taught in our schools at the present
time. Ptolemy himself was his pupil. The royal student, however, seems to
have disliked the severe application required to master the problems of
Euclid, and asked his teacher if there was not some easier way. Euclid
replied, "There is no royal road to geometry."

In the third century B.C., Syracuse, in Sicily, was the home of
Archimedes, the greatest mathematician that the Grecian world produced.

ASTRONOMY.--Among ancient Greek astronomers, Aristarchus, Hipparchus, and
Claudius Ptolemy are distinguished.

Aristarchus of Samos, who lived in the third century B.C., held that the
earth revolves about the sun as a fixed centre, and rotates on its own
axis. He was the Greek Copernicus. But his theory was rejected by his
contemporaries and successors.

Hipparchus, who flourished about the middle of the second century B.C.,
was, through his careful observations, the real founder of scientific
astronomy. He calculated eclipses, catalogued the stars, and wrote several
astronomical works of a really scientific character.

Claudius Ptolemy lived in Egypt about the middle of the second century
after Christ. His great reputation is due not so much to his superior
genius as to the fortunate circumstance that a vast work compiled by him,
preserved and transmitted to later times almost all the knowledge of the
ancients on astronomical and geographical subjects. In this way it has
happened that his name has become attached to various doctrines and views
respecting the universe, though these probably were not originated by him.
The phrase _Ptolemaic system_, however, links his name inseparably
with that conception of the solar system set forth in his works, which
continued to be the received theory from his time until Copernicus--
fourteen centuries later.

Ptolemy combated the theory of Aristarchus in regard to the rotation and
revolution of the earth; yet he believed the earth to be a globe, and
supported this view by exactly the same arguments that we to-day use to
prove the doctrine.

CHAPTER XXI.

SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS.

EDUCATION.--Education at Sparta, where it was chiefly gymnastic, as we
have seen (p. 115), was a state affair; but at Athens and throughout
Greece generally, the youth were trained in private schools. These schools
were of all grades, ranging from those kept by the most obscure teachers,
who gathered their pupils in some recess of the street, to those
established in the Athenian Academy and Lyceum by such philosophers as
Plato and Aristotle.

[Illustration: A GREEK SCHOOL. (After a vase-painting.)]

It was only the boys who received education. These Grecian boys, Professor
Mahaffy imagines, were "the most attractive the world has ever seen." At
all events, we may believe that they were trained more carefully and
delicately than the youth among any other people before or since the days
of Hellenic culture.

In the nursery, the boy was taught the beautiful myths and stories of the
national mythology. At about seven he entered school, being led to and
from the place of training by an old slave, who bore the name of
_pedagogue_, which in Greek means a guide or leader of boys--not a
teacher. His studies were grammar, music, and gymnastics, the aim of the
course being to secure a symmetrical development of mind and body alike.

Grammar included reading, writing, and arithmetic; music, which embraced a
wide range of mental accomplishments, trained the boy to appreciate the
masterpieces of the great poets, to contribute his part to the musical
diversions of private entertainments, and to join in the sacred choruses
and in the pæan of the battlefield. The exercises of the palestræ and the
gymnasia trained him for the Olympic contests, or for those sterner hand-
to-hand battle-struggles, in which so much depended upon personal strength
and dexterity.

Upon reaching maturity, the youth was enrolled in the list of citizens.
But his graduation from school was his "commencement" in a much more real
sense than with the average modern graduate. Never was there a people
besides the Greeks whose daily life was so emphatically a discipline in
liberal culture. The schools of the philosophers, the debates of the
popular assembly, the practice of the law-courts, the religious
processions, the representations of an unrivalled stage, the Panhellenic
games--all these were splendid and efficient educational agencies, which
produced and maintained a standard of average intelligence and culture
among the citizens of the Greek cities that probably has never been
attained among any other people on the earth. Freeman, quoted approvingly
by Mahaffy, says that "the average intelligence of the assembled Athenian
citizens was higher than that of our [the English] House of Commons."

SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMAN.--Woman's social position in ancient Greece may
be defined in general as being about half-way between Oriental seclusion
and Western freedom. Her main duties were to cook and spin, and to oversee
the domestic slaves, of whom she herself was practically one. In the
fashionable society of Ionian cities, she was seldom allowed to appear in
public, or to meet, even in her own house, the male friends of her
husband. In Sparta, however, and in Dorian states generally, she was
accorded much greater freedom, and was a really important factor in
society.

The low position generally assigned the wife in the home had a most
disastrous effect upon Greek morals. She could exert no such elevating or
refining influence as she casts over the modern home. The men were led to
seek social and intellectual sympathy and companionship outside the family
circle, among a class of women known as Hetairæ, who were esteemed chiefly
for their brilliancy of intellect. As the most noted representative of
this class stands Aspasia, the friend of Pericles. The influence of the
Hetairæ was most harmful to social morality.

THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS.--Among the ancient Greeks the theatre was a
state establishment, "a part of the constitution." This arose from the
religious origin and character of the drama (see p. 193), all matters
pertaining to the popular worship being the care and concern of the state.
Theatrical performances, being religious acts, were presented only during
religious festivals, and were attended by all classes, rich and poor, men,
women, and children. The women, however, except the Hetairæ, were, it
would seem, permitted to witness tragedies only; the comic stage was too
gross to allow of their presence. The spectators sat under the open sky;
and the pieces followed one after the other in close succession from early
morning till nightfall.

[Illustration: GREEK TRAGIC FIGURE.]

There were companies of players who strolled about the country, just as
the English actors of Shakespeare's time were wont to do. While the better
class of actors were highly honored, ordinary players were held in very
low esteem. The tragic actor increased his height and size by wearing
thick-soled buskins, an enormous mask, and padded garments. The actor in
comedy wore thin-soled slippers, or socks. The _sock_ being thus a
characteristic part of the make-up of the ancient comic actor, and the
_buskin_ that of the tragic actor, these foot coverings have come to
be used as the symbols respectively of comedy and tragedy, as in the
familiar lines of Dryden:--

  "Great Fletcher never treads in buskins here,
  Nor greater Jonson dares in socks appear."

The theatre exerted a great influence upon Greek life. It performed for
ancient Greek society somewhat the same service as that rendered to modern
society by the pulpit and the press. During the best days of Hellas the
frequent rehearsal upon the stage of the chief incidents in the lives of
the gods and the heroes served to deepen and strengthen the religious
faith of the people; and later, in the Macedonian period, the theatre was
one of the chief agents in the diffusion of Greek literary culture over
the world.

BANQUETS AND SYMPOSIA.--Banquets and drinking-parties among the Greeks
possessed some features which set them apart from similar entertainments
among other peoples.

The banquet proper was partaken, in later times, by the guest in a
reclining position, upon couches or divans, arranged about the table in
the Oriental manner. After the usual courses, a libation was poured out
and a hymn sung in honor of the gods, and then followed that
characteristic part of the entertainment known as the _symposium_.

The symposium was "the intellectual side of the feast." It consisted of
general conversation, riddles, and convivial songs rendered to the
accompaniment of the lyre passed from hand to hand. Generally,
professional singers and musicians, dancing-girls, jugglers, and jesters
were called in to contribute to the merrymaking. All the while the wine-
bowl circulated freely, the rule being that a man might drink "as much as
he could carry home without a guide,--unless he were far gone in years."
Here also the Greeks applied their maxim, "Never too much."

The banqueters usually consumed the night in merry-making, sometimes being
broken in upon from the street by other bands of revellers, who made
themselves self-invited guests.

OCCUPATION.--The enormous body of slaves in ancient Greece relieved the
free population from most of those forms of labor classed as drudgery. The
æsthetic Greek regarded as degrading any kind of manual labor that marred
the symmetry or beauty of the body.

At Sparta, and in other states where oligarchical institutions prevailed,
the citizens formed a sort of military class, strikingly similar to the
military aristocracy of Feudal Europe. Their chief occupation was martial
and gymnastic exercises and the administration of public affairs. The
Spartans, it will be recalled, were forbidden by law to engage in trade.
In other aristocratic states, as at Thebes, a man by engaging in trade
disqualified himself for full citizenship.

In the democratic states, however, speaking generally, labor and trade
were regarded with less contempt. A considerable portion of the citizens
were traders, artisans, and farmers.

Life at Athens presented some peculiar features. All Attica being included
in what we should term the corporate limits of the city, the roll of
Athenian citizens included a large body of well-to-do farmers, whose
residence was outside the city walls. The Attic plains, and the slopes of
the half-encircling hills, were dotted with beautiful villas and inviting
farmhouses.

And then Athens being the head of a great empire of subject cities, a
large number of Athenian citizens were necessarily employed as salaried
officials in the minor positions of the public service, and thus politics
became a profession. In any event, the meetings of the popular assembly
and the discussion of matters of state engrossed more or less of the time
and attention of every citizen.

Again, the great Athenian jury-courts, which were busied with cases from
all parts of the empire, gave constant employment to nearly one fourth of
the citizens, the fee that the juryman received enabling him to live
without other business. It is said that, in the early morning, when the
jurymen were passing through the streets to the different courts, Athens
appeared like a city wholly given up to the single business of law.
Furthermore, the great public works, such as temples and commemorative
monuments, which were in constant process of erection, afforded employment
for a vast number of artists and skilled workmen of every class.

In the Agora, again, at any time of the day, a numerous class might have
been found whose sole occupation, as in the case of Socrates, was to talk.
The writer of the "Acts of the Apostles" was so impressed with this
feature of life at Athens that he summarized the habits of the people by
saying, "All the Athenians, and strangers which were there, spent their
time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing."
(Chap. xvii. 21.)

SLAVERY.--There was a dark side to Greek life. Hellenic art, culture,
refinement--"these good things were planted, like exquisite exotic
flowers, upon the black, rank soil of slavery."

The proportion of slaves to the free population in many of the states was
astonishingly large. In Corinth and Ægina there were ten slaves to every
freeman. In Attica the proportion was four to one; that is to say, out of
a population of about 500,000, 400,000 were slaves. [Footnote: The
population of Attica in 317 B.C. is reckoned at about 527,000. That of
Athens in its best days was probably not far from 150,000.] Almost every
freeman was a slave owner. It was accounted a real hardship to have to get
along with less than half a dozen slaves.

This large class of slaves was formed in various ways. In the prehistoric
period, the fortunes of war had brought the entire population of whole
provinces into a servile condition, as in certain parts of the
Peloponnesus. During later times, the ordinary captives of war still
further augmented the ranks of these unfortunates. Their number was also
largely added to by the slave traffic carried on with the barbarian
peoples of Asia Minor. Criminals and debtors, too, were often condemned to
servitude; while foundlings were usually brought up as slaves.

The relation of master and slave was regarded by the Greek as being, not
only a legal, but a natural one. A free community, in his view, could not
exist without slavery. It formed the natural basis of both the family and
the state,--the relation of master and slave being regarded as "strictly
analogous to the relation of soul and body." Even Aristotle and other
Greek philosophers approved the maxim that "slaves are simply domestic
animals possessed of intelligence." They were regarded as just as
necessary in the economy of the family as cooking utensils.

In general, Greek slaves were not treated harshly--judging their treatment
by the standard of humanity that prevailed in antiquity. Some held places
of honor in the family, and enjoyed the confidence and even the friendship
of their master. Yet at Sparta, where slavery assumed the form of serfdom,
the lot of the slave was peculiarly hard and unendurable.

If slavery was ever justified by its fruits, it was in Greece. The
brilliant civilization of the Greeks was its product, and could never have
existed without it. As one truthfully says, "Without the slaves the Attic
democracy would have been an impossibility, for they alone enabled the
poor, as well as the rich, to take a part in public affairs." Relieving
the citizen of all drudgery, the system created a class characterized by
elegant leisure, refinement, and culture.

We find an almost exact historical parallel to all this in the feudal
aristocracy of mediæval Europe. Such a society has been well likened to a
great pyramid, whose top may be gilded with light, while the base lies in
dark shadows. The civilization of ancient Hellas was splendid and
attractive, but it rested with a crushing weight upon all the lower orders
of Greek society.

SECTION III. ROMAN HISTORY.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE ROMAN KINGDOM.
(Legendary Date, 753-509 B.C.)

DIVISIONS OF ITALY.--The peninsula of Italy, like that of Greece, divides
itself into three parts--Northern, Central, and Southern Italy. The first
comprises the great basin of the Po, lying between the Alps and the
Apennines. In ancient times this part of Italy included three districts--
Liguria, Gallia Cisalpina, which means "Gaul on this (the Italian) side of
the Alps," and Venetia.

The countries of Central Italy were Etruria, Latium, and Campania, facing
the Western, or Tuscan Sea; Umbria and Picenum, looking out over the
Eastern, or Adriatic Sea; and Samnium and the country of the Sabines,
occupying the rough mountain districts of the Apennines.

Southern Italy comprised the countries of Apulia, Lucania, Calabria, and
Bruttium. Calabria occupied the "heel," and Bruttium formed the "toe," of
the peninsula. This part of Italy, as we have already learned, was called
Magna Græcia, or "Great Greece," on account of the number and importance
of the Greek cities that during the period of Hellenic supremacy were
established in these regions.

The large island of Sicily, lying just off the mainland on the south, may
be regarded simply as a detached fragment of Italy, so intimately has its
history been interwoven with that of the peninsula. In ancient times it
was the meeting-place and battleground of the Carthaginians, Greeks, and
Romans.

EARLY INHABITANTS OF ITALY.--There were, in early times, three chief races
in Italy--the Italians, the Etruscans, and the Greeks. The Italians, a
branch of the Aryan family, embraced many tribes (Latins, Umbrians,
Sabines, Samnites, etc.), that occupied nearly all Central Italy. The
Etruscans, a wealthy, cultured, and maritime people of uncertain race,
dwelt in Etruria, now Tuscany. Before the rise of the Romans they were the
leading race in the peninsula. Of the establishment of the Greek cities in
Southern Italy, we have already learned in connection with Grecian History
(p. 111).

Some five hundred years B.C., the Gauls, a Celtic race, came over the
Alps, and settling in Northern Italy, became formidable enemies of the
infant republic of Rome.

THE LATINS.--Most important of all the Italian peoples were the Latins,
who dwelt in Latium, between the Tiber and the Liris. These people, like
all the Italians, were near kindred of the Greeks, and brought with them
into Italy those same customs, manners, beliefs, and institutions which we
have seen to have been the common possession of the various branches of
the Aryan household (see p. 5). There are said to have been in all Latium
thirty towns, and these formed an alliance known as the Latin League. The
city which first assumed importance and leadership among the towns of this
confederation was Alba Longa, the "Long White City," so called because its
buildings stretched for a great distance along the summit of a whitish
ridge.

THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME.--The place of preeminence among the Latin towns
was soon lost by Alba Longa, and gained by another city. This was Rome,
the stronghold of the Ramnes, or Romans, located upon a low hill on the
south bank of the Tiber, about fifteen miles from the sea.

The traditions of the Romans place the founding of their city in the year
753 B.C. The town was established, it would seem, as an outpost to guard
the northern frontier of Latium against the Etruscans.

Recent excavations have revealed the foundations of the old walls and two
of the ancient gates. We thus learn that the city at first covered only
the top of the Palatine Hill, one of a cluster of low eminences close to
the Tiber, which, finally embraced within the limits of the growing city,
became the famed "Seven Hills of Rome." From the shape of its enclosing
walls, the original city was called _Roma Quadrata_, "Square Rome."

THE EARLY ROMAN STATE: KING, SENATE, AND POPULAR ASSEMBLY.--The early
Roman state seems to have been formed by the union of three communities.
These constituted three tribes, known as Ramnes (the Romans proper, who
gave name to the mixed people), Tities, and Luceres. Each of these tribes
was divided into ten wards, or districts (_curiæ_); each ward was
made up of _gentes_, or clans, and each clan was composed of a number
of families. The heads of these families were called _patres_, or
"fathers," and all the members patricians, that is, "children of the
fathers."

At the head of the nation stood the King, who was the father of the state.
He was at once ruler of the people, commander of the army, judge and high
priest of the nation, with absolute power as to life and death.

Next to the king stood the Senate, or "council of the old men," composed
of the "fathers," or heads of the families. This council had no power to
enact laws: the duty of its members was simply to advise with the king,
who was free to follow or to disregard their suggestions.

The Popular Assembly (_comitia curiata_) comprised all the citizens
of Rome, that is, all the members of the patrician families, old enough to
bear arms. It was this body that enacted the laws of the state, determined
upon peace or war, and also elected the king.

CLASSES OF SOCIETY.--The two important classes of the population of Rome
under the kingdom and the early republic, were the patricians and the
plebeians. The former were the members of the three original tribes that
made up the Roman people, and at first alone possessed political rights.
They were proud, exclusive, and tenacious of their inherited privileges.
The latter were made up chiefly of the inhabitants of subjected cities,
and of refugees from various quarters that had sought an asylum at Rome.
They were free to acquire property, and enjoyed personal freedom, but at
first had no political rights whatever. The greater number were petty
land-owners, who held and cultivated the soil about the city. A large part
of the early history of Rome is simply the narration of the struggles of
this class to secure social and political equality with the patricians.

Besides these two principal orders, there were two other classes--clients
and slaves. The former were attached to the families of patricians, who
became their patrons, or protectors. The condition of the client was
somewhat like that of the serf in the feudal system of the Middle Ages. A
large clientage was considered the crown and glory of a patrician house.

The slaves were, in the main, captives in war. Their number, small at
first, gradually increased as the Romans extended their conquests, till
they outnumbered all the other classes taken together, and more than once
turned upon their masters in formidable revolts that threatened the very
existence of the Roman state.

THE LEGENDARY KINGS.--For nearly two and a half centuries after the
founding of Rome (from 753 to 509 B.C., according to tradition), the
government was a monarchy. To span this period, the legends of the Romans
tell of the reigns of seven kings--Romulus, the founder of Rome; Numa, the
lawgiver; Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius, conquerors both; Tarquinius
Priscus, the great builder; Servius Tullius, the reorganizer of the
government and second founder of the state; and Tarquinius Superbus, the
haughty tyrant, whose oppressions led to the abolition by the people of
the office of king.

The traditions of the doings of these monarchs and of what happened to
them, blend hopelessly fact and fable. We cannot be quite sure even as to
the names. Respecting Roman affairs, however, under the last three rulers
(the Tarquins), who were of Etruscan origin, some important things are
related, the substantial truth of which we may rely upon with a fair
degree of certainty; and these matters we shall notice in the following
paragraphs.

GROWTH OF ROME UNDER THE TARQUINS.--The Tarquins extended their authority
over the whole of Latium. The position of supremacy thus given Rome was
naturally attended by the rapid growth in population and importance of the
little Palatine city. The original walls soon became too strait for the
increasing multitudes; new ramparts were built--tradition says under the
direction of the king Servius Tullius--which, with a great circuit of
seven miles, swept around the entire cluster of the Seven Hills. A large
tract of marshy ground between the Palatine and Capitoline hills was
drained by means of the Cloaca Maxima, the "Great Sewer," which was so
admirably constructed that it has been preserved to the present day. It
still discharges its waters through a great arch into the Tiber. The land
thus reclaimed became the Forum, the assembling-place of the people. Upon
the summit of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Forum, was built the
famous sanctuary called the Capitol, or the Capitoline temple, where
beneath the same roof were the shrines of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the
three great national deities. Upon the level ground between the Aventine
and the Palatine was laid out the Circus Maximus, the "Great Circus,"
where were celebrated the Roman games.

[Illustration: VIEW OF THE CAPITOLINE, WITH THE CLOACA MAXIMA. (A
Reconstruction.)]

NEW CONSTITUTION OF SERVIUS TULLIUS.--The second king of the Etruscan
house, Servius Tullius by name, effected a most important change in the
constitution of the Roman state. He did here at Rome just what Solon at
about this time did at Athens (see p. 120). He made property instead of
birth the basis of the constitution. The entire population was divided
into five classes, the first of which included all citizens, whether
patricians or plebeians, who owned twenty _jugera_ (about twelve acres) of
land; the fifth and lowest embraced all that could show title to even two
jugera. The army was made up of the members of the five classes; as it was
thought right and proper that the public defence should be the care of
those who, on account of their possessions, were most interested in the
maintenance of order and in the protection of the boundaries of the state.

The assembling-place of the military classes thus organized was on a large
plain just outside the city walls, called the Campus Martius, or "Field of
Mars." The meeting of these military orders was called the _comitia
centuriata_, or the "assembly of hundreds." [Footnote: This assembly
was not organized by Servius Tullius, but it grew out of the military
organization he created.] This body, which of course was made up of
patricians and plebeians, gradually absorbed the powers of the earlier
patrician assembly (_comitia curiata_).

THE EXPULSION OF THE KINGS.--The legends make Tarquinius Superbus, or
Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome. He is represented as a monstrous
tyrant, whose arbitrary acts caused both patricians and plebeians to unite
and drive him and all his house into exile. This event, according to
tradition, occurred in the year 509 B.C., only one year later than the
expulsion of the tyrants from Athens (see p. 122).

So bitterly did the people hate the tyranny they had abolished that it is
said they all, the nobles as well as the commons, bound themselves by most
solemn oaths never again to tolerate a king. We shall hereafter see how
well this vow was kept for nearly five hundred years.

THE ROMAN RELIGION.

THE CHIEF ROMAN DEITIES.--The basis of the Roman religious system was the
same as that of the Grecian: the germs of its institutions were brought
from the same early Aryan home. At the head of the Pantheon stood Jupiter,
identical in all essential attributes with the Hellenic Zeus. He was the
special protector of the Roman people. To him, together with Juno and
Minerva, was consecrated, as we have already noticed, a magnificent temple
upon the summit of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Forum and the
city. Mars, the god of war, standing next in rank, was the favorite deity
and the fabled father of the Roman race, who were fond of calling
themselves the "children of Mars." They proved themselves worthy offspring
of the war-god. Martial games and festivals were celebrated in his honor
during the first month of the Roman year, which bore, and still bears, in
his honor, the name of March. Janus was a double-faced deity, "the god of
the beginning and the end of everything." The month of January was sacred
to him, as were also all gates and doors. The gates of his temple were
always kept open in time of war and shut in time of peace.

The fire upon the household hearth was regarded as the symbol of the
goddess Vesta. Her worship was a favorite one with the Romans. The nation,
too, as a single great family, had a common national hearth in the Temple
of Vesta, where the sacred fires were kept burning from generation to
generation by six virgins, daughters of the Roman state. The Lares and
Penates were household gods. Their images were set in the entrance of the
dwelling. The Lares were the spirits of ancestors, which were thought to
linger about the home as its guardians.

ORACLES AND DIVINATION.--The Romans, like the Greeks, thought that the
will of the gods was communicated to men by means of oracles, and by
strange sights, unusual events, or singular coincidences. There were no
true oracles at Rome. The Romans, therefore, often had recourse to those
in Magna Græcia, even sending for advice, in great emergencies, to the
Delphian shrine. From Etruria was introduced the art of the haruspices, or
soothsayers, which consisted in discovering the divine mind by the
appearance of victims slain for the sacrifices.

THE SACRED COLLEGES.--The four chief sacred colleges, or societies, were
the Keepers of the Sibylline Books, the College of Augurs, the College of
Pontiffs, and the College of the Heralds.

[Illustration: VESTAL VIRGIN.]

A curious legend is told of the Sibylline Books. An old woman came to
Tarquinius Superbus and offered to sell him, for an extravagant price,
nine volumes. As the king declined to pay the sum demanded, the woman
departed, destroyed three of the books, and then, returning, offered the
remainder at the very same sum that she had wanted for the complete
number. The king still refused to purchase; so the sibyl went away and
destroyed three more of the volumes, and bringing back the remaining
three, asked the same price as before. Tarquin was by this time so curious
respecting the contents of the mysterious books that he purchased the
remaining volumes. It was found upon examination that they were filled
with prophecies respecting the future of the Roman people. The books were
placed in a stone chest, which was kept in a vault beneath the Capitoline
temple; and special custodians were appointed to take charge of them and
interpret them. The number of keepers, throughout the most important
period of Roman history, was fifteen. The books were consulted only in
times of extreme danger.

The duty of the members of the College of Augurs was to interpret the
omens, or auspices, which were casual sights or appearances, by which
means it was believed that Jupiter made known his will. Great skill was
required in the "taking of the auspices," as it was called. No business of
importance, public or private, was entered upon without first consulting
the auspices, to ascertain whether they were favorable. The public
assembly, for illustration, must not convene, to elect officers or to
enact laws, unless the auspices had been taken and found propitious.
Should a peal of thunder occur while the people were holding a meeting,
that was considered an unfavorable omen, and the assembly must instantly
disperse.

The College of Pontiffs was so called because one of the duties of its
members was to keep in repair the bridges (_pontes_) over which the
religious processions were accustomed to pass. This was the most important
of all the religious institutions of the Romans; for to the pontiffs
belonged the superintendence of all religious matters. In their keeping,
too, was the calendar, and they could lengthen or shorten the year, which
power they sometimes used to extend the office of a favorite or to cut
short that of one who had incurred their displeasure. The head of the
college was called Pontifex Maximus, or the Chief Bridge-builder, which
title was assumed by the Roman emperors, and after them by the Christian
bishops of Rome; and thus the name has come down to our own times.  The
College of Heralds had the care of all public matters pertaining to
foreign nations. If the Roman people had suffered any wrong from another
state, it was the duty of the heralds to demand satisfaction. If this was
denied, and war determined upon, then a herald proceeded to the frontier
of the enemy's country and hurled over the boundary a spear dipped in
blood. This was a declaration of war. The Romans were very careful in the
observance of this ceremony.

SACRED GAMES.--The Romans had many religious games and festivals.
Prominent among these were the so-called Circensian Games, or Games of the
Circus, which were very similar to the sacred games of the Greeks (see p.
106). They consisted, in the main, of chariot-racing, wrestling, foot-
racing, and various other athletic contests.

These festivals, as in the case of those of the Greeks, had their origin
in the belief that the gods delighted in the exhibition of feats of skill,
strength, or endurance; that their anger might be appeased by such
spectacles; or that they might be persuaded by the promise of games to
lend aid to mortals in great emergencies. At the opening of the year it
was customary for the Roman magistrate, in behalf of the people, to
promise to the gods games and festivals, provided good crops, protection
from pestilence, and victory were granted the Romans during the year. So,
too, a general in great straits in the field might, in the name of the
state, vow plays to the gods, and the people were sacredly bound by his
act to fulfil the promise. Plays given in fulfilment of vows thus made
were called votive games.

Towards the close of the republic these games lost much of their religious
character, and at last became degraded into mere brutal shows given by
ambitious leaders for the purpose of winning popularity.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC: CONQUEST OF ITALY,
(509-264 B.C.)

THE FIRST CONSULS.--With the monarchy overthrown and the last king and his
house banished from Rome, the people set to work to reorganize the
government. In place of the king, there were elected (by the _comitia
centuriata_, in which assembly the plebeians had a place) two patrician
magistrates, called consuls, [Footnote: That is, _colleagues_. Each
consul had the power of obstructing the acts or vetoing the commands of
the other. In times of great public danger the consuls were superseded by
a special officer called a _dictator_, whose term of office was limited to
six months, but whose power during this time was as unlimited as that of
the kings had been.] who were chosen for one year, and were invested with
all the powers, save some priestly functions, that had been held by the
monarch during the regal period.

In public each consul was attended by twelve servants, called lictors,
each of whom bore an axe bound in a bundle of rods (_fasces_), the
symbols of the authority of the consul to flog and to put to death. Within
the limits of the city, however, the axe must be removed from the
_fasces_, by which was indicated that no Roman citizen could be put
to death by the consuls without the consent of the public assembly.

Lucius Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus were the first consuls
under the new constitution. But it is said that the very name of
Tarquinius was so intolerable to the people that he was forced to resign
the consulship, and that he and all his house were driven out of Rome.
[Footnote: The truth is, he was related to the exiled royal family, and
the people were distrustful of his loyalty to the republic.] Another
consul, Publius Valerius, was chosen in his stead.

SECESSION OF THE PLEBEIANS.

FIRST SECESSION OF THE PLEBEIANS (494 B.C.).--Taking advantage of the
disorders that followed the political revolution, the Latin towns which
had been forced to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome rose in revolt, and
the result was that almost all the conquests that had been made under the
kings were lost. For a long time the little republic had to struggle hard
for bare existence.

[Illustration: LICTORS.]

Troubles without brought troubles within. The poor plebeians, during this
period of disorder and war, fell in debt to the wealthy class,--for the
Roman soldier went to war at his own charge, equipping and feeding
himself,--and payment was exacted with heartless severity. A debtor became
the absolute property of his creditor, who might sell him as a slave to
pay the debt, and in some cases even put him to death. All this was
intolerable. The plebeians determined to secede from Rome and build a new
city for themselves on a neighboring eminence, called afterwards the
Sacred Hill. They marched away in a body from Rome to the chosen spot, and
began making preparations for erecting new homes (494 B.C.).

THE COVENANT AND THE TRIBUNES.--The patricians saw clearly that such a
division must prove ruinous to the state, and that the plebeians must be
persuaded to give up their enterprise and come back to Rome. The consul
Valerius was sent to treat with the insurgents. The plebeians were at
first obstinate, but at last were persuaded to yield to the entreaties of
the embassy to return, being won to this mind, so it is said, by one of
the wise senators, Menenius, who made use of the well-known fable of the
Body and the Members.

The following covenant was entered into, and bound by the most solemn
oaths and vows before the gods: The debts of the poor plebeians were to be
cancelled and those held in slavery set free; and two magistrates (the
number was soon increased to ten), called tribunes, whose duty it should
be to watch over the plebeians, and protect them against the injustice,
harshness, and partiality of the patrician magistrates, were to be chosen
from the commons. The persons of these officers were made sacred. Any one
interrupting a tribune in the discharge of his duties, or doing him any
violence, was declared an outlaw, whom any one might kill. That the
tribunes might be always easily found, they were not allowed to go more
than one mile beyond the city walls. Their houses were to be open night as
well as day, that any plebeian unjustly dealt with might flee thither for
protection and refuge.

We cannot overestimate the importance of the change effected in the Roman
constitution by the creation of this office of the tribunate. Under the
protection and leadership of the tribunes, who were themselves protected
by oaths of inviolable sanctity, the plebeians carried on a struggle for a
share in the offices and dignities of the state which never ceased until
the Roman government, as yet only republican in name, became in fact a
real democracy, in which patrician and plebeian shared equally in all
emoluments and privileges.

CORIOLANUS.--The tradition of Coriolanus illustrates in what manner the
tribunes cared for the rights of the common people and protected them from
the oppression of the nobles. During a severe famine at Rome, Gelon, the
King of Syracuse, sent large quantities of grain to the capital for
distribution among the suffering poor. A certain patrician, Coriolanus by
name, made a proposal that none of the grain should be given to the
plebeians save on condition that they give up their tribunes. These
officials  straightway summoned him before the plebeian assembly,
[Footnote:  This was the _Concilium Tributum Plebis_, an  assembly
which came into existence about this time. It was made up wholly of
plebeians, and was presided over by the tribunes. Later, there came into
existence  another tribal assembly, which was composed of patricians and
plebeians, and  presided over by consuls or prætors. Some authorities are
inclined to regard these two assemblies as one and the same body; but
others, among whom is  Mommsen, with probably better reason, look upon
them as two distinct organizations.] on the charge of having broken the
solemn covenant of the Sacred Mount, and so bitter was the feeling against
him that he was obliged to flee from Rome.

He now allied himself with the Volscians, enemies of Rome, and even led
their armies against his native city. An embassy from the Senate was sent
to him, to sue for peace. But the spirit of Coriolanus was bitter and
revengeful, and he would listen to none of their proposals. Nothing
availed to move him until his mother, at the head of a train of Roman
matrons, came to his tent, and with tears pleaded with him to spare the
city. Her entreaties and the "soft prayers" of his own wife and children
prevailed, and with the words "Mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy
son," he led away the Volscian army.

CINCINNATUS MADE DICTATOR.--The enemies of Rome, taking advantage of the
dissensions of the nobles and commons, pressed upon the frontiers of the
republic on all sides. In 458 B.C., the Æquians, while one of the consuls
was away fighting the Sabines, defeated the forces of the other, and shut
them up in a narrow valley, whence escape seemed impossible. There was
great terror in Rome when news of the situation of the army was brought to
the city.

The Senate immediately appointed Cincinnatus, a noble patrician, dictator.
The ambassadors that carried to him the message from the Senate found him
upon his little farm near the Tiber, at work behind the plough. Accepting
the office at once, he hastily gathered an army, marched to the relief of
the consul, captured the entire army of the Æquians, and sent them beneath
the yoke. [Footnote: This was formed of two spears thrust firmly into the
ground and crossed a few feet from the earth by a third. Prisoners of war
were forced to pass beneath this yoke as a symbol of submission.]
Cincinnatus then led his army back to Rome in triumph, laid down his
office, and sought again the retirement of his farm.

THE DECEMVIRS AND THE TABLES OF LAWS.--Written laws are always a great
safeguard against oppression. Until what shall constitute a crime and what
shall be its penalty are clearly written down and well known and
understood by all, judges may render unfair decisions, or inflict unjust
punishment, and yet run little risk--unless they go altogether too far--of
being called to an account; for no one but themselves knows what the law
or the penalty really is. Hence in all struggles of the people against the
tyranny of the ruling class, the demand for written laws is one of the
first measures taken by the people for the protection of their persons and
property. Thus we have seen the people of Athens, early in their struggle
with the nobles, demanding and obtaining a code of written laws (see p.
119). The same thing now took place at Rome. The plebeians demanded that a
code of laws be drawn up, in accordance with which the consuls, who
exercised judicial powers, should render their decisions. The patricians
offered a stubborn resistance to their wishes, but finally were forced to
yield to the popular clamor.

A commission was sent to the Greek cities of Southern Italy and to Athens
to study the Grecian laws and customs. Upon the return of this embassy, a
commission of ten magistrates, who were known as decemvirs, was appointed
to frame a code of laws (451 B.C.). These officers, while engaged in this
work, were also to administer the entire government, and so were invested
with the supreme power of the state. The patricians gave up their consuls
and the plebeians their tribunes. At the end of the first year, the task
of the board was quite far from being finished, so a new decemvirate was
elected to complete the work. Appius Claudius was the only member of the
old board that was returned to the new.

The code was soon finished, and the laws were written on twelve tablets of
brass, which were fastened to the rostrum, or orator's platform in the
Forum, where they might be seen and read by all. These "Laws of the Twelve
Tables" were to Roman jurisprudence what the good laws of Solon (see p.
120) were to the Athenian constitution. They formed the basis of all new
legislation for many centuries, and constituted a part of the education of
the Roman youth--every school-boy being required to learn them by heart.

MISRULE AND OVERTHROW OF THE DECEMVIRS.--The first decemvirs used the
great power lodged in their hands with justice and prudence; but the
second board, under the leadership of Appius Claudius, instituted a most
infamous and tyrannical rule. The result was a second secession of the
plebeians to the Sacred Hill. This procedure, which once before had proved
so effectual in securing justice to the oppressed, had a similar issue
now. The situation was so critical that the decemvirs were forced to
resign. The consulate and the tribunate were restored. Eight of the
decemvirs were forced to go into exile; Appius Claudius and one other,
having been imprisoned, committed suicide.

CONSULAR, OR MILITARY TRIBUNES.--The overthrow of the decemvirate was
followed by a long struggle between the nobles and the commons, which was
an effort on the part of the latter to gain admission to the consulship;
for up to this time only a patrician could hold that office. The
contention resulted in a compromise. It was agreed that, in place of the
two consuls, the people _might_ elect from either order magistrates,
who should be known as "military tribunes with consular powers." These
officers, whose numbers varied, differed from consuls more in name than in
functions or authority. In fact, the plebeians had gained the office, but
not the name (444 B.C.).

THE CENSORS.--No sooner had the plebeians virtually secured admission to
the consulship, than the jealous and exclusive patricians commenced
scheming to rob them of the fruit of the victory they had gained. They
effected this by taking from the consulate some of its most distinctive
duties and powers, and conferring them upon two new patrician officers
called censors. The functions of these magistrates were many and
important. They took the census, and thus assigned to every man his
position in the different classes of the citizens; and they could, for
immorality or any improper conduct, not only degrade a man from his rank,
but deprive him of his vote. It was their duty to watch the public morals
and in case of necessity to administer wholesome advice. Thus we are told
of their reproving the young Romans for wearing tunics with long sleeves--
an Oriental and effeminate custom--and for neglecting to marry upon
arriving at a proper age. From the name of these Roman officers comes our
word _censorious_, meaning fault-finding.

The first censors were elected probably in the year 444 B.C.; about one
hundred years afterwards, in 351 B.C., the plebeians secured the right of
holding this office also.

SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VEII.--We must now turn to notice the fortunes of
Rome in war. Almost from the founding of the city, we find its warlike
citizens carrying on a fierce contest with their powerful Etruscan
neighbors on the north. Veii was one of the largest and richest of the
cities of Etruria. Around this the war gathered. The Romans, like the
Grecians at Troy, attacked its walls for ten years. The length of the
siege, and the necessity of maintaining a force permanently in the field,
led to the establishment of a paid standing army; for hitherto the soldier
had not only equipped himself, but had served without pay. Thus was laid
the basis of that military power which was destined to effect the conquest
of the world, and then, in the hands of ambitious and favorite generals,
to overthrow the republic itself.

[Illustration: ROMAN SOLDIER.]

The capture of Veii by the dictator Camillus (396 B.C.) was followed by
that of many other Etruscan towns. Rome was enriched by their spoils, and
became the centre of a large and lucrative trade. The frontiers of the
republic were pushed out even beyond the utmost limits of the kingdom
before its overthrow. All that was lost by the revolution had been now
regained, and much besides had been won. At this moment there broke upon
the city a storm from the north, which all but cut short the story we are
narrating.

SACK OF ROME BY THE GAULS (390 B.C.).--We have already mentioned how, in
very remote times, the tribes of Gaul crossed the Alps and established
themselves in Northern Italy (see p. 223). While the Romans were
conquering the towns of Etruria, these barbarian hordes were moving
southward, and overrunning and devastating the countries of Central Italy.

[Illustration: GAULS IN SIGHT OF ROME.]

News was brought to Rome that they were advancing upon that city. A Roman
army met them on the banks of the river Allia, eleven miles from the
capital. The Romans were driven in great panic from the field. It would be
impossible to picture the consternation and despair that reigned at Rome
when the fugitives brought to the city intelligence of the terrible
disaster. It was never forgotten, and the day of the battle of Allia was
ever after a black day in the Roman calendar. The sacred vessels of the
temples were buried; the eternal fires of Vesta were hurriedly borne by
their virgin keepers to a place of safety in Etruria; and a large part of
the population fled in dismay across the Tiber. No attempt was made to
defend any portion of the city save the citadel. This stronghold was kept
by a little garrison, under the command of the hero Marius Manlius. A
tradition tells how, when the barbarians, under cover of the darkness of
night, had climbed the steep rock and had almost effected an entrance to
the citadel, the defenders were awakened by the cackling of some geese,
which the piety of the famishing soldiers had spared, because these birds
were sacred to Juno.

News was now brought the Gauls that the Venetians were overrunning their
possessions in Northern Italy. This led them to open negotiations with the
Romans. For one thousand pounds of gold, according to the historian Livy,
the Gauls agreed to retire from the city. As the story runs, while the
gold was being weighed out in the Forum, the Romans complained that the
weights were false, when Brennus, the Gallic leader, threw his sword also
into the scales, exclaiming, "_Væ, victis!_" "Woe to the vanquished."
Just at this moment, so the tale continues, Camillus, a brave patrician
general, appeared upon the scene with a Roman army that had been gathered
from the fugitives; and, as he scattered the barbarians with heavy blows,
he exclaimed, "Rome is ransomed with steel and not with gold." According
to one account Brennus himself was taken prisoner; but another tradition
says that he escaped, carrying with him not only the ransom, but a vast
booty besides.

THE REBUILDING OF ROME.--When the fugitives returned to Rome after the
withdrawal of the Gauls, they found the city a heap of ruins. Some of the
poorer classes, shrinking from the labor of rebuilding their old homes,
proposed to abandon the site and make Veii their new capital. But love for
the old spot at last prevailed over all the persuasions of indolence, and
the people, with admirable courage, set themselves to the task of
rebuilding their homes. It was a repetition of the scene at Athens after
the retreat of the Persians (see p. 136). The city was speedily restored,
and was soon enjoying her old position of supremacy among the surrounding
states. There were some things, however, which even Roman resolution and
perseverance could not restore. These were the ancient records and
documents, through whose irreparable loss the early history of Rome is
involved in great obscurity and uncertainty.

TREASON AND DEATH OF MANLIUS.--The ravages of the Gauls left the poor
plebeians in a most pitiable condition. In order to rebuild their
dwellings and restock their farms, they were obliged to borrow money of
the rich patricians, and consequently soon began again to experience the
insult and oppression that were ever incident to the condition of the
debtor class at Rome.

The patrician Manlius, the hero of the brave defence of the Capitol, now
came forward as the champion of the plebeians. He sold the larger part of
his estates, and devoted the proceeds to the relief of the debtor class.
It seems evident that in thus undertaking the cause of the commons he had
personal aims and ambitions. The patricians determined to crush him. He
was finally brought to trial before the popular assembly, on the charge of
conspiring to restore the office of king. From the Forum, where the people
were gathered, the Capitol, which Manlius had so bravely defended against
the barbarians, was in full sight. Pointing to the temples he had saved,
he appealed to the gods and to the gratitude of the Roman people. The
people responded to the appeal in a way altogether natural. They refused
to condemn him. But brought to trial a second time, and now in a grove
whence the citadel could not be seen, he was sentenced to death, and was
thrown from the Tarpeian Rock. [Footnote: The Tarpeian Rock was the name
given to the cliff which the Capitoline Hill formed on the side towards
the Tiber (or towards the Palatine, according to some). It received its
name from Tarpeia, daughter of one of the legendary keepers of the
citadel. State criminals were frequently executed by being thrown from
this rock.] This event occurred 384 B.C.

PLEBEIANS ADMITTED TO THE CONSULSHIP.--For nearly half a century after the
death of Manlius the most important events in the history of Rome centre
about the struggle of the plebeians, for admission to those offices of the
government whence the jealousy of the patricians still excluded them. The
Licinian laws, so called from one of their proposers, the tribune C.
Licinius, besides relieving the poor of usurious interest, and effecting a
more just division of the public lands, also provided that consuls should
be chosen yearly, as at first (see p. 238), and that one of the consuls
should be a plebeian. This last provision opened to any one of the
plebeian class the highest office in the state. The nobles, when they saw
that it would be impossible to resist the popular demand, had recourse to
the old device. They effected a compromise, whereby the judicial powers of
the consuls were taken from them and conferred upon a new magistrate, who
bore the name of prætor. Only patricians, of course, were to be eligible
to this new office. They then permitted the Licinian laws to pass (367
B.C.).

During the latter half of the fourth century B.C. (between the years 356-
300) the plebeians gained admittance to the dictatorship, the censorship,
the prætorship, and to the College of Augurs and the College of Pontiffs.
They had been admitted to the College of Priests having charge of the
Sibylline books, at the time of the passing of the Licinian laws. With
plebeians in all these positions, the rights of the lower order were
fairly secured against oppressive and partisan decisions on the part of
the magistrates, and against party fraud in the taking of the auspices and
in the regulation of the calendar. There was now political equality
between the nobility and the commonalty.

WARS FOR THE MASTERY OF ITALY.

THE FIRST SAMNITE WAR (343-341 B.C.).--The union of the two orders in the
state allowed the Romans now to employ their undivided strength in
subjugating the different states of the peninsula. The most formidable
competitors of the Romans for supremacy in Italy were the Samnites, rough
and warlike mountaineers who held the Apennines to the east of Latium.
They were worthy rivals of the "children of Mars." The successive
struggles between these martial races are known as the First, Second, and
Third Samnite wars. They extended over a period of half a century, and in
their course involved almost all the states of Italy.

Of the first of this series of wars we know very little, although Livy
wrote a long, but unfortunately very unreliable, narration of it. In the
midst of the struggle, Rome was confronted by a dangerous revolt of her
Latin allies, and, leaving the war unfinished, turned her forces upon the
insurgents.

REVOLT OF THE LATIN CITIES (340-338 B.C.).--The strife between the Romans
and their Latin allies was simply the old contest within the walls of the
capital between the patricians and the plebeians transferred to a larger
arena. As the nobles had oppressed the commons, so now both these orders
united in the oppression of the Latins--the plebeians in their bettered
circumstances forgetting the lessons of adversity. The Latin allies
demanded a share in the government, and that the lands acquired by
conquest should be distributed among them as well as among Roman citizens.
The Romans refused. All Latium rose in revolt against the injustice and
tyranny of the oppressor.

After about three years' hard fighting, the rebellion was subdued. The
Latin League was now broken up. Some of the towns retained their
independence (Tibur, Præneste, and Cora); some received full Roman
citizenship (Aricia, Lanuvium, and Nomentum); while others received only
the private rights of Roman citizens, the right of suffrage being
withheld.

SECOND AND THIRD SAMNITE WARS (326-290 B.C.).--In a few years after the
close of the Latin contest, the Romans were at war again with their old
rivals, the Samnites. Notwithstanding the latter were thoroughly defeated
in this second contest, still it was not long before they were again in
arms and engaged in their third struggle with Rome. This time they had
formed a powerful coalition which embraced the Etruscans, the Umbrians,
the Gauls, and other nations.

Roman courage rose with the danger. The united armies of the league met
with a most disastrous defeat (at Sentinum, 295 B.C.), and the power of
the coalition was broken. One after another the states that had joined the
alliance were chastised, and the Samnites were forced to acknowledge the
supremacy of Rome. A few years later, almost all of the Greek cities of
Southern Italy, save Tarentum, also came under the growing power of the
imperial city.

WAR WITH PYRRHUS (282-272 B.C.).--Tarentum was one of the most noted of
the Hellenic cities of Magna Græcia. It was a seaport on the Calabrian
coast, and had grown opulent through the extended trade of its merchants.
The capture of some Roman vessels, and an insult offered to an envoy of
the republic by the Tarentines, led to a declaration of war against them
by the Roman Senate. The Tarentines turned to Greece for aid. Pyrrhus,
king of Epirus, a cousin of Alexander the Great, who had an ambition to
build up such an empire in the West as his renowned kinsman had
established in the East, responded to their entreaties, and crossed over
into Italy with a small army of Greek mercenaries and twenty war-
elephants. He organized and drilled the effeminate Tarentines, and soon
felt prepared to face the Romans.

The hostile armies met at Heraclea (280 B.C.). It is said that when
Pyrrhus, who had underestimated his foe, observed the skill which the
Romans evinced in forming their line of battle, he exclaimed, in
admiration, "In war, at least, these men are not barbarians." The battle
was won for Pyrrhus by his war-elephants, the sight of which, being new to
the Romans, caused them to flee from the field in dismay. But Pyrrhus had
lost thousands of his bravest troops. Victories gained by such losses in a
country where he could not recruit his army, he saw clearly, meant final
defeat. As he looked over the battle-field, he is said to have turned to
his companions and remarked, "Another such victory, and I must return to
Epirus alone." He noticed also, and not without appreciating its
significance, that the wounds of the Roman soldiers killed in the action
were all in front. "Had I such soldiers," said he, "I should soon be
master of the world."

The prudence of the victorious Pyrrhus led him to send to the Romans an
embassy with proposals of peace. When the Senate hesitated, its resolution
was fixed by the eloquence of the aged Appius: "Rome," exclaimed he,
"shall never treat with a victorious foe." The ambassadors were obliged to
return to Pyrrhus unsuccessful in their mission.

Pyrrhus, according to the Roman story-tellers, who most lavishly
embellished this chapter of their history, was not more successful in
attempts at bribery than in the arts of negotiation. Upon his attempting
by large offers of gold to win Fabricius, who had been intrusted by the
Senate with an important embassy, the sturdy old Roman replied, "Poverty,
with an honest name, is more to be desired than wealth."

After a second victory, as disastrous as his first, Pyrrhus crossed over
into Sicily, to aid the Grecians there in their struggle with the
Carthaginians. At first he was everywhere successful; but finally fortune
turned against him, and he was glad to escape from the island. Recrossing
the straits into Italy, he once more engaged the Romans, but at the battle
of Beneventum suffered a disastrous and final defeat at the hands of the
consul Curius Dentatus (274 B.C.). Leaving a sufficient force to garrison
Tarentum, the baffled and disappointed king set sail for Epirus. He had
scarcely embarked before Tarentum surrendered to the Romans (272 B.C.).
This ended the struggles for the mastery of Italy. Rome was now mistress
of all the peninsula south of the Arnus and the Rubicon. It was now her
care to consolidate these possessions, and to fasten her hold upon them,
by means of a perfect network of colonies and military roads. [Footnote:
"Colonies were not all of the same character. They must be distinguished
into two classes--the colonies of Roman citizens and the Latin colonies.
The colonies of Roman citizens consisted usually of three hundred men of
approved military experience, who went forth with their families to occupy
conquered cities of no great magnitude, but which were important as
military positions, being usually on the sea-coast. These three hundred
families formed a sort of patrician caste, while the old inhabitants sank
into the condition formerly occupied by the plebeians at Rome. The heads
of these families retained all their rights as Roman citizens, and might
repair to Rome to vote in the popular assemblies."--Liddell's _History
of Rome_.

The Latin colonies numbered about thirty at the time of the Second Punic
War. A few of these were colonies that had been founded by the old Latin
Confederacy; but the most were towns that had been established by Rome
subsequent to the dissolution of the League (see p. 244). The term Latin
was applied to these later colonies of purely Roman origin, for the reason
that they enjoyed the same rights as the Latin towns that had retained
their independence. Thus the inhabitants of a Latin colony possessed some
of the most valuable of the private rights of Roman citizens, but they had
no political rights at the capital.]

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE FIRST PUNIC WAR.
(264-241 B.C.)

CARTHAGE AND THE CARTHAGINIAN EMPIRE.--Foremost among the cities founded
by the Phoenicians upon the different shores of the Mediterranean was
Carthage, upon the northern coast of Africa. The city is thought to have
had its beginnings in a small trading-post, established late in the ninth
century B.C., about one hundred years before the founding of Rome.
Carthage was simply another Tyre. She was mistress and queen of the
Western Mediterranean. At the period we have now reached, she held sway,
through peaceful colonization or by force of arms, over all the northern
coast of Africa from the Greater Syrtis to the Pillars of Hercules, and
possessed the larger part of Sicily, as well as Sardinia, Corsica, the
Balearic Isles, Southern Spain, and scores of little islands scattered
here and there in the neighboring seas. With all its shores dotted with
her colonies and fortresses, and swept in every direction by the
Carthaginian war-galleys, the Western Mediterranean had become a
"Phoenician lake," in which, as the Carthaginians boasted, no one dared
wash his hands without their permission.

CARTHAGINIAN GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION.--The government of Carthage, like
that of Rome, was republican in form. Corresponding to the Roman consuls,
two magistrates, called Suffetes, stood at the head of the state. The
Senate was composed of the heads of the leading families; its duties and
powers were very like those of the Roman Senate. So well-balanced was the
constitution, and so prudent was its administration, that six hundred
years of Carthaginian history exhibited not a single revolution.

The religion of the Carthaginians was the old Canaanitish worship of Baal,
or the Sun. To Moloch,--another name for the fire-god,--"who rejoiced in
human victims and in parents' tears," they offered human sacrifices.

ROME AND CARTHAGE COMPARED.--These two great republics, which for more
than five centuries had been slowly extending their limits and maturing
their powers upon the opposite shores of the Mediterranean, were now about
to begin one of the most memorable struggles of all antiquity--a duel that
was to last, with every vicissitude of fortune, for over one hundred
years.

As was the case in the contest between Athens and Sparta, so now the two
rival cities, with their allies and dependencies, were very nearly matched
in strength and resources. The Romans, it is true, were almost destitute
of a navy; while the Carthaginians had the largest and most splendidly
equipped fleet that ever patrolled the waters of the Mediterranean. But
although the Carthaginians were superior to the Romans in naval warfare,
they were greatly their inferiors in land encounters. The Carthaginian
territory, moreover, was widely scattered, embracing extended coasts and
isolated islands; while the Roman possessions were compact, and confined
to a single and easily defended peninsula. Again, the Carthaginian armies
were formed chiefly of mercenaries, while those of Rome were recruited
very largely from the ranks of the Roman people. And then the subject
states of Carthage were mostly of another race, language, and religion
from their Phoenician conquerors, and were ready, upon the first disaster
to the ruling city, to drop away from their allegiance; while the Latin
allies and Italian dependencies of Rome were close kindred to her in race
and religion, and so, through natural impulse, for the most part remained
loyal to her during even the darkest periods of her struggle with her
rival.

THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR.--Lying between Italy and the coast of Africa is
the large island of Sicily. It is in easy sight of the former, and its
southernmost point is only ninety miles from the latter. At the
commencement of the First Punic War, the Carthaginians held possession of
all the island save a strip of the eastern coast, which was under the sway
of the Greek city of Syracuse. The Greeks and Carthaginians had carried on
an almost uninterrupted struggle through two centuries for the control of
the island. The Romans had not yet set foot upon it. But it was destined
to become the scene of the most terrible encounters between the armaments
of the two rivals. Pyrrhus had foreseen it all. As he withdrew from the
island, he said, "What a fine battlefield we are leaving for the Romans
and Carthaginians."

In the year 264 B.C., on a flimsy pretext of giving protection to some
friends, the Romans crossed over to the island. That act committed them to
a career of foreign conquest destined to continue till their arms had made
the circuit of the Mediterranean.

The Syracusans and Carthaginians, old enemies and rivals though they had
been, joined their forces against the insolent newcomers. The allies were
completely defeated in the first battle, and the Roman army obtained a
sure foothold upon the island.

In the following year both consuls were placed at the head of formidable
armies for the conquest of Sicily. A large portion of the island was
quickly overrun, arid many of the cities threw off their allegiance to
Syracuse and Carthage, and became allies of Rome. Hiero, king of Syracuse,
seeing that he was upon the losing side, deserted the cause of the
Carthaginians, and formed an alliance with the Romans, and ever after
remained their firm friend.

THE ROMANS GAIN THEIR FIRST NAVAL VICTORY (260 B.C.).--Their experience
during the past campaigns had shown the Romans that if they were to cope
successfully with the Carthaginians, they must be able to meet them upon
the sea as well as upon the land. So they determined to build a fleet. A
Carthaginian galley that had been wrecked upon the shores of Italy, served
as a pattern. It is affirmed that, within the almost incredibly short
space of sixty days, a growing forest was converted into a fleet of one
hundred and twenty war galleys.

The consul C. Duillius was entrusted with the command of the fleet. He met
the Carthaginian squadron near the city and promontory of Mylæ, on the
northern coast of Sicily. Now, distrusting their ability to match the
skill of their enemy in naval tactics, the Romans had provided each of
their vessels with a drawbridge. As soon as a Carthaginian ship came near
enough to a Roman vessel, this gangway was allowed to fall upon the
approaching galley; and the Roman soldiers, rushing along the bridge, were
soon engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict with their enemies, in which
species of encounter the former were unequalled. The result was a complete
victory for the Romans.

The joy at Rome was unbounded. It inspired in the more sanguine splendid
visions of maritime command and glory. The Mediterranean should speedily
become a Roman lake, in which no vessel might float without the consent of
Rome.

THE ROMANS CARRY THE WAR INTO AFRICA.--The results of the naval engagement
at Mylæ encouraged the Romans to push the war with redoubled energy. They
resolved to carry it into Africa. An immense Carthaginian fleet that
disputed the passage of the Roman squadron was almost annihilated, and the
Romans disembarked near Carthage. Regulus, one of the consuls who led the
army of invasion, sent word to Rome that he had sealed up the gates of
Carthage with terror. Finally, however, Regulus suffered a crushing
defeat, and was made prisoner. A fleet which was sent to bear away the
remnants of the shattered army was wrecked in a terrific storm off the
coast of Sicily, and the shores of the island were strewn with the
wreckage of between two and three hundred ships and with the bodies of one
hundred thousand men.

Undismayed at the terrible disaster that had overtaken the transport
fleet, the Romans set to work to build another, and made a second descent
upon the African coast. The expedition, however, accomplished nothing of
importance; and the fleet on its return voyage was almost destroyed, just
off the coast of Italy, by a tremendous storm.

REGULUS AND THE CARTHAGINIAN EMBASSY.--For a few years the Romans
refrained from tempting again the hostile powers of the sea, and Sicily
became once more the battle-ground of the contending rivals. At last,
having lost a great battle (battle of Panormus, 251 B.C.), the
Carthaginians became dispirited, and sent an embassy to Rome, to negotiate
for peace, or, if that could not be reached, to effect an exchange of
prisoners. Among the commissioners was Regulus, who since his capture,
five years before, had been held a prisoner in Africa. Before setting out
from Carthage he had promised to return if the embassy were unsuccessful.
For the sake of his own release, the Carthaginians supposed he would
counsel peace, or at least urge an exchange of prisoners. But it is
related, that upon arrival at Rome, he counselled war instead of peace, at
the same time revealing to the Senate the enfeebled condition of Carthage.
As to the exchange of prisoners, he said, "Let those who have surrendered
when they ought to have died, die in the land which has witnessed their
disgrace."

The Roman Senate, following his counsel, rejected all the proposals of the
embassy; and Regulus, in spite of the tears and entreaties of his wife and
friends, turned away from Rome, and set out for Carthage to bear such fate
as he well knew the Carthaginians, in their disappointment and anger,
would be sure to visit upon him.

The tradition goes on to tell how, upon his arrival at Carthage, he was
confined in a cask driven full of spikes, and then left to die of
starvation and pain. This part of the tale has been discredited, and the
finest touches of the other portions are supposed to have been added by
the story-tellers.

LOSS OF TWO MORE ROMAN FLEETS.--After the failure of the Carthaginian
embassy, the war went on for several years by land and sea with varying
vicissitudes. At last, on the coast of Sicily, one of the consuls,
Claudius, met with an overwhelming defeat. Almost a hundred vessels of his
fleet were lost. The disaster caused the greatest alarm at Rome.
Superstition increased the fears of the people. It was reported that just
before the battle, when the auspices were being taken, and the sacred
chickens would not eat, Claudius had given orders to have them thrown into
the sea, irreverently remarking, "At any rate, they shall drink."
Imagination was free to depict what further evils the offended gods might
inflict upon the Roman state.

The gloomiest forebodings might have found justification in subsequent
events. The other consul just now met with a great disaster. He was
proceeding along the southern coast of Sicily with a squadron of eight
hundred merchantmen and over one hundred war galleys, the former loaded
with grain for the Roman army on the island. A severe storm arising, the
squadron was beaten to pieces upon the rocks. Not a single ship escaped.
The coast for miles was strewn with broken planks, and with bodies, and
heaped with vast windrows of grain cast up by the waves.

CLOSE OF THE FIRST PUNIC WAR.--The war had now lasted for fifteen years.
Four Roman fleets had been destroyed, three of which had been sunk or
broken to pieces by storms. Of the fourteen hundred vessels which had been
lost, seven hundred were war galleys,--all large and costly quinqueremes,
that is, vessels with five banks of oars. Only one hundred of these had
fallen into the hands of the enemy; the remainder were a sacrifice to the
malign and hostile power of the waves. Such successive blows from an
invisible hand were enough to blanch the faces even of the sturdy Romans.
Neptune manifestly denied to the "Children of Mars" the realm of the sea.

It was impossible for the six years following the last disaster to infuse
any spirit into the struggle. In 247 B.C., Hamilcar Barcas, the father of
the great Hannibal, assumed the command of the Carthaginian forces, and
for several years conducted the war with great ability on the island of
Sicily, even making Rome tremble for the safety of her Italian
possessions.

Once more the Romans determined to commit their cause to the element that
had been so unfriendly to them. A fleet of two hundred vessels was built
and equipped, but entirely by private subscription; for the Senate feared
that public sentiment would not sustain them in levying a tax for fitting
up another costly armament as an offering to the insatiable Neptune. This
people's squadron, as we may call it, was intrusted to the command of the
consul Catulus. He met the Carthaginian fleet under the command of the
Admiral Hanno, near the Ægatian islands, and inflicted upon it a crushing
defeat.

The Carthaginians now sued for peace. A treaty was at length arranged, the
terms of which required that Carthage should give up all claims to the
island of Sicily, surrender all her prisoners, and pay an indemnity of
3200 talents (about $4,000,000), one-third of which was to be paid down,
and the balance in ten yearly payments. Thus ended (241 B.C.), after a
continuance of twenty-four years, the first great struggle between
Carthage and Rome.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.
(2l8-201 B.C.)

ROME BETWEEN THE FIRST AND THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.

THE FIRST ROMAN PROVINCE.--For the twenty-three years that followed the
close of the first struggle between Rome and Carthage, the two rivals
strained every power and taxed every resource in preparation for a renewal
of the contest.

The Romans settled the affairs of Sicily, organizing all of it, save the
lands belonging to Syracuse, as a province of the republic. This was the
first territory beyond the limits of Italy that Rome had conquered, and
the Sicilian the first of Roman provinces. But as the imperial city
extended her conquests, her provincial possessions increased in number and
size until they formed at last a perfect cordon about the Mediterranean.
Each province was governed by a magistrate sent out from the capital, and
paid an annual tribute, or tax, to Rome.

ROME ACQUIRES SARDINIA AND CORSICA.--The first acquisition by the Romans
of lands beyond the peninsula seems to have created in them an insatiable
ambition for foreign conquests. They soon found a pretext for seizing the
island of Sardinia, the most ancient and, after Sicily, the most prized of
the possessions of the Carthaginians. The island, in connection with
Corsica, which was also seized, was formed into a Roman province. With her
hands upon these islands, the authority of Rome in the Western, or Tuscan
Sea, was supreme.

THE ILLYRIAN CORSAIRS ARE PUNISHED.--At about the same time, the Romans
also extended their influence over the seas that wash the eastern shores
of Italy. For a long time the Adriatic and Ionian waters had been infested
with Illyrian pirates, who issued from the roadsteads of the northeastern
coasts of the former sea. The Roman fleet chased these corsairs from the
Adriatic, and captured several of their strongholds. Rome now assumed a
sort of protectorate over the Greek cities of the Adriatic coasts. This
was her first step towards final supremacy in Macedonia and Greece.

WAR WITH THE GAULS.--In the north, during this same period, Roman
authority was extended from the Apennines and the Rubicon to the foot of
the Alps. Alarmed at the advance of the Romans, who were pushing northward
their great military road, called the Flaminian Way, and also settling
with discharged soldiers and needy citizens the tracts of frontier land
wrested some time before from the Gauls, the Boii, a tribe of that race,
stirred up all the Gallic peoples already in Italy, besides their kinsmen
who were yet beyond the mountains, for an assault upon Rome. Intelligence
of this movement among the northern tribes threw all Italy into a fever of
excitement. At Rome the terror was great; for not yet had died out of
memory what the city had once suffered at the hands of the ancestors of
these same barbarians that were now again gathering their hordes for sack
and pillage. An ancient prediction, found in the Sibylline books, declared
that a portion of Roman territory must needs be occupied by Gauls. Hoping
sufficiently to fulfil the prophecy and satisfy Fate, the Roman Senate
caused two Gauls to be buried alive in one of the public squares of the
capital.

Meanwhile the barbarians had advanced into Etruria, ravaging the country
as they moved southward. After gathering a large amount of booty, they
were carrying this back to a place of safety, when they were surrounded by
the Roman armies at Telamon, and almost annihilated (225 B.C.). The
Romans, taking advantage of this victory, pushed on into the plains of the
Po, captured the city which is now known as Milan, and extended their
authority to the foot-hills of the Alps.

CARTHAGE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.

THE TRUCELESS WAR.--Scarcely had peace been concluded with Rome at the end
of the First Punic War, before Carthage was plunged into a still deadlier
struggle, which for a time threatened her very existence. The mercenary
troops, upon their return from Sicily, revolted, on account of not
receiving their pay. Their appeal to the native tribes of Africa was
answered by a general uprising throughout the dependencies of Carthage.
The extent of the revolt shows how hateful and hated was the rule of the
great capital over her subject states.

The war was unspeakably bitter and cruel. It is known in history as "The
Truceless War." At one time Carthage was the only city remaining in the
hands of the government. But the genius of the great Carthaginian general
Hamilcar Barcas at last triumphed, and the authority of Carthage was
everywhere restored.

THE CARTHAGINIANS IN SPAIN.--After the disastrous termination of the First
Punic War, the Carthaginians determined to repair their losses by new
conquests in Spain. Hamilcar Barcas was sent over into that country, and
for nine years he devoted his commanding genius to organizing the
different Iberian tribes into a compact state, and to developing the rich
gold and silver mines of the southern part of the peninsula. He fell in
battle 228 B.C.

Hamilcar Barcas was the greatest general that up to this time the
Carthaginian race had produced. As a rule, genius is not heritable; but in
the Barcine family the rule was broken, and the rare genius of Hamilcar
reappeared in his sons, whom he himself, it is said, was fond of calling
the "lion's brood." Hannibal, the oldest, was only nineteen at the time of
his father's death, and being thus too young to assume command, Hasdrubal,
[Footnote: Not to be confounded with Hannibal's own brother Hasdrubal.]
the son-in-law of Hamilcar, was chosen to succeed him. He carried out the
unfinished plans of Hamilcar, extended and consolidated the Carthaginian
power in Spain, and upon the eastern coast founded New Carthage as the
centre and capital of the newly acquired territory. The native tribes were
conciliated rather than conquered. The Barcine family knew how to rule as
well as how to fight.

HANNIBAL'S VOW.--Upon the death of Hasdrubal, which occurred 221 B.C.,
Hannibal, now twenty-six years of age, was by the unanimous voice of the
army called to be their leader. When a child of nine years he had been led
by his father to the altar; and there, with his hands upon the sacrifice,
the little boy had sworn eternal hatred to the Roman race. He was driven
on to his gigantic undertakings and to his hard fate, not only by the
restless fires of his warlike genius, but, as he himself declared, by the
sacred obligations of a vow that could not be broken.

HANNIBAL ATTACKS SAGUNTUM.--In two years Hannibal extended the
Carthaginian power to the Ebro. Saguntum, a Greek city upon the east coast
of Spain, alone remained unsubdued. The Romans, who were jealously
watching affairs in the peninsula, had entered into an alliance with this
city, and taken it, with other Greek cities in that quarter of the
Mediterranean, under their protection. Hannibal, although he well knew
that an attack upon this place would precipitate hostilities with Rome,
laid siege to it in the spring of 219 B.C. He was eager for the renewal of
the old contest. The Roman Senate sent messengers to him forbidding his
making war upon a city which was a friend and ally of the Roman people;
but Hannibal, disregarding their remonstrances, continued the siege, and,
after an investment of eight months, gained possession of the town.

The Romans now sent commissioners to Carthage to demand of the Senate that
they should give up Hannibal to them, and by so doing repudiate the act of
their general. The Carthaginians hesitated. Then Quintus Fabius, chief of
the embassy, gathering up his toga, said: "I carry here peace and war;
choose, men of Carthage, which ye will have." "Give us whichever ye will,"
was the reply. "War, then," said Fabius, dropping his toga. The "die was
now cast; and the arena was cleared for the foremost man of his race and
his time, perhaps the mightiest military genius of any race and of any
time."

THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.

HANNIBAL'S PASSAGE OF THE ALPS.--The Carthaginian empire was now stirred
with preparations for the impending struggle. Hannibal was the life and
soul of every movement. His bold plan was to cross the Pyrenees and the
Alps and descend upon Rome from the north.

[Illustration: HANNIBAL]

With his preparations completed, Hannibal left New Carthage early in the
spring of 218 B.C., with an army numbering about one hundred thousand men,
and including thirty-seven war elephants. Crossing the Pyrenees and the
Rhone, he reached the foot-hills of the Alps. Nature and man joined to
oppose the passage. The season was already far advanced--it was October--
and snow was falling upon the higher portions of the trail. Day after day
the army toiled painfully up the dangerous path. In places the narrow way
had to be cut wider for the monstrous bodies of the elephants. Often
avalanches of stone were hurled upon the trains by the hostile bands that
held possession of the heights above. At last the summit was gained, and
the shivering army looked down into the warm haze of the Italian plains.
The sight alone was enough to rouse the drooping spirits of the soldiers;
but Hannibal stirred them to enthusiasm by addressing them with these
words: "Ye are standing upon the Acropolis of Italy; yonder lies Rome."
The army began its descent, and at length, after toils and losses equalled
only by those of the ascent, its thinned battalions issued from the
defiles of the mountains upon the plains of the Po. Of the fifty thousand
men and more with which Hannibal had begun the passage, barely half that
number had survived the march, and these "looked more like phantoms than
men."

BATTLES OF THE TICINUS, THE TREBIA, AND LAKE TRASIMENUS.--The Romans had
not the remotest idea of Hannibal's plans. With war determined upon, the
Senate had sent one of the consuls, L. Sempronius Longus, with an army
into Africa by the way of Sicily; while the other, Publius Cornelius
Scipio, they had directed to lead another army into Spain.

While the Senate were watching the movements of these expeditions, they
were startled with the intelligence that Hannibal, instead of being in
Spain, had crossed the Pyrenees and was among the Gauls upon the Rhone.
Sempronius was hastily recalled from his attempt upon Africa, to the
defence of Italy. Scipio, on his way to Spain, had touched at Massilia,
and there learned of the movements of Hannibal. He turned back, hurried
into Northern Italy, and took command of the levies there. The cavalry of
the two armies met upon the banks of the Ticinus, a tributary of the Po.
The Romans were driven from the field by the fierce onset of the Numidian
horsemen. Scipio now awaited the arrival of the other consular army, which
was hurrying up through Italy by forced marches.

In the battle of the Trebia the united armies of the two consuls were
almost annihilated. The Gauls, who had been waiting to see to which side
fortune would incline, now flocked to the standard of Hannibal, and hailed
him as their deliverer.

The spring following the victory at the Trebia, Hannibal led his army, now
recruited by many Gauls, across the Apennines, and moved southward. At
Lake Trasimenus he entrapped the Romans under Flaminius in a mountain
defile, where, bewildered by a fog that filled the valley, the greater
part of the army was slaughtered, and the consul himself was slain.

The way to Rome was now open. Believing that Hannibal would march directly
upon the capital, the Senate caused the bridges that spanned the Tiber to
be destroyed, and appointed Fabius Maximus dictator.

In one respect only had events disappointed Hannibal's expectations. He
had thought that all the states of Italy were, like the Gauls, ready to
revolt from Rome at the first opportunity that might offer itself. But not
a single city had thus far proved unfaithful to her.

FABIUS "THE DELAYER."--The fate of Rome was now in the hands of Fabius.
Should he risk a battle and lose it, the destiny of the capital would be
sealed. He determined to adopt a more prudent policy--to follow and annoy
the Carthaginian army, but to refuse all proffers of battle. Thus time
might be gained for raising a new army and perfecting measures for the
public defence. In every possible way Hannibal endeavored to draw his
enemy into an engagement. He ravaged the fields far and wide and fired the
homesteads of the Italians, in order to force Fabius to fight in their
defence. The soldiers of the dictator began to murmur. They called him
_Cunctator_, or "the Delayer." They even accused him of treachery to
the cause of Rome. But nothing moved him from the steady pursuit of the
policy which he clearly saw was the only prudent one to follow.

THE BATTLE OF CANNÆ.--The time gained by Fabius enabled the Romans to
raise and discipline an army that might hope successfully to combat the
Carthaginian forces. Early in the summer of the year 216 B.C. these new
levies, numbering 80,000 men, confronted the army of Hannibal, amounting
to not more than half that number, at Cannæ, in Apulia. It was the largest
army the Romans had ever gathered on any battle-field. But it had been
collected only to meet the most overwhelming defeat that ever befell the
forces of the republic. Through the skilful manoeuvres of Hannibal, the
Romans were completely surrounded, and huddled together in a helpless mass
upon the field, and then for eight hours were cut down by the Numidian
cavalry. From fifty to seventy thousand were slain; a few thousand were
taken prisoners; only the merest handful escaped, including one of the
consuls. The slaughter was so great that, according to Livy, when Mago, a
brother of Hannibal, carried the news of the victory to Carthage, he, in
confirmation of the intelligence, poured down in the porch of the Senate-
house, nearly a peck of gold rings taken from the fingers of Roman
knights.

EVENTS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CANNÆ.--The awful news flew to Rome.
Consternation and despair seized the people. The city would have been
emptied of its population had not the Senate ordered the gates to be
closed. Never did that body display greater calmness, wisdom, prudence,
and resolution. By word and act they bade the people never to despair of
the republic. Little by little the panic was allayed. Measures were
concerted for the defence of the capital, as it was expected that Hannibal
would immediately march upon Rome. Swift horsemen were sent out along the
Appian Way to gather information of the conqueror's movements, and to
learn, as Livy expresses it, "if the immortal gods, out of pity to the
empire, had left any remnant of the Roman name."

The leader of the Numidian cavalry, Maharbal, urged Hannibal to follow up
his victory closely, "Let me advance with the cavalry," said he, "and in
five days thou shalt dine in the capital." But Hannibal refused to adopt
the counsel of his impetuous general. Maharbal turned away, and, with
mingled reproach and impatience, exclaimed, "Alas! thou knowest how to
gain a victory, but not how to use one." The great commander, while he
knew he was invincible in the open field, did not think it prudent to
fight the Romans behind their walls.

Hannibal now sent an embassy to Rome to offer terms of peace. The Senate,
true to the Appian policy never to treat with a victorious enemy (see p.
245), would not even permit the ambassadors to enter the gates. Not less
disappointed was Hannibal in the temper of the Roman allies. For the most
part they adhered to the cause of Rome with unshaken loyalty through all
these trying times. Some tribes in the South of Italy, however, among
which were the Lucanians, the Apulians, and the Bruttians, went over to
the Carthaginians. Hannibal marched into Campania and quartered his army
for the winter in the luxurious city of Capua, which had opened its gates
to him. Here he rested and sent urgent messages to Carthage for re-
inforcements, while Rome exhausted every resource in raising and equipping
new levies, to take the place of the legions lost at Cannæ. For several
years there was an ominous lull in the war, while both parties were
gathering strength for a renewal of the struggle.

THE FALL OF SYRACUSE AND OF CAPUA.--In the year 216 B.C., Hiero, King of
Syracuse, who loved to call himself the friend and ally of the Roman
people, died, and the government fell into the hands of a party unfriendly
to the republic. An alliance was formed with Carthage, and a large part of
Sicily was carried over to the side of the enemies of Rome. The
distinguished Roman general, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, called "the Sword
of Rome," was intrusted with the task of reconquering the island. After
reducing many towns, he at last laid siege to Syracuse.

This noted capital was then one of the largest and richest cities of the
Grecian world. For three years it held out against the Roman forces. It is
said that Archimedes (see p. 213), the great mathematician, rendered
valuable aid to the besieged with curious and powerful engines contrived
by his genius. But the city fell at last, and was given over to sack and
pillage. Rome was adorned with the rare works of Grecian art--paintings
and sculptures--which for centuries had been accumulating in this the
oldest and most renowned of the colonies of ancient Hellas. Syracuse never
recovered from the blow inflicted upon her at this time by the relentless
Romans.

[Illustration: MARCELLUS, "The sword of Rome."]

Capua must next be punished for opening her gates and extending her
hospitalities to the enemies of Rome. A line of circumvallation was drawn
about the devoted city, and two Roman armies held it in close siege.
Hannibal, ever faithful to his allies and friends, hastened to the relief
of the Capuans. Unable to break the enemy's lines, he marched directly
upon Rome, as if to make an attack upon that city, hoping thus to draw off
the legions about Capua to the defence of the capital. The "dread
Hannibal" himself rode alongside the walls of the hated city, and,
tradition says, even hurled a defiant spear over the defences. The Romans
certainly were trembling with fear; yet Livy tells how they manifested
their confidence in their affairs by selling at public auction the land
upon which Hannibal was encamped. He in turn, in the same manner, disposed
of the shops fronting the Forum. The story is that there were eager
purchasers in both cases.

Failing to draw the legions from Capua as he had hoped, Hannibal now
retired from before Rome, and, retreating into the southern part of Italy,
abandoned Capua to its fate. It soon fell, and paid the penalty that Rome
never failed to inflict upon an unfaithful ally. The chief men in the city
were put to death, and a large part of the inhabitants sold as slaves.
Capua had aspired to the first place among the cities of Italy: scarcely
more than the name of the ambitious capital now remained.

Hasdrubal attempts to carry Aid to his Brother.--During all the years
Hannibal was waging war in Italy, his brother Hasdrubal was carrying on a
desperate struggle with the Roman armies in Spain. At length he determined
to leave the conduct of the war in that country to others, and go to the
relief of his brother, who was sadly in need of aid. Like Pyrrhus,
Hannibal had been brought to realize that even constant victories won at
the cost of soldiers that could not be replaced, meant final defeat.

Hasdrubal followed the same route that had been taken by his brother
Hannibal, and in the year 207 B.C. descended from the Alps upon the plains
of Northern Italy. Thence he advanced southward, while Hannibal moved
northward from Bruttium to meet him. Rome made a last great effort to
prevent the junction of the armies of the two brothers. At the river
Metaurus, Hasdrubal's march was withstood by a large Roman army. Here his
forces were cut to pieces, and he himself was slain (207 B.C.). His head
was severed from his body and sent to Hannibal. Upon recognizing the
features of his brother, Hannibal exclaimed sadly, "Carthage, I see thy
fate."

WAR IN AFRICA: BATTLE OF ZAMA.--The defeat and death of Hasdrubal gave a
different aspect to the war. Hannibal now drew back into the rocky
peninsula of Bruttium, the southernmost point of Italy. There he faced the
Romans like a lion at bay. No one dared attack him. It was resolved to
carry the war into Africa, in hopes that the Carthaginians would be forced
to call their great commander out of Italy to the defence of Carthage.
Publius Cornelius Scipio, who after the departure of Hasdrubal from Spain
had quickly brought the peninsula under the power of Rome, led the army of
invasion. He had not been long in Africa before the Carthaginian Senate
sent for Hannibal to conduct the war. At Zama, not far from Carthage, the
hostile armies came face to face. Fortune had deserted Hannibal; he was
fighting [Footnote: Son of the consul mentioned on page 259.] against
fate. He here met his first and final defeat. His army, in which were many
of the veterans that had served through all the Italian campaigns, was
almost annihilated (202 B.C.). Scipio was accorded a splendid triumph at
Rome, and given the surname Africanus in honor of his achievements.
[Footnote:  Some time after the close of the Second Punic War, the Romans,
persuading themselves that Hannibal was preparing Carthage for another
war, demanded his surrender of the Carthaginians. He fled to Syria, and
thence to Asia Minor, where, to avoid falling into the hands of his
implacable foes, he committed suicide by means of poison (183 B.C.).]

[Illustration: PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO (Africanus).]

THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.--Carthage was now completely exhausted, and sued for
peace. Even Hannibal himself could no longer counsel war. The terms of the
treaty were much severer than those imposed upon the city at the end of
the First Punic War. She was required to give up all claims to Spain and
the islands of the Mediterranean; to surrender her war elephants, and all
her ships of war save ten galleys; to pay an indemnity of five thousand
talents at once, and two hundred and fifty talents annually for fifty
years; and not to engage in any war without the consent of Rome. Five
hundred of the costly Phoenician war galleys were towed out of the harbor
of Carthage and burned in the sight of the citizens.

Such was the end of the Second Punic, or Hannibalic War, as called by the
Romans, the most desperate struggle ever maintained by rival powers for
empire.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE THIRD PUNIC WAR.
(149-146 B.C.)

EVENTS BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THE THIRD PUNIC WAR.

The terms imposed upon Carthage at the end of the Second Punic War left
Rome mistress of the Western Mediterranean. During the fifty eventful
years that elapsed between the close of that struggle and the breaking-out
of the last Punic war, her authority became supreme also in the Eastern
seas. In a preceding chapter (see p. 170), while narrating the fortunes of
the most important states into which the great empire of Alexander was
broken at his death, we followed them until one after another they fell
beneath the arms of Rome, and were successively absorbed into her growing
kingdom. We shall therefore speak of them here only in the briefest
manner, simply indicating the connection of their several histories with
the series of events which mark the advance of Rome to universal empire.

THE BATTLE OF CYNOSCEPHALÆ (197 B.C.).--During the Hannibalic War, Philip
V. (III.) of Macedonia had aided the Carthaginians, or at least had
entered into an alliance with them. He was now troubling the Greek cities
which were under the protection of Rome. For these things the Roman Senate
determined to punish him. An army under Flamininus was sent into Greece,
and on the plains of Cynoscephalæ, in Thessaly, the Roman legion
demonstrated its superiority over the unwieldy Macedonian phalanx by
subjecting Philip to a most disastrous defeat (197 B.C.). The king was
forced to give up all his conquests, and Rome extended her protectorate
over Greece.

THE BATTLE OF MAGNESIA (190 B.C.).--Antiochus the Great of Syria had at
this time not only overrun all Asia Minor, but had crossed the Hellespont
into Europe, and was intent upon the conquest of Thrace and Greece. Rome,
that could not entertain the idea of a rival empire upon the southern
shores of the Mediterranean, could much less tolerate the establishment in
the East of such a colossal kingdom as the ambition of Antiochus proposed
to itself. Just as soon as intelligence was carried to Italy that the
Syrian king was leading his army into Greece, the legions of the republic
were set in motion. Some reverses caused Antiochus to retreat in haste
across the Hellespont into Asia, whither he was followed by the Romans,
led by Scipio, a brother of Africanus.

At Magnesia, Antiochus was overthrown, and a large part of Asia Minor fell
into the hands of the Romans. Not yet prepared to maintain provinces so
distant from the Tiber, the Senate conferred the new territory, with the
exception of Lycia and Caria, which were given to the Rhodians, upon their
friend and ally Eumenes, King of Pergamus (see p. 171). This "Kingdom of
Asia," as it was called, was really nothing more than a dependency of
Rome, and its nominal ruler only a puppet-king in the hands of the Roman
Senate.

Scipio enjoyed a magnificent triumph at Rome, and, in accordance with a
custom that had now become popular with successful generals, erected a
memorial of his deeds in his name by assuming the title of Asiaticus.

[Illustration: PERSEUS, of Macedonia.]

THE BATTLE OF PYDNA (168 B.C.).--In a few years Macedonia, under the
leadership of Perseus, son of Philip V., was again in arms and offering
defiance to Rome; but in the year 168 B.C. the Roman consul Æmilius Paulus
crushed the Macedonian power forever upon the memorable field of Pydna.
This was one of the decisive battles fought by the Romans in their
struggle for the dominion of the world. The last great power in the East
was here broken. The Roman Senate was henceforth recognized by the whole
civilized world as the source and fountain of supreme political wisdom and
power. We shall have yet to record many campaigns of the Roman legions;
but these were efforts to suppress revolt among dependent or semi-vassal
states, or were struggles with barbarian tribes that skirted the Roman
dominions.

THE DESTRUCTION OF CORINTH (146 B.C.).--Barely twenty years had passed
after the destruction of the Macedonian monarchy before the cities and
states that formed the Achæan League (see p. 175) were goaded to revolt by
the injustice of their Roman protectors. In the year 146 B.C. the consul
Mummius signalized the suppression of the rebellion by the complete
destruction of the brilliant city of Corinth, the "eye of Hellas," as the
ancient poets were fond of calling it. This fair capital, the most
beautiful and renowned of all the cities of Greece after the fall of
Athens, was sacked, and razed to the ground. Much of the booty was sold on
the spot at public auction. Numerous works of art,--rare paintings and
sculptures,--with which the city was crowded, were carried off to Italy.
"Never before or after," says Long, "was such a display of the wonders of
Grecian art carried in triumphal procession through the streets of Rome."

THE THIRD PUNIC WAR.

"CARTHAGE MUST BE DESTROYED."--The same year that Rome destroyed Corinth
(146 B.C.), she also blotted her great rival Carthage from the face of the
earth. It will be recalled that one of the conditions imposed upon the
last-named city at the close of the Second Punic War was that she should,
under no circumstances, engage in any war without the permission of the
Roman Senate. Taking advantage of the helpless condition of Carthage,
Masinissa, King of Numidia, began to make depredations upon her
territories. She appealed to Rome for protection. The envoys sent to
Africa by the Senate to settle the dispute, unfairly adjudged every case
in favor of the robber Masinissa. In this way Carthage was deprived of her
lands and towns.

Chief of one of the embassies sent out was Marcus Cato the Censor. When he
saw the prosperity of Carthage,--her immense trade, which crowded her
harbor with ships, and the country for miles back of the city a beautiful
landscape of gardens and villas,--he was amazed at the growing power and
wealth of the city, and returned home convinced that the safety of Rome
demanded the destruction of her rival. Never afterwards did he address the
Romans, no matter upon what subject, but he always ended with the words,
"Carthage must be destroyed" (_delenda est Carthago_).

ROMAN PERFIDY.--A pretext for the accomplishment of the hateful work was
not long wanting. In 150 B.C. the Carthaginians, when Masinissa made
another attack upon their territory, instead of calling upon Rome, from
which source the past had convinced them they could hope for neither aid
nor justice, gathered an army, and resolved to defend themselves. Their
forces, however, were defeated by the Numidians, and sent beneath the
yoke.

In entering upon this war without the consent of Rome, Carthage had broken
the conditions of the last treaty. The Carthaginian Senate, in great
anxiety, now sent an embassy to Italy to offer any reparation the Romans
might demand. They were told that if they would give three hundred
hostages, members of the noblest Carthaginian families, the independence
of their city should be respected. They eagerly complied with this demand.
But no sooner were these in the hands of the Romans than the consular
armies, numbering eighty thousand men, secured against attack by the
hostages so perfidiously drawn from the Carthaginians, crossed from Sicily
into Africa, and disembarked at Utica, only ten miles from Carthage.

The Carthaginians were now commanded to give up all their arms; still
hoping to win their enemy to clemency, they complied with this demand
also. Then the consuls made known the final decree of the Roman Senate--
"That Carthage must be destroyed, but that the inhabitants might build a
new city, provided it were located ten miles from the coast."

When this resolution of the Senate was announced to the Carthaginians, and
they realized the baseness and perfidy of their enemy, a cry of
indignation and despair burst from the betrayed city.

THE CARTHAGINIANS PREPARE TO DEFEND THEIR CITY.--It was resolved to resist
to the bitter end the execution of the cruel decree. The gates of the city
were closed. Men, women, and children set to work and labored day and
night manufacturing arms. The entire city was converted into one great
workshop. The utensils of the home and the sacred vessels of the temples,
statues, and vases were melted down for weapons. Material was torn from
the buildings of the city for the construction of military engines. The
women cut off their hair and braided it into strings for the catapults. By
such labor, and through such means, the city was soon put in a state to
withstand a siege.

When the Romans advanced to take possession of the place, they were
astonished to find the people they had just treacherously disarmed, with
weapons in their hands, manning the walls of their capital, and ready to
bid them defiance.

THE DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE.--It is impossible for us here to give the
circumstances of the siege of Carthage. For four years the city held out
against the Roman army. At length the consul Scipio Æmilianus succeeded in
taking it by storm. When resistance ceased, only 50,000 men, women, and
children, out of a population of 700,000, remained to be made prisoners.
The city was fired, and for seventeen days the space within the walls was
a sea of flames. Every trace of building which the fire could not destroy
was levelled, a plough was driven over the site, and a dreadful curse
invoked upon any one who should dare attempt to rebuild the city.

Such was the hard fate of Carthage. It is said that Scipio, as he gazed
upon the smouldering ruins, seemed to read in them the fate of Rome, and,
bursting into tears, sadly repeated the lines of Homer:

  "The day shall come in which our sacred Troy,
  And Priam, and the people over whom
  Spear-bearing Priam rules, shall perish all."

The Carthaginian territory in Africa was made into a Roman province, with
Utica as the leading city; and Roman civilization was spread rapidly, by
means of traders and settlers, throughout the regions that lie between the
ranges of the Atlas and the sea.

WAR IN SPAIN.

SIEGE OF NUMANTIA.--It is fitting that the same chapter which narrates the
destruction of Corinth in Greece, and the blotting-out of Carthage in
Africa, should tell the story of the destruction of Numantia in Spain.

The expulsion of the Carthaginians from the Spanish peninsula really gave
Rome the control of only a small part of that country. The war-like native
tribes--the Celtiberians and Lusitanians--of the North and the West were
ready stubbornly to dispute with the new-comers the possession of the
soil.

The war gathered about Numantia, the siege of which was brought to a close
by Scipio Æmilianus, the conqueror of Carthage. Before the surrender of
the place, almost all the inhabitants had met death, either in defence of
the walls, or by deliberate suicide. The miserable remnant which the
ravages of battle, famine, pestilence, and despair had left alive were
sold into slavery, and the city was levelled to the ground (133 B.C.).

The capture of Numantia was considered quite as great an achievement as
the taking of Carthage. Scipio celebrated another triumph at Rome, and to
his surname Africanus, which he had received for his achievements in
Africa, added that of Numantinus. Spain became a favorite resort of Roman
merchants, and many colonies were established in different parts of the
country. As a result of this great influx of Italians, the laws, manners,
customs, language, and religion of the conquerors were introduced
everywhere, and the peninsula became rapidly Romanized.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE LAST CENTURY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC.
(133-31 B.C.)

We have now traced the growth of the power of republican Rome, as through
two centuries and more of conquest she has extended her authority, first
throughout Italy, and then over almost all the countries that border upon
the Mediterranean. It must be our less pleasant task now to follow the
declining fortunes of the republic through the last century of its
existence. We shall here learn that wars waged for spoils and dominion are
in the end more ruinous, if possible, to the conqueror than to the
conquered.

THE SERVILE WAR IN SICILY (134-132 B.C.).--With the opening of this period
we find a terrible struggle going on in Sicily between masters and slaves
--or what is known as "The First Servile War." The condition of affairs in
that island was the legitimate result of the Roman system of slavery. The
captives taken in war were usually sold into servitude. The great number
of prisoners furnished by the numerous conquests of the Romans caused
slaves to become a drug in the slave-markets of the Roman world. They were
so cheap that masters found it more profitable to wear their slaves out by
a few years of unmercifully hard labor, and then to buy others, than to
preserve their lives for a longer period by more humane treatment. In case
of sickness, they were left to die without attention, as the expense of
nursing exceeded the cost of new purchases. Some Sicilian estates were
worked by as many as 20,000 slaves. That each owner might know his own,
the poor creatures were branded like cattle. What makes all this the more
revolting is the fact that many of these slaves were in every way the
peers of their owners, and often were their superiors. The fortunes of war
alone had made one servant and the other master.

The wretched condition of these slaves and the cruelty of their masters at
last drove them to revolt. The insurrection spread throughout the island,
until 200,000 slaves were in arms, and in possession of many of the
strongholds of the country. They defeated four Roman armies sent against
them, and for three years defied the power of Rome. Finally, however, in
the year 132 B.C., the revolt was crushed, and peace was restored to the
distracted island. [Footnote: In the year 102 B.C. another insurrection of
the slaves broke out in the island, which it required three years to
quell. This last revolt is known as "The Second Servile War."]

THE PUBLIC LANDS.--In Italy itself affairs were in a scarcely less
wretched condition than in Sicily. When the different states of the
peninsula were subjugated, large portions of the conquered territory had
become public land (_ager publicus_); for upon the subjugation of a
state Rome never left to the conquered people more than two-thirds of
their lands, and often not so much as this. The land appropriated was
disposed of at public sale, leased at low rentals, allotted to discharged
soldiers, or allowed to lie unused. [Footnote: These land matters may be
made plain by a reference to the public lands of the United States. The
troubles in Ireland between the land-owners and their tenants will also
serve to illustrate the agrarian disturbances in ancient Rome.]

Now, it had happened that, in various ways, the greater part of the public
lands had fallen into the hands of the wealthy. They alone had the capital
necessary to stock and work them to advantage; hence the possessions of
the small proprietors were gradually absorbed by the large landholders.
These great proprietors, also, disregarding a law which forbade any person
to hold more than five hundred jugera of land, held many times that
amount. Almost all the lands of Italy, about the beginning of the first
century B.C., are said to have been held by not more than two thousand
persons; for the large proprietors, besides the lands they had secured by
purchase from the government, or had wrested from the smaller farmers,
claimed enormous tracts to which they had only a squatter's title. So long
had they been left in undisturbed possession of these government lands
that they had come to look upon them as absolutely their own. In many
cases, feeling secure through great lapse of time,--the lands having been
handed down through many generations,--the owners had expended large sums
in their improvement, and now resisted as very unjust every effort to
dispossess them of their hereditary estates. Money-lenders, too, had, in
many instances, made loans upon these lands, and they naturally sided with
the owners in their opposition to all efforts to disturb the titles.

These wealthy "possessors" employed slave rather than free labor, as they
found it more profitable; and so the poorer Romans, left without
employment, crowded into the cities, especially congregating at Rome,
where they lived in vicious indolence. The proprietors also found it to
their interest to raise stock rather than to cultivate the soil. All Italy
became a great sheep-pasture.

Thus, largely through the workings of the public land system, the Roman
people had become divided into two great classes, which are variously
designated as the Rich and the Poor, the Possessors and the Non-
Possessors, the Optimates (the "Best"), and the Populares (the "People").
We hear nothing more of patricians and plebeians. As one expresses it,
"Rome had become a commonwealth of millionaires and beggars."

For many years before and after the period at which we have now arrived, a
bitter struggle was carried on between these two classes; just such a
contest as we have seen waged between the nobility and the commonalty in
the earlier history of Rome. The most instructive portion of the story of
the Roman republic is found in the records of this later struggle. The
misery of the great masses naturally led to constant agitation at the
capital. Popular leaders introduced bill after bill into the Senate, and
brought measure after measure before the assemblies of the people, all
aiming at the redistribution of the public lands and the correction of
existing abuses.

THE REFORMS OF THE GRACCHI.--The most noted champions of the cause of the
poorer classes against the rich and powerful were Tiberius and Caius
Gracchus. These reformers are reckoned among the most popular orators that
Rome ever produced. They eloquently voiced the wrongs of the people. Said
Tiberius, "You are called 'lords of the earth' without possessing a single
clod to call your own." The people made him tribune; and in that position
he secured the passage of a law for the redistribution of the public
lands, which gave some relief. It took away from Possessors without sons
all the land they held over five hundred jugera; Possessors with one son
might hold seven hundred and fifty jugera, and those with two sons one
thousand.

At the end of his term of office, Tiberius stood a second time for the
tribunate. The nobles combined to defeat him. Foreseeing that he would not
be re-elected, Tiberius resolved to use force upon the day of voting. His
partisans were overpowered, and he and three hundred of his followers were
killed in the Forum, and their bodies thrown into the Tiber (133 B.C.).
This was the first time that the Roman Forum had witnessed such a scene of
violence and crime.

Caius Gracchus, the younger brother of Tiberius, now assumed the position
made vacant by the death of Tiberius. It is related that Caius had a dream
in which the spirit of his brother seemed to address him thus: "Caius, why
do you linger? There is no escape: one life for both of us, and one death
in defence of the people, is our fate." The dream came true. Caius was
chosen tribune in 123 B.C. He secured the passage of grain-laws which
provided that grain should be sold to the poor from public granaries, at
half its value or less. This was a very unwise and pernicious measure. It
was not long before grain was distributed free to all applicants; and a
considerable portion of the population of the capital were living in
vicious indolence and feeding at the public crib.

Caius proposed other measures in the interest of the people, which were
bitterly opposed by the Optimates; and the two orders at last came into
collision. Caius sought death by a friendly sword (121 B.C.), and three
thousand of his adherents were massacred. The consul offered for the head
of Caius its weight in gold. "This is the first instance in Roman history
of head-money being offered and paid, but it was not the last" (Long).

The people ever regarded the Gracchi as martyrs to their cause, and their
memory was preserved by statues in the public square. To Cornelia, their
mother, a monument was erected, simply bearing the inscription, "The
Mother of the Gracchi."

THE WAR WITH JUGURTHA (111-106 B.C.).--After the death of the Gracchi
there seemed no one left to resist the heartless oppressions and to
denounce the scandalous extravagances of the aristocratic party. Many of
the laws of the Gracchi respecting the public lands were annulled. Italy
fell again into the hands of a few over-rich land-owners. The provinces