{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_16667/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_16667","id":"gutenberg_16667","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16667","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Instructional Books","Rome -- History -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Graeme Mackreth and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nYOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY\n\nOF\n\nROME.\n\nBY\n\nCHARLOTTE M. YONGE,\n\nAUTHOR OF \"THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE,\" \"BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS,\" \"YOUNG FOLKS'\nHISTORY OF FRANCE,\" &c.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBOSTON:\n\nESTES & LAURIAT,\n\n301 WASHINGTON STREET.\n\nCOPYRIGHT BY\n\nD. LOTHROP & CO. and ESTES & LAURIAT.\n\n1880.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThis sketch of the History of Rome covers the period till the reign of\nCharles the Great as head of the new Western Empire. The history has\nbeen given as briefly as could be done consistently with such details as\ncan alone make it interesting to all classes of readers.\n\nCHARLOTTE M. YONGE.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAP. PAGE.\n\n1.--Italy 13\n\n2.--The Wanderings of AEneas 21\n\n3.--The Founding of Rome. B.C. 753-713 31\n\n4.--Numa and Tullus. B.C. 713-618 39\n\n5.--The Driving Out of the Tarquins. B.C. 578-309 47\n\n6.--The War with Porsena 55\n\n7.--The Roman Government 66\n\n8.--Menenius Agrippa's Fable. B.C. 494 74\n\n9.--Coriolanus and Cincinnatus. B.C. 458 84\n\n10.--The Decemvirs. B.C. 450 92\n\n11.--Camillus' Banishment 101\n\n12.--The Sack of Rome. B.C. 390 110\n\n13.--The Plebeian Consulate. B.C. 367 119\n\n14.--The Devotion of Decius. B.C. 357 127\n\n15.--The Samnite Wars 135\n\n16.--The War with Pyrrhus. 280-271 144\n\n17.--The First Punic War. 264-240 151\n\n18.--Conquest of Cisalpine Gaul. 240-219 163\n\n19.--The Second Punic War. 219 172\n\n20. The First Eastern War. 215-183 181\n\n21.--The Conquest of Greece, Corinth, and Carthage. 179-145 188\n\n22.--The Gracchi. 137-122 195\n\n23.--The Wars of Marius. 106-98 203\n\n24.--The Adventures of Marius. 93-84 212\n\n25.--Sulla's Proscription. 88-71 220\n\n26.--The Career of Pompeius. 70-63 229\n\n27.--Pompeius and Caesar. 61-48 242\n\n28.--Julius Caesar. 48-44 252\n\n29.--The Second Triumvirate. 44-33 263\n\n30.--Caesar Augustus. B.C. 33 A.D. 14 273\n\n31.--Tiberius and Caligula. A.D. 14-41 285\n\n32.--Claudius and Nero. A.D. 41-68 297\n\n33.--The Flavian Family. 62-96 305\n\n34.--The Age of the Antonines. 96-194 317\n\n35.--The Praetorian Influence. 197-284 326\n\n36.--The Division of the Empire. 284-312 337\n\n37.--Constantine the Great. 312-337 345\n\n38.--Constantius. 337-364 355\n\n39.--Valentinian and his Family. 364-392 364\n\n40.--Theodosius the Great. 392-395 374\n\n41.--Alaric the Goth. 395-410 383\n\n42.--The Vandals. 403 394\n\n43.--Attila the Hun. 435-457 404\n\n44.--Theodoric the Ostrogoth. 457-561 416\n\n45.--Belisarius. 533-563 425\n\n46.--Pope Gregory the Great. 563-800 434\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\nThe Pope's Doortender. (_Frontispiece._) PAGE.\n\nThe Tiber 14\n\nCurious Pottery 15\n\nJupiter 17\n\nThe Coast 23\n\nMount Etna 25\n\nCarthage 28\n\nRoman Soldier 30\n\nGladiatorial Shows at a Banquet 34\n\nThe Forum 37\n\nJanus 41\n\nActors 45\n\nSybil's Cave 50\n\nBrutus condemning his sons 57\n\nRoman Ensigns, Standards, Trumpets etc. 63\n\nHead of Jupiter 68\n\nFemale Costumes 70\n\nFemale Costumes 71\n\nSenatorial Palace 79\n\nView of a Roman Harbor 81\n\nRoman Camp 87\n\nPloughing 89\n\nDeath of Virginia 95\n\nChariot Races 98\n\nArrow Machine 102\n\nSiege Machine 105\n\nRuins of the Forum at Rome 111\n\nEntry of the Forum Romanum by the Via Sacra 117\n\nCostumes 120\n\nCostume 121\n\nCurtius leaping into the Gulf 125\n\nThe Apennines 129\n\nCombat between a Mirmillo and a Samnite 137\n\nCombat between a light armed Gladiator and a Samnite 137\n\nAncient Rome 141\n\nPyrrhus 145\n\nRoman Orator 147\n\nRoman Ship 153\n\nRoman Order of Battle 159\n\nThe wounded Gaul 165\n\nHannibal's Vow 168\n\nIn the Pyrenees 170\n\nMeeting of Hannibal and Scipio at Zama 173\n\nArchimedes 178\n\nHannibal 184\n\nCorinth 190\n\nCornelia and her Sons 196\n\nRoman Centurion 201\n\nMarius 205\n\nOne of the Trophies, called of Marius,\nat the Capitol at Rome 207\n\nThe Catapult 215\n\nIsland on the Coast 217\n\nPalazzo Vecchio, Florence 223\n\nCornelius Sulla 225\n\nCoast of Tyre 231\n\nMountains of Armenia 235\n\nCicero 238\n\nColossal Statue of Pompeius of the\nPalazzo Spada of Rome 239\n\nPompeius 243\n\nAmphitheatre 246\n\nThe Arena 247\n\nJulius Caesar 253\n\nCato 254\n\nFuneral Solemnities in the Columbarium of\nthe House of Julius Caesar at the\nPorta Capena in Rome 255\n\nMarcus Antonius 265\n\nMarcus Brutus 268\n\nAlexandria 270\n\nCaius Octavius 272\n\nStatue of Augustus at the Vatican 275\n\nPaintings in the House of Livia 281\n\nRuins of the Palaces of Tiberius 287\n\nAgrippina 290\n\nRome in the time of Augustus Caesar 293\n\nClaudius 298\n\nNero 301\n\nArch of Titus 308\n\nVesuvius previous to the Eruption of A.D. 63 311\n\nPersecution of the Christians 314\n\nCoin of Nero 316\n\nTemple of Antoninus and Faustina 319\n\nMarcus Aurelius 325\n\nSeptimus Severus 327\n\nAntioch 328\n\nAlexander Severus 329\n\nTemple of the Sun at Palmyra 332\n\nThe Catacombs at Rome 333\n\nCoin of Severus 336\n\nDiocletian 338\n\nDiocletian in Retirement 341\n\nConstantine the Great 343\n\nConstantinople 347\n\nCouncil of Nicea 349\n\nCatacombs 352\n\nJulian 357\n\nArch of Constantine 361\n\nAlexandria 365\n\nGoths 367\n\nConvent on the Hills 372\n\nJulian Alps 375\n\nRoman Hall of Justice 377\n\nColonnades of St. Peter at Rome 385\n\nAlaric's Burial 391\n\nRoman Clock 396\n\nSpanish Coast 398\n\nVandals plundering 401\n\nPyramids and Sphynx, Egypt 403\n\nHunnish Camp 405\n\nSt. Mark's, Venice 409\n\nThe Pope's House 413\n\nRomulus Augustus resigns the Crown 419\n\nIllustration 423\n\nNaples 427\n\nConstantinople 429\n\nPope Gregory the Great 435\n\nThe Pope's Pulpit 437\n\nBattle of Tours 441\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n\nYOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF ROME.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nITALY.\n\n\nI am going to tell you next about the most famous nation in the world.\nGoing westward from Greece another peninsula stretches down into the\nMediterranean. The Apennine Mountains run like a limb stretching out of\nthe Alps to the south eastward, and on them seems formed that land,\nshaped somewhat like a leg, which is called Italy.\n\nRound the streams that flowed down from these hills, valleys of fertile\nsoil formed themselves, and a great many different tribes and people\ntook up their abode there, before there was any history to explain their\ncoming. Putting together what can be proved about them, it is plain,\nhowever, that most of them came of that old stock from which the Greeks\ndescended, and to which we belong ourselves, and they spoke a language\nwhich had the same root as ours and as the Greek. From one of these\nnations the best known form of this, as it was polished in later times,\nwas called Latin, from the tribe who spoke it.\n\n[Illustration: THE TIBER.]\n\nAbout the middle of the peninsula there runs down, westward from the\nApennines, a river called the Tiber, flowing rapidly between seven low\nhills, which recede as it approaches the sea. One, in especial, called\nthe Palatine Hill, rose separately, with a flat top and steep sides,\nabout four hundred yards from the river, and girdled in by the other\nsix. This was the place where the great Roman power grew up from\nbeginnings, the truth of which cannot now be discovered.\n\n[Illustration: CURIOUS POTTERY.]\n\nThere were several nations living round these hills--the Etruscans,\nSabines, and Latins being the chief. The homes of these nations seem to\nhave been in the valleys round the spurs of the Apennines, where they\nhad farms and fed their flocks; but above them was always the hill which\nthey had fortified as strongly as possible, and where they took refuge\nif their enemies attacked them. The Etruscans built very mighty walls,\nand also managed the drainage of their cities wonderfully well. Many of\ntheir works remain to this day, and, in especial, their monuments have\nbeen opened, and the tomb of each chief has been found, adorned with\nfigures of himself, half lying, half sitting; also curious pottery in\nred and black, from which something of their lives and ways is to be\nmade out. They spoke a different language from what has become Latin,\nand they had a different religion, believing in one great Soul of the\nWorld, and also thinking much of rewards and punishments after death.\nBut we know hardly anything about them, except that their chiefs were\ncalled Lucumos, and that they once had a wide power which they had lost\nbefore the time of history. The Romans called them Tusci, and Tuscany\nstill keeps its name.\n\nThe Latins and the Sabines were more alike, and also more like the\nGreeks. There were a great many settlements of Greeks in the southern\nparts of Italy, and they learnt something from them. They had a great\nmany gods. Every house had its own guardian. These were called Lares, or\nPenates, and were generally represented as little figures of dogs lying\nby the hearth, or as brass bars with dogs' heads. This is the reason\nthat the bars which close in an open hearth are still called dogs.\nWhenever there was a meal in the house the master began by pouring out\nwine to the Lares, and also to his own ancestors, of whom he kept\nfigures; for these natives thought much of their families, and all one\nfamily had the same name, like our surname, such as Tullius or Appius,\nthe daughters only changing it by making it end in _a_ instead of\n_us_, and the men having separate names standing first, such as\nMarcus or Lucius, though their sisters were only numbered to distinguish\nthem.\n\n[Illustration: JUPITER]\n\nEach city had a guardian spirit, each stream its nymph, each wood its\nfaun; also there were gods to whom the boundary stones of estates were\ndedicated. There was a goddess of fruits called Pomona, and a god of\nfruits named Vertumnus. In their names the fields and the crops were\nsolemnly blest, and all were sacred to Saturn. He, according to the old\nlegends, had first taught husbandry, and when he reigned in Italy there\nwas a golden age, when every one had his own field, lived by his own\nhandiwork, and kept no slaves. There was a feast in honor of this time\nevery year called the Saturnalia, when for a few days the slaves were\nall allowed to act as if they were free, and have all kinds of wild\nsports and merriment. Afterwards, when Greek learning came in, Saturn\nwas mixed up with the Greek Kronos, or Time, who devours his offspring,\nand the reaping-hook his figures used to carry for harvest became Time's\nscythe. The sky-god, Zeus or Deus Pater (or father), was shortened into\nJupiter; Juno was his wife, and Mars was god of war, and in Greek times\nwas supposed to be the same as Ares; Pallas Athene was joined with the\nLatin Minerva; Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, was called Vesta; and,\nin truth, we talk of the Greek gods by their Latin names. The old Greek\ntales were not known to the Latins in their first times, but only\nafterwards learnt from the Greeks. They seem to have thought of their\ngods as graver, higher beings, further off, and less capricious and\nfanciful than the legends about the weather had made them seem to the\nGreeks. Indeed, these Latins were a harder, tougher, graver, fiercer,\nmore business-like race altogether than the Greeks; not so clever,\nthoughtful, or poetical, but with more of what we should now call\nsterling stuff in them.\n\nAt least so it was with that great nation which spoke their language,\nand seems to have been an offshoot from them. Rome, the name of which is\nsaid to mean the famous, is thought to have been at first a cluster of\nlittle villages, with forts to protect them on the hills, and temples in\nthe forts. Jupiter had a temple on the Capitoline Hill, with cells for\nhis worship, and that of Juno and Minerva; and the two-faced Janus, the\ngod of gates, had his upon the Janicular Hill. Besides these, there were\nthe Palatine, the Esquiline, the Aventine, the Caelian, and the Quirinal.\nThe people of these villages called themselves Quirites, or spearmen,\nwhen they formed themselves into an army and made war on their\nneighbors, the Sabines and Latins, and by-and-by built a wall enclosing\nall the seven hills, and with a strip of ground within, free from\nhouses, where sacrifices were offered and omens sought for.\n\nThe history of these people was not written till long after they had\ngrown to be a mighty and terrible power, and had also picked up many\nGreek notions. Then they seem to have made their history backwards, and\nworked up their old stories and songs to explain the names and customs\nthey found among them, and the tales they told were formed into a great\nhistory by one Titus Livius. It is needful to know these stories which\nevery one used to believe to be really history; so we will tell them\nfirst, beginning, however, with a story told by the poet Virgil.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE WANDERINGS OF AENEAS.\n\n\nYou remember in the Greek history the burning of Troy, and how Priam and\nall his family were cut off. Among the Trojans there was a prince called\nAEneas, whose father was Anchises, a cousin of Priam, and his mother was\nsaid to be the goddess Venus. When he saw that the city was lost, he\nrushed back to his house, and took his old father Anchises on his back,\ngiving him his Penates, or little images of household gods, to take care\nof, and led by the hand his little son Iulus, or Ascanius, while his\nwife Creusa followed close behind, and all the Trojans who could get\ntheir arms together joined him, so that they escaped in a body to Mount\nIda; but just as they were outside the city he missed poor Creusa, and\nthough he rushed back and searched for her everywhere, he never could\nfind her. For the sake of his care for his gods, and for his old father,\nhe is always known as the pious AEneas.\n\nIn the forests of Mount Ida he built ships enough to set forth with all\nhis followers in quest of the new home which his mother, the goddess\nVenus, gave him hopes of. He had adventures rather like those of Ulysses\nas he sailed about the Mediterranean. Once in the Strophades, some\nclusters belonging to the Ionian Islands, when he and his troops had\nlanded to get food, and were eating the flesh of the numerous goats\nwhich they found climbing about the rocks, down on them came the\nharpies, horrible birds with women's faces and hooked hands, with which\nthey snatched away the food and spoiled what they could not eat. The\nTrojans shot at them, but the arrows glanced off their feathers and did\nnot hurt them. However, they all flew off except one, who sat on a high\nrock, and croaked out that the Trojans would be punished for thus\nmolesting the harpies by being tossed about till they should reach\nItaly, but there they should not build their city till they should have\nbeen so hungry as to eat their very trenchers.\n\n[Illustration: THE COAST.]\n\nThey sailed away from this dismal prophetess, and touched on the coast\nof Epirus, where AEneas found his cousin Helenus, son to old Priam,\nreigning over a little new Troy, and married to Andromache, Hector's\nwife, whom he had gained after Pyrrhus had been killed. Helenus was a\nprophet, and gave AEneas much advice. In especial he said that when the\nTrojans should come to Italy, they would find, under the holly-trees by\nthe river side, a large white old sow lying on the ground, with a litter\nof thirty little pigs round her, and this should be a sign to them\nwhere they were to build their city.\n\nBy his advice the Trojans coasted round the south of Sicily, instead of\ntrying to pass the strait between the dreadful Scylla and Charybdis, and\njust below Mount Etna an unfortunate man came running down to the beach\nbegging to be taken in. He was a Greek, who had been left behind when\nUlysses escaped from Polyphemus' cave, and had made his way to the\nforests, where he had lived ever since. They had just taken him in when\nthey saw Cyclops coming down, with a pine tree for a staff, to wash the\nburning hollow of his lost eye in the sea, and they rowed off in great\nterror.\n\n[Illustration: MOUNT ETNA.]\n\nPoor old Anchises died shortly after, and while his son was still\nsorrowing for him, Juno, who hated every Trojan, stirred up a terrible\ntempest, which drove the ships to the south, until, just as the sea\nbegan to calm down, they came into a beautiful bay, enclosed by tall\ncliffs with woods overhanging them. Here the tired wanderers landed,\nand, lighting a fire, AEneas went in quest of food. Coming out of the\nforest, they looked down from a hill, and beheld a multitude of people\nbuilding a city, raising walls, houses, towers, and temples. Into one of\nthese temples AEneas entered, and to his amazement he found the walls\nsculptured with all the story of the siege of Troy, and all his friends\nso perfectly represented, that he burst into tears at the sight.\n\nJust then a beautiful queen, attended by a whole troop of nymphs, came\ninto the temple. This lady was Dido; her husband, Sichaeus, had been king\nof Tyre, till he was murdered by his brother Pygmalion, who meant to\nhave married her, but she fled from him with a band of faithful Tyrians\nand all her husband's treasure, and had landed on the north coast of\nAfrica. There she begged of the chief of the country as much land as\ncould be enclosed by a bullock's hide. He granted this readily; and\nDido, cutting the hide into the finest possible strips, managed to\nmeasure off with it ground enough to build the splendid city which she\nhad named Carthage. She received AEneas most kindly, and took all his men\ninto her city, hoping to keep them there for ever, and make him her\nhusband. AEneas himself was so happy there, that he forgot all his plans\nand the prophecies he had heard, until Jupiter sent Mercury to rouse him\nto fulfil his destiny. He obeyed the call; and Dido was so wretched at\nhis departure that she caused a great funeral pile to be built, laid\nherself on the top, and stabbed herself with AEneas' sword; the pile was\nburnt, and the Trojans saw the flame from their ships without knowing\nthe cause.\n\n[Illustration: CARTHAGE.]\n\nBy-and-by AEneas landed at a place in Italy named Cumae. There dwelt one\nof the Sybils. These were wondrous virgins whom Apollo had endowed with\ndeep wisdom; and when AEneas went to consult the Cumaean Sybil, she told\nhim that he must visit the under-world of Pluto to learn his fate.\nFirst, however, he had to go into a forest, and find there and gather a\ngolden bough, which he was to bear in his hand to keep him safe. Long\nhe sought it, until two doves, his mother's birds, came flying before\nhim to show him the tree where gold gleamed through the boughs, and he\nfound the branch growing on the tree as mistletoe grows on the thorn.\n\nGuarded with this, and guided by the Sybil, after a great sacrifice,\nAEneas passed into a gloomy cave, where he came to the river Styx, round\nwhich flitted all the shades who had never received funeral rites, and\nwhom the ferryman, Charon, would not carry over. The Sybil, however,\nmade him take AEneas across, his boat groaning under the weight of a\nhuman body. On the other side stood Cerberus, but the Sybil threw him a\ncake of honey and of some opiate, and he lay asleep, while AEneas passed\non and found in myrtle groves all who had died for love, among them, to\nhis surprise, poor forsaken Dido. A little further on he found the home\nof the warriors, and held converse with his old Trojan friends. He\npassed by the place of doom for the wicked, Tartarus; and in the Elysian\nfields, full of laurel groves and meads of asphodel, he found the spirit\nof his father Anchises, and with him was allowed to see the souls of all\ntheir descendants, as yet unborn, who should raise the glory of their\nname. They are described on to the very time when the poet wrote to\nwhom we owe all the tale of the wanderings of AEneas, namely, Virgil, who\nwrote the _AEneid_, whence all these stories are taken. He further tells\nus that AEneas landed in Italy just as his old nurse Caieta died, at the\nplace which is still called Gaeta. After they had buried her, they found\na grove, where they sat down on the grass to eat, using large round\ncakes or biscuits to put their meat on. Presently they came to eating up\nthe cakes. Little Ascanius cried out, \"We are eating our very tables;\"\nand AEneas, remembering the harpy's words, knew that his wanderings were\nover.\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN SOLDIER.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE FOUNDING OF ROME.\n\nB.C. 753--713.\n\n\nVirgil goes on to tell at much length how the king of the country,\nLatinus, at first made friends with AEneas, and promised him his daughter\nLavinia in marriage; but Turnus, an Italian chief who had before been a\nsuitor to Lavinia, stirred up a great war, and was only captured and\nkilled after much hard fighting. However, the white sow was found in the\nright place with all her little pigs, and on the spot was founded the\ncity of Alba Longa, where AEneas and Lavinia reigned until he died, and\nhis descendants, through his two sons, Ascanius or Iulus, and AEneas\nSilvius, reigned after him for fifteen generations.\n\nThe last of these fifteen was Amulius, who took the throne from his\nbrother Numitor, who had a daughter named Rhea Silvia, a Vestal virgin.\nIn Greece, the sacred fire of the goddess Vesta was tended by good men,\nbut in Italy it was the charge of maidens, who were treated with great\nhonor, but were never allowed to marry under pain of death. So there was\ngreat anger when Rhea Silvia became the mother of twin boys, and,\nmoreover, said that her husband was the god Mars. But Mars did not save\nher from being buried alive, while the two babes were put in a trough on\nthe waters of the river Tiber, there to perish. The river had overflowed\nits banks, and left the children on dry ground, where, however, they\nwere found by a she-wolf, who fondled and fed them like her own\noffspring, until a shepherd met with them and took them home to his\nwife. She called them Romulus and Remus, and bred them up as shepherds.\n\nWhen the twin brothers were growing into manhood, there was a fight\nbetween the shepherds of Numitor and Amulius, in which Romulus and Remus\ndid such brave feats that they were led before Numitor. He enquired into\ntheir birth, and their foster-father told the story of his finding them,\nshowing the trough in which they had been laid; and thus it became plain\nthat they were the grandsons of Numitor. On finding this out, they\ncollected an army, with which they drove away Amulius, and brought their\ngrandfather back to Alba Longa.\n\nThey then resolved to build a new city for themselves on one of the\nseven low hills beneath which ran the yellow river Tiber; but they were\nnot agreed on which hill to build, Remus wanting to build on the\nAventine Hill, and Romulus on the Palatine. Their grandfather advised\nthem to watch for omens from the gods, so each stood on his hill and\nwatched for birds. Remus was the first to see six vultures flying, but\nRomulus saw twelve, and therefore the Palatine Hill was made the\nbeginning of the city, and Romulus was chosen king. Remus was affronted,\nand when the mud wall was being raised around the space intended for the\ncity, he leapt over it and laughed, whereupon Romulus struck him dead,\ncrying out, \"So perish all who leap over the walls of my city.\"\n\n[Illustration: GLADIATORIAL SHOWS AT A BANQUET]\n\nRomulus traced out the form of the city with the plough, and made it\nalmost a square. He called the name of it Rome, and lived in the midst\nof it in a mud-hovel, covered with thatch, in the midst of about fifty\nfamilies of the old Trojan race, and a great many young men, outlaws and\nrunaways from the neighboring states, who had joined him. The date of\nthe building of Rome was supposed to be A.D. 753; and the\nRomans counted their years from it, as the Greeks did from the\nOlympiads, marking the date A.U.C., _anno urbis conditae_, the\nyear of the city being built. The youths who joined Romulus could not\nmarry, as no one of the neighboring nations would give his daughter to\none of these robbers, as they were esteemed. The nearest neighbors to\nRome were the Sabines, and the Romans cast their eyes in vain on the\nSabine ladies, till old Numitor advised Romulus to proclaim a great\nfeast in honor of Neptune, with games and dances. All the people in the\ncountry round came to it, and when the revelry was at its height each of\nthe unwedded Romans seized on a Sabine maiden and carried her away to\nhis own house. Six hundred and eighty-three girls were thus seized, and\nthe next day Romulus married them all after the fashion ever after\nobserved in Rome. There was a great sacrifice, then each damsel was\ntold, \"Partake of your husband's fire and water;\" he gave her a ring,\nand carried her over his threshold, where a sheepskin was spread, to\nshow that her duty would be to spin wool for him, and she became his\nwife.\n\n[Illustration: THE FORUM.]\n\nRomulus himself won his own wife, Hersilia, among the Sabines on this\noccasion; but the nation of course took up arms, under their king\nTatius, to recover their daughters. Romulus drew out his troops into\nCampus Martius, or field of Mars, just beneath the Capitol, or great\nfort on the Saturnian Hill, and marched against the Sabines; but while\nhe was absent, Tarpeia, the daughter of the governor of the little fort\nhe had left on the Saturnian Hill, promised to let the Sabines in on\ncondition they would give her what they wore on their left arms, meaning\ntheir bracelets; but they hated her treason even while they took\nadvantage of it, and no sooner were they within the gate than they\npelted her with their heavy shields, which they wore on their left arms,\nand killed her. The cliff on the top of which she died is still called\nthe Tarpeian rock, and criminals were executed by being thrown from the\ntop of it. Romulus tried to regain the Capitol, but the Sabines rolled\ndown stones on the Romans, and he was stunned by one that struck him on\nthe head; and though he quickly recovered and rallied his men, the\nbattle was going against him, when all the Sabine women, who had been\nnearly two years Roman wives, came rushing out, with their little\nchildren in their arms and their hair flying, begging their fathers and\nhusbands not to kill one another. This led to the making of a peace, and\nit was agreed that the Sabines and Romans should make but one nation,\nand that Romulus and Tatius should reign together at Rome. Romulus lived\non the Palatine Hill, Tatius on the Tarpeian, and the valley between was\ncalled the Forum, and was the market-place, and also the spot where all\npublic assemblies were held. All the chief arrangements for war and\ngovernment were believed by the Romans to have been laws of Romulus.\nHowever, after five years, Tatius was murdered at a place called\nLavinium, in the middle of a sacrifice, and Romulus reigned alone till\nin the middle of a great assembly of his soldiers outside the city, a\nstorm of thunder and lightning came on, and every one hurried home, but\nthe king was nowhere to be found; for, as some say, his father Mars had\ncome down in the tempest and carried him away to reign with the gods,\nwhile others declared that he was murdered by persons, each of whom\ncarried home a fragment of his body that it might never be found. It\nmatters less which way we tell it, since the story of Romulus was quite\nas much a fable as that of AEneas; only it must be remembered as the\nRomans themselves believed it. They worshipped Romulus under the name of\nQuirinus, and called their chief families Quirites, both words coming\nfrom _ger_ (a spear); and the she-wolf and twins were the favorite\nbadge of the empire. The Capitoline Hill, the Palatine, and the Forum all\nstill bear the same names.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nNUMA AND TULLUS.\n\nB.C.It was understood between the Romans and the Sabines that they should\nhave by turns a king from each nation, and, on the disappearance of\nRomulus, a Sabine was chosen, named Numa Pompilius, who had been married\nto Tatia, the daughter of the Sabine king Tatius, but she was dead, and\nhad left one daughter. Numa had, ever since her death, been going about\nfrom one grove or fountain sacred to the gods to another offering up\nsacrifices, and he was much beloved for his gentleness and wisdom. There\nwas a grove near Rome, in a valley, where a fountain gushed forth from\nthe rock; and here Egeria, the nymph of the stream, in the shade of the\ntrees, counselled Numa on his government, which was so wise that he\nlived at peace with all his neighbors. When the Romans doubted whether\nit was really a goddess who inspired him, Egeria convinced them, for the\nnext time he had any guests in his house, the earthenware plates with\nhomely fare on them were changed before their eyes into golden dishes\nwith dainty food. Moreover, there was brought from heaven a bronze\nshield, which was to be carefully kept, since Rome would never fall\nwhile it was safe. Numa had eleven other shields like it made and hung\nin the temple of Mars, and, yearly, a set of men dedicated to the office\nbore them through the city with songs and dances. Just as all warlike\ncustoms were said to have been invented by Romulus, all peaceful and\nreligious ones were held to have sprung from Numa and his Egeria. He was\nsaid to have fixed the calendar and invented the names of the months,\nand to have built an altar to Good Faith to teach the Romans to keep\ntheir word to one another and to all nations, and to have dedicated the\nbounds of each estate to the Dii Termini, or Landmark Gods, in whose\nhonor there was a feast yearly. He also was said to have had such power\nwith Jupiter as to have persuaded him to be content without receiving\nsacrifices of men and women. In short, all the better things in the\nRoman system were supposed to be due to the gentle Numa.\n\nAt the gate called Janiculum stood a temple to the watchman god Janus,\nwhose figure had two faces, and held the keys, and after whom was named\nthe month January. His temple was always open in time of war, and closed\nin time of peace. Numa's reign was counted as the first out of only\nthree times in Roman history that it was shut.\n\n[Illustration: JANUS.]\n\nNuma was said to have reigned thirty-eight years, and then he gradually\nfaded away, and was buried in a stone coffin outside the Janicular gate,\nall the books he had written being, by his desire, buried with him.\nEgeria wept till she became a fountain in her own valley; and so ended\nwhat in Roman faith answered to the golden age of Greece.\n\nThe next king was of Roman birth, and was named Tullus Hostilius. He was\na great warrior, and had a war with the Albans until it was agreed that\nthe two cities should join together in one, as the Romans and Sabines\nhad done before; but there was a dispute which should be the greater\ncity in the league and it was determined to settle it by a combat. In\neach city there was a family where three sons had been born at a birth,\nand their mothers were sisters. Both sets were of the same age--fine\nyoung men, skilled in weapons; and it was agreed that the six should\nfight together, the three whose family name was Horatius on the Roman\nside, the three called Curiatius on the Alban side, and whichever set\ngained the mastery was to give it to his city.\n\nThey fought in the plain between the camps, and very hard was the strife\nuntil two of the Horatii were killed and all the three Curiatii were\nwounded, but the last Horatius was entirely untouched. He began to run,\nand his cousins pursued him, but at different distances, as one was less\nhindered by his wound than the others. As soon as the first came up.\nHoratius slew him, and so the second and the third: as he cut down this\nlast he cried out, \"To the glory of Rome I sacrifice thee.\" As the Alban\nking saw his champion fall, he turned to Tullus Hostilius and asked what\nhis commands were. \"Only to have the Alban youth ready when I need\nthem,\" said Tullus.\n\nA wreath was set on the victor's head, and, loaded with the spoil of the\nCuriatii, he was led into the city in triumph. His sister came hurrying\nto meet him; she was betrothed to one of the Curiatii, and was in agony\nto know his fate; and when she saw the garment she had spun for him\nhanging blood-stained over her brother's shoulders, she burst into loud\nlamentations. Horatius, still hot with fury, struck her dead on the\nspot, crying, \"So perish every Roman who mourns the death of an enemy of\nhis country.\" Even her father approved the cruel deed, and would not\nbury her in his family tomb--so stern were Roman feelings, putting the\nhonor of the country above everything. However, Horatius was brought\nbefore the king for the murder, and was sentenced to die; but the people\nentreated that their champion might be spared, and he was only made to\npass under what was called the yoke, namely, spears set up like a\ndoorway.\n\nTullus Hostilius gained several victories over his neighbors, but he was\nharsh and presuming, and offended the gods, and, when he was using some\nspell such as good Numa had used to hold converse with Jupiter, the\nangry god sent lightning and burnt up him and his family. The people\nthen chose Ancus Martins, the son of Numa's daughter, who is said to\nhave ruled in his grandfather's spirit, though he could not avoid wars\nwith the Latins. The first bridge over the Tiber, named the Sublician,\nwas said to have been built by him. In his time there came to Rome a\nfamily called Tarquin. Their father was a Corinthian, who had settled in\nan Etruscan town named Tarquinii, whence came the family name. He was\nsaid to have first taught writing in Italy, and, indeed, the Roman\nletters which we still use are Greek letters made simpler. His eldest\nson, finding that because of his foreign blood he could rise to no\nhonors in Etruria, set off with his wife Tanaquil, and their little son\nLucius Tarquinius, to settle in Rome. Just as they came in sight of\nRome, an eagle swooped down from the sky, snatched off little Tarquin's\ncap, and flew up with it, but the next moment came down again and put it\nback on his head. On this Tanaquil foretold that her son would be a\ngreat king, and he became so famous a warrior when he grew up, that, as\nthe children of Ancus were too young to reign at their father's death,\nhe was chosen king. He is said to have been the first Roman king who\nwore a purple robe and golden crown, and in the valley between the\nPalatine and Aventine Hills he made a circus, where games could be held\nlike those of the Greeks; also he placed stone benches and stalls for\nshops round the Forum, and built a stone wall instead of a mud one round\nthe city. He is commonly called Tarquinus Priscus, or the elder.\n\n[Illustration: ACTORS]\n\nThere was a fair slave girl in his house, who was offering cakes to Lar,\nthe household spirit, when he appeared to her in bodily form. When she\ntold the king's mother, Tanaquil, she said it was a token that he wanted\nto marry her, and arrayed her as a bride for him. Of this marriage\nthere sprang a boy called Servius Tullus. When this child lay asleep,\nbright flames played about his head, and Tanaquil knew he would be\ngreat, so she caused her son Tarquin to give him his daughter in\nmarriage when he grew up. This greatly offended the two sons of Ancus\nMartius, and they hired two young men to come before him as\nwood-cutters, with axes over their shoulders, pretending to have a\nquarrel about some goats, and while he was listening to their cause they\ncut him down and mortally wounded him. He had lost his sons, and had\nonly two baby grandsons, Aruns and Tarquin, who could not reign as yet;\nbut while he was dying, Tanaquil stood at the window and declared that\nhe was only stunned and would soon be well. This, as she intended, so\nfrightened the sons of Ancus that they fled from Rome; and Servius\nTullus, coming forth in the royal robes, was at once hailed as king by\nall the people of Rome, being thus made king that he might protect his\nwife's two young nephews, the two little Tarquins.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE DRIVING OUT OF THE TARQUINS.\n\nB.C. 578--309.\n\n\nServius Tullus was looked on by the Romans as having begun making their\nlaws, as Romulus had put their warlike affairs in order, and Numa had\nsettled their religion. The Romans were all in great clans or families,\nall with one name, and these were classed in tribes. The nobler ones,\nwho could count up from old Trojan, Latin, or Sabine families, were\ncalled Patricians--from _pater_, a father--because they were fathers of\nthe people; and the other families were called Plebeian, from _plebs_,\nthe people. The patricians formed the Senate or Council of Government,\nand rode on horseback in war, while the plebeians fought on foot. They\nhad spears, round shields, and short pointed swords, which cut on each\nside of the blade. Tullus is said to have fixed how many men of each\ntribe should be called out to war. He also walled in the city again with\na wall five miles round; and he made many fixed laws, one being that\nwhen a man was in debt his goods might be seized, but he himself might\nnot be made a slave. He was the great friend of the plebeians, and first\nestablished the rule that a new law of the Senate could not be made\nwithout the consent of the Comitia, or whole free people.\n\nThe Sabines and Romans were still striving for the mastery, and a\nhusbandman among the Sabines had a wonderfully beautiful cow. An oracle\ndeclared that the man who sacrificed this cow to Diana upon the Aventine\nHill would secure the chief power to his nation. The Sabine drove the\ncow to Rome, and was going to kill her, when a crafty Roman priest told\nhim that he must first wash his hands in the Tiber, and while he was\ngone sacrificed the cow himself, and by this trick secured the rule to\nRome. The great horns of the cow were long after shown in the temple of\nDiana on the Aventine, where Romans, Sabines, and Latins every year\njoined in a great sacrifice.\n\nThe two daughters of Servius were married to their cousins, the two\nyoung Tarquins. In each pair there was a fierce and a gentle one. The\nfierce Tullia was the wife of the gentle Aruns Tarquin; the gentle Tulla\nhad married the proud Lucius Tarquin. Aruns' wife tried to persuade her\nhusband to seize the throne that had belonged to his father, and when he\nwould not listen to her, she agreed with his brother Lucius that, while\nhe murdered her sister, she should kill his brother, and then that they\nshould marry. The horrid deed was carried out, and old Servius, seeing\nwhat a wicked pair were likely to come after him, began to consider with\nthe Senate whether it would not be better to have two consuls or\nmagistrates chosen every year than a king. This made Lucius Tarquin the\nmore furious, and going to the Senate, where the patricians hated the\nking as the friend of the plebeians, he stood upon the throne, and was\nbeginning to tell the patricians that this would be the ruin of their\ngreatness, when Servius came in and, standing on the steps of the\ndoorway, ordered him to come down. Tarquin sprang on the old man and\nhurled him backward, so that the fall killed him, and his body was left\nin the street. The wicked Tullia, wanting to know how her husband had\nsped, came out in her chariot on that road. The horses gave back before\nthe corpse. She asked what was in their way; the slave who drove her\ntold her it was the king's body. \"Drive on,\" she said. The horrid deed\ncaused the street to be known ever after as \"Sceleratus,\" or the wicked.\nBut it was the plebeians who mourned for Servius; the patricians in\ntheir anger made Tarquin king, but found him a very hard and cruel\nmaster, so that he is generally called Tarquinius Superbus, or Tarquin\nthe proud. In his time the Sybil of Cumae, the same wondrous maiden of\ndeep wisdom who had guided AEneas to the realms of Pluto, came, bringing\nnine books of prophecies of the history of Rome, and offered them to him\nat a price which he thought too high, and refused. She went away,\ndestroyed three, and brought back the other six, asking for them double\nthe price of the whole. He refused. She burnt three more, and brought\nhim the last three with the price again doubled, because the fewer they\nwere, the more precious. He bought them at last, and placed them in the\nCapitol, whence they were now and then taken to be consulted as oracles.\n\n[Illustration: SYBIL'S CAVE.]\n\nRome was at war with the city of Gabii, and as the city was not to be\nsubdued by force, Tarquin tried treachery. His eldest son, Sextus\nTarquinius, fled to Gabii, complaining of ill-usage of his father, and\nshowing marks of a severe scourging. The Gabians believed him, and he\nwas soon so much trusted by them as to have the whole command of the\narmy and manage everything in the city. Then he sent a messenger to his\nfather to ask what he was to do next. Tarquin was walking through a\ncornfield. He made no answer in words, but with a switch cut off the\nheads of all the poppies and taller stalks of corn, and bade the\nmessenger tell Sextus what he had seen. Sextus understood, and\ncontrived to get all the chief men of Gabii exiled or put to death, and\nwithout them the city fell an easy prey to the Romans.\n\nTarquin sent his two younger sons and their cousin to consult the oracle\nat Delphi, and with them went Lucius Junius, who was called Brutus\nbecause he was supposed to be foolish, that being the meaning of the\nword; but his folly was only put on, because he feared the jealousy of\nhis cousins. After doing their father's errand, the two Tarquins asked\nwho should rule Rome after their father. \"He,\" said the priestess, \"who\nshall first kiss his mother on his return.\" The two brothers agreed that\nthey would keep this a secret from their elder brother Sextus, and, as\nsoon as they reached home, both of them rushed into the women's rooms,\nracing each to be the first to embrace their mother Tullia; but at the\nvery entrance of Rome Brutus pretended to slip, threw himself on the\nground and kissed his Mother Earth, having thus guessed the right\nmeaning of the answer.\n\nHe waited patiently, however, and still was thought a fool when the army\nwent out to besiege the city of Ardea; and while the troops were\nencamped round it, some of the young patricians began to dispute which\nhad the best wife. They agreed to put it to the test by galloping late\nin the evening to look in at their homes and see what their wives were\nabout. Some were idling, some were visiting, some were scolding, some\nwere dressing, some were asleep; but at Collatia, the farm of another of\nthe Tarquin family, thence called Collatinus, they found his beautiful\nwife Lucretia among her maidens spinning the wool of the flocks. All\nagreed that she was the best of wives; but the wicked Sextus Tarquin\nonly wanted to steal her from her husband, and going by night to\nCollatia, tried to make her desert her lord, and when she would not\nlisten to him he ill-treated her cruelly, and told her that he should\naccuse her to her husband. She was so overwhelmed with grief and shame\nthat in the morning she sent for her father and husband, told them all\nthat that happened, and saying that she could not bear life after being\nso put to shame, she drew out a dagger and stabbed herself before their\neyes--thinking, as all these heathen Romans did, that it was better to\ndie by one's own hand than to live in disgrace.\n\nLucius Brutus had gone to Collatia with his cousin, and while Collatinus\nand his father-in-law stood horror-struck, he called to them to revenge\nthis crime. Snatching the dagger from Lucretia's breast, he galloped to\nRome, called the people together in the Forum, and, holding up the\nbloody weapon in his hand, he made them a speech, asking whether they\nwould any longer endure such a family of tyrants. They all rose as one\nman, and choosing Brutus himself and Collatinus to be their leaders, as\nthe consuls whom Servius Tullus had thought of making, they shut the\ngates of Rome, and would not open them when Tarquin and his sons would\nhave returned. So ended the kingdom of Rome.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE WAR WITH PORSENA.\n\n\nFrom the time of the flight of the Tarquins, Rome was governed by two\nconsuls, who wore all the tokens of royalty except the crown. Tarquin\nfled into Etruria, whence his grandfather had come, and thence tried to\nobtain admission into Rome. The two young sons of Brutus and the nephews\nof Collatinus were drawn into a plot for bringing them back again, and\non its discovery were brought before the two consuls. Their guilt was\nproved, and their father sternly asked what they had to say in their\ndefence. They only wept, and so did Collatinus and many of the senators,\ncrying out, \"Banish them, banish them.\" Brutus, however, as if unmoved,\nbade the executioners do their office. The whole Senate shrieked to hear\na father thus condemn his own children, but he was resolute, and\nactually looked on while the young men were first scourged and then\nbeheaded.\n\nCollatinus put off the further judgment in hopes to save his nephews,\nand Brutus told them that he had put them to death by his own power as a\nfather, but that he left the rest to the voice of the people, and they\nwere sent into banishment. Even Collatinus was thought to have acted\nweakly, and was sent into exile--so determined were the Romans to have\nno one among them who would not uphold their decrees to the utmost.\nTarquin advanced to the walls and cut down all the growing corn around\nthe Campus Martius and threw it into the Tiber; there it formed a heap\nround which an island was afterwards formed. Brutus himself and his\ncousin Aruns Tarquin soon after killed one another in single combat in a\nbattle outside the walls, and all the women of Rome mourned for him as\nfor a father.\n\nTarquin found a friend in the Etruscan king called Lars Porsena, who\nbrought an army to besiege Rome and restore him to the throne. He\nadvanced towards the gate called Janiculum upon the Tiber, and drove the\nRomans out of the fort on the other side the river. The Romans then\nretreated across the bridge, placing three men to guard it until all\nshould be gone over and it could be broken down.\n\n[Illustration: BRUTUS CONDEMNING HIS SONS.]\n\nThere stood the brave three--Horatius, Lartius, and Herminius--guarding\nthe bridge while their fellow-citizens were fleeing across it, three men\nagainst a whole army. At last the weapons of Lartius and Herminius were\nbroken down, and Horatius bade them hasten over the bridge while it\ncould still bear their weight. He himself fought on till he was wounded\nin the thigh, and the last timbers of the bridge were falling into the\nstream. Then spreading out his arms, he called upon Father Tiber to\nreceive him, leapt into the river and swam across amid a shower of\narrows, one of which put out his eye, and he was lame for life. A statue\nof him \"halting on his thigh\" was set up in the temple of Vulcan, and he\nwas rewarded with as much land as one yoke of oxen could plough in a\nday, and the 300,000 citizens of Rome each gave him a day's provision of\ncorn.\n\nPorsena then blockaded the city, and when the Romans were nearly\nstarving he sent them word that he would give them food if they would\nreceive their old masters; but they made answer that hunger was better\nthan slavery, and still held out. In the midst of their distress, a\nyoung man named Caius Mucius came and begged leave of the consuls to\ncross the Tiber and go to attempt something to deliver his country. They\ngave leave, and creeping through the Etruscan camp he came into the\nking's tent just as Porsena was watching his troops pass by in full\norder. One of his counsellors was sitting beside him so richly dressed\nthat Mucius did not know which was king, and leaping towards them, he\nstabbed the counsellor to the heart. He was seized at once and dragged\nbefore the king, who fiercely asked who he was, and what he meant by\nsuch a crime.\n\nThe young man answered that his name was Caius Mucius, and that he was\nready to do and dare anything for Rome. In answer to threats of torture,\nhe quietly stretched out his right hand and thrust it into the flame\nthat burnt in a brazier close by, holding it there without a sign of\npain, while he bade Porsena see what a Roman thought of suffering.\n\nPorsena was so struck that he at once gave the daring man his life, his\nfreedom, and even his dagger; and Mucius then told him that three\nhundred youths like himself had sworn to have his life unless he left\nRome to her liberty. This was false, but both the lie and the murder\nwere for Rome's sake; they were both admired by the Romans, who held\nthat the welfare of their city was their very first duty. Mucius could\nnever use his right hand again, and was always called Scaevola, or the\nLeft-handed, a name that went on to his family.\n\nPorsena believed the story, and began to make peace. A truce was agreed\non, and ten Roman youths and as many girls were given up to the\nEtruscans as hostages. While the conferences were going on, one of the\nRoman girls named Clelia forgot her duty so much as to swim home across\nthe river with all her companions; but Valeria, the consul's daughter,\nwas received with all the anger that breach of trust deserved, and her\nfather mounted his horse at once to take the party back again. Just as\nthey reached the Etruscan camp, the Tarquin father and brothers, and a\nwhole troop of the enemy, fell on them. While the consul was fighting\nagainst a terrible force, Valeria dashed on into the camp and called out\nPorsena and his son. They, much grieved that the truce should have been\nbroken, drove back their own men, and were so angry with the Tarquins as\nto give up their cause. He asked which of the girls had contrived the\nescape, and when Clelia confessed it was herself, he made her a present\nof a fine horse and its trappings, which she little deserved.\n\nThis Valerius was called Publicola, or the people's friend. He died a\nyear or two later, after so many victories that the Romans honored him\namong their greatest heroes. Tarquin still continued to seek support\namong the different Italian nations, and again attacked the Romans with\nthe help of the Latins. The chief battle was fought close to Lake\nRegillus; Aulus Posthumius was the commander, but Marcus Valerius,\nbrother to Publicola, was general of the horse. He had vowed to build a\ntemple to Castor and Pollux if the Romans gained the victory; and in the\nbeginning of the fight, two glorious youths of god-like stature appeared\non horseback at the head of the Roman horse and fought for them. It was\na very hard-fought battle. Valerius was killed, but so was Titus\nTarquin, and the Latin force was entirely broken and routed. That same\nevening the two youths rode into the Forum, their horses dripping with\nsweat and their weapons bloody. They drew up and washed themselves at a\nfountain near the temple of Vesta, and as the people crowded round they\ntold of the great victory, and while one man named Domitius doubted of\nit, since the Lake Regillus was too far off for tidings to have come so\nfast, one of them laid his hand on the doubter's beard and changed it\nin a moment from black to copper color, so that he came to be called\nDomitius Ahenobarbus, or Brazen-beard. Then they disappeared, and the\nnext morning Posthumius' messenger brought the news. The Romans had no\ndoubt that these were indeed the glorious twins, and built their temple,\nas Valerius had vowed.\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN ENSIGNS, STANDARDS, TRUMPETS ETC.]\n\nTarquin had lost all his sons, and died in wretched exile at Cumae. And\nhere ends what is looked on as the legendary history of Rome, for though\nmost of these stories have dates, and some sound possible, there is so\nmuch that is plainly untrue mixed up with them, that they can only be\nlooked on as the old stories which were handed down to account for the\nRoman customs and copied by their historians.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE ROMAN GOVERNMENT.\n\n\nSo far as true history can guess, the Romans really did have kings and\ndrove them out, but there are signs that, though Porsena was a real\nking, the war was not so honorable to the Romans as they said, for he\ntook the city and made them give up all their weapons to him, leaving\nthem nothing but their tools for husbandry. But they liked to forget\ntheir misfortunes.\n\nThe older Roman families were called patricians, or fathers, and thought\nall rights to govern belonged to them. Settlers who came in later were\ncalled plebeians, or the people, and at first had no rights at all, for\nall the land belonged to the patricians, and the only way for the\nplebeians to get anything done for them was to become hangers-on--or, as\nthey called it, clients--of some patrician who took care of their\ninterests. There was a council of patricians called the Senate, chosen\namong themselves, and also containing by right all who had been chief\nmagistrates. The whole assembly of the patricians was called the\nComitia. They, as has been said before, fought on horseback, while the\nplebeians fought on foot; but out of the rich plebeians a body was\nformed called the knights, who also used horses, and wore gold rings\nlike the patricians.\n\n[Illustration: HEAD OF JUPITER.]\n\nBut the plebeians were always trying not to be left out of everything.\nBy and by, they said under Servius Tullius, the city was divided into\nsix quarters, and all the families living in them into six tribes, each\nof which had a tribune to watch over it, bring up the number of its men,\nand lead them to battle. Another division of the citizens, both\npatrician and plebeian, was made every five years. They were all counted\nand numbered and divided off into centuries according to their wealth.\nThen these centuries, or hundreds, had votes, by the persons they chose,\nwhen it was a question of peace or war. Their meeting was called the\nComitia; but as there were more patrician centuries than plebeian ones,\nthe patricians still had much more power. Besides, the Senate and all\nthe magistrates were in those days always patricians. These magistrates\nwere chosen every year. There were two consuls, who were like kings for\nthe time, only that they wore no crowns; they had purple robes, and sat\nin chairs ornamented with ivory, and they were always attended by\nlictors, who carried bundles of rods tied round an axe--the first for\nscourging, the second for beheading. There were under them two praetors,\nor judges, who tried offences; two quaestors, who attended to the public\nbuildings; and two censors, who had to look after the numbering and\nregistering of the people in their tribes and centuries. The consuls in\ngeneral commanded the army, but sometimes, when there was a great need,\none single leader was chosen and was called dictator. Sometimes a\ndictator was chosen merely to fulfil an omen, by driving a nail into the\nhead of the great statue of Jupiter in the Capitol. Besides these, all\nthe priests had to be patricians; the chief of all was called Pontifex\nMaximus. Some say this was because he was the _fax_ (maker) of\n_pontes_ (bridges), as he blessed them and decided by omens where\nthey should be; but others think the word was Pompifex, and that he was\nthe maker of pomps or ceremonies. There were many priests as well as\naugurs, who had to draw omens from the flight of birds or the appearance\nof sacrifices, and who kept the account of the calendar of lucky and\nunlucky days, and of festivals.\n\n[Illustration: FEMALE COSTUMES.]\n\nThe Romans were a grave religious people in those days, and did not\ncount their lives or their affections dear in comparison with their\nduties to their altars and their hearths, though their notions of duty\ndo not always agree with ours. Their dress in the city was a white\nwoollen garment edged with purple--it must have been more like in shape\nto a Scottish plaid than anything else--and was wrapped round so as to\nleave one arm free: sometimes a fold was drawn over the head. No one\nmight wear it but a free-born Roman, and he never went out on public\nbusiness without it, even when more convenient fashions had been copied\nfrom Greece. Those who were asking votes for a public office wore it\nwhite (_candidus_), and therefore were called candidates. The consuls\nhad it on great days entirely purple and embroidered, and all senators\nand ex-magistrates had broader borders of purple. The ladies wore a long\ngraceful wrapping-gown; the boys a short tunic, and round their necks\nwas hung a hollow golden ball called a _bulla_, or bubble. When a boy\nwas seventeen, there was a great family sacrifice to the Lares and the\nforefathers, his bulla was taken off, the toga was put on, and he was\nenrolled by his own praenomen, Caius or Lucius, or whatever it might be,\nfor there was only a choice of fifteen. After this he was liable to be\ncalled out to fight. A certain number of men were chosen from each tribe\nby the tribune. It was divided into centuries, each led by a centurion;\nand the whole body together was called a legion, from _lego_, to\nchoose. In later times the proper number for a legion was 6000 men. Each\nlegion had a standard, a bar across the top of the spear, with the\nletters on it S P Q R--_Senatus, Populus Que Romanus_--meaning the Roman\nSenate and People, a purple flag below and a figure above, such as an\neagle, or the wolf and twins, or some emblem dear to the Romans. The\nlegions were on foot, but the troops of patricians and knights on\nhorseback were attached to them and had to protect them.\n\n[Illustration: FEMALE COSTUMES.]\n\nThe Romans had in those days very small riches, they held in general\nsmall farms in the country, which they worked themselves with the help\nof their sons and slaves. The plebeians were often the richest. They too\nheld farms leased to them by the state, and had often small shops in\nRome. The whole territory was so small that it was easy to come into\nRome to worship, attend the Senate, or vote, and many had no houses in\nthe city. Each man was married with a ring and sacrifice, and the lady\nwas then carried over the threshold, on which a sheepskin was spread,\nand made mistress of the house by being bidden to be Caia to Caius. The\nRoman matrons were good and noble women in those days, and the highest\npraise of them was held to be _Domum mansit, lanam fecit_--she stayed\nat home and spun wool. Each man was absolute master in his own house,\nand had full power over his grown-up sons, even for life or death, and\nthey almost always submitted entirely. For what made the Romans so great\nwas that they were not only brave, but they were perfectly obedient, and\nobeyed as perfectly as they could their fathers, their officers, their\nmagistrates, and, as they thought, their gods.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nMENENIUS AGRIPPA'S FABLE.\n\nB.C. 494.\n\n\nA great deal of the history of Rome consists of struggles between the\npatricians and plebeians. In those early days the plebeians were often\npoor, and when they wanted to improve their lands they had to borrow\nmoney from the patricians, who not only had larger lands, but, as they\nwere the officers in war, got a larger share of the spoil. The Roman law\nwas hard on a man in debt. His lands might be seized, he might be thrown\ninto prison or sold into slavery with his wife and children, or, if the\ncreditors liked, be cut to pieces so that each might take his share.\n\nOne of these debtors, a man who was famous for bravery as a centurion,\nbroke out of his prison and ran into the Forum, all in rags and with\nchains still hanging to his hands and feet, showing them to his\nfellow-citizens, and asking if this was just usage of a man who had done\nno crime. They were very angry, and the more because one of the consuls,\nAppius Claudius, was known to be very harsh, proud and cruel, as indeed\nwere all his family. The Volscians, a tribe often at war with them,\nbroke into their land at the same time, and the Romans were called to\narms, but the plebeians refused to march until their wrongs were\nredressed. On this the other consul, Servilius, promised that a law\nshould be made against keeping citizens in prison for debt or making\nslaves of their children; and thereupon the army assembled, marched\nagainst the enemy, and defeated them, giving up all the spoil to his\ntroops. But the senate, when the danger was over, would not keep its\npromises, and even appointed a Dictator to put the plebeians down.\nThereupon they assembled outside the walls in a strong force, and were\ngoing to attack the patricians, when the wise old Menenius Agrippa was\nsent out to try to pacify them. He told them a fable, namely, that once\nupon a time all the limbs of a man's body became disgusted with the\nservice they had to render to the belly. The feet and legs carried it\nabout, the hands worked for it and carried food to it, the mouth ate\nfor it, and so on. They thought it hard thus all to toil for it, and\nagreed to do nothing for it--neither to carry it about, clothe it, nor\nfeed it. But soon all found themselves growing weak and starved, and\nwere obliged to own that all would perish together unless they went on\nwaiting on this seemingly useless belly. So Agrippa told them that all\nranks and states depended on one another, and unless all worked together\nall must be confusion and go to decay. The fable seems to have convinced\nboth rich and poor; the debtors were set free and the debts forgiven.\nAnd though the laws about debts do not seem to have been changed,\nanother law was made which gave the plebeians tribunes in peace as well\nas war. These tribunes were always to be plebeians, chosen by their own\nfellows. No one was allowed to hurt them during their year of office, on\npain of being declared accursed and losing his property; and they had\nthe power of stopping any decision of the senate by saying solemnly,\n_Veto_, I forbid. They were called tribunes of the people, while the\nofficers in war were called military tribunes; and as it was on the Mons\nSacer, or Sacred Mount, that this was settled, these laws were called\nthe _Leges Sacrariae_. An altar to the Thundering Jupiter was built to\nconsecrate them: and, in gratitude for his management, Menenius Agrippa\nwas highly honored all his life, and at his death had a public funeral.\n\nBut the struggles of the plebeians against the patricians were not by\nany means over. The Roman land--Agri (acre), it was called--had at first\nbeen divided in equal shares--at least so it was said--but as belonging\nto the state all the time, and only held by the occupier. As time went\non, some persons of course gathered more into their own hands, and\nothers of spendthrift or unfortunate families became destitute. Then\nthere was an outcry that, as the lands belonged to the whole state, it\nought to take them all back and divide them again more equally: but the\npatricians naturally regarded themselves as the owners, and would not\nhear of this scheme, which we shall hear of again and again by the name\nof the Agrarian Law. One of the patricians, who had thrice been consul,\nby name Spurius Cassius, did all he could to bring it about, but though\nthe law was passed he could not succeed in getting it carried out. The\npatricians hated him, and a report got abroad that he was only gaining\nfavor with the people in order to get himself made king. This made even\nthe plebeians turn against him as a traitor; he was condemned by the\nwhole assembly of the people, and beheaded, after being scourged by the\nlictors. The people soon mourned for their friend, and felt that they\nhad been deceived in giving him up to their enemies. The senate would\nnot execute his law, and the plebeians would not enlist in the next war,\nthough the senate threatened to cut down the fruit trees and destroy the\ncrops of every man who refused to join the army. When they were\nabsolutely driven into the ranks, they even refused to draw their swords\nin face of the enemy, and would not gain a victory lest their consul\nshould have the honor of it.\n\n[Illustration: SENATORIAL PALACE.]\n\nThis consul's name was Kaeso Fabius. He belonged to a very clever, wary\nfamily, whose name it was said was originally _Foveus_ (ditch), because\nthey had first devised a plan of snaring wolves in pits or ditches. They\nwere thought such excellent defenders of the claims of the patricians\nthat for seven years following one or other of the Fabii was chosen\nconsul. But by-and-by they began either to see that the plebeians had\nrights, or that they should do best by siding with them, for they went\nover to them; and when Kaeso next was consul he did all he could to get\nthe laws of Cassius carried out, but the senate were furious with\nhim, and he found it was not safe to stay in Rome when his consulate was\nover. So he resolved at any rate to do good to his country. The\nEtruscans often came over the border and ravaged the country; but there\nwas a watch-tower on the banks of the little river Cremera, which flows\ninto the Tiber, and Fabius offered, with all the men of his name--306 in\nnumber, and 4000 clients--to keep guard there against the enemy. For\nsome time they prospered there, and gained much spoil from the\nEtruscans; but at last the whole Etruscan army came against them,\nshowing only a small number at first to tempt them out to fight, then\nfalling on them with the whole force and killing the whole of them, so\nthat of the whole name there remained only one boy of fourteen who had\nbeen left behind at Rome. And what was worse, the consul, Titus\nMenenius, was so near the army that he could have saved the Fabii, but\nfor the hatred the patricians bore them as deserters from their cause.\n\n[Illustration: VIEW OF A ROMAN HARBOR.]\n\nHowever, the tribune Publilius gained for the plebeians that there\nshould be five tribunes instead of two, and made a change in the manner\nof electing them which prevented the patricians from interfering. Also\nit was decreed that to interrupt a tribune in a public speech deserved\ndeath. But whenever an Appius Claudius was consul he took his revenge,\nand was cruelly severe, especially in the camp, where the consul as\ngeneral had much more power than in Rome. Again the angry plebeians\nwould not fight, but threw down their arms in sight of the enemy.\nClaudius scourged and beheaded; they endured grimly and silently,\nknowing that when he returned to Rome and his consulate was over their\ntribunes would call him to account. And so they did, and before all the\ntribes of Rome summoned him to answer for his savage treatment of free\nRoman citizens. He made a violent answer, but he saw how it would go\nwith him, and put himself to death to avoid the sentence. So were the\nRomans proving again and again the truth of Agrippa's parable, that\nnothing can go well with body or members unless each will be ready to\nserve the other.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nCORIOLANUS AND CINCINNATUS.\n\nB.C. 458.\n\n\nAll the time these struggles were going on between the patricians and\nthe plebeians at home, there were wars with the neighboring tribes, the\nVolscians, the Veians, the Latins, and the Etruscans. Every spring the\nfighting men went out, attacked their neighbors, drove off their cattle,\nand tried to take some town; then fought a battle, and went home to reap\nthe harvest, gather the grapes and olives in the autumn, and attend to\npublic business and vote for the magistrates in the winter. They were\nsmall wars, but famous men fought in them. In a war against the\nVolscians, when Cominius was consul, he was besieging a city called\nCorioli, when news came that the men of Antium were marching against\nhim, and in their first attack on the walls the Romans were beaten off,\nbut a gallant young patrician, descended from the king Ancus Marcius,\nCaius Marcius by name, rallied them and led them back with such spirit\nthat the place was taken before the hostile army came up; then he fought\namong the foremost and gained the victory. When he was brought to the\nconsul's tent covered with wounds, Cominius did all he could to show his\ngratitude--set on the young man's head the crown of victory, gave him\nthe surname of Coriolanus in honor of his exploits, and granted him the\ntenth part of the spoil of ten prisoners. Of them, however, Coriolanus\nonly accepted one, an old friend of the family, whom he set at liberty\nat once. Afterwards, when there was a great famine in Rome, Coriolanus\nled an expedition to Antium, and brought away quantities of corn and\ncattle, which he distributed freely, keeping none for himself.\n\nBut though he was so free of hand, Coriolanus was a proud, shy man, who\nwould not make friends with the plebeians, and whom the tribunes hated\nas much as he despised them. He was elected consul, and the tribunes\nrefused to permit him to become one; and when a shipload of wheat\narrived from Sicily, there was a fierce quarrel as to how it should be\ndistributed. The tribunes impeached him before the people for\nwithholding it from them, and by the vote of a large number of citizens\nhe was banished from Roman lands. His anger was great, but quiet. He\nwent without a word away from the Forum to his house, where he took\nleave of his mother Veturia, his wife Volumnia, and his little children,\nand then went and placed himself by the hearth of Tullus the Volscian\nchief, in whose army he meant to fight to revenge himself upon his\ncountrymen.\n\nTogether they advanced upon the Roman territory, and after ravaging the\ncountry threatened to besiege Rome. Men of rank came out and entreated\nhim to give up this wicked and cruel vengeance, and to have pity on his\nfriends and native city; but he answered that the Volscians were now his\nnation, and nothing would move him. At last, however, all the women of\nRome came forth, headed by his mother Veturia and his wife Volumnia,\neach with a little child, and Veturia entreated and commanded her son in\nthe most touching manner to change his purpose and cease to ruin his\ncountry, begging him, if he meant to destroy Rome, to begin by slaying\nher. She threw herself at his feet as she spoke, and his hard spirit\ngave way.\n\n\"Ah! mother, what is it you do?\" he cried as he lifted her up. \"Thou\nhast saved Rome, but lost thy son.\"\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN CAMP]\n\nAnd so it proved, for when he had broken up his camp and returned to the\nVolscian territory till the senate should recall him as they proceeded,\nTullus, angry and disappointed, stirred up a tumult, and he was killed\nby the people before he could be sent for to Rome. A temple to \"Women's\nGood Speed\" was raised on the spot where Veturia knelt to him.\n\nAnother very proud patrician family was the Quinctian. The father,\nLucius Quinctius, was called Cincinnatus, from his long flowing curls of\nhair. He was the ablest man among the Romans, but stern and grave, and\nhis eldest son Kaeso was charged by the tribunes with a murder and fled\nthe country. Soon after there was a great inroad of the AEqui and\nVolscians, and the Romans found themselves in great danger. They saw no\none could save them but Cincinnatus, so they met in haste and chose him\nDictator, though he was not present. Messengers were sent to his little\nfarm on the Tiber, and there they found him holding the stilts of the\nplough. When they told their errand, he turned to his wife, who was\nhelping him, and said, \"Racilia, fetch me my toga;\" then he washed his\nface and hands, and was saluted as Dictator. A boat was ready to take\nhim to Rome, and as he landed, he was met by the four-and-twenty lictors\nbelonging to the two consuls and escorted to his dwelling. In the\nmorning he named as general of the cavalry Lucius Tarquitius, a brave\nold patrician who had become too poor even to keep a horse. Marching out\nat the head of all the men who could bear arms, he thoroughly routed the\nAEqui, and then resigned his dictatorship at the end of sixteen days. Nor\nwould he accept any of the spoil, but went back to his plough, his only\nreward being that his son was forgiven and recalled from banishment.\n\n[Illustration: PLOUGHING]\n\nThese are the grand old stories that came down from old time, but how\nmuch is true no one can tell, and there is reason to think that, though\nthe leaders like Cincinnatus and Coriolanus might be brave, the Romans\nwere really pressed hard by the Volscians and AEqui, and lost a good deal\nof ground, though they were too proud to own it. No wonder, while the\ntwo orders of the state were always pulling different ways. However, the\ntribune Icilius succeeded in the year 454 in getting the Aventine Hill\ngranted to the plebeians; and they had another champion called Lucius\nSicinius Dentatus, who was so brave that he was called the Roman\nAchilles. He had received no less than forty-five wounds in different\nfights before he was fifty-eight years old, and had had fourteen civic\ncrowns. For the Romans gave an oak-leaf wreath, which they called a\ncivic crown, to a man who saved the life of a fellow-citizen, and a\nmural crown to him who first scaled the walls of a besieged city. And\nwhen a consul had gained a great victory, he had what was called a\ntriumph. He was drawn in his chariot into the city, his victorious\ntroops marching before him with their spears waving with laurel boughs,\na wreath of laurel was on his head, his little children sat with him in\nthe chariot, and the spoil of the enemy was carried along. All the\npeople decked their houses and came forth rejoicing in holiday array,\nwhile he proceeded to the Capitol to sacrifice an ox to Jupiter there.\nHis chief prisoners walked behind his car in chains, and at the moment\nof his sacrifice they were taken to a cell below the Capitol and there\nput to death, for the Roman was cruel in his joy. Nothing was more\ndesired than such a triumph; but such was often the hatred between the\nplebeians and the patricians, that sometimes the plebeian army would\nstop short in the middle of a victorious campaign to hinder their consul\nfrom having a triumph. Even Sicinius is said once to have acted thus,\nand it began to be plain that Rome must fall if it continued to be thus\ndivided against itself.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE DECEMVIRS.\n\nB.C. 450.\n\n\nThe Romans began to see what mischiefs their quarrels did, and they\nagreed to send three of their best and wisest men to Greece to study the\nlaws of Solon at Athens, and report whether any of them could be put in\nforce at Rome.\n\nTo get the new code of laws which they brought home put into working\norder, it was agreed for the time to have no consuls, praetors, nor\ntribunes, but ten governors, perhaps in imitation of the nine Athenian\narchons. They were called Decemvirs (_decem_, ten; _vir_, a man),\nand at their head was Lucius Appius Claudius, the grandson of him who had\nkilled himself to avoid being condemned for his harshness. At first they\ngoverned well, and a very good set of laws was drawn up, which the\nRomans called the Laws of the Ten Tables; but Appius soon began to give\nway to the pride of his nature, and made himself hated. There was a war\nwith the AEqui, in which the Romans were beaten. Old Sicinius Dentatus\nsaid it was owing to bad management, and, as he had been in one hundred\nand twenty battles, everybody believed him. Thereupon Appius Claudius\nsent for him, begged for his advice, and asked him to join the army that\nhe might assist the commanders. They received him warmly, and, when he\nadvised them to move their camp, asked him to go and choose a place, and\nsent a guard with him of one hundred men. But these were really wretches\ninstructed to kill him, and as soon as he was in a narrow rocky pass\nthey set upon him. The brave old warrior set his back against a rock and\nfought so fiercely that he killed many, and the rest durst not come near\nhim, but climbed up the rock and crushed him with stones rolled down on\nhis head. Then they went back with a story that they had been attacked\nby the enemy, which was believed, till a party went out to bury the\ndead, and found there were only Roman corpses all lying round the\ncrushed body of Sicinius, and that none were stripped of their armor or\nclothes. Then the true history was found out, but the Decemvirs\nsheltered the commanders, and would believe nothing against them.\n\nAppius Claudius soon after did what horrified all honest men even more\nthan this treachery to the brave old soldier. The Forum was not only the\nplace of public assembly for state affairs, but the regular\nmarket-place, where there were stalls and booths for all the wares that\nRomans dealt in--meat stalls, wool shops, stalls where wine was sold in\nearthenware jars or leathern bottles, and even booths where reading and\nwriting was taught to boys and girls, who would learn by tracing letters\nin the sand, and then by writing them with an iron pen on a waxen table\nin a frame, or with a reed upon parchment. The children of each family\ncame escorted by a slave--the girls by their nurse, the boys by one\ncalled a pedagogue.\n\n[Illustration: DEATH OF VIRGINIA.]\n\nAppius, when going to his judgment-seat across the Forum, saw at one of\nthese schools a girl of fifteen reading her lesson. She was so lovely\nthat he asked her nurse who she was, and heard that her name was\nVirginia, and that she was the daughter of an honorable plebeian and\nbrave centurion named Virginius, who was absent with the army fighting\nwith the AEqui, and that she was to marry a young man named Icilius as\nsoon as the campaign was over. Appius would gladly have married her\nhimself, but there was a patrician law against wedding plebeians, and he\nwickedly determined that if he could not have her for his wife he would\nhave her for his slave.\n\nThere was one of his clients named Marcus Claudius, whom he paid to get\nup a story that Virginius' wife Numitoria, who was dead, had never had\nany child at all, but had bought a baby of one of his slaves and had\ndeceived her husband with it, and thus that poor Virginia was really his\nslave. As the maiden was reading at her school, this wretch and a band\nof fellows like him seized upon her, declaring that she was his\nproperty, and that he would carry her off. There was a great uproar, and\nshe was dragged as far as Appius' judgment-seat; but by that time her\nfaithful nurse had called the poor girl's uncle Numitorius, who could\nanswer for it that she was really his sister's child. But Appius would\nnot listen to him, and all that he could gain was that judgment should\nnot be given in the matter until Virginius should have been fetched from\nthe camp.\n\n[Illustration: CHARIOT RACES.]\n\nVirginius had set out from the camp with Icilius before the messengers\nof Appius had reached the general with orders to stop him, and he came\nto the Forum leading his daughter by the hand, weeping, and attended by\na great many ladies. Claudius brought his slave, who made false oath\nthat she had sold her child to Numitoria; while, on the other hand, all\nthe kindred of Virginius and his wife gave such proof of the contrary as\nany honest judge would have thought sufficient, but Appius chose to\ndeclare that the truth was with his client. There was a great murmur of\nall the people, but he frowned at them, and told them he knew of their\nmeetings, and that there were soldiers in the Capitol ready to punish\nthem, so they must stand back and not hinder a master from recovering\nhis slave.\n\nVirginius took his poor daughter in his arms as if to give her a last\nembrace, and drew her close to the stall of a butcher where lay a great\nknife. He wiped her tears, kissed her, and saying, \"My own dear little\ngirl, there is no way but this,\" he snatched up the knife and plunged it\ninto her heart, then drawing it out he cried, \"By this blood, Appius, I\ndevote thy blood to the infernal gods.\"\n\nHe could not reach Appius, but the lictors could not seize him, and he\nmounted his horse and galloped back to the army, four hundred men\nfollowing him, and he arrived still holding the knife. Every soldier who\nheard the story resolved no longer to bear with the Decemvirs, but to\nmarch back to the city at once and insist on the old government being\nrestored. The Decemvir generals tried to stop them, but they only\nanswered, \"We are men with swords in our hands.\" At the same time there\nwas such a tumult in the city, that Appius was forced to hide himself in\nhis own house while Virginia's corpse was carried on a bier through the\nstreets, and every one laid garlands, scarfs, and wreaths of their own\nhair upon it. When the troops arrived, they and the people joined in\ndemanding that the Decemvirs should be given up to them to be burnt\nalive, and that the old magistrates should be restored. However, two\npatricians, Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, were able so to arrange\nmatters that the nine comparatively innocent Decemvirs were allowed to\ndepose themselves, and Appius only was sent to prison, where he killed\nhimself rather than face the trial that awaited him. The new code of\nlaws, however, remained, but consuls, praetors, tribunes, and all the\nrest of the magistrates were restored, and in the year 445 a law was\npassed which enabled patricians and plebeians to intermarry.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nCAMILLUS' BANISHMENT.\n\nB.C. 390.\n\n\nThe wars with the Etruscans went on, and chiefly with the city of Veii,\nwhich stood on a hill twelve miles from Rome, and was altogether thirty\nyears at war with it. At last the Romans made up their minds that,\ninstead of going home every harvest-time to gather in their crops, they\nmust watch the city constantly till they could take it, and thus, as the\nbesiegers were unable to do their own work, pay was raised for them to\nenable them to get it done, and this was the beginning of paying armies.\n\n[Illustration: ARROW MACHINE.]\n\nThe siege of Veii lasted ten years, and during the last the Alban lake\nfilled to an unusual height, although the summer was very dry. One of\nthe Veian soldiers cried out to the Romans half in jest, \"You will\nnever take Veii till the Alban lake is dry.\" It turned out that there\nwas an old tradition that Veii should fall when the lake was drained. On\nthis the senate sent orders to have canals dug to carry the waters to\nthe sea, and these still remain. Still Veii held out, and to finish the\nwar a dictator was appointed, Marcus Furius Camillus, who chose for his\nsecond in command a man of one of the most virtuous families in Rome, as\ntheir surname testified, Publius Cornelius, called Scipio, or the Staff,\nbecause either he or one of his forefathers had been the staff of his\nfather's old age. Camillus took the city by assault, with an immense\nquantity of spoil, which was divided among the soldiers.\n\nCamillus in his pride took to himself at his triumph honors that had\nhitherto only been paid to the gods. He had his face painted with\nvermilion and his car drawn by milk-white horses. This shocked the\npeople, and he gave greater offence by declaring that he had vowed a\ntenth part of the spoil to Apollo, but had forgotten it in the division\nof the plunder, and now must take it again. The soldiers would not\nconsent, but lest the god should be angry with them, it was resolved to\nsend a gold vase to his oracle at Delphi. All the women of Rome brought\ntheir jewels, and the senate rewarded them by a decree that funeral\nspeeches might be made over their graves as over those of men, and\nlikewise that they might be driven in chariots to the public games.\n\nCamillus commanded in another war with the Falisci, also an Etruscan\nrace, and laid siege to their city. The sons of almost all the chief\nfamilies were in charge of a sort of schoolmaster, who taught them both\nreading and all kinds of exercises. One day this man, pretending to take\nthe boys out walking, led them all into the enemy's camp, to the tent of\nCamillus, where he told that he brought them all, and with them the\nplace, since the Romans had only to threaten their lives to make their\nfathers deliver up the city. Camillus, however, was so shocked at such\nperfidy, that he immediately bade the lictors strip the fellow\ninstantly, and give the boys rods with which to scourge him back into\nthe town. Their fathers were so grateful that they made peace at once,\nand about the same time the AEqui were also conquered; and the commons\nand open lands belonging to Veii being divided, so that each Roman\nfreeman had six acres, the plebeians were contented for the time.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe truth seems to have been that these Etruscan nations were weakened\nby a great new nation coming on them from the North. They were what the\nRomans called Galli or Gauls, one of the great races of the old stock\nwhich has always been finding its way westward into Europe, and they had\ntheir home north of the Alps, but they were always pressing on and on,\nand had long since made settlements in northern Italy. They were in\nclans, each obedient to one chief as a father, and joining together in\none brotherhood. They had lands to which whole families had a common\nright, and when their numbers outgrew what the land could maintain, the\nbolder ones would set off with their wives, children, and cattle to\nfind new homes. The Greeks and Romans themselves had begun first in the\nsame way, and their tribes, and the claims of all to the common land,\nwere the remains of the old way; but they had been settled in cities so\nlong that this had been forgotten, and they were very different people\nfrom the wild men who spoke what we call Welsh, and wore checked tartan\ntrews and plaids, with gold collars round their necks, round shields,\nhuge broadswords, and their red or black hair long and shaggy. The\nRomans knew little or nothing about what passed beyond their own\nApennines, and went on with their own quarrels. Camillus was accused of\nhaving taken more than his proper share of the spoil of Veii, in\nespecial a brass door from a temple. His friends offered to pay any fine\nthat might be laid on him, but he was too proud to stand his trial, and\nchose rather to leave Rome. As he passed the gates, he turned round and\ncalled upon the gods to bring Rome to speedy repentance for having\ndriven him away.\n\nEven then the Gauls were in the midst of a war with Clusium, the city of\nPorsena, and the inhabitants sent to beg the help of the Romans, and the\nsenate sent three young brothers of the Fabian family to try to arrange\nmatters. They met the Gaulish Bran or chief, whom Latin authors call\nBrennus, and asked him what was his quarrel with Clusium or his right to\nany part of Etruria. Brennus answered that his right was his sword, and\nthat all things belonged to the brave, and that his quarrel with the men\nof Clusium was, that though they had more land than they could till,\nthey would not yield him any. As to the Romans, they had robbed their\nneighbors already, and had no right to find fault.\n\nThis put the Fabian brothers in a rage, and they forgot the caution of\ntheir family, as well as those rules of all nations which forbid an\nambassador to fight, and also forbid his person to be touched by the\nenemy; and when the men of Clusium made an attack on the Gauls they\njoined in the attack, and Quintus, the eldest brother, slew one of the\nchiefs. Brennus, wild as he was, knew these laws of nations, and in\ngreat anger broke up his siege of Clusium, and, marching towards Rome,\ndemanded that the Fabii should be given up to him. Instead of this, the\nRomans made them all three military tribunes, and as the Gauls came\nnearer the whole army marched out to meet them in such haste that they\ndid not wait to sacrifice to the gods nor consult the omens. The\ntribunes were all young and hot-headed, and they despised the Gauls; so\nout they went to attack them on the banks of the Allia, only seven and\na-half miles from Rome. A most terrible defeat they had; many fell in\nthe field, many were killed in the flight, others were drowned in trying\nto swim the Tiber, others scattered to Veii and the other cities, and a\nfew, horror-stricken and wet through, rushed into Rome with the sad\ntidings. There were not men enough left to defend the walls! The enemy\nwould instantly be upon them! The only place strong enough to keep them\nout was the Capitol, and that would only hold a few people within it! So\nthere was nothing for it but flight. The braver, stronger men shut\nthemselves up in the Capitol; all the rest, with the women and children,\nput their most precious goods into carts and left the city. The Vestal\nVirgins carried the sacred fire, and were plodding along in the heat,\nwhen a plebeian named Albinus saw their state, helped them into his\ncart, and took them to the city of Cumae, where they found shelter in a\ntemple. And so Rome was left to the enemy.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE SACK OF ROME.\n\nB.C. 390.\n\n\nRome was left to the enemy, except for the small garrison in the Capitol\nand for eighty of the senators, men too old to flee, who devoted\nthemselves to the gods to save the rest, and, arraying themselves in\ntheir robes--some as former consuls, some as priests, some as\ngenerals--sat down with their ivory staves in their hands, in their\nchairs of state in the Forum, to await the enemy.\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF THE FORUM AT ROME.]\n\nIn burst the savage Gauls, roaming all over the city till they came to\nthe Forum, where they stood amazed and awe-struck at the sight of the\neighty grand old men motionless in their chairs. At first they looked at\nthe strange, calm figures as if they were the gods of the place, until\none Gaul, as if desirous of knowing whether they were flesh and blood\nor not, stroked the beard of the nearest. The senator, esteeming this an\ninsult, struck the man on the face with his staff, and this was the\nsign for the slaughter of them all.\n\nThen the Gauls began to plunder every house, dragging out and killing\nthe few inhabitants they found there; feasting, revelling, and piling up\nriches to carry away; burning and overthrowing the houses. Day after day\nthe little garrison in the Capitol saw the sight, and wondered if their\nstock of food would hold out till the Gauls should go away or till their\nfriends should come to their relief. Yet when the day came round for the\nsacrifice to the ancestor of one of these beleaguered men, he boldly\nwent forth to the altar of his own ruined house on the Quirinal Hill,\nand made his offering to his forefathers, nor did one Gaul venture to\ntouch him, seeing that he was performing a religious rite.\n\nThe escaped Romans had rested at Ardea, where they found Camillus, and\nwere by him formed into an army, but he would not take the generalship\nwithout authority from what was left of the Senate, and that was shut up\nin the Capitol in the midst of the Gauls. A brave man, however, named\nPontius Cominius, declared that he could make his way through the Gauls\nby night, and climb up the Capitol and down again by a precipice which\nthey did not watch because they thought no one could mount it, and that\nhe would bring back the orders of the Senate. He swam the Tiber by the\nhelp of corks, landed at night in ruined Rome among the sleeping enemy,\nand climbed up the rock, bringing hope at last to the worn-out and\nnearly starving garrison. Quickly they met, recalled the sentence of\nbanishment against Camillus, and named him Dictator. Pontius, having\nrested in the meantime, slid down the rock and made his way back to\nArdea safely; but the broken twigs and torn ivy on the rock showed the\nGauls that it had been scaled, and they resolved that where man had gone\nman could go. So Brennus told off the most surefooted mountaineers he\ncould find, and at night, two and two, they crept up the crag, so\nsilently that no alarm was given, till just as they came to the top,\nsome geese that were kept as sacred to Juno, and for that reason had\nbeen spared in spite of the scarcity, began to scream and cackle, and\nthus brought to the spot a brave officer called Marcus Manlius, who\nfound two Gauls in the act of setting foot on the level ground on the\ntop. With a sweep of his sword he struck off the hand of one, and with\nhis buckler smote the other on the head, tumbling them both headlong\ndown, knocking down their fellows in their flight, and the Capitol was\nsaved.\n\nBy way of reward every Roman soldier brought Manlius a few grains of the\ncorn he received from the common stock and a few drops of wine, while\nthe tribune who was on guard that night was thrown from the rock.\n\nFoiled thus, and with great numbers of his men dying from the fever that\nalways prevailed in Rome in summer, Brennus thought of retreating, and\noffered to leave Rome if the garrison in the Capitol would pay him a\nthousand pounds' weight of gold. There was treasure enough in the\ntemples to do this, and as they could not tell what Camillus was about,\nnor if Pontius had reached him safely, and they were on the point of\nbeing starved, they consented. The gold was brought to the place\nappointed by the Gauls, and when the weights proved not to be equal to\nthe amount that the Romans had with them, Brennus resolved to have all,\nput his sword into the other scale, saying, \"Vae victis\"--\"Woe to the\nconquered.\" But at that moment there was a noise outside--Camillus was\ncome. The Gauls were cut down and slain among the ruins, those who fled\nwere killed by the people in the country as they wandered in the fields,\nand not one returned to tell the tale. So the ransom of the Capitol was\nrescued, and was laid up by Camillus in the vaults as a reserve for\nfuture danger.\n\nThis was the Roman story, but their best historians say that it is made\nbetter for Rome than is quite the truth, for that the Capitol was really\nconquered, and the Gauls helped themselves to whatever they chose and\nwent off with it, though sickness and weariness made them afterwards\ndisperse, so that they were mostly cut off by the country people.\n\nEvery old record had been lost and destroyed, so that, before this,\nRoman history can only be hearsay, derived from what the survivors\nrecollected; and the whole of the buildings, temples, senate-house, and\ndwellings lay in ruins. Some of the citizens wished to change the site\nof the city to Veii; but Camillus, who was Dictator, was resolved to\nhold fast by the hearths of their fathers, and while the debate was\ngoing on in the ruins of the senate-house a troop of soldiers were\nmarching in, and the centurion was heard calling out, \"Plant your ensign\nhere; this is a good place to stay in.\" \"A happy omen,\" cried one of the\nsenators; \"I adore the gods who gave it.\" So it was settled to rebuild\nthe city, and in digging among the ruins there were found the golden\nrod of Romulus, the brazen tables on which the Laws of the Twelve Tables\nwere engraved, and other brasses with records of treaties with other\nnations. Fabius was accused of having done all the harm by having broken\nthe law of nations, but he was spared at the entreaty of his friends.\nManlius was surnamed Capitolinus, and had a house granted him on the\nCapitol; and Camillus when he laid down his dictatorship, was saluted as\nlike Romulus--another founder of Rome.\n\nThe new buildings were larger and more ornamented than the old ones; but\nthe lines of the old underground drains, built in the mighty Etruscan\nfashion by the elder Tarquin as it was said, were not followed, and this\ntended to render Rome more unhealthy, so that few of her richer citizens\nlived there in summer or autumn, but went out to country houses on the\nhills.\n\n[Illustration: ENTRY OF THE FORUM ROMANUM BY THE VIA SACRA]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE PLEBEIAN CONSULATE.\n\nB.C. 367.\n\n\nAll the old enemies of Rome attacked her again when she was weak and\nrising out of her ruins, but Camillus had wisely persuaded the Romans to\nadd the people of Veii, Capena, and Falerii to the number of their\ncitizens, making four more tribes; and this addition to their numbers\nhelped them beat off their foes.\n\nBut this enlarged the number of the plebeians, and enabled them to make\ntheir claims more heard. Moreover, the old quarrel between poor and\nrich, debtor and creditor, broke out again. Those who had saved their\ntreasure in the time of the sack had made loans to those who had lost to\nenable them to build their houses and stock their farms again, and\nafter a time they called loudly for payment, and when it was not\nforthcoming had the debtors seized to be sold as slaves. Camillus\nhimself was one of the hardest creditors of all, and the barracks where\nslaves were placed to be sold were full of citizens.\n\n[Illustration: COSTUMES.]\n\nMarcus Manlius Capitolinus was full of pity, and raised money to redeem\nfour hundred of them, trying with all his might to get the law changed\nand to save the rest; but the rich men and the patricians thought he\nacted only out of jealousy of Camillus, and to get up a party for\nhimself. They said he was raising a sedition, and Publius Cornelius\nCossus was named Dictator to put it down. Manlius was seized and put\ninto chains, but released again. At last the rich men bought over two of\nthe tribunes to accuse him of wanting to make himself a king, and this\nhated title turned all the people against their friend, so that the\ngeneral cry sentenced him to be cast down from the top of the Tarpeian\nrock; his house on the Capitol was overthrown, and his family declared\nthat no son of their house should ever again bear the name of Manlius.\n\n[Illustration: COSTUME.]\n\nYet the plebeians were making their way, and at last succeeded in\ngaining the plebeian magistracies and equal honors with the patricians.\nA curious story is told of the cause of the last effort which gained the\nday. A patrician named Fabius Ambustus had two daughters, one of whom he\ngave in marriage to Servius Sulpicius, a patrician and military tribune,\nthe other to Licinius Stolo. One day, when Stolo's wife was visiting her\nsister, there was a great noise and thundering at the gates which\nfrightened her, until the other Fabii said it was only her husband\ncoming home from the Forum attended by his lictors and clients, laughing\nat her ignorance and alarm, until a whole troop of the clients came in\nto pay their court to the tribune's wife.\n\nStolo's wife went home angry and vexed, and reproached her husband and\nher father for not having made her equal with her sister, and so wrought\non them that they put themselves at the head of the movement in favor of\nthe plebeians; and Licinius and another young plebeian named Lucius\nSextius, being elected year after year tribunes of the people, went on\nevery time saying _Veto_ to whatever was proposed by anybody, and giving\nout that they should go on doing so till three measures were\ncarried--viz., that interest on debt should not be demanded; that no\ncitizen should possess more than three hundred and twenty acres of the\npublic land, or feed more than a certain quantity of cattle on the\npublic pastures; and, lastly, that one of the two consuls should always\nbe a plebeian.\n\nThey went on for eight years, always elected by the people and always\nstopping everything. At last there was another inroad of the Gauls\nexpected, and Camillus, though eighty years old, was for the fifth time\nchosen Dictator, and gained a great victory upon the banks of the Anio.\nThe Senate begged him to continue Dictator till he could set their\naffairs to rights, and he vowed to build a temple to Concord if he could\nsucceed. He saw indeed that it was time to yield, and persuaded the\nSenate to think so; so that at last, in the year 367, Sextius was\nelected consul, together with a patrician, AEmilius. Even then the Senate\nwould not receive Sextius till he was introduced by Camillus. From this\ntime the patricians and plebeians were on an equal footing as far as\nregarded the magistracies, but the priesthood could belong only to the\npatricians. Camillus lived to a great age, and was honored as having\nthree times saved his country. He died at last of a terrible pestilence\nwhich raged in Rome in the year 365.\n\nThe priests recommended that they should invite the players from Etruria\nto perform a drama in honor of the feats of the gods, and this was the\nbeginning of play-acting in Rome.\n\nNot long after there yawned a terrible chasm in the Forum, most likely\nfrom an earthquake, but nothing seemed to fill it up, and the priests\nand augurs consulted their oracles about it. These made answer that it\nwould only close on receiving of what was most precious. Gold and\njewels were thrown in, but it still seemed bottomless, and at last the\naugurs declared that it was courage that was the most precious thing in\nRome. Thereupon a patrician youth named Marcus Curtius decked himself in\nhis choicest robes, put on his armor, took his shield, sword, and spear,\nmounted his horse, and leapt headlong into the gulf, thus giving it the\nmost precious of all things, courage and self-devotion. After this one\nstory says it closed of itself, another that it became easy to fill it\nup with earth.\n\nThe Romans thought that such a sacrifice must please the gods and bring\nthem success in their battles; but in the war with the Hernici that was\nnow being waged the plebeian consul was killed, and no doubt there was\nmuch difficulty in getting the patricians to obey a plebeian properly,\nfor in the course of the next twenty years it was necessary fourteen\ntimes to appoint a Dictator for the defence of the state, so that it is\nplain there must have been many alarms and much difficulty in enforcing\ndiscipline; but, on the whole, success was with Rome, and the\nneighboring tribes grew weaker.\n\n[Illustration: CURTIUS LEAPING INTO THE GULF. (_From a Bas-Relief_.)]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE DEVOTION OF DECIUS.\n\nB.C. 357\n\n\nOther tribes of the Gauls did not fail to come again and make fresh\ninroads on the valleys of the Tiber and Anio. Whenever they came,\ninstead of choosing men from the tribes to form an army, as in a war\nwith their neighbors, all the fighting men of the nation turned out to\noppose them, generally under a Dictator.\n\nIn one of these wars the Gauls came within three miles of Rome, and the\ntwo hosts were encamped on the banks of the Anio, with a bridge between\nthem. Along this bridge strutted an enormous Gallic chief, much taller\nthan any of the Romans, boasting himself, and calling on any one of them\nto come out and fight with him. Again it was a Manlius who\ndistinguished himself. Titus, a young man of that family, begged the\nDictator's permission to accept the challenge, and, having gained it, he\nchanged his round knight's shield for the square one of the foot\nsoldiers, and with his short sword came forward on the bridge. The Gaul\nmade a sweep at him with his broadsword, but, slipping within the guard,\nManlius stabbed the giant in two places, and as he fell cut off his\nhead, and took the torc, or broad twisted gold collar that was the mark\nof all Gallic chieftains. Thence the brave youth was called Titus\nManlius Torquatus--a surname to make up for that of Capitolinus, which\nhad never been used again.\n\n[Illustration: THE APENNINES.]\n\nThe next time the Gauls came, Marcus Valerius, a descendant of the old\nhero Publicola, was consul, and gained a great victory. It was said that\nin the midst of the fight a monstrous raven appeared flying over his\nhead, resting now and then on his helmet, but generally pecking at the\neyes of the Gauls and flapping its wings in their faces, so that they\nfled discomfited. Thence he was called Corvus or Corvinus. The Gauls\nnever again came in such force, but a new enemy came against them,\nnamely, the Samnites, a people who dwelt to the south of them. They were\nof Italian blood, mountaineers of the Southern Apennines, not unlike\nthe Romans in habits, language, and training, and the staunchest enemies\nthey had yet encountered. The war began from an entreaty from the people\nof Campania to the Romans to defend them from the attacks of the\nSamnites. For the Campanians, living in the rich plains, whose name is\nstill unchanged, were an idle, languid people, whom the stout men of\nSamnium could easily overcome. The Romans took their part, and Valerius\nCorvus gained a victory at Mount Gaurus; but the other consul, Cornelius\nCossus, fell into danger, having marched foolishly into a forest, shut\nin by mountains, and with only one way out through a deep valley, which\nwas guarded by the Samnites. In this almost hopeless danger one of the\nmilitary tribunes, Publius Decius Mus, discovered a little hill above\nthe enemy's camp, and asked leave to lead a small body of men to seize\nit, since he would be likely thus to draw off the Samnites, and while\nthey were destroying him, as he fully expected, the Romans could get out\nof the valley. Hidden by the wood, he gained the hill, and there the\nSamnites saw him, to their great amazement; and while they were\nconsidering whether to attack him, the other Romans were able to march\nout of the valley. Finding he was not attacked, Decius set guards, and,\nwhen night came on, marched down again as quietly as possible to join\nthe army, who were now on the other side of the Samnite camp. Through\nthe midst of this he and his little camp went without alarm, until,\nabout half-way across, one Roman struck his foot against a shield. The\nnoise awoke the Samnites, but Decius caused his men to give a great\nshout, and this, in the darkness, so confused the enemy that they missed\nthe little body of Romans, who safely gained their own camp. Decius cut\nshort the thanks and joy of the consul by advising him to fall at once\non the Samnite camp in its dismay, and this was done; the Samnites were\nentirely routed, 30,000 killed, and their camp taken. Decius received\nfor his reward a hundred oxen, a white bull with gilded horns, and three\ncrowns--one of gold for courage, one of oak for having saved the lives\nof his fellow-citizens, and one of grass for having taken the enemy's\ncamp--while all his men were for life to receive a double allowance of\ncorn. Decius offered up the white bull in sacrifice to Mars, and gave\nthe oxen to the companions of his glory.\n\nAfterwards Valerius routed the Samnites again, and his troops brought in\n120 standards and 40,000 shields which they had picked up, having been\nthrown away by the enemy in their flight.\n\nPeace was made for the time; but the Latins, now in alliance with Rome,\nbegan to make war on the Samnites. They complained, and the Romans\nfeeling bound to take their part, a great Latin war began. Manlius\nTorquatus and Decius Mus, the two greatest heroes of Rome, were consuls.\nAs the Latins and Romans were alike in dress, arms, and language, in\norder to prevent taking friend for foe, strict orders were given that no\none should attack a Latin without orders, or go out of his rank, on pain\nof death. A Latin champion came out boasting, as the two armies lay\nbeneath Mount Vesuvius, then a fair vine-clad hill showing no flame.\nYoung Manlius remembering his father's fame, darted out, fought hand to\nhand with the Latin, slew him, and brought home his spoils to his\nfather's feet. He had forgotten that his father had only fought after\npermission was given. The elder Manlius received him with stern grief.\nHe had broken the law of discipline, and he must die. His head was\nstruck off amid the grief and anger of the army. The battle was bravely\nfought, but it went against the Romans at first. Then Decius,\nrecollecting a vision which had declared that a consul must devote\nhimself for his country, called on Valerius, the Pontifex Maximus, to\ndedicate him. He took off his armor, put on his purple toga, covered his\nhead with a veil, and standing on a spear, repeated the words of\nconsecration after Valerius, then mounted his horse and rode in among\nthe Latins. They at first made way, but presently closed in and\noverpowered him with a shower of darts; and thus he gave for his country\nthe life he had once offered for it.\n\nThe victory was won, and was so followed up that the Latins were forced\nto yield to Rome. Some of the cities retained their own laws and\nmagistrates, but others had Romans with their families settled in them,\nand were called colonies, while the Latin people themselves became Roman\ncitizens in everything but the power of becoming magistrates or voting\nfor them, being, in fact, very much what the earliest plebeians had been\nbefore they acquired any rights.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nTHE SAMNITE WARS.\n\n\nIn the year 332, just when Alexander the Great was making his conquests\nin the East, his uncle Alexander, king of Epirus, brother to his mother\nOlympius, came to Italy, where there were so many Grecian citizens south\nof the Samnites that the foot of Italy was called Magna Graecia, or\nGreater Greece. He attacked the Samnites, and the Romans were not sorry\nto see them weakened, and made an alliance with him. He stayed in Italy\nabout six years, and was then killed.\n\nTo overthrow the Samnites was the great object of Rome at this time, and\nfor this purpose they offered their protection and alliance to all the\ncities that stood in dread of that people. One of the cities was founded\nby men from the isle of Euboea, who called it Neapolis, or the New\nCity, to distinguish it from the old town near at hand, which they\ncalled Palaeopolis, or the Old City. The elder city held out against the\nRomans, but was easily overpowered, while the new one submitted to Rome;\nbut these southern people were very shallow and fickle, and little to be\ndepended on, as they often changed sides between the Romans and\nSamnites. In the midst of the siege of Palaeopolis, the year of the\nconsulate came to an end, but the Senate, while causing two consuls as\nusual to be elected, at home, would not recall Publilius Philo from the\nsiege, and therefore appointed him proconsul there. This was in 326, and\nwas the beginning of the custom of sending the ex-consul as proconsul to\ncommand the armies or govern the provinces at a distance from home.\n\n[Illustration: COMBAT BETWEEN A MIRMILLO AND A SAMNITE.]\n\n[Illustration: COMBAT BETWEEN A LIGHT-ARMED GLADIATOR AND A SAMNITE.]\n\nIn 320, the consul falling sick, a dictator was appointed, Lucius\nPapirius Cursor, one of the most stern and severe men in Rome. He was\nobliged by some religious ceremony to return to Rome for a time, and he\nforbade his lieutenant, Quintus Fabius Rullianus, to venture a battle in\nhis absence. But so good an opportunity offered that Fabius attacked the\nenemy, beat them, and killed 20,000 men. Then selfishly unwilling to\nhave the spoils he had won carried in the dictator's triumph, he\nburnt them all. Papirius arrived in great anger, and sentenced him to\ndeath for his disobedience; but while the lictors were stripping him, he\ncontrived to escape from their hands among the soldiers, who closed on\nhim, so that he was able to get to Rome, where his father called the\nSenate together, and they showed themselves so resolved to save his life\nthat Papirius was forced to pardon him, though not without reproaching\nthe Romans for having fallen from the stern justice of Brutus and\nManlius.\n\nTwo years later the two consuls, Titus Veturius and Spurius Posthumius,\nwere marching into Campania, when the Samnite commander, Pontius\nHerennius, sent forth people disguised as shepherds to entice them into\na narrow mountain pass near the city of Candium, shut in by thick woods,\nleading into a hollow curved valley, with thick brushwood on all sides,\nand only one way out, which the Samnites blocked up with trunks of\ntrees. As soon as the Romans were within this place the other end was\nblocked in the same way, and thus they were all closed up at the mercy\nof their enemies.\n\nWhat was to be done with them? asked the Samnites; and they went to\nconsult old Herennius, the father of Pontius, the wisest man in the\nnation. \"Open the way and let them all go free,\" he said.\n\n\"What! without gaining any advantage?\"\n\n\"Then kill them all.\"\n\nHe was asked to explain such extraordinary advice. He said that to\nrelease them generously would be to make them friends and allies for\never; but if the war was to go on, the best thing for Samnium would be\nto destroy such a number of enemies at a blow. But the Samnites could\nnot resolve upon either plan; so they took a middle course, the worst of\nall, since it only made the Romans furious without weakening them. They\nwere made to take off all their armor and lay down their weapons, and\nthus to pass out under the yoke, namely, three spears set up like a\ndoorway. The consuls, after agreeing to a disgraceful peace, had to go\nfirst, wearing only their undermost garment, then all the rest, two and\ntwo, and if any one of them gave an angry look, he was immediately\nknocked down and killed. They went on in silence into Campania, where,\nwhen night came on, they all threw themselves, half-naked, silent, and\nhungry upon the grass. The people of Capua came out to help them, and\nbrought them food and clothing, trying to do them all honor and comfort\nthem, but they would neither look up nor speak. And thus they went on\nto Rome, where everybody had put on mourning, and all the ladies went\nwithout their jewels, and the shops in the Forum were closed. The\nunhappy men stole into their houses at night one by one, and the consuls\nwould not resume their office, but two were appointed to serve instead\nfor the rest of the year.\n\n[Illustration: ANCIENT ROME.]\n\nRevenge was all that was thought of, but the difficulty was the peace\nto which the consuls had sworn. Posthumius said that if it was disavowed\nby the Senate, he, who had been driven to make it, must be given back to\nthe Samnites. So, with his hands tied, he was taken back to the Samnite\ncamp by a herald and delivered over; but at that moment Posthumius gave\nthe herald a kick, crying out, \"I am now a Samnite, and have insulted\nyou, a Roman herald. This is a just cause of war.\" Pontius and the\nSamnites were very angry, and they said it was an unworthy trick; but\nthey did not prevent Posthumius from going safely back to the Romans,\nwho considered him to have quite retrieved his honor.\n\nA battle was fought, in which Pontius and 7000 men were forced to lay\ndown their arms and pass under the yoke in their turn. The struggle\nbetween these two fierce nations lasted altogether seventy years, and\nthe Romans had many defeats. They had other wars at the same time. They\nnever subdued Etruria, and in the battle of Sentinum, fought with the\nGauls, the consul Decius Mus, devoted himself exactly as his father had\ndone at Vesuvius, and by his death won the victory.\n\nThe Samnite wars may be considered as ending in 290, when the chief\ngeneral of Samnium, Pontius Telesimus, was made prisoner and put to\ndeath at Rome. The lands in the open country were quite subdued, but\nmany Samnites still lived in the fastnesses of the Apennines in the\nsouth, which have ever since been the haunt of wild untamed men.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nTHE WAR WITH PYRRHUS.\n\nB.C. 280-271.\n\n\nIn the Grecian History you remember that Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, the\ntownsman of Alexander the Great, made an expedition to Italy. This was\nthe way it came about. The city of Tarentum was a Spartan colony at the\nhead of the gulf that bears its name. It was as proud as its parent, but\nhad lost all the grave sternness of manners, and was as idle and fickle\nas the other places in that languid climate. The Tarentines first\nmaltreated some Roman ships which put into their gulf, and then insulted\nthe ambassador who was sent to complain. Then when the terrible Romans\nwere found to be really coming to revenge their honor, the Tarentines\ntook fright, and sent to beg Pyrrhus to come to their aid.\n\nHe readily accepted the invitation, and coming to Italy with 28,000 men\nand twenty elephants, hoped to conquer the whole country; but he found\nthe Tarentines not to be trusted, and soon weary of entertaining him,\nwhile they could not keep their promises of aid from the other Greeks of\nItaly.\n\n[Illustration: PYRRHUS.]\n\nThe Romans marched against him, and there was a great battle on the\nbanks of the river Siris, where the fighting was very hard, but when the\nelephants charged the Romans broke and fled, and were only saved by\nnightfall from being entirely destroyed. So great, however, had been\nPyrrhus' loss that he said, \"Such another victory, and I shall have to\ngo back alone to Epirus.\"\n\nHe thought he had better treat with the Romans, and sent his favorite\ncounsellor Kineas to offer to make peace, provided the Romans would\npromise safety to his Italian allies, and presents were sent to the\nsenators and their wives to induce them to listen favorably. People in\nancient Greece expected such gifts to back a suit; but Kineas found that\nnobody in Rome would hear of being bribed, though many were not\nunwilling to make peace. Blind old Appius Claudius, who had often been\nconsul, caused himself to be led into the Senate to oppose it, for it\nwas hard to his pride to make peace as defeated men. Kineas was much\nstruck with Rome, where he found a state of things like the best days of\nGreece, and, going back to his master, told him that the senate-house\nwas like a temple, and those who sat there like an assembly of kings,\nand that he feared they were fighting with the Hydra of Lerna, for as\nsoon as they had destroyed one Roman army another had sprung up in its\nplace.\n\nHowever, the Romans wanted to treat about the prisoners Pyrrhus had\ntaken, and they sent Caius Fabricius to the Greek camp for the purpose.\nKineas reported him to be a man of no wealth, but esteemed as a good\nsoldier and an honest man. Pyrrhus tried to make him take large\npresents, but nothing would Fabricius touch; and then, in the hope of\nalarming him, in the middle of a conversation the hangings of one side\nof the tent suddenly fell, and disclosed the biggest of all the\nelephants, who waved his trunk over Fabricius and trumpeted\nfrightfully. The Roman quietly turned round and smiled as he said to the\nking, \"I am no more moved by your gold than by your great beast.\"\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN ORATOR.]\n\nAt supper there was a conversation on Greek philosophy, of which the\nRomans as yet knew nothing. When the doctrine of Epicurus was mentioned,\nthat man's life was given to be spent in the pursuit of joy, Fabricius\ngreatly amused the company by crying out, \"O Hercules! grant that the\nGreeks may be heartily of this mind so long as we have to fight with\nthem.\"\n\nPyrrhus even tried to persuade Fabricius to enter his service, but the\nanswer was, \"Sir. I advise you not; for if your people once tasted of my\nrule, they would all desire me to govern them instead of you.\" Pyrrhus\nconsented to let the prisoners go home, but, if no peace were made, they\nwere to return again as soon as the Saturnalia were over; and this was\nfaithfully done. Fabricius was consul the next year, and thus received a\nletter from Pyrrhus' physician, offering for a reward to rid the Romans\nof his master by poison. The two consuls sent it to the king with the\nfollowing letter:--\"Caius Fabricius and Quintus AEmilius, consuls, to\nPyrrhus, king, greeting. You choose your friends and foes badly. This\nletter will show that you make war with honest men and trust rogues and\nknaves. We tell you, not to win your favor, but lest your ruin might\nbring on the reproach of ending the war by treachery instead of force.\"\n\nPyrrhus made enquiry, put the physician to death, and by way of\nacknowledgment released the captives, trying again to make peace; but\nthe Romans would accept no terms save that he should give up the\nTarentines and go back in the same ships. A battle was fought in the\nwood of Asculum. Decius Mus declared he would devote himself like his\nfather and grandfather; but Pyrrhus heard of this, and sent word that he\nhad given orders that Decius should not be killed, but taken alive and\nscourged; and this prevented him. The Romans were again forced back by\nthe might of the elephants, but not till night fell on them. Pyrrhus had\nbeen wounded, and hosts of Greeks had fallen, among them many of\nPyrrhus' chief friends.\n\nHe then went to Sicily, on an invitation from the Greeks settled there,\nto defend them from the Carthaginians; but finding them as little\nsatisfactory as the Italian Greeks, he suddenly came back to Tarentum.\nThis time one of the consuls was Marcus Curius--called Dentatus, because\nhe had been born with teeth in his mouth--a stout, plain old Roman, very\nstern, for when he levied troops against Pyrrhus, the first man who\nrefused to serve was punished by having his property seized and sold. He\nthen marched southward, and at Beneventum at length entirely defeated\nPyrrhus, and took four of his elephants. Pyrrhus was obliged to return\nto Epirus, and the Roman steadiness had won the day after nine years.\n\nDentatus had the grandest triumph that had ever been known at Rome,\nwith the elephants walking in the procession, the first that the Romans\nhad ever seen. All the spoil was given up to the commonwealth; and when,\nsome time after, it was asserted that he had taken some for himself, it\nturned out that he had only kept one old wooden vessel, which he used in\nsacrificing to the gods.\n\nThe Greeks of Southern Italy had behaved very ill to Pyrrhus and turned\nagainst him. The Romans found them so fickle and troublesome that they\nwere all reduced in one little war after another. The Tarentines had to\nsurrender and lose their walls and their fleet, and so had the people of\nSybaris, who have become a proverb for idleness, for they were so lazy\nthat they were said to have killed all their crowing-birds for waking\nthem too early in the morning. All the peninsula of Italy now belonged\nto Rome, and great roads were made of paved stones connecting them with\nit, many of which remain to this day, even the first of all, called the\nAppian Way, from Rome to Capua, which was made under the direction of\nthe censor Appius Claudius, during the Samnite war.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nTHE FIRST PUNIC WAR.\n\n264-240.\n\n\nWe are now come to the time when Rome became mixed up in wars with\nnations beyond Italy. There was a great settlement of the Phoenicians,\nthe merchants of the old world, at Carthage, on the northern coast of\nAfrica, the same place at which Virgil afterwards described AEneas as\nspending so much time. Dido, the queen who was said to have founded\nCarthage when fleeing from her wicked brother-in-law at Tyre, is thought\nto have been an old goddess, and the religion and manners of the\nCarthaginians were thoroughly Phoenician, or, as the Romans called them,\nPunic. They had no king, but a Senate, and therewith rulers called by\nthe name that is translated as judges in the Bible; and they did not\nlove war, only trade, and spread out their settlements for this purpose\nall over the coast of the Mediterranean, from Spain to the Black Sea,\nwherever a country had mines, wool, dyes, spices, or men to trade with;\nand their sailors were the boldest to be found anywhere, and were the\nonly ones who had passed beyond the Pillars of Hercules, namely, the\nStraits of Gibraltar, in the Atlantic Ocean. They built handsome cities,\nand country houses with farms and gardens round them, and had all tokens\nof wealth and luxury--ivory, jewels, and spices from India, pearls from\nthe Persian Gulf, gold from Spain, silver from the Balearic Isles, tin\nfrom the Scilly Isles, amber from the Baltic; and they had forts to\nprotect their settlements. They generally hired the men of the\ncountries, where they settled, to fight their battles, sometimes under\nhired Greek captains, but often under generals of their own.\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN SHIP.]\n\nThe first place where they did not have everything their own way was\nSicily. The old inhabitants of the island were called Sicels, a rough\npeople; but besides these there were a great number of Greek\nsettlements, also of Carthaginian ones, and these two hated one another.\nThe Carthaginians tried to overthrow the Greeks, and Pyrrhus, by\ncoming to help his countrymen, only made them more bitter against one\nanother. When he went away he exclaimed, \"What an arena we leave for the\nRomans and Carthaginians to contend upon!\" so sure was he that these two\ngreat nations must soon fight out the struggle for power.\n\nThe beginning of the struggle was, however, brought on by another cause.\nMessina, the place founded long ago by the brave exiles of Messene, when\nthe Spartans had conquered their state, had been seized by a troop of\nMamertines, fierce Italians from Mamertum; and these, on being\nthreatened by Xiero, king of Syracuse, sent to offer to become subjects\nto the Romans, thus giving them the command of the port which secured\nthe entrance of the island. The Senate had great scruples about\naccepting the offer, and supporting a set of mere robbers; but the two\nconsuls and all the people could not withstand the temptation, and it\nwas resolved to assist the Mamertines. Thus began what was called the\nFirst Punic War. The difficulty was, however, want of ships. The Romans\nhad none of their own, and though they collected a few from their Greek\nallies in Italy, it was not in time to prevent some of the Mamertines\nfrom surrendering the citadel to Xanno, the Carthaginian general, who\nthought himself secure, and came down to treat with the Roman tribune\nClaudius, haughtily bidding the Romans no more to try to meddle with the\nsea, for they should not be allowed so much as to wash their hands in\nit. Claudius, angered at this, treacherously laid hands on Xanno, and he\nagreed to give up the castle on being set free; but he had better have\nremained a prisoner, for the Carthaginians punished him with\ncrucifixion, and besieged Messina, but in vain.\n\nThe Romans felt that a fleet was necessary, and set to work to build war\ngalleys on the pattern of a Carthaginian one which had been wrecked upon\ntheir coast. While a hundred ships were building, oarsmen were trained\nto row on dry land, and in two months the fleet put to sea. Knowing that\nthere was no chance of being able to fight according to the regular\nrules of running the beaks of their galleys into the sides of those of\ntheir enemies, they devised new plans of letting heavy weights descend\non the ships of the opposite fleet, and then of letting drawbridges down\nby which to board them. The Carthaginians, surprised and dismayed, when\nthus attacked off Mylae by the consul Duilius, were beaten and chased to\nSardinia, where their unhappy commander was nailed to a cross by his own\nsoldiers; while Duilius not only received in Rome a grand triumph for\nhis first naval victory, but it was decreed that he should never go out\ninto the city at night without a procession of torch-bearers.\n\nThe Romans now made up their minds to send an expedition to attack the\nCarthaginian power not only in Sicily but in Africa, and this was placed\nunder the command of a sturdy plebeian consul, Marcus Attilius Regulus.\nHe fought a great battle with the Carthaginian fleet on his way, and he\nhad even more difficulty with his troops, who greatly dreaded the\nlanding in Africa as a place of unknown terror. He landed, however, at\nsome distance from the city, and did not at once advance on it. When he\ndid, according to the story current at Rome, he encountered on the banks\nof the River Bagrada an enormous serpent, whose poisonous breath killed\nall who approached it, and on whose scales darts had no effect. At last\nthe machines for throwing huge stones against city walls were used\nagainst it; its backbone was broken, and it was at last killed, and its\nskin sent to Rome.\n\nThe Romans met other enemies, whom they defeated, and gained much\nplunder. The Senate, understanding that the Carthaginians were cooped up\nwithin their walls, recalled half the army. Regulus wished much to\nreturn, as the slave who tilled his little farm had run away with his\nplough, and his wife was in distress; but he was so valuable that he\ncould not be recalled, and he remained and soon took Tunis. The\nCarthaginians tried to win their gods' favor back by offering horrid\nhuman sacrifices to Moloch and Baal, and then hired a Spartan general\nnamed Xanthippus, who defeated the Romans, chiefly by means of the\nelephants, and made Regulus prisoner. The Romans, who hated the\nCarthaginians so much as to believe them capable of any wickedness,\ndeclared that in their jealousy of Xanthippus' victory, they sent him\nhome to Greece in a vessel so arranged as to founder at sea.\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN ORDER OF BATTLE.]\n\nHowever, the Romans, after several disasters in Sicily, gained a great\nvictory near Panormus, capturing one hundred elephants, which were\nbrought to Rome to be hunted by the people that they might lose their\nfear of them. The Carthaginians were weakened enough to desire peace,\nand they sent Regulus to propose it, making him swear to return if he\ndid not succeed. He came to the outskirts of the city, but would not\nenter. He said he was no Roman proconsul, but the slave of Carthage.\nHowever, the Senate came out to hear him, and he gave the message, but\nadded that the Romans ought not to accept these terms, but to stand\nout for much better ones, giving such reasons that the whole people was\npersuaded. He was entreated to remain and not meet the angry men of\nCarthage; but nothing would persuade him to break his word, and he went\nback. The Romans told dreadful stories of the treatment he met with--how\nhis eyelids were cut off and he was put in the sunshine, and at last he\nwas nailed up in a barrel lined with spikes and rolled down hill. Some\nsay that this was mere report, and that Carthaginian prisoners at Rome\nwere as savagely treated; but at any rate the constancy of Regulus has\nalways been a proverb.\n\nThe war went on, and one of the proud Claudius family was in command at\nTrepanum, in Sicily, when the enemy's fleet came in sight. Before a\nbattle the Romans always consulted the sacred fowls that were carried\nwith the army. Claudius was told that their augury was against a\nbattle--they would not eat. \"Then let them drink,\" he cried, and threw\nthem into the sea. His impiety, as all felt it, was punished by an utter\ndefeat, and he killed himself to avoid an enquiry. The war went on by\nland and sea all over and around Sicily, till at the end of twenty-four\nyears peace was made, just after another great sea-fight, in which Rome\nhad the victory. She made the Carthaginians give up all they held in\nSicily, restore their prisoners, make a large payment, and altogether\nhumble their claims; thus beginning a most bitter hatred towards the\nconquerors, who as greatly hated and despised them. Thus ended the First\nPunic War.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nCONQUEST OF CISALPINE GAUL.\n\n240-219.\n\n\nAfter the end of the Punic war, Carthage fell into trouble with her\nhired soldiers, and did not interfere with the Romans for a long time,\nwhile they went on to arrange the government of Sicily into what they\ncalled a province, which was ruled by a propraetor for a year after his\nmagistracy at home. The Greek kingdom of Syracuse indeed still remained\nas an ally of Rome, and Messina and a few other cities were allowed to\nchoose their own magistrates and govern themselves.\n\nSoon after, Sardinia and Corsica were given up to the Romans by the\nhired armies of the Carthaginians, and as the natives fought hard\nagainst Rome, when they were conquered they were for the most part sold\nas slaves. These two islands likewise had a propraetor.\n\nThe Romans now had all the peninsula south of themselves, and as far\nnorth as Ariminim (now shortened into Rimini), but all beyond belonged\nto the Gauls--the Cisalpine Gauls, or Gauls on this side the Alps, as\nthe Romans called them; while those on the other side were called\nTransalpine Gauls, or Gauls across the Alps. These northern Gauls were\ngathering again for an inroad on the south, and in the midst of the\nrumors of this danger there was a great thunderstorm at Rome, and the\nCapitol was struck by lightning. The Sybilline books were searched into\nto see what this might mean, and a warning was found, \"Beware of the\nGauls.\" Moreover, there was a saying that the Greeks and Gauls should\none day enjoy the Forum; but the Romans fancied they could satisfy this\nprophecy by burying a man and woman of each nation, slaves, in the\nmiddle of the Forum, and then they prepared to attack the Gauls in their\nown country before the inroad could be made. There was a great deal of\nhard fighting, lasting for years; and in the course of it the consul,\nCaius Flaminius, began the great road which has since been called after\nhim the Flaminian Way, and was the great northern road from Rome, as\nthe Appian Way was the southern.\n\n[Illustration: THE WOUNDED GAUL.]\n\nThe great hero of the war was Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had already\nmade himself known for his dauntless courage. As consul, he fought a\ndesperate battle on the banks of the Po with the Gauls of both sides the\nAlps, and himself killed their king or chief, Viridomar. He brought the\nspoils to Rome, and hung them in the Temple of Jupiter. It was only the\nthird time in the history of Rome that such a thing had been done.\nCisalpine Gaul was thus subdued, and another road was made to secure\nit; while in the short peace that followed the gates of the Temple of\nJanus were shut, having stood open ever since the reign of Numa.\n\nThe Romans were beginning to make their worship the same with that of\nthe Greeks. They sent offerings to Greek temples, said that their old\ngods were the same as those of the Greeks, only under different names,\nand sent an embassy to Epidaurus to ask for a statue of Esculapius, the\ngod of medicine and son of Phoebus Apollo. The emblem of Esculapius was\na serpent, and tame serpents were kept about his temple at Epidaurus.\nOne of these glided into the Roman galley that had come for the statue,\nand it was treated with great respect by all the crew until they sailed\nup the Tiber, when it made its way out of the vessel and swam to the\nisland which had been formed by the settling of the mud round the heap\nof corn that had been thrown into the river when Porsena wasted the\ncountry. This was supposed to mean that the god himself took possession\nof the place, and a splendid temple there rose in his honor.\n\nAnother imitation of the Greeks which came into fashion at this time had\na sad effect on the Romans. The old funerals in Greek poems had ended\nby games and struggles between swordsmen. Two brothers of the Brutus\nfamily first showed off such a game at their father's funeral, and it\nbecame a regular custom, not only at funerals, but whenever there was\nneed to entertain the people, to show off fights of swordsmen. The\nsoldier captives from conquered nations were used in this way; and some\npersons kept schools of slaves, who were trained for these fights and\ncalled gladiators. The battle was a real one, with sharp weapons, for\nlife or death; and when a man was struck down, he was allowed to live or\nsentenced to death according as the spectators turned down or turned up\ntheir thumbs. The Romans fancied that the sight trained them to be\nbrave, and to despise death and wounds; but the truth was that it only\nmade them hard-hearted, and taught them to despise other people's\npain--a very different thing from despising their own.\n\nAnother thing that did great harm was the making it lawful for a man to\nput away a wife who had no children. This ended by making the Romans\nmuch less careful to have one good wife, and the Roman ladies became\nmuch less noble and excellent than they had been in the good old days.\n\n[Illustration: HANNIBAL'S VOW.]\n\nIn the meantime, the Carthaginians, having lost the three islands,\nbegan to spread their settlements further in Spain, where their chief\ncolony was New Carthage, or, as we call it, Carthagena. The mountains\nwere full of gold mines, and the Iberians, the nation who held them,\nwere brave and warlike, so that there was much fighting to train up\nfresh armies. Hamilcar, the chief general in command there, had four\nsons, whom he said were lion whelps being bred up against Rome. He took\nthem with him to Spain, and at a great sacrifice for the success of his\narms the youngest and most promising, Hannibal, a boy of nine years old,\nwas made to lay his hand on the altar of Baal and take an oath that he\nwould always be the enemy of the Romans. Hamilcar was killed in battle,\nbut Hannibal grew up to be all that he had hoped, and at twenty-six was\nin command of the army. He threatened the Iberians of Saguntum, who sent\nto ask help from Rome. A message was sent to him to forbid him to\ndisturb the ally of Rome; but he had made up his mind for war, and never\neven asked the Senate of Carthage what was to be done, but went on with\nthe siege of Saguntum. Rome was busy with a war in Illyria, and could\nsend no help, and the Saguntines held out with the greatest bravery and\nconstancy, month after month, till they were all on the point of\nstarvation, then kindled a great fire, slew all their wives and\nchildren, and let Hannibal win nothing but a pile of smoking ruins.\n\n[Illustration: IN THE PYRENEES.]\n\nAgain the Romans sent to Carthage to complain, but the Senate there had\nmade up their minds that war there must be, and that it was a good time\nwhen Rome had a war in Illyria on her hands, and Cisalpine Gaul hardly\nsubdued; and they had such a general as Hannibal, though they did not\nknow what a wonderful scheme he had in his mind, namely, to make his\nway by land from Spain to Italy, gaining the help of the Gauls, and\nstirring up all those nations of Italy who had fought so long against\nRome. His march, which marks the beginning of the Second Punic War,\nstarted from the banks of the Ebro in the beginning of the summer of\n219. His army was 20,000 foot and 12,000 horse, partly Carthaginian,\npartly Gaul and Iberian. The horsemen were Moorish, and he had\nthirty-seven elephants. He left his brother Hasdrubal with 10,000 men at\nthe foot of the Pyrenees and pushed on, but he could not reach the Alps\nbefore the late autumn, and his passage is one of the greatest wonders\nof history. Roads there were none, and he had to force his way up the\npasses of the Little St. Bernard through snow and ice, terrible to the\nmen and animals of Africa, and fighting all the way, so that men and\nhorses perished in great numbers, and only seven of the elephants were\nleft when he at length descended into the plains of Northern Italy,\nwhere he hoped the Cisalpine Gauls would welcome him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nTHE SECOND PUNIC WAR.\n\n219.\n\n\nWhen the Romans heard that Hannibal had passed the Pyrenees, they had\ntwo armies on foot, one under Publius Cornelius Scipio, which was to go\nto Spain, and the other under Tiberius Sempronius Longus, to attack\nAfrica. They changed their plan, and kept Sempronius to defend Italy,\nwhile Scipio went by sea to Marsala, a Greek colony in Gaul, to try to\nstop Hannibal at the Rhone; but he was too late, and therefore, sending\non most of his army to Spain, he came back himself with his choicest\ntroops. With these he tried to stop the enemy from crossing the river\nTicinus, but he was defeated and so badly wounded that his life was only\nsaved by the bravery of his son, who led him out of the battle.\n\n[Illustration: MEETING OF HANNIBAL AND SCIPIO AT ZAMA.]\n\nBefore he was able to join the army again, Sempronius had fought\nanother battle with Hannibal on the banks of the Trebia and suffered a\nterrible defeat. But winter now came on, and the Carthaginians found it\nvery hard to bear in the marshes of the Arno. Hannibal himself was so\nill that he only owed his life to the last of his elephants, which\ncarried him safely through when he was almost blind, and in the end he\nlost an eye. In the spring he went on ravaging the country in hopes to\nmake the two new consuls, Flaminius and Servilius, fight with him, but\nthey were too cautious, until at last Flaminius attacked him in a heavy\nfog on the shore of Lake Trasimenus. It is said that an earthquake shook\nthe ground, and that the eager warriors never perceived it; but again\nthe Romans lost, Flaminius was killed, and there was a dreadful\nslaughter, for Hannibal had sworn to give no quarter to a Roman. The\nonly thing that was hopeful for Rome was that neither Gauls, Etruscans,\nnor Italians showed any desire to rise in favor of Hannibal; and though\nhe was now very near Rome, he durst not besiege it without the help of\nthe people around to bring him supplies, so he only marched southwards,\nhoping to gain the support of the Greek colonies. A dictator was\nappointed, Quintus Fabius Maximus, who saw that, by strengthening all\nthe garrisons in the towns and cutting off all provisions, he should\nwear the enemy out at last. As he always put off a battle, he was called\nCunctator, or the Delayer; but at last he had the Carthaginians enclosed\nas in a trap in the valley of the river Vulturnus, and hoped to cut them\noff, posting men in ambush to fall on them on their morning's march.\nHannibal guessed that this must be the plan; and at night he had the\ncattle in the camp collected, fastened torches to their horns, and drove\nthem up the hills. The Romans, fancying themselves surrounded by the\nenemy, came out of their hiding-places to fall back on the camp, and\nHannibal and his army safely escaped. This mischance made the Romans\nweary of the Delayer's policy, and when the year was out, and two\nconsuls came in, though one of them, Lucius AEmilius Paulus, would have\ngone on in the same cautious plan of starving Hannibal out without a\nbattle, the other, Caius Terentius Varro, who commanded on alternate\ndays with him, was determined on a battle. Hannibal so contrived that it\nwas fought on the plain of Cannae, where there was plenty of space to use\nhis Moorish horse. It was Varro's day of command, and he dashed at the\ncentre of the enemy; Hannibal opened a space for him, then closed in on\nboth sides with his terrible horse, and made a regular slaughter of the\nRomans. The last time that the consul AEmilius was seen was by a tribune\nnamed Lentulus, who found him sitting on a stone faint and bleeding, and\nwould have given him his own horse to escape, but AEmilius answered that\nhe had no mind to have to accuse his comrade of rashness, and had rather\ndie. A troop of enemies coming up, Lentulus rode off, and looking back,\nsaw his consul fall, pierced with darts. So many Romans had been killed,\nthat Hannibal sent to Carthage a basket containing 10,000 of the gold\nrings worn by the knights.\n\n[Illustration: ARCHIMEDES.]\n\nHannibal was only five days' march beyond Rome, and his officers wanted\nhim to turn back and attack it in the first shock of the defeat, but he\ncould not expect to succeed without more aid from home, and he wanted to\nwin over the Greek cities of the south; so he wintered in Campania,\nwaiting for the fresh troops he expected from Africa or from Spain,\nwhere his brother Mago was preparing an army. But the Carthaginians did\nnot care about Hannibal's campaigns in Italy, and sent no help; and\nPublius Cornelius Scipio and his brother, with a Roman army in Spain,\nwere watching Mago and preventing him from marching, until at last he\ngave them battle and defeated and killed them both. But he was not\nallowed to go to Italy to his brother, who, in the meantime, found his\narmy so unstrung and ill-disciplined in the delightful but languid\nCampania, that the Romans declared the luxuries of Capua were their best\nallies. He stayed in the south, however, trying to gain the alliance of\nthe king of Macedon, and stirring up Syracuse to revolt. Marcellus, who\nwas consul for the third time, was sent to reduce the city, which made a\nfamous defence, for it contained Archimedes, the greatest mathematician\nof his time, who devised wonderful machines for crushing the besiegers\nin unexpected ways; but at last Marcellus found a weak part of the walls\nand surprised the citizens. He had given orders that Archimedes should\nbe saved, but a soldier broke into the philosopher's room without\nknowing him, and found him so intent on his study that he had never\nheard the storming of the city. The man brandished his sword. \"Only\nwait,\" muttered Archimedes, \"till I have found out my problem;\" but the\nman, not understanding him, killed him.\n\nHannibal remained in Italy, maintaining himself there with wonderful\nskill, though with none of the hopes with which he had set out. His\nbrother Hasdrubal did succeed in leaving Spain with an army to help him,\nbut was met on the river Metaurus by Tiberius Claudius Nero, beaten, and\nslain. His head was cut off by Nero's order, and thrown into Hannibal's\ncamp to give tidings of his fate.\n\nYoung Scipio, meantime, had been sent to Spain, where he gained great\nadvantages, winning the friendship of the Iberians, and gaining town\nafter town till Mago had little left but Gades and the extreme south.\nScipio was one of the noblest of the Romans, brave, pious, and what was\nmore unusual, of such sweet and winning temper, that it was said of him\nthat wherever he went he might have been a king.\n\nOn returning to Rome, he showed the Senate that the best way to get\nHannibal out of Italy was to attack Africa. Cautious old Fabius doubted,\nbut Scipio was sent to Sicily, where he made an alliance with\nMassinissa, the Moorish king in Africa; and, obtaining leave to carry\nout his plan, he was sent thither, and so alarmed Carthage, that\nHannibal was recalled to defend his own country, where he had not been\nsince he was a child. A great battle took place at Zama between him and\nHannibal, in which Scipio was the conqueror, and the loss of Carthage\nwas so terrible that the Romans were ready to have marched in on her and\nmade her their subject, but Scipio persuaded them to be forbearing.\nCarthage was to pay an immense tribute, and swear never to make war on\nany ally of Rome. And thus ended the Second Punic War, in the year 201.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nTHE FIRST EASTERN WAR.\n\n215-183.\n\n\nScipio remained in Africa till he had arranged matters and won such a\nclaim to Massinissa's gratitude that this king of Numidia was sure to\nwatch over the interests of Rome. Scipio then returned home, and entered\nRome with a grand triumph, all the nobler for himself that he did not\nlead Hannibal in his chains. He had been too generous to demand that so\nbrave an enemy should be delivered up to him. He received the surname of\nAfricanus, and was one of the most respected and beloved of Romans. He\nwas the first who began to take up Greek learning and culture, and to\nexchange the old Roman ruggedness for the graces of philosophy and\npoetry. Indeed the Romans were beginning to have much to do with the\nGreeks, and the war they entered upon now was the first for the sake of\nspreading their own power. All the former ones had been in self-defence,\nand the new one did in fact spring out of the Punic war, for the\nCarthaginians had tried to persuade Philip, king of Macedon, to follow\nin the track of Pyrrhus, and come and help Hannibal in Southern Italy.\nThe Romans had kept him off by stirring up the robber AEtolians against\nhim; and when he began to punish these wild neighbors, the Romans\nleagued themselves with the old Greek cities which Macedon oppressed,\nand a great war took place.\n\nTitus Quinctius Flaminius commanded in Greece for four years, first as\nconsul and then as proconsul. His crowning victory was at Cynocephalae,\nor the Dogshead Rocks, where he so broke the strength of Macedon that at\nthe Isthmian games he proclaimed the deliverance of Greece, and in their\njoy the people crowded round him with crowns and garlands, and shouted\nso loud that birds in the air were said to have dropped down at the\nsound.\n\nMacedon had cities in Asia Minor, and the king of Syria's enemy,\nAntiochus the Great, hoped to master them, and even to conquer Greece by\nthe help of Hannibal, who had found himself unable to live in Carthage\nafter his defeat, and was wandering about to give his services to any\none who was a foe of Rome.\n\nAs Rome took the part of Philip, as her subject and ally, there was soon\nfull scope for his efforts; but the Syrians were such wretched troops\nthat even Hannibal could do nothing with them, and the king himself\nwould not attend to his advice, but wasted his time in pleasure in the\nisle of Euboea. So the consul Acilius first beat them at Thermopylae, and\nthen, on Lucius Cornelius Scipio being sent to conduct the war, his\ngreat brother Africanus volunteered to go with him as his lieutenant,\nand together they followed Antiochus into Asia Minor, and gained such\nadvantages that the Syrian was obliged to sue for peace. The Romans\nreplied by requiring of him to give up all Asia Minor as far as Mount\nTarsus, and in despair he risked a battle in Magnesia, and met with a\ntotal defeat; 80,000 Greeks and Syrians being overthrown by 50,000\nRomans. Neither Africanus nor Hannibal were present in this battle,\nsince the first was ill, and the second was besieged in a city in\nPamphylia; but while terms of peace were being made, the two are said\nhave met on friendly terms, and Scipio asked Hannibal whom he thought\nthe greatest of generals. \"Alexander,\" was the answer. \"Whom the next\ngreatest?\" \"Pyrrhus.\" \"Whom do you rank as the third?\" \"Myself,\" said\nHannibal. \"But if you had beaten me?\" asked Scipio. \"Then I would have\nplaced myself before Alexander.\"\n\n[Illustration: HANNIBAL]\n\nThe Romans insisted that Hannibal should be dismissed by Antiochus,\nthough Scipio declared that this was ungenerous; but they dreaded his\nnever-ceasing enmity; and when he took refuge with the king of Bothnia,\nthey still required that he should be given up or driven a way. On this,\nHannibal, worn-out and disappointed, put an end to his own life by\npoison, saying he would rid the Romans of their fear of an old man.\n\nThe provinces taken from Antiochus were given to Eumenes, king of\nPergamus, who was to reign over them as tributary to the Romans. Lucius\nScipio received the surname of Asiaticus, and the two brothers returned\nto Rome; but they had been too generous and merciful to the conquered to\nsuit the grasping spirit that had begun to prevail at Rome, and directly\nafter his triumph Lucius was accused of having taken to himself an undue\nshare of the spoil. His brother was too indignant at the shameful\naccusation to think of letting him justify himself, but tore up his\naccounts in the face of the people. The tribune, Naevius, thereupon\nspitefully called upon him to give an account of the spoil of Carthage\ntaken twenty years before. The only reply he gave was to exclaim, \"This\nis the day of the victory of Zama. Let us give thanks to the gods for\nit;\" and he led all that was noble and good in Rome with him to the\ntemple of Jupiter and offered the anniversary sacrifice. No one durst\nsay another word against him or his brother; but he did not choose to\nremain among the citizens who had thus insulted him, but went away to\nhis estate at Liternum, and when he died, desired to be buried there,\nsaying that he would not even leave his bones to his ungrateful country.\nThe Cornelian family was the only one among the higher Romans who buried\ninstead of burning their dead. He left no son, only a daughter, who was\nmarried to Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, a brave officer who was among\nthose who were sent to finish reducing Spain. It was a long, terrible\nwar, fought city by city, inch by inch; but Gracchus is said to have\ntaken no less than three hundred fortresses. But he was a milder\nconqueror than some of the Romans, and tried to tame and civilize the\nwild races instead of treating them with the terrible severity shown by\nMarcus Porcius Cato, the sternest of all old Romans. However, by the\nyear 178 Spain had been reduced to obedience, and the cities and the\ncoast were in good order, though the mountains harbored fierce tribes\nalways ready for revolt.\n\nGracchus died early, and Cornelia, his widow, devoted herself to the\ncause of his three children, refusing to be married again, which was\nvery uncommon in a Roman lady. When a lady asked her to show her her\nornaments, she called her two boys, Tiberius and Caius, and their sister\nSempronia, and said, \"These are my jewels;\" and when she was\ncomplimented on being the daughter of Africanus, she said that the\nhonor she should care more for was the being called \"the mother of the\nGracchi.\"\n\nIt was not, however, one of her sons that was chosen to carry on their\ngrandfather's name and the sacrifices of the Cornelian family. Probably\nCaius was not born when Scipio died, for his choice had been the second\nson of his sister and of Lucius AEmilius Paulus (son of him who died at\nCannae.) This child being adopted by his uncle, was called Publius\nCornelius Scipio AEmilianus, and when he grew up was to marry his cousin\nSempronia.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nTHE CONQUEST OF GREECE, CORINTH, AND CARTHAGE.\n\n179--145.\n\n\nIt was a great change when Rome, which to the Greeks of Pyrrhus' time\nhad seemed so rude and simple, was thought such a school of policy that\nGreek and half-Greek kings sent their sons to be educated there, partly\nas hostages for their own peaceableness, and partly to learn the spirit\nof Roman rule. The first king who did this was Philip of Macedon, who\nsent his son Demetrius to be brought up at Rome; but when he came back,\nhis father and brother were jealous of him, and he was soon put to\ndeath.\n\nWhen his brother Perseus came to the throne, there was hatred between\nhim and the Romans, and ere long he was accused of making war on their\nallies. He offered to make peace, but they replied that they would hear\nnothing till he had laid down his arms, and this he would not do, so\nthat Lucius AEmilius Paulus (the brother-in-law of Scipio) was sent to\nreduce him. As AEmilius came into his own house after receiving the\nappointment, he met his little daughter crying, and when he asked her\nwhat was the matter, she answered, \"Oh, father, Perseus is dead!\" She\nmeant her little dog, but he kissed her and thanked her for the good\nomen. He overran Macedon, and gained the great battle of Pydna, after\nwhich Perseus was obliged to give himself up into the hands of the\nRomans, begging, however, not to be made to walk in AEmilius' triumph.\nThe general answered that he might obtain that favor from himself,\nmeaning that he could die by his own hand; but Perseus did not take the\nhint, which seems to us far more shocking than it did to a Roman; he did\nwalk in the triumph, and died a few years after in Italy. AEmilius' two\nsons were with him throughout this campaign, though still boys under\nPolybius, their Achaian tutor. Macedon was divided into four provinces,\nand became entirely subject to Rome.\n\n[Illustration: CORINTH.]\n\nThe Greeks of the Achaian League began to have quarrels among\nthemselves, and when the Romans interfered a fierce spirit broke out,\nand they wanted to have their old freedom, forgetting how entirely\nunable they were to stand against the power of the Romans. Caius\nCaecilius Metellus, a man of one of the best and most gracious Roman\nfamilies, was patient with them and did his best to pacify them, being\nmost unwilling to ruin the noble old historical cities; but these\nfoolish Greeks fancied that his kindness showed weakness, and forced on\nthe war, sending a troop to guard the pass of Thermopylae, but they were\nswept away. Unfortunately, Metellus had to go out of office, and Lucius\nMummius, a fierce, rude, and ignorant soldier, came in his stead to\ncomplete the conquest. Corinth was taken, utterly ruined and plundered\nthroughout, and a huge amount of treasure was sent to Rome, as well as\npictures and statues famed all over the world. Mummius was very much\nlaughed at for having been told they must be carried in his triumph; and\nyet, not understanding their beauty, he told the sailors to whose charge\nthey were given, that if they were lost, new ones must be supplied.\nHowever, he was an honest man, who did not help himself out of the\nplunder, as far too many were doing. After that, Achaia was made a Roman\nprovince.\n\nAt this time the third and last Punic war was going on. The old Moorish\nking, Massinissa, had been continually tormenting Carthage ever since\nshe had been weak, and declaring that Phoenician strangers had no\nbusiness in Africa. The Carthaginians, who had no means of defending\nthemselves, complained; but the Romans would not listen, hoping,\nperhaps, that they would be goaded at last into attacking the Moor, and\nthus giving a pretext for a war. Old Marcus Porcius Cato, who was sent\non a message to Carthage, came back declaring that it was not safe to\nlet so mighty a city of enemies stand so near. He brought back a branch\nof figs fresh and good, which he showed the Senate in proof of how near\nshe was, and ended each sentence with saying, \"_Delenda est Carthago_\"\n(Carthage is to be wiped out). He died that same year at ninety years\nold, having spent most of his life in making a staunch resistance to the\neasy and luxurious fashions that were coming in with wealth and\nrefinement. One of his sayings always deserves to be remembered. When he\nwas opposing a law giving permission to the ladies to wear gold and\npurple, he said they would all be vying with one another, and that the\npoor would be ashamed of not making as good an appearance as the rich.\n\"And,\" said he, \"she who blushes for doing what she ought, will soon\ncease to blush for doing what she ought not.\"\n\nOne wonders he did not see that to have no enemy near at hand to guard\nagainst was the very worst thing for the hardy, plain old ways he was so\nanxious to keep up. However, Carthage was to be wiped out, and Scipio\nAEmilianus was sent to do the terrible work. He defeated Hasdrubal, the\nlast of the Carthaginian generals, and took the citadel of Byrsa; but\nthough all hope was over, the city held out in utter desperation.\nWeapons were forged out of household implements, even out of gold and\nsilver, and the women twisted their long hair into bow-strings; and when\nthe walls were stormed, they fought from street to street and house to\nhouse, so that the Romans gained little but ruins and dead bodies.\nCarthage and Corinth fell on the same day of the year 179.\n\nPart of Spain still had to be subdued, and Scipio AEmilianus was sent\nthither. The city of Numantia, with only 5000 inhabitants, endured one\nof those long, hopeless sieges for which Spanish cities have in all\ntimes been remarkable, and was only taken at last when almost every\ncitizen had perished.\n\nAt the same time, Attalus, king of Pergamus in Asia Minor, being the\nlast of his race, bequeathed his dominions to the Romans, and thus gave\nthem their first solid footing there.\n\nAll this was altering Roman manners much. Weak as the Greeks were, their\nold doings of every kind were still the admiration of every one, and the\nRomans, who had always been rough, straightforward doers, began to wish\nto learn of them to think. All the wealthier families had Greeks for\ntutors for their sons, and expected them to talk and write the language,\nand study the philosophy and poetry till they should be as familiar with\nit as if they were Greeks themselves. Unluckily, the Greeks themselves\nhad fallen from their earnestness and greatness, so that there was not\nmuch to be learnt of them now but vain deceit and bad taste.\n\nRich Romans, too, began to get most absurdly luxurious. They had\nsplendid villas on the Italian hill-sides, where they went to spend the\nsummer when Rome was unhealthy, and where they had beautiful gardens,\nwith courts paved with mosaic, and fish-ponds for the pet fish for which\nmany had a passion. One man was laughed at for having shed tears when\nhis favorite fish died, and he retorted by saying that it was more than\nhis accuser had done for his wife.\n\nTheir feasts were as luxurious as they could make them, in spite of laws\nto keep them within bounds. Dishes of nightingales' tongues, of fatted\ndormice, and even of snails, were among their food: and sometimes a\nstream was made to flow along the table, containing the living companion\nof the mullet which served as part of the meal.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nTHE GRACCHI.\n\n137-122.\n\n\nYoung Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the eldest of Cornelia's jewels, was\nsent in the year 137 to join the Roman army in Spain. As he went through\nEtruria, which, as every one knew, had been a thickly peopled, fertile\ncountry in old times, he was shocked to see its dreariness and\ndesolation. Instead of farms and vineyards, there were great bare spaces\nof land, where sheep, kids, or goats were feeding. These vast tracts\nbelonged to Romans, who kept slaves to attend to the flocks; while all\nthe corn that was used in Rome came from Sicily or Africa, and the\npoorer Romans lived in the city itself--idle men, chiefly trusting to\ndistributions of corn, and unable to work for themselves because they\nhad no ground to till; and as to trades and handicrafts, the rich men\nhad everything they wanted made in their own houses by their slaves.\n\n[Illustration: CORNELIA AND HER SONS.]\n\nNo wonder the Romans were losing their old character. This was the very\nthing that the Licinian law had been intended to prevent, by forbidding\nany citizen to have more than a certain quantity of land, and giving the\nstate the power of resuming it. The law was still there, but it had\nbeen disused and forgotten; estates had been gathered into the hands of\nfamilies and handed down, till now, though there were 400,000 citizens,\nonly 2,000 were men of property.\n\nWhile Tiberius was serving in Spain, he decided on his plan. As his\nfamily was plebeian, he could be a tribune of the people, and as soon as\nhe came home he stood and was elected. Then he proposed reviving the\nLicinian law, that nobody should have more than 500 acres, and that the\nrest should be divided among those who had nothing, leaving, however, a\nlarger portion to those who had many children.\n\nThere was, of course, a terrible uproar; the populace clamoring for\ntheir rights, and the rich trying to stop the measure. They bribed one\nof the other tribunes to forbid it; but there was a fight, in which\nTiberius prevailed, and he and his young brother Caius, and his\nfather-in-law Appius Claudius, were appointed as triumvers to see the\nlaw carried out. Then the rich men followed their old plan of spreading\nreports among the people that Tiberius wanted to make himself a king,\nand had accepted a crown and purple robe from some foreign envoy. When\nhis year of office was coming to an end, he sought to be elected tribune\nagain, but the patricians said it was against the law. There was a\ngreat tumult, in the course of which he put his hand to his head, either\nto guard it from a blow or to beckon his friends. \"He demands the\ndiadem,\" shouted his enemies, and there was a great struggle, in which\nthree hundred people were killed. Tiberius tried to take refuge in the\nTemple of Jupiter, but the doors were closed against him; he stumbled,\nwas knocked down with a club, and killed.\n\nHowever, the Sempronian law had been made, and the people wanted, of\ncourse, to have it carried out, while the nobles wanted it to be a dead\nletter. Scipio AEmilianus, the brother-in-law of the Gracchi, had been in\nSpain all this time, but he had so much disapproved of Tiberius' doings\nthat he was said to have exclaimed, on hearing of his death, \"So perish\nall who do the like.\" But when he came home, he did so much to calm and\nquiet matters, that there was a cry to make him Dictator, and let him\nsettle the whole matter. Young Caius Gracchus, who thought the cause\nwould thus be lost, tried to prevent the choice by fixing on him the\nname of tyrant. To which Scipio calmly replied, \"Rome's enemies may well\nwish me dead, for they know that while I live Rome cannot perish.\"\n\nWhen he went home, he shut himself into his room to prepare his\ndiscourse for the next day, but in the morning he was found dead,\nwithout a wound, though his slaves declared he had been murdered. Some\nsuspected his wife Sempronia, others even her mother Cornelia, but the\nSenate would not have the matter enquired into. He left no child, and\nthe Africanus line of Cornelius ended with him.\n\nCaius Gracchus was nine years younger than his brother, and was elected\ntribune as soon as he was old enough. He was full of still greater\nschemes than his brother. His mother besought him to be warned by his\nbrother's fate, but he was bent on his objects, and carried some of them\nout. He had the Sempronian law reaffirmed, though he could not act on\nit; but in the meantime he began a regular custom of having corn served\nout to the poorer citizens, and found work for them upon roads and\nbridges; also he caused the state to clothe the soldiers, instead of\ntheir doing it at their own expense. Another scheme which he first\nproposed was to make the Italians of the countries now one with Roman\nterritory into citizens, with votes like the Romans themselves; but this\nagain angered the patricians, who saw they should be swamped by numbers\nand lose their power.\n\nHe also wanted to found a colony of plebeians on the ruins of Carthage,\nand when his tribuneship was over he went to Africa to see about it; but\nwhen he came home the patricians had arranged an attack on him, and he\nwas insulted by the lictor of the consul Opimius. The patricians\ncollected on one side, the poorer sort around Caius on the Aventine\nHill; but the nobles were the strongest, the plebeians fled, and Caius\nwithdrew with one slave into a sacred grove, whence he hoped to reach\nthe Tiber; but the wood was surrounded, his retreat was cut off, and he\ncommanded the slave to kill him that he might not fall alive into the\nhands of his enemies, after which the poor faithful fellow killed\nhimself, unable to bear the loss of his master. The weight of Caius'\nhead in gold had been promised by the Senate, and the man who found the\nbody was said to have taken out the brains and filled it up with lead\nthat his reward might be larger. Three thousand men were killed in this\nriot, ten times as many as at Tiberius' death.\n\nOpimius was so proud of having overthrown Caius, that he had a medal\nstruck with Hercules slaying the monsters. Cornelia, broken-hearted,\nretired to a country-house; but in a few years the feeling turned,\ngreat love was shown to the memory of the two brothers, statues were set\nup in their honor, and when Cornelia herself died, her statue was\ninscribed with the title she had coveted, \"The mother of the Gracchi.\"\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN CENTURION.]\n\nThings were indeed growing worse and worse. The Romans were as brave as\never in the field, and were sure in the end to conquer any nation they\ncame in contact with; but at home, the city was full of overgrown rich\nmen, with huge hosts of slaves, and of turbulent poor men, who only\ncared for their citizenship for the sake of the corn they gained by it,\nand the games exhibited by those who stood for a magistracy. Immense\nsums were spent in hiring gladiators and bringing wild animals to be\nbaited for their amusement; and afterwards, when sent out to govern the\nprovinces, the expenses were repaid by cruel grinding and robbing the\npeople of the conquered states.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nTHE WARS OF MARIUS.\n\n106-98.\n\n\nAfter the death of Massinissa, king of Numidia, the ally of the Romans,\nthere were disputes among his grandsons, and Jugurtha, whom they held to\nhave the least right, obtained the kingdom. The commander of the army\nsent against him was Caius Marius, who had risen from being a free Roman\npeasant in the village of Arpinum, but serving under Scipio AEmilianus,\nhad shown such ability, that when some one was wondering where they\nwould find the equal of Scipio when he was gone, that general touched\nthe shoulder of his young officer and said, \"Possibly here.\"\n\nRough soldier as he always was, he married Julia, of the high family of\nthe Caesars, who were said to be descended from AEneas; and though he was\nmuch disliked by the Senate, he always carried the people with him. When\nhe received the province of Numidia, instead of, as every one had done\nbefore, forming his army only of Roman citizens, he offered to enlist\nwhoever would, and thus filled his ranks with all sorts of wild and\ndesperate men, whom he could indeed train to fight, but who had none of\nthe old feeling for honor or the state, and this in the end made a great\nchange in Rome.\n\nJugurtha maintained a wild war in the deserts of Africa with Marius, but\nat last he was betrayed to the Romans by his friend Bocchus, another\nMoorish king, and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Marius' lieutenant, was sent\nto receive him--a transaction which Sulla commemorated on a signet ring\nwhich he always wore. Poor Jugurtha was kept two years to appear at the\ntriumph, where he walked in chains, and then was thrown alive into the\ndungeon under the Capitol, where he took six days to die of cold and\nhunger.\n\nMarius was elected consul for the second time even before he had quite\ncome home from Africa, for it was a time of great danger. Two fierce and\nterrible tribes, whom the Romans called Cimbri and Teutones, and who\nwere but the vanguard of the swarms who would overwhelm them six\ncenturies later, had come down through Germany to the settled countries\nbelonging to Rome, especially the lands round the old Greek settlements\nin Gaul, which had fallen of course into the hands of the Romans, and\nwere full of beautiful rich cities, with houses and gardens round them.\nThe Province, as the Romans called it, would have been grand plundering\nground for these savages, and Marius established himself in a camp on\nthe banks of the Rhone to protect it, cutting a canal to bring his\nprovisions from the sea, which still remains. While he was thus engaged,\nhe was a fourth time elected consul.\n\n[Illustration: MARIUS.]\n\nThe enemy began to move. The Cimbri meant to march eastward round the\nAlps, and pour through the Tyrol into Italy; the Teutones to go by the\nWest, fighting Marius on the way. But he would not come out of his camp\non the Rhone, though the Teutones, as they passed, shouted to ask the\nRoman soldiers what messages they had to send to their wives in Italy.\n\nWhen they had all passed, he came out of his camp and followed them as\nfar as Aquae Sextiae, now called Aix, where one of the most terrible\nbattles the world ever saw was fought. These people were a whole\ntribe--wives, children, and everything they had with them--and to be\ndefeated was utter and absolute ruin. A great enclosure was made with\ntheir carts and wagons, whence the women threw arrows and darts to help\nthe men; and when, after three days of hard fighting, all hope was over,\nthey set fire to the enclosure and killed their children and themselves.\nThe whole swarm was destroyed. Marius marched away, and no one was left\nto bury the dead, so that the spot was called the Putrid Fields, and is\nstill known as Les Pourrieres.\n\n[Illustration: ONE OF THE TROPHIES, CALLED OF MARIUS, AT THE CAPITOL AT\nROME.]\n\nWhile Marius was offering up the spoil, tidings came that he was a fifth\ntime chosen consul; but he had to hasten into Italy, for the other\nconsul, Catulus, could not stand before the Cimbri, and Marius met him\non the Po retreating from them. The Cimbri demanded lands in Italy for\nthemselves and their allies the Teutones. \"The Teutones have all the\nground they will ever want, on the other side the Alps,\" said Marius;\nand a terrible battle followed, in which the Cimbri were as entirely cut\noff as their allies had been.\n\nMarius was made consul a sixth time. As a reward to the brave soldiers\nwho had fought under him, he made one thousand of them, who came from\nthe city of Camerinum, Roman citizens, and this the patricians disliked\ngreatly. His excuse was, \"The din of arms drowned the voice of the law;\"\nbut the new citizens were provided for by lands in the Province, which\nthe Romans said the Gauls had lost to the Teutones and they had\nreconquered. It was very hard on the Gauls, but that was the last thing\na Roman cared about.\n\nThe Italians, however, were all crying out for the rights of Romans, and\nthe more far-sighted among the Romans would, like Caius Gracchus, have\ngranted them. Marcus Livius Drusus did his best for them; he was a good\nman, wise and frank-hearted. When he was having a house built, and the\nplan was shown him which would make it impossible for any one to see\ninto it, he said, \"Rather build one where my fellow-countrymen may see\nall I do.\" He was very much loved, and when he was ill, prayers were\noffered at the temples for his recovery; but no sooner did he take up\nthe cause of the Italians than all the patricians hated him bitterly.\n\"Rome for the Romans,\" was their watchword. Drusus was one day\nentertaining an Italian gentleman, when his little nephew, Marcus\nPorcius Cato, a descendant of the old censor, and bred in stern\npatrician views, was playing about the room. The Italian merrily asked\nhim to favor his cause. \"No,\" said the boy. He was offered toys and\ncakes if he would change his mind, but he still refused; he was\nthreatened, and at last he was held by one leg out of the window--all\nwithout shaking his resolution for a moment; and this constancy he\ncarried with him through life.\n\nPeople's minds grew embittered, and Drusus was murdered in the street,\ncrying as he fell, \"When will Rome find so good a citizen!\" After this,\nthe Italians took up arms, and what was called the Social War began.\nMarius had no high command, being probably too much connected with the\nenemy. Some of the Italian tribes held with Rome, and these were\nrewarded with the citizenship; and after all, though the consul Lucius\nJulius Caesar, brother-in-law to Marius, gained some victories, the\nrevolt was so widespread, that the Senate felt it wisest, on the first\nsign of peace, to offer citizenship to such Italians as would come\nwithin sixty days to claim it. Citizenship brought a man under Roman\nlaw, freed him from taxation, and gave him many advantages and openings\nto a rise in life. But he could only give his vote at Rome, and only\nthere receive the distribution of corn, and he further became liable to\nbe called out to serve in a legion, so that the benefit was not so great\nas at first appeared, and no very large numbers of Italians came to\napply for it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nTHE ADVENTURES OF MARIUS.\n\n93--84.\n\n\nThe chief foe of Marius was almost always his second in command, Publius\nCornelius Sulla, one of the men of highest family in Rome. He had all\nthe high culture and elegant learning that the rough soldier Marius\ndespised, spoke and wrote Greek as easily as Latin, and was as well read\nin Greek poetry and philosophy as any Athenian could be; but he was\ngiven up to all the excesses of luxury in which the wealthy Romans\nindulged, and his way of life had made him frightful to look at. His\nface was said to be like a mulberry sprinkled with salt, with a terrible\npair of blue eyes glaring out of it.\n\nIn 93 he was sent to command against Mithridates, king of Pontus, one\nof the little kingdoms in Asia Minor that had sprung up out of the\nbreak-up of Alexander's empire. Under this king, Mithridates, it had\ngrown very powerful. He was of Persian birth, had all the learning and\nscience both of Greece and the far East, and was said in especial to be\nwonderfully learned in all plants and their virtues, so as to have made\nhimself proof against all kinds of poison, and he could speak\ntwenty-five languages.\n\nHe had great power in Asia Minor, and took upon himself to appoint a\nking of Cappadocia, thus leading to a quarrel with the Romans. In the\nmidst of the Social War, when he thought they had their hands full in\nItaly, Mithridates caused all the native inhabitants of Asia Minor to\nrise upon the Romans among them in one night and murder them all, so\nthat 80,000 are said to have perished. Sulla was ordered to take the\ncommand of the army which was to avenge their death; but, while he was\nraising his forces, Marius, angry that the patricians had hindered the\nplebeians and Italians from gaining more by the Social War, raised up a\ngreat tumult, meaning to overpower the patricians' resistance. He would\nhave done more wisely had he waited until Sulla was quite gone, for that\ngeneral came back to the rescue of his friends with six newly-raised\nlegions, and Marius could only just contrive to escape from Rome, where\nhe was proclaimed a traitor and a price set on his head. He was now\nseventy years old, but full of spirit. First he escaped to his own farm,\nwhence he hoped to reach Ostia, where a ship was waiting for him; but a\nparty of horsemen were seen coming, and he was hidden in a cart full of\nbeans and driven down the coast, where he embarked, meaning to go to\nAfrica; but adverse winds and want of food forced him to land at\nCircaeum, whence, with a few friends, he made his way along the coast,\nthrough woods and rocks, keeping up the spirits of his companions by\ntelling them that, when a little boy, he robbed an eyrie of seven\neaglets, and that a soothsayer had then foretold that he would be seven\ntimes consul. At last a troop of horse was seen coming towards them, and\nat the same time two ships near the coast. The only hope was in swimming\nout to the nearest ship, and Marius was so heavy and old that this was\ndone with great difficulty. Even then the ships were so near the shore\nthat the pursuers could command the crew to throw Marius out, but this\nthey refused to do, though they only waited till the soldiers were gone,\nto put him on shore again. Here he was in a marshy, boggy place, where\nan old man let him rest in his cottage, and then hid him in a cave under\na heap of rushes. Again, however, the troops appeared, and threatened\nthe old man for hiding an enemy of the Romans. It was in Marius'\nhearing, and fearing to be betrayed, he rushed out into a pool, where he\nstood up to his neck in water till a soldier saw him, and he was dragged\nout and taken to the city of Minturnae.\n\n[Illustration: THE CATAPULT.]\n\nThere the council decided on his death, and sent a soldier to kill him,\nbut the fierce old man stood glaring at him, and said. \"Darest thou\nkill Caius Marius?\" The man was so frightened that he ran away, crying\nout, \"I cannot kill Caius Marius.\" The Senate of Minturnae took this as\nan omen, and remembered besides that he had been a good friend to the\nItalians, so they conducted him through a sacred grove to the sea, and\nsent him off to Africa. On landing, he sent his son to ask shelter from\none of the Numidian princes, and, while waiting for an answer, he was\nharassed by a messenger from a Roman officer of low rank, forbidding his\npresence in Africa. He made no reply till the messenger pressed to know\nwhat to say to his master. Then the old man looked up, and sternly\nanswered. \"Say that you have seen Caius Marius sitting in the ruins of\nCarthage\"--a grand rebuke for the insult to fallen greatness. But the\nNumidian could not receive him, and he could only find shelter in a\nlittle island on the coast.\n\nThere he soon heard that no sooner had Sulla embarked for the East than\nRome had fallen into dire confusion. The consuls, Caius Octavius and\nPublius Cornelius Cinna, were of opposite parties, and had a furious\nfight, in which Cinna was driven out of Rome, and at the same time the\nItalians had begun a new Social War. Marius saw that his time was come.\nHe hurried to Etruria, where he was joined by a party of his friends and\nfive hundred runaway slaves. The discontented Romans formed another army\nunder Quintus Sertorius, and the Samnites, who had begun the war,\noverpowered the troops sent against them, and marched to Rome, declaring\nthey would have no peace till they had destroyed the wolf's lair. Cinna\nand an army were advancing on another side, and, as he was really\nconsul, the Senate in their distress admitted him, hoping that he would\nstop the rest; but when he marched in and seated himself again in the\nchair of office, he had by his side old Marius clothed in rags.\n\n[Illustration: ISLAND ON THE COAST.]\n\nThey were bent on revenge, and terrible it was, beginning with the\nconsul, Caius Octavius, who had disdained to flee, and whose head was\nsevered from his body and displayed in the Forum, with many other\nsenators of the noblest blood in Rome, who had offended either Marius or\nCinna or any of their fierce followers. Marius walked along in gloomy\nsilence, answering no one; but his followers were bidden to spare only\nthose to whom he gave his hand to be kissed. The slaves pillaged the\nhouses, murdered many on their own account, and everything was in the\nwildest uproar, till the two chiefs called in Sertorius with a legion to\nrestore order.\n\nThen they named themselves consuls, without even asking for an election,\nand thus Marius was seven times consul. He wanted to go out to the East\nand take the command from Sulla, but his health was too much broken, and\nbefore the year of his consulate was over he died. The last time he had\nleft the house, he had said to some friends that no man ought to trust\nagain to such a doubtful fortune as his had been; and then he took to\nhis bed for seven days without any known illness, and there was found\ndead, so that he was thought to have starved himself to death.\n\nCinna put in another consul named Valerius Flaccus, and invited all the\nItalians to enroll themselves as Roman citizens. Then Flaccus went out\nto the East, meaning to take away the command from Sulla, who was\nhunting Mithridates out of Greece, which he had seized and held for a\nshort time. But Flaccus' own army rose against him and killed him, and\nSulla, after beating Mithridates, driving him back to Pontus, and making\npeace with him, was now to come home.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\nSULLA'S PROSCRIPTION.\n\n88-71.\n\n\nThere was great fear at Rome, among the friends of Cinna and Marius, at\nthe prospect of Sulla's return. A fire broke out in the Capitol, and\nthis added to their terror, for the Books of the Sybil were burnt, and\nall her prophecies were lost. Cinna tried to oppose Sulla's landing, but\nwas killed by his own soldiers at Brundusium.\n\nSulla, with his victorious army, could not be stopped. Sertorius fled to\nSpain, but Marius' son tried, with the help of the Samnites, to resist,\nand held out Praeneste, but the Samnites were beaten in a terrible battle\noutside the walls, and when the people of the city saw the heads of the\nleaders carried on spear points, they insisted on giving up. Young\nMarius and a Samnite noble hid themselves in a cave, and as they had no\nhope, resolved to die; so they fought, hoping to kill each other, and\nwhen Marius was left alive, he caused himself to be slain by a slave.\n\nSulla marched on towards Rome, furious at the resistance he met with,\nand determined on a terrible vengeance. He could not enter the city till\nhe was ready to dismiss his army and have his triumph, so the Senate\ncame out to meet him in the temple of Bellona. As they took their seats,\nthey heard dreadful shrieks and cries. \"No matter,\" said Sulla; \"it is\nonly some wretches being punished.\" The wretches were the 8000 Samnite\nprisoners he had taken at the battle of Praeneste, and brought to be\nkilled in the Campus Martius; and with these shocking sounds to mark\nthat he was in earnest, the purple-faced general told the trembling\nSenate that if they submitted to him he would be good to them, but that\nhe would spare none of his enemies, great or small.\n\nAnd his men were already in the city and country, slaughtering not only\nthe party of Marius, but every one against whom any one of them had a\nspite, or whose property he coveted. Marius' body, which had been buried\nand not burnt, was taken from the grave and thrown into the Tiber; and\nsuch horrible deeds were done that Sulla was asked in the Senate where\nthe execution was to stop. He showed a list of eighty more who had yet\nto die; and the next day and the next he brought other lists of two\nhundred and thirty each. These dreadful lists were called proscriptions,\nand any one who tried to shelter the victims was treated in the same\nmanner. The property of all who were slain was seized, and their\nchildren declared incapable of holding any public office.\n\nAmong those who were in danger was the nephew of Marius' wife, Caius\nJulius Caesar, but, as he was of a high patrician family, Sulla only\nrequired of him to divorce his wife and marry a stepdaughter of his own.\nCaesar refused, and fled to the Sabine hills, where pursuers were sent\nafter him; but his life was begged for by his friends at Rome,\nespecially by the Vestal Virgins, and Sulla spared his life, saying,\nhowever, \"Beware; in that young trifler is more than one Marius.\" Caesar\nwent to join the army in the East for safety, and thus broke off the\nidle life of pleasure he had been leading in Rome.\n\n[Illustration: PALAZZO VECCHIO, FLORENCE.]\n\nThe country people were even more cruelly punished than the citizens:\nwhole cities were destroyed and districts laid waste; the whole of\nEtruria was ravaged, the old race entirely swept away, and the towns\nruined beyond revival, while the new city of Florence was built with\ntheir remains, and all we know of them is from the tombs which have of\nlate years been opened.\n\n[Illustration: CORNELIUS SULLA.]\n\nBoth the consuls had perished, and Sulla caused himself to be named\nDictator. He had really a purpose in all the horrors he had perpetrated,\nnamely, to clear the way for restoring the old government at Rome, which\nMarius and his Italians had been overthrowing. He did not see that the\nrule which had worked tolerably well while Rome was only a little city\nwith a small country round it, would not serve when it was the head of\nnumerous distant countries, where the governors, like himself and\nMarius, grew rich, and trained armies under them able to overpower the\nwhole state at home. So he set to work to put matters as much as\npossible in the old order. So many of the Senate had been killed, that\nhe had to make up the numbers by putting in three hundred knights; and,\nto supply the lack of other citizens, after the hosts who had perished,\nhe allowed the Italians to go on coming in to be enrolled as citizens;\nand ten thousand slaves, who had belonged to his victims, were not only\nset free, but made citizens as his own clients, thus taking the name of\nCornelius. He also much lessened the power of the tribunes of the\npeople, and made a law that when a man had once been a tribune he should\nnever be chosen for any of the higher offices of the state. By these\nmeans he sought to keep up the old patrician power, on which he believed\nthe greatness of Rome depended; though, after all, the grand old\npatrician families had mostly died off, and half the Senate were only\nknights made noble.\n\nAfter this Sulla resigned the dictatorship, for he was growing old, and\nhad worn out his health by his riot and luxury. He spent his time in a\nvilla near Rome, talking philosophy with his friends, and dictating the\nhistory of his own life in Greek. When he died, he bade them burn his\nbody, contrary to the practice of the Cornelii, no doubt fearing it\nwould be treated like that of Marius.\n\nThe most promising of the men of his party who were growing up and\ncoming forward was Cnaeus Pompeius, a brave and worthy man, who had while\nquite young, gained such a victory over a Numidian prince that Sulla\nhimself gave him the title of Magnus, or the Great. He was afterwards\nsent to Spain, where Sertorius held out for eight years against the\nRoman power with the help of the native chiefs, but at last was put to\ndeath by his own followers. Things were altogether in a bad state. There\nwere great struggles in Rome at every election, for the officers of the\nstate were now chiefly esteemed for the sake of the three or five years'\ngovernment in the provinces to which they led. No expense was thought\ntoo great in shows of beasts and gladiators by which to win the votes of\nthe people; for, after the year of office, the candidate meant amply to\nrepay himself by what he could squeeze out of the unhappy province under\nhis charge, and nobody cared for cruelty or injustice to any one but a\nRoman citizen.\n\nNumbers of gladiators were kept and trained to fight in these shows; and\nwhile the Spanish war was going on, a whole school of them--seventy-eight\nin number--who were kept at Capua, broke out, armed themselves with the\nspits, hooks, and axes in a butcher's shop, and took refuge in the crater\nof Mount Vesuvius, which at that time showed no signs of being an active\nvolcano. There, under their leader Spartacus, they gathered together every\ngladiator slave or who could run away to them, and Spartacus wanted them\nto march northward, force their way through Italy, climb the Alps, and\nreach their homes in Thrace and Gaul; but the plunder of Italy tempted\nthem, and they would not go, till an army was sent against them under\nMarcus Licinius Crassus--called Dives, or the Rich, from the spoil he had\ngained during the proscription. Then Spartacus hoped to escape in a fleet\nof pirate ships from Cilicia, and to hold out in the passes of Mount\nTaurus; but the Cilician pirates deceived him, sailed away with his money,\nand left him to his fate, and he and his gladiators were all slain by\nCrassus and Pompeius, who had been called home from Spain.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\nTHE CAREER OF POMPEIUS.\n\n70-63.\n\n\nCnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Lucius Licinius Crassus Dives were consuls\ntogether in the year 70; but Crassus, though he feasted the people at\n10,000 tables, was envied and disliked, and would never have been\nelected but for Pompeius, who was a great favorite with the people, and\nso much trusted, both by them and the nobles, that it seems to have\nfilled him with pride, for he gave himself great airs, and did not treat\nhis fellow-consul as an equal.\n\nWhen his term of office was over, the most pressing thing to be done was\nto put down the Cilician pirates. In the angle formed between Asia Minor\nand Syria, with plenty of harbors formed by the spurs of Mount Taurus,\nthere had dwelt for ages past a horde of sea robbers, whose swift\ngalleys darted on the merchant ships of Tyre and Alexandria; and now,\nafter the ruin of the Syrian kingdom, they had grown so rich that their\nstate galleys had silken sails, oars inlaid with ivory and silver, and\nbronze prows. They robbed the old Greek temples and the Eastern shrines,\nand even made descents on the Italian cities, besides stopping the ships\nwhich brought wheat from Sicily and Alexandria to feed the Romans.\n\nTo enable Pompeius to crush them, authority was given him for three\nyears over all the Mediterranean and fifty miles inland all round, which\nwas nearly the same thing as the whole empire. He divided the sea into\nthirteen commands, and sent a party to fight the pirates in each; and\nthis was done so effectually, that in forty days they were all hunted\nout of the west end of the gulf, whither he pursued them with his whole\nforce, beat them in a sea-fight, and then besieged them; but, as he was\nknown to be a just and merciful man, they came to terms with him, and he\nscattered them about in small colonies in distant cities, so that they\nmight cease to be mischievous.\n\n[Illustration: COAST OF TYRE.]\n\nIn the meantime, the war with Mithridates had broken out again, and\nLucius Lucullus, who had been consul after Pompeius, was fighting with\nhim in the East; but Lucullus did not please the Romans, though he met\nwith good success, and had pushed Mithridates so hard that there was\nnothing left for Pompeius but to complete the conquest, and he drove the\nold king beyond Caucasus, and then marched into Syria, where he\noverthrew the last of the Seleucian kings, Antiochus, and gave him the\nlittle kingdom of Commagene to spend the remainder of his life in, while\nSyria and Phoenicia were made into a great Roman province.\n\nUnder the Maccabees, Palestine had struggled into being independent of\nSyria, but only by the help of the Romans, who, as usual, tried to ally\nthemselves with small states in order to make an excuse for making war\non large ones. There was now a great quarrel between two brothers of the\nMaccabean family, and one of them, Hyrcanus, came to ask the aid of\nPompeius. The Roman army marched into the Holy Land, and, after seizing\nthe whole country, was three months besieging Jerusalem, which, after\nall, it only took by an attack when the Jews were resting on the Sabbath\nday. Pompeius insisted on forcing his way into the Holy of Holies, and\nwas very much disappointed to find it empty and dark. He did not\nplunder the treasury of the Temple, but the Jews remarked that, from the\ntime of this daring entrance, his prosperity seemed to fail him. Before\nhe left the East, however, old Mithridates, who had taken refuge in the\nCrimea, had been attacked by his own favorite son, and, finding that his\npower was gone, had taken poison; but, as his constitution was so\nfortified by antidotes that it took no effect, he caused one of his\nslaves to kill him.\n\nThe son submitted to the Romans, and was allowed to reign on the\nBosphorus; but Pompeius had extended the Roman Empire as far as the\nEuphrates; for though a few small kings still remained, it was only by\nsuffrance from the Romans, who had gained thirty-nine great cities.\nEgypt, the Parthian kingdom on the Tigris, and Armenia in the mountains,\nalone remained free.\n\nWhile all this was going on in the East, there was a very dangerous plot\ncontrived at Rome by a man named Lucius Sergius Catilina, and seven\nother good-for-nothing nobles, for arming the mob, even the slaves and\ngladiators, overthrowing the government, seizing all the offices of\nstate, and murdering all their opponents, after the example first set by\nMarius and Cinna.\n\n[Illustration: MOUNTAINS OF ARMENIA.]\n\nHappily such secrets are seldom kept; one of the plotters told the\nwoman he was in love with, and she told one of the consuls, Marcus\nTullius Cicero. Cicero was one of the wisest and best men in Rome, and\nthe one whom we really know the best, for he left a great number of\nletters to his friends, which show us the real mind of the man. He was\nof the order of the knights, and had been bred up to be a lawyer and\norator, and his speeches came to be the great models of Roman eloquence.\nHe was a man of real conscience, and he most deeply loved Rome and her\nhonor; and though he was both vain and timid, he could put these\nweaknesses aside for the public good. Before all the Senate he impeached\nCatilina, showing how fully he knew all that he intended. Nothing could\nbe done to him by law till he had actually committed his crime, and\nCicero wanted to show him that all was known, so as to cause him to flee\nand join his friends outside. Catilina tried to face it out, but all the\nsenators began to cry out against him, and he dashed away in terror, and\nleft the city at night. Cicero announced it the next day in a famous\nspeech, beginning, \"He is gone; he has rushed away; he has burst forth.\"\nSome of his followers in guilt were left at Rome, and just then some\nletters were brought to Cicero by some of a tribe of Gauls whom they\nhad invited to help them in the ruin of the Senate. This was positive\nproof, and Cicero caused the nine worst to be seized, and, having proved\ntheir guilt, there was a consultation in the Senate as to their fate.\nJulius Caesar wanted to keep them prisoners for life, which he said was\nworse than death, as that, he believed, would end everything; but all\nthe rest of the Senate were for their death, and they were all\nstrangled, without giving them a chance of defending themselves or\nappealing to the people. Cicero beheld the execution himself, and then\nwent forth to the crowd, merely saying, \"They have lived.\"\n\n[Illustration: CICERO.]\n\nCatilina, meantime, had collected 20,000 men in Italy, but they were not\nhalf-armed, and the newly-returned proconsul, Metellus, made head\nagainst him; while the other consul, Caius Antonius, was recalled from\nMacedonia with his army. As he was a friend of Catilina, he did not\nchoose to fight with him, and gave up the command to his lieutenant, by\nwhom the wretch was defeated and slain. His head was cut off and sent to\nRome.\n\n[Illustration: COLOSSAL STATUE OF POMPEIUS OF THE PALAZZO SPADA AT\nROME.]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\nPOMPEIUS AND CAESAR.\n\n61-48.\n\n\nPompeius was coming home for his triumph, every one had hopes from him,\nfor things were in a very bad state. There had been a great disturbance\nat Julius Caesar's house. Every year there was a festival in honor of\nCybele, the Bona Dea, or Good Goddess, to which none but women were\nadmitted, and where it was sacrilege for a man to be seen. In the midst\nof this feast in Caesar's house, a slave girl told his mother Aurelia\nthat there was a man among the ladies. Aurelia shut the doors, took a\ntorch and ran through the house, looking in every one's face for the\noffender, who was found to be Publius Clodius, a worthless young man,\nwho had been in Catilina's conspiracy, but had given evidence against\nhim. He escaped, but was brought to trial, and then borrowed money\nenough of Crassus the rich, to bribe the judges and avoid the punishment\nhe deserved. Caesar's wife, the sister of Pompeius was free of blame in\nthe matter, but he divorced her, saying that Caesar's wife must be free\nfrom all suspicion; and this, of course, did not bring her brother home\nin a friendly spirit to Caesar.\n\n[Illustration: POMPEIUS.]\n\nPompeius' triumph was the most magnificent that had ever yet been seen.\nIt lasted two days, and the banners that were carried in the procession,\nbore the names of nine hundred cities and one thousand fortresses which\nhe had conquered. All the treasures of Mithridates--statues, jewels, and\nsplendid ornaments of gold and silver worked with precious stones--were\ncarried along; and it was reckoned that he had brought home 20,000\ntalents--equal to L5,000,000--for the treasury. He was admired, too, for\nrefusing any surname taken from his conquests, and only wearing the\nlaurel wreath of a victor in the Senate.\n\nPompeius and Caesar were the great rival names at this time. Pompeius'\ndesire was to keep the old framework, and play the part of Sulla as its\nprotector, only without its violence and bloodshed. Caesar saw that it\nwas impossible that things should go on as they were, and had made up\nhis mind to take the lead and mould them afresh; but this he could not\ndo while Pompeius was looked up to as the last great conqueror. So Caesar\nmeant to serve his consulate, take some government where he could grow\nfamous and form an army, and then come home and mould everything anew.\nAfter a year's service in Spain as propraetor, Caesar came back and made\nfriends with Pompeius and Crassus, giving his daughter Julia in marriage\nto Pompeius, and forming what was called a triumvirate, or union of\nthree men. Thus he easily obtained the consulship, and showed himself\nthe friend of the people by bringing in an Agrarian Law for dividing the\npublic lands in Campania among the poorer citizens, not forgetting\nPompeius' old soldiers; also taking other measures which might make the\nSenate recollect that Sulla had foretold that he would be another Marius\nand more.\n\nAfter this, he took Gaul as his province, and spent seven years in\nsubduing it bit by bit, and in making two visits to Britain. He might\npretty well trust the rotten state of Rome to be ready for his\ninterference when he came back. Clodius had actually dared to bring\nCicero to a trial for having put to death the friends of Catilina\nwithout allowing them to plead their own cause. Pompeius would not help\nhim, and the people banished him four hundred miles from Rome, when he\nwent to Sicily, where he was very miserable; but his exile only lasted\ntwo years, and then better counsels prevailed, and he was brought home\nby a general vote, and welcomed almost as if it had been a triumph.\n\nMarcus Porcius Cato was as honest and true a man as Cicero, but very\nrough and stern, so that he was feared and hated; and there were often\nfierce quarrels in the Senate and Forum, and in one of these Pompeius'\nrobe was sprinkled with blood. On his return home, his young wife Julia\nthought he had been hurt, and the shock brought on an illness of which\nshe died; thus breaking the link between her husband and father.\n\n[Illustration: AMPHITHEATRE.]\n\nPompeius did all he could to please the Romans when he was consul\ntogether with Crassus. He had been for some time building a most\nsplendid theatre in the Campus Martius, after the Greek fashion, open to\nthe sky, and with tiers of galleries circling round an arena; but the\nGreeks had never used their theatres for the savage sports for which\nthis was intended. When it was opened, five hundred lions, eighteen\nelephants, and a multitude of gladiators were provided to fight in\ndifferent fashions with one another before thirty thousand spectators,\nthe whole being crowned by a temple to Conquering Venus. After his\nconsulate, Pompeius took Spain as his province, but did not go there,\nmanaging it by deputy; while Crassus had Syria, and there went to war\nwith the wild Parthians on the Eastern border. In the battle of Carrhae,\nthe army of Crassus was entirely routed by the Parthians; he was killed,\nhis head was cut off, and his mouth filled up with molten gold in scorn\nof his riches. At Rome, there was such distress that no one thought much\neven of such a disaster. Bribes were given to secure elections, and\nthere was nothing but tumult and uproar, in which good men like Cicero\nand Cato could do nothing. Clodius was killed in one of these frays, and\nthe mob grew so furious that the Senate chose Pompeius to be sole consul\nto put them down; and this he did for a short time, but all fell into\nconfusion again while he was very ill of a fever at Naples, and even\nwhen he recovered there was a feeling that Caesar was wanted. But Caesar's\nfriends said he must not be called upon to give up his army unless\nPompeius gave up his command of the army in Spain, and neither of them\nwould resign.\n\n[Illustration: THE ARENA.]\n\nCaesar advanced with all his forces as far as Ravenna, which was still\npart of Cisalpine Gaul, and then the consul, Marcus Marcellus, begged\nPompeius to protect the commonwealth, and he took up arms. Two of Caesars\ngreat friends, Marcus Antonius and Caius Cassius, who were tribunes,\nforbade this; and when they were not heeded, they fled to Caesar's camp\nasking his protection.\n\nSo he advanced. It was not lawful for an imperator, or general in\ncommand of an army, to come within the Roman territory with his troops\nexcept for his triumph, and the little river Rubicon was the boundary of\nCisalpine Gaul. So when Caesar crossed it, he took the first step in\nbreaking through old Roman rules, and thus the saying arose that one has\npassed the Rubicon when one has gone so far in a matter that there is no\nturning back. Though Caesar's army was but small, his fame was such that\neverybody seemed struck with dismay, even Pompeius himself, and instead\nof fighting, he carried off all the senators of his party to the South,\neven to the extreme point of Italy at Brundusium. Caesar marched after\nthem thither, having met with no resistance, and having, indeed, won all\nItaly in sixty days. As he advanced on Brundusium, Pompeius embarked on\nboard a ship in the harbor and sailed away, meaning, no doubt, to raise\nan army in the provinces and return--some feared like Sulla--to take\nvengeance.\n\nCaesar was appointed Dictator, and after crushing Pompeius' friends in\nSpain, he pursued him into Macedonia, where Pompeius had been collecting\nall the friends of the old commonwealth. There was a great battle fought\nat Pharsalia, a battle which nearly put an end to the old government of\nRome, for Caesar gained a great victory; and Pompeius fled to the coast,\nwhere he found a vessel and sailed for Egypt. He sent a message to ask\nshelter at Alexandria, and the advisers of the young king pretended to\nwelcome him, but they really intended to make friends with the victor;\nand as Pompeius stepped ashore he was stabbed in the back, his body\nthrown into the surf, and his head cut off.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nJULIUS CAESAR.\n\n48--44.\n\n\nWith Pompeius fell the hopes of those who were faithful to the old\ngovernment, such as Cicero and Cato. They had only to wait and see what\nCaesar would do, and with the memory of Marius in their minds.\n\n[Illustration: JULIUS CAESAR.]\n\nCaesar did not come at once to Rome; he had first to reduce the East to\nobedience. Egypt was under the last descendants of Alexander's general\nPtolemy, and was an ally of Rome, that is, only remaining a kingdom by\nher permission. The king was a wretched weak lad; his sister Cleopatra,\nwho was joined with him in the throne, was one of the most beautiful and\nwinning women who ever lived. Caesar, who needed money, demanded some\nthat was owing to the state. The young king's advisers refused, and\nCaesar, who had but a small force with him, was shut up in a quarter of\nAlexandria where he could get no fresh water but from pits which his men\ndug in the sand. He burnt the Egyptian fleet that it might not stop the\nsuccors that were coming from Syria, and he tried to take the Isle of\nPharos, with the lighthouse on it, but his ship was sunk, and he was\nobliged to save himself by swimming, holding his journals in one hand\nabove the water. However, the forces from Syria were soon brought to\nhim, and he was able to fight a battle in which the young king was\ndrowned; and Egypt was at his mercy. Cleopatra was determined to have an\ninterview with him, and had herself carried into his rooms in a roll of\ncarpet, and when there, she charmed him so much that he set her up as\nqueen of Egypt. He remained three months longer in Egypt collecting\nmoney; and hearing that Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, had attacked\nthe Roman settlements in Asia Minor, he sailed for Tarsus, marched\nagainst Pharnaces, routed and killed him in battle. The success was\nannounced to the Senate in the following brief words, \"_Veni, vidi,\nvici_\"--\"I came, I saw, I conquered.\"\n\n[Illustration: CATO.]\n\nHe was a second time appointed Dictator, and came home to arrange\naffairs; but there were no proscriptions, though he took away the\nestates of those who opposed him. There was still a party of the\nsenators and their supporters who had followed Pompeius in Africa, with\nCato and Cnaeus Pompeius, the eldest son of the great leader, and Caesar\nhad to follow them thither. He gave them a great defeat at Thapsus, and\nthe remnant took refuge in the city of Utica, whither Caesar followed\nthem. They would have stood a siege, but the townspeople would not\nconsent, and Cato sent off all his party by sea, and remained alone with\nhis son and a few of his friends, not to face the conqueror, but to die\nby his own sword ere he came, as the Romans had learned from Stoic\nphilosophy to think the nobler part.\n\n[Illustration: FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES IN THE COLUMBARIUM (lit. _Pigeon-house_)\nOF THE HOUSE OF JULIUS CAESAR AT THE PORTA CAPENA IN ROME.\n\n(The rows of niches for the cinerary urns in a Roman sepulchre were\ncalled by this name from their resemblance to a dovecot.)]\n\nSuch of the Senate as had not joined Pompeius were ready to fall down\nand worship Caesar when he came home. So rejoiced was Rome to fear no\nproscription, that temples were dedicated to Caesar's clemency, and his\nimage was to be carried in procession with those of the gods. He was\nnamed Dictator for ten years, and was received with four triumphs--over\nthe Gauls, over the Egyptians, over Pharnaces, and over Juba, an African\nking who had aided Cato. Foremost of the Gaulish prisoners was the brave\nVercingetorix, and among the Egyptians, Arsinoe, the sister of\nCleopatra. A banquet was given at his cost to the whole Roman people,\nand the shows of gladiators and beasts surpassed all that had ever been\nseen. The Julii were said to be descended from AEneas and to Venus, as\nhis ancestress, Caesar dedicated a breastplate of pearls from the river\nmussels of Britain. Still, however, he had to go to Spain to reduce the\nsons of Pompeius. They were defeated in battle, the elder was killed,\nbut Cnaeus, the younger, held out in the mountains and hid himself among\nthe natives.\n\nAfter this, Caesar returned to Rome to carry out his plans. He was\ndictator for ten years and consul for five, and was also imperator or\ncommander of an army he was not made to disband, so that he nearly was\nas powerful as any king; and, as he saw that such an enormous domain as\nRome now possessed could never be governed by two magistrates changing\nevery year, he prepared matters for there being one ruler. The influence\nof the Senate, too, he weakened very much by naming a great many persons\nto it of no rank or distinction, till there were nine hundred members,\nand nobody thought much of being a senator. He also made an immense\nnumber of new citizens, and he caused a great survey to be begun by\nRoman officers in preparation for properly arranging the provinces,\ngovernments, and tribute; and he began to have the laws drawn up in\nregular order. In fact, he was one of the greatest men the world has\never produced, not only as a conqueror, but a statesman and ruler; and\nthough his power over Rome was not according to the laws, and had been\ngained by a rebellion, he was using it for her good.\n\nHe was learned in all philosophy and science, and his history of his\nwars in Gaul has come down to our times. As a high patrician by birth,\nhe was Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest, and thus had to fix all the\nfestival days in each year. Now the year had been supposed to be only\nthree hundred and fifty-five days long, and the Pontifex put in another\nmonth or several days whenever he pleased, so that there was great\nconfusion, and the feast days for the harvest and vintage came,\naccording to the calendar, three months before there was any corn or\ngrapes.\n\nTo set this to rights, since it was now understood that the length of\nthe year was three hundred and sixty-five days and six hours, Caesar and\nthe scientific men who assisted him devised the fresh arrangement that\nwe call leap year, adding a day to the three hundred and sixty-five once\nin four years. He also changed the name of one of the summer months\nfrom Sextile to July, in honor of himself. Another work of his was\nrestoring Corinth and Carthage, which had both been ruined the same\nyear, and now were both refounded the same year.\n\nHe was busy about the glory of the state, but there was much to shock\nold Roman feelings in his conduct. Cleopatra had followed him to Rome,\nand he was thinking of putting away his wife Calphurnia to marry her.\nBut his keeping the dictatorship was the real grievance, and the remains\nof the old party in the Senate could not bear that the patrician freedom\nof Rome should be lost. Every now and then his flatterers offered him a\nroyal crown and hailed him as king, though he always refused it, and\nthis title still stirred up bitter hatred. He was preparing an army,\nintending to march into the further East, avenge Crassus' defeat on the\nParthians, and march where no one but Alexander had made his way; and if\nhe came back victorious from thence, nothing would be able to stand\nagainst him.\n\nThe plotters then resolved to strike before he set out. Caius Cassius, a\ntall, lean man, who had lately been made praetor, was the chief\nconspirator, and with him was Marcus Junius Brutus, a descendant of him\nwho overthrew the Tarquins, and husband to Porcia, Cato's daughter, also\nanother Brutus named Decimus, hitherto a friend of Caesar, and newly\nappointed to the government of Cisalpine Gaul. These and twelve more\nagreed to murder Caesar on the 15th of March, called in the Roman\ncalendar the Ides of March, when he went to the senate-house.\n\nRumors got abroad and warnings came to him about that special day. His\nwife dreamt so terrible a dream that he had almost yielded to her\nentreaties to stay at home, when Decimus Brutus came in and laughed him\nout of it. As he was carried to the senate-house in a litter, a man gave\nhim a writing and begged him to read it instantly; but he kept it rolled\nin his hand without looking. As he went up the steps he said to the\naugur Spurius, \"The Ides of March are come.\" \"Yes, Caesar,\" was the\nanswer; \"but they are not passed.\" A few steps further on, one of the\nconspirators met him with a petition, and the others joined in it,\nclinging to his robe and his neck, till another caught his toga and\npulled it over his arms, and then the first blow was struck with a\ndagger. Caesar struggled at first as all fifteen tried to strike at him,\nbut, when he saw the hand uplifted of his treacherous friend Decimus,\nhe exclaimed, \"_Et tu Brute_\"--\"Thou, too, Brutus\"--drew his toga over\nhis head, and fell dead at the foot of the statue of Pompeius.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n\nTHE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE.\n\n44--33.\n\n\nThe murderers of Caesar had expected the Romans to hail them as\ndeliverers from a tyrant, but his great friend Marcus Antonius, who was,\ntogether with him, consul for that year, made a speech over his body as\nit lay on a couch of gold and ivory in the Forum ready for the funeral.\nAntonius read aloud Caesar's will, and showed what benefits he had\nintended for his fellow-citizens, and how he loved them, so that love\nfor him and wrath against his enemies filled every hearer. The army, of\ncourse, were furious against the murderers; the Senate was terrified,\nand granted everything Antonius chose to ask, provided he would protect\nthem, whereupon he begged for a guard for himself that he might be\nsaved from Caesar's fate, and this they gave him; while the fifteen\nmurderers fled secretly, mostly to Cisalpine Gaul, of which Decimus\nBrutus was governor.\n\nCaesar had no child but the Julia who had been wife to Pompeius, and his\nheir was his young cousin Caius Octavius, who changed his name to Caius\nJulius Caesar Octavianus, and, coming to Rome, demanded his inheritance,\nwhich Antonius had seized, declaring that it was public money; but\nOctavianus, though only eighteen, showed so much prudence and fairness\nthat many of the Senate were drawn towards him rather than Antonius, who\nhad always been known as a bad, untrustworthy man; but the first thing\nto be done was to put down the murderers--Decimus Brutus was in Gaul,\nMarcus Brutus and Cassius in Macedonia, and Sextus Pompeius had also\nraised an army in Spain.\n\nGood men in the Senate dreaded no one so much as Antonius, and put their\nhope in young Octavianus. Cicero made a set of speeches against\nAntonius, which are called Philippics, because they denounce him as\nDemosthenes used to denounce Philip of Macedon, and like them, too, they\nwere the last flashes of spirit in a sinking state; and Cicero, in\nthose days, was the foremost and best man who was trying at his own risk\nto save the old institutions of his country. But it was all in vain;\nthey were too rotten to last, and there were not enough of honest men to\nmake a stand against a violent unscrupulous schemer like Antonius, above\nall now that the clever young Octavianus saw it was for his interest to\nmake common cause with him, and with a third friend of Caesar, rich but\ndull, named Marcus AEmilius Lepidus. They called on Decimus Brutus to\nsurrender his forces to them, and marched against him. Then his troops\ndeserted him, and he tried to escape into the Alps, but was delivered up\nto Antonius and put to death.\n\n[Illustration: MARCUS ANTONIUS.]\n\nSoon after, Antonius, Lepidus, and Octavianus all met on a little island\nin the river Rhenus and agreed to form a triumvirate for five years for\nsetting things to rights once more, all three enjoying consular power\ntogether; and, as they had the command of all the armies, there was no\none to stop them. Lepidus was to stay and govern Rome, while the other\ntwo hunted down the murderers of Caesar in the East. But first, there was\na deadly vengeance to be taken in the city upon all who could be\nsupposed to have favored the murder of Caesar, or who could be enemies to\ntheir schemes. So these three sat down with a list of the citizens\nbefore them to make a proscription, each letting a kinsman or friend of\nhis own be marked for death, provided he might slay one related to\nanother of the three. The dreadful list was set up in the Forum, and a\nprice paid for the heads of the people in it, so that soldiers,\nruffians, and slaves brought them in; but it does not seem that--as in\nthe other two proscriptions--there was random murder, and many bribed\ntheir assassins and escaped from Italy. Octavianus had marked the fewest\nand tried to save Cicero, but Antonius insisted on his death. On hearing\nthat he was in the fatal roll, Cicero had left Rome with his brother,\nand slowly travelled towards the coast from one country house to another\ntill he came to Antium, whence he meant to sail for Greece; but there he\nwas overtaken. His brother was killed at once, but he was put into a\nboat by his slaves, and went down the coast to Formiae, where he landed\nagain, and, going to a house near, said he would rather die in his own\ncountry which he had so often saved. However, when the pursuers knocked\nat the gate, his slaves placed him in a litter and hurried him out at\nanother door. He was, however, again overtaken, and he forbade his\nslaves to fight for him, but stretched out his throat for the sword,\nwith his eyes full upon it. His head was carried to Antonius, whose wife\nFulvia actually pierced the tongue with her bodkin in revenge for the\nspeeches it had made against her husband.\n\nAfter this dreadful work, Antonius and Octavianus went across to Greece,\nwhere Marcus Brutus had collected the remains of the army that had\nfought under Pompeius. He had been made much of at Athens, where his\nstatue had been set up beside that of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, the\nslayers of Pisistratus. Cassius had plundered Asia Minor, and the two\nmet at Sardis. It is said that the night before they were to pass into\nMacedonia, Brutus was sitting alone in his tent, when he saw the figure\nof a man before him. \"Who art thou?\" he asked, and the answer was, \"I am\nthine evil genius, Brutus; I will meet thee again at Philippi.\"\n\n[Illustration: MARCUS BRUTUS.]\n\nAnd it was at Philippi that Brutus and Cassius found themselves face to\nface with Antonius and Octavianus. Each army was divided into two, and\nBrutus, who fought against Octavianus, put his army to flight, but\nCassius was driven back by Antonius; and seeing a troop of horsemen\ncoming towards him, he thought all was lost, and threw himself upon a\nsword. Brutus gathered the troops together, and after twenty days\nrenewed the fight, when he was routed, fled, and hid himself, but after\nsome hours put himself to death, as did his wife Porcia when she heard\nof his end.\n\nAfter this, Octavianus went back to Italy, while Antonius stayed to\npacify the East. When he was at Tarsus, the lovely queen of Egypt came,\nresolved to win him over. She sailed up the Cydnus in a beautiful\ngalley, carved, gilded, and inlaid with ivory, with sails of purple silk\nand silvered oars, moving to the sound of flutes, while she lay on the\ndeck under a star-spangled canopy arrayed as Venus, with her ladies as\nnymphs, and little boys as Cupids fanning her. Antonius was perfectly\nfascinated, and she took him back to Alexandria with her, heeding\nnothing but her and the delights with which she entertained him, though\nhis wife Fulvia and his brother were struggling to keep up his power at\nRome. He did come home, but only to make a fresh agreement with\nOctavianus, by which Fulvia was given up and he married Octavia, the\nwidow of Marcellus and sister of Octavianus. But he could not bear to\nstay long away from Cleopatra, and, deserting Octavia, he returned to\nEgypt, where the most wonderful revelries were kept up. Stories are told\nof eight wild boars being roasted in one day, each being begun a little\nlater than the last, that one might be in perfection when Antonius\nshould call for his dinner. Cleopatra vowed once that she would drink\nthe most costly of draughts, and, taking off an earring of inestimable\nprice, dissolved it in vinegar and swallowed it.\n\n[Illustration: ALEXANDRIA.]\n\nIn the meantime, Octavianus and Lepidus together had put down Decimus,\nand Lepidus had then tried to overcome Octavianus, but was himself\nconquered and banished; for Octavianus, was a kindly man, who never shed\nblood if he could help it, and, now that he was alone at Rome, won every\none's heart by his gracious ways, while Antonius' riots in Egypt were a\nscandal to all who loved virtue and nobleness. So far was the Roman\nfallen that he even promised Cleopatra to conquer Italy and make\nAlexandria the capital of the world. Octavia tried to win him back, but\nshe was a grave, virtuous Roman matron, and coarse, dissipated Antonius\ndid not care for her compared with the enticing Egyptian queen. It was\nneedful at last for Octavianus to destroy this dangerous power, and he\nmustered a fleet and army, while Antonius and Cleopatra sailed out of\nAlexandria with their ships and gave battle off the Cape of Actium. In\nthe midst, either fright or treachery made Cleopatra sail away, and all\nthe Egyptian ships with her, so that Antonius turned at once and fled\nwith her. They tried to raise the East in their favor, but all their\nallies deserted them, and their soldiers went over to Alexandria, where\nOctavianus followed them. Then Cleopatra betrayed her lover, and put\ninto the hands of Octavianus the ships in which he might have fled. He\nkilled himself, and Cleopatra surrendered, hoping to charm young\nOctavianus as she had done Julius and Antonius, but when she saw him\ngrave and unmoved, and found he meant to exhibit her in his triumph, she\nwent to the tomb of Antonius and crowned it with flowers. The next day\nshe was found on her couch, in her royal robes, dead, and her two maids\ndying too. \"Is this well?\" asked the man who found her. \"It is well for\nthe daughter of kings,\" said her maid with her last breath. Cleopatra\nhad long made experiments on easy ways of death, and it was believed\nthat an asp was brought to her in a basket of figs as the means of her\ndeath.\n\n\n[Illustration: CAIUS OCTAVIUS.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\nCAESAR AUGUSTUS.\n\nB.C. 33--A.D. 14.\n\n\nThe death of Antonius ended the fierce struggles which had torn Rome so\nlong. Octavianus was left alone; all the men who had striven for the old\ngovernment were dead, and those who were left were worn out and only\nlonged for rest. They had found that he was kind and friendly, and\ntrusted to him thankfully, nay, were ready to treat him as a kind of\ngod. The old frame of constitution went on as usual; there was still a\nSenate, still consuls, and all the other magistrates, but Caesar\nOctavianus had the power belonging to each gathered in one. He was\nprince of the Senate, which gave him rule in the city; praetor, which\nmade him judge, and gave him a special guard of soldiers called the\nPraetorian Guard to execute justice; and tribune of the people, which\nmade him their voice; and even after his triumph he was still imperator,\nor general of the army. This word becomes in English, emperor, but it\nmeant at this time merely commander-in-chief. He was also Pontifex\nMaximus, as Julius Caesar had been; and there was a general feeling that\nhe was something sacred and set apart as the ruler and peace-maker; and,\nas he shared this feeling himself, he took the name of Augustus, which\nis the one by which he is always known.\n\n[Illustration: STATUE OF AUGUSTUS AT THE VATICAN.]\n\nHe did not, however, take to himself any great show or state. He lived\nin his family abode, and dressed and walked about the streets like any\nother Roman gentleman of consular rank, and no special respect was paid\nto him in speech, for, warned by the fate of Julius, he was determined\nto prevent the Romans from being put in mind of kings and crowns. He was\na wise and deep-thinking man, and he tried to carry out the plans of\nJulius for the benefit of the nation and of the whole Roman world. He\nhad the survey finished of all the countries of the empire, which now\nformed a complete border round the Mediterranean Sea, reaching as far\nnorth as the British Channel, the Alps, and the Black Sea; as far\nsouth as the African desert, as far west as the Atlantic, and east as\nthe borders of the Euphrates; and he also had a universal census made of\nthe whole of the inhabitants. It was the first time such a thing had\nbeen possible, for all the world was at last at peace, so that the\nTemple of Janus was closed for the third and last time in Roman history.\nThere was a feeling all over the world that a great Deliverer and\npeaceful Prince was to be expected at this time. One of the Sybils was\nbelieved to have so sung, and the Romans, in their relief at the good\nrule of Augustus, thought he was the promised one; but they little knew\nwhy God had brought about this great stillness from all wars, or why He\nmoved the heart of Augustus to make the decree that all the world should\nbe taxed--namely, that the true Prince of Peace, the real Deliverer,\nmight be born in the home of His forefathers, Bethlehem, the city of\nDavid.\n\nThe purpose of Augustus' taxing was to make a regular division of the\nempire into provinces for the proconsuls to govern, with lesser\ndivisions for the propraetors, while many cities, especially Greek ones,\nwere allowed their own magistrates, and some small tributary kingdoms\nstill remained till the old royal family should either die out or\noffend the Romans. In these lands the people were governed by their own\nlaws, unless they were made Roman citizens; and this freedom was more\nand more granted, and saved them from paying the tribute all the rest\nhad to pay, and which went to support the armies and other public\ninstitutions at Rome, and to provide the corn which was regularly\ndistributed to such citizens as claimed it at Rome. A Roman colony was a\nsettlement, generally of old soldiers who had had lands granted to them,\nand kept their citizenship; and it was like another little Rome managing\nits own affairs, though subject to the mother city. There were many of\nthese colonies, especially in Gaul on the north coast, to defend it from\nthe Germans. Cologne was one, and still keeps its name. The tribute was\ncarefully fixed, and Augustus did his best to prevent the governors from\npreying on the people.\n\nHe tried to bring back better ways to Rome, which was in a sad state,\nfull of vice and riot, and with little of the old, noble, hardy ways of\nthe former times. The educated men had studied Greek philosophy till\nthey had no faith in their own gods, and, indeed, had so mixed up their\nmythology with the Greek that they really did not know who their own\nwere, and could not tell who were the greater gods whom Decius Mus\ninvoked before he rushed on the enemy; and yet they kept up their\nworship, because their feasts were so connected with the State that\neverything depended on them; but they made them no real judges or\nhelpers. The best men of the time were those who had taken up the Stoic\nphilosophy, which held that virtue was above all things, whether it was\nrewarded or not; the worst were often the Epicureans, who held that we\nhad better enjoy all we can in this life, being sure of nothing else.\n\nLearning was much esteemed in the time of Augustus. He and his two great\nfriends, Caius Cilnius Maecenas and Vipsanius Agrippa, both had a great\nesteem for scholarship and poetry, and in especial the house of Maecenas\nwas always open to literary men. The two chief poets of Rome, Publius\nVirgilius Maro and Quintus Horatius Flaccus, were warm friends of his.\nVirgil wrote poems on husbandry, and short dialogue poems called\neclogues, in one of which he spoke of the time of Augustus in words that\nwould almost serve as a prophecy of the kingdom of Him who was just born\nat Bethlehem. By desire of Augustus, he also wrote the _AEneid_, a poem\non the war-doings of AEneas and his settlement in Italy.\n\nHorace wrote odes and letters in verse and satires, which show the\nhabits and ways of thinking of his time in a very curious manner; and\nthere were many other writers whose works have not come down to us; but\nthe Latin of this time is the model of the language, and an Augustan age\nhas ever since been a term for one in which literature flourishes.\n\nAll the early part of Augustus' reign was prosperous, but he had no son,\nonly a daughter named Julia. He meant to marry her to Marcellus, the son\nof his sister Antonia, but Marcellus died young, and was lamented in\nVirgil's _AEneid_; so Julia was given to Agrippa's son. Augustus' second\nwife was Livia, who had been married to Tiberius Claudius Nero, and had\ntwo sons, Tiberius and Drusus, whom Augustus adopted as his own and\nintended for his heirs; and when Julia lost her husband Agrippa and her\ntwo young sons, he forced Tiberius to divorce the young wife he really\nloved to marry her. It was a great grief to Tiberius, and seems to have\nquite changed his character into being grave, silent, and morose. Julia,\nthough carefully brought up, was one of the most wicked and depraved\nof women, and almost broke her father's heart. He banished her to an\nisland near Rhegium, and when she died there, would allow no funeral\nhonors to be paid to her.\n\n[Illustration: PAINTINGS IN THE HOUSE OF LIVIA.]\n\nThe peace was beginning to be broken by wars with the Germans; and young\nDrusus was commanding the army against them, and gaining such honor that\nhe was called Germanicus, when he fell from his horse and died of his\ninjuries, leaving one young son. He was buried at Rome, and his brother\nTiberius walked all the way beside the bier, with his long flaxen hair\nflowing on his shoulders. Tiberius then went back to command the armies\non the Rhine. Some half-conquered country lay beyond, and the Germans in\nthe forests were at this time under a brave leader called Arminius. They\nwere attacked by the proconsul Quinctilius Varus, and near the river\nEms, in the Herycimian forest, Arminius turned on him and routed him\ncompletely, cutting off the whole army, so that only a few fled back to\nTiberius to tell the tale, and he had to fall back and defend the Rhine.\n\nThe news of this disaster was a terrible shock to the Emperor. He sat\ngrieving over it, and at times he dashed his head against the wall,\ncrying, \"Varus, Varus! give me back my legions.\" His friends were dead,\nhe was an old man now, and sadness was around him. He was soon, however,\ngrave and composed again; and, as his health began to fail, he sent for\nTiberius and put his affairs into his hands. When his dying day came, he\nmet it calmly. He asked if there was any fear of a tumult on his death,\nand was told there was none; then he called for a mirror, and saw that\nhis grey hair and beard were in order, and, asking his friends whether\nhe had played his part well, he uttered a verse from a play bidding them\napplaud his exit, bade Livia remember him, and so died in his\nseventy-seventh year, having ruled fifty-eight years--ten as a triumvir,\nforty-eight alone.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\nTIBERIUS AND CALIGULA.\n\nA.D. 14--41.\n\n\nNo difficulty was made about giving all the powers Augustus had held to\nhis stepson, Tiberius Claudius Nero, who had also a right to the names\nof Julius Caesar Augustus, and was in his own time generally called\nCaesar. The Senate had grown too helpless to think for themselves, and\nall the choice they ever made of the consuls was that the Emperor gave\nout four names, among which they chose two.\n\nTiberius had been a grave, morose man ever since he was deprived of the\nwife he loved, and had lost his brother; and he greatly despised the\nmean, cringing ways round him, and kept to himself; but his nephew,\ncalled Germanicus, after his father, was the person whom every one\nloved and trusted. He had married Agrippina, Julia's daughter, who was\nalso a very good and noble person; and when he was sent against the\nGermans, she went with him, and her little boys ran about among the\nsoldiers, and were petted by them. One of them, Caius, was called by the\nsoldiers Caligula, or the Little Shoe, because he wore a caliga or shoe\nlike theirs; and he never lost the nickname.\n\nGermanicus earned his surname over again by driving Arminius back; but\nhe was more enterprising than would have been approved by Augustus, who\nthought it wiser to guard what he had than to make wider conquests; and\nTiberius was not only one of the same mind, but was jealous of the great\nlove that all the army were showing for his nephew, and this distrust\nwas increased when the soldiers in the East begged for Germanicus to\nlead them against the Parthians. He set out, visiting all the famous\nplaces in Greece by the way, and going to see the wonders of Egypt, but\nwhile in Syria he fell ill of a wasting sickness and died, so that many\nsuspected the spy, Cnaeus Piso, whom Tiberius had sent with him, of\nhaving poisoned him. When his wife Agrippina came home, bringing his\ncorpse to be burnt and his ashes placed in the burying-place of the\nCaesars, there was universal love and pity for her. Piso seized on all\nthe offices that Germanicus had held, but was called back to Rome, and\nwas just going to be put upon his trial when he cut his own throat.\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF THE PALACES OF TIBERIUS.]\n\nAll this tended to make Tiberius more gloomy and distrustful, and when\nhis mother Livia died he had no one to keep him in check, but fell under\nthe influence of a man named Sejanus, who managed all his affairs for\nhim, while he lived in a villa in the island of Capreae in the Bay of\nNaples, seeing hardly any but a few intimates, given up to all sorts of\nevil luxuries and self-indulgences, and hating and dreading every one.\nAgrippina was so much loved and respected that he dreaded and disliked\nher beyond all others; and Sejanus contrived to get up an accusation of\nplotting against the state, upon which she and her eldest son were\nbanished to two small rocky isles in the Mediterranean Sea. The other\ntwo sons, Drusus and Caius, were kept by Tiberius at Capreae, till\nTiberius grew suspicious of Drusus and threw him into prison. Sejanus,\nwho had encouraged all his dislike to his own kinsmen, and was managing\nall Rome, then began to hope to gain the full power; but his plans were\nguessed by Tiberius, and he caused his former favorite to be set upon\nin the senate-house and put to death.\n\n[Illustration: AGRIPPINA.]\n\nIt is strange to remember that, while such dark deeds were being done at\nRome, came the three years when the true Light was shining in the\ndarkness. It was in the time of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilatus was\npropraetor of Palestine, that our Lord Jesus Christ spent three years in\nteaching and working miracles; then was crucified and slain by wicked\nhands, that the sin of mankind might be redeemed. Then He rose again\nfrom the dead and ascended into Heaven, leaving His Apostles to make\nknown what he had done in all the world.\n\nTo the East, where our Lord dwelt, nay, to all the rest of the empire,\nthe reign of Tiberius was a quiet time, with the good government\narranged by Augustus working on. It was only his own family, and the\nsenators and people of rank at Rome, who had much to fear from his\nstrange, harsh, and jealous temper. The Claudian family had in all times\nbeen shy, proud, and stern, and to have such power as belonged to\nAugustus Caesar was more than their heads could bear. Tiberius hated and\nsuspected everybody, and yet he did not like putting people to death, so\nhe let Drusus be starved to death in his prison, and Agrippina chose the\nsame way of dying in her island, while some of the chief senators\nreceived such messages that they put themselves to death. He led a\nwretched life, watching for treason and fearing everybody, and trying to\ndrown the thought of danger in the banquets of Capreae, where the remains\nof his villa may still be seen. Once he set out, intending to visit\nRome, but no sooner had he landed in Campania than the sight of hundreds\nof country people shouting welcome so disturbed him that he hastened on\nboard ship again, and thus entered the Tiber; but at the very sight of\nthe hills of Rome his terror returned, and he had his galley turned\nabout and went back to his island, which he never again quitted.\n\nOnly two males of his family were left now--a great-nephew and a nephew,\nCaius, that son of the second Germanicus who had been nicknamed\nCaligula, a youth of a strange, exciteable, feverish nature, but who\nfrom his fright at Tiberius had managed to keep the peace with him, and\nhad only once been for a short time in disgrace; and his uncle, the\nyoungest son of the first Germanicus, commonly called Claudius, a very\ndull, heavy man, fond of books, but so slow and shy that he was\nconsidered to be wanting in brains, and thus had never fallen under\nsuspicion.\n\nAt length Tiberius fell ill, and when he was known to be dying, he was\nsmothered with pillows as he began to recover from a fainting fit, lest\nhe should take vengeance on those who had for a moment thought him dead.\nHe died A.D.. 37, and the power went to Caligula, properly\ncalled Caius, who was only twenty-five, and who began in a kindly,\ngenerous spirit, which pleased the people and gave them hope; but to\nhave so much power was too much for his brain, and he can only be\nthought of as mad, especially after he had a severe illness, which made\nthe people so anxious that he was puffed up with the notion of his\nown importance.\n\n[Illustration: ROME IN THE TIME OF AUGUSTUS CAESAR.]\n\nHe put to death all who offended him, and, inheriting some of Tiberius'\ndistrust and hatred of the people, he cried out, when they did not\nadmire one of his shows as much as he expected, \"Would that the people\nof Rome had but one neck, so that I might behead them all at once.\" He\nplanned great public buildings, but had not steadiness to carry them\nout; and he became so greedy of the fame which, poor wretch, he could\nnot earn, that he was jealous even of the dead. He burned the books of\nLivy and Virgil out of the libraries, and deprived the statues of the\ngreat men of old of the marks by which they were known--Cincinnatus of\nhis curls, and Torquatus of his collar, and he forbade the last of the\nPompeii to be called Magnus.\n\nHe made an expedition into Gaul, and talked of conquering Britain, but\nhe got no further than the shore of the channel, where, instead of\nsetting sail, he bade the soldiers gather up shells, which he sent home\nto the Senate to be placed among the treasures of the Capitol, calling\nthem the spoils of the conquered ocean. Then he collected the German\nslaves and the tallest Gauls he could find, commanded the latter to dye\ntheir hair and beards to a light color, and brought them home to walk\nin his triumph. The Senate, however, were slow to understand that he\ncould really expect a triumph, and this affronted him so much that, when\nthey offered him one, he would not have it, and went on insulting them.\nHe made his horse a consul, though only for a day, and showed it with\ngolden oats before it in a golden manger. Once, when the two consuls\nwere sitting by him, he burst out laughing, to think, he said, how with\none word he could make both their heads roll on the floor.\n\nThe provinces were not so ill off, but the state of Rome was unbearable.\nEverybody was in danger, and at last a plot was formed for his death;\nand as he was on his way from his house to the circus, and stopped to\nlook at some singers who were going to perform, a party of men set upon\nhim and killed him with many wounds, after he had reigned only five\nyears, and when he was but thirty years old.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.\n\nCLAUDIUS AND NERO.\n\nA.D. 41-68.\n\n\nPoor dull Claudius heard an uproar and hid himself, thinking he was\ngoing to be murdered like his nephew, but still worse was going to\nbefall him. They were looking for him to make him Emperor, for he was\nthe last of his family. He was clumsy in figure, though his face was\ngood, and he was a kind-hearted man, who made large promises, and tried\nto do well; but he was slow and timid, and let himself be led by wicked\nmen and women, so that his rule ended no better than that of the former\nCaesars.\n\nHe began in a spirited way, by sending troops who conquered the southern\npart of Britain, and making an expedition thither himself. His wife\nchose to share his triumph, which was not, as usual, a drive in a\nchariot, but a sitting in armor on their thrones, with the eagles and\nstandards over their heads, and the prisoners led up before them. Among\nthem came the great British chief Caractacus, who is said to have\ndeclared that he could not think why those who had such palaces as there\nwere at Rome should want the huts of the Britons.\n\nClaudius was kind to the people in the distant provinces. He gave the\nJews a king again, Herod Agrippa, the grandson of the first Herod, who\nwas much loved by them, but died suddenly after a few years at Caesarea,\nafter the meeting with the Tyrians, when he let them greet him as a god.\nThere were a great many Jews living at Rome, but those from Jerusalem\nquarrelled with those from Alexandria; and one year, when there was a\ngreat scarcity of corn, Claudius banished them all from Rome.\n\n[Illustration: CLAUDIUS.]\n\nClaudius was very unhappy in his wives. Two he divorced, and then\nmarried a third named Messalina, who was given up to all kinds of\nwickedness which he never guessed at, while she used all manner of arts\nto keep up her beauty and to deceive him. At last she actually married a\nyoung man while Claudius was absent from Rome; but when this came to his\nknowledge, he had her put to death. His last wife was, however, the\nworst of all. She was the daughter of the good Germanicus, and bore her\nmother's name of Agrippina. She had been previously married to Lucius\nDomitius AEnobarbus, by whom she had a son, whom Claudius adopted when he\nmarried her, though he had a child of his own called Britannicus, son to\nMessalina. Romans had never married their nieces before, but the power\nof the Emperors was leading them to trample down all law and custom, and\nit was for the misfortune of Claudius that he did so in this case, for\nAgrippina's purpose was to put every one out of the way of her own son,\nwho, taking all the Claudian and Julian names in addition to his own, is\ncommonly known as Nero. She married him to Claudius' daughter Octavia,\nand then, after much tormenting the Emperor, she poisoned him with a\ndish of mushrooms, and bribed his physician to take care that he did not\nrecover. He died A.D. 54, and, honest and true-hearted as he\nhad been, the Romans were glad to be rid of him, and told mocking\nstories of him. Indeed, they were very bad in all ways themselves, and\nmany of the ladies were poisoners like Agrippina, so that the city\nalmost deserved the tyrant who came after Claudius. Nero, the son of\nAgrippina by her first marriage, and Britannicus, the son of Claudius\nand Messalina, were to reign together; but Nero was the elder, and as\nsoon as his poor young cousin came to manhood, Agrippina had a dose of\npoison ready for him.\n\nNero, however, began well. He had been well brought up by Seneca, an\nexcellent student of the Stoic philosophy, who, with Burrhus, the\ncommander of the Praetorian Guard, guided the young Emperor with good\nadvice through the first five years of his reign; and though his wicked\nmother called herself Augusta, and had equal honors paid her with her\nson, not much harm was done to the government till Nero fell in love\nwith a wicked woman, Poppaea Sabina, who was a proverb for vanity, and\nwas said to keep five hundred she-asses that she might bathe in their\nmilk to preserve her complexion. Nero wanted to marry this lady, and as\nhis mother befriended his neglected wife Octavia, he ordered that when\nshe went to her favorite villa at Baiae her galley should be wrecked,\nand if she was not drowned, she should be stabbed. Octavia was divorced,\nsent to an island, and put to death there; and after Nero married\nPoppaea, he quickly grew more violent and savage.\n\nBurrhus died about the same time, and Seneca alone could not restrain\nthe Emperor from his foolish vanity. He would descend into the arena of\nthe great amphitheatre and sing to the lyre his own compositions; and he\nshowed off his charioteering in the circus before the whole assembled\ncity, letting no one go away till the performance was over. It very much\nshocked the patricians, but the mob were delighted, and he chiefly cared\nfor their praises. He was building a huge palace, called the Golden\nHouse because of its splendid decorations; and, needing money, he caused\naccusations to be got up against all the richer men that he might have\ntheir hoards.\n\n[Illustration: NERO.]\n\nA terrible fire broke out in Rome, which raged for six days, and\nentirely destroyed fourteen quarters of the city. While it was burning,\nNero, full of excitement, stood watching it, and sang to his lyre the\ndescription of the burning of Troy. A report therefore arose that he had\nactually caused the fire for the amusement of watching it; and to put\nthis out of men's minds he accused the Christians. The Christian faith\nhad begun to be known in Rome during the last reign, and it was to Nero,\nas Caesar, that St. Paul had appealed. He had spent two years in a hired\nhouse of his own at Rome, and thus had been in the guard-room of the\nPraetorians, but he was released after being tried at \"Caesar's\njudgment-seat,\" and remained at large until this sudden outburst which\ncaused the first persecution. Then he was taken at Nicopolis, and St.\nPeter at Rome, and they were thrown into the Mamertine dungeon. Rome\ncounts St. Peter as her first bishop. On the 29th of June,\nA.D. 66, both suffered; St. Paul, as a Roman citizen, being\nbeheaded with the sword; St. Peter crucified, with his head, by his own\ndesire, downwards. Many others suffered at the same time, some being\nthrown to the beasts, while others were wrapped in cloths covered with\npitch, and slowly burnt to light the games in the Emperor's gardens. At\nlast the people were shocked, and cried out for these horrors to end.\nAnd Nero, who cared for the people, turned his hatred and cruelty\nagainst men of higher class whose fate they heeded less. So common was\nit to have a message advising a man to put himself to death rather than\nbe sentenced, that every one had studied easy ways of dying. Nero's old\ntutor, Seneca, felt his tyranny unbearable, and had joined in a plot for\noverthrowing him, but it was found out, and Seneca had to die by his own\nhand. The way he chose, and his wife too for his sake, was to open their\nveins, get into a warm bath, and bleed to death.\n\nNero made a journey to Greece, and showed off at Olympus and the\nIsthmus, at the same time robbing the Greek cities of numbers of their\nbest statues and reliefs to adorn his Golden House; for the Romans had\nno original art--they could only imitate the Greeks and employ Greek\nartists. But danger was closing in on Nero. Such an Emperor could be\nendured no longer, and the generals of the armies in the provinces began\nto threaten him, they not being smitten dumb and helpless as every one\nat Rome seemed to be.\n\nThe Spanish army, under an officer named Galba, who was seventy-two\nyears old, but to whom Augustus had said when he was a little boy, \"You\ntoo shall share my taste of empire,\" began to move homewards to attack\nthe tyrant, and the army from Gaul advanced to join it. Nero went nearly\nwild with fright, sometimes raging, sometimes tearing his hair and\nclothes; and the people began to turn against him in anger at a dearth\nof corn, saying he spent everything on his own pleasures. As Galba came\nnearer, the nobles and knights hoped for deliverance, and the Praetorian\nGuard showed that they meant to join their fellow-soldiers, and would\nnot fight for him. The wretched Emperor found himself alone, and vainly\ncalled for some one to kill him, for he had not nerve to do it himself.\nHe fled to a villa in the country, and wandered in the woods till he\nheard that, if he was caught, he would be put to death in the \"ancient\nfashion,\" which he was told was being fixed with his neck in a forked\nstick and beaten to death. Then, hearing the hoofs of the horses of his\npursuers, he set a sword against his breast and made a slave drive it\nhome, and was groaning his last when the horsemen came up. He was but 30\nyears old, and was the last Emperor who could trace any connection, even\nby adoption, with Augustus. He perished A.D. 68.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\n\nTHE FLAVIAN FAMILY.\n\n62-96.\n\n\nThe ablest of all Nero's officers was Titus Flavius Vespasianus, a\nstern, rigid old soldier, who, with his son of the same name, was in the\nEast, preparing to put down a great rising of the Jews. He waited to see\nwhat was going to happen, and in a very few weeks old Galba had offended\nthe soldiers by his saving ways; there was a rising against him, and\nanother soldier named Otho became Emperor; but the legions from Gaul\nmarched up under Vitellius to dethrone him, and he killed himself to\nprevent other bloodshed.\n\nWhen the Eastern army heard of these changes, they declared they would\nmake an Emperor like the soldiers of the West, and hailed Vespasian as\nEmperor. He left his son Titus to subdue Judea, and set out himself for\nItaly, where Vitellius had given himself up to riot and feasting. There\nwas a terrible fight and fire in the streets of Rome itself, and the\nGauls, who chiefly made up Vitellius' army, did even more mischief than\nthe Gauls of old under Brennus; but at last Vespasian triumphed.\nVitellius was taken, and, after being goaded along with the point of a\nlance, was put to death. There had been eighteen months of confusion,\nand Vespasian began his reign in the year 70.\n\nIt was just then that his son Titus, having taken all the strongholds in\nGalilee, though they were desperately defended by the Jews, had advanced\nto besiege Jerusalem. All the Christians had heeded the warning that our\nblessed Lord had left them, and were safe at a city in the hills called\nPella; but the Jews who were left within were fiercely quarrelling among\nthemselves, and fought with one another as savagely as they fought with\nthe enemy. Titus threw trenches round and blockaded the city; and the\nfamine within grew to be most horrible. Some died in their houses, but\nthe fierce lawless zealots rushed up and down the streets, breaking into\nthe houses where they thought food was to be found. When they smelt\nroasting in one grand dwelling belonging to a lady, they rushed in and\nasked for the meat, but even they turned away in horror when she\nuncovered the remains of her own little child, whom she had been eating.\nAt last the Roman engines broke down the walls of the lower city, and\nwith desperate struggling the Romans entered, and found every house full\nof dead women and children. Still they had the Temple to take, and the\nJews had gathered there, fancying that, at the worst, the Messiah would\nappear and save them. Alas! they had rejected Him long ago, and this was\nthe time of judgment. The Romans fought their way in, up the marble\nsteps, slippery with blood and choked with dead bodies; and fire raged\nround them. Titus would have saved the Holy Place as a wonder of the\nworld, but a soldier threw a torch through a golden latticed window, and\nthe flame spread rapidly. Titus had just time to look round on all the\nrich gilding and marbles before it sank into ruins. He took a terrible\nvengeance on the Jews. Great numbers were crucified, and the rest were\neither taken to the amphitheatres all over the empire to fight with wild\nbeasts, or were sold as slaves, in such numbers that, cheap as they\nwere, no one would buy them. And yet this wonderful nation has lived on\nin its dispersion ever since. The city was utterly overthrown and sown\nwith salt, and such treasures as could be saved from the fire were\ncarried in the triumph of Titus--namely, the shew-bread table, the\nseven-branched candlestick, and the silver trumpets--and laid up as\nusual among the spoils dedicated to Jupiter. Their figures are to be\nseen sculptured on the triumphal arch built in honor of Titus, which\nstill stands at Rome.\n\n[Illustration: ARCH OF TITUS.]\n\nThese Flavian Caesars were great builders. Much had to be restored at\nRome after the two great fires, and they built a new Capitol and new\nForum, besides pulling down Nero's Golden House, and setting up on part\nof the site the magnificent baths known as the Baths of Titus. Going to\nthe bath, to be steamed, rubbed, anointed, and perfumed by the slaves,\nwas the great amusement of an idle Roman's day, for in the waiting-rooms\nhe met all his friends and heard the news; and these rooms were splendid\nhalls, inlaid with marble, and adorned with the statues and pictures\nNero had brought from Greece. On part of the gardens was begun what was\nthen called the Flavian Amphitheatre, but is now known as the Colosseum,\nfrom the colossal statue that stood at its door--a wonderful place, with\na succession of galleries on stone vaults round the area, on which every\nrank and station, from the Emperor and Vestal Virgins down to the\nslaves, had their places, whence to see gladiators and beasts struggle\nand perish, on sands mixed with scarlet grains to hide the stain, and\nperfumed showers to overcome the scent of blood, and under silken\nembroidered awnings to keep off the sun.\n\nVespasian was an upright man, and though he was stern and unrelenting,\nhis reign was a great relief after the capricious tyranny of the last\nClaudii. He and his eldest son Titus were plain and simple in their\nhabits, and tried to put down the horrid riot and excess that were\nruining the Romans, and they were feared and loved. They had great\nsuccesses too. Britain was subdued and settled as far as the northern\nhills, and a great rising in Eastern Gaul subdued. Vespasian was accused\nof being avaricious, but Nero had left the treasury in such a state that\nhe could hardly have governed without being careful. He died in the year\n79, at seventy years old. When he found himself almost gone, he desired\nto be lifted to his feet, saying that an Emperor should die standing.\n\n[Illustration: VESUVIUS PREVIOUS TO THE ERUPTION OF A.D. 63.]\n\nHe left two sons, Titus and Domitian. Titus was more of a scholar than\nhis father, and was gentle and kindly in manner, so that he was much\nbeloved. He used to say, \"I have lost a day,\" when one went by without\nhis finding some kind act to do. He was called the delight of mankind,\nand his reign would have been happy but for another great fire in Rome,\nwhich burnt what Nero's fire had left. In his time, too, Mount Vesuvius\nsuddenly woke from its rest, and by a dreadful eruption destroyed the\ntwo cities at its foot, Herculaneum and Pompeii. The philosopher\nPlinius, who wrote on geography and natural history, was stifled by the\nsulphurous air while fleeing from the showers of stones and ashes\ncast up by the mountain. His nephew, called Pliny the younger, has left\na full account of the disaster, and the cloud like a pine tree that hung\nover the mountain, the noises, the earthquake, and the fall at last of\nthe ashes and lava. Drusilla, the wife of Felix, the governor before\nwhom St. Paul pleaded, also perished. Herculaneum was covered with solid\nlava, so that very little could be recovered from it; but Pompeii, being\noverwhelmed with dust or ashes, was only choked, and in modern days has\nbeen discovered, showing perfectly what an old Roman town was\nlike--amphitheatre, shops, bake-houses, and all. Some skeletons have\nbeen found: a man with his keys in a cellar full of treasure, a priest\ncrushed by a statue of Isis, a family crowded into a vault, a sentry at\nhis post; and in other cases the ashes perfectly moulded the impression\nof the figure they stifled, and on pouring plaster into them the forms\nof the victims have been recovered, especially two women, elder and\nyounger, just as they fell at the gate, the girl with her head hidden in\nher mother's robe.\n\n[Illustration: PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS.]\n\nTitus died the next year, and his son-in-law Tacitus, who wrote the\nhistory of those reigns, laid the blame on his brother Domitian, who was\nas cruel and savage a tyrant as Nero. He does seem to have been shocked\nat the wickedness of the Romans. Even the Vestal Virgins had grown\nshameless, and there was hardly a girl of the patrician families in Rome\nwell brought up enough to become one. The blame was laid on forsaking\nthe old religion, and what the Romans called \"Judaising,\" which meant\nChristianity, was persecuted again. Flavius Clemens, a cousin of the\nEmperor, was thus accused and put to death; and probably it was this\nwhich led to St. John, the last of the Apostles, being brought to Rome\nand placed in a cauldron of boiling oil by the Lateran Gate; but a\nmiracle was wrought in his behalf, and the oil did him no hurt, upon\nwhich he was banished to the Isle of Patmos.\n\nThe Colosseum was opened in Domitian's time, and the shows of\ngladiators, fights with beasts, and even sea-fights, when the arena was\nflooded, exceeded all that had gone before. There were fights between\nwomen and women, dwarfs and cranes. There is an inscription at Rome\nwhich has made some believe that the architect of the Colosseum was one\nGandentius, who afterwards perished there as a Christian.\n\nDomitian affronted the Romans by wearing a gold crown with little\nfigures of the gods on it. He did strange things. Once he called\ntogether all his council in the middle of the night on urgent business,\nand while they expected to hear of some foreign enemy on the borders, a\nmonstrous turbot was brought in, and they were consulted whether it was\nto be cut in pieces or have a dish made on purpose for it. Another time\nhe invited a number of guests, and they found themselves in a black\nmarble hall, with funeral couches, each man's name graven on a column\nlike a tomb, a feast laid as at a funeral, and black boys to wait on\nthem! This time it was only a joke; but Domitian did put so many people\nto death that he grew frightened lest vengeance should fall on him, and\nhe had his halls lined with polished marble, that he might see as in a\nglass if any one approached him from behind. But this did not save him.\nHis wife found that he meant to put her to death, and contrived that a\nparty of servants should murder him, A.D. 96.\n\n[Illustration: COIN OF NERO.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\n\nTHE AGE OF THE ANTONINES.\n\n96--194.\n\n\nDomitian is called the last of the twelve Caesars, though all who came\nafter him called themselves Caesar. He had no son, and a highly esteemed\nold senator named Cocceius Nerva became Emperor. He was an upright man,\nwho tried to restore the old Roman spirit; and as he thought\nChristianity was only a superstition which spoiled the ancient temper,\nhe enacted that all should die who would not offer incense to the gods,\nand among these died St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who had been bred\nup among the Apostles. He was taken to Rome, saw his friend St.\nPolycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, on the way, and wrote him one of a set of\nletters which remain to this day. He was then thrown to the lions in the\nColosseum.\n\nIt seems strange that the good Emperors were often worse persecutors\nthan the bad ones, but the fact was that the bad ones let the people do\nas they pleased, as long as they did not offend them; while the good\nones were trying to bring back what they read of in Livy's history, of\nplain living and high thinking, and shut their ears to knowing more of\nthe Christians than that they were people who did not worship the gods.\nMoreover, Julius Trajanus, whom Nerva adopted, and who began to reign\nafter him in 98, did not persecute actively, but there were laws in\nforce against the Christians. When Pliny the younger was propraetor of\nthe province of Pontica in Asia Minor, he wrote to ask the Emperor what\nto do about the Christians, telling him what he had been able to find\nout about them from two slave girls who had been tortured; namely, that\nthey were wont to meet together at night or early morning, to sing\ntogether, and eat what he called a harmless social meal. Trajan answered\nthat he need not try to hunt them out, but that, if they were brought\nbefore him, the law must take its course. In Rome, the chief refuge of\nthe Christians was in the Catacombs, or quarries of tufa, from which the\ncity was chiefly built, and which were hollowed out in long galleries.\nSlaves and convicts worked them, and they were thus made known to the\nChristians, who buried their dead in places hollowed at the sides, used\nthe galleries for their churches, and often hid there when there was\nsearch made for them.\n\n[Illustration: TEMPLE OF ANTONINUS AND FAUSTINA.]\n\nTrajan was so good a ruler that he bears the title of Optimus, the Best,\nas no one else has ever done. He was a great captain too, and conquered\nDacia, the country between the rivers Danube, Theiss, and Pruth, and the\nCarpathian Hills; and he also defeated the Parthians, and said if he\nhad been a younger man he would have gone as far as Alexander. As it\nwas, the empire was at its very largest in his reign, and he was a very\ngreat builder and improver, so that one of his successors called him a\nwall-flower, because his name was everywhere to be seen on walls and\nbridges and roads--some of which still remain, as does his tall column\nat Rome, with a spiral line of his conquests engraven round it from top\nto bottom. He was on his way back from the East when, in 117, he died at\nCilicia, leaving the empire to another brave warrior, Publius AEtius\nHadrianus, who took the command with great vigor, but found he could not\nkeep Dacia, and broke down the bridge over the Danube. He came to\nBritain, where the Roman settlements were tormented by the Picts. There\nhe built the famous Roman wall from sea to sea to keep them out. He was\nwonderfully active, and hastened from one end of the empire to the other\nwherever his presence was needed. There was a revolt of the Jews in the\nfar East, under a man who pretended to be the Messiah, and called\nhimself the Son of a Star. This was put down most severely, and no Jew\nwas allowed to come near Jerusalem, over which a new city was built, and\ncalled after the Emperor's second name, AElia Capitolina; and, to drive\nthe Jews further away, a temple to Jupiter was built where the Temple\nhad been, and one to Venus on Mount Calvary.\n\nBut Hadrian did not persecute, and listened kindly to an explanation of\nthe faith which was shown him at Athens by Quadratus, a Christian\nphilosopher. Hadrian built himself a grand towerlike monument,\nsurrounded by stages of columns and arches, which was to be called the\nMole of Hadrian, and still stands, though stripped of its ornaments.\nBefore his death, in 138, he had chosen his successor, Titus Aurelius\nAntoninus, a good upright man, a philosopher, and 52 years old; for it\nhad been found that youths who became Emperors had their heads turned by\nsuch unbounded power, while elder men cared for the work and duty.\nAntoninus was so earnest for his people's welfare that they called him\nPius. He avoided wars, only defended the empire; but he was a great\nbuilder, for he raised another rampart in Britain, much further north,\nand set up another column at Rome, and in Gaul built a great\namphitheatre at Nismes, and raised the wonderful aqueduct which is still\nstanding, and is called the Pont du Gard.\n\nHis son-in-law, whom he adopted and who succeeded him, is commonly\ncalled Marcus Aurelius, as a choice among his many names. He was a deep\nstudent and Stoic philosopher, with an earnest longing for truth and\nvirtue, though he knew not how to seek them where alone they could be\nfound; and when earthquake, pestilence and war fell on his empire, and\nthe people thought the gods were offended, he let them persecute the\nChristians, whose faith he despised, because the hope of Resurrection\nand of Heaven seemed weak and foolish to him beside his stern, proud,\nhopeless Stoicism. So the aged Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, the last\npupil of the Apostles themselves, was sentenced to be burnt in the\ntheatre of his own city, though, as the fire curled round him in a\ncurtain of flame without touching him, he was actually slain with the\nsword. And in Gaul, especially at Vienne, there was a fearful\npersecution which fell on women of all ranks, and where Blandina the\nslave, under the most unspeakable torments, was specially noted for her\nbrave patience.\n\nAurelius was fighting hard with the German tribes on the Danube, who\ngave him no rest, and threatened to break into the empire. While\npursuing them, he and his army were shut into a strong place where they\ncould get no water, and were perishing with thirst, when a whole\nlegion, all Christian soldiers, knelt down and prayed. A cloud came up,\na welcome shower of rain descended, and was the saving of the thirsty\nhost. It was said that the name of the Thundering Legion was given to\nthis division in consequence, though on the column reared by Aurelius it\nis Jupiter who is shown sending rain on the thirsty host, who are\ncatching it in their shields. After this there was less persecution, but\nevery sort of trouble--plague, earthquake, famine, and war--beset the\nempire on all sides, and the Emperor toiled in vain against these\ntroubles, writing, meantime, meditations that show how sad and sick at\nheart he was, and how little comfort philosophy gave him, while his eyes\nwere blind to the truth. He died of a fever in his camp, while still in\nthe prime of life, in the year 180, and with him ended the period of\ngood Emperors, which the Romans call the age of the Antonines. Aurelius\nwas indeed succeeded by his son Commodus, but he was a foolish\ngood-for-nothing youth, who would not bear the fatigues and toils of\nreal war, though he had no shame in showing off in the arena, and is\nsaid to have fought there seven hundred and fifty times, besides killing\nwild beasts. He boasted of having slain one hundred lions with one\nhundred arrows, and a whole row of ostriches with half-moon shaped\narrows which cut off their heads, the poor things being fastened where\nhe could not miss them, and the Romans applauding as if for some noble\ndeed. They let him reign sixteen years before he was murdered, and then\na good old soldier named Pertinax began to reign; but the Praetorian\nGuard had in those sixteen years grown disorderly, and the moment they\nfelt the pressure of a firm hand they attacked the palace, killed the\nEmperor, cut off his head, and ran with it to the senate-house, asking\nwho would be Emperor. An old senator was foolish enough to offer them a\nlarge sum if they would choose him, and this put it into their heads to\nrush out to the ramparts and proclaim that they would sell the empire to\nthe highest bidder.\n\nA vain, old, rich senator, named Didius Julianus, was at supper with his\nfamily when he heard that the Praetorians were selling the empire by\nauction, and out he ran, and actually bought it at the rate of about\nL200 to each man. The Emperor being really the commander-in-chief, with\nother offices attached to the dignity, the soldiers had a sort of right\nto the choice; but the other armies at a distance, who were really\nfighting and guarding the empire, had no notion of letting the matter\nbe settled by the Praetorians, mere guardsmen, who stayed at home and\ntried to rule the rest; so each army chose its own general and marched\non Rome, and it was the general on the Danube, Septimius Severus, who\ngot there first; whereupon the Praetorians killed their foolish Emperor\nand joined him.\n\n[Illustration: MARCUS AURELIUS.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV.\n\nTHE PRAETORIAN INFLUENCE.\n\n197--284.\n\n\nSeptimus Severus was an able Emperor, and reigned a long time. He was\nstern and harsh, as was needed by the wickedness of the time; and he was\nvery active, seldom at Rome, but flashing as it were from one end of the\nempire to the other, wherever he was needed, and keeping excellent\norder. There was no regular persecution of the Christians in his time;\nbut at Lyons, where the townspeople were in great numbers Christians,\nthe country-folk by some sudden impulse broke in and made a horrible\nmassacre of them, in which the bishop, St. Irenaeus, was killed. So few\ncountry people were at this time converts, that Paganus, a peasant, came\nto be used as a term for a heathen.\n\nSeverus was, like Trajan and Hadrian, a great builder and road-maker.\nThe whole empire was connected by a network of paved roads made by the\nsoldiery, cutting through hills, bridging valleys, straight, smooth, and\nso solid that they remain to this day. This made communication so\nrapid that government was possible to an active man like him. He gave\nthe Parthians a check; and, when an old man, came to Britain and marched\nfar north, but he saw it was impossible to guard Antonius' wall between\nthe Forth and Clyde, and only strengthened the rampart of Hadrian from\nthe Tweed to the Solway. He died at York, in 211, on his return, and his\nlast watchword was \"Labor!\" His wife was named Julia Domna, and he left\ntwo sons, usually called Caracalla and Geta, who divided the empire; but\nGeta was soon stabbed by his brother's own hand, and then Caracalla\nshowed himself even worse than Commodus, till he in his turn was\nmurdered in 217.\n\n[Illustration: SEPTIMUS SEVERUS.]\n\n[Illustration: ANTIOCH.]\n\nHis mother, Julia Domna, had a sister called Julia Saemias, who lived at\nAntioch, and had two daughters, Saemias and Mammaea, who each had a son,\nElagabalus--so called after the idol supposed to represent the sun,\nwhose priest at Emesa he was--and Alexander Severus. The Praetorian\nGuard, in their difficulty whom to chose Emperor, chose Elagabalus, a\nlad of nineteen, who showed himself a poor, miserable, foolish wretch,\nwho did the most absurd things. His feasts were a proverb for excess,\nand even his lions were fed on parrots and pheasants. Sometimes he would\nget together a festival party of all fat men, or all thin, all tall, or\nshort, all bald, or gouty; and at others he would keep the wedding of\nhis namesake god and Pallas, making matches between the gods and\ngoddesses all over Italy; and he carried on his service to his god with\nthe same barbaric dances in a strange costume as at Emesa, to the great\ndisgust of the Romans. His grandmother persuaded him to adopt his cousin\nAlexander, a youth of much more promise, who took the name of Severus.\nThe soldiers were charmed with him; Elagabalus became jealous, and was\ngoing to strip him of his honors; but this angered the Praetorians, so\nthat they put the elder Emperor to death in 222.\n\n[Illustration: ALEXANDER SEVERUS.]\n\nAlexander Severus was a good and just prince, whose mother is believed\nto have been a Christian, and he had certainly learned enough of the\nDivine Law to love virtue, and be firm while he was forbearing. He loved\nvirtue, but he did not accept the faith, and would only look upon our\nBlessed Lord as a sort of great philosopher, placing His statue with\nthat of Abraham, Orpheus, and all whom he thought great teachers of\nmankind, in a private temple of his own, as if they were all on a level.\nHe never came any nearer to the faith, and after thirteen years of good\nand firm government he was killed in a mutiny of the Praetorians in 235.\n\nThese guards had all the power, and set up and put down Emperors so\nrapidly that there are hardly any names worth remembering. In the\nunsettled state of the empire no one had time to persecute the\nChristians, and their numbers grew and prospered; in many places they\nhad churches, with worship going on openly, and their Bishops were known\nand respected. The Emperor Philip, called the Arabian, who was actually\na Christian, though he would not own it openly, when he was at Antioch,\njoined in the service at Easter, and presented himself to receive the\nHoly Communion; but Bishop Babylas refused him, until he should have\ndone open penance for the crimes by which he had come to the purple,\nand renounced all remains of heathenism. He turned away rebuked, but put\noff his repentance; and the next year celebrated the games called the\nSeculae, because they took place every Seculum or hundredth year, with\nall their heathen ceremonies, and with tenfold splendor, in honor of\nthis being Rome's thousandth birthday.\n\nSoon after, another general named Decius was chosen by the army on the\nGerman frontier, and Philip was killed in battle with him. Decius wanted\nto be an old-fashioned Roman; he believed in the gods, and thought the\ntroubles of the empire came of forsaking them; and as the Parthians\nmolested the East, and the Goths and Germans the North, and the soldiers\nseemed more ready to kill their Emperors than the enemy, he thought to\nwin back prosperity by causing all to return to the old worship, and\nbegun the worst persecution the Church had yet known. Rome, Antioch,\nCarthage, Alexandria, and all the chief cities were searched for\nChristians. If they would not throw a handful of incense on the idol's\naltar or disown Christ, they were given over to all the horrid torments\ncruel ingenuity could invent, in the hope of subduing their constancy.\nSome fell, but the greater number were firm, and witnessed a glorious\nconfession before, in 251, Decius and his son were both slain in battle\nin Maesia.\n\n[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE SUN AT PALMYRA.]\n\nThe next Emperor whose name is worth remembering was Valerian, who had\nto make war against the Persians. The old stock of Persian kings,\nprofessing to be descended from Cyrus, and, like him, adoring fire, had\novercome the Parthians, and were spreading the Persian power in the\nEast, under their king Sapor, who conquered Mesopotamia, and on the\nbanks of the Euphrates defeated Valerian in a terrible battle at\nEdessa. Valerian was made prisoner, and kept as a wretched slave, who\nwas forced to crouch down that Sapor might climb up by his back when\nmounting on horseback; and when he died, his skin was dyed purple,\nstuffed, and hung up in a temple.\n\n[Illustration: THE CATACOMBS AT ROME.]\n\nThe best resistance made to Sapor was by Odenatus, a Syrian chief, and\nhis beautiful Arabian wife Zenobia, who held out the city of Palmyra, on\nan oasis in the desert between Palestine and Assyria, till Sapor\nretreated. Finding that no notice was taken of them by Rome, they called\nthemselves Emperor and Empress. The city was very beautifully adorned\nwith splendid buildings in the later Greek style; and Zenobia, who\nreigned with her young sons after her husband's death, was well read in\nGreek classics and philosophy, and was a pupil of the philosopher\nLonginus. Aurelian, becoming Emperor of Rome, came against this strange\nlittle kingdom, and was bravely resisted by Zenobia; but he defeated\nher, made her prisoner, and caused her to march in his triumph to Rome.\nShe afterwards lived with her children in Italy.\n\nAurelian saw perils closing in on all sides of the empire, and thought\nit time to fortify the city of Rome itself, which had long spread beyond\nthe old walls of Servius Tullus. He traced a new circuit, and built the\nwall, the lines of which are the same that still enclose Rome, though\nthe wall itself has been several times thrown down and rebuilt. He also\nbuilt the city in Gaul which still bears his name, slightly altered into\nOrleans. He was one of those stern, brave Emperors, who vainly tried to\nbring back old Roman manners, and fancied it was Christianity that\ncorrupted them; and he was just preparing for a great persecution when\nhe was murdered in his tent, and there were three or four more Emperors\nset up and then killed almost as soon as their reign was well begun. The\nlast thirty of them are sometimes called the Thirty Tyrants. This power\nof the Praetorian Guard, of setting up and pulling down their Emperor as\nbeing primarily their general, lasted altogether fully a hundred years.\n\n[Illustration: COIN OF SEVERUS]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\n\nTHE DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE.\n\n284-312.\n\n\nA Dalmatian soldier named Diocles had been told by a witch that he\nshould become Emperor by the slaughter of a boar. He became a great\nhunter, but no wild boar that he killed seemed to bring him nearer to\nthe purple, till, when the army was fighting on the Tigris, the Emperor\nNumerianus died, and an officer named Aper offered himself as his\nsuccessor. Aper is the Latin for a boar, and Diocles, perceiving the\nscope of the prophecy, thrust his sword into his rival's breast, and was\nhailed Emperor by the legions. He lengthened his name out to\nDiocletianus, to sound more imperial, and began a dominion unlike that\nof any who had gone before. They had only been, as it were, overgrown\ngenerals, chosen by the Praetorians or some part of the army, and at the\nsame time taking the tribuneship and other offices for life. Diocletian,\nthough called Emperor, reigned like the kings of the East. He broke the\nstrength of the Praetorians, so that they could never again kill one\nEmperor and elect another as before; and he never would visit Rome lest\nhe should be obliged to acknowledge the authority of the Senate, whose\npower he contrived so entirely to take away, that thenceforward Senator\nbecame only a complimentary title, of which people in the subdued\ncountries were very proud.\n\n[Illustration: DIOCLETIAN.]\n\nHe divided the empire into two parts, feeling that it was beyond the\nmanagement of any one man, and chose an able soldier of low birth but\nmuch courage, named Maximian, to rule the West from Trier as his\ncapital, while he himself ruled the East from Nicomedia. Each of the two\nEmperors chose a future successor, who was to rule in part of his\ndominions under the title of Caesar, and to reign after him. Diocletian\nchose his son-in-law Galerius, and sent him to fight on the Danube; and\nMaximian chose, as Caesar, Constantius Chlorus, who commanded in Britain,\nGaul, and Spain; and thus everything was done to secure that a strong\nhand should be ready everywhere to keep the legions from setting up\nEmperors at their own will.\n\nDiocletian was esteemed the most just and kind of the Emperors;\nMaximian, the fiercest and most savage. He had a bitter hatred of the\nChristian name, which was shared by Galerius; but, on the other hand,\nthe wife of Diocletian was believed to be a Christian, and Helena, the\nwife of Constantius, was certainly one. However, Maximian and Galerius\nwere determined to put down the faith. Maximian is said to have had a\nwhole legion of Christians in his army, called the Theban, from the\nEgyptian Thebes. These he commanded to sacrifice, and on their refusal\nhad them decimated--that is, every tenth man was slain. They were called\non again to sacrifice, but still were staunch, and after a last summons\nwere, every man of them, slain as they stood with their tribune Maurice,\nwhose name is still held in high honor in the Engadine. Diocletian was\nslow to become a persecutor, until a fire broke out in his palace at\nNicomedia, which did much mischief in the city, but spared the chief\nChristian church. The enemies of the Christians accused them of having\ncaused it, and Diocletian required every one in his household to clear\nthemselves by offering sacrifice to Jupiter. His wife and daughter\nyielded, but most of his officers and slaves held out, and died in cruel\ntorments. One slave was scourged till the flesh parted from his bones,\nand then the wounds were rubbed with salt and vinegar; others were\nracked till their bones were out of joint, and others hung up by their\nhands to hooks, with weights fastened to their feet. A city in Phrygia\nwas surrounded by soldiers and every person in it slaughtered; and the\nChristians were hunted down like wild beasts from one end of the empire\nto the other, everywhere save in Britain, where, under Constantius, only\none martyrdom is reported to have taken place, namely, that of the\nsoldier at Verulam, St. Alban. It was the worst of all the persecutions,\nand lasted the longest.\n\n[Illustration: DIOCLETIAN IN RETIREMENT.]\n\nThe two Emperors were good soldiers, and kept the enemies back, so that\nDiocletian celebrated a triumph at Nicomedia; but he had an illness just\nafter, and, as he was fifty-nine years old, he decided that it would be\nbetter to resign the empire while he was still in his full strength,\nand he persuaded Maximian to do the same, in 305, making Constantius and\nGalerius Emperors in their stead. Constantius stopped the persecution in\nthe West, but it raged as much as ever in the East under Galerius and\nthe Caesar he had appointed, whose name was Daza, but who called himself\nMaximin. Constantius fought bravely, both in Britain and Gaul, with the\nenemies who tried to break into the empire. The Franks, one of the\nTeuton nations, were constantly breaking in on the eastern frontier of\nGaul, and the Caledonians on the northern border of the settlement of\nBritain. He opposed them gallantly, and was much loved, but he died at\nYork, 305, and Galerius passed over his son Constantine, and appointed a\nfavorite of his own named Licinius. Constantine was so much beloved by\nthe army and people of Gaul that they proclaimed him Emperor, and he\nheld the province of Britain and Gaul securely against all enemies.\n\nOld Maximian, who had only retired on the command of Diocletian, now\ncame out from his retreat, and called on his colleague to do the same;\nbut Diocletian was far too happy on his little farm at Salona to leave\nit, and answered the messenger who urged him again to take upon him the\npurple with--\"Come and look at the cabbages I have planted.\" However,\nMaximian was accepted as the true Emperor by the Senate, and made his\nson Maxentius, Caesar, while he allied himself with Constantine, to whom\nhe gave his daughter Fausta in marriage. Maxentius turned out a rebel,\nand drove the old man away to Marseilles, where Constantine gave him a\nhome on condition of his not interfering with government; but he could\nnot rest, and raised the troops in the south against his son-in-law.\nConstantine's army marched eagerly against him and made him prisoner,\nbut even then he was pardoned; yet he still plotted, and tried to\npersuade his daughter Fausta to murder her husband. Upon this\nConstantine was obliged to have him put to death.\n\n[Illustration: CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.]\n\nGalerius died soon after of a horrible disease, during which he was\nfilled with remorse for his cruelties to the Christians, sent to entreat\ntheir prayers, and stopped the persecution. On his death, Licinius\nseized part of his dominions, and there were four men calling themselves\nEmperors--Licinius in Asia, Daza Maximin in Egypt, Maxentius at Rome,\nand Constantine in Gaul.\n\nThere was sure soon to be a terrible struggle. It began between\nMaxentius and Constantine. This last marched out of Gaul and entered\nItaly. He had hitherto seemed doubtful between Christianity and\npaganism, but a wonder was seen in the heavens before his whole army,\nnamely, a bright cross of light in the noon-tide sky with the words\nplainly to be traced round it, _In hoc signo vinces_--\"In this sign thou\nshalt conquer.\" This sight decided his mind; he proclaimed himself a\nChristian, and from Milan issued forth an edict promising the Christians\nhis favor and protection. Great victories were gained by him at Turin,\nVerona, and on the banks of the Tiber, where, at the battle of the\nMilvian Bridge in 312, Maxentius was defeated, and was drowned in\ncrossing the river. Constantine entered Rome, and was owned by the\nSenate as Emperor of the West.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII.\n\nCONSTANTINE THE GREAT.\n\n312-337.\n\n\nConstantine entered Rome as a Christian, and from his time forward\nChristianity prevailed. He reigned only over the West at first, but\nLicinius overthrew Daza, treating him and his family with great\nbarbarity, and then Constantine, becoming alarmed at his power, marched\nagainst him, beat him in Thrace, and ten years later made another attack\non him. In the battle of Adrianople, Licinius was defeated, and soon\nafter made prisoner and put to death. Thus, in 323, Constantine became\nthe only Emperor.\n\nHe was a Christian in faith, though not as yet baptized. He did not\ndestroy heathen temples nor forbid heathen rites, but he did everything\nto favor the Christians and make Christian laws. Churches were rebuilt\nand ornamented; Sunday was kept as the day of the Lord, and on it no\nbusiness might be transacted except the setting free of a slave;\nsoldiers might go to church, and all that had made it difficult and\ndangerous to confess the faith was taken away. Constantine longed to see\nhis whole empire Christian; but at Rome, heathen ceremonies were so\nbound up with every action of the state or of a man's life that it was\nvery hard for the Emperor to avoid them, and he therefore spent as\nlittle time as he could there, but was generally at the newer cities of\nArles and Trier; and at last he decided on founding a fresh capital, to\nbe a Christian city from the first.\n\nThe place he chose was the shore of the Bosphorus, where Asia and Europe\nare only divided by that narrow channel, and where the old Greek city of\nByzantium already stood. From hence he hoped to be able to rule the East\nand the West. He enlarged the city with splendid buildings, made a\npalace there for himself, and called it after his own name--Constantinople,\nor New Rome, neither of which names has it ever lost. He carried many of\nthe ornaments of Old Rome thither, but consecrated them as far as\npossible, and he surrounded himself with Bishops and clergy. His mother\nHelena made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to visit the spots where our\nblessed Lord lived and died, and to clear them from profanation. The\nchurches she built over the Holy Sepulchre and the Cave of the nativity\nat Bethlehem have been kept up even to this day.\n\n[Illustration: CONSTANTINOPLE.]\n\nThere was now no danger in being a Christian, and thus worldly and even\nwicked men and women owned themselves as belonging to the Church. So\nmuch evil prevailed that many good men fled from the sight of it,\nthinking to do more good by praying in lonely places free from\ntemptation than by living in the midst of it. These were called hermits,\nand the first and most noted of them was St. Anthony. The Thebaid, or\nhilly country above Thebes in Egypt, was full of these hermits. When\nthey banded together in brotherhoods they were called monks, and the\nwomen who did the like were called nuns.\n\nAt this time there arose in Egypt a priest named Arius, who fell away\nfrom the true faith respecting our blessed Lord, and taught that he was\nnot from the beginning, and was not equal with God the Father. The\nPatriarch of Alexandria tried to silence him, but he led away an immense\nnumber of followers, who did not like to stretch their souls to confess\nthat Jesus Christ is God. At last Constantine resolved to call together\na council of the Bishops and the wisest priests of the whole Church, to\ndeclare what was the truth that had been always held from the beginning.\nThe place he appointed for the meeting was Nicea, in Asia Minor, and he\npaid for the journeys of all the Bishops, three hundred and eighteen in\nnumber, who came from all parts of the empire, east and west, so as to\nform the first Oecumenical or General Council of the Church. Many of\nthem still bore the marks of the persecutions they had borne in\nDiocletian's time: some had been blinded, or had their ears cut off;\nsome had marks worn on their arms by chains, or were bowed by hard labor\nin the mines. The Emperor, in purple and gold, took a seat in the\ncouncil as the prince, but only as a layman and not yet baptized; and\nthe person who used the most powerful arguments was a young deacon of\nAlexandria named Athanasius. Almost every Bishop declared that the\ndoctrine of Arius was contrary to what the Church had held from the\nfirst, and the confession of faith was drawn up which we call the Nicene\nCreed. Three hundred Bishops at once set their seals to it, and of those\nwho at first refused all but two were won over, and these were banished.\nIt was then that the faith of the Church began to be called Catholic or\nuniversal, and orthodox or straight teaching; while those who attacked\nit were called heretics, and their doctrine heresy, from a Greek word\nmeaning to choose.\n\n[Illustration: COUNCIL OF NICEA.]\n\nThe troubles were not at an end with the Council and Creed of Nicea.\nArius had pretended to submit, but he went on with his false teaching,\nand the courtly Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, who had the ear of the\nEmperor, protected him. Athanasius had been made Patriarch, or\nFather-Bishop, of Alexandria, and with all his might argued against the\nfalse doctrine, and cut off those who followed it from the Church. But\nEusebius so talked that Constantine fancied quiet was better than truth,\nand sent orders to Athanasius that no one was to be shut out. This the\nPatriarch could not obey, and the Emperor therefore banished him to\nGaul. Arius then went to Constantinople to ask the Emperor to insist on\nhis being received back to communion. He declared that he believed that\nwhich he held in his hand, showing the Creed of Nicea, but keeping\nhidden under it a statement of his own heresy.\n\n[Illustration: CATACOMBS.]\n\n\"Go,\" said Constantine; \"if your faith agree with your oath, you are\nblameless; if not, God be your judge;\" and he commanded that Arius\nshould be received to communion the next day, which was Sunday. But on\nhis way to church, among a great number of his friends, Arius was struck\nwith sudden illness, and died in a few minutes. The Emperor, as well as\nthe Catholics, took this as a clear token of the hand of God, and\nConstantine was cured of any leaning to the Arians, though he still\nbelieved the men who called Athanasius factious and troublesome, and\ntherefore would not recall him from exile.\n\nThe great grief of Constantine's life was, that he put his eldest son\nCrispus to death on a wicked accusation of his stepmother Fausta. On\nlearning the truth, he caused a silver statue to be raised, bearing the\ninscription, \"My son, whom I unjustly condemned;\" and when other crimes\nof Fausta came to light, he caused her to be suffocated.\n\nBaptism was often in those days put off to the end of life, that there\nmight be no more sin after it, and Constantine was not baptized till his\nlast illness had begun, when he was sixty-four years old, and he sent\nfor Sylvester, Pope or Bishop of Rome, where he then was, and received\nfrom him baptism, absolution, and Holy Communion. After this,\nConstantine never put on purple robes again, but wore white till the day\nof his death in 337.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\nCONSTANTIUS.\n\n337-364.\n\n\nConstantine the Great left three sons, who shared the empire between\nthem; but two were slain early in life, and only Constantius, the second\nand worst of the brothers, remained Emperor. He was an Arian, and under\nhim Athanasius, who had returned to Alexandria, was banished again, and\ntook refuge with the Pope Liberius at Rome. Pope--papa in Latin--is the\nname for father, just as patriarch is; and the Pope had become more\nimportant since the removal of the court from Rome; but Constantius\ntried to overcome Liberius, banished him to Thrace, and placed an Arian\nnamed Felix in his room. The whole people of Rome rose in indignation,\nand Constantius tried to appease them by declaring that Liberius and\nFelix should rule the Church together; but the Romans would not submit\nto such a decree. \"Shall we have the circus factions in the Church?\"\nthey said. \"No! one God, one Christ, one Bishop!\" In the end Felix was\nforced to fly, and Liberius kept his seat. Athanasius found his safest\nrefuge in the deserts among the hermits of the Thebaid in Egypt.\n\nMeantime Sapor, king of Persia, was attacking Nisibis, the most Eastern\ncity of the Roman empire, where a brave Catholic named James was Bishop,\nand encouraged the people to a most brave resistance, so that they held\nout for four months; and Sapor, thinking the city was under some divine\nprotection, and finding that his army sickened in the hot marshes around\nit, gave up the siege at last.\n\n[Illustration: JULIAN.]\n\nConstantius was a little, mean-looking man, but he dressed himself up to\ndo his part as Emperor. He had swarms of attendants like any Eastern\nprince, most of them slaves, who waited on him as if he was perfectly\nhelpless. He had his face painted, and was covered with gold embroidery\nand jewels on all state occasions, and he used to stand like a statue to\nbe looked at, never winking an eyelid, nor moving his hand, nor doing\nanything to remind people that he was a man like themselves. He was\ntimid and jealous, and above all others, he dreaded his young cousin\nJulian, the only relation he had. Julian had studied at Athens, and what\nhe there heard and fancied of the old Greek philosophy seemed to him far\ngrander than the Christianity that showed itself in the lives of\nConstantius and his courtiers. He was full of spirit and ability, and\nConstantius thought it best to keep him at a distance by sending him to\nfight the Germans on the borders of Gaul. There he was so successful,\nand was such a favorite with the soldiers, that Constantius sent to\nrecall him. This only made the army proclaim him Emperor, and he set out\nwith them across the Danubian country towards Constantinople, but on the\nway met the tidings that Constantius was dead.\n\nThis was in 361, and without going to Rome Julian hastened on to\nConstantinople, where he was received as Emperor. He no longer pretended\nto be a Christian, but had all the old heathen temples opened again, and\nthe sacrifices performed as in old times, though it was not easy to find\nany one who recollected how they were carried on. He said that all forms\nof religion should be free to every one, but he himself tried to live\nlike an ancient philosopher, getting rid of all the pomp of jewels,\nrobes, courtiers, and slaves who had attended Constantius, wearing\nsimply the old purple garb of a Roman general, sleeping on a lion's\nskin, and living on the plainest food. Meantime, he tried to put down\nthe Christian faith by laughing at it, and trying to get people to\ndespise it as something low and mean. When this did not succeed, he\nforbade Christians to be schoolmasters or teachers; and as they declared\nthat the ruin of the Temple of Jerusalem proved our Lord to have been a\ntrue Prophet, he commanded that it should be rebuilt. As soon as the\nfoundations were dug, there was an outburst of fiery smoke and balls of\nflame which forced the workmen to leave off. Such things sometimes\nhappen when long-buried ruins are opened, from the gases that have\nformed there; but it was no doubt the work of God's providence, and the\nChristians held it as a miracle.\n\nJulian hated the Catholic Christians worse than the Arians, because he\nfound them more staunch against him. Athanasius had come back to\nAlexandria, but the Arians got up an accusation against him that he had\nbeen guilty of a murder, and brought forward a hand in a box to prove\nthe crime; and though Athanasius showed the man said to have been\nmurdered alive, and with both his hands in their places, he was still\nhunted out of Alexandria, and had to hide among the hermits of the\nThebaid again. When any search was threatened of the spot where he was,\nthe horn was sounded which called the hermits together to church, and he\nwas taken to another hiding-place. Sometimes he visited his flock at\nAlexandria in secret, and once, when he was returning down the Nile, he\nlearned that a boat-load of soldiers was pursuing him. Turning back, his\nboat met them. They called out to know if Athanasius had been seen. \"He\nwas going down the Nile a little while ago,\" the Bishop answered. His\nenemies hurried on, and he was safe.\n\nJulian was angered by finding it impossible to waken paganism. At one\ngrand temple in Asia, whither hundreds of oxen used to be brought to\nsacrifice, all his encouragement only caused one goose to be offered,\nwhich the priest of the temple received as a grand gift. Julian\nexpected, too, that pagans would worship their old gods and yet live the\nvirtuous lives of Christians; and he was disappointed and grieved to\nfind that no works of goodness or mercy sprang from those who followed\nhis belief. He was a kind man by nature, but he began to grow bitter\nwith disappointment, and to threaten when he found it was of no use to\npersuade; and the Christians expected that there would be a great\npersecution when he should return from an expedition into the East\nagainst the king of Persia.\n\n[Illustration: ARCH OF CONSTANTINE.]\n\nHe went with a fine army in ships down the Euphrates, and thence marched\ninto Persia, where King Sapor was wise enough to avoid a battle, and\nonly retreat before him. The Romans were half starved, and obliged to\nturn back. Then Sapor attacked their rear, and cut off their stragglers.\nJulian shared all the sufferings of his troops, and was always\nwherever there was danger. At last a javelin pierced him under the arm.\nIt is said that he caught some of his blood in his other hand, cast it\nup towards heaven, and cried, \"Galilean, Thou hast conquered.\" He died\nin a few hours, in 363, and the Romans could only choose the best leader\nthey knew to get them out of the sad plight they were in--almost that of\nthe ten thousand Greeks, except that they knew the roads and had\nfriendly lands much nearer. Their choice fell on a plain, honest\nChristian soldier named Jovian, who did his best by making a treaty with\nSapor, giving up all claim to any lands beyond the Tigris, and\nsurrendering the brave city of Nisibis which had held out so\ngallantly--a great grief to the Eastern Christians. The first thing\nJovian did was to have Athanasius recalled, but his reign did not last a\nyear, and he died on the way to Constantinople.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX.\n\nVALENTINIAN AND HIS FAMILY.\n\n364-392.\n\n\nWhen Jovian died, the army chose another soldier named Valentinian, a\nstout, brave, rough man, with little education, rude and passionate, but\na Catholic Christian. As soon as he reached Constantinople, he divided\nthe empire with his brother Valens, whom he left to rule the East, while\nhe himself went to govern the West, chiefly from Milan, for the Emperors\nwere not fond of living at Rome, partly because the remains of the\nSenate interfered with their full grandeur, and partly because there\nwere old customs that were inconvenient to a Christian Emperor. He was\nin general just and honest in his dealings, but when he was angry he\ncould be cruel, and it is said he had two bears to whom criminals were\nthrown. His brother Valens was a weaker and less able man, and was an\nArian, who banished Athanasius once more for the fifth time; but the\nChurch of Alexandria prevailed, and he was allowed to remain and die in\npeace. The Creed that bears his name is not thought to be of his\nwriting, but to convey what he taught. There was great talk at this time\nall over the cities about the questions between the Catholics and\nArians, and good men were shocked by hearing the holiest mysteries of\nthe faith gossiped about by the idlers in baths and market-places.\n\n[Illustration: ALEXANDRIA.]\n\nAt this time Damasus, the Pope, desired a very learned deacon of his\nchurch, named Jerome, to make a good translation of the whole of the\nScriptures into Latin, comparing the best versions, and giving an\naccount of the books. For this purpose Jerome went to the Holy Land, and\nlived in a cell at Bethlehem, happy to be out of the way of the quarrels\nat Rome and Constantinople. There, too, was made the first translation\nof the Gospels into one of the Teutonic languages, namely, the Gothic.\nThe Goths were a great people, of the same Teutonic race as the Germans,\nFranks, and Saxons--tall, fair, brave, strong, and handsome--and were at\nthis time living on the north bank of the Danube. Many of their young\nmen hired themselves to fight as soldiers in the Roman army; and they\nwere learning Christianity, but only as Arians. It was for them that\ntheir Bishop Ulfilas translated the Gospels into Gothic, and invented an\nalphabet to write them in. A copy of this translation is still to be\nseen at Upsal in Sweden, written on purple vellum in silver letters.\n\n[Illustration: GOTHS.]\n\nAnother great and holy man of this time was Ambrose, the Archbishop\nof Milan, who was the guide and teacher of Gratian, Valentinian's eldest\nson, a good and promising youth so far as he went, but who, after the\nhabit of the time, was waiting to be baptized till he should be further\non in life. Valentinian's second wife was named Justina; and when he\ndied, as it is said, from breaking a blood-vessel in a fit of rage, in\n375, the Western Empire was shared between her little son Valentinian\nand Gratian.\n\nJustina was an Arian, and wanted to have a church in Milan where she\ncould worship without ascribing full honor and glory to God the Son; but\nAmbrose felt that the churches were his Master's, not his own to be\ngiven away, and filled the Church with Christians, who watched there\nchanting Psalms day and night, while the soldiers Justina sent to turn\nthem out joined them, and sang and prayed with them.\n\nGratian did not choose to be called Pontifex Maximus, or chief priest of\nall the Roman idols, as all the Emperors had been; and this offended\nmany persons. A general named Maximus rose and reigned as Emperor in\nBritain, and Gratian had too much on his hands in the north to put him\ndown.\n\nIn the meantime, a terrible wild tribe called Huns were coming from the\nWest and driving the Goths before them, so that they asked leave from\nValens to come across the Danube and settle themselves in Thrace. The\nreply was so ill managed by Valens' counsellors that the Goths were\noffended, and came over the river as foes when they might have come as\nfriends; and Valens was killed in battle with them at Adrianople in 378.\n\nGratian felt that he alone could not cope with the dangers that beset\nthe empire, and his brother was still a child, so he gave the Eastern\nEmpire to a brave and noble Spanish general named Theodosius, who was a\nCatholic Christian and baptized, and who made peace with the Goths, gave\nthem settlements, and took their young men into his armies. In the\nmeantime, Maximus was growing more powerful in Britain, and Gratian, who\nchiefly lived in Gaul, was disliked by the soldiers especially for\nmaking friends with the young Gothic chief Alaric, whom he joined in\nhunting in the forests of Gaul in a way they thought unworthy of an\nEmperor. Finding that he was thus disliked, Maximus crossed the Channel\nto attack him. His soldiers would not march against the British legions,\nand he was taken and put to death, bitterly lamenting that he had so\nlong deferred his baptism till now it was denied to him.\n\nYoung Valentinian went on reigning at Milan, and Maximus in Gaul. This\nlast had become a Christian and a Catholic in name, but without laying\naside his fierceness and cruelty, so that, when some heretics were\nbrought before him, he had them put to death, entirely against the\nadvice of the great Saint and Bishop then working in Gaul, Martin of\nTours, and likewise of St. Ambrose, who had been sent by Valentinian to\nmake peace with the Gallic tyrant.\n\nIt was a time of great men in the Church. In Africa a very great man had\nrisen up, St. Augustine, who, after doubting long and living a life of\nsin, was drawn to the truth by the prayers of his good mother Monica,\nand, when studying in Italy, listened to St. Ambrose, and became a\nhearty believer and maintainer of all that was good. He became Bishop of\nHippo in Africa.\n\n[Illustration: CONVENT ON THE HILLS.]\n\nBut with the good there was much of evil. All the old cities, and\nespecially Rome, were full of a strange mixture of Christian show and\nheathen vice. There was such idleness and luxury in the towns that\nhardly any Romans had hardihood enough to go out to fight their own\nbattles, but hired Goths, Germans, Gauls, and Moors; and these learned\ntheir ways of warfare, and used them in their turn against the Romans\nthemselves. Nothing was so much run after as the games in the\namphitheatres. People rushed there to watch the chariot races, and went\nperfectly wild with eagerness about the drivers whose colors they wore;\nand even the gladiator games were not done away with by Christianity,\nalthough these sports were continually preached against by the clergy,\nand no really devout person would go to the theatres. Much time was\nidled away at the baths, which were the place for talk and gossip, and\nwhere there was a soft steamy air which was enough to take away all\nmanhood and resolution. The ladies' dresses were exceedingly expensive\nand absurd, and the whole way of living quite as sumptuous and helpless\nas in the times of heathenism. Good people tried to live apart. More\nthan ever became monks and hermits; and a number of ladies, who had been\nmuch struck with St. Jerome's teaching, made up a sort of society at\nRome which busied itself in good works and devotion. Two of the ladies,\na mother and daughter, followed him to the Holy Land, and dwelt in a\nconvent at Bethlehem.\n\nMaximus after a time advanced into Italy, and Valentinian fled to ask\nthe help of Theodosius, who came with an army, defeated and slew\nMaximus, and restored Valentinian, but only for a short time, for the\npoor youth was soon murdered by a Frank chief in his own service named\nArbogastes.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XL.\n\nTHEODOSIUS THE GREAT.\n\n392-395.\n\n\nThe Frank, Arbogastes, who had killed Valentinian did not make himself\nEmperor, but set up a heathen philosopher called Eugenius, who for a\nlittle while restored all the heathen pomp and splendor, and opened the\ntemples again, threatening even to take away the churches and turn the\nchief one at Milan into a stable. They knew that Theodosius would soon\ncome to attack them, so they prepared for a great resistance in the\npasses of the Julian Alps, and the image of the Thundering Jupiter was\nplaced to guard them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTheodosius had collected his troops and marched under the Labarum--that\nis to say, the Cross of Constantine, which had been the ensign of the\nimperial army ever since the battle of the Milvian Bridge. It was the\ncross combined with the two first Greek letters of the name Christ,\n[Symbol: Greek chi & rho combined], and was carried, as the eagles had\nbeen, above a purple silk banner. The men of Eugenius bore before them a\nfigure of Hercules, and in the first battle they gained the advantage,\nfor the more ignorant Eastern soldiers, though Christians, could not get\nrid of the notion that there was some sort of power in a heathen god,\nand thought Jupiter and Hercules were too strong for them.\n\nBut Theodosius rallied them and led them back, so that they gained a\ngreat victory, and a terrible storm and whirlwind which fell at the same\ntime upon the host of Eugenius made the Christian army feel the more\nsure that God fought on their side. Eugenius was taken and put to death,\nand Arbogastes fell on his own sword.\n\nTheodosius thus united the empires of the East and West once more. He\nwas a brave and gallant soldier, and a good and conscientious man, and\nwas much loved and honored; but he could be stern and passionate, and he\nwas likewise greatly feared. At Antioch, the people had been much\noffended at a tax which Theodosius had laid on them; they rose in\nrebellion, overthrew his statues and those of his family, and dragged\nthem about in the mud. No sooner was this done than they began to be\nshocked and terrified, especially because of the insult to the statue of\nthe Empress, who was lately dead after a most kind and charitable life.\nThe citizens in haste sent off messengers, with the Bishop at their\nhead, to declare their grief and sorrow, and entreat the Emperor's\npardon. All the time they were gone the city gave itself up to prayer\nand fasting, listening to sermons from the priest, John--called from his\neloquence Chrysostom, or Golden Mouth--who preached repentance for all\nthe most frequent sins, such as love of pleasure, irreverence at church,\netc. The Bishop on his way met the Emperor's deputies who were charged\nto enquire into the crime and punish the people; and he redoubled his\nspeed in reaching Constantinople, where he so pleaded the cause of the\npeople that Theodosius freely forgave them, and sent him home to keep a\nhappy Easter with them. This was while he was still Emperor only of the\nEast.\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN HALL OF JUSTICE.]\n\nBut when he was in Italy with Valentinian, three years later, there was\nanother great sedition at Thessalonica. The people there were as mad as\nwere most of the citizens of the larger towns upon the sports of the\namphitheatre, and were vehemently fond of the charioteers whom they\nadmired on either side. Just before some races that were expected, one\nof the favorite drivers committed a crime for which he was imprisoned.\nThe people, wild with fury, rose and called for his release; and when\nthis was denied to them, they fell on the magistrates with stones, and\nkilled the chief of them, Botheric, the commander of the forces. The\nnews was taken to Milan, where the Emperor then was, and his wrath was\nso great and terrible that he commanded that the whole city should\nsuffer. The soldiers, who were glad both to revenge their captain and to\ngain plunder, hastened to put his command into execution; the unhappy\npeople were collected in the circus, and slaughtered so rapidly and\nsuddenly, that when Theodosius began to recover from his passion, and\nsent to stay the hands of the slayers, they found the city burning and\nthe streets full of corpses.\n\nSt. Ambrose felt it his duty to speak forth in the name of the Church\nagainst such fury and cruelty; and when Theodosius presented himself at\nthe church door to come to the Holy Communion, Ambrose met him there,\nand turned him back as a blood-stained sinner unfit to partake of the\nheavenly feast, and bidding him not add sacrilege to murder.\n\nTheodosius pleaded that David had sinned even more deeply, and yet had\nbeen forgiven. \"If you have sinned like him, repent like him,\" said\nAmbrose; and the Emperor went back weeping to his palace, there to\nremain as a penitent. Easter was the usual time for receiving penitents\nback to the Church, but at Christmas the Emperor presented himself\nagain, hoping to win the Bishop's consent to his return at once; but\nAmbrose was firm, and again met him at the gate, rebuking him for trying\nto break the rules of the Church.\n\n\"No,\" said Theodosius; \"I am not come to break the laws, but to entreat\nyou to imitate the mercy of God whom we serve, who opens the gates of\nmercy to contrite sinners.\"\n\nOn seeing how deep was his repentance, Ambrose allowed him to enter the\nChurch, though it was not for some time that he was admitted to the Holy\nCommunion, and all that time he fasted and never put on his imperial\nrobes. He also made a law that no sentence of death should be carried\nout till thirty days after it was given, so as to give time to see\nwhether it were hasty or just.\n\nDuring this reign another heresy sprang up, denying the Godhead of God\nthe Holy Ghost, and, in consequence, Theodosius called together another\nCouncil of the Church, at which was added to the Nicene Creed those\nlatter sentences which follow the words, \"I believe in the Holy Ghost.\"\nIn this reign, too, began to be sung the _Te Deum_, which is generally\nknown as the hymn of St. Ambrose. It was first used at Milan, but\nwhether he wrote it or not is uncertain, though there is a story that he\nhad it sung for the first time at the baptism of St. Augustine.\n\nTheodosius only lived six months after his defeat of Eugenius, dying at\nMilan in 395, when only fifty years old. He was the last who really\ndeserved the name of a Roman Emperor, though the title was kept up, and\nRome had still much to undergo. He left two young sons named Arcadius\nand Honorius, between whom the empire was divided.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLI.\n\nALARIC THE GOTH.\n\n395-410.\n\n\nThe sons of the great Theodosius were, like almost all the children of\nthe Roman Emperors, vain and weak, spoiled by growing up as princes.\nArcadius, who was eighteen, had the East, and was under the charge of a\nRoman officer called Rufinus; Honorius who was only eleven, reigned at\nRome under the care of Stilicho, who was by birth a Vandal, that is to\nsay, of one of those Teutonic nations who were living all round the\nnorthern bounds of the empire, and whose sons came to serve in the Roman\narmies and learn Roman habits. Stilicho was brave and faithful, and\nalmost belonged to the imperial family, for his wife Serena was niece to\nTheodosius, and his daughter Maria was betrothed to the young Honorius.\n\nStilicho was a very active, spirited man, who found troops to check the\nenemies of Rome on all sides of the Western Empire. Rufinus was not so\nfaithful, and did great harm in the East by quarrelling with Arcadius'\nother ministers, and then, as all believed, inviting the Goths to come\nout of their settlements on the Danube and invade Greece, under Alaric,\nthe same Gothic chief who had been a friend and companion of Gratian,\nand had fought under Theodosius.\n\nThey passed the Danube, overran Macedon, and spread all over Greece,\nwhere, being Arian Christians, they destroyed with all their might all\nthe remaining statues and temples of the old pagans; although, as they\ndid not attack Athens, the pagans, who were numerous there, fancied that\nthey were prevented by a vision of Apollo and Pallas Athene. Arcadius\nsent to his brother for aid, and Stilicho marched through Thrace;\nRufinus was murdered through his contrivance, and then, marching on into\nthe Peloponnesus, he defeated Alaric in battle, and drove him out from\nthence, but no further than Epirus, where the Goths took up their\nstation to wait for another opportunity; but by this time Arcadius\nhad grown afraid of Stilicho, sent him back to Italy with many gifts and\npromises, and engaged Alaric to be the guardian of his empire, not only\nagainst the wild tribes, but against his brother and his minister.\n\n[Illustration: COLONNADES OF SAINT PETER AT ROME.]\n\nThis was a fine chance for Alaric, who had all the temper of a great\nconqueror, and to the wild bravery of a Goth had added the knowledge and\nskill of a Roman general. He led his forces through the Alps into Italy,\nand showed himself before the gates of Milan. The poor weak boy Honorius\nwas carried off for safety to Ravenna, while Stilicho gathered all the\ntroops from Gaul, and left Britain unguarded by Roman soldiers, to\nprotect the heart of the empire. With these he attacked Alaric, and\ngained a great victory at Pollentia; the Goths retreated; he followed\nand beat them again at Verona, driving them out of Italy.\n\nIt was the last Roman victory, and it was celebrated by the last Roman\ntriumph. There had been three hundred triumphs of Roman generals, but it\nwas Honorius who entered Rome in the car of victory and was taken to the\nCapitol, and afterwards there were games in the amphitheatre as usual,\nand fights of gladiators. In the midst of the horrid battle a voice was\nheard bidding it to cease in the name of Christ, and between the swords\nthere was seen standing a monk in his dark brown dress, holding up his\nhand and keeping back the blows. There was a shout of rage, and he was\ncut down and killed in a moment; but then in horror the games were\nstopped. It was found that he was an Egyptian monk named Telemachus,\nfreshly come to Rome. No one knew any more about him, but this noble\ndeath of his put an end to shows of gladiators. Chariot races and games\nwent on, though the good and thoughtful disapproved of the wild\nexcitement they caused; but the horrid sports of death and blood were\nended for ever.\n\nAlaric was driven back for a time, but there were swarms of Germans who\nwere breaking in where the line of boundary had been left undefended by\nthe soldiers being called away to fight the Goths. A fierce heathen\nchief named Radegaisus advanced with at least 200,000 men as far as\nFlorence, but was there beaten by the brave Stilicho, and was put to\ndeath, while the other prisoners were sold into slavery. But Stilicho,\nbrave as he was, was neither loved nor trusted by the Emperor or the\npeople. Some abused him for not bringing back the old gods under whom,\nthey said, Rome had prospered; others said that he was no honest\nChristian, and all believed that he meant to make his son Emperor. When\nhe married this son to a daughter of Arcadius, people made sure that\nthis was his purpose. Honorius listened to the accusation, and his\nfavorite Olympius persuaded the army to give up Stilicho. He fled to a\nchurch, but was persuaded to come out of it, and was then put to death.\n\nAnd at that very time Alaric was crossing the Alps. There was no one to\nmake any resistance. Honorius was at Ravenna, safe behind walls and\nmarshes, and cared for nothing but his favorite poultry. Alaric encamped\noutside the walls of Rome, but he did not attempt to break in, waiting\ntill the Romans should be starved out. When they had come to terrible\ndistress, they offered to ransom their city. He asked a monstrous sum,\nwhich they refused, telling him what hosts there were of them, and that\nhe might yet find them dangerous. \"The thicker the hay, the easier to\nmow,\" said the Goth. \"What will you leave us then?\" they asked. \"Your\nlives,\" was the answer.\n\nThe ransom the wretched Romans agreed to pay was 5000 pounds' weight of\ngold and 30,000 of silver, 4000 silk robes, 3000 pieces of scarlet\ncloth, and 3000 pounds of pepper. They stripped the roof of the temple\nin the Capitol, and melted down the images of the old gods to raise the\nsum, and Alaric drew off his men; but he came again the next year,\nblocked up Ostia, and starved them faster. This time he brought a man\nnamed Attalus, whom he ordered them to admit as Emperor, and they did\nso; but as the governor of Africa would send no corn while this man\nreigned, the people rose and drove him out, and thus for the third time\nbrought Alaric down on them. The gates were opened to him at night, and\nhe entered Rome on the 24th of August, 410, exactly eight hundred years\nafter the sack of Rome by Brennus.\n\n[Illustration: ALARIC'S BURIAL.]\n\nAlaric did not wish to ruin and destroy the grand old city, nor to\nmassacre the inhabitants; but his Goths were thirsty for the spoil he\nhad kept them from so long, and he gave them leave to plunder for six\ndays, but not to kill, nor to do any harm to the churches. A set of\nwild, furious men could not, of course, be kept in by these orders, and\nterrible misfortunes befell many unhappy families; but the mischief done\nwas much less than could have been expected, and the great churches of\nSt. Peter and St. Paul were unhurt. One old lady named Marcella, a\nfriend of St. Jerome, was beaten to make her show where her treasures\nwere; but when at last her tormentors came to believe that she had spent\nher all on charity, they led her to the shelter of the church with her\nfriends, soon to die of what she had undergone. After twelve days,\nhowever, Alaric drew off his forces, leaving Rome to shift for itself.\nBishop Innocent was at Ravenna, where he had gone to ask help from the\nEmperor; but Honorius knew and cared so little that when he was told\nRome was lost, he only thought of his favorite hen whose name was Rome,\nand said, \"That cannot be, for I have just fed her.\"\n\nAlaric marched southward, the Goths plundering the villas of the Roman\nnobles on their way. At Cosenza, in the extreme south, he fell ill of a\nfever and died. His warriors turned the stream of the river Bionzo out\nof its course, caused his grave to be dug in the bed of the torrent, and\nwhen his corpse had been laid there, they slew all the slaves who had\ndone the work, so that none might be able to tell where lay the great\nGoth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLII.\n\nTHE VANDALS.\n\n403.\n\n\nOne good thing came of the Gothic conquest--the pagans were put to\nsilence for ever. The temples had been razed, the idols broken, and no\none set them up again; but the whole people of Rome were Christian, at\nleast in name, from that time forth; and the temples and halls of\njustice began to be turned into churches.\n\nHonorius still lived his idle life at Ravenna, and the Bishop--or, as\nthe Romans called him, Papa, father, or Pope--came back and helped them\nto put matters into order again. Alaric had left no son, but his wife's\nbrother Ataulf became leader of the Goths. At Rome he had made prisoner\nTheodosius' daughter Placidia, and he married her; but he did not choose\nto rule at Rome, because, as he said, his Goths would never bear a quiet\nlife in a city. So he promised to protect the empire for Honorius, and\nled his tribe away from Italy to Spain, which they conquered, and began\na kingdom there. They were therefore known as the Visigoths, or Western\nGoths.\n\nArcadius, in the meantime, reigned quietly at Constantinople, where St.\nJohn Chrysostom, the golden-mouthed preacher of Antioch, was made\nPatriarch, or father-bishop. The games and races in the circus at\nConstantinople were as madly run after as they had ever been at Rome or\nThessalonica; there were not indeed shows of gladiators, but people set\nthemselves with foolish vehemence to back up one driver against another,\nwearing their colors and calling themselves by their names, and the two\nfactions of the Greens and the Blues were ready to tear each other to\npieces. The Empress Eudoxia, Arcadius' wife, was one of the most\nvehement of all, and was, besides, a vain, silly woman, who encouraged\nall kinds of pomp and expense. St. Chrysostom preached against all the\nmischiefs that thus arose, so that she was offended, and contrived to\nraise up an accusation against him and have him driven out of the city.\nThe people of Constantinople still showed so much love for him that she\ninsisted on his being sent further off to the bleak shores of the Black\nSea, and on the journey he died, his last words being, \"Glory be to God\nin all things.\"\n\n[Illustration: ROMAN CLOCK.]\n\nArcadius died in 408, leaving a young son, called Theodosius II., in\nthe care of his elder sister Pulcheria, under whom the Eastern Empire\nlay at peace, while the miseries of the Western went on increasing. New\nEmperors were set up by the legions in the distant provinces, but were\nsoon overthrown, while Honorius only remained at Ravenna by the support\nof the kings of the Teuton tribes; and as he never trusted them or kept\nfaith with them, he was always offending them and being punished by\nfresh attacks on some part of his empire, for which he did not greatly\ncare so long as they let him alone.\n\nAtaulf died in Spain, and Placidia came back to Ravenna, where Honorius\ngave her in marriage to a Roman general named Constantius, and she had a\nson named Valentinian, who, when his uncle died after thirty-seven years\nof a wretched reign, became Emperor in his stead, under his mother's\nguardianship, in 423.\n\nTwo great generals who were really able men were her chief\nsupporters--Boniface, Count or Commander of Africa; and Aetius, who is\nsometimes called the last of the Romans, though he was not by birth a\nRoman at all, but a Scythian. He gained the ear of the Empress Placidia,\nand persuaded her that Boniface wanted to set himself up in Africa as\nEmperor, so that she sent to recall him, and evil friends assured him\nthat she meant to put him to death as soon as he arrived. He was very\nmuch enraged, and though St. Augustine, now an old man, who had long\nbeen Bishop of Hippo, advised him to restrain his anger, he called on\nGenseric, the chief of the Vandals, to come and help him to defend his\nprovince.\n\n[Illustration: SPANISH COAST.]\n\nThe Vandals were another tribe of Teutons--tall, strong, fair-haired,\nand much like the Goths, and, like them, they were Arians. They had\nmarauded in Italy, and then had followed the Goths to Spain, where they\nhad established themselves in the South, in the country called from them\nVandalusia, or Andalusia. Their chief was only too glad to obey the\nsummons of Boniface, but before he came the Roman had found out his\nmistake; Placidia had apologized to him, and all was right between them.\nBut it was now too late; Genseric and his Vandals were on the way, and\nthere was nothing for it but to fight his best against them.\n\nHe could not save Carthage, and, though he made the bravest defence in\nhis power, he was driven into Hippo, which was so strongly fortified\nthat he was able to hold it out a whole year, during which time St.\nAugustine died, after a long illness. He had caused the seven\npenitential Psalms to be written out on the walls of his room, and was\nconstantly musing on them. He died, and was buried in peace before the\ncity was taken. Boniface held out for five years altogether before\nAfrica was entirely taken by the Vandals, and a miserable time began for\nthe Church, for Genseric was an Arian, and set himself to crush out the\nCatholic Church by taking away her buildings and grievously persecuting\nher faithful bishops.\n\nValentinian III, made a treaty with him, and even yielded up to him all\nright to the old Roman province of Africa; but Genseric had a strong\nfleet of ships, and went on attacking and plundering Sicily, Corsica,\nSardinia, Italy and the coasts of Greece.\n\nBritain, at the same time, was being so tormented by the attacks of the\nSaxons by sea, and the Caledonians from the north, that her chiefs sent\na piteous letter to Aetius in Gaul, beginning with \"The groans of the\nBritons;\" but Aetius could send no help, and Gaul itself was being\noverrun by the Goths in the south, the Burgundians in the middle, and\nthe Franks in the north, so that scarcely more than Italy itself\nremained to Valentinian.\n\n[Illustration: VANDALS PLUNDERING]\n\nThe Eastern half of the Empire was better off, though it was tormented\nby the Persians in the East, on the northern border by the Eastern Goths\nor Ostrogoths, who had stayed on the banks of the Danube instead of\ncoming to Italy, and to the south by the Vandals from Africa. But\nPulcheria was so wise and good that, when her young brother Theodosius\nII. died without children, the people begged her to choose a husband who\nmight be an Emperor for them. She chose a wise old senator named\nMarcian, and when he died, she again chose another good and wise man\nnamed Zeno; and thus the Eastern Empire stood while the West was fast\ncrumbling away. The nobles were almost all vain, weak cowards, who only\nthought of themselves, and left strangers to fight their battles; and\nevery one was cowed with fear, for a more terrible foe than any was now\ncoming on them.\n\n[Illustration: PYRAMIDS AND SPHINX IN EGYPT.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIII.\n\nATTILA THE HUN\n\n435-457.\n\n\nThe terrible enemy who was coming against the unhappy Roman Empire was\nthe nation of Huns, a wild, savage race, who were of the same stock as\nthe Tartars, and dwelt as they do in the northern parts of Asia, keeping\nhuge herds of horses, spending their life on horseback, and using mares'\nmilk as food. They were an ugly, small, but active race, and used to cut\ntheir children's faces that the scars might make them look more terrible\nto their enemies. Just at this time a great spirit of conquest had come\nupon them, and they had, as said before, driven the Goths over the\nDanube fifty years ago, and seized the lands we still call Hungary. A\nmost mighty and warlike chief called Attila had become their head,\nand wherever he went his track was marked by blood and flame, so that he\nwas called \"The Scourge of God.\" His home was on the banks of the\nTheiss, in a camp enclosed with trunks of trees, for he did not care to\ndwell in cities or establish a kingdom, though the wild tribes of Huns\nfrom the furthest parts of Asia followed his standard--a sword fastened\nto a pole, which was said to be also his idol.\n\n[Illustration: HUNNISH CAMP.]\n\nHe threatened to fall upon the two empires, and an embassy was sent to\nhim at his camp. The Huns would not dismount, and thus the Romans were\nforced to address them on horseback. The only condition upon which he\nwould abstain from invading the empire was the paying of an enormous\ntribute, beyond what almost any power of theirs could attempt to raise.\nHowever, he did not then attack Italy, but turned upon Gaul. So much was\nhe hated and dreaded by the Teutonic nations, that all Goths, Franks,\nand Burgundians flocked to join the Roman forces under Aetius to drive\nhim back. They came just in time to save the city of Orleans from being\nravaged by him, and defeated him in the battle of Chalons with a great\nslaughter; but he made good his retreat from Gaul with an immense\nnumber of captives, whom he killed in revenge.\n\nThe next year he demanded that Valentinian's sister, Honoria, should be\ngiven to him, and when she was refused, he led his host into Italy and\ndestroyed all the beautiful cities of the north. A great many of the\ninhabitants fled into the islands among the salt marshes and pools at\nthe head of the Adriatic Sea, between the mouths of the rivers Po and\nAdige, where no enemy could reach them; and there they built houses and\nmade a town, which in time became the great city of Venice, the queen of\nthe Adriatic.\n\n[Illustration: ST. MARK'S, VENICE.]\n\nAetius was still in Gaul, the wretched Valentinian at Ravenna was\nhelpless and useless, and Attila proceeded towards Rome. It was well for\nRome that she had a brave and devoted Pope in Leo. I., who went out at\nthe head of his clergy to meet the barbarian in his tent, and threaten\nhim with the wrath of Heaven if he should let loose his cruel followers\nupon the city. Attila was struck with his calm greatness, and,\nremembering that Alaric had died soon after plundering Rome, became\nafraid. He consented to accept of Honoria's dowry instead of herself,\nand to be content with a great ransom for the city of Rome. He then\nturned to his camp on the Danube with all his horde, and soon after\nhis arrival he married a young girl whom he had made prisoner. The next\nmorning he was found dead on his bed in a pool of his own blood, and she\nwas gone; but as there was no wound about him, it was thought that he\nhad broken a blood-vessel in the drunken fit in which he fell asleep,\nand that she had fled in terror. His warriors tore their cheeks with\ntheir daggers, saying that he ought to be mourned only with tears of\nblood; but as they had no chief as able and daring as he, they gradually\nfell back again to their north-eastern settlements, and troubled Europe\nno more.\n\nValentinian thought the danger over, and when Aetius came back to\nRavenna, he grew jealous of his glory and stabbed him with his own hand.\nSoon after he offended a senator named Maximus, who killed him in\nrevenge, became Emperor, and married his widow, Eudoxia, the daughter of\nTheodosius II. of Constantinople, telling her that it was for love of\nher that her husband was slain. Eudoxia sent a message to invite the\ndreadful Genseric, king of the Vandals, to come and deliver her from a\nrebel who had slain the lawful Emperor. Genseric's ships were ready, and\nsailed into the Tiber; while the Romans, mad with terror, stoned\nMaximus in their streets. Nobody had any courage or resolution but the\nPope Leo, who went forth again to meet the barbarian and plead for his\ncity; but Genseric being an Arian, had not the same awe of him as the\nwild Huns, hated the Catholics, and was eager for the prey. He would\naccept no ransom instead of the plunder, but promised that the lives of\nthe Romans should be spared. This was the most dreadful calamity that\nRome, once the queen of cities, had undergone. The pillage lasted\nfourteen days, and the Vandals stripped churches, houses, and all alike,\nputting their booty on board their ships; but much was lost in a storm\nbetween Italy and Africa. The golden candlestick and shew-bread table\nbelonging to the Temple at Jerusalem were carried off to Carthage with\nthe spoil, and no less than sixty thousand captives, among them the\nEmpress Eudoxia, who had been the means of bringing in Genseric, with\nher two daughters. The Empress was given back to her friends at\nConstantinople, but one of her daughters was kept by the Vandals, and\nwas married to the son of Genseric. After plundering all the south of\nItaly, Genseric went back to Africa without trying to keep Rome or set\nup a kingdom; and when he was gone, the Romans elected as Emperor a\nsenator named Avitus, a Gaul by birth, a peaceful and good man.\n\n[Illustration: THE POPE'S HOUSE.]\n\nHis daughter had married a most excellent Gaulish gentleman named\nSidonius Apollinaris, who wrote such good poetry that the Romans placed\nhis bust crowned with laurel in the Capitol. He wrote many letters, too,\nwhich are preserved to this time, and show that, in the midst of all\nthis crumbling power of Rome, people in Southern Gaul managed to have\nmany peaceful days of pleasant country life. But Sidonius' quiet days\ncame to an end when, layman and lawyer as he was, the people of Clermont\nbegged him to be their Bishop. The Church stood, whatever fell, and\npeople trusted more to their Bishop than to any one else, and wanted him\nto be the ablest man they could find. So Sidonius took the charge of\nthem, and helped them to hold out their mountain city of Clermont for a\nwhole year against the Goths, and gained good terms for them at last,\nthough he himself had to suffer imprisonment and exile from these Arian\nGoths because of his Catholic faith.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIV.\n\nTHEODORIC THE OSTROGOTH.\n\n457--561.\n\n\nAvitus was a good man, but the Romans grew weary of him, and in the year\n457 they engaged Ricimer, a chief of the Teutonic tribe called Suevi, to\ndrive him out, when he went back to Gaul, where he had a beautiful\npalace and garden. After ten months Ricimer chose another Sueve to be\nEmperor. He had been a captain under Aetius, and had the Roman name of\nMajorian. He showed himself brave and spirited; led an army into Spain\nand attacked Genseric; but he was beaten, and came back disappointed.\nRicimer was, however, jealous of him, forced him to resign, and soon\nafter poisoned him.\n\nAfter this, Ricimer really ruled Italy, but he seemed to have a sort of\nawe of the title of Caesar Augustus, the Emperor, for he forbore to use\nit himself, and gave it to one poor weak wretch after another until his\ndeath in 472. His nephew went on in the same course; but at last a\nsoldier named Orestes, of Roman birth, gained the chief power, and set\nup as Emperor his own little son, whose Christian name was Romulus\nAugustus, making him wear the purple and the crown, and calling him by\nall the titles; but the Romans made his name into Augustulus, or Little\nAugustus. At the end of a year, a Teutonic chief named Odoacer crossed\nthe Alps at the head of a great mixture of different German tribes, and\nOrestes could make no stand against him, but was taken and put to death.\nHis little boy was spared, and was placed at Sorrento; but Odoacer sent\nthe crown and robes of the West to Zeno, the Eastern Emperor, saying\nthat one Emperor was enough. So fell the Roman power in 476, exactly\ntwelve centuries after the date of the founding of Rome. It was thought\nthat this was meant by the twelve vultures seen by Romulus, and that the\nseven which Remus saw denoted the seven centuries that the Republic\nstood. It was curious, too, that it should be with the two names of\nRomulus and Augustus that Rome and her empire fell.\n\nOdoacer called himself king, and, indeed, the Western Empire had been\nnearly all seized by different kings--the Vandal kings in Africa, the\nGothic kings in Spain and Southern Gaul, the Burgundian kings and Frank\nkings in Northern Gaul, the Saxon kings in Britain. The Ostro or Eastern\nGoths, who had since the time of Valens dwelt on the banks of the\nDanube, had been subdued by Attila, but recovered their freedom after\nhis death. One of their young chiefs, named Theodoric, was sent as a\nhostage to Constantinople, and there learned much. He became king of the\nEastern Goths in 470, and showed himself such a dangerous neighbor to\nthe Eastern Empire that, to be rid of him the Emperor Zeno advised him\nto go and attack Odoacer in Italy. The Ostrogoths marched seven hundred\nmiles, and came over the Alps into the plains of Northern Italy, where\nOdoacer fought with them bravely, but was beaten. They besieged him even\nin Ravenna, till after three years he was obliged to surrender and was\nput to death.\n\n[Illustration: ROMULUS AUGUSTUS RESIGNS THE CROWN.]\n\nRome could make no defence, and fell into Theodoric's hands with the\nrest of Italy; but he was by far the best of the conquerors--he did not\nhurt or misuse them, and only wished his Goths to learn of them and\nbecome peaceful farmers. He gave them the lands which had lost their\nowners; about thirty or forty thousand families were settled there by\nhim on the waste lands, and the Romans who were left took courage and\nworked too. He did not live at Rome, though he came thither and was\ncomplimented by the Senate, and he set a sum by every year for repairing\nthe old buildings; but he chiefly lived at Verona, where he reigned over\nboth the Eastern and Western Goths in Gaul and Italy.\n\nHe was an Arian, but he did not persecute the Catholics, and to such\npersons as changed their profession of faith to please him he showed no\nmore favor, saying that those who were not faithful to their God would\nnever be faithful to their earthly master. He reigned thirty-three\nyears, but did not end as well as he began, for he grew irritable and\ndistrustful with age; and the Romans, on the other hand, forgot that\nthey were not the free, prosperous nation of old, and displeased him.\nTwo of their very best men, Boethius and Symmachus, were by him kept for\na long time prisoners at Rome and then put to death. While Boethius was\nin prison at Pavia, he wrote a book called _The Consolations of\nPhilosophy_, so beautiful that the English king Alfred translated it\ninto Saxon four centuries later. Theodoric kept up a correspondence with\nthe other Gothic kings wherever a tribe of his people dwelt, even as far\nas Sweden and Denmark; but as even he could not write, and only had a\nseal with the letters [Greek: THEOD] with which to make his signature,\nthe whole was conducted in Latin by Roman slaves on either side, who\ninterpreted to their masters. An immense number of letters from\nTheodoric's secretary are preserved, and show what an able man his\nmaster was, and how well he deserved his name of \"The Great.\" He died in\n526, leaving only two daughters. Their two sons, Amalric and Athalaric,\ndivided the Eastern and Western Goths between them again.\n\nSeven Gothic kings reigned over Northern Italy after Theodoric. They\nwere fierce and restless, but had nothing like his strength and spirit,\nand they chiefly lived in the more northern cities--Milan, Verona, and\nRavenna, leaving Rome to be a tributary city to them, where there still\nremained the old names of Senate and Consuls, but the person who was\ngenerally most looked up to and trusted was the Pope. All this time Rome\nwas leavening the nations who had conquered her. When they tried to\nlearn civilized ways, it was from her; they learned to speak her tongue,\nnever wrote but in Latin, and worshipped with Latin prayers and\nservices. Far above all, these conquerors learned Christianity from the\nRomans. When everything else was ruined, the Bishop and clergy remained,\nand became the chief counsellors and advisers of many of these kings.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was just at this time that there was living at Monte Casino, in the\nSouth of Italy, St. Benedict, an Italian hermit, who was there joined by\na number of others who, like him, longed to pray for the sinful world\napart rather than fight and struggle with bad men. He formed them into a\ngreat band of monks, all wearing a plain dark dress with a hood, and\nfollowing a strict rule of plain living, hard work, and prayers at seven\nregular hours in the course of the day and night. His rule was called\nthe Benedictine, and houses of monks arose in many places, and were safe\nshelters in these fierce times.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLV.\n\nBELISARIUS.\n\n533-563.\n\n\nThe Teutonic nations soon lost their spirit when they had settled in the\nluxurious Roman cities, and as they were as fierce as ever, their kings\ntore one another to pieces. A very able Emperor, named Justinian, had\ncome to the throne in the East, and in his armies there had grown up a\nThracian who was one of the greatest and best generals the world has\never seen. His name was Belisarius, and strange to say, both he and the\nEmperor had married the daughters of two charioteers in the circus\nraces. The Empress was named Theodora, the general's wife Antonina, and\ntheir acquaintance first made Belisarius known to Justinian, who, by his\nmeans, ended by winning back great part of the Western Empire.\n\nHe began with Africa, where Genseric's grandson was reigning over the\nVandals, and paying so little heed to his defences that Belisarius\nlanded without any warning, and called all the multitudes of old Roman\ninhabitants to join him, which they joyfully did. He defeated the\nVandals in battle, entered Carthage, and restored the power of the\nempire. He brought away the golden candlestick and treasures of the\nTemple, and the cross believed to be the true one, and carried them to\nConstantinople, whence the Emperor sent them back to the Church of the\nHoly Sepulchre at Jerusalem.\n\nJust as Belisarius had returned to Constantinople, a piteous entreaty\ncame to Justinian from Amalosontha, the daughter of Theodoric, who had\nbeen made prisoner by Theodotus, the husband she had chosen. It seemed\nto be opening a way for getting back Italy, and Justinian sent off\nBelisarius; but before he had sailed, the poor Gothic queen had been\nstrangled in her bath. Belisarius, however, with 4500 horse and 3000\nfoot soldiers, landed in Sicily and soon conquered the whole island, all\nthe people rejoicing in his coming. He then crossed to Rhegium, and laid\nsiege to Naples. As usual, the inhabitants were his friends, and one of\nthem showed him the way to enter the city through an old aqueduct which\nopened into an old woman's garden.\n\n[Illustration: NAPLES.]\n\nTheodotus was a coward as well as a murderer, and fled away, while a\nbrave warrior named Vitiges was proclaimed king by the Goths at Rome.\nBut with the broken walls and all the Roman citizens against him,\nVitiges thought it best not to try to hold out against Belisarius, and\nretreated to Ravenna, while Rome welcomed the Eastern army as\ndeliverers. But Vitiges was collecting an army at Ravenna, and in three\nmonths was besieging Rome again. Never had there been greater bravery\nand patience than Vitiges showed outside the walls of Rome, and\nBelisarius inside, during the summer of 536. There was a terrible famine\nwithin; all kinds of strange food were used in scanty measure, and the\nRomans were so impatient of suffering, that Belisarius was forced to\nwatch them day and night to prevent them betraying him to the enemy.\nIndeed, while the siege lasted a whole year, nearly all the people of\nRome died of hunger and wretchedness; and the Goths, in the unhealthy\nCampagna around, died of fevers and agues, until they, too, had all\nperished except a small band, which Vitiges led back to Ravenna, whither\nBelisarius followed him, besieged him, made him prisoner, and carried\nhim to Constantinople. Justinian gave him an estate where he could live\nin peace.\n\n[Illustration: CONSTANTINOPLE.]\n\nThe Moors in Africa revolted, and Belisarius next went to subdue them.\nWhile he was there, the Goths in Italy began to recover from the blow he\nhad given them, and chose a brave young man named Totila to be their\nking. In a very short time he had won back almost all Italy, for there\nreally were hardly any men left, and even Justinian had only two small\narmies to dispose of, and those made up of Thracians and Isaurians from\nthe shores of the Black Sea. One of these was sent with Belisarius to\nattack the Goths, but was not strong enough to do more than just hold\nTotila in check, and Justinian would not even send him all the help\npossible, because he dreaded the love the army bore to him. After four\nyears of fighting with Totila he was recalled, and a slave named Narces,\nwho had always lived in the women's apartment in the palace, was sent to\ntake the command. He was really able and skilled, and being better\nsupported, he gained a great victory near Rome, in which Totila was\nkilled, and another near Naples, which quite overcame the Ostrogoths, so\nthat they never became a power again. Italy was restored to the Empire,\nand was governed by an officer from Constantinople, who lived at\nRavenna, and was called the Exarch.\n\nBelisarius, in the meantime, was sent to fight with the king of Persia,\nChosroes, a very warlike prince, who had overrun Syria and carried off\nmany prisoners from Antioch. Belisarius gained victory after victory\nover him, and had just driven him back over the rivers, when again came\na recall, and Narses was sent out to finish the war. Theodora, the\nEmpress, wanted to reign after her husband, and had heard that, on a\nreport coming to the army of his death, Belisarius had said that he\nshould give his vote for Justin, the right heir. So she worked on the\nfears all Emperors had--that their troops might proclaim a successful\ngeneral as Emperor, and again Belisarius was ordered home, while Narses\nwas sent to finish what he had begun.\n\nThere was one more war for this great man when the wild Bulgarians\ninvaded Thrace, and though his soldiers were little better than timid\npeasants, he drove them back and saved the country. But Justinian grew\nmore and more jealous of him, and, fancying untruly that he was in a\nplot for placing Justin on the throne, caused him to be thrown into\nprison, and sent him out from thence stripped of everything, and with\nhis eyes torn out. He found a little child to lead him to a church door,\nwhere he used to sit with a wooden dish before him for alms. When it was\nknown who the blind beggar was, there was such an uproar among the\npeople that Justinian was obliged to give him back his palace and some\nof his riches; but he did not live much longer.\n\nThough Justinian behaved so unjustly and ungratefully to this great man\nand faithful servant, he is noted for better things, namely, for making\nthe Church of St. Sophia, or the Holy Wisdom, which Constantine had\nbuilt at Constantinople, the most splendid of all buildings, and for\nhaving the whole body of Roman laws thoroughly overlooked and put into\norder. Many even of the old heathen laws were very good ones, but there\nwere others connected with idolatry that needed to be done away with;\nand in the course of years so many laws and alterations had been made,\nthat it was the study of a lifetime even to know what they were, or how\nto act on them. Justinian set his best lawyers to put them all in order,\nso that it might be more easy to work by them. The Roman citizens in\nGreece, Italy, and all the lands overrun by the Teutonic nations were\nstill judged by their own laws, so that this was a very useful work; and\nit was so well done that the conquerors took them up in time, and the\nRoman law was the great model studied everywhere by those who wished to\nunderstand the rules of jurisprudence, that is, of law and justice. Thus\nin another way Rome conquered her conquerors.\n\nJustinian died in 563, and was succeeded by his nephew Justin, whose\nwife Sophia behaved almost as ill to Narses as Theodora had done to\nBelisarius, for while he was doing his best to defend Italy from the\nsavage tribes who were ready at any moment to come over the Alps, she\nsent him a distaff, and ordered him back to his old slavery in the\npalace.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVI.\n\nPOPE GREGORY THE GREAT.\n\n563--800.\n\n\nNo sooner was Narses called home than another terrible nation of\nTeutones, who had hitherto dwelt in the North, began to come over the\nAlps. These were the Longbeards, or Lombards, as they were more commonly\ncalled; fierce and still heathen. Their king, Alboin, had carried off\nRosamond, the daughter of Kunimund, king of the Gepids, another Teutonic\ntribe. There was a most terrible war, in which Kunimund was killed and\nall his tribe broken up and joined with the Lombards. With the two\nunited, Alboin invaded Italy and conquered all the North. Ravenna,\nVerona, Milan, and all the large towns held out bravely against them,\nbut were taken at last, except Venice, which still owned the Emperor at\nConstantinople. Alboin had kept the skull of Kunimund as a trophy, and\nhad had it set in gold for a drinking-cup, as his wild faith made him\nbelieve that the reward of the brave in the other world would be to\ndrink mead from the skulls of their fallen enemies. In a drunken fit at\nVerona, he sent for Rosamond and made her pledge him in this horrible\ncup. She had always hated him, and this made her revenge her father's\ndeath by stabbing him to the heart in the year 573. The Lombard power\ndid not, however, fall with him; his nephew succeeded him, and ruled\nover the country we still call Lombardy. Rome was not taken by them, but\nwas still in name belonging to the Emperor, though he had little power\nthere, and the Senate governed it in name, with all the old magistrates.\nThe Praetor at the time the Lombards arrived was a man of one of the old\nnoble families, Anicius Gregorius, or, as we have learned to call him,\nGregory. He had always been a good and pious man, and while he took\ngreat care to fulfil all the duties of his office, his mind was more and\nmore drawn away from the world, till at last he became a monk of St.\nBenedict, gave all his vast wealth to build and endow monasteries and\nhospitals, and lived himself in an hospital for beggars, nursing them,\nstudying the Holy Scriptures, and living only on pulse, which his mother\nsent him every day in a silver dish--the only remnant of his\nwealth--till one day, having nothing else to give a shipwrecked sailor\nwho asked alms, he bestowed it on him.\n\n[Illustration: POPE GREGORY THE GREAT.]\n\nHe was made one of the seven deacons who were called Cardinal Deacons,\nbecause they had charge of the poor of the principal parishes of\nRome; and it was when going about on some errand of kindness that he saw\nthe English slave children in the market, and planned the conversion of\ntheir country; but the people would not let him leave Rome, and in 590,\nthe Senate, the clergy, and the people chose him Pope. It was just then\nthat a terrible pestilence fell on Rome, and he made the people form\nseven great processions--of clergy, of monks, of nuns, of children, of\nmen, of wives, and of widows--all singing litanies to entreat that the\nplague might be turned away. Then it was that he beheld an angel\nstanding on the tomb of Hadrian, and the plague ceased. Ever after, the\ngreat old tomb has been called the Castle of St. Angelo.\n\n[Illustration: THE POPE'S PULPIT.]\n\nIt was a troublous time, but Gregory was so much respected that he was\nable to keep Rome orderly and safe, and to make peace between the\nEmperor Maurice and the Lombards' king, Agilulf, who had an excellent\nwife, Theodolinda. She was a great friend of the Pope, wrote a letter to\nhim, and did all she could to support him. The Eastern Empire was still\nowned at Rome, but when there was an attempt to make out that the\nPatriarch of Constantinople was superior to the Pope, Gregory upheld the\nprinciple that no Patriarch had any right to be above the rest, nor to\nbe called Universal Bishop. Gregory was a very great man, and the\njustice and wisdom of his management did much to make the Romans look to\ntheir Pope as the head of affairs even after his death in 604.\n\n[Illustration: BATTLE OF TOURS.]\n\nThe Greek Empire sent an officer to govern the extreme South of Italy,\nwhich, like Rome and Venice, still owned the Emperor; but all the troops\nthat could be hired were soon wanted to fight with the Arabs, whose\nfalse prophet Mahommed had taught them to spread religion with the\nsword. There was no one capable of making head against the Lombards, and\nthe Popes only kept them off by treaties and good management; and at\nlast, in 741, Pope Gregory III. put himself under the protection of\nCharles Martel, the great Frank captain who had beaten the Mahometans at\nthe battle of Tours. Charles Martel was rewarded by being made a Roman\nsenator, so was his son Pippin, who was also king of the Franks, and his\ngrandson Charles the Great, who had to come often to Italy to protect\nRome, and at last broke up the Lombard kingdom, was chosen Roman Emperor\nas of old, and crowned by Pope Leo III. in the year 800. From that time\nthere was again the Western Empire, commonly called the Holy Roman\nEmpire, the Emperor, or Caesar--Kaisar, as the Germans still call\nhim--being generally also king of Germany and king of Lombardy. Rome was\nall this time chiefly under the power of the Popes, who grew in course\nof years to be more and more of princes, and at the same time to claim\nmore power over the Church, calling themselves Universal Bishops\ncontrary to the teaching of St. Gregory the Great. All this, however,\nbelongs to the history of Europe in modern times, and will be found in\nthe history of Germany, since there were many struggles between the\nPopes and Emperors. For Rome has really had _two_ histories, and those\nwho visit Rome and study the wonderful buildings there may dwell on the\nold or the new, the pagan or the Christian, as their minds lead them, or\nelse on that strange middle time when idolatry and Christianity were\nstruggling together.","title":"Young Folks' History of Rome","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":63433}