{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_37657/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_37657","id":"gutenberg_37657","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37657","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: Humour","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Rome -- History -- Humor","Wit and humor, Pictorial"],"text":"\n\n\n\nProduced by Margo Romberg, crana and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n THE\n\n COMIC HISTORY OF ROME,\n\n FROM THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY TO THE END OF\n THE COMMONWEALTH.\n\n [Illustration: _Romulus and Remus discovered by a gentle shepherd._]\n\n [Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n THE\n COMIC\n HISTORY\n OF\n ROME\n\n BY GILBERT ABBOTT \u00c0 BECKET.\n\n ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN LEECH.\n\n BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET.\n\n\n\n\n LONDON:\n BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nSome explanation is perhaps due from a writer who adopts the title of\nComic in relation to a subject which is ordinarily considered to be so\nessentially grave as that of History. Though the epithet may be thought\nby many inappropriate to the theme, this work has been prompted by a\nvery serious desire to instruct those who, though willing to acquire\ninformation, seek in doing so as much amusement as possible.\n\nIt is true that professedly Comic literature has been the subject of a\nfamiliarity not unmixed with contempt on the part of a portion of the\npublic, since that class of writing obtained the popularity which has\nespecially attended it within the last few years; but as whatever\ndisrepute it has fallen into is owing entirely to its abuse, there is no\nreason for abandoning an attempt to make a right use of it. The title of\nComic has therefore been retained in reference to this work, though the\nauthor has felt that its purport is likely to be misconceived by many,\nand among them not a few whose judgment he would highly esteem, who\nwould turn away from a Comic History solely on account of its name, and\nwithout giving themselves the trouble to look into it. Those persons\nare, however, grievously mistaken who have imagined that in this, and in\nsimilar books from the same pen, the object has been to treat History as\na mere farce, or to laugh at Truth--the aim of the writer having\ninvariably been to expose falsehood, and to bring into merited contempt\nall that has been injudiciously, ignorantly, or dishonestly held up to\ngeneral admiration. His method of telling a story may be objected to;\nnevertheless, if he does his utmost to tell it truly, he ought not,\nperhaps, to be very severely criticised for adopting the style in which\nhe feels himself most at home; and if his opinions are found to be, in\nthe main, such as just and sensible persons can agree with, he only asks\nthat his views and sentiments may be estimated by what they contain, and\nnot by any peculiarity in his mode of expressing them.\n\nThe writer of this book is animated by an earnest wish to aid, as far as\nhe is able, in the project of combining instruction with amusement; and\nhe trusts he shall not be blamed for endeavouring to render such ability\nas he possesses available for as much as it is worth, in applying it to\nsubjects of useful information.\n\nThose who are not disposed to approve of his design, will perhaps give\nhim credit for his motive; and he may with confidence assert, that, from\nthe care and attention he has bestowed upon this work, it will be found\nto form (irrespective of its claims to amuse) by no means the least\ncompendious and correct of the histories already in existence of Rome to\nthe end of the Commonwealth. If he has failed in justifying the\napplication of the title of Comic to his work, he has reason to believe\nit will be found accurate. Though the style professes to be light, he\nwould submit that truth does not necessarily make more impression by\nbeing conveyed through a heavy medium; and although facts may be\nplayfully told, it is hoped that narrative in sport may be found to\nconstitute history in earnest.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n CHAP. I.--FROM THE FOUNDATION OF ROME TO THE DEATH OF ROMULUS 1\n\n II.--FROM THE ACCESSION OF NUMA POMPILIUS TO THE DEATH OF\n ANCUS MARTIUS 14\n\n III.--FROM THE ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS PRISCUS TO THE DEATH\n OF SERVIUS TULLIUS 23\n\n IV.--FROM THE ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS TO THE\n BANISHMENT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY, AND THE ABOLITION OF\n THE KINGLY DIGNITY 33\n\n V.--FROM THE BANISHMENT OF TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS TO THE\n BATTLE OF LAKE REGILLUS 43\n\n VI.--FROM THE BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS TO THE CLOSE OF\n THE WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS 56\n\n VII.--FROM THE CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS TO THE\n PASSING OF THE BILL OF TERENTILLUS 65\n\n VIII.--FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DECEMVIRATE TO THE\n TAKING OF VEII 73\n\n IX.--FROM THE TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS TO ITS SUBSEQUENT\n PRESERVATION BY MANLIUS 89\n\n X.--FROM THE TRIBUNESHIP OF C. LICINIUS TO THE DEFEAT OF\n THE GAULS BY VALERIUS 97\n\n XI.--FROM THE FIRST WAR AGAINST THE SAMNITES TO THE PASSING\n OF THE LAWS OF PUBLILIUS 107\n\n XII.--FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND TO THE END OF THE\n THIRD SAMNITE WAR 116\n\n XIII.--ON THE PEACEFUL OCCUPATIONS OF THE ROMANS. FROM THE\n SCARCITY OF SUBJECT, NECESSARILY A VERY SHORT CHAPTER 129\n\n XIV.--FROM THE END OF THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR TO THE\n SUBJUGATION OF ALL ITALY BY THE ROMANS 135\n\n XV.--THE FIRST PUNIC WAR 150\n\n XVI.--SOME MISCELLANEOUS WARS OF ROME 161\n\n XVII.--THE SECOND PUNIC WAR 171\n\n XVIII.--CONCLUSION OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR 183\n\n XIX.--WAR WITH THE MACEDONIANS. PROCLAMATION OF THE FREEDOM\n OF GREECE BY FLAMINIUS. WAR WITH ANTIOCHUS. DEATH OF\n HANNIBAL, AND OF SCIPIO AFRICANUS 193\n\n XX.--PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. MORALS, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND STATE\n OF THE DRAMA AND LITERATURE AMONG THE ROMANS 204\n\n XXI.--WARS AGAINST PERSEUS. THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. SIEGE AND\n DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE, AND DITTO DITTO OF CORINTH 215\n\n XXII.--WARS IN SPAIN. VIRIATHUS. DESTRUCTION OF NUMANTIA.\n THE SERVILE WAR IN SICILY. APPROPRIATION OF PERGAMUS 225\n\n XXIII.--THE GRACCHI AND THEIR MOTHER. RISE AND FALL OF\n TIBERIUS AND CAIUS GRACCHUS 234\n\n XXIV.--THE JUGURTHINE WAR. WAR AGAINST THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONI 247\n\n XXV.--MITHRIDATES, SULLA, MARIUS, CINNA, ET C\u00c6TERA 257\n\n XXVI.--DEATH OF CINNA. RETURN OF SULLA TO ROME. C. PAPIRIUS\n CARBO. DICTATORSHIP OF SULLA 267\n\n XXVII.--REACTION AGAINST THE POLICY OF SULLA. SERVICES OF\n Q. SERTORIUS. METELLUS. CN. POMPEY. SPIRITED STEPS\n OF SPARTACUS. THE IRATE PIRATE 275\n\n XXVIII.--THE THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR. DEPOSITION AND DEATH OF\n MITHRIDATES 284\n\n XXIX.--CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. INTRODUCTION OF CICERO.\n C\u00c6SAR, POMPEY, CRASSUS, AND CO. 289\n\n XXX.--OVERTHROW OF CRASSUS. DEFEAT OF POMPEY. DICTATORSHIP\n AND DEATH OF C\u00c6SAR. END OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 299\n\n\n\n\nENGRAVINGS ON STEEL.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n 1. ROMULUS AND REMUS DISCOVERED BY A GENTLE SHEPHERD i\n\n 2. TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS MAKES HIMSELF KING 33\n\n 3. APPIUS CLAUDIUS PUNISHED BY THE PEOPLE 80\n\n 4. THE GALLANT CURTIUS LEAPING INTO THE GULF 104\n\n 5. PYRRHUS ARRIVES IN ITALY WITH HIS TROUPE 138\n\n 6. HANNIBAL, WHILST EVEN YET A CHILD, SWEARS ETERNAL HATRED\n TO THE ROMANS 168\n\n 7. FLAMINIUS RESTORING LIBERTY TO GREECE AT THE ISTHMIAN GAMES 195\n\n 8. THE MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI 234\n\n 9. MARIUS DISCOVERED IN THE MARSHES AT MINTURN\u00c6 261\n\n 10. CICERO DENOUNCING CATILINE 292\n\n\n\n\nENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n Initial T.--\u00c6neas and Anchises 1\n\n Rhea Silvia 4\n\n Romulus Consulting the Augury 6\n\n Remus jumping over the Walls 7\n\n Awful Appearance of the Shade of Remus to Romulus 8\n\n The Romans walking off with the Sabine Women 10\n\n Initial R 14\n\n Numa Pompilius remembering the Grotto 15\n\n Death of Cluilius 17\n\n Combat between the Horatii and Curiatii 19\n\n Initial 23\n\n Celeres 24\n\n Debtor and Creditor. Seizure of Goods for a Debt 28\n\n Initial T 33\n\n Tarquinius Superbus has the Sibylline Books valued 35\n\n The Evil Conscience of Tarquin 37\n\n Mrs. Sextus consoles herself with a Little Party 39\n\n Tail-piece 42\n\n Initial B 43\n\n Aruns and Brutus 45\n\n Horatius Cocles Defending the Bridge 49\n\n Mucius Sc\u00e6vola before Porsenna 51\n\n Cl\u00e6lia and her Companions escaping from the Etruscan Camp 52\n\n Initial T 56\n\n Coriolanus parting from his Wife and Family 63\n\n Initial A 65\n\n A Lictor is sent to arrest Publilius Volero 68\n\n Cincinnatus chosen Dictator 70\n\n Roman Bull and Priest of the Period 73\n\n Virginia carried off by a Minion in the pay of Appius 78\n\n In the foreground of the Tableau may be observed a Patrician\n looking very black at the Triumph of the General 83\n\n In all probability something of this sort 84\n\n School-boys flogging the Schoolmaster 88\n\n Initial A.--A Gaul 89\n\n The Citadel saved by the cackling of the Geese 93\n\n Initial R.--Roman Soldier 97\n\n Miss Fabia, the Younger, astonished at the Patrician's\n Double-knock 98\n\n Titus threatening Pomponius 103\n\n Terrific Combat between Titus Manlius and a Gaul of gigantic\n Stature 105\n\n Initial T 107\n\n A Scare-crow 109\n\n Metius aggravating Titus Manlius 111\n\n The Romans clothed by the Inhabitants\n of Capua 119\n\n Samnite Soldier 126\n\n Initial I.--\u00c6sculapius 129\n\n The Ambassadors purchasing \u00c6sculapius 133\n\n Tail-piece 134\n\n Initial R 135\n\n Appearance in the Senate of a young Nobleman, named Meto 139\n\n Self-possession of Fabricius, the Ambassador, under rather\n Trying Circumstances 142\n\n Discovery of the Head of Summanus 145\n\n Curius Dentatus refusing the Magnificent Gift offered by the\n Samnite Ambassadors 146\n\n Initial A 150\n\n Roman Man-of-War, from a scarce Medal 153\n\n Initial P 161\n\n Hanno announcing to the Mercenaries the Emptiness of the\n Public Coffers 162\n\n Early Roman Gladiator and his Patron 165\n\n His Excellency Q. Fabius offering Peace or War to the\n Carthaginian Senate 169\n\n Hannibal crossing the Alps 173\n\n Hannibal disguising himself 176\n\n The \"Slow Coach\" 179\n\n Young Varro 180\n\n Archimedes taking a Warm Bath 186\n\n Considerate Conduct of Scipio Africanus 188\n\n Initial W 193\n\n Hannibal leads the Ambassadors rather a fatiguing Walk round\n Carthage 197\n\n Hannibal requesting the Cretan Priests to become his Bankers 200\n\n Hannibal makes the usual neat and appropriate Speech previous\n to killing himself 201\n\n Initial I 204\n\n Roman Lady \"Shopping\" 205\n\n Terence reading his Play to C\u00e6cilius 210\n\n Light Comedy Man of the Period 212\n\n Bacchanalian Group, from a very old Vase 223\n\n Assassination of Viriathus 226\n\n Arrest of Eunus 231\n\n Tib. Gracchus canvassing 238\n\n Melancholy end of Tib. Gracchus 239\n\n Scipio \u00c6milianus cramming himself for a Speech after a hearty\n Supper 240\n\n Rash Act of Caius Gracchus 244\n\n Tail-piece 246\n\n Drusus is Stabbed, and Expires gracefully 254\n\n Initial F 257\n\n \"Who dares kill Marius?\" 261\n\n Marius in the Ruins of Carthage 263\n\n Marius in his Old Age 266\n\n Funeral Pile of Sulla 274\n\n Initial T--C\u00e6sar and Pompey very much alike, especially Pompey 275\n\n Sertorius and his young Friends 278\n\n Armed Slave 280\n\n Spartacus 281\n\n Mithridates, his rash act 286\n\n Mithridates 287\n\n Initial A--Libertas, \u00c6qualitas, Fraternitas 289\n\n Fulvia 291\n\n Cicero throws up his Brief, like a Gentleman 296\n\n Initial C 299\n\n \"Quid times? C\u00e6sarem vehis.\" 301\n\n The End of Julius C\u00e6sar 308\n\n\n\n\nTHE COMIC HISTORY OF ROME.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE FIRST.\n\nFROM THE FOUNDATION OF ROME TO THE DEATH OF ROMULUS.\n\n[Illustration: \u00c6neas and Anchises.]\n\n\nThe origin of the Romans has long been lost in that impenetrable fog,\nthe mist of ages; which, it is to be feared, will never clear off, for\nit unfortunately seems to grow thicker the more boldly we try to grope\nabout in it. In the midst of these fogs, some energetic individual will\nnow and then appear with a pretty powerful link, but there are not\nenough of these links to form a connected chain of incidents.\n\nOne of the oldest and most popular traditions concerning the origin of\nthe Romans, is that founded on the remarkable feat of filial pick-a-back\nalleged to have been performed by \u00c6neas, who is frequently dragged in\nhead and shoulders, with his venerable parent, to lead off the march of\nevents, and, as it were, open the ball of history.\n\nIt is said that after[1] the siege of Troy, \u00c6neas snatched up his Lares\nand Penates in one hand, and his father, Anchises, in the other; when,\nflinging the former over the right shoulder, and the latter over the\nleft, he ran down to the sea-shore, called \"A boat a-hoy,\" and escaped\nfrom the jaws of destruction into the mouth of the Tiber. There are many\nreasons for disbelieving this story, and it is quite enough to deprive\nit of weight to consider what must have been the weight of Anchises\nhimself, and the large bundle of household images that \u00c6neas is alleged\nto have been burdened with. Putting probability in one scale, and an\nelderly gentleman, with a lot of Lares and a parcel of Penates in the\nother, there can be no doubt which will preponderate. It happens, also,\nthat Troy is usually said to have been destroyed 430 years before Rome\nwas founded,[2] so that it would have been to this day as unfounded as\nthe tale itself, if the city had had no other foundation than that which\n\u00c6neas was supposed to have given it.\n\nThe Latin Bards have adorned this story in their own peculiar way, by\nadding that \u00c6neas, on his arrival in the Tiber, resolved to sacrifice a\nmilk white sow, in gratitude for his safety. The sow, who must have been\nan ancestor of the learned pig, got scent of her fate, and running two\nor three miles up the country, produced a sad litter of thirty little\nones; when \u00c6neas, fancying he heard a voice telling him to build a town\non the spot, determined, \"please the pigs,\" to found a city there. The\nclassical story-teller goes on to say, that Latinus, king of the Latins,\nhappened to be at war with Turnus--or as we might call him Turner--King\nof the Rutuli, when the Trojans arrived, and the former, thinking it\nbetter worth his while to make friends than foes of the immigrants, gave\nthem a tract of land, which rendered them extremely tractable. On the\nprinciple that one good turn deserves another, they turned round upon\nTurnus, and completely routed the Rutuli. Latinus, to show his\ngratitude, gave Lavinia--not the \"lovely young\" one, who Thomson tells\nus, \"once had friends;\" but his own daughter of that name--in marriage\nto \u00c6neas, who at the death of his father-in-law, ruled over the city,\nand called his colony Lavinium. Tradition tells us further that \u00c6neas\nhad a son, Ascanius, sometimes called Parvus Iulus, or little Juli, who\nsubsequently left Lavinium, and built Alba Longa--a sort of classical\nlong acre--in that desirable neighbourhood known as the Alban Mount,\nwhich, from its becoming subsequently the most fashionable part of the\ncity, may deserve the name of the Roman Albany.\n\nThe descendants of Ascanius are said to have reigned 300 years, and an\nattempt has been made to fill up the gap of these three centuries with a\nquantity of dry rubbish of the antiquarian kind, which occupies space,\nwithout affording anything like a solid foundation for the structure to\nbe built upon it. Of such a nature is the catalogue of matters alleged\nto have connected \u00c6neas with the actual founders of Rome; but though\nnames and dates are given, there is little doubt that the value of\nnames is not even nominal, and that if we trust the dates, we shall\nrely on the falsest data.\n\nThe spirit of antiquarianism is as ancient as the subjects on which it\nemploys its ingenuity, and the Romans began puzzling themselves at a\nvery early period about their own origin. A long course of fabrication\nended in rearing up a legendary fabric, which was acknowledged by all\nthe Roman bards; and however much they may have doubted the truth of the\ntale, they deserve some credit for the consistency with which they have\nadhered to it.\n\nThe legend states that one Procas, belonging to the family of the\nSilvii, or Silvers, had two sons,--the elder, to whom the kingdom was\nleft, being called Numitor, and the younger going by the name of\nAmulius. Though Numitor was the bigger brother, he does not seem to have\nbeen, pugilistically speaking, the better man, for he was deprived of\nthe kingdom by Amulius, who, to prevent the chances of the law of\nprimogeniture again taking effect, by placing any of Numitor's\ndescendants on the throne, caused Rhea Silvia, the only daughter of that\nindividual to become a virgin in the Temple of Vesta. The Vestals were,\nin fact, the old original nuns, withdrawing themselves from the world,\nand entering into a solemn vow against marriage during thirty years;\nafter which period they were free to wed, though they were scarcely ever\ninvited to avail themselves of their rather tardy privilege. The senior\nsister went by the highly respectable name of Virgo Maxima--or old maid\nin chief--and was doubtless something more than ordinary in her\nappearance, as well as in her position. The Vestals were required to be\nplain in their dress, and in order to extend this plainness as far as\npossible to their looks, their hair was cut very short, however much\nthey may have been distressed at parting with their tresses. Their chief\nduty consisted in keeping up the fire on the altar of Vesta, and they\nwere prohibited on pain of death from giving to any other flame the\nsmallest encouragement. In the event of such an offence having been\ncommitted by an unfortunate Vestal, who found her position little better\nthan being buried alive, she was made to undergo literally that awful\npenalty.\n\nThough the duties of the Vestals were rigidly enforced, and the letting\nout of the sacred fire was, in some cases, punished by the extinction of\nthe delinquent's vital spark, they enjoyed some peculiar advantages.\nThough their acts were under strict control, they were, in one sense,\nallowed a will of their own; for they were permitted, even when under\nage, to make their own testaments. They occupied reserved seats at\npublic entertainments; and if they happened to meet a criminal in\ncustody, they had the privilege of releasing him from the hands of the\npolice of the period. Notwithstanding these inducements, the office of\nVestal was not in much request; and, in the event of a vacancy, it was\nawarded by lot to some young lady, whose dissatisfaction with her lot\nwas usually very visible. Such is a brief outline of the duties and\nliabilities of the order into which Amulius forced his niece, and it\nhas been the subject of complaint in more recent times that Rome still\noccasionally does as Rome used to do. We will now return to Rhea Silvia,\nwho appears to have entered the service of the goddess as a\nmaid-of-all-work; for she was in the habit of going to draw water from a\nwell; and it was on one of these aquatic excursions she met with a\nmilitary man, passing himself off as Mars who paid his addresses to her,\nand proved irresistible.\n\n[Illustration: Rhea Silvia.]\n\nRhea Silvia gave birth to twins; upon which her cruel uncle ordered her\nto be put to death, and desired that her infant offspring should be\ntreated as a couple of unwelcome puppies, and got rid of by drowning in\nthe ordinary manner.\n\nThe children were placed in a cradle, or, as some say, a bowl, and\nturned adrift on the river; so that Amulius, if he had any misgiving as\nto the security of his crown, preferred to drown it in the bowl with his\nunhappy little relatives.\n\nIt happened that there had been such a run on the banks of the Tiber,\nthat its coffers or coffer-dams had poured out their contents all over\nthe adjacent plains, and caused a very extensive distribution of its\ncurrency. Among other valuable deposits, it chanced to lodge for\nsecurity, in a branch connected with the bank, the children of Rhea\nSilvia, who, by the way, must have been very fortunate under the\ncircumstances, in being able to keep a balance. The infants were not in\na very enviable condition; for there was nobody to board and lodge them,\nthough the Tiber was still at hand to wash and do for them. The high\ntide proved a tide of good fortune to the children, who were floated so\nfar inland, that when the river receded, they were left high and dry at\nthe foot of a fig[3] tree, with no one, apparently, to care a fig what\nbecame of them. Under these circumstances a she-wolf, who had gone down\nto the Tiber to drink, heard the whimpering of the babies among the\ntrees, and, her attention being drawn off from the water in the river to\nthe whine in the wood, she came forward in the most handsome manner in\nthe capacity of a wet-nurse to give them suck and succour. How this wolf\nbecame possessed of so much of the milk of human kindness, does not\nappear, and it is not perhaps worth while to inquire.\n\nThe children, it is said, were awakened by receiving a gentle licking\nfrom the tongue of the animal standing _in loco parentis_ over them.\nFinding the situation damp, the wolf removed the infants to her den,\nwhere they were visited by a philanthropic woodpecker; who, when they\nwere hungry, would bring them some tempting grub, or worm, by which the\nwoodpecker soon wormed itself into the children's confidence. Other\nmembers of the feathered tribe made themselves useful in this novel\nnursery, by keeping off the insects; and many a gnat found itself--or\nrather lost itself--unexpectedly in the throat of some remorseless\nswallow. However well-meaning the animal may have been, the children\ncould not have profited greatly, if there had been no one ready to take\nthem from the month; and happily Faustulus, the king's shepherd, who had\nwatched them as they were being carried to the wolf's cave or loup-hole,\nprovided them with another loophole to get out of it. Taking advantage\nof the wolf's temporary absence from home, the \"gentle shepherd,\"\nresolving to rescue the children, by hook or by crook, removed the babes\nto his own hut, and handed them over to his wife Laurentia, as a sort of\nsupplement to their previously rather extensive family.\n\nSome historians, refusing to believe the story of the Wolf and the\nWoodpecker, have endeavoured to reconcile probability with tradition, by\nsuggesting that the wife of Faustulus had got the name of the Wolf from\nthe contrast she presented to her lamb-like husband, and that the\nsupposed woodpecker was simply a hen-pecker, in the person of\nLaurentia.\n\n[Illustration: Romulus consulting the Augury.]\n\n[Illustration: Remus jumping over the Walls.]\n\nRomulus and Remus were the names of the two infants, who, as they grew\nup, began to take after their foster-mother the wolf, turning out\nexceedingly wild lads, with a lupine propensity for worrying the flocks,\nand going on altogether in a very brutal manner. Remus was taken up on a\ncharge of sheep stealing, or something very like it, and brought before\nNumitor, his own grandfather, when a recognition took place in a manner\nnot much in accordance with the ordinary rules of evidence. Romulus had\nalso been apprised of his relationship by Faustulus, who must have made\na pretty bold guess at a fact he could not have known; and the two lads,\nbeing adopted by Numitor, were sent for their education to Gabii, where\neverything was taught that men of rank in those days were expected to\nlearn, and whence the word Gaby is clearly derivable. Anxious to do\nsomething for the old gentleman, their grandfather, Romulus and Remus\ngot up a demonstration in his favour, and they succeeded in restoring\nhim to the throne of Alba Longa, a long row of white houses, which was\nless of a territory than a Terrace, and it is a strange coincidence that\nTerracina, or little Terrace, formed one end of it. Amulius was killed,\nand leaving Numitor sole master of White's Row, Romulus and Remus\nresolved on a building speculation a great deal higher up--that is to\nsay on the spot where they had passed the days of their infancy. Before\nthe new city was commenced, a dispute arose, first, about what it\nshould be called, and secondly, as to who should govern it. Romulus and\nRemus, being twins, could not bring the law of primogeniture to bear\nupon their little differences, and it was therefore agreed to refer the\nmatter to augury, which should decide who was to be inaugurated as the\nruler of the new colony. Romulus mounted the Palatine Mount, and Remus\ntook his station on the Aventine, when both began to keep a very sharp\nlook out for something ominous. Remus was the first to remark something\nodd in the shape of six vultures flying from north to south, but Romulus\nno sooner heard the news than he declared he had seen twelve, and the\nquestion arose whether, figuratively speaking, the one bird in hand seen\nby Remus should outweigh the two in the bush that subsequently appeared\nto Romulus. The augur, when appealed to, gave, as usual, a very\nambiguous answer. It amounted, in effect, to the observation that there\nwere six of one and a dozen of the other; so that the soothsayer,\ninstead of having said anything to soothe, was far more likely to\nirritate. Both parties claimed the victory; Remus contending for the\nprecedence usually granted to the early bird, and Romulus maintaining\nthat he had been specially favoured, by having been permitted to see so\nmany birds of a feather flock together. Romulus accordingly commenced\ndrawing his plans in the Etruscan fashion, by causing a boundary line to\nbe marked out with a plough, to which were yoked a heifer and a bull, a\nceremony from which, perhaps, the English term bulwarks, and the French\nword boulevards or bulvards, may or may not be derivable. The line thus\ntraced was called the Pom\u0153rium, and where an entrance was to be made, it\nwas customary to carry the plough across the space--a little engineering\ndifficulty that gave the name of Porta to a gate, from the verb\n_portare_, to carry. Remus looked on at the proceedings in a\nhalf-quizzing, half-quarrelsome spirit, until the wall rose a little\nabove the ground, when he amused himself by leaping derisively over it.\n\"Thus,\" said he, \"will the enemy leap over those barriers.\" \"And thus,\"\nrejoined the superintendent or clerk of the works--one Celer, who acted\nin this instance with thoughtless celerity--\"thus shall die whoever may\nleap over my barriers.\"[4] With these words he gave Remus a mortal\nblow, and the legend goes on to state, that Romulus was immediately\nseized with remorse, and subsequent visits from his brother's ghost\nrendered Romulus himself little better than the ghost of what he used to\nbe. Remus showed as much spirit after his decease as during his\nlifetime; and took the form of the deadly nightshade, springing up at\nthe bed-side, to poison the existence of his brother.\n\n[Illustration: Awful appearance of the Shade of Remus to Romulus.]\n\nTradition tells us that Romulus came at length to terms with the ghost,\nwho agreed to discontinue his visits, in consideration of the\nestablishment of the festival of the Lemuria--called, originally,\nRemuria--in honour of his memory. The rites were celebrated\nbare-footed--an appropriate penalty for one who had stepped into a\nbrother's shoes; the hands were thrice washed--a process much needed, as\na sort of expiation for dirty work;--and black beans were thrown four\ntimes behind the back, with the superstitious belief that the growing up\nof the beans would prevent the stalking abroad of evil spirits. The\nunfortunate twin was buried on Mount Aventine, and Romulus ordered a\ndouble set of sceptres, crowns, and royal badges, in order that he might\nset up one set by the side of his own, in honour of his late relative.\nThese duplicates of mere senseless symbols served only to commemorate\nthe double part which Romulus had acted; for a vacant throne and a\nheadless crown were but empty tributes to a murdered brother's memory.\n\nThe city having been built, was found considerably too large for the\npeople there were to live in it; and as a place cannot, like a garment,\nbe made to fit by taking it in, there was no alternative but to fill the\ncity with any stuff that might serve for stuffing. Romulus, therefore,\nthrew open his gates to any one who chose to walk in, which caused an\ninflux of those who, from having no character at all, usually go under\nthe denomination of all sorts of characters. Society became terribly\nmixed, and, in fact, the place was a kind of Van Demon's Land, crammed\nwith criminals, replete with runaway slaves, and forming--in a word--a\nregular refuge for the morally destitute. It says something for the\nfemales of the period, that women were very scarce at Rome, and it is\nsurprising that some learned philologist has never yet made the remark,\nthat the fact of the word Ro-man being familiar to us all, while there\nis no such term as Ro-woman, may be taken as a collateral proof of the\nscarcity of the gentler sex in the city founded by Romulus.\n\nThe ladies of the neighbourhood were indisposed to listen to the\naddresses of the male population of Rome, which was quite bad enough to\nsuggest the possibility of the Latin word _male-factor_ having supplied\nthe distinctive epithet \"male\" to the ruder sex in general. In vain were\nproposals of marriage made to the maidens of the adjoining states, who\none and all declared they would not change their state by becoming the\nwives of Romans. Irritated by these refusals, Romulus determined to\nprove himself more than a match for these women, every one of whom\nthought herself too good a match for any of his people. He announced his\nintention to give a party or pic-nic for the celebration of the\nConsualia, which were games in honour of Consus, the god of Counsel,--a\nsort of lawyer's frolic, in which a mole was sacrificed, probably\nbecause working in the dark was always the characteristic of the legal\nfraternity. Invitations to these games were issued in due form to the\nLatins and Sabines, with their wives and daughters, many of whom flocked\nto the spot, under the influence of female curiosity.\n\n[Illustration: _The Romans walking off with the Sabine Women._]\n\nThe weather being propitious, all the Sabine beauty and fashion were\nattracted to the place, and the games, consisting of horse-racing, gave\nto the scene all the animation of a cup day at Ascot. Suddenly, at a\npreconcerted signal, there was a general elopement of the Roman youth\nwith the Sabine ladies, who were, in the most ungallant manner,\nabandoned to their fate by the Sabine gentlemen. It is true that the\nlatter were taken by surprise, but they certainly made the very best of\ntheir way home before they thought of avenging the wrong and insult that\nhad been committed. Had they been all married ladies who were carried\noff, the cynic might have suggested that the Sabine husbands would not\nhave objected to a cheap mode of divorce, but--to make use of an\nIrishism--there was only one single woman who happened to be a wife in\nthe whole of the \"goodly company.\" The small Latin states, Antenn\u00e6,\nCrustumerium, and C\u0153nina, were very angry at the supineness of the\nSabines, whose King--one Tatius--seemed disposed to take the thing\nrather too tacitly. The three states above mentioned commenced an action\non their own account, and Acron, the King of C\u0153nina, fell in battle by\nthe hand of Romulus, who, stripping off the apparel of the foe, caused\nit to be carried to Rome and hung upon an oak, where the arms and armour\nof Acron, glittering among the acorns, were dedicated, as _Spolia\nopima_, to Jupiter Feretrius.[5]\n\nThough Tatius had been the last, he was not destined to be the least of\nthose taking part in the Sabine war; and he determined to rely less on\nstrategy than stratagem. The water in those days was not so well laid on\nas in later times; when the lofty aqueducts, still running in ruins\nabout the neighbourhood of Rome, were carried to an elevation fitted for\nthe very highest service that could be desired. Rome, instead of being\nwell supplied, was supplied by wells; and ladies of rank were accustomed\nto draw the water required for domestic purposes. It chanced, one\nafternoon, that Tarpeia, the daughter of Tarpeius, the commander of the\nRoman city, on the Capitoline Hill, was proceeding on an errand of the\nsort, when she met with Tatius, who, addressing her in the language of a\nfriend, requested \"a drink\" of her pitcher. Tarpeia, dazzled by the\nsplendour of his gold bracelets and glittering armour, could not resist\nthe request of such a highly polished gentleman. Tatius had purposely\nelectrotyped himself for the interview, and, seeing the effect he had\nproduced, he intimated that he had several friends, who were covered\nwith metal quite as attractive as that he wore, and that, if Tarpeia\nwould only open the gate of the citadel to himself and party, she should\nhave more gold than she could carry. The bargain was faithfully kept on\nboth sides; for Tarpeia opened the gate to Tatius and the Sabines, who,\non their part performed their contract to the letter, for, as they\nentered, they threw at her not only their bracelets but their\nbreast-plates, completely crushing her with the weight of the gold she\nhad coveted; and making her think, no doubt, that \"never was poor woman\nso unmercifully put upon.\" So thorough an illustration of an _embarras\ndes richesses_ is not often met with in history.\n\nBeing now possessed of the Capitoline, the Sabines were in an improved\nposition; and the Romans, having tried in vain to recover the citadel,\nsaw that they must either give in or give battle. Determining on the\nlatter course, Romulus selected the valley between the Palatine and the\nCapitoline, where a general engagement began; but the Romans seemed to\nhave special engagements elsewhere, for they were all running away, when\ntheir leader, with great tact, vowed a Temple to Jupiter Stator--the\nflight-stayer. This gave to the action a decided re-action; for the\nRomans, being rallied upon their cowardice, by their chief, began, in\ntheir turn, to rally. The contest grew fierce on both sides, when\nsuddenly the Sabine ladies, who were the primary cause of the quarrel,\nthrew themselves into the midst; and, though female interference has\nrarely the effect of making peace, the women were, on this occasion, the\ncause of a cessation of hostility. It was agreed that the two nations\nshould be henceforth united under the name of Romans and Quirites, each\nhaving a distinct king, a distinction which, had it continued, must in\ntime have led to a difference. In a few years, however, Tatius was slain\nat a sacrifice which he had attended without the remotest idea of being\nmade a victim himself; and Romulus, finding nothing said about a\nsuccessor, thought it politic to hush the matter up without even\navenging his late colleague. Romulus is said to have reigned for\nseven-and-thirty years; but when we enquire into the exact time and\nmanner of his death we learn nothing, beyond the fact that nobody knows\nwhat became of him. According to the statement of one set of\nauthorities, he was attending a review in the Palus Capr\u00e6--a marsh near\nthe Tiber--when a total eclipse of the sun took place, and on the return\nof light, Romulus was nowhere visible. If this was really the case, it\nis probable that he got into a perilous swamp, where he felt a rapid\nsinking; and all his attendants being in the dark as to his situation\nwere unable to extricate him from the marsh in which, according to some\nauthorities, he went down to posterity.\n\nIt must, however, be confessed, that when we look for the cause of\nthe death of Romulus in this fatal swamp, we have but very poor\nground to go upon. It is, nevertheless, some consolation to us for the\nmystery that overhangs the place and manner of his decease, that his\nexistence is, after all, quite apocryphal; and we are not expected to go\ninto an elaborate inquiry when, where, and how he died, until the fact\nof his having ever lived at all has been satisfactorily settled.\n\nBefore we have quite done with Romulus, it will be proper to state\nhow he is said to have divided the people under his sovereignty. He\nis alleged to have separated them into three tribes--the Latin word\n_tribus_ will here suggest itself to the acute student--namely the Ramnes,\ncalled after the Romans; the Tities, after Titus Tatius; and the Luceres,\nwho derived their appellation either from one Lucumo, an Etruscan\nally of Romulus, or Lucerus a king of Ardea; or _lucus_ a grove, because\nthere was no grove, and hence we get _lucerus a non luco_, on the same\nprinciple as _lucus a non lucendo_: or lastly, according to Niebuhr's\nopinion, from a place called Lucer or Lucerum, which the Luceres\nmight have inhabited.\n\nEach tribe was divided into ten _curi\u00e6_,[6] every one of which had a\nchapel for the performance of sacred rites, and was presided over by a\n_curio_; and the reader must have little curiosity, indeed, if he does\nnot ask whether our modern word curate may not be referred to this\nremote origin. The _curi\u00e6_ were subdivided into gentes, or clans, and\neach gens consisted of several families, called gentiles; so that a man\nof family and a member of the gentes, became somewhat synonymous. In\ntime, however, the gentiles got very much mixed by unsuitable marriages;\nand hence there arose among those who could claim to belong to a gens, a\ndistinction similar to that between the _gentes_, or _gents_, of our own\nday, and the _gentiles_, or _gentlemen_. Romulus is said to have\nselected his body-guard from the three tribes, taking one hundred from\neach, and as Celer, the Etruscan, was their captain, the guards got the\nname of Celeres--the fast men of the period.\n\nIn addition to the tribes, there existed in those early times a separate\nbody, consisting of slaves, and a somewhat higher class, called by the\nname of clients.[7] The latter belonged to the common people, each of\nwhom was permitted to choose from among the patricians a _patronus_, or\npatron, who could claim the life and fortune of his client in exchange\nfor the cheaper commodities of protection and patronage. The patron gave\nhis countenance and advice when asked, the client giving his labour and\nhis money when wanted--an arrangement which proves that clients, from\nthe remotest times to the present hour, were liable to pecuniary mulcts,\neven to the extent of the entire sacrifice of the whole of their\nsubsistence, for the benefit of those who had the privilege of advising\nthem.\n\nThe Senate--a term derived from the Latin word _Senes_, old men--formed\nthe chief council of the state, and its first institution is usually\nreferred to the reign of Romulus. Three members were nominated by each\ntribe, and three by each of the thirty _curi\u00e6_, making ninety-nine in\nall, to which Romulus himself is said to have added one, for the purpose\nof making up round numbers, and at the same time nominating a sort of\npresident over the assembly, who also had to take care of the city, in\nthe absence of the sovereign. There is a difference of opinion as to\nwhether one hundred new members were added to the Senate at the time of\nthe union with the Sabines, for Dionysius says there were; but Livy says\nthere were not; and we are disposed to attach credit to the former, for\nhe was an extremely particular man, while Livy was frequently oblivious\nof caution in giving credence and currency to mere tradition.\n\nBefore closing this portion of the narrative of the History of Rome, it\nis necessary to warn the reader against believing too much of it. The\ncurrent legends are, indeed, _Legenda_, or things to be read, because\nevery body is in the habit of repeating them; but the student must guard\nhimself against placing credence in the old remark, that \"what everybody\nsays must be true,\" for here is a direct instance of what everybody says\nbeing decidedly otherwise. The life and reign of Romulus, are to be\ntaken not simply _cum grano salis_--with a grain of salt--but with an\nentire cellar of that condiment, which is so useful in correcting the\nevil consequences of swallowing too much of anything.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] The Lares of the Romans are supposed to have been the Manes or\nshades of their ancestors, and consisted of little waxen figures--such\nas we should put under shades made of glass--which adorned the halls of\nhouses. The Lares were sewn up in stout dog's-skin, durability being\nconsulted more than elegance. The Penates were a superior order of\ndeities, who were kept in the innermost parts of the establishment, and\ntook their name from _penitus_, within, which caused the portion of the\nhouse they occupied to be afterwards called the _penetralia_.\n\n[2] Troy destroyed, B.C. 1184. Rome founded, B.C. 753.\n\n[3] From this circumstance the fig was considered figurative of the\nfoundation of the city, and held sacred in Rome for many centuries.\n\n[4] The Pom\u0153rium was not the actual wall, but a boundary line, held very\nsacred by the Romans. It consisted of nothing but the clod turned\ninwards by the furrow, and, it is probable, that the offensive act of\nRemus was not his leaping over the wall, but his hopping over the clod,\nwhich would, naturally, excite indignation against him as an unmannerly\nclod-hopper.\n\n[5] The word Feretrius will strike the merest tyro as being derived from\n_fero_, to strike, and meaning to designate Jupiter in his character of\nStriker, or Smiter.\n\n[6] The best derivation of the word _curia_ is _quiris_, which, on\ninquiry, is found to correspond with _curis_.\n\n[7] The word \"client\" is probably derived from _cluere_, to hear or\nobey--at all events cluere is the best clue we can give to the origin of\nthe word in question.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE SECOND.\n\nFROM THE ACCESSION OF NUMA POMPILIUS TO THE DEATH OF ANCUS MARTIUS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nRomulus having been swamped in the marsh of Capra, or having disappeared\ndown one of those drains, which have carried away into the great sea of\nconjecture so many of the facts of former ages, the senate put off from\nweek to week, and from this day se'nnight to that day se'nnight the\nchoice of a successor. The honourable members agreed to try their hands\nat Government by turns, and they took the sceptre for five days each by\na constant rotation, which any wheel, and more particularly a\ncommonwheal, was sure to suffer from. The people growing tired of this\nunprofitable game of fives, which threw everything into a state of sixes\nand sevens, clamoured so loudly to be reduced under one head, that\npermission was given them to elect a sovereign. Their choice fell upon\nNuma Pompilius, because he was born on the day of the foundation of the\ncity; so that he may be said to have succeeded by birth to the berth of\nchief magistrate. Numa Pompilius was a Sabine, who we are told had been\ninstructed by Pythagoras, and we should be happy to believe what we are\ntold, if we did not happen to know that the sage belonged to quite a\ndifferent time, having lived two hundred years later than the alleged\nexistence of the pupil.\n\nBefore entering on his duties, the newly chosen king consulted the\naugurs, with one of whom he walked up to the Temple on the Saturnian\nHill, where Numa, seated on a stone, looked to the south as far as he\ncould see, in order to ascertain whether there was any impediment to his\nviews and prospects. In the earliest periods of the history of Rome no\noffice was undertaken without a consultation of the augurs, or auspices;\nand the continued use of these words affords proof of the ancient custom\nto which they relate; though inauguration now takes place under auspices\nof a very different character. The recognised signs of those times were\nonly two, consisting of the lightning, by means of which the truth was\nsupposed to flash across the augur's mind; and, secondly, the birds,\nwho, by being consulted for something singular in their singing, or\neccentric in their flying, might, had they known it, have fairly plumed\nthemselves on the honours done to them. A crow on the left betokened\nthat things were looking black, but the same bird on the right imparted\nto everything a brighter colour; and as these birds are in the habit of\nwandering right and left, the augurs could always declare there was\nsomething to be said on both sides.\n\nNuma Pompilius was, according to all accounts, a just ruler, and he\nbegan his career in a ruler-like manner by drawing several straight\nlines about Rome, to mark its boundaries. He placed these under a deity,\ntermed Terminus, and he erected twelve stones within a stone's throw of\neach other, at regular intervals along the frontier. These were visited\nonce a year by twelve officers, called Fratres Arvales, appointed for\nthe purpose, and the custom originated, no doubt, the parochial practice\nof perambulating parishes with wands and staves, placed in the hands of\nbeadles, who not unfrequently add the luxury of beating the boys to the\nceremony of beating the boundaries.\n\n[Illustration: Numa Pompilius remembering the Grotto.]\n\nNuma, though he had come to the throne, was fond of the retired walks of\nlife, and frequently took a solitary stroll in the suburbs. During one\nof his rambles chance brought him to a grotto, and he was induced to\nremember the grotto by the surpassing loveliness of its fair inhabitant.\nHer name was Egeria, her profession that of a fortune-teller, which gave\nher such an influence over the superstitious mind of Numa, that she\nruled him with her divining rod as completely as if it had been a rod of\niron. He professed to act under the advice of this nymph, to whom\ntradition--an inveterate match-maker--has married him, and he instituted\nthe Flamines, an order of priests, to give weight to the falsehoods or\n\"flams\" he thought fit to promulgate. The privileges of the Flamines\nwere not altogether of the most comfortable kind, and consisted chiefly\nin the right of wearing the Apex--a cap made of olive wood--and the\nLaena, a sort of Roman wrap-rascal, shaggy on both sides, and worn above\nthe toga, as an overcoat. The Flamen was prohibited from appearing in\npublic without his Apex, which could not be kept on the head without\nstrings; but such was the stringency of the regulations, that one\nSulpicius[8] was deprived of his priesthood, in consequence of his\nofficial hat, which was as light as a modern zephyr, having been blown\noff his head in the midst of a sacrifice.\n\nNuma added, also, a sort of _ballet_ company to the mythological\narrangements of his day, by establishing twelve _Salii_, or dancing\npriests, whose duty it was to execute a grand _pas de douze_ on certain\noccasions through the principal public thorough fares. The Salii, though\na highly respectable, were not a very venerable order, for no one could\nremain in it whose father and mother were not both alive, the existence\nof the parents of the dancing priests being, no doubt, required as a\nguarantee that their dancing days were not yet over.\n\nSeveral temples are dated from this reign, including that of Janus, the\ndouble-faced deity, who presided over peace and war--a most appropriate\noffice to one capable of looking two ways at once, for there are always\ntwo sides to every quarrel. This temple must have been perfectly useless\nduring the life of its founder, for it was never to be opened in the\ntime of peace, and Numa preserved for Rome forty-three years of\nundisturbed tranquillity. He was emphatically the friend of order, and\nits usual consequences, prosperity to trade, with soundness of credit,\nand he encouraged commerce by giving a patron-saint or Lar to every\nindustrial occupation. He marked also the value of good faith by\nbuilding a temple to Bona Fides, and it may be presumed that the\ncreditor, who, putting up with the loss of his little bill, sacrificed a\nbad debt in this Temple, was still in hope that he should eventually\nfind his account in it.\n\nIf it cannot be said that Numa never lost a day, it must be admitted\nthat he made the most of his time; for he added two whole months to the\nyear of Romulus. January and February were the names given to the time\nthus gained; but as the year did not then correspond with the course of\nthe sun, it was usual to introduce, every other year, a supplementary\nmonth, so that if one year was too short, the next, by being too long,\nmade it as broad as it was long in the aggregate.\n\nNuma Pompilius lived to be eighty-two; when he had the beatitude of\ndying as peacefully as he had lived; and so gently had Nature dealt with\nhim, that she had suffered him to run up more than four scores, before\nher debt was satisfied. Certain stories are told of the funeral\nceremonies that followed Numa's death; and it is said that the Senators\nacted as porters to his bier, in token of their appreciation of the\nimperial measures which Numa had himself carried. It has been stated,\nalso, that he caused to be placed, within his tomb, a copy, on papyrus,\nor palm leaves,[9] of his own works, in twenty-four books; and it is\ncertainly a happy idea to bury an author with his writings, when, if\nthey have been provocative of sleep in others, he may eventually reap\nthe benefit of their somniferous properties.\n\nOn the death of Numa, the country having been taught, by past\nexperience, the danger of allowing the crown to go from head to head,\nwithout the slightest regard to a fit, determined that the interregnum\nshould be short, and the election of a new king was at once proceeded\nwith. The choice fell upon Tullus Hostilius, who was of a decidedly\nwarlike turn, and was ever on the look-out for a pretext to commence\nhostilities. The Albans, our old friends of Alba Longa, or White's Row,\nwere the nearest, and consequently the most conveniently situated, for\nthe indulgence of his pugnacious propensities; and tradition relates\nthat on one occasion some Alban peasants, having been attacked and\nstripped by the Romans, the former, who had lost even their clothes,\nsought redress at the hands of their rulers. In the course of an attempt\nto settle the dispute between Alba and Rome, each place sent\nambassadors, who crossed each other on the road, as if the two states\nwere determined to be in every way at cross purposes. The Alban envoys\nwere beguiled of all ideas of business by invitations to banquets and\nfeasts, so that whenever they attempted to ask for explanations, their\nmouths were stopped with a dinner or a supper, given in honour of their\nvisit. The Roman messengers were prohibited, on the contrary, from\naccepting invitations, or giving up to parties what was meant for\nRomankind; and had received peremptory instructions to demand an\nimmediate settlement of their long-standing account from the Albans. The\nparties could not understand each other, or, rather, they understood\neach other too well; for war was the object of both, though neither of\nthem liked the responsibility of beginning it. The Albans, however,\nprepared to march on Rome, and encamped themselves within the confines\nof a ditch, into which ditch their King, Cluilius, tumbled, one night,\nvery mysteriously, and died, which caused them to dignify the ditch with\nthe name of _fossa Cluilia_.\n\n[Illustration: Death of Cluilius.]\n\nThe Albans appointed one Mettius Fuffetius, a fussy and nervous\npersonage, as Dictator, in the place of the late King; and Fuffetius\nrequested an interview with Tullus, who agreed to the proposition, with\na determination, before meeting the Dictator, not to be dictated to.\nMettius represented the inconvenience of wasting whole rivers of blood,\nwhen a few pints might answer all the purpose; and it was finally agreed\nto settle the matter by a grand combat of six, sustained on either side\nby three champions, chosen from each army. The Alban and the Roman\nforces were graced, respectively, with a trio of brothers, whose\nstrength and activity rendered them worthy to be ranked with the small\nfamily parties who attach the epithet of Herculean, Acrobatic, Indian\nrubber, or Incredible, to the fraternal character in which they come\nforward to astonish and amuse the enlightened age we live in.\n\nThese six young men were known as the Horatii and Curiatii,--the former\nbeing on the Roman, the latter on the Alban side; and to them it was\nagreed, by mutual consent, to trust the fate of the battle. The\nstory-tellers have done their utmost to render everything Roman as\nromantic as possible; and the legend of the Horatii and Curiatii has\nbeen heightened by making one of the latter batch of brothers the\naccepted lover of the sister of the Horatii.\n\nAll the arrangements for the sanguinary _sestetto_ having been\ncompleted, the six champions came forward, looking fresh and confident,\nnot one of them displaying nervousness by a shaking of the hand, though\nthey shook each other's hands very heartily. Having taken their\npositions, the men presented a picture which we regret has not been\npreserved for us by some sporting annalist of the period. Imagination,\nwho is \"our own reporter\" on this occasion, and, perhaps, as accurate a\nreporter as many who profess to chronicle passing events, must fill up\nthe outlines of the sketch that has been handed down to us.\n\nThe contest commenced with a great deal of that harmless, but violent\nexercise, which goes on between Shakspeare's celebrated pair of\nMacs--the well known 'Beth and 'Duff--when the former requests the\nlatter to \"lay on\" to him, and there ensues a clashing of their swords,\nas vigorous as the clashing of their claims to the crown of Scotland. At\nlength one of the Curiatii, feeling that they had all met for the\ndespatch of business, despatched one of the Horatii, upon which the\ncombatants, being set going, they continued to go one by one with great\nrapidity. A few seconds had scarcely elapsed when a second of the\nHoratii fell, and the survivor of the trio, thinking that he must\neventually become number three if he did not speedily take care of\nnumber one, resolved to stop short this run of ill-luck against his\nrace, by attempting a run of good luck for his life; or, in other words,\nhaving a race for it. The excellence of his wind saved him from drawing\nhis last breath, for the Curiatii, starting off in pursuit, soon proved\nunequal in their speed, and one shot far in advance of the other two,\nwho, though stout of heart, were somewhat too stout of body to be as\nforward as their nimbler brother in giving chase to their antagonist.\nThe survivor of the Horatii perceiving this, turned suddenly round upon\nthe nearest of his foes, and having at once disposed of him, waited\npatiently for the other two, who were coming at unequal speed, puffing\nand panting after him. A single blow did for the second of the Curiatii,\nwho was already blown by the effort of running, and it was unnecessary\nto do more with the third, who came up completely out of breath, than to\nrender him incapable of taking in a further supply of that vitally\nimportant article. The last of the Horatii had consequently become the\nconqueror, and though when he began to run his life seemed to hang on a\nthread, which an unlucky stitch in his side would have finished off, his\nflight was the cause of his coming off in the end with flying colours.\nAfter the first of the Curiatii fell, fatness proved fatal to the other\ntwo, for Horatius, by dealing with them _en gros_, as well as _en\ndetail_, settled all accounts with both of them.\n\n[Illustration: Combat between the Horatii and Curiatii.]\n\nSeeing the result of the contest, Fuffetius, on the part of the Albans,\ngave out that they gave in, and the Romans returned home with Horatius\nat their head, carrying--in a huge bundle--the spoils of the Curiatii.\nAt the entrance of the city he met his sister, who, perceiving among the\nspoils, a garment of her late lover, embroidered with a piece of work\nfrom her own hands, commenced another piece of work of a most frantic\nand desperate character. Maddened at the sight of the yarn she had spun\nfor the lost object of her affections, she began spinning another yarn\nthat threatened to be interminable, if her brother had not soon cut the\nthread of it. She called him by all kinds of names but his own, and was,\nin fact, as noisy and abusive as a conventional \"female in distress,\"\nor, as that alarming and dangerous nuisance, \"an injured woman.\"\nHoratius, who had found the blades of three assailants less cutting than\na sister's tongue, interrupted her as she ran through her wrongs, by\nrunning her through with his sword, accompanying the act with the\nexclamation, \"Thus perish all the enemies of Rome.\" Notwithstanding the\nexcitement and _\u00e9clat_ attending the triumphant entry of Horatius into\nRome, the proper officer of the period, whoever he may have been, was\nevidently not only on duty, but prepared to do it, for the victorious\nfratricide, or sororicide, was at once hurried off to the nearest Roman\nstation. Having been taken before the king, his majesty saw great\ndifficulties in the case, and was puzzled how to dispose of it. Taking\nout the scales of justice, he threw the heavy crime of Horatius into\none; but the services performed for his country, when cast into the\nother scale, seemed to balance the matter pretty evenly. Tullus,\ntherefore, referred the case to another tribunal, which sentenced the\nculprit to be hanged, but he was allowed to have so capitally acquitted\nhimself in the fight, that he was acquitted of the capital punishment.\nThis was commuted for the penalty of passing under the yoke, which\nconsisted of the ceremony of walking under a pike raised upright on two\nothers, and at these three pikes the only toll placed upon his crime was\nlevied.\n\nThe fallen warriors were honoured with tombs in the form of\nsugar-loaves, by which the unsatisfactory sweets of posthumous renown\nwere symbolised. Fuffetius, who though not wounded in his person, was\nfearfully wounded in his pride by the result of the conflict, felt so\njealous of Tullus, that the former, though afraid to burst into open\nrevolt, determined on the really more revolting plan of treachery. The\nrival soldiers had now to combine their forces against the Veientines\nand the Fidenates, and, having set out together, they soon found the foe\ndrawn up in battle array, when Tullus with his Romans faced the\nVeientines, and Mettius with his Albans formed a _vis \u00e0 vis_ to the\nFidenates. When the conflict commenced, the Alban wing showed the white\nfeather, and Fuffetius gradually withdrew his forces to an adjacent\nhill, which he lowered himself by ascending for the purpose of watching\nthe turn of events, so that he might declare himself on the side of\nvictory. Tullus saw the unmanly man\u0153uvre, but winked at it, and rushed\nlike winking upon the Fidenates, who ran so fast that their discretion\ncompletely out-ran their valour. The Roman leader then turned his eyes,\narms, and legs towards the Veientines, who fled towards the Tiber, into\nwhich they desperately dived, but many of them, for divers reasons,\nnever got out again. The perfidious Albans, headed by Mettius Fuffetius,\nnow came down into the plain, and putting on a plain, straightforward\nmanner, he congratulated Tullus on the victory. Pretending not to have\nnoticed their treachery, he invited them all to a sacrifice on the\nfollowing day, and having particularly requested them to come early,\nthey were on the ground by sunrise, but were completely in the dark as\nto the intentions of T. Hostilius. The Romans at a given signal closed\nin upon the Albans, who were informed that their city should be razed,\nor rather, lowered to the ground, and, that their chief, who had pulled\na different way from his new ally, should be fastened to horses who\nshould be driven in opposite directions. This cruel sentence, upon which\nwe have scarcely patience to bestow a sentence of our own, was\nbarbarously carried into execution. Alba fell to the ground; which is\nall we have been able to pick up relating to the subject of this portion\nof our history.\n\nThe remainder of the reign of Hostilius was occupied with military\nsuccesses; but he neglected the worship of the gods, who it is said\nevinced their anger by a tremendous shower of stones on the Alban Mount,\nin order to soften his flinty heart, by making him feel the weight of\ntheir displeasure. From the extreme of indifference he went to the\nopposite extreme of superstition, and called upon Jupiter to send him a\nsign--which was, in fact, a sign of the King's head being in a\nlamentable condition. The unhappy sovereign, imitating his predecessor\nNuma, attempted some experiments in the hope of drawing down some\nlightning, but it was not likely that one who had conducted himself so\nbadly could be a better conductor of the electric fluid, and the result\nwas, that though he learned the art of attracting the spark, it flashed\nupon him with such force that he instantly expired.\n\nSuch is the tradition with reference to the death of Tullus; but it is\nhard to say whether the accounts handed down to us have been\novercharged, or whether the clouds were in that condition. Some\nspeculators insinuate that the royal experimentalist owed his sad fate\nto some mismanagement of his electrical jar while attempting to produce\nan unnatural jarring of the elements. The good actions of Tullus were so\nfew, that his fame will not afford the omission of one, and being\ndesirous to put the best construction we can upon his works, we give him\ncredit for the construction of the Curia Hostilia, whose site still\nmeets the eye near the northern angle of the Palatine. Ambassadors are\nspoken of as existing in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, but whether they\nowe their origin to Numa, who went before, or to Ancus Martius, who came\nafter him, is so much a matter of doubt, that some historians, in trying\nto meet the claims of both half-way, stop short of giving the merit to\neither. Tullus may, at all events, have the credit of employing, if he\ndid not institute, the art of diplomacy in Rome; for he appointed\nambassadors, as we have already seen, to negotiate with the Albans.\nThese envoys were called Feciales, the chief of whom wore on his head a\nfillet of white wool, with a quantity of green herbs, formed into a\nturban, which must have had somewhat the appearance of a fillet of veal,\nwith the ingredients for stuffing. His duty was to proceed to the\noffending country, and proclaim his wrongs upon the border, though there\nmight be no one there to listen, and having crossed the boundary--if his\nindignation happened to know any bounds--he was to astonish the first\nnative he met by a catalogue of grievances. On reaching a city, the\nambassador went over the old story to the soldier at the gate, just as\nthough, at Storey's gate, an irritated foreigner should pour out his\ncountry's real or imaginary wrongs to the sentinel on duty. To this\nrecital the soldier would, of course, be as deaf as his post, and the\nFecialis would then proceed to lay his complaint before the magistrates.\nIn the event of his obtaining no redress, he returned home for a spear,\nand killing a pig with one end, he poked the fire with the other. The\ninstrument being thus charred in the handle and blood-stained at the\npoint, became an appropriate emblem of hostility, and the Fecialis\ndeclared war by stirring it up with the long pole, which he threw across\nthe enemy's boundary.\n\nAfter the death of Tullus Hostilius, the people lost no time in choosing\nAncus Martius, a grandson of Numa, for their sovereign. The new king\ncopied his grandfather, which he had a perfect right to do, but he\nimposed on the Pontifex Maximus the very severe task of copying on white\ntables the somewhat ponderous works of Pompilius, which were posted up\nfor the perusal of the populace.\n\nThough partial on the whole to peace, Ancus was not afraid of war, and,\nwhen his kingdom was threatened, he was quite ready to fight for it. He\nsubdued the Latins, and having first settled them in the field, allowed\nthem to settle themselves in the city. He enlarged Rome, but abridged\nthe distance between different parts by throwing the first bridge across\nthe Tiber, and his name has come down to posterity in the ditch of the\nQuirites which he caused to be dug for the defence of the city, against\nthose who were unlikely to go through thick and thin for the purpose of\ninvading it. He also built a prison in the heart of the city, and what\nmight be truly termed a heart of stone, for the prison was formed of a\nquarry, and is still in existence as a monument of the hard lot of its\ninmates. Ancus Martius further signalised his reign by founding the city\nof Ostia at the Tiber's mouth, and thus gave its waters the benefit of\nthat port which so much increased their value. On the spot may still be\nseen some ruins supposed to belong to a temple dedicated to the winds,\namong whom the greater part of the temple has long since been\npromiscuously scattered. Salt-works were also established in its\nneighbourhood, but the _sal_ was of that volatile kind that none now\nremains from which buyers could fill their cellars. Ancus Martius\nreigned for a period of twenty-four years, and either in tranquillity or\nwar--whether engaged in the works of peace, or embroiled in a piece of\nwork--he proved himself thoroughly worthy of his predecessors, and, in\nfact, he left far behind him many who had gone before him in the task of\ngovernment.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[8] Val. Maxim\u00f9s, i. 1. \u00a7 4.\n\n[9] There exist, in the British Museum, books older than the time of\nNuma, written by the Egyptians, on these palm leaves, which show, in one\nsense, the palmy state of literature at that early period.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE THIRD.\n\nFROM THE ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS PRISCUS TO THE DEATH OF SERVIUS\nTULLIUS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nIt is the opinion of the best authorities that the Muse of History has\nemployed her skipping-rope in passing, or rather skipping, from the\ngrave of Ancus Martius to the throne of Tarquinius Priscus; for there is\na very visible gap yawning between the two; and as we have no wish to\nset the reader yawning in sympathy with the gap, we at once drag him\naway from it.\n\nPlunging into the times of Tarquinius Priscus, we describe him as the\nson of a Corinthian merchant, who, being compelled to quit his country\nfor political reasons, had withdrawn all his Corinthian capital, and\nsettled at Tarquinii, an Etruscan city. Having fallen in love with a\nlady of the place, or, more poetically speaking, deposited his\naffections in an Etruscan vase, he became a husband to her, and the\nfather of two children, named respectively Lucumo and Aruns. Poor Aruns\nhad a very brief run, and soon met his death; but we cannot say how or\nwhere, for we have no report of the meeting. Lucumo married Tanaquil, an\nEtruscan lady, of great beauty and ambition, who professed to dive into\nfuturity; and, guided by this diving belle, he threw himself into the\nstream of events, in the hope of being carried onwards by the tide of\nfortune. She persuaded him that Tarquinii was a poor place, where\nnothing was to be done; that his foreign extraction prevented him from\nbeing properly drawn out; and that Rome alone could afford him a field\nwide enough for his vast abilities. Driven by his wife, he jumped up\ninto his chariot, which was an open one, and was just entering Rome,\nwhen his cap was suddenly removed from his head by a strange bird, which\nsome allege was an eagle; though, had they said it was a lark, we should\nhave believed them far more readily. Lucumo followed his hat as well as\nhe could with his eyes; but his wife was so completely carried away with\nit, that she declared the circumstance told her he would gain a crown,\nthough it really proved how nearly he had lost one; for until the bird\nreplaced his hat upon his head, there was only a bare possibility of his\ngetting it back again.\n\nThe wealth of his wife enabled Lucumo to live in the first style of\nfashion; and having been admitted to the rights of citizenship, he\nchanged his name to Lucius Tarquinius: for the sake, perhaps, of the\nsound, in the absence of any sounder reason. He was introduced at Court,\nwhere he won the favour of Ancus, who was so much taken by his dashing\nexterior, that he gave him a commission in the army, as Tribunus\nCelerum, a sort of Captain of the Guards, who, from the title of\nCeleres, appear to have been, as we have before observed, the fast men,\nas opposed to the \"slow coaches\" of the period.\n\n[Illustration: Celeres.]\n\nThe Captain made himself so generally useful to Ancus, that when the\nlatter died, his two sons were left to the guardianship of the former,\nwho, on the day fixed for the election of a new king, sent his wards to\nthe chase, that they might be pursuing other game, instead of looking\nafter the Crown, which Tarquinius had set his own eye upon. In the\nabsence of the youths, Tarquinius, who had got the name of Priscus, or\nthe old hand, which he seems to have well deserved, proposed himself as\na candidate; and, in a capital electioneering speech, put forth his own\nmerits with such success, that he was voted on to the throne without\nopposition.\n\nThe commencement of his reign was not very peaceful, for he was attacked\nby the Latins; but he gave them a very severe Latin lesson, and,\ncrushing them under his feet, sent them back to that part of Italy\nforming the lower part of the boot, with the loss of considerable booty.\nHe, nevertheless, found time for all manner of games; and he instituted\nthe Ludi Magni, which were great sport, in a space he marked out as the\nCircus Maximus.\n\nThe position of the Circus was between the Palatine and Aventine Hills,\nthere being a slope on either side, so that the people followed the\ninclination of nature as well as their own in selecting the spot for\nspectacular purposes. In the earliest times a Circus was formed of\nmaterials brought by the spectators themselves, who raised temporary\nscaffolds, from which an unfortunate drop, causing fearful execution\namong the crowd, would frequently happen. Tarquinius Priscus, desirous\nof giving more permanent accommodation to the Roman sight seers, built a\nCircus capable of containing 150,000 persons, and, from its vast\nsuperiority in size over other similar buildings, it obtained the\ndistinction of Maximus. The sports of the Circus were extremely\nattractive to the Romans, who looked to the _libelli_, containing the\nlists of the horses, and names and colours of the drivers, with all the\neagerness of a \"gentleman sportsman\" seeking information from Dorling's\ncorrect card at Epsom. In the early days of Rome the amusements of the\nCircus were limited to the comparatively harmless contests of equestrian\nspeed; and it was not until the city had reached a high state of\nrefinement--cruelty having become refined like everything else--that\nanimals were killed by thousands, and human beings by hundreds at a\ntime, to glut the sanguinary appetites of the prince and the people. The\nancient Circus was circular at one end only, and the line of seats was\nbroken by a sort of outwork, supposed to have comprised the box and\nretiring-room of the sovereign; while, at the opposite side, was another\ndeviation from the line of seats, to form a place for the _editor\nspectaculorum_--a box for the manager. Though Tarquinius is said to have\nfounded the Circus Maximus in commemoration of his victory over the\nLatins, they were not the only foes whom he might have boasted of\nvanquishing.\n\nHaving fought and conquered the Sabines, he took from them Collatr\u00e6, as\na collateral security for their good behaviour; and coming home with a\ngreat deal of money, he built the Temple of Jupiter on the capitol.\n\nTarquinius, being desirous of increasing the army, was opposed by a\ncelebrated augur of the day, one Attus Navius, whose reputation seems to\nhave been well deserved, if the annexed anecdote is to be believed; for\nit indicates that he could see further into a whetstone than any one who\nhas either gone before or followed him. Navius declared that augury must\ndetermine whether the plan of Tarquinius could be carried out, which\ncaused the latter to ask, sneeringly, whether he knew what he was\nthinking about. The question was ambiguous, but Navius boldly replied he\ndid, and added, that what Tarquinius proposed to do was perfectly\npossible. \"Is it indeed,\" said the King, \"I was thinking of cutting\nthrough this whetstone with this razor.\" \"It will be a close shave,\" was\nthe reply of the augur, \"but it can be done, so cut away;\" and the\nbluntness of the observation was only equalled by the sharpness of the\nblade, which cut the article in two as easily as if it had been a pound\nof butter, instead of a stone of granite. This reproof was literally\nmore cutting than any other that could have been possibly conveyed to\nthe king, who ever afterwards paid the utmost respect to the augurs, of\nwhom he was accustomed thenceforth to say, that the affair of the\nwhetstone proved them to be much sharper blades than he had been willing\nto take them for.\n\nHaving been at war with the Tuscans, whom he vanquished, he was admitted\ninto the ranks of the Kings of Etruria; a position which led him to\nindulge in the most extravagant desires. He must needs have a crown of\ngold, which often tears or encumbers the brow it adorns; a throne of\nivory, on whose too highly polished surface the foot is apt to slip; and\na sceptre, having on its top an eagle, which frequently gives wings to\nthe power it is intended to typify. His robe was of purple, with so\ncostly an edging, that the border exceeded all reasonable limits, and\nfurnished an instance of extravagance carried to the extreme, while the\nrate at which he went on may be judged from the fact of his always\ndriving four in hand in his chariot. He did not, however, wholly neglect\nthe useful in his taste for the ornamental; and though his extravagance\nmust have been a drain upon the public pocket, he devoted himself to the\nmore honourable drainage of the lower portions of the city. He set an\nexample to all future commissioners of sewers, by his great work of the\n_Cloaca Maxima_, some portion of which still exists, and which contains,\nin its spacious vault, a far more honourable monument than the most\nmagnificent tomb that could have been raised to his memory.\n\nTarquinius had reigned about thirty-eight years, when the sons of Ancus\nMartius, who had been from the first brooding over their own ejection\nfrom the throne, carried their brooding so far as to hatch a conspiracy,\nwhich, though regarded by the best authorities as a mare's nest, forms\none of those \"lays\" of ancient Rome which tradition gives as part of her\nhistory. The youths, expecting that Tarquinius would secure the\nsuccession to a favourite, named Servius Tullius, made an arrangement\nwith a couple of shepherds, who, pretending to have a quarrel, went with\nhatchets in their hands to the king, and requested him to settle their\nlittle difference. Tarquinius seems to have been in a most accommodating\nhumour, for he is said to have stepped to the door of the palace, to\narbitrate between these most un-gentle shepherds, who, pretending that\nthey only came with their hatchets to axe his advice, began to axe him\nabout the head; and while he was endeavouring to act as an arbitrator,\nthey, acting as still greater traitors, cruelly made away with him. The\nlictors who stood by must have had their faces and their fasces turned\nthe wrong way, for they administered a beating to the shepherds when,\ntoo late, after the regal crown was already cracked beyond the\npossibility of repair, and the king was almost knocked to pieces before\nhe had time to collect himself.\n\nTarquinius was a practical reformer, and rested his fame on the most\ndurable foundations, among which the still-existing remains of the\nCloaca Maxima, or largest common sewer, have already been noticed. Those\nwho are over nice might feel repugnant to come down to posterity by such\na channel; but that country is fortunate indeed in which genius seeks\n\"the bubble reputation\" at the mouth of the sewer, instead of in the\nmouth of the cannon.\n\nIt must be recorded, to the honour of Tarquinius, that he organised the\nplebeians, and elevated some of them to the rank of patricians, thus\ngiving vigour to the aristocratic body, which runs the risk of becoming\ncorrupt, and losing its vitality, unless a supply of plebeian life-blood\nis from time to time poured into it.\n\nThis measure would have been followed by other wholesome reforms, but\nfor the short-sighted and selfish policy of the patricians themselves,\nwho could not perceive the fact, full of apparent paradoxes, that if\nanything is to remain, it must not stand still; that no station can be\nstationary with safety to itself; and that nothing possessed of vitality\ncan grow old without something new being continually added.\n\nThe sixth king of Rome was Servius Tullius, who is said to have been the\nson of a female in the establishment of Tanaquil. His mother's name was\nOcrisia; but there is something vague about the paternity of the boy,\nwhich has been assigned sometimes to the Lar, or household god of the\nestablishment, and sometimes to Vulcan. Whoever may have been the\nfather, it was soon intimated that the child was to occupy a high\nposition; and on one occasion, when sleeping in his cradle, his head was\nseen to be on fire; but no one was allowed to blow out the poor boy's\nbrains, or otherwise extinguish the flame, which was rapidly consuming\nthe hair on the head of the future heir to the monarchy. The nurses and\nattendants were ordered to sit down and see the fire burn out of its own\naccord, which, the tradition says, it did, though common sense says it\ncouldn't; for the unfortunate infant must have died of consumption had\nhe been suffered to blaze away in the cool manner spoken of. Though of\ncommon origin, at least on his mother's side, young Servius Tullius was\nsupposed to have been completely purified by the fire, which warmed the\nhearts of all who came near him; and not only did the queen adopt him as\nher own son, but the partial baking had produced such an effect upon his\nvery ordinary clay, that he was treated like a brick required for the\nfoundations of the royal house into which Tarquinius cemented him, by\ngiving him, as a wife, one of the daughters of the royal family.\n\nTanaquil having kept secret her husband's death, Servius Tullius\ncontinued for some time to carry on the business of government, just as\nif nothing had happened. When it was at length felt that the young\nfavourite of fortune had got the reins fairly in his hands, the murder\ncame out, and the barbarous assassination of Tarquinius was published to\nthe multitude. Servius was the first instance of a king who mounted the\nthrone without the aid of the customary pair of steps, consisting of an\nelection by the Senate, and a confirmation by the Curi\u00e6.\n\nIt might have been expected that Servius, when elevated above his own\nhumble stock, might have held his head so high and become so\nstiff-necked as to prevent him from noticing the rank from which he had\nsprung; but, on the contrary, he exalted himself by endeavouring to\nraise others. His reign was not a continued round of fights, for he\npreferred the trowel to the sword, and, instead of cutting his name with\nthe latter weapon, he wisely chose to build up his reputation with the\nformer instrument. His first care was to complete the city, to which he\nadded three hills, feeling, perhaps, that his fame would become as\nancient as the hills themselves; and with a happy perception that if\n\"walls have ears\" they are just as likely to have tongues, he surrounded\nRome with a wall, which might speak to future ages of his spirit and\nenterprise. He was a friend to insolvent debtors, to whom he gave the\nbenefit of an act of unexampled liberality. Desiring them to make out\nschedules of their liabilities, he paid off the creditors in a double\nsense, for they were extremely reluctant to receive the cash, the\npayment of which cashiered their claim on the person and possessions of\ntheir debtors. He abolished imprisonment for debt, giving power to\ncreditors over the goods and not the persons--or, as an ingenious\nscholar has phrased it, the bona and not the bones--of their debtors.\n\n[Illustration: Debtor and Creditor.--Seizure of Goods for a Debt.]\n\nServius found that while he was raising up buildings he was knocking\ndown a great deal of money; but being nevertheless anxious to erect a\ntemple to Diana on the Aventine Hill he persuaded the Latins, who had\nmade the place a sort of _quartier Latin_, to subscribe to it. The\nLatins, the Romans, and the Sabines, were every year to celebrate a sort\nof union sacrifice on this spot, where the cutting up and cooking of\noxen formed what may be termed a joint festival. It happened that a\nSabine agriculturist had reared a prize heifer, which caused quite an\neffervescence among his neighbours, and taking the bull quietly by the\nhorns, he asked the augur what it would be meet for him to do with it.\nThe soothsayer looked at the bull, who turned his brilliant bull's eye\nupon the astonished sage, with a sort of supercilious stare that almost\namounted to a glaring oversight. The augur, not liking the look of the\nanimal, and anxious, no doubt, to put an end to the interview, declared\nthat whoever sacrificed the beast to Diana, off-hand, would benefit his\nrace, and cause his nation to rule over the other confederates. The\nanimal was led away with a shambling gait to the sacred shambles, where\nthe Roman priest was waiting to set his hand to any Bull that might be\npresented to him. Seeing the Sabine preparing to act as slaughterman,\nthe pontiff became tiffy, and suggested, that if the other was going to\ndo the job, he might as well do it with clean hands, upon which the\nSabine rushed to the river to take a finger bath. While the owner was\noccupied about his hands the Roman priest took advantage of the pause to\nslaughter the animal, and, on his return, the Sabine found that he had\nunintentionally washed his hands of the business altogether. The oracle\nwas thus fulfilled in favour of the Romans, who trumpeted the fact\nthrough the bull's horns, which were hung up in front of the temple in\nmemory of this successful piece of priest-craft.\n\nThe growing popularity of Servius with the plebs made the patricians\nanxious to get rid of him, for they had not the sense to feel that if\nthey aspired to be the pillars of the state, a close union with the\nclass beneath, or, as they would have contemptuously termed it, the\nbase, was indispensable. It happened that Servius, in the hope of\npropitiating the two sons of Tarquinius, had given them his two\ndaughters as their wives, though it was a grievous mistake to suppose\nthat family marriages are usually productive of family union. Jealousy\nand quarrelling ensued, which ended in the elder, Tullia, persuading her\nsister's husband Lucius Tarquinius to murder his own brother and his own\nwife, in order that he might make a match with the lump of female\nbrimstone that had inflamed his brutal passions. Not satisfied with the\ndouble murder, which would have qualified her new husband to be struck\nin the hardest wax and to occupy chambers among the worst of horrors,\nTullia was always whispering into his ear that she wished her father\nfarther, and by this demoniac spell she worked on the weak and wicked\nmind of Lucius Tarquinius. It having been reported that Servius Tullus\nintended to crown his own reign by uncrowning himself, and exchanging,\nas it were, the royal stock for consuls, the patricians thought it would\nbe a good opportunity to speculate for a fall, by attempting the king's\noverthrow. Tullia and her husband were asked to join in this conspiracy,\nwhen it was found that the wretched and corrupt pair would be quite ripe\nfor any enormity. It was arranged, therefore, that Lucius Tarquinius, at\na meeting of the Senate, should go down to the House with all the\ninsignia of royalty, and, having seated himself upon the throne, the\ntrumpeters in attendance were, by one vigorous blow, to proclaim him as\nthe sovereign. When Servius heard the news he proceeded to the Assembly,\nwhere all things--including the trumpets--seemed to be flourishing in\nfavour of the traitor. As the sound of the instruments fell upon the old\nking's ears, he seemed to tremble for a moment before the rude blast\nwhich threatened the blasting of all his benevolent views, but calling\nout from the doorway in which he stood, he rebuked the insolence and\ntreachery of his son-in-law. A disgraceful scene ensued, in which other\nblows than those of the trumpeters were exchanged, and Servius, who had\nin vain desired the traitor to \"come off the throne,\" was executing a\nthreat to \"pull him off\" as well as the old man's strength, or rather,\nhis feebleness, would allow him. The senators were watching the scene\nwith the vulgar interest attaching to a prize fight, and were no doubt\nbacking up the combatants with the ordinary expressions of\nencouragement, which we can only interpret by our own familiar phrases\nof, \"Go it,\" \"Now then young 'un,\" \"Bravo old 'un,\" and \"Give it him.\"\nGetting rather too near the edge of the throne, but holding each other\nfirmly in their respective grasps, the two combatants rolled together\ndown the steps of the throne--an incident not to be met with in the\nrolls of any other Parliament. Getting immediately on to their legs they\nagain resumed their hostile footing, when Tarquinius being younger and\nfresher than his antagonist, seized up the old man, now as feeble as an\ninfant in arms, and carried his brutality to such a pitch as to pitch\nhim down the steps of the Senate House. Servius tried in vain to pick up\nhis courage, and being picked up himself, he was on his road home when\nhe was overtaken and murdered in a street, which got the name of _Vicus\nSceleratus_, or Rascally Row, from the disgraceful row that occurred in\nit. Tullia was driving down to the House to hear the news when her\ncoachman pulled up at the horrid sight of the king lying in the street,\nbut the female fury only ordered the man to \"drive on,\" and it is said\nthat she enforced her directions by flinging a footstool at his head,\nthough, on subjecting the story to the usual tests, we find the\nfootstool without a leg to stand upon. Servius Tullus had reigned\nforty-four years, and his memory was cherished for centuries after his\ndeath, his birthday being celebrated on the Nones of every month,\nbecause he was known to have been born on some nones, but which\nparticular nones were unknown to any one. We have already noticed the\nwall of Servius, but we must not forget the Agger, or mound, connected\nwith it, the value of which was equal to that of the wall itself, and,\nindeed, those who give the preference to the Agger over the wall do not\nmuch ex-aggerate. There remains to this day a great portion of the\nmound, which was sixty feet high and fifty broad, skirted with flag\nstones towards the outer side, and the Romans no doubt would derive more\nsecurity from laying down their flags on the outer wall than from\nhanging out their banners.\n\nThe greatest work, however, of the reign of Servius was the reform of\nthe Constitution, which he constructed with a view to the reconciling of\nthe wide differences between the patricians and the plebeians, so as to\nform one powerful body by making somebodies of those who had hitherto\nbeen treated as nobodies. His first care was to divide the plebeians\ninto thirty tribes--a name derived from the word _tribus_, or three, and\napplied to the three plebeian tribes--the derivation being so simple\nthat were we to ask any schoolboy if he understood it, his answer would\nbe, that \"he might be whipped\" and he would assuredly deserve to be\nwhipped \"if he didn't.\" These thirty tribes were placed under an officer\ncalled a _tribunus_, whose duty it was to keep a list of the members and\ncollect the _tributum_--a word, to which in the reader's ready mind, the\nword tribute will at once be attributed. Besides the orders of\npatricians and plebeians, whose position was determined by descent\nalone, Servius thought there were many who might be connected together\nby a tie proper to them all, namely, that of property. He accordingly\nestablished a census to be held every five years, in which the name of\nevery one who had come to man's estate was put down, together with the\namount of his other estate, if he was lucky enough to have any. The\nwhole number was divided into two heads, one of which was foot, or\n_pedites_, and the other horse, or _equites_, among whom an equitable\nshare of rights and duties had to be distributed. The _pedites_, or\ninfantry, were not all on the same footing, but were subdivided into six\nclasses, according to the amount of their possessions, which determined\ntheir position in the army; but even the sixth class, or those who had\nno other possession than their self-possession, were not excluded from\nthe service. Each class was divided into seniors and juniors, the former\nbeing men between forty-five and sixty; the latter, including all below\nforty-five and above seventeen, at which early age, though frequently\nnot bearded themselves, they were expected to go forth and beard the\nenemy. In addition to the two assemblies of the curi\u00e6 (the _comitia\ncuriata_) and the tribes (the _comitia tributa_), there was instituted\nby Servius a great national assembly called the _comitia centuriata_,\nand consisting of the whole of the centuries. Of these centuries there\nwere altogether one hundred and ninety-three; but, instead of every\nindividual member being allowed a separate vote, the suffrage was\ndistributed amongst classes according to their wealth or the number of\nasses they possessed, a principle which the opponent of a mere property\nqualification will regard as somewhat asinine. By this arrangement the\npoor were practically excluded from voting at all, unless the rich were\ndisagreed among themselves, when the merely industrious classes, such as\nthe _Fabri_--the very extensive family of the Smiths and the\nCarpenters--the _Cornicines_--the respectable race of Hornblowers--and\nothers of similar degree sometimes had sufficient weight to turn the\nbalance.\n\nThough the equestrian centuries comprised the richest class, they seem\nto have been in one respect little better than beggars on horseback, for\neach eques received from the treasury a sum for the purchase of his\nhorse and an annual grant for its maintenance. The amount was levied\nupon orphans and widows, who were, it is true, exempt from other\nimposts, though their contributing from their slender means to keep a\nhorse on its legs caused many to complain that the law rode rough-shod\nover them. The Assembly of the Centuries was a grand step towards\nself-government, and, though many may think that wealth had an actual\npreponderance, it was always possible for a member of a lower class to\nget into a higher, and thus an inducement to self-advancement was\nsecured, which is, certainly, not one of the least useful ends of\ngovernment. There were numerous instances of energetic Romans rising\nfrom century to century with a rapidity showing that they were greatly\nin advance of the age, or, at all events, of the century in which they\nwere originally placed by their lot, or rather by their little.\n\nServius introduced into Rome the Etruscan As, of the value of which we\ncan give no nearer notion than by stating the fact that a Roman sheep\nwas worth about ten Etruscan asses. To the poorer classes these coins\ncould have been of little service, and by way of small change they were\npermitted to use shells, from which we no doubt get the phrase of\n\"shelling out,\" a quaint expression sometimes used to describe the\nprocess of paying. In some parts of the world shells are still current\nas cash, and even among ourselves fish are employed at cards as the\nrepresentatives of money. Though in ordinary use for the smaller\npurposes of commerce, shells were not receivable as taxes, for when the\nGovernment required the sinews of war it would not have been satisfied\nwith mussels or any other similar substitute.\n\nThe Roman As was of bronze and stamped on one side with a portrait of\nJanus, whose two heads we never thought much better than one, though\nthey appeared appropriately on a coin as a sign, perhaps, that people\nare often made doublefaced by money. On the other side was the prow of a\nship, which might be emblematical of the fact that money is necessary to\nkeep one above water.\n\nIn the time of Servius all were expected to arm themselves according to\ntheir means, and the richest were thoroughly clad in bronze for the\nprotection of their persons, while the poorer, who could not afford\nanything of the kind, were obliged to trust for their self-defence to\ntheir own natural metal. The patricians carried a clypeus, or shield, of\nsuch dimensions as to cover frequently the whole body, and by hiding\nhimself behind it the wearer often escaped a hiding from the enemy. The\nmaterial of which the clypeus was composed was wood covered with a\nbull's skin that had been so thoroughly tanned as to afford safety\nagainst the severest leathering.\n\n[Illustration: _Tarquinus Superbus makes himself King._]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE FOURTH.\n\nFROM THE ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS TO THE BANISHMENT OF THE ROYAL\nFAMILY, AND THE ABOLITION OF THE KINGLY DIGNITY.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTarquinius had ascended the throne more by the force of his fists, than\nby the strength of his arms; for he had aimed a blow, not only at the\ncrown, but at the face of the unhappy sovereign who had preceded him.\nCarrying his hostility beyond the grave, Tarquinius refused to bury his\nanimosity, or to grant his victim a funeral. The upstart nature of the\nnew king gained for him the nickname of Superbus, or the proud, though\nhe had as little to be proud of as some of the most contemptible\ncharacters in history. He, however, asserted himself with so much\naudacity, that the people were completely overawed by his pretensions,\nand many made away with themselves, to insure their lives, by a sort of\nIrish policy, against Tarquin's violence. He took away the privileges of\nthe plebeians, and sent many to the scaffold, by employing them as\ncommon bricklayers; but there were several who preferred laying violent\nhands on themselves, to laying a single brick of the magnificent\nbuildings which he planned, in the hope, perhaps, that the splendour of\nthe constructions of his reign would induce posterity to place the best\nconstruction on his character.\n\nHe coolly assumed the whole administration of the law, and added the\noffice of executioner to that of judge, while he combined with both the\ncharacter of a criminal, by seizing the property of all those whom he\npunished, and thus adding robbery to violence. To prevent the\npossibility of a majority against him in the Senate, he cut off several\nof the heads of that body; and though he never condescended to submit\nto the Assembly a single question, he treated the unhappy members as if\nthey had much to answer for.\n\nFinding the continued ill-treatment of his own people getting rather\nmonotonous, he sought the pleasures of variety, by harassing the\nVolscians, whom he robbed of a sufficient sum to enable him to commence\na temple to Jupiter. Bricks and mortar soon ran up above the estimated\ncost; and Tarquin had scarcely built the lower floor, when he came to\nthe old story of shortness of funds, which he supplied by making the\npeople pay as well as work, and taxing at once their time and their\npockets. This temple was on the Capitoline Hill; and it is said that in\ndigging the foundations the workmen hit upon a freshly-bleeding human\nhead, which, of course, must be regarded as an idle tale; nor would it\nbe right for history to hold an elaborate inquest on this head, since it\nwould be impossible to find a verdict without having first found the\nbody. The augur, who, according to the legend, was present on the\noccasion, is reported to have made a _post-mortem_ examination of the\nhead, which he identified as that of one Tolus; but who Tolus was, or\nwhether he ever was at all, we are told nothing on any competent\nauthority. The augur, whose duty it was to be ready to interpret\nanything that turned up, no sooner saw the head, than putting upon it\nthe best face he could, he declared it to be a sign that Rome was\ndestined to be the head of the world--an obvious piece of fulsome\nadulation, worthy of being offered to the flattest of flats, by one\ndisposed to flatter. The temple itself was a great fact, notwithstanding\nthe numerous fictions that are told concerning it; and there is little\ndoubt that though, as some say, Tarquinius Priscus (the old one) may\nhave begun it, Tarquinius Superbus put to it the finishing touch, and\nsurmounted it with a chariot and four in baked clay, which, had it been\npreserved to this day, would have been one of the most interesting of\nPotter's Antiquities.\n\n[Illustration: Tarquinius Superbus has the Sibylline Books valued.]\n\nA curious anecdote, connected with the bookselling business of the\nperiod, has been handed down to us; and it is sufficiently interesting\nto be handed on to the readers of this work, who are at liberty either\nto take it up, or to set it down at its real value. It is said that\nTarquin was waited upon by a female, who brought with her nine books,\nand, expressing herself willing to do business, asked three hundred\npieces of gold for the entire set of volumes. The King pooh-poohed the\nproposition, on the ground of the exorbitant price, and desired her to\nbe off with the books, when she solemnly advised him not to off with the\nbargain. Finding him obstinate, the woman, who was, it seems, a sibyl,\nand eked out her bookseller's profits by the business of a prophetess,\nthrew into the flames three of the volumes, which, assuming, for a few\nminutes, the aspect of illuminated copies, soon left no traces--not even\na spark--of any genius by which they might have been inspired. The\nsibyl, soon after, paid a second visit to Tarquin, bringing with her the\nsix remaining volumes; and having asked in vain the same sum for the\nimperfect copy as she had done for the whole work, she went through a\nsort of second edition of Burns, by throwing three more of her books\ninto the fire. To the surprise of Tarquin, she appeared a third time\nwith her stock of books, now reduced to three; and upon the King's\nobserving to her \"What do you want for these?\" she replied that three\nhundred pieces of gold was her price; that she made no abatement; that\nif the books were not instantly bought, they would speedily be converted\ninto light literature, and being condensed into one thick volume of\nsmoke, would, of course, take their final leaves of the royal residence.\nThe King, astonished at the woman's pertinacity, resolved at last to\nsend for a valuer, to look at the books, who declared them to be well\nworth the money. They contained a variety of remedies for diseases,\ndirections for preparing sacrifices, and other interesting matter, with\na collection of the oracles of Cum\u00e6, by way of appendix, so that the\nvolumes formed a sort of encyclop\u00e6dia, embracing the advantages of a\nCookery Book, a Buchan's Domestic Medicine, and a Complete\nFortune-teller. Tarquin[10] became the purchaser of these three very odd\nvolumes, which seem to have been estimated less according to their\nintrinsic value, than the price they had brought; and they were\ncarefully put away in the Temple library.\n\nIt was the desire of the Government to prevent the people from knowing\nwhat these books might contain, and the office of librarian was\nentrusted to two individuals of illustrious birth, under the idea--not\nvery flattering to aristocracy--that patricians would be found the best\npromoters of ignorance. One of these officers, having acted so\ninconsistently with his rank, as to have imparted some information to a\nfellow-citizen, was dismissed from his place and thrown into the sea in\na bag; so that he may be said, by the heartless punster, to have got the\nsack in a double meaning.\n\nWhile building operations were going on at home, destruction was being\ndealt out abroad; and the Gabii being about twelve miles from Rome, were\nthe objects of the King's hostility. Having sent one of his captains\nagainst them, who was repulsed by a major force, Tarquinius resolved on\ntrying treachery. He accordingly despatched his son, Sextus, to complain\nof ill-treatment at his father's hands, and to implore the pity of the\nGabii, who were gabies enough not only to believe the story, but even to\nappoint Sextus their general. He was ultimately chosen their governor;\nand finding the Gabii completely in his hands, he sent to his own\ngovernor--Tarquinius--to know what to do with them. The King was in the\ngarden when the messenger arrived; and whenever the latter asked a\nquestion, the former made no reply, but kept knocking off the heads of\nthe tallest poppies with his walking-stick. The messenger ventured to\nintimate, once or twice, that he was waiting for an answer; but the\nheads of the poppies flying off in all directions, he began to tremble\nfor his own, and he flew off himself, to prevent accidents. On his\nreturn, he mentioned the circumstances to Sextus, who regarded the\npoppies as emblems of the Gabii; and, indeed, the latter seemed so\nthoroughly asleep, that the comparison was no less just than odious.\n\nSextus, taking the paternal hint, knocked off several of the heads of\nthe people; and keeping up the allegory to the fullest extent, cut off\nthe flower of the Gabii. Many of their fairest blossoms perished by a\ntoo early blow; and being thus deprived of what might fairly be termed\nits primest pick, the soil was soon planted with the victorious\nstandards of Tarquinius. He, however, instead of introducing any apple\nof discord, judiciously grafted the Gabian on the Roman stock; and thus\ncultivated the only really valuable fruits of victory.\n\n[Illustration: The Evil Conscience of Tarquin.]\n\nTarquin was a great deal troubled by the signs of the times; or, rather,\nhe was made so uncomfortable by an evil conscience, that if a snake\nappeared in his path, it seemed to hang over him like a horrible load;\nand if he went to sleep, there was a mare's-nest always at hand, to\ntrouble him with a night-mare. He dreamed that some eagles had built in\nhis gardens, and that in their temporary absence from the nest, some\nvultures had breakfasted on the new-laid eggs, and, armed with their\nbeaks, taken possession of the deserted small tenement. Unable to drive\nthe vultures out of his head, he was anxious to ascertain the meaning of\nthe omen, for he had become so superstitious, that if he saw a sparrow\ndart from a branch, he regarded it as an emblem that he was himself\nabout to hop the twig in some unexpected manner. Doubting the efficiency\nof his own augurs, on whom he was beginning to throw some of the\ndiscredit to which prophets in their own country are liable, Tarquin\nresolved on seeking the aid of foreign talent; and as the omens were\nworse than Greek to him, he sent to the oracles at Delphi, thinking if\nthe matter was Greek to them they would be able to interpret it. His\nmessengers to the fortune-tellers were his two sons, Aruns and Titus,\ntogether with his nephew, one Lucius Junius Brutus, who, though an\nextremely sensible young man, was in the habit of playing the fool, in\norder to avert the suspicions of his uncle. Though Brutus assumed the\nlook of an idiot, and generally had his eye on vacancy, it was only to\nconceal the fact that a vacancy on the throne was what he really had his\neye upon. Valuable gifts were taken to the oracle, which was slow to\nspeak in the absence of presents. When Brutus put a _b\u00e1ton_ into the\nhand of the Priestess, she knew, by the weight, that the _b\u00e1ton_ was a\nhollow pretext for the conveyance of a bribe, which she looked for,\nfound, and pocketed. On the strength of a large lump of gold, thus\ncunningly conveyed to the Priestess, Brutus ventured to ask who would be\nthe next King of Rome, to which she replied by a recommendation that\nall the applicants should go home to their mothers, for that \"he who\nkissed his mother first should be the one to govern.\" Titus and Aruns\nmade at once for their mamma, and eager to kiss her, ran as fast as they\ncould to catch the first bus, but Brutus, whom they had perhaps tripped\nup, to prevent his getting a fair start, saluted his mother earth with a\nsmack of the lip in return for the blow on the face that his fall had\noccasioned him.\n\nWhen the ambassadors returned to Rome they found Tarquin as nervous as\never; and there is little doubt, that if tea had been known in those\ndays, the King would have sat for ever over his cups, endeavouring to\nread the grounds for his fears in the grounds of the beverage. The\ntreasury having been exhausted by his building speculations, the people\nwere growing more dissatisfied every day; and, in order to turn their\ndiscontent away from home, he engaged them in a quarrel with Ardea, a\ncity situated on a lofty rock, against which the Romans threw themselves\nwith a sort of dashing energy. The attempt to take the place by a common\nassault and battery was vain, for the rock stood firm; and it was\nprobable, that if the Romans remained at the gates, and continued\nknocking over and over again, they would ultimately be compelled to\nknock under. They therefore resolved on hemming the Ardeans in, as there\nwas no chance of whipping them out, and military works were run in a\ncontinuous thread round the borders of the city.\n\nThe Romans, acting as a sort of army of occupation, had, of course,\nscarcely any occupation at all; and there being nothing that soldiers\nfind it so difficult to kill as their time, the officers were in the\nhabit of going halves in suppers at each other's quarters. At one of\nthese entertainments the King's sons, and their cousin, one Tarquinius,\nsurnamed Collatinus, from the town of Collatia, were discussing the\nmerits of their respective wives, and each of the officers, with an\nuxuriousness among the military that the commonest civility would have\nrestrained, was praising his own wife at the expense of all others.\n\nIt was at length agreed that the husbands should proceed forthwith to\nRome, and that having paid an unexpected visit to all the ladies, the\npalm should be awarded to her who should be employed in the most\npraiseworthy way, when thus unceremoniously popped in upon. They first\nvisited the wife of Sextus, who had got a large evening party and ball\nat home, and who was much confused by this unexpected revelation of her\nmidnight revels. Dancing was at its height; and as a great writer has\nsaid of dancing among the Romans, \"_Nemo fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte\ninsaniat_,\"[11]--any one who dances must be either very drunk, or stark\nmad,--we may guess the state of the company that Sextus found at his\nresidence. In one corner the game of _Par et Impar_--\"odd or\neven\"--might perhaps have been played; for nothing can be more purely\nclassical than the origin of some of those sports which form almost the\nonly pretexts for the employment of our modern street-keepers. A portion\nof the guests might have been amusing themselves with the _Tali_, or\n\"knuckle-bones,\" others might have been employed at _Jactus\nbolus_--\"pitch and toss;\" while here and there among the revellers might\nhave been heard the familiar cry of _Aut caput aut navem_--the \"heads or\ntails\" of antiquity.\n\n[Illustration: Mrs. Sextus consoles herself with a Little Party.]\n\nTheir next call was at the house of Collatinus, whose wife, Lucretia,\nwas also engaged with a ball, but it was of cotton, and instead of\ndevoting herself to the whirl of the dance, she was spinning with her\nmaids, by way of spinning out the long, dreary hours of her husband's\nabsence. Sextus at once admitted that Collatinus had indeed got a\ntreasure of a wife, and the officers returned to the camp; but a few\nevenings afterwards, availing himself of the introduction of her\nhusband, Sextus paid the lady a second visit. Being a kinsman, he was\nasked to make himself at home, but his manner became so strange, that\nLucretia could not make him out; and as he did not seem disposed to go\nhome till morning, she retired to her chamber, with the impression, no\ndoubt, that being left alone in the sitting-room he would take the hint,\norder his horse, and proceed to his lodgings. Lucretia was, however,\ndisturbed in the middle of the night by Sextus, who was standing over\nher with a drawn sword, and who was guilty of such brutal insolence,\nthat she sent a messenger, the first thing in the morning, to fetch her\nhusband from Ardea, and her father from Rome, who speedily arrived with\nhis friend, P. Valerius, a highly respectable man, who afterwards got\nthe name of Publicola. Collatinus brought with him L. J. Brutus, and\nLucretia having rapidly run through the story of her wrongs, she still\nmore rapidly run through herself before any one had time to arrest the\ndeadly weapon. Revenge against Tarquin and his whole race was instantly\nsworn, in a sort of quartette, by the four friends, and L. J. Brutus,\nsnatching up the dagger, made a great point of it in a speech he\naddressed to the people in the market place. Indignation was now\nthoroughly roused against the Tarquin family, and Brutus, proceeding to\nRome, called a public meeting in the Forum. He opened the business of\nthe day by stating what had been done, and having made his deposition he\nproposed the deposition of the king; when it was moved, by way of\namendment, and carried unanimously, that the resolution should be\nextended by the addition of the words, \"and the banishment of his wife\nand family.\" A volunteer corps was at once formed to set out for Ardea,\nwhere the king was supposed to be; but on hearing of the insurrection,\nhe had at once decamped from the camp, and proceeded to Rome, where he\nfound the gates closed, and feeling himself shut out from the throne, he\ntook refuge with his two sons, Titus and Aruns, at Caere, in Etruria.\nThere history loses sight of the old king, but Sextus has been traced to\nGabii, a principality of which he thought he was the head; but the\npeople soon undeceived him, by showing him they would have no head at\nall, for they cut him off one day in a tumult.\n\nTullia had fled, and it is not known whither; but mercy to the fallen\nking would lead us to hope that the queen had gone in a different\ndirection from that which he had taken. The Ardeans agreed to a truce\nfor fifteen years--a somewhat lengthy letter of license--during which\nall hostile proceedings were to be stayed, and the people decreed the\ntotal abolition of the kingly dignity. The royal stock was converted, as\nit were, into consuls, and L. Junius Brutus, with L. Tarquinius\nCollatinus, were elected for one year, to fill the latter character.\n\nBefore closing an account of what is usually termed the kingly period of\nthe history of Rome, it is due to truth to state, that though some of\nthe alleged kings were good and others were bad, they must all be\nconsidered as very doubtful characters. The fact of their existence\ndepends on no better authority than certain annals, compiled more than\na century and a half after the materials for compiling them had been\ndestroyed; and we are thus driven to rely upon the statements of certain\nstory-tellers, belonging, we fear, to a class, whose memories, according\nto the proverb, ought to be excellent. In pretending to recollect what\nthey never knew, they have sometimes forgotten themselves, and in\nbuilding up their stories, they have shown how mere fabrication may\nraise an ostensibly solid fabric.\n\nOf the seven kings, who are said to have ruled in Rome during a period\nof nearly two hundred and fifty years, three or four were murdered;\nanother subsided in a bog, and another ran for his life, which he saved\nby his speed, though he was the last of the race of royalty. It is\ndifficult to spread these seven sovereigns over a space of two centuries\nand a half, and we feel that we might as well attempt to cover an acre\nof bread with a thin slice of ham, or turn the river Thames into negus\nby throwing a few glasses of sherry into it. Of the earliest Roman\nannals, some were burnt, leaving nothing to the student but the tinder,\nfrom which it is, in these days, hardly possible to obtain much light,\nbut the greater portion of the early history of Rome has come down to us\nby tradition, that extraordinary carrier, who is continually adding to\nthe bulk, but diminishing the weight of the matters consigned to it for\ndelivery.\n\nOf the condition of the people at this early period little or nothing\ncan be known, and to amuse ourselves with idle guesses, would be\nscarcely better than to turn into a game of blindman's buff the\nimportant business of history. We can however state, with confidence,\nthat the earliest Romans had no regular coinage, but were in the habit\nof answering with brass, in the rudest shape, the demands of their\ncreditors. Servius Tullius is reputed to have been the first who\nconverted the brass into coin, and marked it with the figure of a horse\nor some other animal,[12] as an emblem, perhaps, of the fact, that money\nruns away very rapidly.\n\nAmong the early Romans, the most honourable occupations were agriculture\nand war; the latter enabling the citizens to make a conquest of the soil\nwith the sword, and the former teaching them to subdue it to their\npurposes by the implements of husbandry. Trade and commerce were held in\ncontempt, and left to the plebeians; the patrician considering himself\nsuitably employed only when he was thrashing his corn, or performing the\nsame operation on his enemies.\n\nDuring the early existence of the city the native artists were few, and\nthe great works of architecture undertaken by the later kings were\nembellished by foreign talent from Etruria. The writing-master had made\nso little progress in ancient Rome, that it is doubtful whether many of\nthe patricians could write their own names; and even some of the most\ndistinguished characters of the day were men of mark, not only by their\nposition, but by their signatures.\n\nIt is not very gratifying to the friends of education to find that\nthough ignorance was almost universal among the early Romans, there was\na wholesome tone of morality among the people, which led them, not only\nto condemn in their traditions the cruelty and laxity of principle\nprevailing in the family of their last king, but to pay due reverence to\nthe domestic virtues of Lucretia. The legend of the latter being found\nspinning with her maids, while the princesses of the house of Tarquin\nwere reeling in the dance, during the absence of their respective\nhusbands, is sufficient to show the estimation in which decency and\nsobriety were held, as well as the odium that attached to riotous\nrevelry. The patrician youth of infant and unlettered Rome would have\nbeen ashamed of those nocturnal gambols which have prevailed among\nportions of the juvenile aristocracy and gentry in more civilised\ncountries, and in a more enlightened age, when door-knockers, and\nbell-handles, have been carried off as the _spolia opima_ of some\ndisorderly triumph.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[10] Some say that Tarquinius Priscus bought the books; but it is of\nlittle consequence who was the real buyer, as the whole story is very\nprobably \"a sell\" on the part of the narrators, as well as of the sibyl.\n\n[11] Cicero. It is true this was said at a much later time than that of\nwhich we are now writing; but dancing, except in connection with certain\nceremonies, was considered degrading by the Romans from the earliest\nperiod.\n\n[12] Hence, from the word _pecus_, cattle, was derived _pecunia_,\nsignifying money, and giving rise to our own word \"pecuniary.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE FIFTH.\n\nFROM THE BANISHMENT OF TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS TO THE BATTLE OF LAKE\nREGILLUS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nBrutus, who had gained his eminence by swearing that there should be no\nmonarch or single ruler in Rome, found himself in sole possession of the\nsupreme authority. His position presents nothing very remarkable to the\nmodern observer, who is accustomed to see those who have denounced a\nsystem yesterday participating in the profits of the same system to-day,\nand declaring their own arguments to be thoroughly out of place, as\napplied to themselves when in office. Brutus, however, could not\nconsistently exercise a power he had sworn to overthrow; and to carry\nout his anti-monarchical principles, he had either to go out himself, or\nto ask for a colleague. On the same principle that prefers the half\nquartern to utter loaflessness, Brutus proposed a partnership in the\ngovernment; and Collatinus was taken into the firm, which proved to have\nno firmness at all, for it was dissolved very speedily. The difficulty\nof agreement between two of the same trade was severely felt by the two\npopular reformers, who were dividing the substance without the name of\nthat power they had vowed to destroy; it was soon evident that if they\nhad thought it too much for one, they considered it not enough for two;\nand they were accordingly always quarrelling. To prevent collision, they\ntried the experiment of taking the supreme authority by turns, each\nassuming the fasces for a month at a time; but this alternate chopping\nof the regal sticks, or fasces, which were the emblems of power, led to\nnothing satisfactory.\n\nA question at length arose, upon which the duality of the ruling mind\nwas so distinctly marked, that the two consuls, whose very name is\nderived from _con_, with, and _salio_, to leap, were trying to leap in\ntwo opposite ways; and an end of their own power was the only conclusion\nto which they were likely to jump together. Tarquin had retired to\nCaere, waiting the chances of a restoration of his line; but his line\nhad fallen into such contempt, that he was fishing in vain for his\nrecall, though he nevertheless sent ambassadors to demand the\nrestoration of himself, or at all events of his private property.\n\nThe senate decreed that though Tarquin could not have the fasces, he was\nat liberty to make a bundle of all the other sticks that might belong to\nhim. On this question Brutus and Collatinus were violently opposed, and\nboth becoming hot, their excessive warmth led to a mutual coolness that\nended in an open hostility, which shut out every hope of compromise.\nCollatinus gave in by going out, and was succeeded by P. Valerius, one\nof the party of four who had roused the popular spirit over the bier of\nLucretia.\n\nTarquin's ambassadors, instead of being satisfied with the permission to\nremove his goods, had other objects in the back-ground; for they had a\nplan for his restoration in the rear, while they let nothing appear in\nthe van, but the late king's furniture. The plot was being discussed\nafter dinner, by a party of the conspirators, when one of the waiters,\nwho had concealed himself behind the door, overheard the scheme, and ran\nto Valerius with the exclusive intelligence. The traitors were secured,\nand when they were brought up before the consuls, Brutus recognising\namong the offenders his two sons, subjected both them and himself to a\nvery severe trial. Asking them what they had to say to the charge, and\ngetting \"nothing\" in reply, he looked in the faces of his sons, and\ndeclaring that he must class all malefactors under one general head,\nwhich must be cut off, he called upon the lictors to do their duty. In\nleaving the other prisoners to be tried by Valerius, Brutus whispered to\nhis colleague, \"Now try them, and acquit them, if you can;\" but he could\nonly execute the law, and the law could only execute the criminals. The\nambassadors were allowed to remain at large, though their plotting\nproved that they had been at something very little; and the government\nwithdrew the permission that had been granted for the removal of\nTarquin's goods, which were divided by means of a scramble among the\npopulace.\n\nThus Tarquin, who had broken the twenty valuable tables of Servius, was\ndoomed to have the tables turned upon him by the destruction of his own,\nwhile every leaf of the former was restored under the Consular\ngovernment. The landed estates of the Tarquins were distributed among\nthe plebeians, so that the banished family had no chance of recovering\ntheir lost ground, which was afterwards known as the Field of Mars, or\nCampus Martius. The corn on the confiscated property was ripe; but the\npeople felt a conscientious objection to consuming the produce which no\nlabour of their own had reared; and they did not allow the tyrant's\ngrain to outweigh their honest scruple. Throwing all idea of profit\noverboard, they cast the corn into the Tiber, which, it is said, was so\nshallow, that the sheaves stuck in the mud, and formed the small island\nknown as the Insula Tiberina. That a piece of land, however small,\nshould be formed by a crop of corn, however plentiful, is difficult to\nbelieve: but the story of the wheat can only find reception from the\nvery longest ears; for common sense will admit that in the effort to\ngive credit to the tale, it must go thoroughly against the grain on a\nproper sifting of all the evidence.\n\nTarquin relinquishing his hopes of a restoration by stratagem, resolved\non resorting to strategy, and brought into the field a large army, of\nwhich the Veii formed a considerable part, and his son Aruns headed the\nEtruscan cavalry. The Roman consuls commanded their own forces; Valerius\nbeing at the head of the foot, and Brutus mounted on a clever cob, with\na strong sword, that might be called a useful hack, taking the lead of\nthe equestrians. When Aruns entered the field, he recognised Brutus in\nTarquin's cloak, and the young man felt the blood mantling with\nindignation into his cheek at the first sight of the mantle. He\ninstantly made for Brutus, who with equal eagerness made for Aruns, and\nso violent was the collision, that the breath was knocked at one blow\nout of both their bodies.\n\n[Illustration: Aruns and Brutus.]\n\nThe hostile leaders having fallen to the ground, the battle shared their\nfate, and both armies withdrew to their camps; but neither would allow\nthe other the credit of a victory. The legend goes on to state that the\ngod Silvanus--an alarmist among the classical deities, and synonymous\nwith Pan--was heard shouting in the night that the Etruscans having lost\none man more than the Romans, the latter had gained the battle. This\nannouncement of the result of the contest, though only by a majority of\none, so alarmed the Etruscans, who were always panic struck at the voice\nof Pan, that they took to flight, leaving the enemy to carry everything\nbefore them, including all the property that the fugitives had left\nbehind them. The remains of Brutus were brought to the Forum, where they\nlay in state; but the state in which they lay was truly deplorable; for\nthe deceased consul had been so knocked about, that had he been alive,\nhe would scarcely have known himself, even by the aid of reflection. His\ncolleague, Valerius, delivered an oration over his departed virtues,\nmaking a catalogue of the whole, and fixing the highest price to every\none of them.\n\nThe question of \"Shall Brutus have a statue?\" was soon answered in the\naffirmative, and he was placed among the kings, though he had destroyed\nthe monarchy. Where failure constitutes the traitor, success makes the\npatriot: and upon the merest accident may depend the question whether\nthe originator of a design against a bad government shall go to the\nblock of the sculptor, or to that of the executioner.\n\nP. Valerius was in no hurry to ask the people for a colleague, and he\nfor some time did the whole of the business of the chief magistracy\nhimself; so that had it not been for the mere name of the office, Rome\nmight just as well have remained a monarchy. This fact seems to have\nflashed at last on the public mind; and when it was found that P.\nValerius was building himself a stone residence, in a strong position, a\nrumour was spread abroad that he was aiming at the foundation of his own\nhouse, or family, in the kingly power. On hearing the report he\nimmediately stopped the works of his intended residence, and having\ncalled a meeting of the curi\u00e6, he appeared before them with his fasces\nreversed; a sign that the bundles of rods were not intended to be used\non the backs of the people alone, but that they were held, as it were,\nin trust, and in pickle for the punishment of delinquency in general.\nThis treatment of the fasces so fascinated the people, that they\nacquitted P. Valerius of every charge, and acknowledging their\nsuspicions of a plot to be groundless, they gave him a plot of ground to\nbuild his house upon. Pleased with the taste of popularity, he continued\nto court it with so much success, that he gained the name of Publicola,\nor one who honours the public; and he certainly introduced many very\nwholesome legal reforms, by dabbling in law, in a spirit truly\nlau-dable. He gave an appeal from the magistrate to the people, in cases\nwhere the punishment awarded had been a fine, a whipping, or a hanging;\nand in the last instance the provision was extremely salutary, for the\nsuspending of a sentence might often avoid the necessity for suspending\nan alleged criminal. This right of appeal was, however, limited to\nwithin a mile from the city; an arrangement that would have justified\nthe formation of a league to abolish the mile, as an unnecessary\ndistinction, of which we can only expose the absurdity, by suggesting\nthe possibility of an offence committed at Knightsbridge being\npunishable at Newgate with immediate death; while the culprit of Holborn\nHill, though nearer the place of execution, would be further from the\nscaffold.\n\nHaving passed several salutary acts, and secured, as it were, the cream\nof popularity to himself, he proposed the election of a colleague who\nmight share the skim with him. The new consul was Spurius Lucretius; but\npoor Spurius enjoyed none of the genuine sweets of power. He was so far\nadvanced in years, at the period of his advancement to office, that he\nhad already one foot in the grave, and the other foot went in after it\nimmediately on his taking his new position. M. Horatius Pulvillius was\nchosen in the poor old man's stead, and an incident speedily happened\nwhich caused a difference, leading to something more than personal\nindifference between the two consuls. The temple of Jupiter, on the\nCapitoline, so called from the incident already related, of the Caput\nToli, or head of Tolus, had not yet been dedicated; and it having been\narranged that the thing was to be done, the next question that arose\nwas, \"Who is to do it?\" Both consuls were anxious for the job; and it\nwas at length arranged that lots should be drawn, in order to settle the\nundecided point, which had led to such a decided coolness between P.\nValerius and his colleague. Horatius was the happy man whom fortune\nfavoured by her choice; and he was in the act of performing the\nceremony, when, without any ceremony at all, a messenger rushed in,\nexclaiming that the son of the consul had suddenly expired. Believing\nthe alarm to be false, Horatius hinted at his suspicion of its being one\nof the blackest of jobs, by suggesting that those who brought the news\nshould go and attend the funeral. \"As for me,\" he exclaimed, \"I have\nother engagements just now;\" and, continuing the work of dedication, he\nproceeded to mark the commencement of a new era, by driving a huge nail\ninto the wall of the temple. Such was the mode by which chronology was\ntaught to the early Romans, who had their dates literally hammered into\nthem; and, as long as the consul hit the right nail upon the head, or\nwent upon the proper tack, mistake was almost impossible.\n\nThe first specimen of diplomacy to be met with in the records of Rome\nmust be referred to the first year of the Republic, when a treaty was\nconcluded with Carthage, and engraved on brazen tables. The material was\nappropriate to the purpose it served; and the language was so obscure,\nthat a modern treaty could scarcely have surpassed it in ambiguity. Some\nparts of it were unintelligible to the most learned of the Romans\nthemselves; and, had any difference arisen as to the interpretation of\nthe treaty, the tables must have been left to brazen it out; for no one\ncould have explained their meaning. Though the document may have\nmystified many things, it made one thing clear, for it proved history to\nhave been wrong in stating that Horatius succeeded Brutus, for they are\ndescribed as both being consuls together at the date of the treaty. In\nfollowing the ordinary version or perversion of the facts or fictions\nconnected with the rise of Rome, we take history as we find it; and\nthough much of it is known to be false, we, by continually making the\nadmission, prevent the bane from remaining very long without the\nantidote.\n\nP. Valerius was still consul, with P. Lucretius for a colleague, when\nthe old King Tarquin happened to be on a visit, at Clusium, in Etruria,\nwith the local Lar, Porsenna.[13] After supper, Tarquin often grew\ngarrulous about his alleged wrongs, and worked on the sympathies of his\nhost, who declared the Romans should receive, through the medium of\nPorsenna, a tremendous physicking. The Lar accordingly set forth at the\nhead of his army, and its approach being announced, the people in the\nsuburbs of Rome were frightened out of their wits, and into the city.\nThroughout the whole of his journey, Porsenna administered a strong dose\nto all that opposed his way; and he scoured the country by the most\ndrastic system of pillage. On arriving at Rome, he at once forced the\nJaniculum, the garrison rushing with their leader at their head, and the\nfoe almost at their heels, into the city. Nothing was now between the\nRomans and their assailants but the wooden bridge, or _Pons Sublicius_;\nand when the people asked for consolation from their consul, he had none\nto offer them. Looking at the water, he saw there was no time for\nreflection; and he ordered the bridge to be cut down, when Horatius\nCocles, the gatekeeper, volunteered to offer a check to the enemy. \"I\nwant but two,\" cried Horatius, \"two only are wanted, to join with me in\nthrowing for that great stake, the safety of Rome;\" and there\nimmediately presented themselves, as ready to \"stand the hazard of the\ndie,\" if die they must, the youthful Spurius Lartius of the Neminian\nrace, and Herminius, belonging to the Tities. The three heroes took\ntheir station at the foot of the bridge, resolved that no one should\npass without paying a poll-tax, in the shape of a blow on the head,\nwhich the valiant trio stood prepared to administer. A shout of derisive\nlaughter was the only salute they received from the Etruscan army; but\nthe laughter was soon transferred to the other side of the Etruscan\nmouth, and subsided altogether when no less than half-a-dozen tongues\nwere found to have licked the dust, instead of the enemy. Porsenna's\narmy had advanced to the sound of trumpets, which seemed no longer in a\nflourishing condition, but were as incapable of dealing out a blow as\nthe soldiers themselves. A few of the troops in the rear shouted\n\"Forward!\" to those in the van; but there was such a determined cry of\n\"Keep back!\" among the foremost men, that all were under the influence\nof a general gib, and every rank gave evidence of rank cowardice.\n\nWhile the Etruscans were shaking in their shoes on one side of the\nriver, the Romans were shivering their own timbers, and knocking down\nbeams and rafters on the other. They had razed the bridge to the ground,\nor rather lowered it to the water, when they called to their gallant\ndefenders to come back, while there was still a plank left--a single\ndeal to enable them to cut over to their partners.\n\nLartius and Herminius, seeing the game was nearly over, thought the only\ncard they had to play was to discard their companion, and save\nthemselves by a trick, which, however, would leave all the honours to\nHoratius. The two former darted across just before the remainder of the\nbridge fell, splashing into the water below, and rendering the tide\nuntidy with the broken fragments.\n\nHoratius was now alone in his glory, with the foe before him, and the\nflood behind; his only alternative being between a fatally hot reception\nby the one, and an uncomfortably cold reception by the other.\nDisdaining to beg for mercy from Porsenna, he prayed for pity from the\nTiber, and making a bold plunge, he threw himself on the kind indulgence\nof the river. Being fastened up in armour, his case was a particularly\nhard one, and being encumbered as he was with his arms, to use his legs\nwas scarcely possible. He nevertheless got on swimmingly, for his heart\nnever sank, and at length, feeling his foot touch the bottom, he knew\nthat his hopes were not groundless.\n\n[Illustration: Horatius Cocles Defending the Bridge.]\n\nBy courage and strength Horatius prevailed over every obstacle, and\nCocles owed to the cockles of his heart, as well as to the muscles of\nhis body, the happy results of his hazardous experiment. To recompense\nhim for his risk by water, the grateful nation gave him a large portion\nof land, and erected his statue in the Comitium, a portion of the Forum\nfrom which orators were in the habit of holding forth, and where the\nfigure of Horatius was placed to speak for itself to the populace.\nThough the enemy was kept out of the city, the Romans were kept in,\nwhile provisions were growing shorter and shorter every day--a sort of\ngrowth that led of course to a constant diminution. Such was the\ngratitude of the citizens to Horatius, that they subscribed to give him\nalways as much as he could eat; and although the fact involves a pun we\nabominate, we are obliged to state the truth, that, in order to give him\nhis desert, many went without their dinners.\n\nThe Romans had declared they would hold out to the last, and though they\nwere left with scarcely any food, though they might have at once\nprocured it, had they consented to eat their own words, they declined to\nsatisfy their hunger by such a humiliating process. All hope of saving\nthe city being apparently lost, the senate entered into an agreement\nwith one Caius Mucius, who could talk a little Tuscan, and who undertook\nto go across the water for the purpose of killing Porsenna. Mucius\ndisguised himself in an Etrurian helmet--a sort of Tuscan bonnet--and\nwith a sword concealed under the folds of his ample Roman wrap-rascal,\nhe arrived at Porsenna's camp, just as the salaries were being paid to\nthe soldiers. While the troops were intent on drawing their pay, Mucius\nslily drew his sword, and seeing an individual rather handsomely\ndressed, rushed upon him to administer to him, with the weapon, a most\nunhandsome dressing.\n\nThe individual thus assailed was rapidly despatched, but it turned out\nthat the victim, instead of being the king, was an unfortunate scribe,\nor writer, who could have been by no means prepared for this unusual\nfate of genius. Had the critics unmercifully cut him up, the scribe\nwould have felt that his death was, to a certain extent, in the way of\nbusiness; but to be murdered by mistake for a king, was a result that\nany member of the republic of letters might fairly have objected to. It\nmay appear at first sight startling that a literary man should have been\nwell-dressed, and in the company of a king, but it must be remembered\nthat the scribe was not necessarily a man of remarkable ability. His art\nwas that of a mere copyist, which, even in these days, frequently gains\na reputation for the imitator, who is often confounded with, instead of\nbeing confounded by the man of original genius. The scribes of\nantiquity, like many modern writers, did no more than set down the\nthoughts of others, and, as their style was extremely hard, consisting\nof a piece of iron, with which they wrote upon wax, their works were not\nlikely to make a very deep or lasting impression.\n\nOur pity for the unfortunate literary character is considerably lessened\nby the fact, that being in the camp he had no doubt been dining with the\nguards; and we know he was wearing a showy dress--two circumstances\nindicating an affectation of the manners of the fast man, which are\nalways unbecoming to the man of letters.\n\nMucius was about to retire after the execution of the deed, but he was\nseized by the attendants, and then seized by remorse when he was\ninformed that he had despatched a harmless literary man instead of\nPorsenna. Being taken to the king, Mucius found him sitting before the\nfire of a large altar. The Etruscan chief, on hearing the charge,\npointed out the penalty that had been incurred, when the prisoner,\nthrusting his right hand into the fire, allowed it to remain, with\nextraordinary coolness, or, rather, with most intense heat, until it was\nconsumed as far as the wrist; and he concluded the act of self\nincendiarism, by declaring there were three hundred others who were just\nas ready as himself to take up arms and burn off a hand, in defiance of\ntheir oppressor. Porsenna, who had watched the painful process with\nextreme interest, was so delighted at the fortitude displayed, that he\njumped from his seat, and mentally remarking that \"the fellow was a\nwonderfully cool hand at an operation of the kind,\" ordered some guards\nto conduct him in safety to Rome; at the same time advising Mucius to\nconduct himself more wisely for the future.\n\n[Illustration: Mucius Sc\u00e6vola before Porsenna.]\n\nMucius returned to Rome, where he obtained the name of Sc\u00e6vola (from\n_Sc\u00e6rus_) in consequence of his being left-handed, or it might have been\nbecause of his having evinced such an utter want of dexterity in the\nbusiness he had undertaken.\n\nPorsenna, having heard that there were three hundred Romans ready to\ntake his life, felt uneasy at such fearful odds as three hundred to one\nagainst him; nor could he enjoy a moment's peace with himself until a\npeace with Rome was concluded. He sent ambassadors to negotiate a\ntreaty, which was soon arranged; the only difficulty arising on the\nsubject of the proposed restoration of Tarquin, which his subjects would\nnot listen to; and, though he and Porsenna had hitherto rowed in the\nsame boat, the latter found it absolutely necessary to throw the former\noverboard. Rome was compelled to return the territory taken from the\nVeii, and Porsenna claimed several hostages, among whom were sundry\nyoung ladies of the principal Roman families. One of these was named\nCl\u00e6lia, who, with other maidens, having resolved on a bold plunge for\ntheir liberty, jumped into the Tiber's bed, and swam like a party of\nducks to the other side of the river. Cl\u00e6lia ran home in her dripping\nclothes, but, instead of a warm reception, she was met with a wet\nblanket, for her father fearing that her having absconded would be\nvisited upon Rome, sent her back like a runaway school-girl to the camp\nof Porsenna. That individual behaved with his usual magnanimity, for he\nnot only pardoned Cl\u00e6lia and her companions, but sent them home to their\nparents, who, perhaps, knew better than Porsenna how to manage them.\n\n[Illustration: Cl\u00e6lia and her Companions escaping from the Etruscan\nCamp.]\n\nThe Etruscan monarch seems to have been one of those who could do\nnothing by halves, but having once granted quarter to the foe, he was\nnot satisfied until he had surrendered the whole of what he had taken\nfrom the vanquished. He gave them unprovisionally all the provisions\nremaining in his camp, and, in fact, he left behind him so many goods\nand chattels, that at public auctions it was customary for many years\nafterwards to advertise the effects as \"the property of King Porsenna.\"\nReturning to Clusium, he is believed to have shut himself up at home,\nand never stirred out again, for we meet with him no more in any of the\nhighways or byways of history.\n\nThe Romans having recovered from the blow, or series of blows, they had\nreceived from Porsenna, were prepared to turn their anger on the subject\nnearest at hand, and the Sabines were conveniently situated to receive a\ngreat deal of it. Irritated by the enemy, the Sabines lost their temper\ntowards each other, and several of them, among whom were Atta Clausus,\nor Appius Claudius and family, went over to Rome. The renegades were\nreceived by their new allies with honour; for apostacy, which should\ncarry with it disgrace, was even in those days treated too often as a\nvirtue. The Claudii were made patricians of Rome, which seems to have\nalways courted converts by offering the highest price to those who were\nready to part with their old opinions and principles. Valerius\nPublicola--or as some call him, Popli-cola, one who honoured the\npeople--died soon after the last-mentioned event, and received the\ncompliment of a magnificent funeral. The procession commenced with a\nband of pipers, every one of whom the public paid, and the crown was\ncarried in state; but on such an occasion as this, the empty crown could\nbe suggestive of nothing but its own hollowness.\n\nThe armour belonging to the deceased was buried with him, as if in\nmockery of its uselessness against the attacks of the grim enemy; and\nthe face was painted, as is still the custom in Italy, where the attempt\nto disguise the complexion to which we must come at last, only gives to\nthe reality a hideousness neither necessary nor natural. After the\nfuneral of a great or a much lamented man, it was usual to hang branches\nof cypress on his house, and his gates were decorated with pine by those\nwho were left pining after him.\n\nIt was about this period that the great battle of Lake Regillus is\nsupposed to have been fought, when the Latins, who had been trying to\ntranslate into Latin everything belonging to Rome, were at length taught\nthat the Roman character was strong enough to maintain its own\nindividuality.\n\nIn times of extreme peril, it has always been found that two heads,\ninstead of being better than one, are likely to neutralise each other,\nand to reduce the supreme power under one head is the best mode of\nmaking it effectual. The Romans, when seriously threatened by the\nLatins, proceeded at once to the appointment of a dictator, from whose\ndecrees there should be no appeal; so that whatever he said should be no\nsooner said than done--a principle of action which contributes\nmaterially to the success of every great enterprise. P. Lartius was the\nfirst dictator; but we can find no traces of his dictation, and he seems\nto have been speedily superseded by Aulus Postumius, whose sword is\nsaid to have been known \"to bite,\"[14]--a propensity which must have\nrendered his blade rather liable to snap, unless its temper was\nexcellent. The appointment of dictator was only for six months; so that\nthe people were soon absolved from the absolute power under which they\nplaced themselves. The best piece of patronage at the disposal of the\ndictator, was the place of Master of the Horse, which Aulus conferred on\n\u00c6butius; the latter acting completely under the guidance of the former,\nwho never parted with the reins while deputing the mastership of the\nhorse to another. Aulus and \u00c6butius set forward towards the Lake\nRegillus, on the margin of which they waited till it was pitch dark\nbefore they pitched their tent, with the intention of preparing for a\npitched battle.\n\nThe Latins were led by Mamilius, and the foe being face to face, engaged\nthemselves hand to hand with the most desperate energy. According to the\nlegend, \u00c6butius and Mamilius, meeting in the thick of the fight, came\nindividually to blows, which resulted in the unhorsing of the Master of\nthe Horse, who was almost bored to death with the points of the swords\nof the enemy. At one time the battle seemed so much in favour of the\nLatins, that Aulus entreated the Romans not to resign themselves to the\nravens, to be crowed over in a double sense, by the birds of prey and\nthe enemy. So mutual was the slaughter, and so equal the bravery on both\nsides, that it would have been difficult to decide the battle; and the\nlegend, in its equal apportionment of valour to each party, would have\ncome to no practical result, had not supernatural agency stepped in\nopportunely to give to one side the victory. Two gigantic youths were\nseen fighting on the Roman side, and though nobody knew their names,\ntheir address was the admiration of every one. Their valour was shown at\nthe expense of the unfortunate Latins, who, unable to sustain the heavy\ncharge that was now made upon them, made no further attempt to meet any\nengagement, but resorted to flight, as the only act that seemed to offer\nbenefit.\n\nThe warriors wore nothing on their heads, and many surmises arose as to\nwho they could be; but nobody suspected the truth,--that the heroes,\nwithout helmets or hats, were Castor, who never was unaccompanied by his\nfriend Pollux, and Pollux, who never went anywhere without his Castor.\nThe same noble youths were the first to announce in Rome the news of the\nvictory, acting as \"their own reporters\" of their own exploits. Having\ndelivered their message, they disappeared as mysteriously as they came;\nfor the legend loses sight of them in a horse-trough near the temple of\nVesta. Hither they repaired to water their steeds, and to refresh\nthemselves at an adjacent well; and those who feel the insatiable thirst\nof curiosity, are referred to the bottom of this well for the truth, if\na deeper inquiry into the legend is desired. For many ages a\nsuperstitious reverence was shown for the margin of the Lake Regillus,\nwhere a mark, said to be the impression of a celestial horse's hoof,\nremained, to make a lasting impression on the softness of credulity.\n\nWe have hitherto been swimming, as well as we can, in the sea of\nconjecture, catching eagerly at the lightest cork or bladder, in the\nshape of fact, to keep us afloat in the stream of events flowing from\nlegendary sources.\n\nThe continuation of the journey will be chiefly on the _terra firma_ of\nfact; and, instead of being, now and then, so thoroughly at sea as to\nfind ourselves wandering into the wildest latitudes, with no other pilot\nthan tradition, we shall henceforth, in our progress, have good and\nsubstantial grounds to go upon. Hitherto we have had credulity pulling\nat the oars, the idle and uncertain breezes of rumour filling our sails,\nand our rudder in the hands of various authorities distinguished for\nnothing but their disagreement with each other, and who would, in fact,\nbe without distinction of any kind if they were without a difference.\n\nWe are now about to pursue our journey by a more certain road, to carry\non our history, as it were, by the rail; and, though the line may be a\npeculiar one of our own, the train of facts will be regular, coming, we\ntrust into no violent collision with others pursuing the same path, and\narriving, in due time, at the appointed terminus.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[13] Niebuhr spells the word with a double n, in the penultimate\nsyllable; but Macaulay, who quotes four verses from different writers in\nfavour of his orthography, writes the word Porsena, with the penultimate\nshort.\n\n[14]\n\n \"Camerium knows how deeply\n The sword of Aulus bites,\n And all our city calls him\n The man of seventy fights.\"\n\n MACAULAY's _Lay of the Battle of the Lake Regillus_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE SIXTH.\n\nFROM THE BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH THE\nVOLSCIANS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThe resources of Rome had hitherto been derived from the plunder taken\nin war, but the field of battle is always far less fertile than the\nfield of industry. In the former case, the crop once gathered is\nrendered for ever unproductive, and to beat the same enemy twice over,\nis like the useless operation of thrashing straw; for if, in either\ncase, the first thrashing has been complete, there is nothing to be got\nby a second. The plebeians had been so long withdrawn from the\ncultivation of the land, that they found it extremely awkward to\ncultivate a second time an acquaintance once dropped; and the earth\nhaving been hitherto regarded as _infra dig._, was not likely to yield\nmuch to those who had despised until they wanted it. The plebeians could\nonly reap what they had sown, and as they had sown nothing of any value,\nthey had fallen into a state of extreme seediness. Begging and borrowing\nwere the only alternatives of those who could no longer steal, and the\npatrician body became a sort of loan society to the plebeians, who\npledged themselves not only morally, but physically, for the return of\nthe money that had been advanced to them. The law of debtor and creditor\nwas extremely stringent in ancient Rome; and indeed its stringency\namounted almost to a rope round the debtor's neck; for if he could not\npay within a certain time, he was tied down as the slave of his\ncreditor. In this position the assailant was called an _addictus_, for\nhe was regularly sold, without even the equity of redemption being\nallowed to him. If the borrower had only pledged himself without an\nactual sale, he was simply a _nexus_, with the power of paying off his\ndebt by either money or work; but if he could do neither, he became an\n_addictus_[15] forthwith, when he was thrown into chains, and wore\nnothing but the stripes, which were the ordinary livery of that\ndisgraceful state of servitude.\n\nAppius Claudius had been chosen Consul, with P. Servilius as a\ncolleague, in the year of the City 258, when a miserable old insolvent,\nwith his hair like a mat, giving evidence of the severe rubs that had\nfallen on his head, rushed into the forum. His face had the paleness of\nashes, and many tried to sift his countenance, in which the marks of his\nhaving been ground down to the dust were plainly visible. His back bore\ntraces of recent scores, every one of which he declared should be\naccounted as a score to be paid off upon his oppressors. His farm had\nbeen burned down, and its contents burned up; his cattle had been driven\nhe knew not where, while he himself had been driven to distraction. The\ntax-gatherer had, nevertheless, been as punctual as ever in his calls,\nand having soundly rated the ruined agriculturist for not being ready\nwith his rates, the latter had been compelled to run into debt; for the\nRomans had not made insurance against fire any feature of their policy.\nHaving been unable to pay his debts, the impoverished farmer became the\nslave of his creditor; and the shoulders of the former bore\nunmistakeable marks of the latter having got the whip-hand of him. The\nexcitement in the forum was intense; for all were seized with\nindignation, who might possibly be seized for debt; and every one who\nowed anything to anybody began to feel that he owed a great deal more to\ncommon humanity. A popular outbreak seemed to be close at hand, and the\ntwo Consuls consulted together on the crisis. Appius Claudius gave it as\nhis opinion, that as the people were put up, the best way was to put\nthem down; but his colleague, Servilius, was an advocate for a milder\nregimen. At this juncture, news arrived of the Volscian army having set\nout for Rome; and the plebeians being called upon to enlist, declared\nthat they would not enlist themselves at the bidding of those who would\ndo nothing to enlist their sympathies. In this difficult dilemma, P.\nServilius promised that if they would come out and fight, they should be\nreleased from prison during the war; and guaranteed that if they would\npresent a bold front to the enemy's sword, their backs should be safe\nfrom the scourge of domestic tyranny. There was an immediate rush of\ninsolvents into the ranks, which were soon filled almost to overflowing;\nfor as a great majority of the population happened to be hopelessly in\ndebt, a summons to the field was the only sort of summons their\nappearance to which might have been reasonably relied upon.\n\nThey fought with the energy of desperation, for each rank had sworn an\noath, and there was an affidavit, therefore, on every file, to do\nexecution on the Volscians. Never were bankrupts more determined to\navoid a surrender than the band of defaulters who went forth to meet the\nfoe with a confidence, which would, probably, have disappeared had they\nrecognised at the meeting a single one of their creditors. The success\nof the Romans was complete, and those who had fought upon the\nunderstanding that every blow they struck was to wipe out a debt,\nreturned home in the expectation that every old liability had been\nrubbed off, and that they would be free to rub on as they best could for\nthe future. They were, however, doomed to bitter disappointment, for\nAppius Claudius declared that no faith ought to be kept with those who\nhad kept no faith with their creditors; and all the debtors who were not\nprepared to pay upon the nail had the screw cruelly applied to them. The\ndebtors were sent back to their prisons, and many an unfortunate\ninsolvent, as he thought of the imposition that had been practised upon\nhim, could only cast his eyes upon the walls of his dungeon, and murmur\nat the dreadful cell of which he had become the victim. The bolts and\nbars of oppression would have brought liberty to a dead lock, had it not\nbeen for the people outside the gaols, who threatened to rise for the\npurpose of falling upon the tyrants. At this critical period Rome was\nmenaced by the Sabines, when the plebeians were called upon to enlist;\nbut they declared they would be recruits of the very rawest description\nif they allowed themselves to be again done as they had been already.\nPublic meetings were held on the Esquiline and Aventine hills, where\nliberal sentiments, which have now become as old as the hills\nthemselves, fell upon the popular ear with all the charm and force of\nnovelty. The patricians were divided as to the best means of dealing\nwith the difficulty their own misconduct had created, and it was obvious\nthat the fatal error having been committed of refusing to accede to a\njust demand, the scarcely less dangerous mistake of yielding to violence\nand clamour was the only course that could now be followed. The\npatricians would have stood by their order; but the difficulty was to\nknow how public order, as well as their own order, could be preserved;\nand it was at length agreed that a dictator should be appointed. The\nchoice fell upon M. Valerius, a moderate man, whom the plebeians could\ntrust, for he came of a good stock, his father being no other than that\ngreat gun of the popular party, the famous Publicola. A large army was\nsoon ready to take the field, or to take anything else that came in the\nordinary course of battle. Valerius marched against the Sabines, who\nfled, or, more literally speaking, decamped; for they left behind them\ntheir camp, which was taken by the enemy.\n\nOn his return to Rome in triumph, the dictator asked for an inquiry into\nthe people's wrongs, with a view to giving them their rights; but the\npatrician party in the senate refusing him his committee, Valerius sent\nin his resignation, which was accepted by the senate. He apologised to\nthe plebeians for not having been able to carry his measures of reform;\nand the patricians, pleased by his moderation in resigning his seat,\ngave him a curule chair--a sort of portable stall, or reserved seat,\nwhich, at the Circensian games he was privileged to occupy.\n\nThe Curule Chair, or Sella Curulis, invites us to pause for a moment,\nand hold a short sitting upon it, for the purpose of inquiring into its\norigin. Comfort seems to have been supplied most charily in the\nconstruction of this official chair; but there was a fine touch of\nmorality in giving uneasiness to the seat of unlimited power. The legs\nof the Sella Curulis folded like those of a camp-stool; a device which\nmay have been emblematical of the fact, that the dictatorial office was\nliable to a speedy shutting up, for the appointment was never more than\nof six months' duration. The material of which the chair was formed was\nthe smoothest and most highly-polished ivory; so that the fatal facility\nof a fall must have been frequently suggested to the occupant of the\nseat by its exceedingly slippery surface.[16]\n\nThe Consuls, fearing an outbreak if the army was disbanded, ordered the\nsoldiers to remain on duty in the capacity of special constables over\neach other--the staff being held responsible for the conduct of the main\nbody. To be continued thus as a standing army, was more than the troops\nfelt disposed to stand; and, determining to take high ground, they\nwithdrew to the top of the Mons Sacer or Sacred Mount, in the\nneighbourhood of Crustumenium. Electing L. Sicinius as their leader,\nthey accommodated themselves as well as they could, until matters should\nbe accommodated with the senate.\n\nThe patricians began to be greatly alarmed at the secession of the\nplebeians; for though the former had been accustomed to trample the\nlatter under foot, all the foundations of society seemed to be withdrawn\nin the absence of that part which, though it may be called the base, is\nessential to the existence of the capital. Rome, in fact, was beginning\nto find out that an aristocracy cut off from all connection with the\npeople at large, is little better than a flower separated from the tree,\nand doomed to fall speedily into bad odour. The patrician order happily\nrecognised the important truth, that the most delicate tendrils owe all\ntheir vitality to the sap, carried up to the top of the tree from those\nportions that are in the closest connection with the soil; and steps\nwere therefore taken to prevent the final severing of the sturdy trunk\nfrom the higher branches. An embassy, consisting of ten patricians, was\nsent to negotiate; but as the patricians were no orators, and their\nstupidity spoke for itself, Menenius Agrippa, who had once been a\nplebeian, was sent as their head, which of course included their\nmouth-piece.\n\nMenenius, using his authority as spokesman for the common weal, cited\nthe fable of the Belly and the Members, to the bellicose _plebs_, who\nseemed struck by his relation of it to them, and its own relation to\ntheir existing position. He told them that, once upon a time, all the\nmembers of the human body resolved on aiming a blow at the stomach,\nwhich was accused of leading a life of idleness. The hands struck with\nno particular aim; the legs, moved to rebellion, refused to stir; the\neye shut down its lid; the mouth went into open hostility, and the nose\njoining in the general blow, there seemed every prospect that the proud\nstomach would be glad to eat humble pie in the absence of all other\nprovisions. It was, however, soon found that, in nourishing their\nanimosity, the members were keeping all nourishment from themselves, and\nthat they and their revenge were about equally wasted.\n\nThe plebeians, understanding the moral of the story, were disposed to\ntreat, on the understanding that they should henceforth be better\ntreated. An agreement was entered into, by which the sponge was to be\napplied to all old debts; and all who had lost their liberty by being\nthe slaves of bad circumstances were restored to freedom. The new\ncompact provided also for the institution of two officers, named\nTribunes, who were invested with authority over the concerns of the\nplebeians; and it was certainly one of the best investments ever made\nfor the profit of the Roman people. The person of the Tribune was so\nsacred, that a common assault upon this officer, when in the execution\nof his duty, rendered the assailant liable not merely to be taken up,\nbut to be knocked down and killed in the streets by any one having a\nmania for manslaughter.\n\nThe Tribune was allowed such an unlimited liberty of speech, that it was\npunishable to interrupt him; and in default of bail, it was death to\ncough him down while addressing the people. Even to yawn during one of\nhis discourses, was to open an abyss into which the yawner might be\nplunged before he was aware of it; and the involuntary action of his\ndistended jaws would often render them the jaws of his own destruction.\n\nThe house of the Tribune was open day and night; so that it was as easy\nto find one of these officers as it is in these days to find a\npoliceman, and sometimes rather easier. The Tribunes had power to bring\nparties before them, or, in other words, to issue summonses, as well as\nto enforce fines, which, if not paid, involved the forfeiture of\nproperty, or, in simpler terms, were recoverable by distress warrant\nupon the defaulter's goods and chattels. One of the greatest privileges\nof the Tribunes was the right of exercising a veto on any decree of the\nsenate. Though they had no seats in the assembly, they were permitted to\nlook in at the door; and if any act was passing that they disapproved,\nthey had the privilege of exercising, by a shout of \"No,\" a sort of\nnegative authority. This power of prevention left fewer evils to be\ncured; and the plebeians, having at last obtained an organ of their own,\nmay be said to have found the key to their liberties.\n\nThe Tribunes seem to have had power to add to their number, for they\nselected three colleagues, soon after they themselves had been chosen;\nand, from this time forth, a struggle ensued between plebeian energy,\nseeking its fair share of right, and patrician tenacity, holding on with\nobstinate determination to exclusive advantages.\n\nContemporaneously with the institution of the Tribunes, some new\nofficers were appointed, under the name of \u00c6diles, who were something\nlike our Commissioners of Woods and Forests, of Sewers, and of Paving\ncombined; for they had the care of public buildings, roads, and drains,\nas well as of baths and washhouses. They sometimes decided small\ndisputes, and acted as Inspectors of Markets, examining weights,\nsettling quarrels, and holding the scales of justice as well as of\nmerchandise. They kept an eye to unwholesome provisions, and a nose to\nstale fish; their ears took cognisance of bad language; in their hands\nthey carried a staff; and they were, in fact, a curious compound of the\nbeadle, the commissioner, the policeman, and the magistrate.\n\nWhile the plebeians had been sulking on the Mons Sacer, a treaty between\nthe Latins and the Romans had been brought about by Spurius Cassius, a\nConsul, who, though his name sounds like counterfeit coin, seems to have\npossessed a good deal of the true metal. By the treaty, both nations\nwere to be almost entirely equal in every respect; and, even with regard\nto booty, they were to be on the same footing.\n\nBy another clause in the act, those insolvent debtors who had been\nconverted into \"alarming sacrifices!\" and were reduced to slavery,\nbecause their creditors \"must have cash,\" or its equivalent, were\nrestored to freedom. The ceremony of manumission was curious, and\ncomprised so many indignities done to the slave, that, although free, he\ncould not have been very easy under the process. He was first taken\nbefore the Consul by his master, who gave him a blow on the cheek, which\nwas rather a back-handed mode of making an independent man of him. The\nConsul then laid his wand about the insolvent's back, at the same time\ndeclaring him perfectly free, and telling him to go about his\nbusiness--if he happened to have any. The beating having been gone\nthrough, there was still more lathering to be endured; for the head of\nthe freedman was closely shaved, as a precaution, perhaps, against his\ngoing mad on the attainment of his liberty. His release from his chains\nwas not complete until he had been deprived of his locks; and to crown\nall, he was invested with that emblem of butchery in a political, as\nwell as a social point of view, the red cap of liberty.\n\nDuring the internal quarrels of Rome, agriculture had been so thoroughly\nneglected, that the harvest had completely fallen to the ground, or,\nrather, had never come out of it. The husbandman had husbanded nothing,\neither for himself or others; and as nothing had been sown but civil\ndissension, there was nothing to reap but the fruit of it. The Romans,\nwho, until lately, had been thirsting for power, were now hungry for\nfood; and, to prevent the people from dying at home, envoys were sent to\nscour the surrounding countries,--a process which involved many a brush\nwith the inhabitants. It is stated, by some historians, that, during the\nfamine, an order was forwarded to Gelo, of Syracuse, for corn, which\nthat individual was quite ready to supply, but for which he was so\nthoroughly unbusiness-like as to refuse the money. The incident, though\nutterly without commercial interest, would have been pleasing in a\ndifferent point of view, were it not for the stern realities of\nchronology, which prove that Gelo could not have acted as a gratuitous\ncorn-dealer at the time specified, for he was not alive at the period.\n\nWhile Rome was suffering from want of corn, it was wasting the very\nflower of its population in a war with the Volscians. Among the most\ndistinguished warriors on the side of the Romans was Caius Marcius, a\nyoung patrician, who led all his own clients into an action in which the\ndefendants--the unfortunate Volscians--were subjected to enormous\ndamages. He subsequently proceeded against Corioli, which made an\nobstinate defence; but was ultimately beaten, and compelled to pay the\nwhole of the costs of the conflict. From this affair he took the name of\nCoriolanus, by which he is better known than by his original appellation\nof C. Marcius, for mankind will too often award the largest measure of\nfame to the most extensive perpetrator of mischief; and he who would\ncarve himself a name, may carve it much more deeply and durably with the\nsword than with any other instrument.\n\nWhen the corn arrived from Sicily, the popular party proposed a\ngratuitous distribution of the boon; but the patricians, headed by\nCoriolanus, who was a tyrant in grain, recommended that the plebeians\nshould pay for what they required. Complaint is never so open-mouthed as\nwhen it has nothing to eat; and the people became desperate when they\nfound Coriolanus advising, without a scruple, that not a grain should be\ngiven, nor an ear lent to their sufferings. He proposed the abolition of\nthe Tribunes as the condition of food being supplied to the people; but\nthey, becoming every day more crusty from the want of bread, insisted on\nhis being tried for treason. Coriolanus saw the people waxing resolute\nto seal his doom, and he accordingly made his escape, so that when the\ntime came for him to be tried, he was found wanting. Judgment went\nagainst him by default; his name was struck out of the list of\npatricians--a sort of peerage of the period. He was sentenced, moreover,\nto _aqu\u00e6 et ignis interdictio_--prohibition from fire and water; a\npunishment which, looking at the fiery nature of all spirituous liquors,\nmay be fancifully supposed to have involved especially a stoppage of\ngrog, as it certainly prevented everybody from entertaining him. This\nsentence amounted, in fact, to banishment; and, indeed, it was designed\nto do so; for the interdiction of fire and water left the culprit\nnothing on earth but air, which of course it was quite impossible to\nlive upon.\n\n[Illustration: Coriolanus parting from his Wife and Family.]\n\nStung with what he called the ingratitude of his countrymen, though they\nhad really not much to thank him for, Coriolanus, in a spirit not very\nmagnanimous, proceeded to offer his services to the enemy. Taking leave\nof his wife Volumnia, a voluminous woman, who had had greatness thrust\nupon her by nature to an awkward extent, he departed for the country of\nthe Volscians, and arrived at Antium about supper time. His name was\ntaken up at once to Attius Tullius, who, though sitting at his meal with\nthe usual accompaniment of _manus unct\u00e6_, or greasy hands, determined\nnot to allow the illustrious stranger to slip through his fingers.\nCoriolanus was hospitably entertained, and induced to take the command\nof the Volscian army against the Roman colonists. He drove them from\nplace to place until he had got them up against the Cluilian ditch, and\ninto it many were thrown; a sad proof of his animosity having been\ncarried to a pitch that must always leave a black stain on his memory.\nHere also he pitched his tent within almost a stone's throw of Rome; and\nas the plebeians were unwilling to fight, ambassadors were sent to\nentreat Coriolanus to lay down his sword; but, contemptuously folding\nhis arms, he returned no answer. The priests next tried their powers of\npersuasion, but though they did all they could to convert Coriolanus to\nthe cause of Rome, it was not until female influence was brought into\nrequisition, that the attempt proved successful. His mother Veturia,\naccompanied by his considerably better half, Volumnia, and a party of\nRoman ladies made up for the occasion, visited him at his camp, when the\nclamour of the strong-minded, the sighs and sobs of the weaker, the\nsneers of some, the tears of others, and the importunity of all, proved\nirresistible. He had been resolute for some time; but when his wife,\nwith a heavy heart added to her natural weight, fell upon his neck, he\nseemed to be sinking under that which he could no longer stand up\nagainst.\n\nHis mother, Veturia, following up the advantage that had been gained,\ntried the power of the female tongue, to which time seems to go on\nadding all the force of which it deprives the rest of the body. The old\nlady raved and shouted with a degree of anile energy that struck\nCoriolanus with dismay; and when she threw herself on the ground,\ndeclaring he should walk over her body if he attempted to march upon\nRome, he felt that he could not take another step without trampling on\nthe tenderest relations of humanity. With Volumnia hanging to his neck,\nand Veturia clinging to his heels,--with a wife pouring the loudest\nlamentations into his ear,--with a mother cursing everything in general,\nbut his own birthday in particular,--with a bevy of Roman ladies\nshrieking and sobbing in the background,--Coriolanus could no longer\nresist, but ordered his camp to be broken up, and led his legions back\nagain. Tradition differs as to the date of the death of Coriolanus, who,\naccording to some accounts, sunk under the attack made upon him by the\nweaker sex; while others assert that he lived to a good old age, which\nis likely to have been the case, if the scene we have described was not\nimmediately the death of him--for the constitution that could have\nsurvived so severe a trial must have been of a strength truly wonderful.\n\nCoriolanus has been held up as a model of disinterestedness, but we\ncannot help setting him down as a selfish upstart, who turned traitor to\nhis country, because it did not form the highest estimate of his\npersonal merits. His deserts are overbalanced by the fact of his being a\ndeserter; and it was, assuredly, the reverse of magnanimity to evince\nhis spite against the nation to which he belonged, merely because his\nown value had not been put upon his own services. Such is our view of\nCoriolanus without the masquerade dress in which he has been often made\nto appear; for truth compels us to take off the gilt in which he has\nhitherto shone, and to substitute the guilt that really belongs to him.\n\nThe Temple of Fortuna Muliebris was raised, in compliment to the women\nwho, by their hysterical, and now historical efforts, were said to have\nsaved Rome; and indeed, considering the frequency with which female\ninfluence operates the other way, the fact of its having been exercised\nfor the prevention of mischief, deserves the commemoration of a\nmonument.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[15] This law is said to have been altered by Servius Tullius; but if\nlegislation on the subject was at one time loose, it became very binding\nafterwards, and was extremely strict at the date above alluded to.\n\n[16] The Curule Chair is said to have been imported, with other articles\nof state furniture, from Etruria. In some cases, the feet were formed of\nivory in the shape of elephant's tusks; but there are other proofs of\ntheir Tuscan origin.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE SEVENTH.\n\nFROM THE CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS TO THE PASSING OF THE BILL\nOF TERENTILLUS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nAfter the war with the Volscians was at an end, the Romans are said to\nhave entered into a treaty with their former foe, the object of which\nwas a sort of partnership in plunder; it being agreed that the new\nallies should take the field together, and divide the produce.\nIll-gotten gain is never a source of real profit; and the land stolen in\nwar became a ground of contention among the Romans. The patricians had\nhitherto grasped the whole of the conquered soil, though they could not\ndo so with clean hands; and Spurius Cassius proposed that the plebeians\nshould have a share of it. The suggestion, though violently resisted,\nbecame the law of the land; but the land was not appropriated in\nconformity with the law until a much later period. Spurius Cassius did\nnot long survive, when the year of his Consulship had expired; for the\npatricians caused him to be impeached, and his head was struck off upon\na block, though, from the services he had performed, it deserved rather\nto have been struck off upon a medal.\n\nThe patricians tried to divert the attention of the plebeians from\ndomestic affairs by leading them constantly into battle; but the latter,\nthough compelled to march into the field, would take no steps to secure\na victory. Like horses brought to the water but refusing to drink, the\nsoldiers, though conducted to the field, evinced no thirst for blood;\nbut firmly declining to aim a single blow, they presented a striking\npicture of passive disobedience. In vain did the officers suggest, that\nfor those ambitious of a soldier's grave, there was at length an\neligible opening; they would gain no laurels, but allowed themselves to\nbe kept at bay; they laughed outright at their commanders, and, instead\nof straining every nerve for success, they kept their risible muscles\nonly in full exercise.\n\nThere existed at this time a gens in Rome which had managed to obtain\nsuch a share of power for itself, that it was generally recognised as\nthe governing family. The gens alluded to was that of the Fabii, whose\nunion formed their chief strength; for no member of the family, though\nhe might be unmindful of his antecedents, was ever known to forget his\nrelatives. The Fabii derived their name from Faba, a bean, because their\nancestors had cultivated that kind of pulse; but in later times the gens\nbecame remarkable for feeling the popular pulse, and making a cat's-paw\nof the patricians. By an arrangement with the order to which they\nbelonged, the Fabii were ensured one of the consulships, on condition of\ntheir influencing their clients to elect a patrician to the other; and\nthus both the people and the senate were played off against each other\nfor the special advantage of the \"family.\" Fortunately for society,\nthere is in all corruption a rottenness which is always bringing it\ntowards its conclusion while it seems to be gaining its end; and the\nusual difficulty of getting unprincipled men to hang long together by a\nrope of sand, was illustrated in the case of the patricians and the\nFabii. The quarrels among themselves helped to render them contemptible\nto the plebeians, and the troops had become so accustomed to treat their\nleaders with disrespect, that many an intended fight ended without a\nsword being taken from its sheath, and nothing was drawn but the battle.\n\nOne of the Consuls had, for several years, been chosen from the family\nof the Fabii; when its members growing tired, at last, of their\npatrician stock being a laughing-stock to the army, determined to make\nthemselves popular. Marcus Fabius won the hearts of the soldiers, by\ndressing their wounds, and promising to redress their grievances. K\u00e6so\nFabius, his successor, recommended the distribution of the land among\nthe plebeians, by whose sweat it had been gained; but he had not been\nalways equally anxious to acknowledge the claims of popular\nperspiration; for he had been one of those who condemned Spurius Cassius\nfor having made a similar proposition.\n\nTradition states that the Fabii afterwards emigrated in a body, upwards\nof three hundred strong, taking with them four thousand clients; but\nwhether the clients went at their own solicitation, or whether the Fabii\nwere the solicitors, we are not in a position to determine. It is said\nthat the whole party of four thousand three hundred went into action\ntogether, and paid with their lives the costs of the sad affair; but the\ncritical authorities doubt the whole story; and it is satisfactory to\nour best feelings to know that we, on this point, know nothing.[17]\n\nThe Etrurians soon after wasted the country near Rome, and wasted their\nown time into the bargain, for they were at last glad to treat, though\nnot until they had retreated. A peace was concluded; and the parties\nheld their peace for forty years,--or, at all events, if they ever had\nwords, they did not come to blows during that lengthened period.\n\nAs some of the events recorded in this chapter arose out of the Roman\nlaw of debtor and creditor, it may be just as well to include in this\naccount a few items of a commercial character. When a man ran into debt,\nhe was almost sure to be brought to a stand-still, for compound interest\ncontinued to accrue so rapidly that there was no chance of compounding\nwith those to whom he owed money. Thirty days after a debt being\ndemanded, the defaulter was handed over to his creditor, and bound with\na cord, by way of accord and satisfaction; but, at the end of sixty\ndays, a crier, whose office was enough to make him shed tears,\nadvertised the insolvent for sale as a slave in the market-place. It is\nnot surprising that the plebeians should rise against their being put up\nto this degrading auction, more particularly when the masters to whom\nthey were knocked down were in the habit of beating and cruelly\nill-treating them. The patricians laid violent hands, not only upon the\nplebeians, but upon all the property of the State, assuming to the\nutmost all its rights, and repudiating all its duties. They took as a\nmatter of right all the offices of state; and so complete was the\nseizure made by the patricians of every thing in the shape of a\nGovernment situation, that the name of the order which absorbed to\nitself all the good things is to be traced in the modern word\n\"patronage.\" The whole of the profits of war went into the pockets of\nthe upper class; and though the plebeians drew the sword, the patricians\ndrew whatever money was to be obtained from the enemy.\n\nThe patricians, however, were not allowed to exercise their tyranny\nalways without resistance; for, if their conduct was revolting to human\nnature, it was to be expected that human nature would revolt against\nthem when opportunity offered. An instance occurred during the\nConsulship of Appius Claudius, who had been elected by the senate, and\nwho, wishing to levy troops, caused the names of all the men between\neighteen and forty-five to be called over in a list, which furnished the\nmaterials for enlistment. Amongst the names was that of Publilius\nVolero, who had formerly held a commission as a centurion, or captain;\nand, being now selected to serve as a common soldier, declared\nindignantly that rather than go as a private into the ranks, he would\ncontinue in a private station. Publilius, in fact, kicked violently\nagainst the orders of the Consul, and being a man of very powerful\nstamp, it was felt that when Publilius kicked in earnest, there was\nsomething on foot that it was not easy to contend against. Appius\nintimating that the Consuls must be obeyed, desired one of the lictors\nto do his duty; when Volero, being a strong and robust man, received the\nlictor with open arms, and lifting him from the ground, gave him a\nsetting down that shook the nerves of the astonished officer. Having\nthrown the lictor on the ground, where the unhappy functionary took his\nown measure, instead of carrying out those of his superiors, Volero\nthrew himself on the public, upon whom he made a very strong impression.\n\n[Illustration: A Lictor is sent to arrest Publilius Volero.]\n\nPublilius from this moment had considerable weight with the plebeians,\nwho made him one of their Tribunes; and he at once proposed a large\nmeasure of reform in the mode of electing those officers. He suggested\nan extension of the suffrage, by giving it to the tribes instead of the\ncenturies; and public meetings were got up in support of the project.\nThese meetings were attended by the patricians, and disturbances ensued,\nowing to the attempts of one party to put the other party down; for\npublic discussion in all ages seems to have been conducted on the\nprinciple that it is to be all on one side, and that any opinion opposed\nto that of the majority is not to be listened to. When the strength of\nlungs happens to be with the party having the strength of argument,\nthere is not much harm done; but as the patricians and plebeians\nmustered in nearly equal numbers at the meetings alluded to, personal\naltercations frequently took place; and the Tribunes as well as the\nConsuls sent their respective officers to arrest each other.\n\nAt length L\u00e6torius, who had been elected as the colleague of Publilius\nVolero, marched into the Forum with an armed force, determined that he\nwould that morning carry the day; and as he drew his sword, he declared\nhe would go through with it. The patricians, losing their own\nresolution, offered to agree to any that he might propose; but, refusing\nto trust them, he took possession of the Capitol, as a guarantee for the\nfulfilment of their promise. The _Lex Publilia_ was accordingly passed,\nto the great annoyance of Appius, who always treated the plebeians as if\ndifferent sorts of clay, as well as different moulds, were employed by\nNature in her great man--ufacture. When his year of office was over, he\nwas impeached by the Tribunes; but on the day when the trial ought to\nhave come on, the worldly trials of Appius were all past, for he died\nthe night before the cause stood for hearing. Posterity has agreed on\nthe verdict which the judges were not required to pronounce; and it has\neven been said that he fell by his own hand, in consequence of his sense\nof guilt preventing him from knowing how to acquit himself.\n\nTo add to its troubles, Rome was visited by a double plague, in the\nshape of an external foe and an internal pestilence. The enemy having\napproached the gates of the city, the country people had taken refuge\ninside the walls, bringing with them their cattle in such numbers that\nthe place was literally littered with pigs, while the oxen and sheep\nwere packed in pens to an extent of which our own pen can furnish but a\nfaint outline. The summer was at the height of its heat, and the\nsufferings of the poor dumb animals, as they lost their fat, and met\ntheir fate, were enough to melt not only a heart of stone, but many a\nstone of suet. The foe, fearing from the pestilence a plaguy deal of\ntrouble, broke up their camp; and Rome was allowed to enjoy an interval\nof peace, though disease did more havoc than might have been expected at\nthe hands of an enemy.\n\nWe now come to the legend of Cincinnatus; and though it is no better\nthan a legend, which, as the smallest student will be aware, is so\ncalled from _legendum_, a thing to be read, we must proceed upon the\nassumption that, as it is a thing to be read, it is _\u00e0 fortiori_ a thing\nto be written. Lucius Quinctius, surnamed Cincinnatus from his curly\nlocks--for nature had dressed his hair to a turn--was of a high\npatrician family. He passed his life as a country gentleman occupying\nhis own estate, and occupying himself in looking after it. His land, it\nmust be admitted, was better cultivated than his manners, which were\nhaughty and imperious. His virtues were all of the domestic kind; he was\nequally attached to his wife and his farm, and he was an excellent\nhusband, as well as a good husbandman.\n\n[Illustration: Cincinnatus chosen Dictator.]\n\nIt happened that Rome was in such a perilous state as to need a strong\nhand, when Cincinnatus, being famed for the use of the spade, was\ninvited to leave his _otium cum dig._--as everybody knows already, and\nsomebody may have said before--that he might assume the office of\ndictator. When the messengers arrived from the senate, Cincinnatus was\nat work in the fields, perhaps sowing up some old tares, or examining\nthe state of his pulse--a favourite crop in those days--or cutting out\nthe sickliest of his corn with the sickle. The soil being loamy, and\nCincinnatus being in the thick of his work, he was not very presentable;\nbut hastily throwing his toga round him, he made the best appearance he\ncould before the messengers of the senate. They at once hailed him as\ndictator, and carried him to Rome, where he called out every man capable\nof bearing arms; and every man thus called out, accepted the patriotic\nchallenge. Every soldier was to carry with him food for five days, and\ntwelve stakes cut into lengths to form a barricade; so that, as the\nstakes weighed several pounds, and the eatables were solid, the burden\nof each man, together with his accoutrements--which included a cask on\nthe head from which the perspiration poured--must have been\ninconveniently ponderous. Notwithstanding their heavy load, the legend,\nwhich is less weighty than their equipments, goes on to state that the\nsoldiers started at sunset, with Cincinnatus at their head, and reached\nthe camp, a distance of two-and-twenty miles, at a quick march, or\nrather at a fast trot, by midnight. Though the story runs thus, we are\ncompelled to doubt the running of the troops, who, with their legs\nencumbered by their arms and other equipments, must have found speed\nimpossible. On arriving at Mount Algidus, where the enemy was encamped,\nCincinnatus made his soldiers surround the place, and by aiming at all\nin the ring, they were sure to hit somebody. Finding themselves in the\nmidst of a circle by no means social, the \u00c6quians sued for mercy; but\nCincinnatus threw Gracchus Cl\u0153lius and his lieutenants into chains,\nwhich was equivalent to making them enter into bonds for their future\ngood behaviour. Cl\u0153lius continued in his command after having been thus\nformally tied down, and Cincinnatus returned to Rome in triumph. Having\nheld the dictatorship only sixteen days, he laid it quietly down, and\nreturning to his farming operations, after having submitted the enemy to\nthe yoke, he fitted it once more to the necks of his oxen.\n\nWhile engaged in fighting with an external enemy, a nation often forgets\nthe foes she has within; and it is the cruel policy of despotism to\nwaste the popular energy on quarrels with strangers, in order to divert\nthe attention of the public from domestic grievances. The war being\nended, the people began to look at home, and they soon perceived that,\nwhile the sword of aggression had been in constant use, the sword of\njustice had been rusting in the scabbard, or had been only drawn forth\nto inflict, occasionally, a wound on public liberty. A movement arose in\nfavour of law reform, and C. Terentillus Arsa brought in a bill for\ngetting the patricians and plebeians to a better understanding, by\nputting them on nearly the same footing. The measure led to considerable\nagitation; for, though the tribunes passed it, the senate could not get\nover it at all; and, the latter having thrown it out, the former brought\nin a bill, containing a great deal more than the original demand, in the\nyear following. In political, as well as pecuniary affairs, a just claim\ncarries interest, which accumulates as long as the claim remains\nunsatisfied; and every day, while it augments the debt due, increases\nthe difficulty of meeting it.\n\nThe proposition of Terentillus was much discussed in large assemblies,\nthe harmony of which was disturbed by some of the young patricians; for,\neven in the early days of which we write, the noble art of laughing\ndown, or crowing over a discomfited orator, was understood by some of\nthe juvenile scions of aristocracy. It happened that Cincinnatus had\nfour sons, who were exceedingly fine young men, with very coarse\nmanners. One of them, named K\u00e6so, was continually getting into street\nrows, or disturbing public meetings; and frequently went so far as to\ninterfere with Virginius, a tribune, in the execution of his duty. The\nofficer was for a long time patient; but, at length, was goaded to take\nthe matter, as well as the offender, up; and K\u00e6so was charged with a\nseries of assaults, of a more or less aggravated and aggravating\ncharacter. While these accusations were hanging over him, an old case of\nmanslaughter came to light; the victim having been an aged invalid, whom\nK\u00e6so, in a disreputable night brawl, had cruelly maltreated. He was\nalready under heavy sureties when this fresh charge was brought up, and,\nto avoid meeting it, this proud patrician ran away from his bail,\nleaving their recognizances to be forfeited.\n\nReports were soon afterwards spread, that the man who had left the city\nas a contemptible runaway, was about to return to it in the more\nformidable character of a robber and a murderer. One night when the\npeople had gone to bed, many of them heard in their sleep the trampling\nof horses, which seemed to come like a tremendous nightmare over the\ncity. Presently a shout arose, which beat upon the drum of every ear\nlike a call to battle. The Consuls sprang out of bed, and throwing about\nthem the first substitute for a toga that the bedclothes presented,\nthey made at once for the walls of the city. The plebeians, when called\nupon, refused to serve; and the Consuls, feeling how weak they were in\ngoing to the wall alone, made the usual promises, which the people, as\nusual, were induced to discount, at a great personal sacrifice.\nProceeding to the Capitol, they found it in the possession of a large\nband of exiles and runaway slaves, who would have been glad to run away\na second time, had escape been possible. Many fell, and were felled to\nthe earth, on both sides, while P. Valerius after putting several to the\nsword, had the sword put to him in a most uncomfortable manner.\n\nThe exiles took nothing by their expedition as far as the attack was\nconcerned; but many of them owed something to the expedition with which\nthey fled from the contest. After this battle, all traces of K\u00e6so\nQuinctius are lost; but whether he fell in the fray, or whether the\nthread of his existence was frayed out in some other way, is a mystery\nwe have no means of unravelling.\n\nAppius Claudius was now called upon, as the surviving partner of P.\nValerius, to redeem the pledge given by the latter; but Appius, with a\nchicanery worthy of Chancery in its best, or rather in its worst days,\npleaded the death of his colleague as a bar to the suit, declaring that\nboth consuls must be joined in it, though he knew all the while that a\nbill of revivor for the purpose of including the deceased consul was\nquite impossible. During these unhappy differences between the two\norders, many of the leading plebeians were murdered at the instigation\nof the patricians, who, however, were rapidly cutting their own throats;\nfor violence, while it thinned the body, added to the stoutness of heart\nof the popular party. The tribunes were increased in number from five to\nten; and, somewhat later, a still higher point was gained for the\nplebeians by limiting to a couple of sheep and thirty beeves the fines\nto which they were liable. These exactions were, however, enforced with\nsuch rigour that the tenderest lamb was allowed no quarter if a fine had\nbeen incurred, and the smallest stake in the country--if the stake\nhappened to be beef--was seized without remorse if the owner had become\nsubject to a penalty.\n\nIt was many years before the Bill of Terentillus--which has been\nspecially noted--was at length taken up, when the patricians graciously\nconsented to a change in the laws, and offered the benefit of their\nservices into the bargain, by taking upon themselves to determine the\nsort of change that was required. Hitting, by anticipation, on the\nmodern expedient for delaying useful measures, the patricians appointed\na select committee to inquire into law reform, and, by way of rendering\nthe chances of legislation still more remote, they ordered the members\nto proceed to Athens, where, under the enervating influence of Attic\nassociations, they were likely to go to sleep over the subject of their\nlabours. The special commissioners became, no doubt, so thoroughly Greek\nin all their ideas, that, even the preparation of their report was\ndeferred until the Greek Kalends.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[17] Among the other difficulties of this story is the comparatively\ntrifling one, that the Fabian race did not become extinct; but tradition\nhops over this dilemma, by leaving one of the family behind to serve as\na father to future Fabii.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE EIGHTH.\n\nFROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DECEMVIRATE TO THE TAKING OF VEII.\n\n[Illustration: Roman Bull and Priest of the period.]\n\n\nThe Romans, being at peace abroad, began to think of improving the means\nof quarrelling among themselves at home, and a desire for law reform\nbecame general. Three senators had been sent to Athens to collect\ninformation, but what they picked up in Greece was so thoroughly Greek\nto them, that they were obliged to get it translated into Latin by one\nHermodorus, an Ephesian refugee, before they could understand a word of\nit.[18] As one job naturally leads to another, it was arranged that\nthree commissioners having been employed in cramming, the process of\ndigesting should be entrusted to ten more, who were called the\nDecemviri. These were appointed from the patricians, after a struggle on\nthe part of the plebeians to get five selected from their own order;\nbut, with a laudable regard to public order, they withdrew their\nopposition. The especial object for which the Decemviri had been\nappointed was to frame a new code of laws, but it seems to have been\nalways understood that the practical purpose of a commission is to delay\nan object, quite as much as to further it. Lest the Decemviri should\nproceed too rapidly with the work they had been specially chosen to do,\narrangements were made for distracting their attention from it by\nthrowing on them the whole business of Government. Had they been modern\ncommissioners of inquiry, they would have needed no excuse for delay;\nbut, with a stubborn resolution to get through their task, they\nsurmounted, or avoided, the obstacles they might have been excused for\nstumbling at. Instead of making their administrative duties an\ninterruption to their legislative labours, and urging the necessity for\nattending to both as a plea for the performance of neither, the\ncommissioners took the sovereignty in rotation for five days at a time,\nand as ten rulers acting all at once would have kept nothing straight,\nthis arrangement for obtaining the strength of unity was altogether a\njudicious one. At the expiration of their year of office the Decemviri\nhad completed a system of laws, which was engraved on ten tables;--a\nproof of the industry of the Government of the day, for in these times\nit would be hopeless to expect ten tables from those who might be, at\nthe same time, forming a cabinet.\n\nThough the Decemviri had done enough to win the public favour, they had\nleft enough undone to afford a pretext for the prolongation of their\npowers. It was suggested that though the ten tables were very good as\nfar as they went, there was room for two more; and to give an\nopportunity for this small sum in addition being completed, the\ncontinuance of the decemviral form of government was agreed upon. As the\ntime for the election approached, the most disgraceful election\nintrigues were practised, and in order to disqualify Appius\nClaudius--one of the former Decemviri--the patricians put him in the\nchair, or elected him president, on the day of the nomination of the\ncandidates. Appius had for some time been acting the character of the\n\"people's friend,\" and he had shown himself a consummate actor, for,\nbeing a tyrant by nature, he must have been wholly indebted to art for\nappearing otherwise. Having been called upon to preside, he opened the\nbusiness of the day by proposing nine names of little note--including\nfive plebeians--and then, with an air of frankness, he suggested himself\nas a fit and proper person to complete the number. The people--surprised\nand amused at the coolness of the proposition--proceeded to elect the\nvery candid candidate, who, being joined with a number of nonentities,\nformed the unit to the ten of which the rest composed the cipher. Soon\nafter their election, the new Decemviri proceeded to complete the twelve\ntables--and as they formed the origin of the Civil Law, embodying\nprinciples which the best jurists have been unable to improve--we will\nspread these tables before the student, and ask him to sit down with us\nfor a few moments over them.\n\nWe cannot promise him any other than a dry repast, with little or\nnothing to whet his curiosity; and unless his appetite for information\nis extremely vigorous, there will be little to suit his taste on those\nplates of bronze or ivory--the material is immaterial, and has been\nvariously described--on which the provisions we are about to serve up\nwere originally carved.\n\nThe first table coincided in some respects with our County Courts Act,\nand furnished a cheap mode of bringing a defendant into court by a\nsimple summons, though if he refused to walk, a mule, an appropriate\ntype of obstinacy, was to be provided for him.\n\nBy the second table, it was justifiable to kill a thief in the night;\nbut a person robbed in the day was to have the thief as his slave; a\nprivilege equal to that of being allowed to take into your service, as\nyour page, the urchin who has just picked your pocket. Such an exploit\nwould no doubt indicate a smart lad, and, in order to make him literally\nsmart, the Roman law, in the spirit of our Juvenile Offenders Act,\nordered the knave a whipping.\n\nThe third table was in some respects an interest table; for it\nprohibited the taking of more than 12 per cent. on a loan; but if a\ndebtor did not pay within thirty days, he might be bound with chains; an\narrangement by which his exertions to get out of difficulty must have\nbeen grievously fettered. Having been made to enter into these\nunprofitable bonds for sixty days, the debtor, if his creditors were\nmore than one, might have been divided between them; but human nature\nmust have found it difficult, under such circumstances, to declare a\ndividend.\n\nThe fourth table seems hardly to have a sound leg to stand upon; for it\ngave a father the right of life and death over all his children,\ntogether with the privilege of selling them. To prevent a parent from\npursuing a disgraceful traffic in a series of alarming sacrifices of his\nfamily stock, he was not permitted to sell the same child more than\nthree times over, when the infant was permitted to go into the market on\nhis own account, free of all filial duty.\n\nThe fifth table related to the estates of deceased persons; and if a\nfreedman died without a will or a direct heir, the law provided for the\ndistribution of his goods without providing for his family. Fallacious\nhopes among poor relations were checked by handing over to the patron\nall that remained; and thus the client may be said to have been subject\nto costs, even after the debt of nature had been satisfied.\n\nIn the sixth table, there is nothing worthy of remark; but the seventh\nguards against damage done by quadrupeds, and not only meets the old\nfamiliar case of the donkey among the chickens, but declares that any\none wilfully treading on a neighbour's corn shall pay a suitable\npenalty.\n\nAgriculture was protected by making it a capital offence to blast by\nincantation another's wheat; so that had the farmers of the day moaned\nover each other's ruined prospects as they have done in more recent\ntimes, performing a sort of incantation by singing the same old song of\ndespair, they might have been liable to lose their heads in the literal\nas well as in the intellectual sense of which the phrase is susceptible.\nBy the same table, a man breaking another's limb was exposed to\nretaliation; and a simple fracture was compensated by a simple fracture,\nthough the parties were allowed to compound if they preferred doing so.\n\nThe eighth table was equivalent to a Building Act; and by providing a\nspace of two feet and a half between house and house, it prevented\ncollisions among neighbours; while the fruit dropping from one person's\ntree into another's garden, fell by law into the hands of the latter.\n\nThe purity of justice was provided for by the ninth table, which ordered\nthe execution of a judge who accepted a bribe in the execution of his\noffice. It inflicted the same penalty on a corrupt arbitrator, or--that\ngreater traitor still--the wretch who should deliver up a Roman citizen\nto the enemy.\n\nThe tenth table might teach a lesson to our own enlightened age, in\nwhich it is too generally the custom to waste in hollow and costly\nceremonies over the dead, much that might be made serviceable to the\nliving. More than twenty centuries have passed since the Roman\nlaw-makers, seeing how mourners might be caught by the undertakers in the\ntraps and trappings of woe, limited to a certain sum the costs of a\nfuneral. The outlay upon the \"infernal deities,\" to whom sacrifices were\nmade in those days, and to whom, therefore, we may compare the black\njob-masters of our own time, was also reduced to the very lowest figure.\nIn measures of health the Romans were equally in advance of us; for we\nstill accumulate our dead in the grave-yards of our towns, though by the\nlaws of the twelve tables, burials within the city were prohibited.\n\nThe eleventh and twelfth tables have come down to us in such mere\nfragments, that it is difficult to make up an entire leaf from both of\nthem put together. To the eleventh, is attributed the aristocratic\nprovision against marriages between the patricians and the plebeians;\nbut as the law could not always prevent a flame, it was at last found\nexpedient to allow a match which was permitted five years later by the\nLex Canuleia.[19]\n\nSuch is a brief account of the Laws of the Twelve Tables; which although\ncut up by the shears of time into very little bits, say much, in broken\nsentences, to the honour of their authors. Even as late as the days of\nCicero, it was a part of a boy's education to learn these laws as a\n_carmen necessarium_--or necessary verse--though they were not\nnecessarily in verse at all; for the better opinion is, that they were\nall in prose, and that they were, in fact, as free from rhyme as they\nwere full of reason.\n\nThe Decemvirs had now completed their allotted task; but, though elected\nfor a limited time, they seemed determined to remain in their offices\nafter their office hours were fairly over. During the first Decemvirate\nthe members had taken the Government alternately for twenty-four hours\nat a time, on the principle of every lucky dog having his day: but now\nthe whole ten assumed, at once, the insignia of royalty. Unable to\nresist the fascination of the fasces, the Decemvirs were each of them\npreceded, when they walked abroad, by a bundle of those imposing sticks;\nthe sight of which, at last, aroused public attention to the number of\nrods that might be in pickle for the backs of the people.\n\nMurmurs at home were echoed by rumours of war abroad; the \u00c6quians and\nSabines had renewed their hostility; and the Decemvirs, who could not\nlevy troops or money, summoned the country gentlemen from their seats\nout of town to their seats in the senate. Many honourable members\nprotested strongly against the Government, but agreed to the necessary\nsupplies; from which it seems that the practice of speaking one way and\nvoting another is a very ancient one. The Decemvirs stuck to their\nplaces with an adhesiveness that might suggest a comparison with Roman\ncement, but for the fact that the adhesiveness is not uncommon in modern\ntimes, though the secret of the Roman cement has perished. Armies were\ndespatched to meet the foe, the people having met the expenses, and\nAppius remained at home with one of his colleagues. The Roman forces\nabroad had to contend with internal as well as external enemies; for a\nvenerable, but too garrulous soldier, one Dentatus, called also Siccius,\nwas constantly declaring himself heartily sick of the tyranny of the\nDecemvirs. He had even talked of another secession of the plebs; and, to\nprevent him from taking himself off, a plan was formed to cut him off by\na summary process. He received orders from his superior officer to go up\nthe country, with a few others, and select a spot where a tent might be\npitched, in the event of a pitched battle. His companions were assassins\nin disguise, who, on arriving at a lonely spot, threw off their masks,\nand appeared in their true features. They immediately fell upon the\nastonished Dentatus; who must have seen through his assailants before he\ndied, for many were found perforated with the sword of the veteran.\n\nWhile the rest of the Decemvirs were disgusting the people by their\ntyranny, Appius was proceeding to render himself one of those objects of\ncontempt at which not only the Roman nose, but the nose of all humanity,\nwas destined to turn up, and at which scorn was to point her\nimperishable finger-post.\n\n[Illustration: Virginia carried off by a Minion in the pay of Appius.]\n\nA centurion, named Virginius, had an only daughter, named Virginia, whom\nher father, with a want of caution pardonable, perhaps, in a widower,\npermitted to go backwards and forwards alone through the public streets\nto a private day-school.[20] The young lady, in all the playful\ninnocence of sixteen, was in the habit of dancing and singing along the\nthoroughfare, when the smallness of her feet, and the beauty of her\nvoice, struck the eye and ear of Appius. According to some authorities,\nVirginia was attended by a nurse-maid; but it is scarcely necessary to\nremark, that the same fatal fascination, which in military\nneighbourhoods attracts female attention from children that ought to be,\nto men that are, in arms, was no less powerful in the Via Sacra than in\nRotten Row,--by the banks of the Tiber, than on the shores of the\nSerpentine. One morning, as Virginia was passing through the\nmarket-place, on her way to the seminary, with her tablets and\nschool-bag--or more familiarly speaking, her slate and satchel--on her\narm, a minion, under the dominion of Appius, seized an opportunity for\nseizing the maiden by the wrist. The nurse was either absent, or more\nprobably talking to one of the officers on duty round the corner; for\nthe fasces were as irresistible to the female servants of the day, as\nthe honied words and oilskin capes of a similar class of officials at a\nmuch later period. Virginia screamed for assistance, and they only who\nhave heard the cry of a female in distress, can imagine the shrillness\nof the shriek that rang through the market. Marcus--for such was the\nminion's name--was instantly surrounded by a circle of respectable\ntradesmen, who knew and desired to rescue Virginia. The smith, though he\nhad other irons in the fire, left his bellows to deal Marcus a blow;\nthe butcher, with uplifted cleaver, was preparing a most extensive chop;\nand the money-changer was just on the point of paying off the ruffian in\na new kind of coin, when he declared Virginia to be his slave, and\nannounced himself as the client of the dreaded Appius. At this\nformidable name, the smith's work seemed to be done, the butcher became\na senseless block, and there was a sudden change in the note of the\nmoney-changer.\n\nThe officer on duty, who had arrested the attention of the nurse, being\nat length called away by some trifling charge, had left her at leisure\nto look after the more precious charge with which she had been\nentrusted. As those usually talk the loudest who do the least, the\nremonstrances of the female attendant were, no doubt, vehement in\nproportion to her neglect; and, indeed, the confusion created by the\nshrieks of the nurse was rather calculated to draw off the attention of\nthe crowd from Virginia herself, who was carried away by Marcus, with an\nintimation that he should at once take the case before a magistrate.\nAmong the other consequences of the neglect of the maid, was an\nattachment that had sprung up between the day-school miss and a young\ngentleman, named Icilius. This impetuous youth, having heard of what had\nhappened, proceeded to the court at which the case was about to come on,\nand which was presided over by the tyrant Appius. Icilius prayed for an\nadjournment, on the ground of the absence of the young lady's father;\nand it was found impossible to resist the application of such an earnest\nsolicitor. This point having been conceded, the friends of Virginia\napplied for her admission to bail; and there was such a general tender\nof securities among the throng, that Appius felt he could not calculate\non his own security if he refused the request that had been made to him.\nThe next morning the matter again came on, in the shape of a remanded\ncase; and Virginius, who had been on duty with his regiment the day\nbefore, was now present at the hearing.\n\nHad there been in those days the same love of the horrible that has\nprevailed in our own times, the startling incident of a girl killed by\nher own father, would have probably come down to us, through the medium\nof the fullest reports, amplified by \"other accounts,\" and a long\nsuccession of \"latest particulars.\" We must, however, on the present\noccasion, be satisfied with the merest summary; for the Romans, in the\ntime of Appius, were equally destitute of relish for the details of the\nspilling of blood, and of \"family Sunday newspapers,\" whose respectable\nproprietors are always ready to avail themselves of a sanguinary affair,\nwith an eagerness that seems to show that they look upon blood as\nessential to the vitality of a journal, and involving the true theory of\nthe circulation. It remains only to be told, that Virginius, after\ntaking leave of his daughter, and finding her escape from the power of\nAppius impossible, stabbed her with a knife, snatched up from a\nbutcher's stall, and, brandishing the weapon in the air, threatened\nperdition to the tyrant. Appius, at the sight of the blood-stained\nsteel, felt his heart fluttering, as if affected by magnetic influence;\nand losing, for the time, his own head, he offered ten thousand pounds\nof copper for that of Virginius.[21]\n\nIt is the common characteristic of a moving spectacle to strike every\none motionless; and the guards of Appius, when ordered to seize\nVirginius, found themselves fixed to the spot by so many stirring\nincidents. In vain did Appius call upon his clients and his lictors to\ndo their duty. Among all his numerous attendants there was not a sole\nbut shook in its shoe, while the tyrant trembled from head to foot with\nbootless anger. Urged at length by the commands of Appius, the officers\nattempted to clear the spot, when a severe scuffle ensued, and the\nauthorities were assailed with all sorts of missiles. The market-place\nsupplied abundance of ammunition. Ducks and geese flew in all\ndirections. Some of the lictors found calves' heads suddenly lighting on\ntheir shoulders. Others, who were treated, or rather maltreated, with\noysters, suffered severely from an incessant discharge of shells, and\nmany received the entire contents of a Roman feast, _ab ovo usque ad\nmalum_,--from the assault and battery of the egg, to the _malum in se_\nof a well-aimed apple. The stalls of the dealers in vegetables were\nspeedily cleared of their contents; and a trembling lictor,\nsmothered--like a rabbit--in onions, might be seen, trying to creep away\nunperceived, while others, who were receiving their desert in the form\nof fresh fruit, fled, under a smart shower of grape, from the fury of\nthe populace. At length, the stock of the market being exhausted, the\nassailants had recourse to stones; and Appius, feeling that he was\nwithin a stone's throw of his life, entreated the lictors to remove him\nfrom the scene of danger. Four of the stoutest of his attendants,\nhoisting his curule chair on to their shoulders, made the best of their\nway home, where Appius at length arrived, with the apple of his eye\ndamaged by a blow from a pear, his mouth choked with indignation and\nmud, his lips blue with rage and grape juice, his robe caked with\nconfectionary, and his head, which had been made spongy with the loaves\nthrown at it, affected with a sort of drunken roll.[22] Such is the\nmelancholy portrait which historical truth compels us to draw of the\nunhappy Appius, for whom, however, no pity can be felt, even though his\ncase and his countenance presented many very sad features. The assault\nin the market-place must have rendered it difficult for an artist of\nthe day to have taken his likeness, after the carrots, whirling about\nhis head, had settled in his hair, the rich oils having given to his\nRoman nose a touch of grease, and the eggs thrown by the populace, who\ncontinued to egg each other on, having lengthened his round cheeks into\nan oval countenance.\n\n[Illustration: _Appius Claudius punished by the People._]\n\nHaving gained his palace, the wretched tyrant ran up stairs, in the hope\nthat he might save himself by such a flight; but he was overtaken, and\nthrown into gaol, where he, who had hitherto been permitted to do\nprecisely as he pleased, was allowed just rope enough to hang himself; a\nprocess, it is believed, he performed, though the subject is so knotty,\nthat we are not prepared to disentangle it.\n\nVirginius had returned to the camp, where the soldiers, having heard of\nthe fall of the decemvir, proceeded to hit him, as usual, when down,\nrenouncing the authority of Appius and his colleagues. The valour of the\ninsurgents was, however, of a negative kind; for in times of danger they\nseemed to think absence of body better than presence of mind, and their\npolicy was to secede from the city. They withdrew to the Sacred Mount,\nwhere ambassadors from the Senate were sent after them, to see if\nmatters might not be arranged; when the popular chiefs, with a sort of\none-sided liberality, in which some friends of freedom are too apt to\nindulge, asked an amnesty for themselves, and the immediate putting to\ndeath of the whole of the late government. The ambassadors, not liking a\nprecedent, which might be applied to succeeding administrations, of\nwhich themselves might form a part, suggested the propriety of trying\nthe decemvirs first, and executing them, if necessary, afterwards. It\nwas some time before the friends of freedom and justice could bring\nthemselves to consent to the trial preceding the punishment; but upon\nbeing assured that the decemvirs would have little chance of escape, it\nwas at length agreed to allow them the preliminary forms of a trial.\n\nThe plebeians having got the upper hand, became almost as intolerant as\nthe tyrants they had displaced,--a common error, unfortunately, among\nthe professing lovers of liberty. They demanded that the Tribunes should\nbe restored, which was well enough; that the Tribunate should be\nperpetual,--which was an insolent and overbearing interference with the\nwill of any succeeding generation; and, by way of climax, they required\nthat any one suggesting the abolition of their favourite office should\nbe burnt as a traitor. They were no doubt fully justified in having a\nwill of their own, but they had no authority to entail that will upon a\nsubsequent age; and least of all had they the right to make bonfires of\nthose who were of a different way of thinking. It is true that, at such\na moment, few are willing to put their lives literally at stake, by\nuttering their opinions; but these arbitrary pranks, so frequently\ncommitted in the name of freedom, account sufficiently for the frequent\nuse of the words \"more free than welcome.\" The truth is, that when\nLiberty becomes a notorious public character, she seems to disappear\nfrom private life; and, indeed, how is she to be found at home, if she\nis occupied out of doors, knocking off the hats of those who will not\ngive her a cheer, or breaking the windows of those who will not\nilluminate in her honour?\n\nThe plebeians having gained the permission of the Senate to hang and\nburn to their hearts' content all who might give way to difference of\nopinion, under the weak-minded impression that it would never alter\nfriendship, proceeded to the election of Tribunes in place of the\nDecemvirs, who were thrown into prison. This is said to have been the\nfirst instance of the incarceration of any one belonging to the\npatrician order; and the sensation in the upper circles was immense when\nthey heard that a few exclusives of their own set were in actual\ncustody. Some aristocratic families went into mourning on the melancholy\noccasion, and offered any fine, as a matter of course, for the release\nof their kindred.\n\nAppius Claudius and Spurius Appius--probably an illegitimate member of\nthe family--were thrown into the same cell, where, it is said, they made\naway with themselves or each other; but whether there is any truth in\nthis story of the cell, or whether it is merely a cellular tissue of\nfalsehood, it is difficult to decide, after so long an interval. The\neight remaining Decemviri went into exile, or, in other words, were\ntransported for life; while Marcus Claudius, who had claimed Virginia,\nrepaired to Tibur, now Tivoli, and may be said to have taken his\nconscience out to wash in the famous baths of the neighbourhood. Other\nauthorities say that he fled to avoid the ironing for life with which he\nhad been threatened, or that he feared the mangling to which he might be\nexposed at home, at the hands of the infuriated populace.\n\nConsuls had already been elected, in the persons of L. Valerius and M.\nHoratius; but ten Tribunes were now chosen, among whom, of course, were\nthe leaders in the revolution; for it is a popular notion, that those\nwho have overthrown one government, must necessarily be the fittest\npersons to construct another. It is, however, much easier to knock down\nthan to build up; and those who have shown themselves extremely clever\nat bowling out, are often bowled out rapidly in turn, when they get\ntheir innings.\n\nIt is a characteristic of nations, as well as of individuals, that those\nwho have no affairs of their own immediately on hand, are apt to concern\nthemselves with the affairs of their neighbours. The Romans having\narranged matters among themselves, began to look abroad, and having rid\nthemselves of domestic foes, they sent their Consuls, L. Valerius and M.\nHoratius, to deal with foreign enemies. Valerius seized upon the camp of\nthe \u00c6qui, just as they were canvassing their prospects under their\ntents; and Horatius, after routing the Sabines, made them free of the\ncity; thus converting into respectable tradesmen those who had been\nhitherto extremely troublesome customers.\n\nWhen the Consuls returned to Rome, they expected the Senate would pay\nthem the usual compliment of a triumph; and instead of entering the city\nat once, they put up at the temple of Bellona, outside the walls,\nwaiting for orders. The patricians, who were jealous of the generals,\nthought to deprive them of the customary honours, by a low trick; but\nthe tribes dealing more fairly with the warriors, or, to use a familiar\nexpression, lending them a hand, decreed the triumph which the Senate\nhad denied to them. Thus did the patricians lose a privilege they had\nabused; and the two Consuls drove four-in-hand into the city in spite of\nthem.\n\n[Illustration: In the foreground of the Tableau may be observed a\nPatrician looking very black at the Triumph of the General.]\n\nIn modern times, the nearest approach we have to a triumph is the\nentrance into a country town of a company of equestrians, or a\ntravelling menagerie. The arrangements were in many respects suitable to\na fair, and it would seem to have been the opinion of the Romans that\nnone but the brave deserved the fair, for it was only the most eminent\nwarriors who were awarded the honours of a triumph. There was, however,\nsomething very undignified in the practice of hanging about the\noutskirts of the town until regularly called in, which was the usual\ncourse adopted by those who anticipated the glory of a summons from the\nsenate. It sometimes happened that the summons never arrived, and the\nGeneral, who had hoped to make his entry in a chariot and four, was at\nlast compelled to sneak, unattended, into the city. Such might have been\nthe lot of L. Valerius and M. Horatius, had it not been for their\npopularity, aided, probably, by the senseless love of show, which often\ncauses the hero to be degraded into the mountebank. As triumphs, like\nLord Mayors' shows, were nearly all the same, the following account will\ncomprehend, or lead the reader to comprehend, the general features of\nthese military pageants.\n\nThe procession opened with a band of trumpeters, and as much breath as\npossible was blown out of the whole body. Next came some men with\nboards, inscribed with numerous achievements, and forming, in fact, the\nposting bills, or puffing placards, of the principal character. These\nwere followed by a variety of objects, taken from the enemy, and may be\ncompared to the properties used in the show, the next feature of which\nwas a file of flute-players, who walked in a sort of fluted column. Next\nin order came the white bulls, or oxen devoted for sacrifice,\naccompanied by the slaughtering priests, or holy butchers; and\nimmediately afterwards a remarkable beast, odd fish, or strange bird,\nthat had been snared, hooked, or caged, in the conquered country. These\nwere followed by the arms of the foe, with as many captives as possible,\nin chains, and the larger the string of fettered victims, so much the\ngreater was the amount of \"linked sweetness, long drawn out\" before the\neye of the conqueror. After these were carried the gifts the General had\nreceived from allied or friendly powers, consisting usually of crowns\nmade of grass, every blade of which was a tribute to the sword of the\nvictor. Next came a file of lictors, and then the General himself, in a\nchariot and four, with a slave on the footboard behind, whispering in\nhis ear, to remind him of his being still \"a man and a brother.\"\n\n[Illustration: In all probability something of this sort.]\n\nThe Consuls having gained a civil as well as a military triumph, by\ntheir defeat of the patricians, would have been re-elected by\nacclamation for another year; but they had the good sense to retire upon\nthe popularity they had gained, without waiting to become bankrupt of\nthat very fleeting commodity. The patricians, getting tired of an\nexclusiveness which seemed likely to exclude them from real power,\ncondescended to vie with the plebeians as candidates for the office of\nTribune. They judiciously came to the conclusion that it was better to\ncast their pride under foot, than to stand too much upon their dignity;\nand the result was, that, by the election of two of their order, they\nobtained a voice in the new government.\n\nPopular measures were now the order of the day; and C. Canuleius, one of\nthe tribunes, brought in a bill to legalise the connubium between the\nPatres and the Plebs, so that the fathers of the senate might marry the\ndaughters of the people. This proposition for an enlargement of the\nconnubial noose gave rise to several very knotty points, and to much\nopposition on the part of the patricians. The greater number of them\nbelieved themselves to be the essence of all that was rare and refined,\nuntil the more sensible portion of them perceived that the essence was\ngrowing rarer every day, and that unless it formed a combination with\nsomething more solid, it would all very soon evaporate. The law was\naccordingly allowed to pass; and by the timely application of some\ncommon clay, the roots of aristocracy were saved from the decay that had\nthreatened them. Many of the patricians, who had long been wedded to old\nprejudices, found it far more agreeable to be married to young\nplebeians; and matrimony was contracted, or, rather, greatly extended,\namong the different classes of society.\n\nThe Reform party had now become strong enough to propose that one of the\nconsuls should always be a plebeian; and though the Senate tried very\nhard to maintain the principle, that those only are fit for a snug place\nwho have been qualified by a good birth, the tide of opinion had set in\nso strongly the other way, that it was hopeless, with the thickest\nsculls, to pull against the current.\n\n_Tribuni militum_, with the power of consuls, were instituted; but the\npatricians managed, by a trick, to reduce these consuls into a sort of\nstock for their own use, by selecting from their own body two officers\nnamed Censors, who were to be employed in taking the census, an\nextremely important part of the consular authority. The mere enumeration\nof the people was not of itself a high privilege, and required no\nacquaintance with the law, or of any of the twelve tables, excepting,\nperhaps, the simple tables of arithmetic. Besides the privilege of\nlooking after the numbers of the people, the office gave especial\nopportunities of looking after number one; for the administration of the\nfinances of the state was committed to the Censor;[23] and it has too\noften happened that a collector of duties has considered that there was\na duty owing to himself, out of those received on behalf of the\nGovernment. They were also Commissioners of the Property Tax, with full\ninquisitorial powers; but, most odious part of all, they had authority\nto ascertain the dates of the birth of females, as well as males, and\ncould mercilessly surcharge a lady for her age, as well as her husband\nfor his income. They were also controllers of virtue and morality, their\nduty being to maintain the _mos majorum_, or manners of the old school;\nfor it seems to have been always the custom of mankind to lament the\npast as \"the good old times,\" no matter how bad the old times may have\nbeen, and how infinitely inferior to the present.\n\nThe Censors, however, derived their chief influence from their power of\ndetermining the rank of every citizen; for, from the very earliest\ntimes, the multitude were in the habit of pursuing, through thick and\nthin, that perilous Will o' the Wisp--a wisp that reduces many a man of\nsubstance to a man of straw--a position in society. This the Censors\ncould award; and people were ready to pay any price for that most costly\nof all stamps--though perhaps, after all, the most difficult to\npurchase--the stamp of fashion. From the early days of Rome to the\npresent hour, we meet with frequent counterfeits of the stamp in\nquestion, the forgery of which has spoiled, and continues to spoil, a\nquantity of calves' skin, and asses' skin, that might otherwise be found\nof service, at least to its owners.\n\nRome had begun to enjoy a short repose, like an infant in its cradle,\nwhen it was unexpectedly made to rock to its very foundations, by a\nshortness of provisions; for the absence of anything to eat is sure to\nafford food to the disaffected. Grumbling is the peculiar attribute of\nan empty stomach; and flatulence, caused by hunger, is an ill wind, that\nblows good to nobody. During the scarcity, a wealthy citizen, one\nSpurius Maelius, anxious to give his fellow-citizens a genuine meal,\npurchased corn at his own expense, and sold it for a mere song--taking\nthe produce, perhaps, in promissory notes--to his poorer countrymen.\nThis liberality rendered Maelius extremely popular with all but the\npatricians, who declared that they saw through his design in selling\ncheap corn; that as old birds they were not to be caught with chaff: and\nthat his real aim was the kingly dignity. Under the pretext of\npreventing him from accomplishing this object, the patricians appointed\na Dictator; and poor old Cincinnatus, bowed down with age and\nagriculture, which had been his natural bent, was dragged from the tail\nof the plough to the head of the state, though his own state was that of\nextreme bodily decrepitude. His Master of the Horse, who really held the\nreins, was Servilius Ahala, by whom Maelius was summoned before the\nDictator, to answer any charge that might be brought against him. If the\nmode of making the accusation was strange, the method of answering it\nwas equally irregular; for Maelius, instead of meeting it with dignity,\nran away from it, with a butcher's knife, which he snatched from a stall\nin the market-place. Flourishing the formidable weapon, he cut in among\nthe crowd, and was immediately followed by Servilius Ahala, with a party\nof young patrician blades, who, in a manner that would have pierced a\nheart of stone, plunged their swords into their victim's bosom.\n\nAhala was charged with the murder, but he was enabled to avoid the\nconsequences, as men of consequence in those days could do, by a\nvoluntary exile. Though domestic cookery had received a check from the\ndearth at home, there was no scarcity of foreign broils, and the Romans\ncreated Mam. \u00c6milius dictator, to encounter the Fidenates and\nVeientines. Three ambassadors were sent to Fidenae, but the diplomatic\nservice could not have been so desirable in those days as in our own,\nfor the three ambassadors were slain, and perhaps the financial\nreformers would say that it was very proper to cut down such a piece of\ngross extravagance. The order emanated from Lar Tolumnius of Veii; and\nwhile it said little for his heart, it cost him his head, which was cut\noff by Cornelius Cossus--the master of the horse to \u00c6milius.\n\nThe Veientines continuing troublesome, Furius Camillus was appointed\ndictator, when, with an engineering talent rare in those days, he\ncommenced a mine, and overcoming all minor, as well as major, or general\ndifficulties, he forced a way into the city. The King of Veii was\noffering a sacrifice in the Temple of Juno, just as the Romans had\ncompleted their tunnel, and as the soldiers burst like a crop of early\nchampions through the earth, he saw his fate written in bold Roman\ncharacters. Everything was given to the conquerors, and it is said that\nthe statue of Juno, followed of its own accord; but the probability is,\nthe statue remained _in statu quo_, for miraculous instances of going\nover to Rome were not in those days numerous.\n\nRome was once more at peace, when the citizens, with peculiar\ningratitude, having no other foes, began to quarrel with Camillus\nhimself, to whom they owed their tranquillity. They accused him of\nhaving unduly trafficked in shares, by appropriating more than his due\nportion of the booty. His unpopularity had not, however, come down upon\nhim until it was found that he had, in a fit of piety, dedicated a tenth\nof the spoils of Veii to the Delphic God--a circumstance he had\nforgotten to mention, until he had disposed of the whole of his own\nshare of the prize, and it became necessary for the other participators\nin the plunder to redeem his promise at their own cost, and, with their\nown ready money, to save his credit. His name fell at once from the\nhighest premium of praise to the lowest discount of disparagement, and\nhe incurred the especial detestation of those whom he had served; for\nkindnesses are often written in marble in the hearts of those who\nremember them only to repay them with ingratitude. Not liking to lie\nunder the imputation of dishonesty, and being unable to get over it, he\nchose a middle course, and passed a sort of sentence of transportation\nupon himself by going into voluntary exile. He, however, with a\nlittleness of mind that was not uncommon among the early Romans, vented\nhis spite as he left the city gate, expressing a wish that Rome might\nrue his absence; but Rome consoled herself for the loss she might\nsustain in him by confiscating the whole of his property.\n\nAmong the incidents of the life of Camillus, a story is told of an event\nthat happened, when, after having subdued the Veientines, he drove the\nFaliscans out their city of Falerii. There existed within the walls a\nfashionable boys' school, to which the patricians sent their sons, who\nwere frequently taken out walking in the suburbs. One morning the\npupils, who were two and two, found themselves growing very tired one by\none, for their promenade had been prolonged unusually by the pedagogue.\nThe wretch and his ushers had, in fact, ushered the unsuspecting infants\ninto the camp of Camillus, with an intimation that the parents of the\nboys were immensely opulent, that the schooling was regularly paid, and\nthere could be no doubt that a rich ransom could be procured for such a\nchoice assemblage of fathers' prides and mothers' darlings. Camillus\nnobly answered, that he did not make war on young ideas not yet taught\nto shoot, and he concluded by giving the schoolmaster a lesson; for,\ncausing him to be stripped, and putting a scourge into the hands of the\nboys, the young whipper-snappers snapped many a whip on the back of\ntheir master.\n\n[Illustration: School-boys flogging the Schoolmaster.]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[18] It has been often a subject of regret that the particulars of this\nexpedition have not been handed down to us, and that the three Roman\nexcursionists did not put their heads together to form a log during\ntheir voyage. It is, however, seldom that the marine expeditions of the\nsages are fully detailed, for nothing can be scantier than the account\nof the journey of the three wise men of Gotham who went to sea in a\nbowl; and there is reason to believe that many a chapter has been lost\nto the philosophical transactions of the world, by the chapter of\nnautical accidents.\n\n[19] \"Law of the Twelve Tables,\" B.C. 450. \"Lex Canuleia,\" B.C. 445.\n\n[20] It seems, however, to have been the custom of the period for\nplebeians to send their daughters from six to sixteen to a scholastic\nestablishment from about nine to five; and it is ten to one that\nVirginia was a pupil at one of these cheap nursery grounds, in which\nyoung ideas were planted out for the purpose of shooting.\n\n[21]\n\n \"Then up sprung Appius Claudius, 'Stop him--alive or dead,\n Ten thousand pounds of copper to the man who brings his head.'\"--\n\n _Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome._\n\n[22] This description is not exaggerated, at least, if the authority of\nMacaulay is to be relied upon; and for the incidents of this remote\nperiod we are perhaps justified in trusting quite as much to the lay of\nthe poet, as to any other source. The following lines refer to the state\nof Appius, when taken home, after the death of Virginia:--\n\n \"One stone hit Appius in the mouth, and one beneath the ear,\n And ere he reached Mount Palatine he swooned with pain and fear.\n His cursed head, that he was wont to hold so high with pride,\n Now like a drunken man's, hung down, and swayed from side to side.\n And when his stout retainers had brought him to his door,\n His face and neck were all one cake of filth and clotted gore.\"\n\n[23] At a later period, the Censors had the entire control over the\npublic expenditure, even to the feeding of the sacred geese; and there\nis no doubt that even the geese were made to yield a considerable nest\negg to a dishonest functionary.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE NINTH.\n\nFROM THE TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS, TO ITS SUBSEQUENT PRESERVATION BY\nMANLIUS.\n\n[Illustration: A Gaul.]\n\n\nAs a prophet is sure to come right in the end, if he will go on\nprophesying a thing until it really happens; so the soothsayers, who had\nbeen constantly predicting the taking of Rome, seemed likely, at last,\nto have their forebodings verified.\n\nThe Gauls were destined to be the invaders, and tradition tells us that\nthey were attracted to cross the Alps by the reputation of the Italian\ngrapes, which induced them to expect a superior glass of wine on the\nother side of the mountains. The Gauls were remarkable for the hugeness\nof their bodies, which presented a series of gigantic pictures in their\niron frames; and their faces being covered with long shaggy hair, they\nseemed ready, by their ferocious aspect, to beard an enemy. These people\nwere the ancient inhabitants of modern France, and it is a curious fact,\nthat the occupants of the country have, up to the present time,\ncultivated that hairiness of visage, in which they may be said to have\nliterally aped their ancestors. Tradition--that wholesale carrier, who\ndelivers so many parcels at the historian's door, some of which are\nscarcely worth the carriage--has handed to us a small packet, with\nreference to the Gauls and their origin, the contents of which we\nproceed to examine. On taking it up, we find that it possesses very\nlittle weight; but we, nevertheless, proceed to the operation of\nunpacking. Beginning as we would with a basket, we find ourselves\nhampered to a considerable extent, for on opening the lid, and using the\neye of discernment, we turn over the contents with eagerness, and after\nall catch at little better than straw, in our attempts to take hold of\nsomething tangible. Turning over the flimsy mass, we arrive at very\nlittle of a solid description, though, on getting to the bottom of it,\nwe establish the fact that the Gauls, under Brennus, their chief,\nmarched upon Clusium, one of the states of Etruria. People in\ndifficulties are apt to grow exceedingly amiable towards those who are\nin a position to help them; the man of money becomes the very \"dear Sir\"\nof one who needs a loan, and the Clusians appealed to their \"friends,\"\nthe Romans, of whom they knew nothing, for their kind assistance.\n\nThe Roman Senate, adopting the quarrel of the Clusians, sent three\nambassadors, the sons of M. Fabius Ambustus, to the Gauls, desiring them\nto withdraw; but the Gauls sent back a very galling answer. They\ndeclared their own country was little, and their necessities were large;\nthat they had not land enough to supply them with bread; and, though\nthey wished not to tread on a neighbour's corn, they could not help\nfeeling where the shoe was pinching. They added, that, as to Clusium,\nthey did not want it all, but would willingly share it with its owners;\na proposition similar to that of a pickpocket, who, while robbing you of\nyour handkerchief, politely offers you the joint use of it.\n\nThis arrangement not having been acceded to, the Clusians and the Gauls\ncame into collision; when the Roman ambassadors, who only went to have a\nfew words, so far forgot their diplomatic character as to come to blows;\nand, though it is not unusual for peace-makers to cause more mischief\nthan they prevent, it was rather too much to find the pacificators, who\nhad gone forth to knock discord on the head, engaged in fracturing the\nskulls of those whom they went to propitiate. One of the Fabii not only\nkilled a Gallic chief, but, having made away with the individual, was\nmaking off with his arms and accoutrements; when a cry of \"shame!\" arose\nfrom the Gauls, who did not approve of an arrangement by which the envoy\nwas killing several of them, while a delicate regard to the law of\nnations prevented them from killing the envoy. It is difficult for men\nto stand upon a point of etiquette when threatened with the point of the\nsword; but the Gauls, with extreme moderation, resolved on sending\nenvoys to complain of the envoys; and thus, as it were, fight the\nambassadors with their own weapons. The Roman Senate felt the justice of\nthe complaint; but, seeing that public feeling ran the other way, the\nSenators were base enough to do an injustice rather than make an\nhonourable stand against the wilfulness of the people.\n\nThe Fabii, whom the Senate had been too cowardly to punish, the million\nthought proper to reward by appointing them Consular Tribunes for the\nyear ensuing; and when the news reached the Gauls, it excited in them a\nvery natural bitterness. After their first burst of rage, they began to\ncollect themselves; and finding, when collected, they could muster\n30,000 strong, they were joined by upwards of 40,000 Senones, in\nalliance with whom they reached Allia, a little stream flowing towards\nthe Tiber. Here they were met by the Romans, who threw up entrenchments\nto prevent the enemy from entrenching upon their domain; but being\ncomparatively few in numbers, they endeavoured to spread themselves out\nas far apart as possible.\n\nAs a kettle of water thrown upon a spoonful of tea, with the intention\nof making it go further, produces a weakening effect; so did the\nexpansion of the Roman line dilute its strength to such a degree, that\nthe right wing became panic-stricken, and the left catching the\ninfection, both wings began to fly together. Several of the Romans\nplunged into the Tiber, to save their lives, and the dux or general set\nthe ignominious example. Some lost all self-possession, and fell\nhelplessly into the possession of the enemy; while others finding their\nheads beginning to swim violently on shore, could not obtain the chance\nof safety by swimming across the river.\n\nA few only of the soldiers got home in safety, soaked to the skin; and\nthough there may be something ignoble in the picture of a party of Roman\nwarriors dripping in their wet clothes, we are compelled to follow the\ndry threads of history. Those who escaped by means of the friendly tide,\ntook the sad tidings to Rome, which would now have fallen an easy prey\nto the Gauls, had they not remained on the field of battle, uttering\nhorrid yells, shaking their yellow locks, and intoxicating themselves\nwith something more potent than the stream cup of success which they had\nquaffed so easily. When the bad news reached Rome, the citizens began to\nfly apace, and some were startled by their own shadows, as if, like\nguilty creatures, they were unable to bear their own reflections. Many\nof the patricians ran for safety into the Arx, or topmost part of the\ncity, which was carrying cowardice to the utmost height; and some who\ntried to save their goods as well as their lives, packed their property\nin casks with the hope of preserving it.\n\nOn the arrival of the Gauls, they found the walls and the inhabitants\ncompletely unmanned, and though nearly every one who remained was\nsomebody beside himself, the population had, owing to the foolish panic,\nbeen most sensibly diminished. Among those who remained were eighty old\npatricians, who had filled in their turns, the chief offices of state,\nand who, having sworn to die, took the oaths and their seats in the\nForum. They wore their official robes, occupied their ivory chairs, and\nbeing carefully got up with venerable white beards, they had all the\nimposing effect of a _tableau vivant_ upon the Gauls who entered the\nForum. One of the barbarians, attracted by the singularity of the scene,\nstroked the beard of the aged Papirius to ascertain if he was real, when\nthe aged P. having returned the salutation by a smart stroke with his\nsceptre, the inquisitive Gaul found his head and the charm broken\ntogether. Though the patricians had, at first, worn the appearance of\nmere wax-work, they now began to wax warm, which led to their speedy\ndissolution; for the Gauls, falling violently upon them, converted the\nwhole scene into a chamber of horrors. The eighty senators were slain,\nto the immense satisfaction of the Romans themselves, who felt a\nconviction that after this alarming sacrifice they were sure of a\ntriumph. They seemed to look upon the venerable victims as so much old\nstock that must be cleared off, and the previously depressed citizens\nbegan to rally with all the renewed vigour of a bankrupt who has just\nundergone the operation of an extensive failure. The Gauls invested the\nCapitol, but its defenders feeling that no one had a right to invest\nthat Capitol but themselves, did their utmost to keep it standing in\ntheir own names; and, not even for the sake of ensuring their own lives,\nwould they agree to an unconditional surrender. The barbarians, finding\nnothing better to do, commenced firing the city in several parts,\npulling down the walls and throwing them into the Tiber; a species of\nsacking that must have been very injurious to the bed of the river.\n\nThe occupants of the Capitol continued to hold out, or rather, to keep\nin, and it being desirable to communicate with them, a bold youth, named\nPontius Cominius, attempted the hazardous enterprise. Having encased\nhimself in a suit of cork, he crossed the Tiber, and clambering on his\nhands, he performed the wonderful feat of reaching the Capitol. He\nreturned in the same manner; and, on the following day the Gauls\nobserving the track, thought to be all fours with him, by stealing up on\nthe points of their fingers and the tips of their toes, to the point he\nhad arrived at. With a cat-like caution, which eluded even the vigilance\nof the dogs, and while the sentinels were off their guard, a party of\nthe Gauls crept up one by one to the top of the rock, which was the\nsummit of their wishes. Just as they had effected their object, a\nwakeful goose,[24] with a head not unworthy of the sage, commenced a\nvehement cackle, and the solo of one old bird was soon followed by a\nfull chorus from a score of others. Marcus Manlius, who resided near the\npoultry, was so alarmed at the sound that he instantly jumped out of his\nskin--for, in those days, a sheep's skin was the usual bedding--and ran\nto the spot, where he caught hold of the first Gaul he came to, and,\ngiving him a smart push, the whole pack behind fell like so many cards\nto the bottom.\n\nManlius was rewarded with the scarcest luxury the city contained, in the\nshape of plenty to eat, and it cannot be said that we have greatly\nimproved upon the early Romans in matters of the same kind, for a dinner\nis still a common mode of acknowledging the services of a public man,\nand literally feeding his vanity.\n\nThe Gauls continued to invest Rome, and heard with savage delight of the\ndiminishing supplies, or rather, to use an Irishism, the increasing\nscarcity. News at last came that the garrison had been for some time\nliving upon soles, and it is an admitted fact that they had consumed all\nbut a few remaining pairs belonging to the shoes of their generals.\nDriven at length to desperation, they baked as hard as they could the\nflour they still had on hand, and making it up into quarterns, or four\npounders, threw it at the enemy. The Gauls looked up with astonishment,\nwhen another volley of crust satisfied them that bread was coming \"down\nagain;\" and not wishing to get their heads broken with the staff of\nlife, which they fancied must be very plentiful in Rome, they offered\nterms of ransom. The price fixed upon was one thousand pounds of gold,\nin the weighing of which the Gauls are said to have used false weights,\nbut it is difficult to say what weight ought to be given to the\naccusation. The story goes on to say that the Gallic king, on being\nremonstrated with for his dishonesty, cut dissension short with his\nsword, and throwing it into the scale with a cry of _V\u00e6 victis_, turned\nthe balance still more in his own favour.\n\n[Illustration: The Citadel saved by the cackling of the Geese.]\n\nIn the meantime the Romans at Veii had called Camillus from exile, and\nchosen him Dictator; for it was the opinion of the day that good use\ncould always be made of a man after thoroughly ill-using him. Camillus\narrived at Rome just as the gold was being weighed, when he declared\nthat he would deliver his country, but would not allow the delivery of\nthe treasure. He added, that the metal with which all claims upon Rome\nshould be met was steel; that he cared not who might draw upon him, for\nhe was ready, at sight, with prompt acceptance. While the discussion was\nproceeding, a Roman legion arrived; and the Gauls were driven out of the\ncity, having lost not only their self-possession, but possession of the\ngold that had been assigned to them. On the road to Gabii a battle\nensued, in which every Gaul, it is said, was slain, not one being left\nalive to tell the tale; and as there are two sides of a story, as well\nas of a fight, it is impossible, in the absence of the other party, to\nsay which side was victorious.\n\nWhen the Romans returned to their city, they found it little better than\na dust-heap, or a plot of ground on which a shooting party had met for\nthe purpose of shooting dry rubbish. The people were called upon to\nrebuild their houses; but even in those days the principle of the\nproverb, that fools build houses for wise men to live in, appears to\nhave been recognised. There was a general disinclination to dabble in\nmortar; and there seemed to be a conspiracy not to enter upon a plot for\nbuilding purposes.\n\nRome seemed very unlikely to be built in that day; and it might never\nhave been restored, had not an accident--on which they put an ominous\nconstruction--caused the citizens to proceed to the re-construction of\ntheir city. While Camillus was \"on his legs\" in the senate, a centurion,\npassing the House of Assembly with a flag in his hand, was heard to say,\n\"Let us plant our banner here, for this is the place for us to stop at.\"\nThe senators, rushing forth, declared their acceptance of the omen,\nthough there was nothing ominous in the fact; and the people, carried\naway, or rather attracted to the spot, by the same stupidly\nsuperstitious feeling, declared that on that place they would rebuild\nthe city. There is no doubt that the anxiety of the senators for the\nrestoration of Rome was owing to the fact of their own property lying\nnear at hand; and they were desirous, therefore, of improving the\nneighbourhood. There was very little patriotism, and a large amount of\nself-interest, in a suggestion that materially enhanced their own\nestates; and it was extremely easy to find an omen that would put twenty\nor thirty per cent. upon the value of their property. In pursuance of\nthe \"omen,\" they liberally gave bricks that did not belong to them, and\nfollowed up their munificence by allowing stone to be cut from the\npublic quarries, in order that the works might be hastened; while, as a\nfurther act of generosity, it was permitted to the citizens to pull to\npieces their houses at Veii, for the purpose of embellishing Rome and\nits vicinity. Speed being the order of the day, every other kind of\norder was neglected. All idea of a general plan fell to the ground, in\nconsequence of every one having a ground plan of his own. The houses,\ninstead of wearing the aspect of uniformity, showed a variety of faces,\nand told each a different story; while the streets were so constructed,\nwith reference to the sewers, that the latter were as useless as if\nthey had been devised by a modern commission.\n\nRome was still exposed to aggression on various sides from numerous\nfoes; but Camillus, in his capacity of Dictator, first vanquished them,\nand then, admitting them to the franchise, received them in the light of\nfriends, as if, like old carpets, a thorough beating brought them out in\nnew colours. Whatever may be the fortune of war, it is its misfortune\ninvariably to entail a heavy debt; and it is a truth of universal\napplication, that a country, like an individual, no sooner gets into hot\nwater, than liquidation becomes extremely difficult. Such was the case\nwith Rome, where taxation became so high, that the poor were compelled\nto borrow of the rich, who, with the usual short-sightedness of avarice,\nadded an exorbitant claim for interest to the principal debt, and thus,\nby insisting on both, got in most cases neither.\n\nManlius, whose quick apprehension of a goose's cackle had rendered him\nthe deliverer of his country, was exceedingly hurt at the neglect with\nwhich he had been treated, though he had little cause of complaint; for\nhis merit, after all, consisted chiefly in the fact of his living within\nhearing of the fowl-house. He was, however, jealous of the honours\nconferred on others; for he expected, no doubt, that the whole of the\nplumage of the sacred geese would have been feathers in his cap in the\neyes of his countrymen. Seeking, therefore, another mode of gaining\npopularity, he cast his eye upon some unfortunate birds of a different\ndescription--the unhappy plebeians, who were being plucked like so many\npigeons in the hands of their patrician creditors. He went about with\npurses in his hand, like the philanthropist of the old school of comedy,\nreleasing prisoners for debt; and declaring his determination to extend\nhis bounty to all who needed it. This advertisement of his intention\nbrought crowds of applicants to his house; for there was always \"a case\nof real distress\" at hand, for the indulgence of one whose greatest\nluxury was the liquidation of other people's liabilities. The popularity\nof Manlius excited the jealousy of the patricians, who, not appreciating\nhis magnanimity, thought him little better than a goose that was always\nlaying golden eggs, and he retaliated upon them by declaring he had\nrather be a fool than a knave; that the money he disposed of was his\nown, but that they had grown rich upon gold embezzled from the price of\nthe city's ransom. Their only answer to the charge was to get him thrown\ninto prison for making it. The plebeians, finding their friend and\nbanker in gaol, with nobody to pay their debts, were dissolved in\ntears--the only solvency of which they were capable. Some went into\nmourning, while those who could not afford it put on black looks, and\nthreatened to release him from custody.\n\nThe Senate, unable to maintain any charge, and tired, perhaps, of the\nexpense of keeping him in prison, sent him forth to maintain himself at\nhis own charge; but his means having been greatly reduced, he found a\ncorresponding reduction in his popularity. While his resources flowed in\na golden stream, he was a rich pump that any one was ready to make a\nhandle of; but no sooner did the supply fall off, and the pump cease to\nact, than he was left destitute of the commonest succour. He was\neventually brought to trial; and being called upon for his defence, he\nproduced four hundred insolvents whose debts he had paid--and who passed\nthrough the Court of Justice--as witnesses to his liberality. He then\nshowed his wounds, which were not the sore places of which the\npatricians complained; and he ultimately pointed to the Capitol, in the\npreservation of which he had acquitted himself so well, that on the\nrecollection of it, his acquittal was pronounced by the citizens. His\npersecutors, however, obtained a new trial, upon which he was condemned\nto death; and a slave having been sent with the despatch containing the\nnews, proceeded to the despatch of Manlius himself in a treacherous\nmanner. Proposing a walk along the cliff, under the pretence of\nfriendship, the slave gradually got Manlius near the edge, until the\nlatter suddenly found himself driven to the last extremity. Upon this he\nreceived a push which sent him down the Tarpeian Rock; and the man who\npretended to have come as a friend, had been base enough to throw him\nover. The sudden idea of the traitor was afterwards carried into\nfrequent execution; for the practice he had commenced, was subsequently\napplied to the execution of criminals.\n\nAfter the death of Manlius, his house was levelled with the ground, and\nhe himself experienced the fate of most men when thoroughly down, for he\nwas repudiated even by his own family. The gens, or gents, of the\nManlii, with a contemptible want of manliness, resolved that none of the\nmembers should ever bear the name of Marcus, which they avoided as a\nmark of disgrace, though at one time it had been a title of honour.\n\nRome seemed now to be declining, and going down all its seven hills at\nonce; pestilence killed some, and gave the vapours to others, and the\nsewers no longer fulfilled their office, but overflowing, in consequence\nof the irregular rebuilding of the city, they threw a damp upon the\ninhabitants. The free population was growing daily less, while the\nnumber of patricians continued the same, and there seemed reason to fear\nthat Rome would soon become one of those most inconvenient of\noligarchies, in which there are many to govern and comparatively few to\nbe governed. The \"eternal city\" was in danger of being prematurely cut\noff by an early decline, for its constitution was not yet matured; and\nthough it had once been saved by mere quackery,[25] it was now to be\npreserved by a bolder and wiser regimen.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[24] These geese were sacred to Juno, who was the goddess of marriage;\nbut we cannot say whether the goose became identified with her on that\naccount.\n\n[25] See _ante_, the anecdote of the Sacred Geese.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TENTH.\n\nFROM THE TRIBUNESHIP OF C. LICINIUS TO THE DEFEAT OF THE GAULS BY\nVALERIUS.\n\n[Illustration: Roman Soldier.]\n\n\nRome was now overwhelmed with debt, and fresh taxes were imposed to\nrebuild the wall of stone; but it would have been as easy to have got\nblood out of the stones themselves, as money from the pockets of the\npeople. The more they went on not paying, the more were they called upon\nto pay; and ruin appeared inevitable, until it occurred to the great\nfinancial reformers of the day that there can be no permanent balance to\nthe credit of a state without a due adjustment of the balance of power.\nHappily for the interests of humanity, there is scarcely ever a crisis\nrequiring a hero, but there is a hero for the crisis,--no situation\ndemanding a man, without a man for the situation; and though there may\nbe on hand a formidable list of those who perpetually \"Want places,\" we\nhave the consolation of feeling that when there is a vacant place to be\nfilled up, there is no lack of the material required to fill it.\n\nThe man for the situation in which Rome then happened to be, was a\ncertain C. Licinius, who had married the younger daughter of the\npatrician, M. Fabius. The lady was considered to have wed below her\nstation, and the Roman noses of her relatives were converted into snubs,\nby the habit of turning up for the purpose of snubbing her. Being on a\nvisit with her sister, who was the wife of Servius Sulpicius, the\nConsular Tribune, she was one day alarmed by such a knocking at the door\nas she had never yet heard, and on inquiring the cause, she found that\nthe lictors of old, like the modern footmen, were in the habit of\nestimating, by the number of raps he was worth, the dignity of their\nmaster. The elder Fabia, perceiving her sister's surprise, took the\nopportunity of administering a rap on the knuckles, through the medium\nof the knocker, and observed, that if the latter had not married a low\nplebeian, she would have been accustomed to hearing her own husband\nknock as loud, instead of being obliged to knock under.\n\nThe vanity of Fabia had received a blow which had deprived her of sense;\nand the effect of the knocking at the door had been so stunning, that\nshe could scarcely call her head her own. She was resolved that her\nhusband should make as much noise in the world as her brother-in-law,--\nthat he should gain an important post, and win the privilege of knocking\nas violently as he chose at his own threshold.\n\n[Illustration: Miss Fabia, the Younger, astonished at the Patrician's\ndouble-knock.]\n\nThose who would supply a higher motive to the ambition of C. Licinius,\nhave asserted that his wife must have been accustomed to the loud\nknockings at the house of her father, who had once been consul; but\nwhether the young lady heard them, unless she remained at home to answer\nthe door, may be an open question. Whatever may have been the spur used\nto stir up ambition in his breast, we, at all events, know the fact,\nthat C. Licinius was elected a tribune of the people, in conjunction\nwith his friend Lucius Sextius; so that even if the former were roused\nby the knocker, it is not likely that ambition was hammered into the\nlatter by the same ignoble instrument.\n\nHaving obtained their places, they began to bid very high for\npopularity; but, like many other bold bidders in the same market, it was\nby no means at their own expense that they proposed to make their\npurchases. They introduced three new laws: the first, touching other\npeople's money; the second, touching other people's land; and, in\nreference to both these matters, touching and taking were nearly\nsynonymous.\n\nThe first of these laws related to the debts of the plebs, and\nfurnished an easy mode of payment, by providing that all the money paid\nas interest should be considered as principal. By this arrangement, if\nSpurius owed his tailor one hundred asses, and paid him five per cent.,\nby way of interest, the tailor would, in thirty years, not only have had\nhis debt cancelled, without receiving his money, but he would have to\nrefund no less than fifty asses to Spurius.\n\nThis law was sure to obtain for its framers a certain kind of\npopularity; for as those who do not meet their engagements are always a\nnumerous class, it is a safe clap-trap to legislate in favour of the\ninsolvent classes of the community. C. Licinius became at once the idol\nof all those who were continually running into debt one day, and out of\nthe way the next, and whose valour far outstripped the discretion of\nthose who had trusted them.\n\nThe second law related to land, enacting that no one should occupy more\nthan five hundred jugera, or acres, and that if he had a surplus, he\nshould be deprived of it, for the benefit of those who wished to settle\ntheir own liabilities with other people's property. From this\narrangement there was no appeal, for the land was taken away; and if the\nowner wished to complain, he had no ground for it.\n\nThe third law provided for the restoration of the Consuls, and\nstipulated that one should always be a plebeian; but the patricians, who\nwanted everything their own way, just as the plebeians wanted everything\ntheirs, succeeded in putting a veto upon the propositions.\n\nIn the meantime, the people, placed between two parties--one of which\nwas seeking popularity at any price, while the other was endeavouring to\npreserve its exclusive interests at any cost--were for eight years\ndeprived of all benefit from either side; and though the public would\nhave accepted a compromise, Licinius, who knew that when the point was\nsettled his popularity would be on the wane, declared that they should\neither have all or nothing. This policy, which is the same as that of\nprohibiting a starving man from accepting a moderate meal, unless he is\ninvited to a banquet, was well adapted to the purposes of those whose\nhappiness depends upon the dissatisfaction of all around, and to whom\nthe success of all their avowed designs is the consummation of failure.\n\nAs long as the bills continued to be thrown out year after year, C.\nLicinius and Sextius were pretty sure of their annual election to the\ntribuneship. At about the end of the fifth year, the opposition began to\nwane, and it became exceedingly likely that the three bills would pass,\nwhen Licinius kept the popularity market brisk, by proposing a fourth\nmeasure, which was sure to be strenuously objected to. This was a\nproposal to put on eight new hands to the keeping of the Sibylline\nbooks, by increasing from two to ten the number of the librarians. As\nthe books were but three, there would, of course, be no less than three\nbook-keepers and a fraction to each volume,--an arrangement as\nobjectionable as pluralism, though in an opposite direction; for it is\nscarcely worse to give ten offices to one man, than to put ten men into\none office. Excuses were, however, found for the suggestion, on the\nground that as five of the book-keepers were to be plebeians, the skill\nthey would acquire in the interpretation of auguries would qualify a\nlarger number for the consulship; the patricians having maintained that\nat least a smattering of the fortune-telling art was required for the\ndue execution of the office.\n\nRome was now suffering from domestic wounds, when, fortunately, a little\ncounter-irritation was got up, by an attack of the Veliternians on\nTusculum. There is no better cure for a family quarrel, than the sudden\nincursion of a neighbour; and when relatives are breaking each other's\nheads at Number One, a stone thrown from the garden of Number Two will\nfrequently, by the establishment of a single new wound, be the cause of\nhealing half a-dozen. The threatened aggression from without had caused\nthe ten Tribunes to agree to the measures of their colleagues, Licinius\nand Sextius; but the patricians still held out, and appointed the\nveteran Furius Camillus to the dictatorship. The tribes were in the act\nof voting, when Furius ordered them away, with violent menaces; but the\nfury of Furius was impotent from age, and the Tribunes coolly threatened\nhim with a fine of five hundred thousand asses. They had come to the\ncorrect conclusion that he could not get together so many asses without\nselling himself up; he thought it better to abdicate, and P. Manlius was\nchosen to stop the fermentation that the sour old man had created.\n\nThe bills were now all passed; and L. Sextius had been appointed\nplebeian consul, when the patricians, refusing to sanction what they\ncould not prevent, declined to ratify the election. As the avalanche\ndoes not wait for the consent of the object it is about to sweep away,\nso the will of the public overcame the feeble opposition of the\npatricians. The latter, however, succeeded in taking a large portion of\npower from the consuls, and giving it to a new magistrate, called a\nPr\u00e6tor, who was invested with authority that some historians have\ndescribed as almost preternatural. He was chosen from the patricians,\nand was, in fact, a sort of third consul, whose duty it was _Jus in urbe\ndicere_,[26] to lay down the law--a privilege that, if improperly\nexercised, might include the prostration of justice--in the city. The\npatricians thus kept to themselves the power of interpreting the law;\nand as ambiguity seems inherent in the very nature of law, almost any\nlatitude was left to those who were at liberty to declare its meaning.\nThe power of the patricians was further augmented by the appointment of\ntwo curule or aristocratic \u00c6diles, in addition to the two chosen from\nthe plebeians; and though their duties related chiefly to the mending of\nthe roads, they had opportunities of paving the way for many\nencroachments on the part of their own order.\n\nThe struggle between the patrician and the plebeian parties was severe,\nand each endeavoured to represent itself as the only real friend of the\npeople. Among other acts, in the interest of the masses, was a measure\nintroduced by C. Poetelius, consisting of a _lex de ambit\u00fb_, an election\nlaw, relating to the getting round, or circumventing, of the electors by\nthe candidates. It will astonish those acquainted with election\npractices to be told, that the word \"candidate\" is derived from\n_candidus_, in allusion to the white robe usually worn as an emblem of\npurity by the seeker of popular suffrages. The white robe, however, was\nnotoriously, in many cases, a white lie, and the law _de ambit\u00fb_ was\npassed to prohibit canvassing on market-days, when many more things were\npurchased than the articles ostensibly sold; and the butcher has been\nknown to include in the price of a calf's head, the value he placed upon\nhis own judgment.\n\nThe cause of reform made slow but inevitable progress, though it was\noccasionally discredited by some of those incidents which still cause us\nto look well to our pockets in the presence of the professional lover of\nliberty. C. Licinius, the framer of the law against occupying more than\na certain quantity of the public land, was, it is said, the first to pay\nthe fine, for holding a double allowance, comprising five hundred jugera\nin his own name, and five hundred in that of his son; a piece of\nduplicity which was detected and duly punished. Other instances of\nprivate peculation were discovered among those most clamorous for the\npublic good; and it became necessary in those days, as in our own, to\nlook among the loudest talkers for the smallest doers, and the greatest\ndoos of the community.\n\nThe law of debt had been rendered somewhat less severe; but the\nimpossibility of permanently helping those who could not help themselves\nwas strikingly exemplified. The rate of interest had been reduced; and\nadvances were to be made by the State to those who could give security;\nbut those who could give none were to have no assistance whatever. To\nthose who could pay no interest at all, it mattered little whether the\ninterest was moderate or high; and an extension of time for discharging\na debt, in the case of a man who could pay nothing, was only like\nlengthening the rope with which he was to hang himself.\n\nIn the year of the City 390, a plague broke out in Rome, and the\ncalamity, which swallowed up thousands, being ascribed to the gods,\nrepasts were prepared for them, under the title of _lectisternia_, in\norder to draw off their appetites from the people. The richest luxuries\nwere laid out upon tables, to which the gods were invited; but these\ntables caused no diminution in the tables of mortality. As the guests\ndid not accept in person the invitations addressed to them, they were\nrepresented by images; but this imaginary attendance at a real feast fed\nnothing but the superstition of the people. A statue of Jupiter was\nlaid, at full length, upon a couch of ivory, covered with the softest\ncushions; but it was found impossible to produce the sort of impression\nthat was so earnestly desired. Chairs were also set round for the\ngoddesses, but none came forward to take the chair at this unfortunate\nbanquet. An effort was then made to divert the attention of the gods, by\ngetting up stage plays, or histriones:[27] but the gods did not\npatronise the drama in those days, more than in our own; and whether the\nOlympian dinner-hour interfered, or whether no interest was felt in an\nentertainment translated from Etruria, as the English drama is from\nFrance, the result was the same in both cases, for the plays, during\ntheir short-lived career, were dead failures. To add to the misery of\nthe whole affair, while the stage performances were unattended, there\nwas an inconvenient \"succession of overflows\" of the Tiber's banks,\nwhich damped the spirits and deluged the houses of the inhabitants.\n\nSeizing hold of every piece of superstition, instead of taking the\npestilence fairly in hand, the Romans, hearing that a plague had once\nbeen stopped by knocking a nail into the wall of a temple, resolved on\ngoing on that absurd tack; and, for this purpose, a hammer was put by\nthe ninny-hammers into the hands of Manlius. As the pestilence had by\nthis time begun to wear itself out, the people were foolish enough to\nsuppose that the plague had been driven in with the nail; and Manlius\nhaving fulfilled the task, which any carpenter might have performed,\nresigned the dictatorship.\n\nIt is always the fate of a real or supposed benefactor of the public to\nhave plenty of private foes; and, indeed, an elevated position is\nusually an inviting mark for the arrows of malevolence. Manlius became a\ntarget forthwith; and, had the very bull's eye been aimed at, the apple\nof his eye could not have been more effectually hit, than by a wound\nsought to be inflicted on him, through his son Titus. The youth had, it\nseems, an unfortunate hesitation in his speech, which irritated his\nhasty parent; and as the boy could scarcely stammer out a word, a few\nwords with his father became a very frequent consequence. As he laboured\nso much in his speech, the unhappy lad was sent to labour with his hands\namong the slaves; and Pomponius, the plebeian tribune, having a spite\nagainst the father, began to regard the son with the most enlarged\nbenevolence.\n\nPomponius, by way of prosecuting his vindictive plans, resolved on\nprosecuting Manlius, for cruelty to his son; but the boy, in a powerful\nfit of filial piety, though he had a considerable hesitation in his own\ndelivery, had no hesitation whatever about the delivery of his father\nfrom the hands of his enemies. Proceeding to the house of Pomponius,\nunder the cloak of friendship, and with a dagger under his cloak, he\ndesired to speak with the Tribune, who was still in bed, and not being\nup to the designs of Titus, ordered his admission to the chamber. The\nyoung man had been received in a spirit of friendly confidence by\nPomponius, who only discovered that young Manlius was at daggers-drawn,\nwhen he was seen to brandish a glittering weapon. He demanded an\nunconditional withdrawal of the charge against his father; when the\nterrified Tribune, finding it impossible to bolster up his courage,\nmuttered a promise to stay all proceedings; and Titus, who had formerly\nirritated his father by stammering, was received with open arms, for\nhaving spoken out so boldly in his favour.\n\n[Illustration: Titus threatening Pomponius.]\n\nNo sooner were the divisions of the people healed, than the city itself\nbegan to be torn to pieces in a most extraordinary manner. Rome was\nconvulsed to its centre: the earth began to quake, and the citizens to\ntremble. A tremendous chasm appeared at length in the Forum; and as the\nabyss yawned more and more, it was thought unsafe for the people to go\nto sleep over it. Some thought it was a freak of Nature, who, as if in\nenjoyment of the cruel sport she occasioned, had gone into convulsions,\nand split her sides. Others formed different conjectures; but the chasm\nstill remained,--a formidable open question. Some of the people tried to\nfill it up with dry rubbish, but they only filled up their own time,\nwithout producing the least effect upon the cavity. In vain did the\nlargest contractors undertake the job, for it was impossible to contract\nthe aperture, that, instead of being small by degrees and beautifully\nless, grew every day large by fits and starts, and horribly greater.\n\nAt length the augurs were consulted, who, taking a view of the hole,\nannounced their conviction that the perforation of the earth would\ncontinue, and that, in fact, it would become in time a frightful bore,\nif the most precious thing in Rome were not speedily thrown into it.\nUpon this, a young guardsman, named Marcus Curtius, fancying there could\nbe nothing more precious than his precious self, arrayed himself in a\nfull suit of armour, and went forth, fully determined to show his metal.\nNotice was given that at an appointed time a rapid act of horsemanship\nwould be performed by M. Curtius; and as there is always great\nattraction in a feat which puts life in jeopardy, the attendance, at a\nperformance where death for the man and the courser was a matter of\ncourse, was what we should call numerous and respectable. All the rank\nand fashion of Rome occupied the front seats, at a spectacle throwing\nevery thing else into the shade, and the performer himself into the very\ncentre of the earth, which was to prove to him a centre of so much\ngravity. Having cantered once or twice round the ring, he prepared for\nthe bold plunge; but his horse having looked before he leaped, began to\nplunge in a different direction. Taking another circuit, M. Curtius,\nspurred on by ambition, put his spurs into the animal's side, and the\npoor brute was hurried into the abyss, though, had there been any way of\nbacking out, he would have eagerly jumped at it. The equestrian\nperformance was no sooner over, than the theatre of the exploit was\nimmediately closed, and a lake arose on the spot, as if to mark the\nscene as one that might command a continued overflow. The place got the\nname of the Lacus Curtius, in honour of the hero, if such he may be\ncalled; and his fate certainly involved the sacrifice of one of the most\nprecious articles in Rome, for it would have been impossible to find in\nthe whole city such a precious simpleton.\n\nRome continued at war with the Gauls, who made frequent inroads; and on\none occasion, during the dictatorship of T. Quinctius Pennus, came\nwithin a short distance from the city. The two armies were divided by\nthe Anio, when the Gauls, who had a giant in their van, sent him on to\nthe bridge, with an offer to fight any one of the enemy. The Gaul being\nat least twenty stone, was far above the ordinary pitch; but Titus\nManlius, a tight-built light-weight--the plebeian pet, who had already\nproved himself too much for the Tribune, Pomponius--came forward to\naccept the polite offer of the giant. The fight was one of extreme\ninterest, and both parties came up to the encounter with surly\nconfidence. The plebeian pet wore a suit of plain bronze; but the giant\nwas painted in various colours, presenting a formidable picture. The\ngiant aimed the first blow with his right, but the young one having got\naway cleverly, commenced jobbing his opponent with such effect, that the\nlatter, finding it a bad job, fell heavily. The giant was unable to\ncontinue the contest, and young Manlius, taking the collar, or torques,\nfrom his victim's neck, got the title of Torquatus, which, from its\nconnection with his neckcloth, descended to his domestic ties, and\nbecame a stock name in his family.\n\n[Illustration: _The Gallant Curtius leaping into the gulf._]\n\n[Illustration: Terrific Combat between Titus Manlius and a Gaul of\ngigantic stature.]\n\nThe Gauls retreated for a while, but having subsequently joined the\nVolscii, they got into the Pontine Marshes, and resolved to go through\nthick and thin for the purpose of attacking the Romans. Again a giant\nappeared in the Gallic ranks, where, it would seem, a giant was always\nto be found,--an appendage indicating less of the brave than of the fair\nin the composition of the Gallic army. Again a young Roman was ready to\nmeet an opponent twice his size; and Marcus Valerius declared that if\nthe giant meant fighting, he, Marcus Valerius, was to be heard of at a\nplace agreed upon. The terms were concluded, and the giant came up,\nwith the appearance of contemplating mischief, when a crow, settling on\nthe Gaul's helmet, by way of crest, soon enabled the Roman to crow over\nhis crest-fallen antagonist. The bird, flapping his wings whenever the\ngiant attempted to hit out, put so many feathers in his face as to\nrender his position ticklish; and as he could not see with a bundle of\ncrow-quills in his eye, his look-out became rather desperate. Valerius,\nin the mean time, laid about him with such vigour and effect, that the\ngiant, who was doubly blinded with rage and feathers, knew not where to\nhave him. The contest soon terminated in favour of the Roman youth, who\ntook the name of Corvus, or the Crow, from the cause already mentioned.\nThe Gauls were vanquished, and Valerius was awarded no less than ten\nprize oxen; so that he obtained in solid beef, rather than in empty\npraise, an acknowledgment of his services. At his triumph, 4000\nVolscians were drawn up on each side of him in chains; but there is\nsomething in the idea of his passing through this Fetter Lane which is\nrepugnant to our more civilised notions of true glory.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[26] Livy, vi., 42.\n\n[27] The word \"Histriones\" is said to be derived from the Etruscan\n_hister_, a dancer. The earliest performers introduced into Rome were\ndancers--in fact, a ballet company--from Etruria. Those sensitive\nadmirers of the purely classical in the entertainments of the stage, who\nclamour against opera and ballet, will, perhaps, be surprised to learn\nthat the most truly classical performances are those which they most\nenergetically protest against.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.\n\nFROM THE FIRST WAR AGAINST THE SAMNITES TO THE PASSING OF THE LAWS OF\nPUBLILIUS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nThe Romans were now about to encounter a truly formidable foe, in the\nSamnites,--a warlike people, who had been extending their territory, by\ngoing to great lengths, and allowing themselves extraordinary latitude.\nComing down upon Campania, they overlooked Capua, or rather they did not\noverlook it; for, having an eye to its wealth, they resolved to do their\nutmost to become possessed of it. Under these circumstances, the\nCampanians, being unable to find the means of a successful campaign,\napplied to Rome for assistance.\n\nTwo consular armies were equipped; one under M. Valerius Corvus, or the\nCrow, who was really ravenous for glory, and the other under A.\nCornelius Cossus; this A. Cossus being in fact THE Cossus already spoken\nof.[28]\n\nCorvus was an enormous favourite with the soldiers; less, however, on\nthe strength of his moral qualities, than on the strength of his arms\nand legs; for he was an athlete of remarkable power. He could leap so\nhigh as to be able to jump over the heads of others of his own standing;\nand the rapidity of his promotion is therefore not astonishing. He was\nno less light with his tongue than with his legs; for he could run on\nalmost as pleasantly with the former as he could with the latter. He\nwas, in fact, an agreeable rattle, who could make and take a joke with\nequal ease,--a quality common in more modern times; for those who\nprofess to make jokes of their own are very much in the habit of taking\nthose of other people. He loved a glass of wine, and could drink it\nwithout professing his connoisseurship, after the manner of those\nlearned wine-bibbers of the present day who are addicted to talking so\nmuch unmeaning buzz on the subject of bees-wing. His relish for the\ngrape allured him to Mount Gaurus, then clad with vines, where he could\ntake his observations among the raisins, and make in his mind's eye a\nsort of _catalogue raisonn\u00e9e_ of the enemy.\n\nOn this spot a battle ensued, which was fought with such fierceness on\nthe side of the Romans, that the Samnites afterwards declared they had\nseen fire in their opponents' eyes; but the Samnites must have been\nlight-headed themselves, to have made so absurd a statement. Valerius\nhaving been thus far successful, advanced into the Apennines, where,\nwhat are called the mountain fastnesses, are rendered dangerous by those\noccasional loosenesses of the earth that give rise to, or cause the fall\nof, an avalanche. Though nothing of this sort fell upon him, he was\nexpecting the descent of the foe, which suddenly appeared on the topmost\nheights, and came down with such a run, that the escape of the Romans\nseemed impossible. In this difficult dilemma, a subordinate officer\nproved to be the safeguard of the whole Roman army; and as the noble\nlion, when netted to the profit of a bold hunter, was delivered by a\nmouse, so was the noble-hearted Valerius indebted to P. Decius Mus for\nthe safety of himself and his followers. P. Decius laid, in fact, a\nsnare for the Samnites, who were caught in this trap of Mus, or military\nmouse-trap. He climbed, with a little band, a height so narrow, that\nlarge numbers could not reach it to dislodge him, though it was\nnecessary to keep an eye upon him; and, while the Mus attracted the\ncat-like vigilance of the whole Samnite army, Valerius and his followers\nwere allowed to steal away unperceived to their own quarters.\n\nWhen the enemy, tired with watching, had fallen asleep, Mus crept out,\nas quietly as his name would imply, and reached his camp in safety. He\nreceived immediately from the Consul an ox, with gilded horns, through\nwhich he might trumpet his fame; and the soldiers presented him with a\n_corona obsidionalis_--a crown made of blades of grass--in commemoration\nof their having been gallantly rescued from the blades of the enemy. The\nmaterials for a crown of this description were plucked on the spot, in\nmemory of the pluck shown on the spot by the gallant recipient. Such a\ncrown conveyed a finer lesson of morality than anything that the cold\nbrilliance of gold or jewels could suggest; for the wreath of grass,\nconverted, by the very sunshine in which it basked, into the dry and\nlifeless hayband, told, in a few hours, the perishable nature of glory.\n\nAided by the man\u0153uvre of the Mus, the success of Valerius was complete:\nthe Samnites fled in such consternation that they left behind them\n40,000 shields and 170 standards; so that the Romans must have found the\nway literally paved with the flags of the vanquished. A triumph was\ndecreed to both the Consuls, and foreign nations sent to congratulate\nthe Romans on their success; the Carthaginians forwarding a crown of\ngold, twenty-five pounds in weight, the mere cartage of which from\nCarthage must have been costly and difficult. Compliments poured in upon\nthe conquerors from every side; for good fortune increases the number of\naddresses to a state, just as the success of an individual causes a\nsensible, or rather a senseless, addition to the contents of his\ncard-basket. Rome was inundated with calls upon her--many of which were\nfor assistance from feeble countries, whose weak states seemed to be\nthreatened with speedy dissolution.\n\n[Illustration: A Scare-crow.]\n\nIt was about this time (B.C. 342) that the garrison at Capua broke out\ninto revolt, arising, it is said, from the fact that Capua was extremely\nrich, and the soldiers very poor; that the latter were hopeless debtors,\nand forgot what they owed their country in the vast sums they owed to\ntheir creditors. The story goes on to say, that a corps of heavy\ninsolvents first originated the idea of sacking the city and bagging its\nwealth, by placing it among their own baggage. The Consul, C. Martius\nRutilius, was sent to take the command, and he attempted the soothing\nsystem; but the soldiers were goaded with the fetters of debt, and\nrefused to be smoothed over, or to submit to remain under irons. Being\nin want of a leader, they seized on T. Quinctius, an aged veteran, whose\nhead was so completely bowed down, that he could not do otherwise than\nbow when asked if he would lead them as their general. The nod of palsy\nwas interpreted into the nod of assent, and T. Quinctius was selected to\noppose Corvus, or the Crow, though the only chance for the veteran was,\nthat in the capacity of a scare-crow he might succeed in frightening his\nantagonist. The armies at length met, when the insurgents, led by a\nshivering veteran, began to follow their leader, and to shake with fear,\nwhich induced Valerius to offer them terms, and the quaking Quinctius\nwas the first to recommend his troops to accept an amnesty. Thus ended\nan insurrection, of which the motive appears vague, and the management\nthoroughly contemptible. The best opinion of its origin seems to be,\nthat the army abounded in debtors, who were afraid to go home, and who\npreferred the chances of a mutiny to the certainty of having to meet\ntheir creditors. The only concession they asked was the cancelling of\nall their debts; a proposition that savours rather of the swindler than\nthe patriot. It is, however, an almost universal fact, that the\ninsolvent classes of a community are to be found in opposition to the\nconstituted authorities; and, indeed, the strength or weakness of such\nan opposition is no bad test, after all, of the merits of an\nadministration; for if the majority of the people are well-to-do, the\ninference must be favourable to the government.\n\nPeace was concluded with the Samnites, but Rome was now on the brink of\na war with the Latins, who sent ambassadors, proposing that the two\npeople should henceforth be considered as one, in order to establish\ntheir unity. The Senate was to be half Latin and half Roman; but the\nlatter declared they would not recognise this sort of half and half in\nany of their measures. The Consul, T. Manlius, when he heard the terms,\nwent off into a series of clap-traps, in which he knew he was perfectly\nsafe; for the contingency in which he might have been called upon to\nkeep his word, was not at all likely to happen. He exclaimed, that if\nthe Senate should be half Latin, he would enter the assembly with his\ndrawn sword, and cause vacancies in half the seats of the house by\nslaying all the Latin occupants. This species of paulo-post-future\npatriotism is equally common and convenient, for it pledges the\nprofessor to do nothing until after the doing of something else, which,\nin all probability, may never happen. T. Manlius was not put to the\ntest, though he certainly proved himself, in some respects, ready for\nthe Latins, had they come on in earnest; for poor Annius, their\nspokesman, having tumbled down stairs from top to bottom, the consul\nbrutally chuckled over the weak legs of the unhappy legate. \"Ha! ha!\"\nroared Manlius, with savage mirth, \"thus will I prostrate all the\nLatins;\" and he proceeded to kick at the ambassador, who, being a man of\nseveral stone, was completely stunned by his too facile descent from the\nupper landing to the basement of the Temple of Jupiter.\n\n[Illustration: Metius aggravating Titus Manlius.]\n\nThe two Consuls went forth to fight, and both commenced their campaign\nby going to sleep, which led naturally to the inquiry, what they could\nboth have been dreaming about. So thoroughly sympathetic were they in\ntheir drowsiness, that they had dreamed precisely the same dream, in\nwhich each had seen a ghost, who had addressed both in the same spirit.\nThe spectre, who was decidedly on the shady side of existence, professed\nthrough his lantern jaws to throw a light upon Rome's future destiny. He\ntold the Consuls that the general on one side was doomed; but, as this\nwas merely dealing with generalities, he went on to add, that the whole\narmy on one side was to be buried in the earth; a suggestion neither\nside would be very anxious to fall in with. The spectre, who was rather\nmore communicative than spectres usually are, and who was not so\nmonosyllabic as a fair average ghost, proceeded to further explanations,\nin the course of which he remarked, that \"the general who first devoted\nhimself to the infernal gods, would, by that act of devotion, consign\nthe whole of the opposing army to\" a most unpleasant neighbourhood. Both\nagreed that the one whose army was the first to back out, should be the\nfirst to rush into danger. The hostile armies accordingly began to\nrecede as far as they could, and the only contest was to ascertain who\ncould be the cleverest and quickest in walking in one direction, whilst\nlooking in another. It was an understood thing that nobody was to fight\nunless first attacked, and the general aim was to avoid aiming at\nanything. Foraging parties went out daily to try and provoke each other\nto an onslaught, and the prevailing sentiment on both sides was a hope,\nthat \"somebody would only just do so and so.\" Titus Manlius, the son of\nTorquatus, approached the Latin camp, when Metius, of Tusculum,\nattempted by all sorts of provoking signals to induce the raw youth to\ncommence a combat; but the boy for some time combated nothing but his\nown inclination, which would have set him on to an onset. At length he\nbecame so irritated that he could restrain himself no longer, but\nhurling his javelin with all his might, it stuck in the mane of the\nhorse of Metius. The poor brute, looking for sympathy to his master,\nfell back upon him for protection; but this act of affectionate\nconfidence was fatal to Metius, who, being brought to the ground, was\nsaddled with the whole weight of the unfortunate quadruped. Titus,\ntaking advantage of the position of Metius, stabbed him with his sword,\nand the latter, feeling himself pierced, could only set up a piercing\ncry, by way of retaliation upon his antagonist. Having stripped off the\narmour of his victim, young Titus bore it in triumph to his father,\nTorquatus Manlius, who proceeded to imitate Brutus; but, like most\nimitations, the appearance of T. Manlius in the part of the \"heavy\nfather\" was by no means successful.\n\nCollecting the troops by the sound of trumpet, so that the audience\nmight be sufficiently large, he threw himself into an imposing attitude;\nbut the imposition was seen through, and the reception he met with was\nfar from flattering. He next called forward his son, and denouncing him\nas an officer who had disobeyed his governor in a double sense--his\nfather and his consul--the lictors were ordered to proceed, by the\nexecution of the son, to the execution of their duty. Manlius, having\nwitnessed the ceremony, buried his face in his toga, expecting at least\nthree rounds of applause; but the performance fell as dead as his\nunhappy offspring. On his return to Rome he was universally cut by the\nyoung men, who were peculiarly alive to a penalty that might be the\ndeath of any one of them. The remains of young Manlius were collected\ninto a dreary pile, and the trophies he had illegally won were added as\nthe materials for a bonfire. His obsequies were the first of the same\nkind among the Romans that we have been able to meet with, after a truly\nindustrious analysis of every hole in which the dust of ages might be\nfound, and a careful sifting of the ashes of antiquity.\n\nThe two armies were still standing, when Decius Mus, who was most\nanxious to distinguish himself, and was watching intently to discover\nwhich way the cat would jump, observed a backward movement among his\nspearmen. His opportunity for glory had now arrived, and the gallant\nMus, rushing recklessly to the scratch, behaved himself less like a mus\nthan a lion in the conflict. He fell under a perfect shower of javelins,\nand lay on the field literally _piqu\u00e9_ with the pikes of his enemies.\nThe latter were dismayed, and his own friends animated by what had taken\nplace; but the rule of contraries must here have prevailed, for the\ndeath of an adverse general should not have disheartened the Latins,\nwhile the sacrifice of their own chief was, if looked at in a proper\nlight, but poor encouragement for the Romans. They, however, grew bold;\nbut it was scarcely necessary for them to strike a blow, as the Latins\nyielded under the stroke of a panic. They fell in such numbers, that\nthree parts are said to have perished, and only a fourth of the army\nremained to tell of the little quarter allowed them by the enemy.\n\nThe Latins suffered so severely from the victory of Decius Mus, that\nlike rats running from a tottering house, their allies, one by one, fell\naway from them. Numisius, the Latin commander, did his utmost to stir up\nthe spirit of the nation; but the spirit was so thoroughly weakened by\ncold water, that it was the act of a spoon to endeavour to agitate so\nfeeble a compound. He succeeded in raising a slight fermentation, but\nwhat little spirit remained, went off by speedy evaporation in the\nprocess of warming up, under the influence of patriotic fire. A small\nand disorderly band, which could not act in concert, was brought into\nplay, but produced no effect, though it was conducted by Numisius with\nconsiderable energy. The Romans succeeded on every side, the Latin army\nwas broken down, the confederacy broken up, and one town after another\nshowed a preference for the better part of valour by surrendering at\ndiscretion. The land taken from the conquered was distributed among the\nRoman people; but the word \"people\" has frequently a very contracted\nmeaning when profits are being shared, though the term is comprehensive\nenough to take in a whole nation when the services of the \"people\" are\nrequired. It is to be feared the people who went out for the fight were\nfar more numerous than those who came in for the spoil that had been got\nby it.\n\nThe beaten Latins had the additional mortification of having to pay\ntheir successful assailants; an arrangement as provoking as it would be\nto the victim of an assault to be obliged to discharge the amount of the\npenalty, in addition to suffering the inconvenience of the outrage. Thus\nwas Capua compelled to pension 1600 Campanian knights; and this pension\nthe Capuans had to give to the knights, simply because the knights had,\nin a different sense, given it--severely--to the Capuans. It is doubtful\nwhether the Samnites took anything by the general adjustment--if that\ncan be called an adjustment in which justice had little share; but that\nthey left much behind them is quite notorious.\n\nAmong their equipments for battle had been several gorgeous gold and\nsilver-mounted shields, in the shape of a boy's kite, and as the\nSamnites ultimately protected themselves by flying, the kite-like form\nof their shields was thoroughly appropriate. Their breasts were covered\nwith sponge, which gave them a soft-hearted air; and the sinking of\ntheir bosoms under nearly every blow, was clearly perceptible. They wore\na shirt of mail, composed of brazen scales, and the display of so much\nmetal in their shirts enabled them to present at times a bold front to\nthe enemy. They had greaves upon their legs, which were a grievous\nimpediment to their running away; and their helmets, adorned with lofty\nplumes, only served to render more conspicuous in defeat their\ncrest-fallen condition. They wore tunics or coats of cotton next their\nskin, and put on their shirts outside; but between these, was a short\ngarment of wool: so that the only idea we can give of the mode of making\na Samnite _toilette_ is by asking the reader to begin by putting on his\ncoat; to place over that his flannel waistcoat, and to add his shirt by\nway of finish.\n\nAmong the other spoils of the war with the Latins, were the ships taken\nfrom the port of Antium; but the Romans, who were not a nautical people,\nhad so little idea of the value of a fleet, that they carried the beaks\nor prows of the vessels to Rome, and fixed them in the Forum, as pulpits\nfor their orators.[29] How the ships could have kept above water when\nsubjected to mutilation, it is difficult to conceive; and indeed it\nwould appear probable that having been deprived of their heads, they\nmust have gone down, as a matter of stern necessity. We must, however,\ndo the Roman people the justice to add, that two officers had been\nappointed to the superintendence of naval affairs; and some will declare\nthey see in the mere existence of an Admiralty Board sufficient to\naccount for much extravagance, and all sorts of blundering. Rome had\nhitherto been in the condition of a house divided against itself, or\nrather of the adjoining houses pulling against each other, and every\nwidening of the breach must of course have been attended with danger to\nboth of them. The cessation of war with the Latins enabled Rome to draw\ncloser the neighbouring social fabric, and many of its inhabitants were\ninvited to join, and make themselves part of the family of the Romans.\nThe latter also began to see the impolicy of keeping up certain\ndistinctions between class and class, which have the same effect upon a\nnation, as the bitter feuds between separate floors are likely to\nproduce upon the happiness and comfort of a lodging-house. When an\nupstart one-pair-front sneers at its own back, or looks down upon an\nabased basement; when a crushed and crouching kitchen, waiting in vain\nfor its turn at the only copper, revenges itself by cutting the only\nclothes-line--if the line is drawn only for the good of those in a\nhigher station, instead of its being a line drawn, as every line should\nbe, for the good of all;--when a household is in such a state, we may\nsee in it the type of a badly ordered community. Such had been long the\nunhappy lot of Rome, until it began to strike on the minds of a few\ninfluential men, that no nation can be really great while the mass of\nits people are in a state of abject littleness. The majority of the\npatricians fortunately took an equally sensible view of their case, and\narrived at the wise conclusion, that moderate privileges fairly held,\nand freely conceded, are preferable to any amount of exclusive\nadvantage, improperly assumed on the one hand, and impatiently submitted\nto on the other. Happily for the patricians, they had among them a man\nbold enough to incorporate in a law the opinions of the main part of his\nown order, and strong enough to prevail over the weakness and prejudice\nof the meaner members of the body.\n\nThe name of this patrician reformer was Q. Publilius Philo, who\nintroduced three laws calculated to extend the basis of political\npower. By the first, the _curi\u00e6_, consisting of patricians only, were\ncompelled to confirm the laws passed by the centuries in which the two\norders were mixed; by the second, the _plebiscita_, or decrees of the\nplebs, were to be binding on all Roman citizens; and the third provided,\nthat there should always be one plebeian censor. These laws, though,\nperhaps, well adapted to the wants of the age, were not exactly such as\nwe should hail with enthusiasm if they were to be brought forward in our\nown day by the head of a government. Depriving the curi\u00e6 of a veto was a\nmeasure equivalent to a proposition that the measures of the House of\nCommons should not require the concurrence of the House of Lords; and\ngiving the force of law to a _plebiscitum_ was much the same thing as\ndetermining that every resolution of every public meeting should at once\nbe embodied in the statute-book. Such an arrangement in the present day\nwould render our laws a curiosity of legislative mosaic work, laid down\nwithout the advantage of uniformity or design. If the interpretation of\nan act of Parliament is sometimes difficult, we may conceive the utter\nhopelessness of the effort to understand the laws, if they were to\nconsist of a body of resolutions pouring in constantly from Exeter Hall,\nor Freemasons' Tavern, and, occasionally, from a lamp-post in Trafalgar\nSquare, or a cart on Kennington Common.\n\nWith every due respect for the _plebiscita_--or resolutions of public\nmeetings--we doubt whether any party would be desirous of accepting them\nas a substitute for our present method of law-making. The only chance of\nsafety would be in the fact, that the _plebiscitum_ of to-morrow would\nbe sure to repeal the _plebiscitum_ of to-day, and the best security for\nthe state would consist in keeping a public meeting always assembled to\nnegative every new proposition.\n\nIt was many years, however, before Rome, though it had suffered so much\nfrom patrician insolence, was prepared to go to the length of allowing a\n_plebiscitum_ the force of law without being subject to the veto of the\nsenate.[30] Aristocratic pretension had, however, been carried to such\nan extent in Rome, that we could hardly be surprised at any amount of\ndemocratic license; for extremes are sure to meet, and it is\nunfortunate, indeed, for a country that is reduced to such extremities.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[28] _Vide_ page 87.\n\n[29] From this circumstance, the word Rostrum, which means the prow of a\nship, has been derived, and has got into such universal use as to\ndescribe the box from which an auctioneer launches his eloquence.\n\n[30] The Hortensian Law, carried some years later by Q. Hortensius.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWELFTH.\n\nFROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND TO THE END OF THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR.\n\n\nRome had entered into an alliance with the Samnites; but the latter\nbecame rather suspicious, when they found the former making friends with\nall their enemies. Every one who aimed a blow at Samnium was forthwith\ntaken into the favour of Rome; and as Samnium was being attacked on\nevery side, the new connexions of Rome became very numerous. Alexander\nof Epirus, who had come over as a friend to the Tarentines, thought he\nmight vary the object of his visit by becoming the foe to somebody else;\nand he accordingly pitched upon the Samnites, who might fairly have\ntraced the Roman hand in some of the hostile demonstrations that were\nmade against them. There being some inconvenience in fighting through a\nthird party, to say nothing of the unsatisfactory nature of such an\narrangement to the go-between, the Romans and the Samnites soon came\ninto direct collision.\n\nOne of the Consuls, D. J. Brutus, was sent with troops to Apulia; but\nthe other Consul, L. Furius Camillus, was in such wretched health, that\nhe could scarcely hold up his own head, and was quite unfit for the head\nof an army. L. Papirius Cursor, the dictator, undertook the command\nhimself; but on his way to Samnium he was suddenly recalled to Rome, in\nconsequence of some blunder with the auspices. Leaving behind him Q.\nFabius, his master of the horse, he desired that officer to do nothing;\nfor L. P. Cursor having taken a cursory view of the state of affairs,\nsaw there was a victory to be gained, and wished to reserve to himself\nthe glory of gaining it. Q. Fabius, with a natural reluctance to be\nshelved, determined to do the work himself; and by the time his chief\nreturned, had won a brilliant victory. The rage of the principal knew no\nbounds, when he discovered that everything had been accomplished in his\nabsence; for though there might have been no objection to the\nsubordinate's actually doing all that was to be done, there was an\nunpardonable violation of official etiquette in its having been got\nthrough when the chief was away, and when it was, therefore, notorious\nthat he could have had no hand in it. The dictator was so indignant,\nthat he would have visited his deputy with all the severity of military\nlaw, for having dared to show a capacity to command, when his capacity\nwas, in fact, subordinate. It was looked upon by official men as an act\nlikely to spoil the official market, by showing that the most\nhighly-paid services are not always the best; and it was felt, also,\nthat the chief had been ousted of his prescriptive title to claim, as\nhis own perquisites, all the tact and talent of his underling.\n\nL. P. Cursor swore vengeance upon the head of Q. Fabius; but the\nsoldiers threatened a revolt in the event of his being punished, and the\nhero who had put a whole army to flight was obliged to take to his heels\nfor having dared to use his head in the absence of his superior.\n\nThe Dictator had rendered himself very unpopular with the troops by his\ninjustice and cruelty to Q. Fabius; but he regained his popularity by\nallowing them to be guilty of all sorts of injustice and cruelty towards\na vanquished enemy. Though their indignation had been raised against\nhim, through the medium of their generous sympathies, he now appealed to\ntheir meanest passions, by promising them the fullest license in\nplundering the foe; and such is the inconsistency of human nature, that\nhe did not appeal in vain; for, urged by avarice, they fought with such\ndetermination as to secure a victory. Pillage became at once the order\nof the day, and a truce was granted for one year, on condition that the\nSamnites, who had been robbed of everything available at the moment,\nshould become responsible for a twelvemonth's pay to the Dictator's\narmy.\n\nThe period of the truce was occupied in negotiation; for it would have\nbeen rather too gross a piece of effrontery on the part of the Romans to\ncontinue attacking the very party from whom they were receiving their\npay: and having waited till the receipt of the last instalment, they\nannounced that the only terms they would accept would be the\nunconditional assent of the Samnites to anything that might be proposed\nto them.\n\nThis result was so excessively disgusting to the Samnites, that some\nactually cried with rage, while others cried for vengeance. A few of the\nmost influential, with tears in their eyes, went to their\nfellow-countrymen literally with a cry; but amidst all this\nbroken-heartedness, there was a general raising of the nation's spirit.\nThe Samnites felt that the time for action had arrived, and C. Pontius\nwas chosen to act as their general. He at once laid siege to Luceria,\nwhen disguising ten of his soldiers as shepherds, he sent them forth\nwith instructions to look as sheepish as they could, and they had also\nfull directions how to act in the event of their being captured. The\nRomans, commanded by T. Veturius and Sp. Postumius, soon fell in with\nthe Samnite masqueraders, whose real character was not suspected; for it\ndoes not appear to have excited any surprise that ten shepherds should\nbe hanging about a neighbourhood in which no sheep were perceptible.\nWith a simplicity more suited to romance than history, the Romans\nsubmitted themselves to the guidance of the ten anonymous shepherds, who\nconducted the whole army into the Caudine forks, as easily as if the\nveterans had connived at their own betrayal. No sooner were they lost\namong the forks, than the soldiers learned what spoons they had been,\nfor they found themselves blocked in by the enemy. They fought with\nconsiderable bravery, but the Samnites, who lined the surrounding\nheights, were completely out of their reach, and the Romans, having made\na few vain efforts to throw up their spears, suddenly threw up the\ncontest. Of every weapon they hurled, the consequence fell upon their\nown heads, and nothing was left but to make the best terms they could\nwith the enemy.\n\nPontius, the Samnite general, was puzzled how to act, and sent to\ninquire of his father what he should do, when the old man replied,\n\"Release them unhurt!\" and the answer not being quite satisfactory,\nanother messenger was sent, who brought back the brief but expressive\nrecommendation to \"cut them all to pieces.\" Pontius, thinking the old\ngentleman had gone out of his mind, sought a personal explanation; but\nthe veteran, who was clearly averse to doing anything by halves, or\nmeeting anybody half-way, persevered in his recommendation to his son,\nto do one thing or the other. The Samnites were struck with admiration\nat the wisdom of the sage; but although all were dumbfounded by the\nprofound philosophy of the advice, nobody thought of taking it. Pontius\nproposed terms, and having been deceived so frequently by the Romans\nbefore, he magnanimously resolved to try and be even with them at last,\nby putting them and his own countrymen on a perfect equality. He\nstipulated for the restoration to the Samnites of all the places taken\nfrom them; but the most painful portion of the arrangement to the Romans\nwas their being called upon to pass under the yoke,--a ceremony which\nwas supposed to lower for ever all who had once stooped to it.\n\nSix hundred equites were held as hostages for the due observance of the\ntreaty, and these knights were, in fact, so many pawns, held in pledge\nfor the honour of the Romans. The Consuls, stripped of every thing but\ntheir shirts, and looking the most deplorable objects, crawled under the\nyoke, followed by the whole army in the same wretched undress as their\nleaders. As they passed through Capua, the inhabitants, touched with\nsympathy, came forth with bundles of left-off wearing apparel, which was\ntendered to the humiliated troops; but their wounds were too deep for\nordinary dressing. They walked silently to their homes, through the back\nstreets of the city. All business was suspended on the day of their\narrival, and though the Romans had seen suffering in almost every\nvariety of guise, they had never met with it under such melancholy Guys\nas those that were then before them. The Consuls resigned their offices\nas rapidly as they could, for their nominal dignity only added to their\nreal disgrace, and they may be supposed to have felt the relief\nexperienced by the broken-spirited cur, whose tail has just undergone\nthe curtailment of the hateful, but glittering kettle.\n\n[Illustration: The Romans clothed by the Inhabitants of Capua.]\n\nRome, smarting under the disgrace of a defeat, brought on by want of\nresolution in the troops, proceeded to incur a still greater disgrace by\na resolution of the Senate. That body having met to consider the\nagreement entered into with the Samnites, determined not to ratify it;\nand, though aware of the fact, that six hundred Roman knights were\ndetained as hostages, in chains, the Senate cared as little for their\nbonds as for the words of the Consuls, which had been passed for the\nfulfilment of the treaty. Spurius Postumius, who had nothing genuine in\nhis conduct, was among the first to propose the violation of the\narrangement he had made, and recommended that he himself, as well as all\nwho had agreed to peace, should be, for the look of the thing,\nsurrendered to the Samnites. He entered so fully into the deception\nabout to be enacted, that when the Lictor was tying the cord loosely, as\nif conscious of the illusory character of the whole proceeding, Spurius\ninsisted upon the cords being drawn sufficiently tight to enable him to\ndeclare to the Samnites that his hands were really tied, and that, if\nthe Senate refused to be bound by his arrangements, he was so thoroughly\nbound by theirs as to be utterly powerless. Carrying the farce still\nfurther, he was no sooner delivered up to the Samnites than he turned\nround upon the Roman Fecial, and exclaiming, \"I am now a Samnite,\"\nadministered to the proper officer a violent kick, as if to show that he\nand Rome were to be henceforth on a hostile footing. The Samnite general\nlooked on with contempt at the whole affair; the hostages were refused,\nand the 600 knights were also sent back; for Pontius had expected the\nRomans to keep their word, and was neither ready nor willing to be\nburdened with the keep of several hundred captives. This remarkable\nbreach of their own faith left a more permanent mark upon them than any\nbreach that could have been made by an enemy in the walls of their city;\nand the fact of their having built a temple to Public Credit, rendered\ntheir discreditable conduct still more remarkable.\n\nThe Samnites and the Romans were now perfectly agreed in their\ndetermination to fall out, wherever they might happen to fall in with\none another. A series of small conflicts ensued, of which the accounts\nare almost as conflicting as the battles themselves; but there is every\nreason to believe that Fortune showered her favours right and left, by\ngiving them first to one side and then to the other. L. Papirius Cursor,\nthe Roman Consul, seems to have made himself the pre-cursor of his\ncountry's ultimate success, for he is said to have led the way to it by\nrecovering Luceria. Hostilities had by this time become so fierce, that\nit was necessary to take a little breathing time on both sides, and a\ntruce of two years was agreed upon. The war was then renewed under L.\n\u00c6milius and Q. Fabius, the dictators, who fought with various results,\ntaking occasionally a city, and at other times being compelled to take\nwhat they were not at all disposed to receive at the hands of an enemy.\nNo very remarkable incident occurred at the recommencement of the war,\nexcepting the taking of the town of Sora by treachery; but meanness and\ndeception were so common in the time we write of, that any event\ninvolving those despicable qualities cannot be considered unusual. Sora\nwas situated on a rocky eminence, and though secure to a certain extent\nin its lofty position, it was not above the reach of that low cunning\nwhich will stoop to anything for the attainment of its object. A\ndeserter, who appears to have had everything his own way among the\nSamnites, as well as among the Romans, persuaded the latter to retire\nsome miles off, as if they had abandoned the siege, and then ordered\nthem to have a regiment of cavalry concealed in a wood near the city.\nWhat the Samnites were about during these proceedings does not appear;\nnor is it easy to understand how they could have overlooked an important\nbranch of the forces of the enemy among the trees; but tradition, when\nshe wishes to shut her eyes to a difficulty, never hesitates to shut the\neyes of all whose vigilance might have been fatal to the incident about\nto be related. The inhabitants of Sora may therefore be supposed to have\nbeen fast asleep and slow to wake, or to have had their backs turned, or\nto have taken something which had turned their heads, when the deserter\nwas making his arrangements for the betrayal of their city. Having taken\nthe steps already described, he conducted ten Roman soldiers up a sort\nof back staircase behind the crags; and the blindness of the inhabitants\nof Sora had come to such a pass, that the mountain pass was so\nthoroughly lost sight of as to be left without a single sentinel. Having\nlodged the ten men in the fortress, he concealed them there until night;\nbut it is difficult to say how the ten stalwart soldiers could have been\nso thoroughly put away in the day-time as not to be observed, unless\ntradition, wishing to put her own construction on the affair, has\nproceeded to the construction of some secret cupboard in the fortress,\nwhere the men may have been closeted together until the hour arrived for\ntheir being brought into action. Waiting till the dead of night, the\ndeserter desired the ten men to shout as loud as they possibly could,\nand to keep on hallooing until the cavalry were out of the wood; a\nmovement which was to be effected when the deserter, rushing into the\ncity, had frightened the inhabitants out of it, by running all over the\ntown in a state of pretended alarm, which was to be accounted for by the\ncontinued shouting of the ten men in the citadel. Notwithstanding the\nnumerous objections to the veracity of this story, tradition has handed\nit down to us, and we, as in duty bound, continue to hand it on, though\nwe do not allow it to pass through our fingers without taking the\nprecaution to stamp it with the mark of counterfeit. Tradition proceeds\nto say that the scheme was perfectly successful: that the citizens,\nfrightened by the shouting of the ten soldiers in the citadel, ran into,\nor rather on to, the arms of the legions who were advancing with drawn\nswords to the gates of the city.\n\nThe Samnites having become weary of war, and tired of an existence which\nwas passed in continually fighting for their lives, determined to bring\nmatters to an issue as fast as possible. They met the Romans under Q.\nFabius at Lautul\u00e6, where Q was driven into a corner, and ran away, when\nhis army not receiving from him the cue to fight, rapidly followed his\nexample. C. Fabius having subsequently come to the assistance of Q.,\nthey united their forces, and being almost two to one against the\nSamnites, they obtained a victory.\n\nRome had, however, quite enough to contend against in various quarters;\nand, among others, the Ausonians betrayed hostile feelings, which were\nrendered abortive by another betrayal of a very disgraceful character.\nAmong the Ausonians there existed a nominal nobility, whose rank gave\nthem a sort of respectability to which they possessed no moral title.\nThese nobles, by name and ignobles by nature, were mean enough to admit,\nby stealth, into some of the cities of Ausonia, a number of Roman\nsoldiers in disguise, who, with the cruelty so commonly associated with\nfraud, commenced a general slaughter of the inhabitants.\n\nIt would be a waste of time and patience, both to writer and reader,\nwere we to ask him to accompany us into every little field where a\nlittle skirmish may have taken place, at about this period, between Rome\nand her enemies. To describe the fluctuations of the fortune of war,\nwould be as dry and unprofitable as the minute narration of all the\nincidents of a long game at heads and tails; nor would the historian\nhave repeated very often the particulars of the throwing up the coin,\nbefore the reader would be found throwing up the history. We shall,\ntherefore, content ourselves with giving the heads in a curtailed form,\nwithout going into the particulars of the movements of the generals.\nThere was an enormous quantity of putting to the sword on both sides,\nbut without running through the whole, we will submit to the eye of the\nreader the points best adapted for the use of the pupil. In the north of\nSamnium, the Romans were surprised by an Etruscan army, and nearly\ndestroyed; but when they were more than half killed, they began to look\nalive, and completely exterminated the foe, whose survivors, consisting\nof their cattle, fell into the hands of the conquerors. The Consul, C.\nMarcius, had succeeded in taking a place called Allif\u00e6; but the Samnites\nsoon afterwards brought themselves completely round, and made him the\ncentre of a circle, which, as he was entirely cut off from Rome, was to\nhim a centre of extreme gravity. Not even a messenger could find a way\nto take to the city the tidings of the Consul's perilous position; but\nit seems to have become known, by some means or other, for L. Cursor\nhastened to the scene, and caused the Samnites to abandon their\nposition. Beginning to despond, they sought a truce, for which they had\nto pay a most exorbitant price, in cash, corn, and clothes; for they had\nto pay, feed, and clothe for three months the troops who had paid them\noff, in another shape, and submitted them to a long series of thorough\ndressings. They, however, still held out against acknowledging the\nsovereignty of Rome, and thought themselves exempt from humiliation in\nmaking themselves the slaves in fact, as long as they remained\nindependent in name, of that ambitious power. The main point of dispute\nremaining still undisposed of, more fighting ensued, until Samnium was\nat length so thoroughly reduced as to be obliged to confess itself\nbeaten at last; and the Samnites, who had by degrees parted with\neverything they possessed for the luxury of maintaining that they were\nfree to do as they pleased with their own, acknowledged Rome to be their\nmaster. Rome also needed relaxation; for her energies had become relaxed\nby a war of twenty years; and both parties having done each other all\nthe harm they could, ceased only because the power of mischief had\nbecome completely lost on one side, and seriously impaired on the other.\n\nSo inveterate was the hostility between Samnium and Rome, that any pause\nin their actual conflict was filled up by preparations for a renewal,\nthe first opportunity for which they were eagerly expecting to take\nadvantage of. The third Samnite war was commenced by an attempt on the\npart of the Samnites to recover Lucania, and for that purpose they\nstupified the Lucanians by a series of severe beatings, which deadened\nthe sense of the inhabitants to their danger. The nobles, who seem to\nhave had the instinct of self-preservation in a higher degree than the\nvirtue of patriotism, were quite prepared to obey a master who would\npurchase, rather than resist an enemy who would harass, them. They\naccordingly offered their allegiance to Rome, on condition that Rome\nwould save them the trouble of defending themselves against Samnium.\nRoman envoys were despatched, in compliance with this arrangement, to\ncall upon the Samnites to evacuate Lucania; but the envoys were\nunceremoniously ordered off, and betook themselves to a very quick\nreturn, unattended by the smallest profit. After a few minor encounters,\nthe two Consuls, Q. Fabius and P. Decius Mus, the son of old Mus,\nalready alluded to, led their combined forces into Samnium, and went\ndifferent ways, though they fully purposed pulling together. Q. Fabius\nmet the whole of the Samnite army, and a battle commenced, in which each\nwas rapidly destroying the other's soldiers in about equal numbers,\nwithout any good to either, beyond the very melancholy satisfaction of\nbeing even with each other in the losing game that both sides were\nplaying. This would probably have continued until the chances of war had\ndegenerated into a game of odd man, in which the sole survivor would\nhave been the victor, when a Samnite soldier, rather more far-seeing\nthan the rest, espied what he supposed to be the army of Decius. That\nthere are some things to which it is better to shut one's eyes, was\nproved on this occasion; for the long-sighted Samnite had no sooner\nespied a body of men in the back-ground, who were in reality the reserve\nof Q. Fabius, than he frightened himself and his fellow soldiers, by\nspreading a rumour that Mus was creeping slowly, but surely, up to them.\nThe Samnites were at once struck with a panic, the blow inflicted by\nwhich is always more fatal than that of the sword, and the loss of\nspirit led to the destruction of nearly the whole body. Decius having\njoined his colleague, the two Consuls hunted the country of the\nSamnites, making game of everything that came in the way, while Appius\nClaudius carried on the war in Etruria. We should be curious to see the\npopulation returns--if any such existed--in relation to the Samnites,\nwho were, according to tradition, being continually cut to pieces,\nrouted, ravaged, and otherwise destroyed; but who, nevertheless, were,\naccording to tradition, continually taking the field again in large\nnumbers, as if nothing had happened. L. Valerius had just returned from\nassisting his colleague, Appius Claudius, in Etruria, when the Samnites\nturned up rather abundantly on the Vulturnus, and being at once\nattacked, were again cut to pieces, for by no means the last or only\ntime on the great stage of history.\n\nAt about the same time, when the news of this victory reached Rome the\nGauls were expected, and though it was against the law that the same\nConsul should be elected twice in ten years, the Romans, altering the\nconstitution, without the trouble of revision, suspended the law for the\npurpose of securing the services of Q. Fabius.\n\nHe was re-elected with his colleague Decius Mus, and before setting out\nfor battle, they consulted the augurs, who evinced their usual readiness\nto interpret the omens in the most favourable manner. On coming to the\nfortified camp of Appius Claudius, Fabius found the soldiers collecting\nwood, to form a stockade, which drew from him the remark, \"It is not by\ncutting sticks you can succeed, but by showing a bold front to the\nenemy.\" The soldiers, animated by his words--which, to say the truth, do\nnot appear to have anything particularly invigorating about them--were\nsuddenly roused into lions, after having been in a lamb-like or sheepish\ncondition, and instead of cutting any more wood, or pulling up the\ntrunks of trees, began to pluck up a proper spirit. The Romans had now\nabout 90,000 troops in the field, if we adopt the round numbers handed\ndown to us, which do not always square with probability; but the\nhistorians wisely provide, as far as possible, for any deficiency that\nmay arise in the course of the various cuttings to pieces,\nannihilations, and other contingencies which are at one time or other\nthe alleged fate of nearly every army. The vast necessity for a surplus\nthat may be boldly dealt with, can perhaps be understood from a\ncircumstance recorded with reference to a legion led by L. Scipio. It\nhad been stationed near Camerinum, and had in an engagement with the foe\nbeen cut to pieces without having been missed; nor was the loss\ndiscovered until their own countrymen recognised their heads carried on\nthe lances of the advancing enemy. When the fact thus frightfully stared\nthem in the face, the countenances of the Romans fell with sympathy at\nthe fate of their comrades, which it must be confessed presented some\nvery horrid features.\n\nAt length the hostile armies met near Sentinum in Umbria--the Romans\nmustering in considerable force, and the Samnites, in spite of much\npruning, which seemed only to have the effect of increasing their\ngrowth, forming a highly respectable remnant. The latter had also a\nconsiderable accession in the shape of Gauls, Umbrians, and Etrurians;\nfor tradition, when it desires to give interest to a battle, is always\nprepared to scrape together from all quarters a sufficient number of\nsoldiers, on both sides, to equalise the chances of victory. While the\narmies were drawn out in line before each other, they are said to have\nbeen suddenly occupied in the contemplation of the following rather\nremarkable incident. A deer, pursued by a wolf, ran rapidly down the\nmiddle, and the two animals were on the point of going up again, when\nthe deer, apparently changing its mind, ran among the Gauls, who,\nwithout hesitation, converted it into venison. The wolf, with a cunning\nworthy of the fox, declined venturing on an experiment that had been so\ncostly to the deer, and turned in among the Romans, who, perhaps,\nfearing that the wolf might have a taste for calves as well as for\nsheep, took the precaution to save their legs, by making as wide an\nopening as possible. No sooner was the wolf out of the way, than the\nRomans began to boast that fear had gone to the foe in the shape of a\ndeer, while valour had come to their side in the person of Mars, whom\nthey declared they saw hidden under the hide of a wolf, his favourite\nanimal. The battle at length commenced, and the day being exceedingly\nwarm, added, in one sense, most inconveniently to the heat of the\ncontest. The Gauls created immense consternation among the Romans by\nrushing down upon them in chariots armed with scythes, at the sight of\nwhich they were terribly cut up, and unmercifully cut down, before they\nhad time to recover from their astonishment. Not wishing to be left as a\nwretched harvest on the field, the Romans were about to fly, when they\nwere once more saved by a Mus, who on this occasion will be thought by\nsome to have deserved the epithet of \"_ridiculus_.\" Recollecting the\nexample of his father, he resolved to sacrifice himself for the benefit\nof his country, and, calling upon the pontiff, he caused his vow to be\nregularly registered. The ceremony having been gone through, in due\nform, he put spurs to his horse, and rushing in among the foe, he\nbecame, as it were, a scabbard for the swords of all who could get\nwithin reach of him. The Gauls were so completely stupified by what they\nsaw, that they were literally lost in wonder; for, while they stood\nstaring with astonishment, the Romans fell upon and massacred nearly the\nwhole of them. Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite General, was slain,\ntogether with many thousands of his own countrymen, who are described by\ntradition as having been once more cut to pieces, though these pieces\nare not the last in which they are destined to make their appearance.\nHistory, with a natural anxiety to keep a stock of Samnites on hand for\nfuture use, suggests that 5000 ran away, though the Romans were too much\nreduced to run after them, and as the fugitives lost a thousand of their\nnumber by fighting, during their retreat, it must be presumed that, in\ntheir extreme nervousness, they began attacking each other.\n\nQ. Fabius led back his army into Etruria, which had recently been\nthoroughly ravaged by Cn. Fulvius; and the Etruscans, who had already\nbeen beaten once, were thoroughly beaten again, so that any residue of\nstrength might be effectually knocked out of them. The retreating\nSamnites had by this time arrived at the valley of Vulturnus, where the\ncountry was in such a state that they could find nothing to eat; but,\nfor a people who were accustomed to survive the constant infliction of\nthe sword, the absence of food was a very subordinate grievance.\nVolumnius and Appius Claudius fell upon them with their united forces,\nand the Samnites were once more cut to pieces; but, notwithstanding\ntheir fragmentary condition, they were able to appear collected and\ncalm, before the end of the following year, in Etruria. They, at length,\nmustered all their strength, and determined on making a desperate effort\nagainst the Romans, who were in great force under Papirius Cursor, near\nAquilonia. Papirius sent for an augur, who kept a small brood of sacred\nchickens, for the purpose of hatching up something to say to those who\nconsulted him. The augur declared that the omens were favourable, for\nthe chickens had eaten a hearty meal; but an officer, who had watched\nthe birds at breakfast, and had been struck by the extreme delicacy of\ntheir appetites, came forward to impute foul play to the augur. Papirius\nimmediately ordered the soothsayer to be placed in the front of the line\nof battle, where the poor old man, who was no chicken in age, whatever\nhe may have been at heart, was made to answer with his life for having\nfailed to answer with truth the questions proposed to him.\n\nThe Samnites paid no attention to omens, but bound each other by awful\noaths to undergo their usual fate of being cut to pieces rather than\nsurrender; and it must be admitted that they bore the penalty of defeat\nwith a coolness that can only be accounted for by their being thoroughly\nused to it. No less than 16,000 took the oath, and kept it so well that\nthe whole 16,000 were found in bits precisely where they had taken their\nplaces in battle. We might express our doubts upon this subject, were it\nnot that the sage critics, who are averse to any departure from the\ngravity of history, would perhaps accuse us of levity in refusing\ncredence to Livy, on whose authority the tale is told, though dulness\nitself will probably be roused to a stare, if incapable of a smile at\nthe remarkable dish of hash which the serious historians call upon him\nto swallow.\n\n[Illustration: Samnite Soldier.]\n\nThe victory of Rome was complete, and the Samnites, whose riches seem to\nhave been almost as inexhaustible as their numbers, yielded up spoil\nthat might appear fabulous in the eyes of any but those who are so\nthoroughly matter-of-fact as to be incapable of distinguishing a matter\nof fiction. To swell the triumph of the conquerors, Papirius is said to\nhave given crowns of gold and silver to officers and men, with collars\nand bracelets of the same precious material; from which it would seem\nthat the Samnites had abandoned their ornaments in running away; for\nmetal, though current on ordinary occasions, goes a very little way in\nthe hands of those who are groaning beneath the weight of it.\n\nOnce more the Samnites poured themselves as copiously and mysteriously\nas the streams that flow from the inexhaustible bottle of the conjuror\nover the greater part of Campania, and Q. Fabius Gurges took the command\nof the Roman army. The Samnites were led by C. Pontius, an aged prodigy,\nwho had seen much service, which had been of no service whatever to his\ncountrymen, for they had not even learned to profit by the lessons of\nexperience. C. Pontius combined, in a remarkable degree, the imbecility\nof age with the rashness of youth, and presented the sad spectacle of\njuvenile and senile indiscretion combined, or the junction of the\ncharacteristics of an old fool and a young fool in the same individual.\nQ. Fabius, however, reckoned too confidently on success; and seeing a\ndetachment of the Samnites executing a man\u0153uvre, he thought it was the\nwhole body in the act of retreat, which caused him to proceed so\ncarelessly, that he was himself defeated, and would have had his army\nutterly destroyed, but for the feebleness of his antagonists.\n\nThe news of the defeat of Fabius excited much dissatisfaction at Rome,\nand the General was about to be recalled, when his father, in an\nuncontrollable fit of nepotism, implored the people to allow the young\nman to keep his place--a request that was at length granted. The\nimpolicy of overlooking the incompetence of the son at the request of\nthe father, was nearly being exemplified in a fatal manner; for the\nyounger Fabius was on the point of another failure, and an alarming\nsacrifice of all his army, when Fabius Maximus came up with a reserve,\nwhich turned the fortune of the day, by the cutting to pieces of 20,000\nSamnites; while 4000, including poor old Pontius, were made prisoners.\nIt will be seen that tradition, while dooming 20,000 Samnites to the\nsword, reserves 4000 in captivity as a surplus to supply future\ncontingencies. Although the better authorities consider that in the\nlast-mentioned battle this people, who were almost as endless as their\nhostilities were aimless, must have been used up, there are still a few\nskirmishes to be met with on the borders, if not within the verge of\ntruth, which require that a few thousand Samnites should be kept as a\nreserve for the purposes of the historian.\n\nC. Pontius was led as a prisoner in the triumph granted to the Fabii;\nbut this triumph, and everything connected with it, was converted into a\ndisgrace by the beheading of the poor old Samnite chief, who, if he had\nbeen weak enough to place himself in opposition to Rome, had, after the\nbattle of the Caudine forks, evinced an amiable weakness towards the\ncaptives that had fallen into his power. Fabius Maximus having died soon\nafter, tradition, who is much addicted to returning verdicts in the\nabsence of evidence, declares the cause of death to have been a broken\nheart; and, as it would certainly have been proper under all the\ncircumstances that he should have done so, we have no inclination to\ndisturb the rather doubtful decision.\n\nSome authorities,[31] finding they have a Samnite surplus to deal with,\ndescribe the Samnites as being again defeated by M. Curius Dentatus, who\nseems to have been a curiosity in his way; for, having been offered a\nhouse with seven hundred jugera as his share of booty, he refused to\naccept more than seven, which was the portion allotted to his comrades.\nThose who are accustomed to read of, and admire, the system on which\nprize-money is apportioned in modern times,[32] will probably set down\nCurius Dentatus as a remarkable fool; and indeed, though his self-denial\nsmacks of patriotism, we are not sure of its justice; for, if he had\nperformed his duty as a general, his services to his country must have\nbeen more valuable than those of the ordinary soldiers under him. It may\nbe, however, that he knew best what he had done, and what he deserved;\nnor must we forget the great fact that in taking a man's own estimate of\nhis own merits, we run very little danger of underrating them.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[31] Eutrop. ii., 5.\n\n[32] A reference to any Gazette containing the announcement of an\nappropriation of prize-money, will introduce to the reader's notice such\nitems as the following, which are extracted from a very\nrecently-published document, stating the proportions of prize-money\ngranted on the seizure of a slave-vessel:--Flag, \u00a387 12_s._ 3_d._;\nLieutenant commanding, \u00a3164 5_s._ 7_d._ The proportions then diminish\nrapidly through several classes down to the tenth, which is adjudged to\nreceive \u00a32 13_s._ 3_d._ The ratio may be all fair enough, but we must\nconfess the large sum always wrapped up in the flag seems somewhat of a\nmystery.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.\n\nON THE PEACEFUL OCCUPATIONS OF THE ROMANS. FROM SCARCITY OF SUBJECT,\nNECESSARILY A VERY SHORT CHAPTER.\n\n[Illustration: \u00c6sculapius.]\n\n\nIt is with sincere satisfaction that we turn from the monotonous details\nof war to the arts of peace; and though it is usually said that the\nstain of blood can never be wiped out, we are glad to find that the\nmarks and traces of discord are doubtful and few, while the evidences of\nthe nobler pursuits of man are numerous and genuine. Among the most\nenduring monuments of the art and industry of the Romans, may still be\ntraced the remains of the celebrated Via Appia, or Appian Way, the\nsecret for the formation of which would be invaluable to the inhabitants\nof our large towns, and particularly to the Paving Boards of the\nMetropolis. While parts of the Via Appia remain perfect after upwards of\ntwenty centuries, the streets of London are torn to pieces year after\nyear; and it might melt a heart of stone--if stone possessed a heart--to\nsee the granite continually disturbed by the remorseless pickaxe. The\nVia Appia was constructed of large blocks placed very closely together;\nand though modern Paving Boards have done their best by laying their\nheads together to imitate the plan, success has never rewarded their\nlabours.\n\nNot less wonderful than the road of Appius, was the aqueduct that bore\nhis name, and which had solved the question so apparently incapable of\nsolution in our own times, of the means of securing a supply of water to\na great Metropolis. Though water was not commonly drunk by the Romans as\nit is by ourselves, and though the Tiber was purity itself compared with\nthe Thames, the liquid was so clearly or rather so thickly undrinkable,\nthat a supply was brought from a distance of eight miles, in the manner\nwe have mentioned.\n\nWhile all admit the grandeur of the aqueducts of ancient Rome,\nobjection has been made to their construction as a needless expense; and\nit has been said, that their lofty arches proved only the height to\nwhich folly and extravagance could be carried. Pipes have been suggested\nas capable of answering every useful purpose; but considering the\ndifficulty of obtaining them sufficiently large, of keeping them always\nfree from obstruction, and other obvious disadvantages, it is doubtful\nwhether the pipe, after payment of the piper, would prove so economical\nin the main. The aqueduct, indeed, has been recently adopted on a large\nscale, by a people not likely to retrograde in arts and sciences, though\nthe rapidity with which they go a-head may cause them to run through the\nwhole circle of ingenuity, till the most modern invention, arriving at\nthe same point as the most ancient, affords an illustration of the\nmeeting of extremes. New York now receives its supply of water through\nan aqueduct,[33] carried on solid masonry, over valleys and rivers,\nunder hills and tunnels, for a distance of forty miles; a proof that\nwhen a city has the will to obtain pure water, there is always a\nway--though it may be forty miles in length--for getting what is\nrequired.\n\nIn Rome, it had been customary to bore a well where water was wanted,\nbut the water was so impure, that it soon became necessary to let well\nalone. The science of engineering, aided by that great moral engine,\ntheir own energy, enabled the inhabitants to bring their supplies from a\nconsiderable distance, and as the aqueducts were gradually sloped, the\nwater followed, as it were, its own inclination in coming to Rome.\nFiltration was ingeniously provided for, at convenient distances, by\nreservoirs having two compartments, into one of which the water fell,\nand passing into the other before returning to the main body, there was\ntime for the deposit of all impurities. Every precaution was taken\nagainst the intrusion of those unhappy families of animalcul\u00e6, which are\ncontinually tearing each other to pieces in every drop of the London\nelement, and whose voracity seems to hold out a faint hope that, as they\nare continually demolishing each other, they may be all mutually\nswallowed, before the supply of the Metropolis with pure water is\nachieved.\n\nDuring the Censorship of Appius Claudius, the cause of literature, or at\nleast the dignity of the profession of a public writer, was\nadvanced--though, perhaps, we ought rather to say, that official\nemployment was honoured--by the promotion of Cn. Flavius, a scribe, to\nthe Curule \u00c6dileship. This individual appears to have possessed the\nhappy gift of investing dry subjects with the garb of popularity; and he\nhad won considerable reputation by giving the forms of legal actions in\na shape that rendered them comprehensible to the general reader. He made\nlaw legible in his work on _legis actiones_, and had assisted the spread\nof information by an almanack or calendar, in which the _dies fasti_ and\n_nefasti_ were marked down, and other information afforded which could\nonly have been obtained previously from the pontiffs.\n\nThe lawyers and the priests, who were less liberal in those days than in\nour own, were both enraged with an author who had laid open the\nmysteries of both professions by a few happy touches of his pen; and on\nhis being called upon to give the public the benefit of his services as\na curule \u00e6dile, they appealed to the miserable prejudice existing\nagainst a man who had shown talent in one line, when called upon to\nexert his abilities in some new direction. The nobility were especially\naffected at the prospect of the public service being thrown open to\nmerit alone, instead of gentle or gentile dulness being allowed the sole\nuse and abuse of official honour and emolument. Exclusiveness and\nilliberality could not, even in those days, wholly prevail, though the\nopponents of the public writer succeeded in causing him to abandon not\nonly his literary pursuits, but to give up all his books, and thus\nrender himself emblematically on a par with themselves in ignorance, by\ndivesting himself of the types of knowledge on his acceptance of office.\n\nAt about the same period other and more important measures were adopted\nfor infusing into the service of the State some of that intellectual\nvigour which is to be found most abundantly in the main body of the\npeople. The pontiffs and the augurs had been hitherto chosen from the\npatricians alone, when by the Ogulnian law, passed in the tribuneship of\nQ. and Cn. Ogulnius, it was enacted that four pontiffs out of eight, and\nfive augurs out of nine--at which the numbers were then fixed--should be\nplebeians. The science of augury certainly required no particular\ntalent; but, as its professors were held in very high repute, the\nintroduction of the plebeian element into the body, was a triumph for\npopular principles. The divining rod in an age of superstition was also\na very powerful rod in the hands of those who held it; and the privilege\nof reading or rather interpreting the signs of the times according to\nthe wish of the interpreter, was a source of so much influence among a\npeople guided by omens, that the admission of the plebeians to the\nexercise of these functions was equivalent to allowing them an important\nshare in the government.\n\nThe science of augury is intimately connected with the history of the\nRomans, for they never took a step of a private or a public nature\nwithout consulting the soothsayers, who were, in fact, the\nfortune-tellers of antiquity. That a nation should place its destinies\nin such doubtful hands, seems in the present day as absurd as if the\nPrime Minister, before arranging his measures for a session, were to\ntake counsel with Dr. Francis Moore, and the Opposition were to frame\ntheir tactics on the advice of Zadkiel. A glimpse at the nature of the\nart of augury will demonstrate to the student the ease with which the\nseer could see exactly the thing he wanted. The subjects of his\nobservation were, first, the clouds, which afforded ample opportunity\nfor obscurity; secondly, the birds, which, when seen to the right, meant\nexactly opposite to that which they indicated when seen on the\nleft--thus allowing for a good deal to be said on both sides; thirdly,\nthe chickens, who were supposed to give a favourable omen if they ate\nabundantly--a theory which gave rise to many a tremendous cram;\nfourthly, the quadrupeds, from which the augurs could easily draw a\ndeduction at all fours with their own wishes; and, fifthly, and last, a\nmiscellaneous class of signs, or incidents, comprising a sneeze, which\nenabled the augur to lead the sneezer by the nose, or a casualty, such\nas a tumble, which, in the absence of any other more important sign, the\nsoothsayer was always willing to fall back upon.\n\nA remarkable instance of ignorance and superstition was afforded by the\nconduct of the Romans, when the city, being in about its four hundred\nand sixtieth year, was visited by a pestilence. Recourse was had to the\nSibylline books for a prescription to get rid of the plague, when the\naugurs, like a doctor who, unable to cure his patient, orders him\nabroad, declared that the only thing to be done was to go to Epidaurus,\na town in Greece, and bring to Rome the god \u00c6sculapius. Ten ambassadors\nwere despatched on the mission; but after looking in all directions for\n\u00c6sculapius, they happened to stumble over a stone, in which they were\ntold he was resident. Having been induced to purchase the article at a\nhigh price, they were taking it on board their ship, when they fell in\nwith the proprietor of a small menagerie, who, directing their attention\nto a tame snake in the collection, offered it to them a bargain as the\nidentical \u00c6sculapius they were looking for. The Roman envoys, thinking\nthere might, after all, be nothing in the stone, concluded there might\nbe something in the snake, which began to twine itself affectionately\nabout them; and having been bought and paid for, sagaciously glided\nthrough the town, made for the Roman vessel, and coiled himself up like\na coil of rope in the cabin of the ambassadors.\n\nOn their way home, a storm caused them to put in at Antium, when the\nsnake, who might have been a very good snake, but was a very bad sailor,\nwent ashore, took a turn or two round a palm-tree, hung out there for\nthree days, and then went back to the vessel. On the arrival of the\nambassadors at Rome, they began describing at some length the result of\ntheir journey, when the snake gave them the slip, and while their\ntongues were running on, managed to run off to the island in the Tiber.\nHaving looked in vain for the snake in the grass, they built a temple on\nthe spot, in honour of \u00c6sculapius, and the serpent glided on--no one\nknows where--to the end of his existence.\n\nThe wars which had been so exhausting to the almost inexhaustible\nSabines, had been scarcely less ruinous to the Romans, and indeed the\nopening up of so many bones of contention had, to use the words of a\nrecent writer, consumed \"the very marrow of the nation.\"[34] In spite of\nall their conquests, the people were miserably poor; for destruction,\ninstead of production, had been their occupation during a series of\nyears; and though their wants had been supplied for a time by plunder,\nscarcity was sure to ensue at last, from a stoppage of the very source\nof all wealth, the peaceful exercise of industry. The tide of adversity\nwhich, in the first instance, overwhelms only the lower ranks, rises,\nwith unerring certainty, until even the highest are absorbed, and few\nare able, in the end, to keep their heads above water. When\ncircumstances appear hopeless, remedies become desperate, rash\nlegislation ensues, and thus, during the distresses of Rome, the plebs\nhaving seceded, a proposal was adopted, in the shape of the Hortensian\nLaw, to allow them to do just as they liked, in order to tempt them back\nagain.\n\n[Illustration: The Ambassadors purchasing \u00c6sculapius.]\n\nThis was, happily, the last secession of the plebs, who, in their\ndignified withdrawal, remained completely within the pale of the law,\nwhile passing beyond the gates of the city. The intention of the\nseceders was to get on as they could without the patrician class,\nleaving the latter to do their best by themselves--a proceeding that had\nspeedily the effect of showing that there is a mutual dependence between\nall ranks, and that one cannot exist in comfort without the association\nand support of the other. In Rome, the patricians had played the\ndangerous game of exercising the rights of their position without\nfulfilling its duties; and the plebeians finding themselves deprived of\ntheir share of the profits of the connection, were quite justified in\ncutting it. After the passing of the Hortensian Law, the invidious\ndistinction between the patricians and the people was at an end, and the\nword _populus_ was applied to the whole body of citizens; but with the\nnatural tendency of all classes to level only down to themselves, the\nRomans who were well to do in the world continued to use the term\n_plebs_, or _plebecula_, in a depreciatory sense, to denote the\nmultitude.\n\nIt is true, that some works of great utility were accomplished during\nthe unhappy period to which we have been alluding; and the aqueduct as\nwell as the Via Appia, to both of which we have already referred, were\nexecuted at the time stated. Instead, however, of being the result of\nthe free industry of the nation, these undertakings were extorted\nchiefly from the labour of the Samnite prisoners; so that the Romans may\nbe said to have watered their city with the tears, and paved their road\nwith the sighs,[35] of their miserable captives. The arts made\nconsiderable progress, notwithstanding the general poverty, and perhaps\nthe fact, that necessity is the mother of invention, may account for the\nstimulus given to the skill and ingenuity of the nation. The still\nexisting figure, in which two bronze babies are represented in an\nattitude of playful satisfaction, deriving sustenance from a bronze\nwolf, who looks as easy as the hardness of the material will allow, has\nbeen assigned to the age alluded to, and the Sarcophagus of Scipio\nBarbatus, complete even to the ancient funeral verse, which the\nirreverent might estimate at the value of an old song, belongs,\nprobably, to the same period.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[33] The Croton Aqueduct, commenced in 1837, and finished in 1842, for\nconveying water from the river Croton to the City of New York.\n\n[34] Dr. Schmidtz, p. 223\n\n[35] The sigh of a pavier is really a very formidable matter. We always\nfancy the heart of the poor fellow is in his mouth, whenever we hear him\nat his labours.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH.\n\nFROM THE END OF THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR TO THE SUBJUGATION OF ALL ITALY BY\nTHE ROMANS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nRome was for a time at rest; but its repose was broken by the alarm-bell\nof war still ringing in its ears, while dissension, hanging over it like\na nightmare, placed a weight upon its chest, and became a constant\nburden on its resources. As if the Romans had not enough troubles of\ntheir own, they became involved with the disputes of their foreign\nrelations, who were, most of them, very poor relations indeed--a sort of\nconnexion which nations, as well as individuals, are apt to find\nextremely burdensome.\n\nA number of petty states began urging each other to do something that\nwould embarrass Rome, and many who had not the courage to strike were\ndesirous of seeing others display their valour. The Tarentines and the\nVolsinians being anxious to fight their own battles with other people's\narms, succeeded in making cats'-paws of the Gauls, who were induced to\npounce upon Arretium. The Romans were appealed to for assistance, and\nthey immediately sent an army just large enough to be too little. Defeat\nensued, as a matter of course; and L. C\u00e6cilius, the leader, being slain,\nM. Curius was despatched to head the troops; but on his arrival, he\nfound there was no body to which he could serve as a head, for the army\nhad been either killed or captured.\n\nIn this disagreeable dilemma, he sent ambassadors to know the terms on\nwhich the prisoners would be given up; but the ambassadors--like good\nmoney sent after bad--never came back again. The Romans perceiving at\nlast that they were only cutting their army into convenient pieces for\nthe enemy to swallow up, despatched, at length, a force large enough to\nput a stop to any further consumption of such valuable material. The\nRomans were now decidedly successful, and the Senones were, according to\ncertain authorities, \"just annihilated;\"[36] but as the Senones are\nfrequently met with again, it must be presumed that the assertion, _ex\nnihilo nihil fit_--\"nothing can come of nothing\"--is unacknowledged by\nthe writers of classical history.\n\nForeign intervention seems to have been quite the order of the day; for\nthe Boians rushed forward to show their sympathy at the fate of the\nSenones, which, if it consisted of annihilation, must have been nothing\nto the parties themselves, and should have been, _\u00e0 fortiori_, nothing\nto others. Touched with a similar infection, the Etrurians began to\nsympathise with the Boians, and having met the Romans near Lake Vadimo,\nthe sympathisers were \"cut to pieces,\" if we are to believe report; but\nwe know not whether to the scissors of the reporters or the shears of\nfate, the cutting to pieces in question may be attributed. The\nEtruscans, at all events, were able to return to Etruria[37] in\nsufficient force to render them a still formidable foe to the Romans,\nwho were eventually glad to grant a peace on very favourable terms; and,\nputting all things together, we are inclined to believe that the\nEtruscans were not in that very piecemeal state to which tradition is\nfond of reducing them.\n\nA quarrel between the Lucanians and the Thurii caused another call on\nthe intervention of Rome, who was a thorough polygamist in espousing the\nquarrels of others. C. Fabricius was sent to the relief of Thurii with\nan army so small, that it began to shrink from the encounter, and thus\nincrease, as it were, its own littleness. The spirit of the Romans had\nsomething, however, of the caoutchouc in its composition; for it could\nbe drawn out as easily as it gave in, and a trifling circumstance showed\nits elasticity on the occasion of the attack on Thurii. A gigantic lad,\nwith a ladder in his hand, was seen approaching the ramparts, which he\nproceeded to mount, and by this simple act of scaling the wall, he\nturned the scale of victory.\n\nThe opposing general was taken prisoner, and numbers were left dead on\nthe field, including several of the Samnites, who in devoting themselves\nto glut the appetite of war, appear to have formed the great _pi\u00e8ce de\nr\u00e9sistance_ of the period. The feast of carnage seems never to have been\ncomplete in these days, without this very substantial dish, which seems\nto have formed literally an instance of \"cut and come again,\" for we\nfind a supply of Samnites always ready for fate's relentless\ncarving-knife. The treasure taken by Fabricius, the Roman general, was\nimmense, and much of it was derived from the inexhaustible Samnites,\nwho, though constantly being cut up like the goose with the golden eggs,\npossessed one extraordinary advantage over that auriferous bird, for\nthey could bear the operation as often as avarice itself could require.\nThe booty was wonderful in amount; but the mode in which it was disposed\nof, was more marvellous still; for the general, instead of following the\ngeneral custom, by pocketing all he could, distributed a large portion\nof it among the soldiers, reimbursed the amount of a year's taxes to the\ncitizens, and sent a handsome surplus to the treasury. It is to be\nregretted that we have no such examples of justice and generosity in the\npresent age; for if every man were to return as conscience money to the\nExchequer all that he did not fairly earn, the National Debt might soon\nfigure--without any figures at all--as a myth in our financial annals.\n\nThurii received a small Roman garrison, which not being strong enough to\ndefend itself, was _\u00e0 fortiori_, or rather _ab impotentiori_, too weak\nto protect those for whose safety it had been appointed. Rome,\ntherefore, despatched ten ships to its aid, in defiance of a treaty with\nTarentum, that no armed vessel should proceed beyond a certain point.\nThe people of Tarentum, who happened to be at the theatre, which\ncommanded a view of the sea, and who were evidently looking at the ocean\nas a much finer spectacle than the play, observed the approach of the\nships, and leaving the actors to finish their performance to empty\nbenches, they rushed out to meet the enemy. The commander of the\nsquadron was not prepared for an audience that would hear nothing he had\nto say, the sailors were alarmed at finding themselves suddenly\nassailed, and the poor rowers were completely overawed at their\nunexpected position. Only five ships escaped, the remainder being sunk\nor captured, with all their crews and cargoes. The Tarentines fell upon\nThurii, whose cause was now completely undefended; but the Roman\ngarrison, instead of being despatched by the sword, was generously\ndespatched home by the earliest means of conveyance.\n\nThe Romans, having lost a considerable number of men, thought it better\nto recruit themselves by peace, as they were unable to find recruits for\ntheir army. It was accordingly determined to try the effect of an\nembassy upon the Tarentines, and some Feciales were employed to\npropose--what Rome considered--very moderate terms of arrangement. L.\nPostumius is said to have been one of the envoys, and it is added that\nupon his commencing a speech in bad Greek, there was a burst of laughter\nat his mistakes in grammar, orthography, and accent. He had been\nselected for the charm of his eloquence, but the spell was broken by the\nspelling, and in the confusion of his nominatives and datives, he was\nunable to make out a case of any kind. The Senators gave way to bursts\nof laughter--those bursts of nature which it is often difficult to\ncontrol--and a buffoon, encouraged by the bad example of his betters,\nplayed some practical joke upon L. Postumius. The insulted emissary\nimmediately held up his toga, which had been soiled by the jester, whose\nwit seems to have consisted in throwing dirt; but a shout of laughter\nwas the only reply that the complaint of Postumius elicited. Desiring\nthem to laugh on, he made an allusion to the possibility of the\noperation being transferred to the other side of the Roman mouth, and he\nadded that a lavatory supplied by their blood was the only wash to which\nhe would send his toga. Returning to Rome, he pointed out the stain that\nhad been thrown upon him, and the Senate declared war on the spot the\nmoment the spot was exhibited. An army was accordingly sent against\nTarentum, but the leader, L. Aemilius Barbula,--so called probably from\nhis being the little-bearded or the downy one--offered peace a second\ntime. The Tarentines, thinking the Romans were afraid of fighting,\nrefused to come to terms; but seeing that the latter did not retire, it\nbecame necessary to seek assistance in meeting them.\n\nIt appears that in these early days there were a set of persons willing\nto undertake butchery as a trade, by hiring themselves, or rather\nlowering themselves, to fight for any one who would pay them. Among\nthese, one of the most respectable was Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whom we\nmay almost regard as a professional spiller of blood, for he took care\nto turn his labours to a profitable account, by bleeding those on whose\nside he fought, as well as those he fought against. According to some\nwriters, Pyrrhus was no mercenary, because in agreeing to lend his arms\nto the Tarentines, he had in view a kingdom, rather than cash, or, in\nother words, he did not propose to be paid by those whom he assisted,\nbecause he intended to appropriate to himself everything out of which\nthey would have the means of paying him. Pyrrhus, in fact, can only be\nexcluded from the order of mercenaries by transferring him to the\ncatalogue of thieves, and of this arrangement we have no objection to\ngive him the benefit.\n\nThough he lived in an age when the education of sovereigns was sadly\nneglected, he possessed a fair amount of information, and he had the\nfortunate habit of listening to good advice, so that he got credit for\nbeing wise on the strength of the wisdom of his counsellors. His tongue\nwas no less polished than his sword, and his manners would have fully\njustified their being charged as extras in the bill of any school in\nwhich they may have been acquired. He was only thirty-seven years old\nwhen he entered Italy with a stud, including no less than twenty\nelephants and two thousand horses, though he was, of course, the\nprincipal lion of his great travelling menagerie. He was accompanied by\na vast number of slingers, whose arms were in their slings, and a large\nbody of bowmen, who could draw the longest bow with a truthfulness quite\nastonishing. An incident connected with the invocation of the aid of\nPyrrhus by the Tarentines has come down to us by tradition, that common\ncarrier who lays much at the historian's door, that he is not always\ninclined to answer for. It is said that a respectable young nobleman, of\nthe name of Meto, appeared one day in the Tarentine senate with a\nquantity of faded flowers in his hair, as if he had just come home late\nfrom a dinner party, and had passed on his way through one of the\nmarkets. Being attended by a female with a pipe, the Tarentines were\nseized with a sudden desire to cheer, a propensity still evinced by a\nmodern mob in the presence of any absurdity.\n\n[Illustration: _Pyrrhus arrives in Italy with his Troupe._]\n\n[Illustration: Appearance in the Senate of a young Nobleman, named\nMeto.]\n\nThe excitement at length broke out into a general demand for a dance,\nand a shout arose similar to the unmeaning cry of \"Hornpipe!\" that is\nheard in a modern theatre on the first performance of a pantomime. The\nyoung noble, feeling that he might be involved in an extraordinary\ncaper, seems to have suddenly resumed his senses; for he exclaimed with\na serious air, \"Yes, we must dance and feast now, for Pyrrhus will\nsoon put an end to all our merriment.\" The words of Meto seemed too\nprophetic; for Pyrrhus had no sooner arrived, than, on the principle,\nperhaps, that where there is a great deal of work, there should be no\nplay, he shut up the theatre of the Tarentines. He stopped everything in\nthe shape of amusement, and the young noble's prediction as to the\ncity's dancing days being nearly over, was completely verified. It would\ncertainly have been better for Pyrrhus in the end had he listened in the\nbeginning to his counsellor, Cineas, who, according to Plutarch, talked\nthe matter over with his royal master, in the most familiar manner\npossible. \"Now, tell me,\" said Cineas, \"supposing our expedition to be\nsuccessful, what will be the next step?\" a query which elicited from\nPyrrhus a whole catalogue of arduous exploits, which he had in\ncontemplation. \"Very good,\" said the sage, \"and when all is conquered,\nwhat then?\"--\"What then?\" responded Pyrrhus, \"why, then, of course, we\ncan take our ease, drink, and be merry.\"--\"True enough,\" rejoined\nCineas, \"but why not take your ease, drink, and be merry at once,\nwithout all the preliminary toils and dangers you propose to undergo,\nand by which you only postpone, instead of advancing, your ultimate\nobject?\" Unfortunately Pyrrhus, like many others, failed to see the\nforce of this kind of reasoning, and he continued to encounter immediate\nperil and fatigue, with the remote prospect of future repose, which\nthere was nothing to prevent his taking at once if he had really set his\nhead on it.\n\nThough he would not acknowledge himself to be convinced by the arguments\nof the philosopher, it is probable that Pyrrhus secretly felt the value\nof the advice that had been given him; for his first step was a proposal\nto treat; and he even offered a draft by way of preliminary, but the\nRoman Consul rejected the proffered measure. The armies accordingly met\non the banks of the Siris, a small river near Heraclea, and Pyrrhus sent\na spy with a spy-glass, to inspect the position of the enemy. The spy\nwas immediately spied out on the other side, and arrested forthwith, so\nthat the look-out of the spy appeared utterly deplorable. Having,\nhowever, been shown everything there was to be seen in the Roman camp,\nas if he had been a traveller in search of information, instead of a\nsneak traversing a hostile area, the spy was sent back with care--right\nside upwards, which he scarcely deserved--to his master. This incident\nelicited from Pyrrhus the remark, that \"the barbarians had an\nexceedingly gentlemanly way of conducting a war;\" and the next day being\nfixed for the battle, he felt that he should have the satisfaction of a\ngentleman in going out with them.\n\nThe attack was commenced by the Romans; and the Consul, resolving either\nto sink or swim, sent a body of cavalry across the river. Pyrrhus,\nputting himself at the head of his horse, proceeded to meet the charge,\nbut he soon perceived that his brilliant armour was rendering him\nuncomfortably conspicuous, and he exchanged his dazzling coat of mail\nfor an old rusty suit worn by his friend Megacles. The latter was\nperhaps proud to wear the trappings of royalty, but the emptiness of\nfalse glitter was speedily exemplified, for Megacles being mistaken for\nthe king, was killed, and the shining armour was carried in triumph to\nthe enemy's camp before the hollow mockery was discovered.\n\nThe battle was fought with determined bravery on both sides, but brute\nforce decided it at last, for the elephants of Pyrrhus weighed immensely\nin the scale of victory. The creatures coming down _en masse_, were more\neffective than the heaviest of ordinary heavies, and advancing with all\ntheir might upon the horses, the latter, though resisting with all their\nmane, felt their animal spirits rapidly oozing out of them. The carnage\ncommitted upon the Romans would have been merciless and complete, had it\nnot been for the humanity of one of the elephants, who, taking a\nbenevolent turn, pulled himself short round, and prevented his own side\nfrom continuing the pursuit of the fugitives. Pyrrhus, having laid his\nhands on everything he could take, proceeded to take everything he could\nlay his hands upon. A rich harvest having been collected, he, on the day\nfollowing, went to glean what he could on the field of battle.\nPerceiving that the Romans had all fallen with their eyes towards the\nfoe, he could not but acknowledge, with so much bravery staring him in\nthe face, the courage of his antagonists. \"With such soldiers as these,\"\nhe exclaimed, \"the world would be mine, or, at all events, it would be\ntheirs if I were their general.\" He had, however, lost half his own men;\nand as they lay prostrate before him, they seemed to offer a flat\ncontradiction to the congratulations offered to him on his victory.\n\"Another such a triumph,\" he replied, \"and I should return to Epirus\nthoroughly unmanned, for there would not remain to me a single soldier.\"\nHe offered to the prisoners employment in his own army, but they,\nwithout exception, refused; and, considering their conduct\nunexceptionable, he had their chains taken off, that they might feel\nthemselves quite unfettered in their future movements. He burned the\nbodies of the dead, out of compliment to their remains, whose\ncombustion, could they have acted for themselves, would no doubt have\nbeen spontaneous. He made a tolerably fair division of the spoil, giving\nsome to his allies, and devoted a considerable slice to Zeus--a piece of\ndevotion of which the priests of the temple got the chief benefit.\n\nThe policy of Pyrrhus was to turn old foes into new friends; and he sent\nhis trusty counsellor, Cineas, to Rome, with a suggestion that all\nanimosity should be buried in the graves of those who had fallen on both\nsides. The Senators were beginning to waver, when Appius Claudius the\nBlind--who had been carried down to the house by his four sons--an\narrangement that suggests the picture of a veteran supported by a youth\nat each arm and at each leg--declared suddenly that he could see through\nthe whole affair, and called upon the Romans to open their eyes to the\ndesigns of Pyrrhus. The veteran, who, from infirmity, was unable to stir\nwithout assistance, could still agitate with his tongue; he urged that\nthe proposals of Cineas should be rejected; and the assembly having\nfirst carried the motion, carried home the mover in triumph.\n\nCineas, on returning to his master, described the city as a temple, and\nthe Senate as an assembly of kings; for he could not get the temples out\nof his head; and the magnificent curule chairs kept reminding him of the\ndignified setting down he had received from the Senators.\n\nPyrrhus, finding his friendly advances repulsed, resolved on advancing\nupon Rome in a less amicable spirit. Proceeding towards Capua, he\nencountered Laevinius, the consul, whom he had on a previous occasion\nbeaten; but he was now not quite so fortunate; for, after a severe\ncontest, neither side could say exactly which had got the worst of it.\nPyrrhus, however, marched upon Praeneste, which fell into his hands, in\nconsequence of the Romans having let it slip through their fingers. From\nthe acropolis of Praeneste he is said to have seen Rome, at a distance\nof eighteen miles; but he must have seen very little, if so far off,\nunless he was accustomed to magnify what he saw in a very remarkable\nmanner. The sight was sufficiently imposing to cause him to retreat; and\nhe went into winter quarters at Tarentum, where he spent his own time,\nand the money he had taken from the enemy.\n\n[Illustration: Self-possession of Fabricius, the Ambassador, under\nrather Trying Circumstances.]\n\nWhile Pyrrhus was thus engaged, or rather disengaged, three\nambassadors, named C. Fabricius, Q. A. Papus, and P. Dolabella, were\nsent to him from Rome, to negotiate for the release of prisoners. C.\nFabricius was a very superior man; and Pyrrhus, thinking to gain over\nthe superior man, employed means by which none but a very inferior\nindividual was at all likely to be influenced. Bribery was the first\nexpedient attempted by Pyrrhus; but C. Fabricius showed his contempt for\nmoney by pursing his eyebrows. Having failed in his coarse appeal to\navarice, Pyrrhus tried what was to be done through fear; and one day a\n_t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate_ between the king and the ambassador was disturbed by the\nsudden introduction of a third _t\u00eate_, in the shape of the head of an\nelephant. The sagacious brute stood concealed behind a curtain, and,\nwith a blow of the trunk on the cheek, he administered a smart box on\nthe ear to the startled ambassador. The animal accompanied the act with\na hideous roar, and threw his trunk over the head of C. Fabricius, who\nremained for a moment unable to see the clumsy joke that was being\nplayed upon him. He, nevertheless, retained his self-possession,\nremarking simply that neither by throwing gold dust in his eyes, nor by\nthe still blacker job of the elephant's trunk, was he to be blinded to\nhis duty.\n\nThough Pyrrhus would not accede to the terms proposed for ransoming the\nRoman prisoners, he allowed them to go to Rome, for the season, to be\npresent at the celebration of the _f\u00eates_ of the Saturnalia. These games\nappear to have included some rather melancholy mirth, the principal fun\nof the affair consisting in the practice of shouting out \"Io!\"--which is\nequivalent to \"Go it!\"--in the public thoroughfare. Presents were\nexchanged among friends; and servants were in the habit of offering wax\ncandles to their masters,--a sort of composition, perhaps, which the\nformer came to with their consciences, in memory of the enormities of\nthe grease pot. The domestic was allowed to wear his employer's clothes;\nand this portion of the ceremonies of the Saturnalia is still privately\nobserved by the gentleman's gentleman of the family. While the wardrobe\nof the master remained at the mercy of the valet, the synthesis, or\ndressing-gown, was the fashionable attire; and for a period of general\nrelaxation, this loose wrapper was perfectly appropriate.\n\nHaving done at Rome as Rome was doing, during the Saturnalia, the\nprisoners returned to Pyrrhus, who opened the campaign in Apulia, and\nmet the two Roman consuls--P. Sulpicius, and P. Decius Mus--at Asculum.\nThis Mus is the third to which the labours of the historical muse have\ngiven birth; and he is said to have shared the fate of his grandfather\nand father--if at least that fate can be said to have been \"shared,\" of\nwhich each had to bear the whole inconvenience. The battle fought at\nAsculum was severe, the Romans having lost 6000 men; for tradition\ndelights in round numbers, with which probability often refuses to\nsquare; and no less than three thousand five hundred and five--for in\nthis case exactness is carried to a degree of excess--are said to have\nfallen on the side of Pyrrhus.\n\nWar was found to be doing its usual work, the sword was cutting both\nways at once; the candle was burning away at both ends, and the\nlitigants were figuratively cutting their own throats, as well as those\nof their enemies. Each party would have backed out, if he could have\nseen his way, when an incident occurred that opened the door to a\ncompromise. Pyrrhus had a medical attendant; who, perhaps, felt that\ndoctor's work might as well be done at first as at last, and offered to\npoison by one dose, instead of by slow degrees, his illustrious patient.\nThe medical traitor accordingly prepared a draft, which he knew he could\npersuade Pyrrhus to accept; but the Romans rejected the idea with scorn,\nand denounced the scoundrel, who when taken was severely shaken by his\nindignant countrymen. The wretch at first denied having written the\nprescription, and attempted to eat his own words; but they stuck in his\nthroat, and he died from the physical impossibility of getting them\neither one way or the other.\n\nPyrrhus was so pleased with the treatment of the empiric who would have\npoisoned him, that he sent back all his prisoners to Rome without\nransom, togged[38] out in new togas, and attended by pages, stitched in\nneat wrappers. After some negotiation, which was assisted by the\nreturned prisoners, who urged their own new suits in support of that of\nPyrrhus, now eager for peace, a truce for four years was agreed upon. It\nwas stipulated that he should leave Italy, and he took the opportunity\nto cross to Sicily with the benevolent intention of freeing the people\nfrom the Carthaginian yoke; but, like most foreign liberators, if he\ntook off an old yoke with one hand, he had in the other a new apparatus,\nwhich he was anxious to substitute. His object was to have made himself\nmaster of the place; but after remaining three years, he began to lament\nthe faithlessness of friends, and helping himself to as much booty as he\ncould lay his hands upon, he left the Sicilians to deplore the loss of\nhimself and the treasure he took away with him. He had, in fact, been\nsent for by the Tarentines, and was on his way to see what he could do\nfor them, when he was met by a Carthaginian fleet, which sank seventy of\nhis ships--as we are told by the same authority that represents him to\nhave started with only sixty,--a fact which leaves little doubt as to\nwhich party profited most by the friendship between Pyrrhus and the\npeople of Sicily. He suffered a further loss in the mountain passes,\nwhere he had some very narrow escapes; but he nevertheless continued to\nkeep a balance of 20,000 foot, and 3000 horse for the purpose of meeting\nany future engagements.\n\nOn his arrival at Tarentum, there was such a panic among the Romans that\nnobody would enlist, until Curius Dentatus announced his intention of\nconfiscating the property of the first who refused to enter the rank\nthat was open to him. Besides the panic caused by the name of Pyrrhus,\nan alarm had sprung up in consequence of the head of the god Summanus\nhaving been struck off his statue by lightning, and nobody could\nascertain what had become of it. Accident led to its discovery in the\nbed of the Tiber, from which it had probably been fished by one of those\nextraordinary hooks which so many of our historical facts are found to\nhang upon. The augurs were consulted as a matter of course, and on a\ncase being submitted to their opinion, they advised that the action\nagainst Pyrrhus should be carried on; for, according to the soothsayers,\nthe loss and subsequent finding of the head, proved that after\nhair-breadth escapes victory would crown their labours.\n\n[Illustration: Discovery of the Head of Summanus.]\n\nPyrrhus in the mean time marched to Beneventum to attack Curius,\nintending to surprise the latter by sending, through a mountain pass,\nsome troops and elephants. The idea of a short cut for these massive\nbrutes was absurd, and the unwieldy bulk of the elephants caused a\nsuccession of stoppages in the highways and byeways through which they\nwere being driven. The Greek columns got occasionally into a fearful\nfix, and it was with difficulty they could lug through the mountain pass\ntheir extremely bulky luggage. Instead of completing their journey by\nnight, it was daylight before they had commenced their descent on\nCurius, who saw them at a distance, and prepared a warm reception for\nthe elephants. He attacked them with burning arrows, and lighted barrels\nof tar, which were pitched among the poor brutes, who fell back upon\ntheir own camp, and every tent was turned into a crush-room. Several\nelephants were killed, and four, being taken alive, were made to march\nas prisoners in the Consul's triumph. Pyrrhus reached Tarentum with a\nhandful of horse, and a pocket-full of bread; but, being unable to pay\nthe salaries of his adherents, they soon fell away in the absence of the\nusual golden rivets. He retired to Greece, where he engaged in all sorts\nof adventures, till the want of money prevented him from carrying on the\nwar in any shape; and it is said that he had come down, at last, to such\nvery petty disputes, that he died of a blow on the head, from a stone\naimed at him in a street-row by an angry woman. On the death of Pyrrhus,\nthose whom he had assisted relinquished all hope of maintaining\nthemselves against such a formidable enemy as Rome, and the Lucanians,\nBruttians, and Samnites proceeded to do homage to a power they had been\nin the habit of defying as long as they had any one on their side\nstrong enough to assist them in fighting their battles. The Samnite\nambassadors, who were entrusted with the humiliating duty of conveying\nthe submission of their countrymen to Curius Dentatus, found him at his\nSabine farm, engaged in the discussion of a large dish of turnips. He\nreceived the envoys with no other form than a wooden one, upon which he\nwas seated, and he continued his vegetarian meal, as he listened to\ntheir overtures. They offered to bribe him with gold; but, taking up a\nspoonful of the mashed turnips, he declared that, as long as he could\nmake sure of his daily bunch of his favourite luxury, wealth had no\ncharms for him.\n\n[Illustration: Curius Dentatus refusing the Magnificent Gift offered by\nthe Samnite Ambassadors.]\n\nThe Samnites made one more desperate effort against Rome, and Lollius, a\nrunaway hostage, who had escaped to his native mountains, found life\nsuch thoroughly up-hill work, that he resolved to change it, or part\nwith it. Having got round him a band of robbers, who were just the sort\nof persons to do everything by stealth, he secretly prepared to attack\nthe Romans; but they, hearing of the approach of the marauders, were\nearly in the field, and, securing the leaders of the insurrection,\nstruck off their heads in order to break the neck of it.\n\nRome was now mistress of Italy, but her ambition, which, though always\nvaulting, knew no bounds, would not allow her to keep her empire within\nits natural limits. In the management of her conquered possessions she\naffected much generosity, in professing to admit the vanquished to a\nshare of her own advantages,--an operation she effected by taking all\nthe advantages to herself in the first instance, and then conveying a\nsmall moiety back to those from whom they had been wrested.\n\nThe Colonial system pursued by Rome was peculiar, for instead of\nselecting uninhabited places, she preferred a population ready made,\npossessing wealth already acquired, of which she usually helped herself\nto a full third in exchange for a Government, which she supplied from\nher own large stock of persons in want of places. The relationship\nbetween Rome and her colonies has been compared to that of parent and\nchild; but considering the stripping process to which Rome had recourse,\nshe seems to have acted less as a mother than a kidnapper. The Roman\nConstitution, like the Roman cement, was an excellent compound, of which\nit is impossible to describe the ingredients; and, indeed, it is found\nthat the best Constitutions--like our own British--are those which\ncannot be defined by a written prescription, or made the subject of a\nperfect analysis. There was a judicious spreading of political power\nover a considerable surface, and thus--to use a figure from the\nchemist's shop--a plaster was always ready to be applied to the sores,\nor even the trifling eruptions that might make their appearance on any\nportion of the great body of the nation.\n\nAs in our own admirable form of government, there were three estates,\ncomprising the people, the senate, and the executive; but the want of a\npermanent and universally recognised head of the state, kept the country\ncontinually exposed to agitation on the part of designing demagogues.\n\nAs the sword, unfortunately, cuts the most prominent figure in the early\nhistory of Rome, we must not omit to speak of its military organisation,\nwhich was very complete; for in early times there seemed to be an\nimpression that neighbours ought to be approached with the arm of war,\nrather than with the hand of friendship. Every Roman citizen was a\nsoldier, and was liable at any moment to be called upon to turn his\nploughshare into a sword, though when his special service was over he\nwas at liberty to turn his sword back again into a ploughshare. This\ntransformation was not effected without damage to the instrument, and\nthe ordinary operations of agriculture were frequently interrupted by\ncalling the labourer from the garden to the field, and forcing him to\ndrill when engaged in sowing broad-cast. We have in a single chapter of\nLivy[39] an account of what a Roman army consisted of during the great\nLatin war, and though learned writers[40] have snarled and quarrelled\nover the materials, like dogs over a dry and meatless bone, we quietly\nwalk into the midst of them, and deliberately extract the marrow. An\narmy may be described in half-a-dozen lines, though it consisted of\nfive, which were termed respectively, _Hastati_, _Principes_, _Triarii_,\n_Rorarii_, and _Accensi_.\n\nThe _Hastati_, so called from their carrying the _hasta_ or spear,\nconsisted of youth in the bloom of early manhood, and who went in front,\nthat their early bloom might encounter the first blow of the enemy. The\nnext row was formed of the _Principes_, or men in the vigour of life,\ndistinguished by the abundance and splendour of their shields, arms, and\naccoutrements, and comprising what may be termed the heavy swells of the\narmy. Next in order came the _Triarii_, a body of veterans, selected for\ntheir past experience--a quality which, however valuable in council, may\nbe often useless in war; for though experience might have told a veteran\nthat he ought to run for his life, his heels, being as old as his head,\nmight have refused to do the latter's bidding. The fourth rank was\ncomposed of _Rorarii_, from the word _Rora_, dew, who sprinkled the\nenemy with various missiles, and who standing behind the _Triarii_, must\noccasionally, by aiming short of the foe, have given more than their due\nto the veterans immediately in front of them. Last in order came the\n_Accensi_, or supernumeraries, whose courage and fidelity were not of\nthe highest class, and who either brought up the rear or left it behind,\nas their resolution urged them on, or their want of it kept them back,\nwhile there was always an opening left in case their fears should run\naway with them. It was frequently the practice of the _Accensi_ to\nreserve the vacant back-ground as a sort of race-course, in which races\nbetween their valour and their discretion were being continually run,\nand in the majority of cases the latter got by far the best of it.\n\nThe habits of the early Romans were extremely simple; agriculture was\ntheir most honoured employment; and it was thought high praise to say of\nany man, that he was a good husband, and a good husbandman. Their food\nwas chiefly corn; and many a happy family afforded an illustration of\nthe fact that love, notwithstanding the assertion of the song writer to\nthe contrary, can sometimes live on flour. Wine was so precious, that,\nin libations to the gods, it was poured out drop by drop, to prevent\ntheir getting a drop too much; and, indeed, so scarce was it in the\nearly days of Rome, that Romulus is said to have used milk in his\nsacrifices; while Papirius, at a later period, vowed, in the event of\nhis victory over the Samnites, a small glass--or _petit verre_--to\nJupiter.\n\nLong beards were worn by the Romans until the arrival of a Greek barber\nfrom Sicily; and he is said to have plucked out, with a pair of\ntweezers, the beard which had grown for four centuries and a half into a\nrooted habit. On some he employed the razor, and he was able to reap an\nabundant harvest from the chins of a people who had never yet worn a\nsmooth-faced aspect.\n\nThe invasion of Pyrrhus caused the adoption at Rome of many Grecian\nluxuries, and among others was the luxury of substituting a silver\ncoinage for copper, which had been found so inconvenient that a rich man\nhad been obliged to use a wagon instead of a purse, if he wished to take\nhis money about with him. Silver was, however, so scarce, that one\nCornelius Rufinus was turned out of the Senate for having on his\nsideboard more than ten pounds of plate; for it was believed that he\ncould not have come honestly by so much of it, and he was regarded as\neither a thief, or at least as a receiver of stolen property.\n\nSo humble were the pretensions to display in those early days, that a\nsilver cup and a salt-cellar formed, usually, the entire contents of a\nRoman noble's plate-basket. Music, among the early Romans, was at the\nlowest possible pitch, and the only professors were flute-players, of\nscarcely any note, from Etruria. Their strains were so dismal as to be\nemployed only at a sacrifice or a funeral, when extreme melancholy was\nrequired. On one occasion the band is said to have struck, and retired\nto Tibur, when the musicians were only brought back by being made\nhelplessly drunk,--a weakness to which some of those hirelings who\nassist at the performance of funerals are in our day liable.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[36] Polybius.\n\n[37] Polyb., ii. 20.\n\n[38] The ignorantly squeamish, who may object to the word \"togged,\" will\nplease to observe that it is purely classical--the Latin _toga_ being\nthe root of the participle \"togged,\" as well as the substantive\n\"toggery.\"\n\n[39] Livy, viii.--8.\n\n[40] Lipsius and others.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH.\n\nTHE FIRST PUNIC WAR.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nAll Italy now belonged to Rome, but the thirst for conquest was not\nquenched even by the sea itself, beyond which the Romans prepared to\nextend their power. Among those who made a business of bloodshed, by\nlending themselves out as soldiers to any one who paid them, the\nCampanians enjoyed--if there could have been any real enjoyment in the\nmatter--a bad eminence. They had followed the trade of human butchers\nfor about fifty years; and, among other sanguinary engagements, they had\naccepted a job from the tyrant[41] of Syracuse.\n\nThe Campanians had done their work of devastation; and there being no\nfurther use for them, they had received notice to quit; but instead of\nreturning home, they resolved to stay, and perpetrate a little plunder\nfor their own exclusive benefit. They accordingly surprised the town of\nMessana--if any enormity may be considered surprising, when committed by\nsuch a set--and calling themselves the Sons of Mamers, or Mars, they\nestablished themselves under the title of the Republic of the\nMamertines. From this point they carried on their trade of robbery and\nmurder, which they put in practice right and left, upon most of their\nneighbours. On the unerring principle, that wrong never comes right, the\nrulers of Syracuse, who had, for their own bad purposes, introduced the\nCampanians into the place, became, in turn, the victims of that lawless\nband of freebooters. At length, Hiero, a king of Syracuse, determined on\ngetting rid of the nuisance which his predecessors had established, and\nfell upon the Mamertines with such effect, that they were on the point\nof being crushed, when they were saved by the interference of a\nCarthaginian Admiral. The Mamertines being themselves faithless, were\nsuspicious of every one else, and were as false to each other as they\nwere untrue to all besides; so that they looked distrustingly on the\noffer made, and were unable to agree as to the policy of accepting it.\nThey were speedily in the position of a house divided, for some were\nready to receive the protection of Carthage, while others sent for help\nto the Romans, who, to their utter disgrace, passed a decree, pledging\nthemselves to an alliance with the Mamertine miscreants. It must be\nstated, to the honour of the Senate, that a majority of that body\nrejected the humiliating proposal with scorn; but the Consuls, desirous\nof giving _\u00e9clat_ to their term of office--an evil incidental to the\nsystem of having a temporary, instead of a permanent, head to the\nstate--did all they could to plunge the country into a war, and brought\nthe question before the assembly of the people.\n\nThe lower passions of pride and avarice are soon aroused among the mass\nby specious promises of glory and conquest; and though each man might,\nfor himself, have spurned an alliance with the Mamertine mercenaries,\nthe result proved the truth of the saying, that \"a corporation will do\nwhat an individual will shrink from with shame;\" for the Comitia Tributa\nvoted that the disgraceful compact should be formed.\n\nAppius Claudius, the son of the blind Consul, was sent to Messana with a\nfleet of TRIREMES, or vessels with three ranks of oars, which had been\nborrowed from the Greek towns of Italy; for the Roman Admiralty, in the\ntrue spirit of a board, though continually building ships, was unable to\nproduce an effective navy. Appius Claudius was not seaman enough to\ncarry his TRIREMES to Sicily, and his rowers were not so expert as they\nshould have been in the management of the oars, which were placed in\nranks, one above the other, to a considerable height, so that a long\npull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether was extremely difficult.\n\nHaving at last got near enough for a parley, he invited Hanno, the\nCarthaginian general, to a conference; and, finding him a weak and\nnervous person, he seized him by the neck, and fairly shook the whole of\nhis resolution out of him.\n\nHanno was frightened into delivering up the citadel, and returning to\nCarthage, he was hurried off to speedy execution, for having failed in\nthe execution of his duty. King Hiero, being deprived of his\nCarthaginian aid, was completely beaten, and was glad to offer peace, or\nrather he was glad to get it, on any conditions, for his own condition\nwas truly deplorable. He paid down 200 talents in ready money, which was\nequivalent to about fifty thousand pounds of our modern coin, to prevent\nthe sacking of Syracuse, and by sacrificing all his cash in hand, he was\nable to save his capital. From this period may be dated the commencement\nof the first Punic War; and as a feeble-minded reader may be dwelling on\nthe word Punic, in the silly expectation of a pun, we, by explaining\nthat it is derived from Ph\u0153nicia, whence Ph\u0153nic or Punic, at once check\nthe morbid appetite. The city of Carthage is said to have been about one\nhundred years older than Rome; but cities, like ladies beyond a certain\ndate, baffle all attempts to reduce their age to a matter of certainty.\nTradition assigns the foundation of Carthage to Dido, who, having been\nconverted into an unprotected female by the murder of her husband, fled\nfrom Tyre, and when completely tired out, sat down to rest on the coast\nof Africa. Here she agreed to take, on a building lease, as much land as\ncould be covered with a bull's hide, when, to the astonishment of the\nlessor, she produced a skin cut up into thongs, and acting as her own\nsurveyor, she claimed to be monarch of all she surveyed, by putting this\nnew species of leathern girdle round as much earth as possible. There\nwas certainly less of the princess than of the tradeswoman in this\ntransaction, which, however, was characteristic of the future city, for\nit became famous for its business and its bargains, as well as infamous\nfor its bad faith; the term _Punica fides_ having become a by-word to\nexpress the grossest dishonesty. Her devotion to commerce led to the\nestablishment of a powerful navy, and her citizens having something more\nprofitable to do than to fight, her army was always hired from abroad\nwhen occasion required. Rome, on the other hand, had made war her chief\npursuit, and the consequence was, that she had plenty of soldiers, but\nno ships, except a few she had taken from her foes; and her occupations\nbeing mostly of a military or destructive kind, she had no resources but\nher valour to rely upon.\n\nThe Romans remained in Sicily, where several powers claimed their\nprotection; but Hannibal Gisco, anxious to preserve Agrigentum, threw\nhimself and sixty elephants into it. Here he was besieged for seven\nmonths with an army of 50,000 men, who, of course, consumed daily a\nlarge quantity of food; but there was something utterly irrational in\nproviding daily rations for sixty elephants. It was arranged, therefore,\nthat Hanno should proceed to the relief of Agrigentum, but he was\ndefeated with the loss of thirty elephants, left dead on the field--a\nfield which must have been necessarily a very wide one for conjecture.\nHannibal Gisco's army consisted of a medley of mercenaries, including\nsome Gauls, who, having much money owing to them, refused to strike,\nexcept for their pay, and who intimated that they would not draw their\nswords until they had drawn their salaries. Their general, unable to\nsettle with them in cash, chose a more treacherous way of paying them\noff; for, getting them into an ambush, he caused a volley of missiles to\nbe aimed at them, and the discharge was in full of all demands, for it\neffectually stopped all further clamour.\n\nAgrigentum was plundered by the Romans, who sold 25,000 of the\ninhabitants for slaves--at least, according to tradition, who usually\ndeals in round numbers, amounting often in value to the sum which a\nperfectly round number or figure indicates.\n\nThough the Carthaginians had failed on land, their fleet gave them\nadvantages at sea, for there the Romans were completely out of their\nelement. The latter, however, resolved to have a navy of their own, and\nthe Board of Admiralty set to work in good earnest, with the cooperation\nof the Woods and Forests, which supplied the requisite timber. The\ndifficulty now felt, was to obtain a design upon which to build, and\ninstead of trusting to official surveyors, who might have shown plenty\nof cunning, without producing any craft, the Romans took for a model a\nCarthaginian quinquereme that had come ashore on the coast of Bruttium.\nBeing relieved from the supervision of the professional architects, the\nship-building progressed rapidly, and within sixty days after the trees\nhad been felled, one hundred and thirty ships were built; though the\nbuilders must have been as green as the wood, and as crazy as the craft,\nto have imagined that such a fleet could have any but the most fleeting\nexistence. While the vessels were being got ready, it occurred to the\nauthorities that crews would be required, and as the Romans had as yet\nneither ships nor sailors, a few scaffolds were erected on land, that\nthe intended tars might try their hands at naval tactics.\n\n[Illustration: Roman Man-of-War, from a scarce Medal.]\n\nMatters went smoothly enough on shore, till the would-be seamen, having\nventured out to sea, found themselves as ignorant as babies, when rocked\nin the cradle of the deep; and as the waves washed over them, they\nperceived they had learnt nothing of their new art but its driest\ndetails. With seventeen of these queer quinqueremes, each with 300\nrowers, who by their misunderstandings kept up a continual but useless\nrow, the Consul, Cn. Cornelius Scipio, sailed for Messana, when the\nPunic Captain Bugud, a regular Carthaginian tar, sent him flying, with\nhalf his timbers shivered, into a port of the Lipari. The crews, most of\nthem half dead with sea sickness, scrambled as well as they could on\nshore. Their commander, Cn. Scipio, was taken prisoner, and so\nridiculous had been the figure he cut, that his countrymen conferred\nupon him the name of Asina--or the donkey--a character that might in\nthese days have qualified him for an appointment to a jackass frigate.\n\nAfter this ludicrous defeat, the command of the Roman navy was taken by\nthe other Consul, C. Duilius, who determined to wash out in the ocean,\nas well as he could, the stain thrown upon his countrymen. He felt that\nnaval tactics were out of the question among those who were, in one\nsense, sailors of the first water, for they had never been on the water\nbefore; and as to rowing, he knew it to be so impracticable that he\nresolved to throw the oars overboard. He hit on an expedient for making\na naval engagement resemble as much as possible a fight on shore; and by\novercoming in some respect the inequalities of the waves, he put his own\nmen on nearly the same footing with the enemy. He constructed boarding\nbridges, capable of holding two or three persons abreast, and these\nbridges being thrown on to the enemy's ships, enabled the Romans to walk\ninto them.\n\nThe Carthaginians who were not prepared for such close quarters, and had\ntrusted rather to the roughness of the sea, to deprive their opponents\nof an even chance of success, were so thoroughly taken by surprise, that\nthey suffered their ships to be taken one after the other. C. Duilius\nwas handsomely rewarded for his victory; he was hailed as the first\nnaval hero that Rome had introduced, and as if the festive propensities\nof a sailor on shore had been foreseen, he was allowed the curious\nprivilege of being accompanied home at night from banquets by an\nattendant with a torch--in which we see a foreshadowing of the policeman\nand the bull's-eye. He was further honoured by a _columna rostrata_, a\nsort of Nelson Column, adorned with the beaks of ships--a short stumpy\nlooking affair, of which the museum at Rome contains an imitation from\nthe hand of Michael Angelo,[42]--who has afforded us a fair copy of one\nof the columns of the Times, in which the deeds of great men were\nadvertised.\n\nThis nautical exploit of Rome was followed up by minor successes, and\nL. Scipio made an attack upon Corsica, where he was opposed by a\nCarthaginian fleet, under the command of Hannibal Gisco, who was killed\nby his own men, but honourably entombed by the Romans, who nobly buried\ntheir former animosity.\n\nCarthage and Rome were mutually suffering by their hostilities, and each\nnation lost its thousands alternately, according to what is called the\nfortune of war; but which, like the fortune of the gaming-table, must\nend in the ruin of both sides, for the sole profit of the grim enemy.\nWhile the forces of Rome were being diminished nearly every day, her\nenemies were multiplying; and that inextinguishable race, the\nSamnites--the increase of whose population would present a most\nstartling series of returns--appeared to the number of upwards of 4000,\nwho had been enlisted into the Roman navy. Their intention was to set\nthe city on fire, but their own leader threw cold water on it before it\nwas even lighted, by making himself an engine of communication with the\nRoman Government.\n\nIn Sicily the Romans were continually in motion, but they took little by\ntheir motion beyond a few small towns. At length they determined on one\ngrand naval effort, and they prepared 330 quinqueremes, which were\nplaced under the Consuls, L. Manlius and M. Atilius Regulus, who were\nprobably selected as the most likely to be able to command a fleet\nbecause they had never tried. The Carthaginians went to meet them with\n350 quinqueremes, in which were--according to tradition--150,000 men; an\ninstance of overcrowding which would have qualified the commander,\nHamilcar, for the captainship of a Thames steam-boat. The collision\nbetween the two fleets was as destructive as might be anticipated.\nThirty ships of the Carthaginians went to the bottom; and, considering\ntheir cargo, we can only wonder how they remained at the top. The Romans\nlost comparatively little, for with them matters went on pretty\nswimmingly. Regulus was so elated that he sailed for Africa, and, having\ntaken Clupea, the neighbourhood of which was cultivated like a garden,\nhe sat down to enjoy the fruits of success. He took the pick of\neverything he could lay his hands upon, and he pounced upon the cattle\nwherever a herd was to be seen. At the end of the year his colleague, L.\nManlius, returned to Rome, with a portion of the fleet, and 27,000\nprisoners--an arrangement that savours of an enormous cram--and left\nRegulus alone in his glory, which was destined to become his shame.\n\nEarly in the year of the city 498, Regulus, having the field to himself,\nwent into it with great confidence. He laid siege to the town of Adis,\nwhich the Carthaginians tried to relieve; but getting among the\nmountains with their elephants, they were unable to turn round, and\nfound themselves encumbered by the trunks as well as the bodies of these\nponderous animals. Regulus took Tunis, and several other places, though\nin the course of the campaign he is said to have encountered an\nunexpected enemy in the form of a snake in the grass--a species of\nserpent one hundred and twenty feet long, which swallowed up his\nsoldiers by hundreds--swords and all--though the reptile ran the risk of\ncutting its own throat by such extreme voracity.[43]\n\nThe Carthaginians were anxious for peace, and sent ambassadors to the\nRoman camp to negotiate, but Regulus, in his proposal of terms, exceeded\nall reasonable limits. He pretended to act on the principle of give and\ntake, but the giving was to be all on one side, and the taking all on\nthe other. The Carthaginians returned no answer to these insolent\ndemands; but it is probable their silence must soon have been construed\ninto consent, had it not been for the valour of a Spartan of the name of\nXanthippus. This individual was a mere mercenary, who put other people\nto death for his own living; but he was, at all events, a working man,\nand infused his own spirit of energy into the Carthaginian army. He\npersonally superintended the training, not only of the men, but of the\nelephants, and taught the soldiers how to wield as a power those\nhitherto unwieldy animals. Taking a hundred under his immediate tuition,\nhe brought them into such a state of docility, that when turned out for\nexercise, they formed a stud worthy of the zoologist's attentive study.\n\nWith these sagacious brutes, and a large number of troops, he went forth\nagainst Regulus, whose army amounted to 30,000 men; but the soldiers of\nXanthippus fought with the courage of lions, which, backed up as it was\nby the firmness of the elephants, gave them a decisive victory. More\nthan 30,000 Romans perished, if the accounts handed down to us are to be\nbelieved, and 500 were taken prisoners, though, if the same accounts are\nto be believed, the Roman army was only 30,000 strong; so that the 500\ncaptives must have been supplied from some of those exclusive sources\nwhich are open to none but the historian. 2000 more are alleged to have\nescaped, but we must leave the reader to solve the difficulty as he can;\nfor as two into one will not go, so 33,500 out of 30,000 will not come\nby any process we are acquainted with. Xanthippus, the mercenary, had\nmade it worth his while, for he was highly paid, and received rich\npresents, with which, as he dreaded the envy of the nobles, he thought\nhe had better make himself absent as speedily as possible. He returned,\ntherefore, to Sparta, to astonish the natives of his own city with the\nwealth he had acquired.\n\nThe Consuls of the year, Ser. Fulvius and M. Aemilius, were now\ndespatched with the whole of the Roman fleet, amounting to about 300\nships, to Africa, where, after destroying the whole of the Carthaginian\nfleet, it went ashore on the southern coast; and this fleet of 300 ships\nlost, according to the authorities,[44] 340 vessels. The Carthaginians,\nwhose army on land amounted to about 18,000, managed to lose about\n30,000 at sea; but an abundant population was still left for the\nhistorian to deal, or rather to cut and shuffle, with. We must confess\nourselves wholly incompetent to grapple with the arithmetical problems\nthat continually present themselves to us in the course of our\nresearches, and we therefore postpone all attempt at a solution of the\ndifficulty until the universal solvent shall be discovered.\n\nThe Romans and Carthaginians, instead of being overwhelmed by their own\nmisfortunes, were in high spirits at the disasters of each other, and\nboth parties proceeded to repair the damage done to themselves, in order\nto qualify them for doing further injury. At Rome the Senate ordered a\nnew fleet to be built, which took several Carthaginian towns, and\nCarthage ordered a fresh army to be levied, which took nearly all the\nRoman vessels.\n\nShortly afterwards another naval force was despatched under the Consuls,\nCn. Serulius C\u00e6pio and C. Sempronius Blaesus, who had got together 260\nships, with which sundry ravages had been committed on the African\ncoast, when the sea, with its insatiable appetite, swallowed up at a few\ngulps the greater part of the squadron.\n\nRome was now thoroughly sea-sick, and determined to have nothing more to\ndo with the water, but to wash her hands of it. She was, however, still\npowerful by land, and encountered the Carthaginians at Panormus, where\nthe pro-consul, L. C. Metellus, gained a decisive victory, by turning\nthe elephants against their owners, and fighting the latter as it were\nwith their own weapons. This defeat led to a desire on the part of\nCarthage for peace, and an embassy was sent to Rome, accompanied by\nRegulus, who had been a prisoner five years, and who agreed to consider\nhimself morally in pawn, pledging himself to return, if the terms\nproposed by Carthage should not be acceded to by his countrymen. The\nconduct of Regulus seems to have been dictated by a strong love of\nhistrionic display, for he appears to have been acting a part in which\nhe sought to make as many effective points as possible. In the first act\nwe find him at the gates of Rome, refusing to come in, although he had\nleft Carthage for the purpose of doing so. His wife and two children\nhaving gone to meet him, he looked at them as strangers; but this piece\nof dramatic effect may be accounted for as springing from various other\nmotives than those affecting the patriot.\n\nHaving been invited to take his seat in the Senate, he at first refused,\nbut he yielded after a considerable amount of pressing; a proof that his\nrefusal was founded on no fixed principle. When asked for his opinion on\nthe Carthaginian question, he spoke against the arrangement he had been\nsent home to further, and the noble Romans strongly urged him to stay\nbehind, though he had pledged his honour to return, and the Pontifex\nMaximus, the head of the religion of the nation, devised a dodge by\nwhich Regulus might have evaded his promise. It must, however, be\nstated, to his credit, that he kept his word to the Carthaginians, and\nreturned among them; but instead of being hailed as a hero, he was\ndenounced as an impostor, and put to death in the most cruel manner. The\nstories told of his being corked up in a cask filled with nails and\nserpents, are altogether false; for, after carefully looking into the\nmatter, we are glad to be enabled to knock the cask to pieces by the\ngentlest tap possible.\n\nRome, having refused to make peace, was compelled, in self-defence, to\ngo to war, and ordered 200 new ships with the recklessness of the\nspend-thrift who, calling on his coachmaker, desired that \"some more\ngigs\" should be immediately sent home to him. The Carthaginian fleet was\nin the harbour of Drepana, when P. Claudius Pulcher--son of Appius the\nblind, and who seems to have wilfully shut his eyes to the danger he\nought to have seen--determined to surprise the enemy. Every attempt to\ndissuade him from his rash purpose was vain, and he persevered in spite\nof the auspices, which were declared to be unfavourable; for the sacred\nchickens were completely off their feed--a fact he set at defiance, by\nobserving that, if the birds would not eat, he would at least make them\ndrink; and he threw them all neck and crop into the water. The fate of\nthe chickens went to the hearts of the Roman soldiers, who became\nthoroughly chicken-hearted, and fought so languidly, that they allowed\nthemselves to fall by hundreds into the hands of the enemy. The Senate\nrecalled Claudius to Rome, where a charge of high treason was preferred\nagainst him; but a thunder-storm interrupted the proceedings, which were\nnever resumed, for the thunder seems to have cleared the air of all the\nclouds impending over him. As he must have ultimately died in some way\nor other, and as there are no records of his having been put to death,\nhistory has returned an open verdict, which is equally adapted to the\nsuspicion that he came to his death by his own hands, or that it was\nbrought to him by the hands of his fellow countrymen.\n\nThe reverses of Rome by sea were a second time the cause of her giving\nup her naval establishments, and she sold her marine equipments to the\ndealers in marine stores, at a ruinous sacrifice. Carthage, therefore,\nbecame mistress of the seas; but the mistress being unable to pay the\nwages she owed, began borrowing money of her neighbours. Ptolemy of\nEgypt was applied to, but he civilly laid his hand on his heart,\ndeclaring he had nothing to lend, and kept his money--if he had any--in\nhis pocket. In this dilemma, the command of the Carthaginians fell upon\nHamilcar, surnamed Barca, or the lightning, from his being one of the\nfastest men of the day; and though any general, equal to the general\nrun, might head a force with plenty of money to pay the troops, a genius\nwas required to keep an army going, or rather to keep up a standing\narmy, with empty pockets. He found the mercenaries in a state of\ninsubordination for want of their customary emolument; but, having no\nmoney of his own, he made Bruttium and Locri his bankers, and gave his\nsoldiers a general authority to draw, with their swords, for whatever\nthey required. Taking his position on Mount Hercte, now the Monte\nPelegrino, he maintained himself and his army for three years, enabling\nhis troops to carry out the principle of spending half-a-crown out of\nsixpence a day--the sixpence being their own, and the half-crown being\nanybody else's, from whom it could be most conveniently taken. After\nremaining three years at Hercte, he removed to the town of Eryx,\nintending to tire the Romans out; but like many others who attempt to\nexhaust the patience of others, he found his own stock rapidly\ndiminishing. He was drawn into an engagement, in which he lost so many\nof his soldiers, that he was obliged to ask for a truce to bury the\ndead; but the Roman general would give him no undertaking not to proceed\nduring the funerals. A short time afterwards, when the fortune of war\nhad changed, Hamilcar was asked to give a similar permission, and, by\nallowing the burials to proceed, he has raised a monument to his own\nmagnanimity.\n\nThe Romans, who were as fickle on the subject of a fleet as the element\nto which it was destined, resolved a third time to have a naval force;\nbut ships were out of the question, when raising the wind was quite\nimpossible. The state being without funds, appealed to the merchants,\nwho consented to sink a large sum in an entirely new navy, with the\nunderstanding that if the tide of fortune should turn in their favour,\nthey were to receive their money back again. The Romans had by this time\nbecome better sailors than before, while the Carthaginian tars had\ngreatly deteriorated for want of practice. The ships of the latter were\nso heavily laden with corn that they could not proceed like chaff before\nthe wind; and the sailors, encumbered by the cargo, found themselves\ngoing continually against the grain in attempting to work the vessels.\nThe Romans obtained an easy victory, but it could not have been so easy\nto dispose of its results; for, after killing 14,000 men, they found\nthemselves still saddled with 34,000 prisoners. A peace was concluded;\none of the conditions being, that Carthage should pay to Rome 200\ntalents by instalments extending over twenty years--an arrangement\nequivalent to the discharge of a liability at the rate of one shilling\nper annum in the pound, and the extinction of the whole debt by simply\npaying the interest.\n\nThe first Punic War was now at an end, and it was high time it should\nbe, for the losses sustained on both sides were enough to have exhausted\nthe Roman as well as the Carthaginian population; and our history would\nthen have come to an abrupt termination, like the tragedy of the youth,\nwho was obliged to drop his curtain in the second act, in consequence of\nhis having killed all his characters. It is fortunate, therefore, that\nthe classical authorities, after \"cutting to pieces\" their thousands and\ndrowning their hundreds, in a day, should have paused in their career of\ndevastation just in time to leave something to go on with, to the\nconscientious historian.\n\nWhile, however, war killed everything else, it kept itself alive in the\nmost extraordinary manner; for though brought to a temporary pause by\nhaving swallowed up all its usual articles of consumption, fresh food\nwas speedily found, and the jaws of destruction were again on active\nservice.\n\nThe Romans having subdued Sicily, proceeded to prepare a constitution,\nor, in other words, having rendered the place subservient to\nthemselves, they took measures for supplying a livery. Being tired of\nthe old pattern, they devised something new, and produced an article of\nthe following fashion:--They made Sicily a province; but those whose\nprovince it is to say what a province was, have left us in some doubt as\nto its precise meaning. The best definition is that which derives the\nword from Providentia, a duty, or a thing that ought to be done, and the\nprovinces of the Romans were sometimes done indeed, though in a sense\nmore modern and familiar than classical. A province, instead of becoming\na part of Rome, retained its national existence, though such existence\nwas scarcely worth having, for it was accompanied by a loss of\nsovereignty,--a condition that may be compared to that of a body living\nafter its head was off.\n\nA governor was sent annually from Rome with a long train of officials,\nand the appointment being only for a year, leaves no doubt that the\nholder for the time being made the most he could of it. His staff\nincluded two Qu\u00e6stors or tax-collectors, and a number of Pr\u00e6cones or\nauctioneers, who were always ready to sell off, in the event of a\nseizure. Sicily was, in fact, in a state of complete servitude to Rome,\nthe only anomaly in the relationship consisting in the fact that the\nmaster, or rather the mistress, received the wages, instead of paying\nthem. The amount was fixed at one-tenth of the wine, the oil, the\nolives, and other products of the soil; so that much of the fat of the\nland became the perquisite of the mistress of Sicily. These tenths were\ncalled _decim\u00e6_, and so ruinous was their effect on the place whence\nthey were drawn, that the words decimation and destruction have become\nnearly synonymous.\n\nThe constitution of Rome had remained much the same during the period to\nwhich the present chapter refers, though the aristocracy of birth was\nbeginning to give way to the far more objectionable aristocracy of\nmoney. Such was the influence of wealth, that the Qu\u00e6stors or\ntax-collectors became members of the Senate as vacancies occurred, and\nthe enormous riches of these persons proved how much of the public\nmoney, of which they had the entire handling, stuck to their fingers.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[41] The word \"tyrant\" meant, originally, nothing more than a sovereign\nwho had arrived at supreme power by rather irregular means; but, as\npower thus obtained was most commonly abused, the words \"tyrant\" and\n\"tyranny\" became universally odious.\n\n[42] The curious reader, who is disposed to go over to Rome, will find\nthe work of art alluded to in the text at the southern extremity of the\nvestibule, just at the foot of the staircase leading to the upper\napartments, and close to a marble statue of Augustus.\n\n[43] The tale of this serpent has come down to us from Livy, and would,\nno doubt, form a very suitable companion to the sea serpent, if the\nlatter could be found.\n\n[44] Diodorus.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.\n\nSOME MISCELLANEOUS WARS OF ROME.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nProstrate greatness always offers an inviting mark to upstart\nlittleness; and the story of the Lion _couchant_ kicked by the Jackass\n_rampant_, is as old, at least, as the days when Rome, exhausted by her\nwars with Carthage, was attacked by the imbecile inhabitants of the\nfeeble city of Falerii.\n\nHad the Faliscans dashed their heads deliberately against a brick wall,\nthey could not more effectually have shown how few brains they\npossessed; and, to carry out the figure of the Lion and the Ass, a\nswitch of the former's tail soon told the latter's story. A few days\nsufficed to lay the Faliscans in the dust they had so foolishly kicked\nup, and in the clouds of which we very rapidly lose sight of them.\n\nThe Carthaginians had been compelled to evacuate Sicily, and the\nmercenaries were of course to be paid off in one way or the other. On a\nformer occasion, some of the hired soldiers who had demanded their money\nwere taken to a bank--which proved to be a sand-bank in the sea--where,\nat the rising of the tide, they, instead of their claims, were subjected\nto immediate liquidation.[45] The army from Sicily took, however, a\nfirmer stand, and proceeded to Carthage with a determination to do\nbusiness in the city. It contained, as they knew, the spices and\nluxuries of India on which they loved to live; the purple of Tyre, which\ntaught them how to dye; and the ebony and ivory which proclaim in black\nand white the wealth of Ethiopia. The persons who poured into the place\nformed an assemblage less pleasing than picturesque, for the group\ncomprised all sorts--except the right sort--of characters. Among the\nmass might be seen the almost naked Gaul, who was outstripped in\nbarbarity by some of the other tribes; the light cavalry of dark\nNumidians, and men who had their arms in slings; for such were the\nweapons of the Balearic slingers. The mercenaries, immediately on their\narrival in Carthage, proceeded to the Treasury, where they found nobody\nbut Hanno, who in an appropriately hollow speech, announced the\nemptiness of the public coffers. He regretted the necessity for\nappearing before them in the character of an apologist; but while\nadmitting how much Carthage owed to the troops, he announced the\nimpossibility of paying them. The State, he said, was heavily taxed,\nand, he added, with a feeble attempt to be facetious, that he must lay a\nsmall tax upon their patience, by getting them to wait for their money.\nThe speaker was at once assailed with imprecations in ten different\nlanguages; but he stood firm under the polyglot uproar. The cry of \"Down\nwith him!\" reached his ears in nearly a dozen different tongues; and\nwhen he tried to remonstrate, through the medium of interpreters, the\nworst interpretation was put on all that was said, and a good\nunderstanding seemed quite impossible.\n\n[Illustration: Hanno announcing to the Mercenaries the emptiness of the\nPublic Coffers.]\n\nAn attempt was then made to stop the mouths of the mercenaries with\nfood; and provisions were sent in abundance; but the only reply was, an\nunprovisional demand for the money owing. At length the pay had been got\ntogether, and was about to be distributed, when an Italian slave, named\nSpendius, who had probably spent by anticipation all he had to receive,\nadvised his companions to decline the offer, on the ground that if they\nrefused what was due, their policy might obtain for them a large\nadditional bonus. The suggestion was popular with the mercenaries, who\nheld a meeting to discuss the point, and who, to save the time of the\nmeeting, overwhelmed with a shower of stones anybody who rose to speak\non either side. The resolution was soon carried; but it was by the aid\nof what may be termed the casting votes of those who sent up, in the\nimpressive form of a plumper, the first missile they could lay their\nhands upon. For three years these intestine disturbances raged in\nAfrica, and reduced it to the lowest point of exhaustion, till at length\nthe malady wore itself out, though Hamilcar Barca, by intercepting the\nsupplies of the rebels, assisted greatly in depriving treachery of the\nfood it lived upon.\n\nThe pecuniary panic of Carthage spread in nearly every direction, and\nthe mercenaries at Sardinia, affected by the tightness of money, called\nupon the African colonists to pay with their lives the debt they could\nnot discharge with their pockets. While the Sardinians and Carthaginians\nwere reducing each other to a state of such weakness that neither could\nmake any further effort, Rome stepped in, and like the lawyer between\nthe exhausted litigants, carried off the whole of what they had been\nfighting for. Sardinia became a Roman province; when Carthage, whose bad\nfaith has passed into a proverb, complained bitterly of the treachery of\nRome: for we find the story of the kettle accused of blackness by the\npot, is as old as the earliest pothooks employed in the writing of\nhistory. Hamilcar, who was the patriotic mouthpiece of the day, declared\nthat he would raise his country; and it must be admitted, to his honour,\nthat he did not take the means employed by self-styled patriots, who\npretend to raise a country by stirring it up from the lowest dregs, but\nhe tried to elevate it by all the honourable means in his power.\n\nRome had at this time her hands tolerably full, and found employment for\nher arms in all directions; when, to add to her embarrassment, the\nCisalpine Gauls were set in a flame by one of the many irons that she\nhad in the fire. An Agrarian law, proposed by the tribune, C.\nFlaminius--whose name savours of the firebrand--was the cause of the\noutbreak. The measure enacted, that the land taken from the Gauls should\nbe distributed among the Romans; and accordingly some settlers were sent\nout, who unsettled everything. The Cisalpines commenced negotiations\nwith their Transalpine allies; but though the negotiations were carried\na very long way, they eventually came to nothing.\n\nRome was so occupied with foes, that she had scarcely time to turn\nround; but when she did turn round, she discovered that some very\nobjectionable proceedings were being carried on behind her back by a set\nof people called the Illyrians. These persons picked up a dishonest\nliving as pirates, and had plundered, among others, some Italian\nmerchants who supplied the Italian warehouses of Rome and its\nneighbourhood. The Illyrians were ruled over by a woman, named Teuta,\nwho, when applied to for reparation, observed that she was sorry for\nwhat had occurred, but that piracy was what her subjects got their\nliving by, and she did not see how she could interfere with the manners\nand customs of her people. The Roman ambassadors answered, that the\ncustom of their country was to protect the injured; but on this\noccasion, at least, the country failed in its Protectionist principles,\nfor the ambassadors were slain before they could get home again. When\ntheir death was known at Rome, every exertion was made to afford them\nthat protection which came too late to be of any use, and a large army\nwas sent into the country of the Illyrians. The Roman arms were\nperfectly successful, and Teuta was glad to obtain peace by promising to\nput down piracy, and by actually putting down a very large sum of money\nby way of tribute. Rome had done considerable service to the Isles of\nGreece by checking the disreputable trade of piracy; and as the Romans\ntook evident pride in being noticed by the Greeks, the latter paid the\nformer for their military aid, by some of those civil attentions which\ncost nothing. At Athens, as well as at Corinth, Roman embassies were\nreceived; and though the ambassadors might be considered rather too\nvenerable for sport, they were allowed to take part in the Isthmian\nGames, as well as in the Eleusinian Mysteries.\n\nThe Isthmian Games were the same as those at Olympia, of which we\nfurnish a brief outline for the information of those who feel an\ninterest in the sporting annals of antiquity.\n\nDuring the first thirteen Olympiads, the only game was the foot-race, of\nwhich the spectators and the competitors, but especially the latter, if\nthey selected it as their walk of life, must have been at last\nthoroughly tired. Wrestling was next introduced under the name of \u03c0\u03ac\u03bb\u03b7,\nor Lucta; and though wrestlers have for centuries been endeavouring to\nthrow each other, they have not yet fallen to the ground, for they still\nmaintain a footing in the sports and pastimes of our own people. Next\ncame the Pentathlon, a sort of five-in-one, which comprised, in addition\nto the foot-race and wrestling, the practice of leaping, in which much\nvaulting ambition was displayed; and throwing of the discus, as well as\nof the spear--an exercise that required the utmost pitch of strength and\ndexterity. Subsequently boxing was introduced, under the name of\nPugilatus, and it seems to have resembled pretty closely our own\npugilistic encounters; for in ancient works of art we find the boxers\nrepresented with faces whose indentures witness their apprenticeship to\nthe degrading trade they followed. The physicians of the period are said\nto have recommended boxing as a remedy for headache;[46] but this\napplication of the theory of counter irritation is not adopted in modern\npractice. Another feature of the Olympian and Isthmian Games was the\nPancratium, a contest calling for all the powers of the combatant. In\nthis exercise biting and scratching were allowed--a disgraceful license\nwhich leaves us in no doubt as to the classical source whence the vulgar\nphrase of \"going at it tooth and nail\" is derivable. Horse and chariot\nraces were also introduced, as well as contests of trumpeters, who dealt\nout blows of the most harmless description against each other.\n\n[Illustration: Early Roman Gladiator and his Patron.]\n\nSuch were the games in which the Roman visitors to Corinth were allowed\nto take part; and we will now proceed to confer on the reader the\nprivilege once peculiar to the inhabitants of Athens, by initiating him\ninto the Eleusinian Mysteries. Their celebration lasted several days,\nthe first of which was occupied in getting together the myst\u00e6, or\ninitiated, whose qualification consisted in their having sacrificed a\nsow--an act less worthy of a priest than of a pork-butcher. On the\nsecond day the myst\u00e6 went in solemn procession to the sea-coast, where\nthey took a bath, by way of wetting the public curiosity. On the third\nday they went through the interesting ceremony of a fast, which, to the\nlooker-on, must have been a somewhat slow process. The fourth day was\ndevoted to the carrying about of a basket containing poppy seeds; and\nthis literally seedy procession was closed by a number of women, each\nholding in her hand a mystic case, the contents of which were in no case\nallowed to be visible. On the fifth day the myst\u00e6 went, with lighted\ntorches, to the temple of Demeter, at Eleusis, where they spent the\nnight; but the torches throw no light upon what they were looking for.\nThe sixth was the grandest day of all, and was employed in carrying\nabout a statue of the son of Demeter; in whose honour the mysteries were\nheld; because, when wandering about in search of her daughter, she had\nsupplied corn--though nobody can say how she carried it about with\nher--to the inhabitants of Athens. During the night of this important\nday the myst\u00e6 were taken, in the dark, to see what nobody appears to\nhave seen at all; and we are therefore spared the trouble of describing\nit. On the seventh day the initiated returned to Athens, and stopped on\ntheir way at a bridge over the Cephisus, from which they indulged in\njests at the passers-by; and the obscurity of the jokes would, no doubt,\nif they had come down to us, have been thoroughly in keeping with the\nmysteries they were intended to celebrate.\n\nSuch were the games and mysteries to which the Romans were admitted in\nAthens and Corinth, though they had, at about this time, established\namong themselves a sport exceeding in ferocity the scratchings and\nbitings of the Greek Pancratiast\u00e6, or the ear-flattening and nose\nbreaking efforts of the Corinthian pugilists.\n\nUntil the Punic War commenced, the state had found money for the public\ngames at Rome; but war having exhausted the treasury, the expense of\namusing the people was thrown upon the \u00c6diles, who made the matter a\nmedium of corruption, for they vied with each other in their outlays, in\norder to catch the votes of the people. The \u00c6dile who had carried on the\nmost extravagant games was the most likely to get elected to higher\ndignities; for popularity has ever been, and it is to be feared ever\nwill be, the prize of those who possess the art of dazzling, rather than\npermanently enlightening the people. That their taste was degraded by\nthose who sought their suffrages, we learn from the fact, that at about\nthis time the sanguinary conflicts of the gladiators[47] were first\nadded to the amusements of the populace.\n\nThere seems to have existed in almost all ages and countries a morbid\nappetite, similar to that which formerly gorged itself on the spectacle\nof human beings \"butchered to make a Roman holiday.\" When the\nbrute-tamer promises to thrust his head into the mouth of the lion, or\nthe \"intrepid a\u00ebronaut\" is about to risk the dashing to pieces which\nsome previous a\u00ebronauts have experienced, and from which others have\nnarrowly escaped, the crowds who flock to be present are actuated by the\nsame sanguinary thirst for brutal excitement which filled the Roman\namphitheatre when an encounter of gladiators was advertised. The\nattraction was great enough on ordinary occasions, but an overflow could\nalways be secured by announcing an entertainment _sine missione_, which\nimplied that the lives of the conquered were not to be spared. It is to\nbe feared that many of those who have never been at Rome are\nnevertheless prepared to do as Rome did on the occasions alluded to; and\nif the certainty, instead of the mere chance, of a sacrifice of human\nlife were to be announced as an entertainment, the largest place of\namusement in the metropolis would, in all probability, be thronged,\nthough the ordinary charge for admission should be doubled.\n\nThe early Roman gladiators were either captives or malefactors, and were\nfed on a particular kind of diet, as brutes in the present day are\nfattened for the prize-show and the shambles. To give as much variety as\npossible to the sport, the gladiators were divided into different\nclasses, and, with an excess of ferocity almost incredible, measures\nwere adopted to give a dash of mirth to the frightful encounters. Some\nof the combatants, called Andabat\u00e6, wore helmets without any apertures\nfor the eyes, so that \"roars of laughter\" might be excited at an\noccasional display of blind fury. Others, called Retiarii, carried nets\nto throw over the heads of their antagonists, and when caught in these\nnets, their lives hung upon a thread; for, if the net did not break,\ntheir defeat was unavoidable.[48]\n\nThe foes of Rome were just about this time so numerous, that whichever\nway she looked, she had in her eye the sword of an enemy. The Boians,\nthe Tauriscans, and the Insubrians, with a number of miscellaneous\ntribes, entered into an alliance, and threatened to enter into Rome\nitself, where a prophecy was current, that the Gauls and Greeks would\ntake the city. Having consulted the book of fate, the Romans found\ninstructions for burying alive in the forum two Gauls and two Greeks; a\nproceeding which, but for its connection with the grave, would border on\nthe ludicrous. An army, under the Consul L. \u00c6milius Papus, was sent to\nAriminum; but the Gauls, ignoring the movement, advanced within three\ndays' march of Rome, and ultimately found themselves between the army\njust mentioned and another army that had been stationed in Etruria.\nFlight was their only resource; and though the cavalry took to their\nhorses' heels, and the infantry took to their own, forty thousand are\nsaid to have fallen on the field; but even imagination, which is\naccustomed to wander in very wide fields, can scarcely find one\nsufficiently extensive for such an incident.\n\nIt would seem that population in those days partook of the nature of\ncorn; for however thoroughly a people might be cut down and thrashed in\none year, there was always an abundant supply for the sword of an enemy\nto go to work upon in the year following. The Gauls were accordingly to\nbe found in full force within twelve months after their having been\ndestroyed, and the consul, C. Flaminius, killed them all over again; but\nthey still were numerous enough in body, and sufficiently poor in\nspirit, to acknowledge the sovereignty of their conquerors.\n\nWhile the attention of Rome had been divided among her numerous foes,\nthe remnant of the Carthaginians had been expanding with the usual\nrapidity, and had extended to Spain, where, under Hamilcar Barca, a\nCarthaginian empire was in the course of being established. Hamilcar's\npolicy towards the Spaniards was bold and rather original, for he\ndetermined to win their affections by thoroughly beating them. Every\nblow he aimed produced a favourable impression, and the Spaniards were\nas ready as so many spaniels to lick the hands that were continually\nsmiting them.\n\nThe system of Hamilcar was followed after his death by his son-in-law,\nHasdrubal, who ruled in Spain for eight years, and who proved so good a\nruler, that matters were kept as straight as could be desired. He was,\nhowever, assassinated at last by some culprit, who has eluded the\nvigilance of the historical detectives, for not even Niebuhr, who stands\nacknowledged as A 1, has been able to lay his finger on the criminal.\n\nHasdrubal was succeeded by the son of Hamilcar Barca, a young man, named\nHannibal, whose precocity as a lad was exemplified by an awful oath,\nwhich he took at nine years old, under the direction of his father.\nWhether it was judicious of a parent to teach his son to swear, is a\nquestion for the moralist; but whether a child of nine could have\nunderstood the nature of an oath, is usually a question for a judge; and\nany intelligent reader may safely act as a judge in the matter alluded\nto.\n\nThe biographers of Hannibal have endeavoured to prove that he was that\nprecocious nuisance, an infant prodigy, because, at the age of nine, he\nexpressed a desire to accompany his father to the wars; though there is\nscarcely an infant of those tender years who, if asked \"whether he would\nlike to go with his papa,\" would not answer \"yes,\" as a matter of\ncourse, without having the slightest notion where he might be going to.\nYoung Hannibal is said to have learned the art of war in the camp, and\nto have gone into arms before he could be considered fairly out of them.\nBefore leaving Carthage, his father administered to him a soldier's\noath, and the boy swore like a trooper that he would be Rome's\nimplacable enemy.\n\n[Illustration: _Hannibal, whilst even yet a child, swears eternal hatred\nto the Romans._]\n\nOn succeeding to the command in Spain, he was twenty-six years old--a\nproof that promotion had been very rapid in his case; and, although\nmerit may have had something to do with his rise, there can be little\ndoubt that he owed much to interest. Adopting the policy of his\npredecessor, he attempted to engrave his name in the hearts of the\nSpaniards by the agency of the sword; and he may be said to have\nliterally thrust himself upon them, though they were often bored to\ndeath by his too pointed attentions. All the South of Spain was under\nhis thumb, with the exception of Saguntum, which had hitherto slipped\nthrough his fingers. He proceeded, therefore, to take it immediately in\nhand, when the Saguntines sent for assistance to Rome, whose Senate\nresolved unanimously that Hannibal could not attack the place; but when\na copy of the resolution reached him, he had already begun besieging the\ncity. He sent word to the ambassadors who brought the intelligence out,\nthat they would display a sad want of intelligence if they ventured to\ncome too near to him; and, as he had no time to go to them, they had\nbetter retire. Acting upon his suggestion, they repaired to Carthage,\nwhere they demanded that Hannibal should be given up; and there being\nsome hesitation among the Carthaginian Senate, Q. Fabius, one of the\nRoman ambassadors, made a fold in his toga as if he had some mystery\nwrapped up in it. \"Here,\" he exclaimed, \"is either peace or war,\nwhichever you prefer;\" to which the Senate, in a spirit rather\nmilitary than civil, replied, \"Whichever you think proper.\" Fabius,\nthrowing back his toga, and assuming an imposing attitude, exclaimed,\n\"Then I offer you war;\" when the Punic Senators, taking up his last\nword, raised through the senate-house a shout of \"War,\" which, vibrating\nthrough every pillar, was conveyed by every post, and echo sent back an\nimmediate answer.\n\n[Illustration: His Excellency Q. Fabius offering Peace or War to the\nCarthaginian Senate.]\n\nThis was a declaration of that Second Punic War, for which Hannibal\nbegan to prepare when Saguntum, after having held out for eight months,\nwas starved into submission. Though rich in the precious metals, and\nparticularly in silver, the Saguntines experienced the bitter truth,\nthat to be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth, is but an empty\ngratification, after all, when the spoon has nothing in it. Hannibal\nsacked the city, and converted into baggage all the loose silver he\ncould find, which he kept in hand for the purpose of glutting the\navarice of his troops, whose valour depended materially on other\npeople's metal.\n\nThe battle of Saguntum was signalised by the introduction of a weapon\ncalled the Falarica, which was in one respect a species of firearm,--for\nits point was covered with flaming pitch and tow, that, when pitched\nwith effect, carried fire into the ranks of an enemy. It was, perhaps,\nfortunate, that inventive ingenuity had not gone very far among a people\nwho seemed only disposed to throw away the little they possessed of it,\nin the form of destructive missiles.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[45] Diod. 5.\n\n[46] Aret\u00e6us de Morb. diut. Cur. i.\n\n[47] The first public exhibition of the kind at Rome took place B.C.\n244, at the funeral of the father of Marcus and Decius Brutus; but the\n\u00c6diles carried out the idea on what they considered a grand scale, and\nimmense numbers of gladiators were sacrificed for the \"amusement\" of the\npeople.\n\n[48] It may be hinted to the student that the Dying Gladiator in the\nMuseum at Rome is no gladiator, but a Gaul; and the collar round his\nneck, supposed to be a mark of disgrace, is, in fact, the Torques, a\nsymbol of honour. The sculpture is Greek, and belongs to a period of Art\nlong previous to the introduction of gladiatorial displays.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH.\n\nTHE SECOND PUNIC WAR.\n\n\nWe have now arrived at the great historical drama of the Second Punic\nWar, which some authorities have divided into five acts; the principal\npart being undertaken by Hannibal, and the scenery being laid in Italy,\nSpain, Sicily, and Africa. The first act opens with the passage of\nHannibal over the Alps, which forms one of the most remarkable passages\nin the life of that renowned soldier. In the second act we arrive at the\ntaking of Capua; and in the third, we see Hannibal on the look-out for\nreinforcements, which never arrive from his brother Hasdrubal. The\nfourth act brings us to Italy, from which the Carthaginian commander\nmakes a forced exit; and for the last act of all, the scene is changed\nto Africa, when the curtain and 20,000 Carthaginians fall together.\n\nHannibal having resolved on the part he was about to play, called\ntogether those who were to act with him in the stirring scenes in which\nhe intended to figure. His company consisted of 90,000 foot, 12,000\nhorse, and an unrivalled stud of 37 elephants. With this troop he\ncrossed the Pyrenees, by means of slopes, which nature had kindly\nprovided, instead of platforms. The first incident of importance which\nhappened on the way, was a mutiny among those, who, when they arrived at\nthe foot of the mountain, protested against being brought to such a\npass; and Hannibal wisely sent the discontented back, that the\ninsubordination might go no further. Forty thousand foot retraced their\nsteps, and 3000 horse backed out, on the opportunity being offered them.\nWith the rest of his army, he reached the banks of the \"arrowy Rhone,\"\nwhich he found particularly arrowy when he made an effort to cross; for\nhe did so under a shower of darts from the Gauls, who thus pointedly\nobjected to his progress. The hostility manifested towards the invaders\nwas not simply on account of their appetite for conquest, but their\nappetite for food was productive of a most inconvenient scarcity. To\nprovide every day for 60,000 soldiers was difficult enough, but there\nwas something awful in the idea of the daily dinner-party being\nincreased by 9000 hungry horses, and nearly 40 healthy elephants. The\npassage of the Rhone was a matter of considerable difficulty; for the\nhorses stood plunging on the banks of the river, instead of plunging\nboldly into it. The elephants were still less tractable, and were, after\nmuch trouble, pushed or persuaded on to a raft, covered with earth and\nbushes, to make it resemble dry land; but it no sooner began to move,\nthan the unwieldy animals felt themselves and their confidence seriously\nshaken. This caused them to crowd together to the edge; and, while\ntaking this one-sided view of their position, they turned the matter\nover so completely, that they all fell in with one another, and most of\nthem came to the same conclusion. Continuing his journey, Hannibal\narrived at the bottom of the Alps, and, coming to the foot of St.\nBernard, he extracted from the foot all the corn he could lay his hands\nupon. The weather was, unfortunately, so severe that the cold nearly\nbroke his army up into shivers; while provisions were so scarce that at\none time there seemed to be no chance of anything to eat but ice, and\nthough the air was thoroughly gelid, it was impossible to live on it.\nTradition tells us, that when Hannibal came to this point of his journey\nhe found two brothers in the middle of a fight for a crown; but what was\nthe country to which the crown belonged, or whether the article was a\nmere bauble that had been picked up in the road, or whether the crown\nwas a sum of money representing the stake for which the brothers fought,\nwe have no means of determining. The combatants, at all events, agreed\nthat Hannibal should arbitrate between them; when, adopting the\nprinciple of \"Age before honesty,\" he adjudged the article in dispute to\nthe elder of the litigants. The decision did not involve any very\nremarkable acuteness on the part of the umpire, who seems simply to have\nsided with the big brother against the little one. The successful\nclaimant was so delighted with the judgment delivered in his favour,\nthat he placed a large stock of clothes, for the army, at the disposal\nof Hannibal. Some fearful misfits arose from this neglect of the\nwholesome maxim, \"Measures, not men,\" for there was not a man whose\nmeasure could have been properly taken.\n\nIt was now time to undertake the ascent of the Alps, and to commence\noperations on a scale so grand, that all former experience in scaling a\nheight, was little better than useless. Many of the soldiers at the\nsight of the mountains, instead of rising with the occasion, sunk with\nit into a fainting state; and others objected to venture into the snow,\non the ground that they did not understand the drift of it. Hannibal\nrepresented the whole affair as a mere nothing; and added, that the\npassage over the Alps was not such very up-hill work after all, for that\nmen, women, and even children, had often been quite up to the work he\nnow proposed to cut out for his army. \"Soldiers!\" he exclaimed, \"you\nhave no choice, except between certain famine on one side of the Alps,\nor fertile plains, which you may see plainly enough in your mind's eye,\non the other.\" Hannibal having made this brief speech, was rewarded with\nloud cheers; the army followed him, and proceeding to the passes, he\nfound them lined with Gauls; but he tore the lining out in the most\nmerciless fashion.\n\nOn reaching the Valley of the Tarentaise, Hannibal was offered guides,\nwhom, however, he distrusted; and refusing, therefore, to be led away by\nspecious promises, he sent his baggage by way of experiment; intending,\nwhen he heard of the safe arrival of his soldiers' trunks, to despatch\nby the same route their entire body. When the elephants came within a\nstone's throw of the Gauls, the latter hurled down rocks in vast masses\non the affrighted beasts, and snowballed them with the snow from the\nloftiest part of the mountains. The assailants, however, completely\nmissed their aim, for Hannibal threw himself upon them, and succeeded in\ncompletely crushing them.\n\n[Illustration: Hannibal crossing the Alps.]\n\nIt was a fine October morning when the Carthaginian general set out to\ncross the Alps by the road over the Little St. Bernard, and after a nine\ndays' march, which was at that time a nine days' wonder, he reached the\ntop of the mountain. The fatigue endured by Hannibal and his army cannot\nbe described, and the toils of the journey were aggravated by the\nchance of their falling into the toils and snares of the enemy. Little\npassed their lips in the shape of food, and very little passed their\nlips in a contrary direction, for they were afraid to speak, lest their\nwords should disturb the impending avalanche. The way was rugged, save\nwhere it was carpeted by the snow; but even where it was trodden hard\nenough to serve as a sort of track or guide, they could scarcely trust\nto it, for it gave them the slip every now and then in the most\nunsatisfactory manner. On the tenth day they began their descent: and\nthey, perhaps, little thought at the moment that in quitting the top of\nthe Alps they were coming down to posterity. The two first days slid\naway merrily enough over the ice and snow, but on the third they arrived\nat a point where the ground had slipped out of its place, and left to\nthe enterprising travellers a far from eligible opening.\n\nThe shifting of the earth had, in fact, put them to the most perplexing\nshifts, for the old road had perversely gone out of its way to baffle\nthe travellers, and lay at the distance of 1000 feet below them. As\nHannibal looked down upon the chasm, his spirits fell for a moment; but\nhe speedily rallied, and determined, rather than allow his army to\nperish with cold, that he would make a way with them. Nature, however,\nopposed him by means of a mass of rock; and as he and Nature were at\nvariance, he began to think how he could best split the difference. How\nhe made his way cannot be confidently stated, though several of the\nlearned,[49] who have gone deeply into the subject, have come out of it\nin opposite directions; and the authorities cannot be said to clash, for\nthey are as wide apart as possible. Tradition, who never fails to take a\ntrenchant way of getting through a difficulty, settles the point at\nonce, by attributing to vinegar the success of Hannibal's scheme; but\nthe vinegar must have been sharp indeed to have cut asunder the rocks\nwhich barred the progress of the illustrious traveller.\n\nIt is difficult, also, to conceive how he could have carried with him\nthe liquid in sufficient abundance to enable him to accomplish the\nobject he had in view, and we are inclined to the belief that it was by\ncontinued assiduity, rather than by a mere acid, that the wondrous task\nwas effected. A good-sized cruet full of vinegar would produce no\nimpression on a common pebble, and when we imagine how many hogsheads\nafter hogsheads must have been necessary to moisten the rocks through\nwhich Hannibal passed, it can only be the sheerest pig-headedness that\nwould still obstinately adhere to the supposition we have stated.\n\nThe passage of Hannibal over the Alps may be regarded literally as one\nof the grandest passages in history. Though subsequent generals have, in\nsome degree, generalised the achievement, the special merit of it\nbelongs to the Carthaginian leader, whose superiority over his followers\nconsists in the fact that they did but find the way, while he might\nhave claimed the credit of making it. The exploit of Napoleon has been\ncompared to that of Hannibal, though the former, after all, did but\nfollow what had been, for two thousand years, a beaten track; the latter\nbeing the individual who beat originally a track for himself, and\nthoroughly vanquished every obstacle.\n\nAt length, after having nearly lost himself in the Alps, Hannibal found\nhimself, at the end of a journey of fifteen days, in the plain of Turin.\nOn mustering his army, he discovered that considerable reductions had\ntaken place in it; for the foot, which had stood at 50,000 when he\ncrossed the Rhone, had now dwindled to less than half the number. He had\nlost 3000 horse, and his stock of elephants had materially\ndiminished--the few that remained having become so thin, that there was\na striking falling off in the material as well as the numbers of the\nbody. So little had his visit been expected, that the Romans were not\nprepared for it; and Scipio, who ought to have been waiting at the foot\nof the Alps, did not arrive at Pavia until Hannibal had had time to\nrecruit himself after his late fatigue. Here both armies met, and Scipio\ngave battle; but Hannibal's cavalry gave it to him in a sense more\nfamiliar than satisfactory. In the course of the engagement, the Roman\ngeneral received a wound, which wound him up to the highest pitch of\nrage; and he would have exposed himself to certain death, if his son had\nnot valiantly rushed between him and the enemy.\n\nThe Romans now began to rate each other for having underrated the\nstrength of the foe; and Tib. Sempronius was recalled from Africa, where\nhe was wasting his time by wasting the coast in the most unprofitable\nmanner. Hannibal pitched his camp on the banks of the Trebia, where,\namong the bushes, he found for his army a convenient ambush. Sempronius\nhad by this time joined Scipio, who was still a great invalid, and being\ngenerally indisposed, was not at all disposed for battle. Sempronius, on\nthe other hand, thinking he should obtain all the glory that was to be\nacquired, felt eager for the fight; and Hannibal, from the other side of\nthe river, assumed the most provoking attitude, in order to tempt the\nRomans to come after him.\n\nAt length, some of the guards became so irritated, that they volunteered\ninto the cold-stream, and plunged into the icy river. There happened to\nbe at the moment a fall of snow, which was taken by the wind into the\nfaces of the soldiers, who, nevertheless, fought with bravery, though in\nappearance they seemed to exhibit a mass of white feathers. The Romans,\nthough nearly frozen to death, were not only cool and collected, but\neagerly sought, in the hope of warming themselves, the heat of the\nbattle. They were, however, completely beaten, and retired to Placentia,\nfrom which the Consuls, with much self-complacency, sent to Rome an\naccount of the battle, in which they attributed to the wind the blow\nthey had sustained, and, plausibly suggesting the ice as the cause of\ntheir failure, they endeavoured to slip out of it.\n\nHannibal determined to pass the winter as quietly as he could, but he\nappears, according to the authorities,[50] to have indulged in a little\nmasquerading, for the purpose of deceiving the Cisalpine Gauls, who more\nthan once conspired to kill him. He would frequently change his dress;\nand he appears to have had a large assortment of wigs, in one or other\nof which he was accustomed to disguise himself. Sometimes he would\nappear in hair of the richest brown, and at other times it was of the\nreddest dye; so that the people were puzzled to understand how the same\nhead could, on one day, appear covered with the luxuriant chestnut, and\non another day, disfigured with an untidy bunch of carrots. On one\noccasion, when a conspiracy against him was ripe, he came to the council\nwith a limping gait, and thus saved himself from a much more serious\nhobble.\n\n[Illustration: Hannibal disguising himself.]\n\nIn the spring of the next year, the Consul, C. Flaminius, was sent to\nAriminum with an army, and Hannibal started for Etruria. This\nexpedition--if expedition is the proper term for an affair so extremely\nslow--lasted three days and three nights; the soldiers proceeding\nthrough marsh and morass, through thick and thin, to the end of their\njourney. The Spaniards went first, who picked their way, followed by the\nGauls, who stuck in the mud, and were spurred on by the swords of the\nNumidians, who followed. All the horses were knocked up, and Hannibal,\nto whom all the glory of the march has been given, endured the least of\nthe fatigue, for, while the common soldiers were wading through the mud,\ntheir chief was elevated on the back of the only surviving elephant.\n\nThe advantages of a high position were, in this instance, strikingly\nexemplified, for if Hannibal had moved in the humbler walks on this\noccasion, the probability is, that he could not have walked at all; but\nthat, sinking in the marshes, he would have gone down--in a swamp--to\nposterity. He, himself, lost the use of one of his eyes, though, indeed,\nhe exhibited throughout this disastrous affair an unusual amount of\nshortsightedness. After reaching F\u00e6sul\u00e6, now Fiesole, near Florence, he\nmade for Rome, and Flaminius made after him as far as Cortona; but\nHannibal, turning sharp round the corner of the Lake Trasimenus; ran\nunperceived up the heights, getting round to the rear of the Roman\ngeneral, who thought the foe was still in front of him. While Flaminius\nwas pressing forward, Hannibal and his forces fell upon him right and\nleft, as well as behind, and a fog coming on at the time added to the\nperplexity of the Consul, by preventing him from seeing his danger. A\nfight in a fog is one of the most dismal pictures that can be described,\nif, indeed, it can be called a picture at all, when nothing can be seen,\nand the whole is a mere daub, caused by a fearful brush between two\nconflicting armies. Such was the fury of the fight, that it is said an\nearthquake, which happened at the time, was unperceived by the\ncombatants; and, indeed, so shocking was the carnage, that a shock of\nnature might have sunk by its side into comparative insignificance.\n15,000 Romans were slain, and those who are always ready to prophecy\nafter an event, began to see clearly in certain omens that had happened\nsome time before, the cause of all that had lately happened.\n\nA shower of stones had fallen at Picenum, but it does not appear whether\nthose who told the story of the stones had a hand in throwing them. In\nGaul a wolf had swallowed the sword of a sentinel; and in C\u0153re the\nanswers of the oracle were suddenly written in smaller characters--a\nproof only that the oracle had got from text into round-hand--the\nordinary result of improved penmanship.\n\nThe battle had undoubtedly been fearful in its results, for Flaminius\nhimself was slain; and 15,000 Romans having been cut to pieces, were\nthrown into a brook, which still bears the name of Sanguinetta, from its\nbeing turned into the colour of blood, though the statement is too\nextravagant to have the colour of probability. The horrors of the war\nwere great enough without the aid of exaggeration, and though the\ninstances of suffering were no doubt great, we are inclined to doubt the\nstory, that the Numidians went without their allowance of wine, in order\nto wash the feet of their horses; for, though the animals might have\nbeen unable to do without their hock, they could surely have dispensed\nwith their Falernian.\n\nOn the news of Hannibal's victory reaching Rome, the pr\u00e6tor announced\nthe distressing circumstance to a numerous meeting of the people, who,\nin the absence of the Consul, took upon themselves to appoint a\ndictator. Q. Fabius Maximus was chosen, and the mastership of the horse\nwas conferred on M. Minucius. Hannibal was expected at Rome, but, like a\nwise general, he defeated general expectation, and proceeded to\nSpoletum, a Roman colony, which he hoped would have held out great\nadvantages; but it held out with great spirit against him. Wishing to\navoid the inconvenience of a siege, and of sitting down before the city\nwith nothing but a marsh to sit down upon, he marched into Picenum,\nwhich contained abundance of everything necessary for the support of his\narmy. His soldiers were afflicted at this time with a cutaneous disease,\nand, though this annoyance was only skin-deep, he feared a general\nbreaking-out, if he had detained them against their will in an unhealthy\ncountry. From Picenum he passed into Apulia; and though he was\ndisappointed in the hope that the inhabitants would join him, they were\ntoo weak to resist, and he turned every Italian city into an Italian\nwarehouse for the supply of the comestibles he required. The dictator\nFabius followed at a short distance, but always taking the high ground,\nby hovering about the hills and keeping the upper hand of Hannibal.\n\nHis intention was to proceed to Casinum, but by some stupid\nmisunderstanding, the general led the way to Casilinum, and the result\nwas, that Fabius got ahead of him. On the mistake being discovered by\nHannibal, he got 2000 oxen--but where he got them from does not exactly\nappear--and, having procured several thousand bundles of wood, he tied\nthem to the horns of the animals. Having set the wood on fire, he turned\nthe oxen out among the Romans, whose quarters soon were thrown into the\nsort of confusion prevalent in a London thoroughfare on a Smithfield\nmarket-day. In order to inflame the oxen, their horns had been covered\nover with pitch, which gave them an inclination to toss, and the poor\ncreatures were running about in all directions, under the influence of\nfear and fury. Fabius is said to have mistaken the cattle for the\nCarthaginians, and to have rushed forwards, sword in hand, resolved on\nbutchery. The Romans were thus drawn out of their favourable position,\nand Hannibal slipped into it, leaving the bulls to decide by a toss-up,\nif they pleased, the chances of victory over their aggressors. On the\nmistake being discovered by Fabius, he backed out as well as he could,\nand ventured on a few skirmishes, in which he met with some success, but\nhe continued his policy of trying to tire out the enemy.\n\nThe plan he adopted was to continue always in an imposing attitude but\nto be ready to slip away, so that, when his antagonist gathered up his\nstrength to make a hit, the force was always expended on vacancy. The\nRomans grew extremely impatient of a series of tactics which showed no\nimmediate result; and Fabius, having occasion to return to Rome, was\ninsulted by having the epithet of Cunctator, the dawdler, or the\nslow-coach, applied to him. One of the tribunes even went so far as to\ncharge him with treachery; to which he made, what is usually called, the\n\"noble\" reply, \"Fabius cannot be suspected.\"\n\nIt seems to have been extremely easy to get a reputation for \"noble\"\nreplies among the Romans, since the mere denial of a charge, amounting\nto the commonplace plea of \"not guilty,\" is frequently cited by the\nhistorians as a noble reply, because an individual in a toga happens to\nhave uttered it. For the purpose of annoying Fabius, or the \"slow\ncoach,\" the people conferred on Minucius, who, for the sake of\ndistinction, may be appropriately termed the \"fast man,\" an equal share\nof power with the dictator himself, and half the command of the army. On\nthe return of Fabius to the camp, Minucius proposed that they should\ncommand on alternate days, a course that would have been extremely\ninconvenient; for if Minucius had ordered the army to take a week's\nmarch, it is possible that on the day ensuing, Fabius would have ordered\nthe army back again. The latter, therefore, proposed that each should\ntake a separate half; but an army, like a house, cannot be divided\nwithout weakness being the inevitable consequence. The ill effects of\nthe separation were soon shown; for Minucius, who was hot and hasty, was\nsoon provoked by Hannibal to make an attack, and the Carthaginian\ngeneral, who had been accustomed to talk of the Romans hanging over him\nlike a cloud, declared that they had now come down upon him in a weak\nand watery shower. Minucius and his army would certainly have been\nabsorbed, or, to use a more powerful figure, they would have been\neffectually wiped out, but for the generous intervention of Fabius. The\nlatter saved the former from destruction, when Minucius, who was no less\nmawkish than rash, followed up the allegory of the rain by bursting into\ntears, and throwing himself on the neck, as well as on the generosity,\nof Fabius. Minucius resigned the dictatorship into the hands of his\ncolleague, who leisurely wound up the campaign; and having resigned his\npower, has to this day reigned supreme as the example of the\nslow-and-sure principle in the theme of every schoolboy.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHannibal was now beginning to feel the effects of the policy of delay,\nfor he was getting out of heart, and was terribly out of pocket. The\nharvest had been all gathered in before he could lay his hands upon it;\nand he felt it would be idle to take the field, unless he could take the\ncorn that had grown in it. His army was clamorous for food; and\ncomplaint is never so open-mouthed as when hunger is at the bottom of\nit. The Romans began to think the time had arrived for a decisive blow,\nand had chosen as one of the Consuls of the year an individual named C.\nT. Varro, whom Livy has described as an eloquent meat salesman.[51] He\nhad been in the habit of going from door to door in the service of his\nfather, collecting orders for meat in the morning, and taking it round\nin the afternoon; but he was determined that his voice should be heard\nin something more impressive than a cry of \"butcher,\" at the door-ways\nof the citizens. His first flights of eloquence were in the\nmarket-place, where he interlarded his ordinary exclamations of \"Buy,\nbuy,\" with sarcastic inquiries how long the people would consent to be\nsold by those who professed to be their friends and rulers. By degrees,\nhe quitted the shambles for the platform, and he began attending public\nmeetings as a professional demagogue. Like those who pursue patriotism\nas a trade, he accepted the first offer of a place that was made to him;\nand he became in succession a qu\u00e6stor, an \u00e6dile, and a pr\u00e6tor. At length\nhe was elevated to the consulship, or rather the consulship was lowered\nto him; for though the name of Varro became afterwards truly\nillustrious, we cannot allow to C. T. the title of respectable. His\ncolleague, as Consul, was L. \u00c6milius Paulus, a patrician, who is said to\nhave cherished a profound hatred of the people; but why he is said to\nhave done anything of the sort--except it is in slavish subjection to\nthe old prejudice, according to which all the patricians are supposed to\nhate all the people--we are at a loss to discover. The two Consuls were\nat daggers drawn between themselves, which prevented them from agreeing\nas to the proper time for drawing the sword against the enemy. C. T.\nVarro, the ex-butcher, was for cutting and slashing at the Carthaginians\noff-hand; but \u00c6milius Paulus, having consulted a poulterer, declared the\nsacred chickens to have lost their appetites, which some considered a\nfoul pretext, and others a fair excuse, for avoiding a battle. The\nConsuls had, however, set out with 80,000 foot, and 6000 horse, which\nwere encamped on the river Aufidus; their stores being packed up in\nbaskets and cans at the little town of Cann\u00e6. Hannibal, who was\ncompletely out of elephants--there being not even one left for the\nsaddle for his own especial use--was compelled to ride the high\nhorse--the highest he could find among his cavalry--as a substitute. He\ntook Cann\u00e6 under the very eyes and Roman noses of the consuls, one of\nwhom, Varro, would have fought, but \u00c6milius Paulus, the other, had taken\nthe sacred chickens so much to heart, that he had not courage for\nanything.\n\n[Illustration: Young Varro.]\n\nAt length, on the 2nd of August, Hannibal, whose pockets were empty of\ncash, and whose baggage was bare of provisions, determined to provoke\nthe Romans to a battle. Had the policy of Fabius Cunctator, \"slow\ncoach,\" been pursued at this stage, the defeat of the Carthaginians was\ncertain, for they were an army of mercenaries without pay, and in ten\ndays there would not have been a bone for the dogs of war to feed upon.\nHannibal, who had always much tact in discovering which way the wind\nblew, was taking a walk in the morning, when his eyes getting suddenly\nfilled with dust, caused him to see a point that had hitherto escaped\nhim. It occurred to him at once that, by placing his army with its back\nto the wind, the Romans who faced him would have to face a blow which\nmight prove very embarrassing. He knew that the dust would set the\nRomans rubbing their eyes, or even if they did not raise a hand against\nthe inconvenience, they would, at all events, be compelled to wink at\nit. In order to increase the annoyance, he ordered the ground to be\nthoroughly well ploughed, and though he had not the advantage of shot,\nhe found the dust a very good substitute for powder. He had placed the\nGauls in the middle, supported by Africans on each side, and the Romans\nhaving first attacked the centre, which gave way, were enclosed between\nthe two wings; a position in which they were so hard pressed, that they\ncould not get out of the claws of the enemy.\n\nThe slaughter was, as usual, tremendous, 45,000 being left dead on the\nfield, or rather, in conformity with the excess of caution used in those\ndays to prevent the return of an adversary to life, being \"cut to\npieces.\" \u00c6milius Paulus, the patrician, who had been reluctant to fight,\nwas killed while boldly combating with his sword in his hand, but Varro,\nthe patriotic butcher, who had been all ardour and enthusiasm to strike\nthe decisive blow, ran off as fast as his horse's heels could carry him.\nHe reached Rome in safety, and such a perfect master was he of the\ndemagogue's art, that he succeeded in obtaining the thanks of the Senate\nfor his services. It was true that he had shown boldness, amounting to\nrashness, when the security of the army was at stake, and he had\nexhibited caution amounting to cowardice, in taking care of himself, by\nrunning away when the battle was lost; but he had got the character of\nthe \"people's friend,\" and the people are often a long time in finding\nout, and casting off, those who are in the habit of duping them.\n\nAmong other instances of gross popular delusion which occurred about\nthis time, was the sending of Fabius Pictor as ambassador to Delphi, to\nconsult the Oracle. Fabius was the historian of his age, and was\nsupposed, therefore, qualified to record all sorts of falsehood; for\nhistory in those early days had not been dignified by that conscientious\naccuracy which is in our own time indispensable. His second name of\nPictor was acquired rather by his industry as a house-painter, than by\nhis talent as an artist, for he had done the whole of the painting of\nthe Temple of the Goddess of Health; and he probably devoted himself\nrather to the pound-brush than the pencil. As a writer of history, there\nwas something of the painter in his labours; but he was unfortunately in\nthe habit of employing very false colours. On his return from Delphi,\nthe public seemed to have derived very little instruction from his\njourney; for the sacrifice of two pairs of human beings, a male and\nfemale Greek, and a male and female Gaul, was the principal result of\nthe information he brought home with him.\n\nAs it may be interesting to the student to be told how the Oracle was\nworked in those days, we furnish a few particulars. The office for\nmaking inquiries of the Delphic Oracle was in the Temple--dedicated to\nApollo--where a fire was continually burning, fed with the wood of\nlaurels, which typifies the ever-greenness that deception lives upon. In\nthe centre of the Temple was a small opening which emitted intoxicating\nsmoke, and, as the Pythia sat immediately above it, she was rapidly\nreduced to a state in which she fell on the floor and uttered incoherent\nsounds, which were said to be inspired. A prophet was in attendance to\nwrite down the pith of what the Pythia was supposed to say, and the\npurport of these drunken ravings was accepted by nations and individuals\nas a guide to their conduct in cases of the most serious interest.\n\nOriginally the Pythia was always a young girl, but, subsequently, a law\nwas passed, limiting the office to those who had passed their fiftieth\nyear; and there is no doubt that intoxication being the chief duty,\nrendered the place peculiarly eligible to the old women. At first there\nhad been only one female employed, but when the business increased, a\nsecond, and subsequently a third, was appointed, so that there might\nalways be one at hand to perform the duty, while the other was drunk and\nincapable. Of course, a fee was exacted from all who came to consult the\nOracle, which was entirely in the hands of a few aristocratic families\nof the place, who made a double profit, by taking money, and giving only\nsuch advice as was calculated to promote their own class interests.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[49] See the \"Course of Hannibal over the Alps ascertained,\" by\nWhittaker, London, 1794, 2 vols. 8vo.; and \"A Dissertation on the\nPassage of Hannibal over the Alps,\" by Walsham and Cramer, Oxford.\n\n[50] Polybius, 3. Appian, c. 316. Livy, 22.\n\n[51] Polybius says nothing about the origin of Varro; and as there was\nno directory in those days, we are unable to decide whether the omission\nof Polybius, or the assertion of Livy, is more to be relied upon.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH.\n\nCONCLUSION OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.\n\n\nHannibal was now strongly urged by one Maharbal, the commander of the\ncavalry, to march against Rome, and the gallant general went so far as\nto promise that if he had permission, he would go and take it so easy,\nthat in five days they might sleep in the Capitol. \"The idea is indeed a\ngood one,\" said Hannibal, with an incredulous smile, \"but the only\nobjection to its being carried out, is that it's utterly impossible.\"\nMaharbal persevered in his recommendation; but finding his advice\nrejected, he grew sententious and sentimental, which is often the effect\nof a snubbing. \"Alas!\" he exclaimed, with that anti-colloquial style of\nexpression, which characters in history--but not in real life--are so\nfond of assuming,--\"Alas! thou knowest how to gain a victory, but thou\nknowest not how thou oughtest to use thy victory when thou hast gained\nit.\" If this was the ordinary mode in which Maharbal expressed himself,\nit is not surprising that Hannibal preferred his deeds to his words, the\nuse of his sword to the abuse of his tongue, and his hand in war to his\nadvice in council.\n\nThe object of Hannibal had been to attach to himself the Italian towns,\nbut they naturally repudiated an attachment, which consisted in his\nfastening himself on to them with an army which they were made to\nsupport at a ruinous sacrifice. He had, however, succeeded in winning\nover Capua to his designs, for it was inhabited by a contemptible race,\nwho lay continually in the lap of luxury, where the lapse of all the\nbetter qualities would seem to be unavoidable. Not satisfied with\ntreachery to the parent state, the Capuans added cruelty to their other\nvices, and stifled in their hot baths all the Romans who were living\namong them--an enormity which sends the blood immediately to boiling\nheat, to contemplate. The faithless inhabitants stipulated that they\nshould be allowed to break all their engagements with Rome, on entering\ninto new engagements with Carthage,--an arrangement like that of a\ndishonest servant, who, having robbed a former master, stipulates for\nimpunity for past roguery as the condition of future fidelity. Hannibal\nwas weak or politic enough to enter into terms with this contemptible\nset; but he incurred the unfailing penalty of wrong, for his own army\nbecame corrupted by contact with the Capuan crew, and his fortunes began\nto decline from the time of his alliance with this degraded people.\n\nThe exertions of Rome to repair her reverses were extreme after the\nbattle of Cann\u00e6; and though nearly every family had lost a relative, the\nperiod of mourning was limited to thirty days, while a law was passed\nprohibiting all women from weeping in the streets, for they had been\nfound a crying evil. Sparing no expense, the state performed an\noperation of a rather curious kind, for 8000 slaves were bought on\ncredit--the Government thus making a large purchase without any money at\nall--and freeing these slaves, made them fight; thus retaining them\nactually in bondage, while nominally giving them their liberty. Even\ngladiators were allowed the valuable privilege of fighting the foe\ninstead of each other, and of falling in the field instead of falling in\nthe circus.\n\nHannibal having used up nearly all his men and materials, was compelled\nto send to Carthage for fresh supplies, when his old rival Hanno\nexclaimed in the senate, that if the Carthaginian general had been\nunsuccessful, he deserved no help, and if he had been victorious, he\ncould not possibly need any. The speech of Hanno on this occasion would\nhave done credit--or discredit--to a political partisan of the present\nday; for it was essentially the language of a disappointed leader of the\nopposition. \"If,\" said the honourable--or dis-honourable--member (for in\nmere party dissensions it is difficult to distinguish one from the\nother), \"if Hannibal has conquered all our enemies, why does he send to\nus for soldiers? If he has reduced Italy--the most fertile country in\nEurope--why does he ask us for corn? And if he has obtained such rich\nbooty, what on earth can he want with money? The truth, I suspect, to\nbe, that his victories are sham--his territorial acquisitions sham--the\nriches (of which he has sent us specimens, in the shape of a few rings,)\nsham,--while his necessities, and the burden thrown upon us in supplying\nthem, are the only things that are real.\"\n\nThis argument, though specious, did not altogether prevail, for the\nsenate decreed him four thousand Numidians and forty elephants, the men\nand the brutes being looked upon as equally articles of consumption in\nthe game of war that had been so long playing. The Romans began to act\nwith increased determination, and blockaded Capua, which was left to its\nfate by Hannibal, though an attempt to relieve it was made by a\ndetachment which received a severe beating at the hands of Tib. S.\nGracchus.\n\nThis period is rendered additionally remarkable by the siege of\nSyracuse, which eventually fell into the hands of M. Claudius Marcellus,\nwhose efforts had long been thwarted by the genius of Archimedes. This\nillustrious inventor lived to the good old age of seventy-five; but how\nhe lived so long is a matter of almost as much wonder as some of his\ninventions, for his biographers tell us that he always forgot to eat and\ndrink; nor could he ever be persuaded to take a bath, except when his\nfriends pushed him into one. Even when this was accomplished, he was\nsure to be found under the ashes of the fire-places, writing problems\namong the cinders, and endeavouring to sift some important point; so\nthat a bath was really thrown away upon the great philosopher. In a\nvisit to Egypt, he became anxious to elevate the Nile to a certain\npoint; but he remained in Egypt until all his money was spent, for the\nphilosopher had never thought of raising the wind while intent on\nraising the water. He invented a screw, which still bears his name; but\nhe is said to have amused himself, during the siege of Syracuse, by\nsitting at the window and inventing all sorts of missiles to hurl at the\nships of the enemy. One day he might be seen throwing stones from a\nnewly-invented sling, and a few days after he was found casting out\nchains, to pull--with a tremendous hook--the ships of the foe completely\nout of the water. He was so intent upon everything he came near, that he\ngave a lift to enemies occasionally as well as to friends, as in the\ninstance just recorded, and he declared his ability to give the whole\nworld a lift if he could only find a convenient spot in the\nneighbourhood for himself and his lever to rest upon. That in one sense\nhe carried out his boast, we are willing to admit; for he undoubtedly\nelevated the world by raising the standard of science, and he exalted\nthe whole of civilised humanity by his great discoveries. The part he\ntook in the siege of Syracuse has been underrated by some, and\nexaggerated by others; for though the story of his pulling the ships out\nof the sea requires a length of rope, and other apparatus, which none\nbut the greatest stretch of imagination can supply, his destroying the\nvessels by burning-glasses is perfectly credible. He is supposed to have\nused very powerful reflectors, capable of taking effect within the\ndistance of bow-shot; and though for some time the moderns insisted that\nthe long-bow had been pulled for the purpose of increasing the space,\nthe powers of the burning-glass are now familiar to every schoolboy.\n\nOn the fall of Syracuse, orders were given by Marcellus, the Roman\ngeneral, that the philosopher should be respected; but he was so\nabsorbed in a problem, that the soldier who was sent after him not being\nable to solve the problem of who he was, or what he was about, fell upon\nand slew him.\n\nIt is of the great man we have been noticing that a story is told, which\nproves that the pursuit of the laws of gravity may sometimes be\nassociated with the ludicrous. King Hiero, of Syracuse, had handed over\na good lump of pure gold to a working jeweller to be converted into a\ncrown, with the distinct understanding that the true metal only should\nbe used, and that there might be no alloy to the pleasure his Majesty\nwould feel in wearing it. The goldsmith brought back an article of the\nproper weight; but the king, after trying it on his head, turning it\nover in his mind, and revolving it beneath his eyes in the sun, declared\nhis suspicion that the metal had been tampered with, and a base\nimposition had been practised. He consulted Archimedes as to the means\nof detecting the imposture; and on one of those days when the friends of\nthe philosopher had forced him to take a bath, he became immersed as\ndeeply in speculation as in the water.\n\nThe bath into which he plunged having been full to the brim, the\napartment was soon flooded by the water he displaced; and looking at the\nwet floor, he thought only of the dry facts of science. It occurred to\nhim that any body of equal bulk would have done exactly the same thing;\nand he immediately thought of his royal master's crown, which, if all\nthe gold sent for its construction had been fairly used up, should\ndisplace as much water as a piece of pure metal equal in weight to that\nwhich the crown ought to contain. The moment the idea struck him he\njumped out of the bath, and thinking of nothing but the bare facts, he\nran through the streets, perfectly unconscious of the naked truth of his\nown condition. His shout was \u03b5\u1f55\u03c1\u03b7\u03ba\u03b1[52]--I have found it; but everybody\nthought, when they saw him, that whatever he might have found, he had\ncertainly lost his senses.\n\n[Illustration: Archimedes taking a Warm Bath.]\n\nThere is, no doubt, much exaggeration in the absurd stories told of\nArchimedes; but we may excuse a little oddness in a great man whom none\nwas even with. He ran so far in advance of his age, that eighteen\ncenturies had nearly elapsed before any one came up to him, and then it\nwas chiefly by following the track marked out by his footsteps.[53]\n\nWe must now leave the nobler instruments of science, to return to the\nengines of war, which were as usual in full play, and had been employed\nin the total dissolution of the already too dissolute city of Capua. The\ndissipated nobles, palsied by their excesses, and paralysed by their\nfears, fell by their own hands; for they had neither the courage to\nfight for the chance of success, nor the nerve to meet the consequences\nof failure.\n\nIt is stated that one Vibius Virrius, the chief of the Senate, on the\neve of the opening of the gates, gave a sort of legislative supper to\ntwenty-eight of the members, and, at the conclusion of a hearty meal, he\nproduced a cup, with the contents of which he proposed that every one\npresent should poison the remainder of his own existence. The deadly\npotion was poured out into twenty-nine different vessels, and, with\nfaces more or less wry, the Senators swallowed the fatal mixture. On the\nsurrender of the place, the citizens were sold for slaves; and it must\nbe admitted that they had shown themselves fit for little better than\nthe fate assigned to them.\n\nIn the year previous to the fall of Capua, Hannibal had taken Tarentum;\nbut, three years later, the stupidity or treachery of the general in\ncharge, or man in possession, had allowed Q. Fabius Maximus to take it\nback again. Hannibal was thus daily losing territory, and his cause was\nconsequently losing ground. Many small states which had adhered to him\nbecause they believed him to be strong enough to assist them, withdrew\nfrom him directly he appeared as if he could not help himself.\n\nHasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, had been harassed in Spain by the\ntwo Scipios--Cn. C. and P.--when fortune cleared the stage for him, by\nkilling both within a month, and annihilating both their armies. The\nfate of the two leaders had such an effect in Rome, that when those\neligible to command had heard the particulars, they had no inclination\nto act as generals. Every one seemed to fear that if he went to head the\narmy in Spain, he should be simply going to his own funeral, and every\none naturally shrunk from such an undertaking. At length young P. C. S.\nA. M.--or, to give his name at full length, Publius Cornelius Scipio\nAfricanus Major--who was only twenty-four years of age, though he had\nentered the army at seventeen, and had been present, or rather absent,\nat the battle of Cann\u00e6, where the only survivors were those who ran\naway--volunteered to supply the places of his deceased relatives. An\nobjection was, at first, made to his age--or rather to his want of\nage--but, as there was no older candidate for the post of honour and of\ndanger, he was permitted to step into it. His popularity was, in some\nmeasure, owing to his having acquired the character of a serious young\nman; for ever since he had assumed the toga virilis--an assumption\nsomething like the modern practice of going into stick-ups--he had been\nin the habit of passing his mornings in the Temple of Jupiter. He\nproceeded to Spain, with the title of Pro-consul, and an army of about\n11,000 men, at the head of whom he proceeded to Carthagena; where he\nknew the enemy kept the greater portion of their cash, their corn, and\ntheir captives. He was accompanied by his friend L\u00e6lius, who commanded\nthe fleet, and who was sent to make an unexpected attack from the sea;\nfor Scipio, who was very deep, had ascertained that the water was very\nshallow. The defenders of New Carthage had relied upon the ocean as a\ndefence; but they had, in reality, built their hopes on sand, which,\nduring the prevalence of a particular wind and tide, afforded easy\naccess to the city. The place speedily fell into his hands; and his\ngallantry--in a double sense--made him with the brave and the fair an\nequal favourite. Towards the ladies he was particularly amiable; and he\nnot only sent back to her lover an interesting young girl, but he\nreturned to her husband a maudlin old woman. The latter was the aged\nwife of the chief Mardonius, who weepingly implored that her sex might\nbe treated with respect; when the young soldier, hiding his face in his\nsleeve, either cried or laughed in it.\n\n[Illustration: Considerate Conduct of Scipio Africanus.]\n\nHasdrubal now turned his attention to Italy, while Scipio continued his\nconquests in Spain, and, among other places, took Astapa, which, if\ntradition tells the truth, he must have found without a single\ninhabitant. It is said that the place was defended with such valour that\nonly fifty men remained alive, and these became impressed with the\nfeeling that when a thing must be done, it is better to do it oneself\nthan to leave it to be done by others. They came to the resolution that\nthey were sure not to be spared, and they had, therefore, better get rid\nof one another. They accordingly proceeded to the sanguinary task of\nmutual destruction; though, as one must have remained to the last, and\nthere would have been some difficulty in disposing of him, it is\nprobable that he survived for the purpose of acting as his own reporter\nof the dreadful incident. The graver historians insist that not one was\nleft alive in the city; that the last fifty soldiers, having first\nkilled all their women, and all their children, made away with all of\nthemselves; a state of things which induces us to ask how the\nparticulars have come down to us. If, however, we were to indulge this\nspirit of inquiry to any extent, we should, we fear, be compelled to\nthrow a doubt upon many of those interesting particulars which form the\nmost agreeable portions of history.\n\nHasdrubal resolved to make a grand effort, and assembled an army, which\nincluding some Iberians, under his brother Mago, as well as some\nNumidians, headed by Masinissa, their king, numbered 75,000 men, and\nsix-and-thirty elephants. Scipio, though objecting to attack a power\nmore than twice his size, was compelled to do so, by a want of\nprovisions, for he had so little food that his army could not even have\ngrubbed on for a month or two. He was again victorious, and Hasdrubal\nproceeded to join his brother Hannibal; but the letters written by the\nformer to apprise the latter of his coming, instead of going regularly\nthrough all the military posts, fell, by some misdirection or\nindirection, into the hands of the enemy. The Consul Livius Salinator\nwent into the neighbourhood of Sena Gallica--now Senigaglia--and was\njoined by his colleague, C. Claudius Nero, who came, under cover of the\nnight, with a large army; and it would appear that the forces of\nHasdrubal kept such very early hours, that they had all gone to bed, and\nknew nothing of the reinforcements that had been sent against them.\nHasdrubal, however, saw among the Romans, on the following morning, some\nsoldiers, whose faces were so sun-burnt, as to give a strange complexion\nto a part of the troops, and he concluded that they had recently been on\na journey. After having indulged in an inquiring look, he commenced a\npatient listen, and he fancied he heard two trumpet calls in the hostile\ncamp, when, without considering whether the second might have been the\nmere echo of the first, he resolved, in his own mind, that the armies\nof the two Consuls had joined together. He accordingly determined to\nfly, and began by trying to swim across the river Metaurus, which is\nusually shallow enough; but the rains had swelled it to such a torrent\nthat he was soon plunged into the depths of misery. His guides,\nfollowing the impulse of their own cowardice, ran away as fast as they\ncould, and he, in perfect ignorance of the country, found the river\nrising and his spirits sinking in about an equal ratio. The Romans came\nup with him in time to find his army completely damped, and his troops\nwere, according to the military practice of the period, cut, at once, to\npieces.\n\nHasdrubal, who had lost heart early in the battle, seems ultimately to\nhave lost his head, for rushing into the midst of a cohort, he was\ndecapitated by a Roman soldier. It is said that the head of Hasdrubal\nwas afterwards brutally thrown into the camp of his brother Hannibal;\nbut happily for the credit of humanity, this story of the head is absurd\non the very face of it.\n\nSpain was now subject to Rome; and Scipio, after quelling an\ninsurrection in his army, paid a visit to Syphax, who was king of a\nportion of Numidia, and who was desperately in love with a young lady,\nnamed Sophonisba, the daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco, a Carthaginian\ngeneral. Sophonisba was one of those troublesome persons, known as\nfascinating creatures, who, by attracting the eyes of mankind, set them\nvery often by the ears, and lead to much calamity. This too interesting\nindividual had also won the admiration of Masinissa, another king of\nanother part of Numidia, when her father, irrespective of any attachment\nshe might have formed, gave her hand to Syphax, by way of attaching the\nlatter to his interests. Masinissa, in a fit of jealousy, went over to\nRome, leaving Syphax and Hasdrubal to fight it out with Scipio.\n\nThe Africans and Carthaginians were, to a certain extent, people of\nstraw, which was the material they used in constructing their tents, and\nScipio, basely pretending that he desired to negotiate a peace, sent a\nset of firebrands, under the garb of envoys, into the camp of the enemy.\nThese hypocritical incendiaries carried fire among the foe; and, though\nthe elephants fought like lions, the Carthaginians behaved like lambs,\nfor the poor creatures, thinking the burning of their tents was\naccidental, looked on with simple bewilderment. 40,000 Africans were cut\nto pieces on the spot; and Syphax, who had managed to escape, was ready\nimmediately with 30,000 more, to engage Scipio in the neighbourhood of\nUtica. Syphax was urged on by his wife, who is described as a woman of\nremarkable spirit--a character equivalent to that of a very troublesome\nbody. Poor Syphax did all he could against a very superior force, but he\nwas ultimately taken prisoner, and sent to Scipio, while Sophonisba\nremained at home to receive Masinissa--like a woman of spirit--at the\ngates of her husband's palace.\n\nThe lovely creature, admitting that she was vanquished, and declaring\nthat further opposition would be vain, appealed, in the character of an\nunprotected female, to the generosity of Masinissa. Expressing the\nutmost horror at being placed as a captive behind the car of Scipio, she\nentreated the protection of her husband's conqueror; and Masinissa, not\nknowing exactly what to do, politely offered to marry her. She at once\nconsented; and, after a widowhood of a few hours, she was presented to\nL\u00e6lius, the Roman Consul, in her new character.\n\nSyphax, not being dead, was of course rather painfully alive to the\nconduct of his wife, and having hinted to Scipio that she might be the\ncause of further mischief, an order was immediately sent to Masinissa to\nsend her back by the bearer. This her new husband was unwilling to do,\nbut he forwarded her a cup of poison, which she drank off with the air\nof a tragedy queen, and died with a clap-trap in her mouth, which was\nalmost as nauseous as the stuff that she was called upon to swallow.\n\nThe Carthaginians now began to feel that every thing went wrong in the\nabsence of Hannibal, whom they invited home, and on his arrival he was\nreally anxious for peace and quietness. Scipio felt much the same, and\nthe two generals, having met, looked at each other for some time in\nsilent admiration. It may be doubted whether they got any further than\nthis point, for even if they had a few words, it did not prevent them\nfrom ultimately coming to blows at the great and decisive battle of\nZama. Hannibal brought into the field 50,000 men, and about 80 real\nelephants; but his soldiers were most of them raw, and liable to be\nroasted on the ground of extreme awkwardness. He put the Moors, the\nGauls, and Libyans in front, the Carthaginian cowards in the centre, for\nthey were but a middling set, and he brought up the rear, with a few of\nhis best soldiers. Scipio exhibited some very skillful generalship on\nthis momentous occasion, and by a clever arrangement of his forces, he\nleft room for the elephants to run through the ranks without coming into\ncontact with any of his soldiers.\n\nThe success of Scipio was complete; and Hannibal returned to Carthage\nafter an absence of thirty-six years; having so far forgotten the\nmanners and customs of his country, that, during a debate in the Senate,\nhe dragged a noble--whose sentiments did not exactly coincide with his\nown--by force from the tribune. On being called to order, he explained\nthat he had forgotten the forms of the house; and the discussion\nproceeded as if nothing particular had happened. Carthage made peace\nwith Rome, on very advantageous terms to the latter; and Scipio, who\ntook the name of Africanus, enjoyed the honours of a triumph, at which\npoor Syphax--who appears to have been everybody's victim--was obliged to\nfigure in fetters.\n\nThe terms imposed upon Carthage were very severe; for she was to deliver\nup, without ransom, all the Roman prisoners: to surrender nearly all her\nships; and to part with all her elephants. She was also to pay over a\nconsiderable sum in cash,--a stipulation which set the Senate off into a\nroar of anguish, and caused Hannibal sneeringly to exclaim that \"the\nonly thing to draw tears from their eyes was to draw money from their\npockets.\"[54]\n\nThough Rome had been victorious, so fatal is war to all who engage in\nit, that her successes had brought her almost to the verge of ruin.\nScenes of cruelty had dyed the country with blood, and left a stain upon\nit which could not easily be effaced; and wherever the sword of war had\nbeen brandished, nothing else had flourished. Troops had been raised\nmerely to be cut down; the country had been wasted on all sides; and\nthere had been a still more terrible waste of human existence. While\nlife was being made so cheap, the means of supporting it were getting\ndearer every day; for provisions rose to an enormous price under the\ninfluence of a system which converted the ploughshare into the sword,\nand turned what should have been fields of corn into fields of battle.\nTo meet the expenses of the war, the public had been obliged to run into\ndebt; and there is no process to which the term running is more properly\napplied, though the opposite movement is always slow, and often\nimpossible.\n\nThe Carthaginian fleet having been destroyed, Rome became nominally\nmistress of the seas; but, for want of means, she made a very bad\nmistress, and the sea might be said to maintain a mastery over her.\n\nWar, however, had been in some degree productive of good; for it had led\nto the recognition of the great principle that the public service was\nnot to be monopolised by the privileged few, inasmuch as where there is\nreal work to be done, there is scope for the talents and energies to be\nmet with among the many. Wealth, however, had become a passport to\npublic employment; and the door could be opened by a golden key, which\nhas, in modern times, served most appropriately as the emblem of office.\n\nThe drain upon the resources of the nation was so considerable, in\nconsequence of the frequent wars, that the Senators sent their plate to\nthe treasury, and received bank bills instead,--an arrangement as\nsatisfactory as exchanging silver dishes for silver paper. The merchants\nsupplied dresses for the troops on the same terms, and accepted printed\nrags for comfortable clothing.\n\nSuperstition also sensibly--or rather foolishly--increased during the\nwars against Carthage; and the Sibylline books were consulted from time\nto time, though usually with no other result than the recommendation of\na job, to be performed by Government Commissioners. On one occasion the\nbooks were declared to require that Cybele should be brought to Rome;\nand ambassadors were appointed, at a considerable expense, to go to\nPhrygia, for the purpose of fetching her. They professed to find her,\nand bring her home; but upon their arrival, they produced nothing but a\nlarge black stone, which the people welcomed as a most precious stone,\nand which they were contented to receive as the goddess they required.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[52] The term \u03b5\u1f55\u03c1\u03b7\u03ba\u03b1 has lately been applied to a newly-invented shirt;\nbut the term is extremely inappropriate, for the philosopher had no\nshirt on when he proclaimed his great discovery.\n\n[53] Stevinus, the Flemish mathematician, and Galileo, both of whom were\nborn about the middle of the sixteenth century, were the first who came\nafter Archimedes in any great mechanical discoveries.\n\n[54] Livy, xxx. 44.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE NINETEENTH.\n\nWAR WITH THE MACEDONIANS. PROCLAMATION OF THE FREEDOM OF GREECE BY\nFLAMINIUS. WAR WITH ANTIOCHUS. DEATH OF HANNIBAL, AND OF SCIPIO\nAFRICANUS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nWar being still the theme of our history, we are obliged to ask the\nreader to accompany us into the field, though we are aware that battles,\nand their deadly details, cannot inspire a very lively interest.\n\nPhilip of Macedonia had become jealous of the power of Rome, which had\nnow got a footing in the boot of Italy; and, as Greece lay nearly under\nthe heel, it was natural that the Grecians should prepare to resist\nbeing trampled on. Philip, therefore, concluded a treaty with Hannibal,\nand sent ambassadors with the document; but, instead of delivering it\ninto the hands for which it was designed, they themselves fell into the\nhands of the Romans.\n\nRome at once despatched to Illyricum a fleet of 50 sail, when Philip,\nobserving that the vessels were being wafted over by a favourable\nbreeze, saw there was something in the wind, and resolved--whatever the\nblow--to be prepared for it. This was the commencement of the Macedonian\nWar, which became extremely unpopular with the Romans; for the people at\nlarge regarded it as a bitter cup, though the nobles desired it for the\nsake of the \"bubble reputation\" that the few might find in it. In vain\ndid the tribes protest against the proposed war, declaring they were no\nenemies to Philip, for the Senate insisted he was an enemy of theirs,\nand that it was accordingly their duty to fight with him.\n\nThe campaign was opened by P. Sulpicius Galba, who crossed the Adriatic,\nbut did little, and was succeeded by Villius Tappulus, who did nothing.\nFortune had hitherto observed a sort of stiffness towards both sides,\nleaning neither to the right nor to the left, when she suddenly took a\nturn under the consulship of T. Quinctius Flaminius. This individual\nwas, comparatively, young in years, but superlatively old in cunning;\nand he possessed in an eminent degree the low arts of deceit which are\nusually held to constitute the high art of statesmanship. He could\nelectrotype falsehood with the external appearance of truth, and he had\nno lack of that lacquer which brazens out a fraud with the brass of\nimpudence. Everything in the shape of rust had been rubbed off his\nmanners, which had become smooth in the extreme, and had acquired that\nhigh state of polish which is frequently associated with a very slippery\ncharacter. He slid, as it were, into the confidence of all, with the\neasy lubricity of the serpent, and with not a little of its wiliness.\nHis smile won, or rather lost, those whom he wished to deceive, and he\ntried its fascination with such effect on some of the Greek chiefs, that\nthey permitted him to enter Thebes, and either did not see what he had\nin his eye, or were induced to wink at it. He pretended that he wished\nto parley with the authorities; but, when the citizens were waiting to\nsee what would take place, they found the place itself quietly taken by\nFlaminius.\n\nThessaly now became the scene of war, and the Romans met the Greeks near\na line of small hills, called, from their shape, the Dogs' Heads, or\nCynocephal\u00e6. Here both parties fought with a dogged obstinacy, which was\nquite in character with the place, until the Greek phalanx, or\nMacedonian heavies, gave way before the Roman legions. The principle of\nthe phalanx was to pack the soldiers so closely together that their\nshields touched, and their spears being upwards of twenty feet long, the\narms of the rear ranks leaned on the shoulders of those in advance, so\nthat they went forth arm in arm, as it were, to meet the enemy. The\nRomans, on the contrary, preserved a sort of open order, in which there\nwas room for the exercise of their limbs; while the Greeks, if they were\nable to raise their arms at all, were very likely to lift them against\neach other. If the Romans were in need of assistance, there was space\nleft in their ranks for reinforcements to come up. But, amidst the\ndensity of a Greek phalanx, nothing could make its way except a panic,\nwhich will always find room to run through an entire army. Though\npresenting, by these means, a formidable front, their line was no sooner\nbroken than they offered a most unprotected rear to an active foe, and\nthe Greek files on the occasion in question bore marks of a special\nendorsement at the hands of the Romans. Having been packed as closely as\ncards, 8000 Macedonians fell upon the field, or rather upon one another,\nand Philip fled to Tempe, as if he was desirous to hide his face in\nits well-known vale after his discomfiture. Here he negotiated an\narrangement, which may be termed the peace of the valley, though it was\na kind of peace with which he could scarcely be contented, for it\nstipulated that he should give up all his ships except five; but he was,\nnevertheless, permitted to retain 500 men of war in the shape of that\nnumber of heavy-armed soldiers.\n\n[Illustration: _Flaminus restoring liberty to Greece at the Isthmian\nGames._]\n\nHe was also to pay 1000 talents, which would have taken every talent he\npossessed, and put him to his wit's end at once, if he had not been\nallowed ten years, within which to find the money. He was furthermore\ncompelled to send his son Demetrius to Rome for his education--a\nstipulation, of which the object is not particularly clear, unless it\nwas thought that while the offspring was being schooled, a lesson was\nalso being given to the father. Flaminius, laying aside the character of\nthe warrior, proceeded to Greece as a tourist; and, though in private\nlife he was as gentle as a lamb, he was everywhere received as a lion.\nHaving visited the Isthmian games, he interrupted the herald who was\nabout to open the proceedings with the usual proclamation, and putting\ninto the hands of the officer a scroll, desired him to \"read it out\"\nbefore proceeding with the programme. The document was an announcement\nof the freedom of the Greek cities over which Macedonia had domineered;\nand the people, finding that Flaminius had made them free, resolved on\nmaking him welcome. Frantic with joy, they nearly deafened him with\ncheers, and almost buried him in flowers; nor could he keep at bay those\nwho pressed forward to crown him with laurel. So dense was the throng,\nthat he must have felt a smothered satisfaction, if he felt any at all;\nand even if he could have found words to return thanks, he could find no\nbreath to give them utterance.\n\nIn order that the Greeks might be shown the use of their new freedom,\nFlaminius remained behind, to give an illustration of the method of\ntaking a liberty. Calling to his aid ten commissioners from Rome, he\nproceeded to apportion the free cities of Greece in the manner most\nagreeable to his own views; for it is a peculiarity of all freedom\nimported from abroad, that it must be a freedom in conformity with the\ntaste of the importers, and not of those for whose use the article is\nrequired. It thus frequently happens that what is recommended as a\nluxury from abroad proves far from palatable to a people not accustomed\nto the new commodity; and, though efforts may be made to force it down\ntheir throats, at the point of the sword, the morsel is not easy of\ndigestion, and is only revolting to those whom it may have been intended\nto satisfy.\n\nAfter completing the independence of Greece, by forcing republics on\nsome of its cities, taking possession of some others, and establishing\ninternal discord in nearly all, Flaminius returned to Rome in the year\nof the City 559, and enjoyed the honours of a triumph.\n\nAs no one is at times louder in his denunciations of dishonesty than the\npractised rogue, so the Romans, who were for enslaving and plundering\nall the world, found it convenient, occasionally, to protest against the\nrapacity of such as were rivals in the game of conquest. Philip had\nalready been dealt with on the principle that it is impossible for two\nof a trade to agree; and a quarrel was now picked with Antiochus, who\nwas doing a somewhat extensive business as a wholesale appropriator of\nwhat did not rightly belong to him. Flaminius, therefore, while\ndeclaring, after his own fashion, the independence of Greece, stipulated\nthat freedom should be restored by Antiochus to all the Greek cities in\nAsia,--an arrangement that would have left the cities at liberty to be\nmade free with by Rome in her usual manner. Antiochus justified his own\nwrong by denying the right of any one else to interfere, and continued\nappropriating to himself other places to which he had no legal or\nequitable title. He seized on the Thracian Chersonesus, on the ground\nthat one of his ancestors had seized it once before,--a principle about\nas just as if the grandson of a thief, who had been transported for\nstealing a watch, should, on the strength of his ancestral crime, rob\nthe owner anew of the same property.\n\nFinding Lysimachia deserted, he took it as his own desert; when the\nRomans, growing jealous of his success in the predatory line, declared\nthat they should regard, as a direct opposition to Rome, any further\nacts of plunder.\n\nWhile matters were in this state, Hannibal was living in scarcely any\nstate at all, as an ordinary member of the Carthaginian Senate. He had\ntaken the opposition side of the house; and though he was a proposer of\nmany useful reforms, he was frequently coughed down, and in a minority\nalways. Finding little sympathy amongst his own countrymen, who were all\nfor peace and quietness, he entered into a negotiation with Antiochus,\nfor the purpose of ascertaining whether they could arrange to create a\njoint disturbance, and thus weaken the Roman power. Treachery was,\nhowever, going on in all directions; for, while Hannibal was plotting\nwith Antiochus against Rome, some of the Carthaginians were plotting\nwith Rome against Hannibal; and a further breach of trust in some other\nquarter made him acquainted with his danger. He accordingly resolved to\nescape; and having a small tower--or marine residence--on the coast, he\nsent orders that a ship should be ready to sail, and a berth secured for\nhim. He walked about the streets of Carthage all day, as if nothing had\nhappened, and nothing was likely to occur; for the Roman ambassadors\nwere continually dogging his footsteps; and he led them about so\nperseveringly all day, that when the evening arrived they had scarcely a\nleg to stand upon. Hannibal had, however, ordered his horse, which flew\nwith him across the country to the spot where the ship was in waiting;\nand, after a difficult passage, by land as well as by sea, he arrived at\nthe Court of Antiochus.\n\nTrue to his infantine oath, Hannibal did his utmost to excite hostility\nagainst the Romans; and asked Antiochus to lend him a trifle, in the\nshape of 10,000 men, as if they were so many counters, that the game of\nwar required. Antiochus, however, like a boy jealous of his toys,\nrefused to hand over the 10,000 men, whose lives might be required as\nplaythings for himself; and he was not long in making use of them.\n\n[Illustration: Hannibal leads the Ambassadors rather a fatiguing Walk\nround Carthage.]\n\nThe Greeks, being unable to appreciate the sort of independence they had\nreceived at the hands of Rome, sent an invitation to Antiochus; for it\nis the characteristic of slavery, as a moral disease, to seek relief\nfrom the existing cause of oppression by the introduction of some more\nviolent form of the same malady.[55]\n\nAs the interference of strangers will usually lead to family quarrels,\nso the effect of foreign influence on Greece was to keep the people\ncontinually involved in disputes with each other. Part of the population\nwould have welcomed Antiochus warmly, while others received him coldly;\nand the king, who had penetrated into Thessaly, had sufficient\npenetration to see that he had better go a considerable part of the way\nback again.\n\nBy way of narrowing the ground of dispute, he took his position in the\nPass of Thermopyl\u00e6, and had, for some time, maintained an advantage over\nthe Romans, when M. Porcius Cato, ascending the heights, ran round to\nthe rear, and, by a decisive blow on the enemy's back, changed the whole\nface of the engagement. Antiochus fled in dismay, and never stopped to\nlook behind him, until he reached Asia Minor, when he sat down, and took\na gloomy retrospect of all that had happened. While he met with reverses\non land, he heard of the reverse, or rather the same thing, that had\nhappened to his fleet at sea; and he fairly gave up, not only his cause,\nbut the Chersonesus, Lysimachia, Sestos, and Abydos, with all their\ncontents and non-contents; the latter of which included the inhabitants.\n\nAntiochus, though subdued in spirit, was not quite beaten in form; and a\nlarge army was sent to Asia, under the command of the two consuls, L.\nCornelius Scipio and C. L\u00e6lius. L. C. Scipio, though without any\nacknowledged merit of his own, had the good fortune to be the brother of\nthe celebrated Scipio Africanus, who got him the place; but it is\nmanifest that such an illegitimate step to an appointment will often end\nin a grievous disappointment of one kind or another. To provide against\nthe ill consequences of this flagrant job, the celebrated Scipio went\nout in the capacity of legate, to counteract the consequences of his\nbrother's general incapacity in the capacity of general. The Romans had\n20,000 men, who, having arrived in Asia, met 70,000 soldiers of\nAntiochus, at Magnesia, where the latter received a dose from which they\nnever recovered. Peace was granted to them on very humiliating terms;\nbut, however bitter the cup prescribed for Antiochus, so disagreeable\nwas the recollection of Magnesia, that he was obliged to swallow almost\nanything that came after it.\n\nRome continued her system of giving independence to various places and\npeople, many of whom seemed so little to appreciate the proffered boon,\nthat in some cases money was tendered and accepted as the price of\nexemption from the proposed advantages. The Cappadocians were so alarmed\nat the prospect of their new freedom, that, being still free to confess\ntheir dislike to it, they sent 200 talents to the Romans, who, no doubt,\nmentally impressed with the proverbial baseness of the \"slave who pays,\"\nquietly pocketed the money.\n\nWhile the principles of independence were being promulgated in the East,\nthe Romans were also employed in carrying their notions of emancipation\ninto the North, where several tribes were cut to pieces, in order that\nthey might feel the interest which Rome condescended to take in them.\nIn some places the old inhabitants were rooted up like old trees, while\nthe younger branches were transplanted to other soils; and a large\nquantity of Ligurian offshoots were carried off from their parent stems\nto fill some vacant ground at Samnium. Many places were thoroughly\ndestroyed; and among others, Cremona was so unmercifully played upon,\nthat it was utterly broken up, and the lamentations of its inhabitants\nwere regarded no more than the moanings of a set of old fiddle-strings.\n\nNot satisfied with being the masters of Italy and the tyrants of Greece,\nthe Romans aimed at establishing their dominion in Spain, which was\npartly achieved by the treachery of some of the inhabitants, and the\ncowardice of others. Some of its most powerful men entered into an\nalliance with Rome, and were treated as insurgents or rebels, when they\ndared to revolt against the foreign authority that had either cowed or\ncorrupted them.\n\nThe subjugation of Spain was mainly effected by M. Porcius Cato, who\ntook a rather remarkable way of reducing the country to submission; for\nhe induced several places to commit a sort of moral suicide; and after\ncondemning them in his own mind, he arranged that they should become, as\nit were, their own executioners. He sent circulars to a large number of\nfortified towns in Spain, with instructions that the communications were\nnot to be looked into before a certain day; and the inhabitants of every\ntown experienced the agony of suspense, in the fear that their doom was\nsealed in a letter they were not allowed to open. At length, when the\nday arrived for penetrating the envelope in which the mystery was\nenclosed, every circular was found to contain a command that the walls\nof the town to which it was addressed should be razed to the ground, or,\nin case of disobedience, that the heaviest punishment should light on\nits inhabitants. The authorities not being able to communicate with each\nother, fancied their own town the only one that was doomed, and\nproceeded to pull the place about their own ears, until it was reduced\nto a heap of dry rubbish.\n\nWhen the mischief was done, it was too late to discover that it need not\nhave been done at all; and though unity is in ordinary cases strength,\nthe unity with which the Spaniards had acted in demolishing their own\ntowns, had reduced them to a condition of utter feebleness.\n\nFor some time they lived in peace, though their homes were knocked to\npieces; but a war broke out again, in the year of the City 572 (B.C.\n181). The Spaniards, however, were not thoroughly reduced until four\nyears after, though they were being continually killed, beaten, cut to\npieces, and otherwise dealt with, in a manner from which their reduction\nwould seem to flow as a natural consequence. It was Tib. Sempronius\nGracchus--the father of the two great Gracchi, of whom we shall have\nsomething to say hereafter--that concluded peace with several of the\nSpanish tribes, who were brought down so low, that their being otherwise\nthan peaceable was almost impossible.\n\nThe Romans continued to intrude themselves and their system on\ndifferent parts of Europe, and planted a colony at Aquileia, in Istria,\nwhich caused the Istrians to try and put a full stop to the disposition\nwhich Rome had shown to colon-ise. A war ensued, which resulted in the\nloss of three towns and one king, when the Istrians came to the\nconclusion that they had had enough of it, and immediately submitted to\nthe Roman authority.\n\n[Illustration: Hannibal requesting the Cretan Priests to become his\nBankers.]\n\nHaving, for a time, lost sight of the illustrious Hannibal, we begin to\nlook about for him once more, and find him living in a Court, kept by\none Prusias, the greedy and needy king of Bithynia. After the treaty\nmade by Antiochus and the Romans, Hannibal had fled to Crete, where he\ncould not long remain; and, though history is silent as to the cause, we\nmay conjecture something from the fact, that he effected a clandestine\nremoval of all his wealth, though he pretended to leave behind him a\nvast amount of treasure. Tradition states that, having procured a number\nof earthen jars, he filled them with lead, and, strewing a little gold,\nor loose silver, over the top, he carried them to the temple of Diana,\nand requested the Cretan priests to become his bankers, for the purpose\nof his entrusting to them this valuable deposit. The priests assured\nhim, with many protestations, that he would find it all right on his\nreturn; and Hannibal, having previously packed all his real gold into\nthe hollow insides of some statues of brass, which he pretended to carry\nwith him, in his character of an admirer of the arts, got clear off with\nall his money.\n\nHe continued to travel from place to place, and had spent the contents\nof nearly all his statues, except a small one, so that his means had\nliterally come down to the lowest figure. In this dilemma he found\nhimself at Bithynia, where Prusias gave him house-room for a short time;\ntaking advantage of the visit, to render his guest useful in a war that\nwas being carried on against Eumenes, king of Pergamus. Hannibal,\nhowever, could not persuade the parsimonious Prusias to go to the\nexpense of conducting hostilities in an effective style; and, indeed,\nthere being no money to carry on the war, it was impossible to do so\nwith credit; for nobody would make any advance on the security of a bad\nsovereign. The Romans regarding Hannibal as a dangerous agitator, which\nhe had indeed proved himself to be, required that he should be given up;\nbut Prusias, declining to be at the expense of carriage, intimated that\nwhoever wanted Hannibal had better come for him. The Carthaginian\ngeneral, foreseeing his fate, endeavoured to make his escape by one of\nseven secret passages leading from his house; but his enemies had found\nthem out, and were therefore certain of finding him at home; for they\nhad taken care to bar his egress.\n\n[Illustration: Hannibal makes the usual neat and appropriate Speech\nprevious to killing himself.]\n\nThough possessing all the courage of a soldier, he was miserably\ndestitute of a superior kind of fortitude, and he always carried a\nbottle of poison about with him. Finding escape impossible, he drew the\nfatal phial from his pocket, and, as he shook it up, he indulged in one\nof those speeches which are usually attributed by classical historians\nto men on the point of suicide. \"I will,\" he said--or is said to have\nsaid, for nobody could have heard him, as he was quite alone, and nobody\ncould have been listening, or the bottle would have been snatched out of\nhis hand; \"I will deliver the Romans from the dread which has so long\ntormented them, since they think it too long to wait for the decease of\na worn-out old man.\" Here he may be supposed to have paused; and, after\ngiving the bottle another final shake, to have continued as follows:\n\"Flaminius's victory over a foe, unarmed and betrayed, will not redound\nmuch to his honour;\" and, with a mental once, twice, thrice, and away,\nthe wretched Hannibal may be imagined to have raised the nauseous\ndraught to his lips, and to have tossed it off with desperate energy.\n\nHannibal had certainly, in his lifetime, shown proofs of greatness,\nthough, in the manner of his death, he gave evidence of lamentable\nlittleness. On the admirable principle of \"look to the end,\" we are\nunable to agree with those classical enthusiasts who regard Hannibal as\none of the most illustrious of mankind, because he was more daring and\nmore skilful in the art of exterminating his fellow-creatures than many\nof his competitors. His personal ambition brought misery on his own, as\nwell as other countries, and his obstinate hatred to Rome was not\njustified by his juvenile oath, for the taking of which he deserved\nrather the birch than the laurel. The first public act of his life was\nto swear when he was too young to have known what he was about, and the\nlast act was to poison himself at the age of sixty-two, when he was\nquite old enough to have known better. He made a bad beginning, but a\nworse ending, and he proved that, though aspiring to rule over others,\nhe was unable to command himself, and was in nearly every respect a\nmelancholy specimen of ill-regulated humanity.\n\nWithin about a year of Hannibal's death, Scipio Africanus also died in\nexile. This great man, as it has been customary to call him, because he\nwas a large destroyer of the human race, was taken up before the Senate\non a charge of embezzlement. The case happened to be appointed for\nhearing on the anniversary of some battle he had won, when he declared\nthe day was ill-suited for litigation, and the people, who are always\nready for an excuse for a holiday, immediately agreed with him. His\nbrother Lucius was involved in the same accusation, which he met by\nproducing his accounts; but, the popular idol seizing the books,\ndeclared it was shabby for a nation to be too particular with those who\nhad served it so well, and tore up the whole of the financial statement.\nLucius Scipio remained in Rome; but Africanus ran away to a villa in\nCampania, leaving his brother to undergo the confiscation of the whole\nof his property. The innocence of Lucius was subsequently established,\nand, though no \"money returned,\" is generally the motto of the law, he\nsucceeded in getting back a part of what he had been unjustly deprived\nof. He, however, having lived without his income, had no sooner got the\nmeans restored to him of living within it, than he died, with the\nmelancholy satisfaction of having had justice done when it was too late\nto be of the smallest earthly use to him.\n\nThe merits and demerits of Scipio Africanus have been differently\nestimated by different authorities; and though it is charitable to give\nto any man the benefit of a doubt, no one would be thankful for the\nadmission that his was a doubtful character. Scipio Africanus was a\ngreat patron of letters; but he seems to have been a despiser of\nfigures, if the story relating to his contempt for the accuracy of his\naccounts is to be relied upon. Cicero has spoken eloquently of the\nsimple habits of Scipio Africanus, in his marine retirement, throwing\nstones into the sea, and skimming with them the surface of the water;\nbut this innocent pastime does not relieve him from the accusation of\nmaking \"ducks and drakes\" of the public money, which was the charge that\nCato had endeavoured to bring home to him.\n\nHe is said to have been generous to his relatives; but to help them,\nafter freely helping himself, may have been nothing more than nepotism,\nunder the disguise of a domestic virtue. It is stated that he showed his\ndisregard for wealth by relinquishing to his brother his own share of\nhis patrimony; but there is little merit in his having despised the\ncomparatively mean contents of his family purse, if he was unscrupulous\nduring the time that he had the public pocket to dip into.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[55] This is, in fact, the hom\u0153opathic principle applied to politics;\nthe counteracting of like by like, _similia similibus_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTIETH.\n\nPUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. MORALS, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND STATE OF THE DRAMA AND\nLITERATURE AMONG THE ROMANS.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nIt is customary with the grandiloquent to declare that the page of\nhistory is stained with gore; but we limit ourselves to ink, which\nperhaps, after all, furnishes a decent type of mourning over the deeds\nwe are compelled to chronicle. It is true that history has too often\nwars for her principal facts, and the numbers of dead for her figures;\nbut she is apt to speak rather figuratively in estimating the thousands\nupon thousands who are said to have fallen, sword in hand, or to have\nbeen terribly put to it.\n\nThe weapon of war cuts, however, both ways; and a nation cannot play\nwith edged tools more safely than an individual can indulge in such\ndangerous pastime.\n\nThe state of war in which Rome habitually lived, had encouraged the\nworst passions of the people; and nearly every vice had taken an iron\nhold of them. By continually fighting, they had become familiar with\nmurder and violence, while the practice of plunder had accustomed them\nto robbery. Military stratagem--which was the very essence of\nstrategy--had taught them to regard cunning as a virtue; and he was a\nhero, in their opinion, who would face the swords and spears of a foe,\nbut sought in poison a cowardly refuge from the \"slings and arrows\" of\nhis own conscience. The wealth taken by force was often appropriated by\nfraud; and a successful leader thought nothing of putting into his own\npocket an enormous sum, declaring that it was unreasonable to expect a\ngeneral to be particular.[56] The few became enormously rich, while the\nmany were miserably poor. The higher orders grasped everything, leaving\nnothing to those beneath, and the consequence was a state of\ntop-heaviness, which, when existing in the social column, exposes base\nand capital--but especially the latter--to extreme danger. Money had\nbeen acquired by some, who did not know its use; and its abuse was the\ninevitable result; for the improper employment of gold leads to every\nkind of guilt on the part of those who are possessed of it.\n\nWith the wealth of other nations, foreign fashions were imported, and\nRoman simplicity was superseded by the art and cunning of the Grecian\ncraftsmen. The pleasures of the table were carried to a gluttonous\nexcess; and a slave who, in the capacity of a cook, could set before his\nmaster an agreeable kind of sauce, was often allowed impunity for\ninsolence.\n\nExtravagance began to prevail to such an extent among the Roman women,\nthat those females whose wardrobe was of a gaudy hue, were virtually\ncondemned to dye, for a law was passed by the tribune Appius,\nprohibiting them from wearing dresses of a gay colour. The same law\nlimited them to half-an-ounce of gold; but this was unnecessary; for the\nextravagantly-disposed would spend all they had; and they were further\nrestricted from riding at or near Rome, or any other city, in a carriage\ndrawn by two horses; for it was considered that with one the road to\nruin could be quite rapidly enough travelled. This law occasioned some\nviolent agitation among the Roman women, who manifested the force of\nfemale influence so effectually, that in a few years the law was\nrepealed.\n\n[Illustration: Roman Lady \"Shopping.\"]\n\nThe stern necessities of historical truth compel us to attribute to what\nis termed the gentler sex, the introduction, among the Romans, of some\nvices so foul, as to be at variance with all our notions of the fair.\nOne of the worst of these enormities was the celebration of the\nBacchanalia, introduced from Etruria; and recent discoveries[57] in that\nlocality have initiated us into the secret of what are usually termed\nthe Bacchic mysteries. The mystification of the votaries was\naccomplished by drink; under the influence of which they wound up their\nfestivities with a reel, such as may be traced in ancient paintings; and\nround every such reel there is twined some important thread of history.\n\nImitation is seldom respectable in any case; for even merit loses half\nits value when it is not original; but nothing can be more contemptible\nthan a people putting on bad habits at second-hand. Such, however, was\nthe practice of the Romans, who borrowed nearly all their iniquities\nfrom Athens or other cities, and who wilfully brought upon themselves\nthe moral stain of Greece. Cruelty, which goes hand in hand with\ndepravity, had reached such an infamous excess, that it was practised\nopenly by those whom the people delighted to honour. Among other\ninstances, may be cited the example of the Consul L. Quinctius\nFlaminius, who, while encamped in Gaul, happened to be feasting with one\nof his degraded creatures, when the latter lamented he had never seen a\ngladiator killed. A noble Boian entering at the moment, to ask for\nshelter, Flaminius observed that, though unable to treat his friend to\nthe sight of a dying gladiator, he might satisfy his appetite for\ncruelty by the exhibition of a dying Gaul. The \"creature\" had no sooner\nexpressed his readiness to accept the lighter relish as a substitute for\nthe more substantial meal, than Flaminius, drawing his sword, smote the\nunfortunate Boian on the head, and ran him through the body. So\nbrutalised had the people become by continual war, that no notice was\ntaken of this occurrence until eight years afterwards, when Cato, the\nCensor, brought up the charge, with a variety of others, more or less\nweighty, against Flaminius, and caused his expulsion from the Senate.\n\nThe name of Cato the Censor, naturally induces a few observations on the\ncharacter of this ancient specimen of the\n\n \"Fine old Roman gentleman all of the olden time.\"\n\nHe was the son of a respectable Sabine farmer, and passed his earliest\nyears in the country, where he followed the plough--a peaceful pursuit,\nwhich imprints no early furrows on the forehead, but leaves many on the\nearth it at once improves and lacerates. At seventeen, every Roman\nbecame, of necessity, a soldier; and though in the game of life fortune\nhad dealt him a spade, he was obliged to throw it out of his hand. Such\nwas the lot of young Marcus Porcius Priscus; for that was in reality his\nname, though he afterwards had the title of Cato, or the \"knowing one,\"\nbestowed on him. His military duties were performed with credit, though\nhe preferred cultivating any other seeds than the seeds of dissension;\nand he was more at home in a trench dug for celery, than in one designed\nfor undermining a fort.\n\nAfter returning from the wars, he took some ground adjoining that which\nhad been occupied by Dentatus; and regarding that individual as a model\nfarmer, Cato tried to make his own a model farm. So thoroughly did he\nthrow himself into his agrarian occupation, that he may be said to have\nburied himself in his land. He wrote a work on Agriculture,[58] which\nincluded much miscellaneous information, from the mode of buying an\nestate to the art of making a cheesecake, the curing of a side of bacon,\nand the setting of a dislocated bone. While attending to his own\nbusiness, he found leisure to attend to that of his neighbours; and in\nall their petty disputes before the local tribunals, he was in the habit\nof attending the hearing of summonses for and against his friends. He\nhad a word of advice or a maxim to meet every circumstance in which his\nadvice was asked or offered; and he could always cut through a\ndifficulty with one of his wise saws. Some might be disposed to term him\na busybody and a meddler; but at all events a young patrician, named\nValerius Flaccus, considered him to be a meddler well worth\ntransplanting, and persuaded him to go to Rome, \"as,\" in the language of\nPlutarch, \"a plant that deserved a better soil.\" Here he \"put up\" for\nvarious places in the public service, and we find him climbing\nsuccessively to several very high posts, where the example he set by his\nexternally virtuous mode of living, formed a decent contrast to the\nundisguised vices of the age.\n\nSuch was Cato in his earlier years; but the melancholy fact must be\nstated, that, though flattery paints only one side of every picture,\nthere is none to which truth may not be called upon to add a reverse. In\nhis youthful days Cato had worked with his labourers; had partaken of\nthe same fare with them at the same board, and drank nothing stronger\nthan water; but, in after-life, he contracted a disreputable marriage,\nand, giving himself up to the dissipations of the table, might have\nfound himself occasionally under it. So thoroughly utilitarian was he in\nhis political philosophy, that he looked upon a labourer as a mere\nmachine, which, when worn out, he contended ought to be got rid of as\nspeedily as possible. Cato the Censor owes much of his reputation for\nmorality to the fact of his having set himself up as a professional\nmoralist. Though he was useful as a castigator of the vices of his age,\nthere was nothing very amiable in the rancorous and uncharitable spirit\nin which he performed his office. He had a keen appetite for an abuse or\na piece of scandal, but, while crime or error excited his hatred, virtue\nand generosity seemed to rouse less of his admiration than his jealousy.\nIf he had lived in modern times, he would, probably, have been a common\ninformer, a rigid observer of all the outward appearances of virtue, and\na discounter of bills; for it is said of Cato, that he advanced money at\nexorbitant interest to those whose necessities or recklessness induced\nthem to comply with his terms.\n\nReligion had, at about this period, sunk to a very low ebb in the hands\nof a crafty priesthood, who used the influence of their position for\ntheir own temporal purposes. Prodigies were declared to have happened;\nsuch as the talking of a cow, which was alleged to have \"whispered low\"\nin a priest's ear; statues were said to have wept; and the tale was\nlistened to by those who believed that their augurs could, if they\npleased, get blood out of a stone.\n\nIn literature, though it is customary to speak of Roman characters as an\noriginal form of letters, Rome had nothing new, but trusted to what was\nalready known; for she not only copied the vices of the Greeks, but took\na leaf out of their books in a more literal manner. She had no writers\nof her own; but what literary food she possessed was supplied by those\ntranslating cooks who make a hash of nearly everything they lay their\nhands upon.\n\nThe earliest Roman dramatist is supposed to have been one Lucius\nAndronicus, who had formerly been a slave, and who continued his slavish\npropensities by a servile adaptation of Greek plays, instead of boldly\nattempting an original production. Like many of the modern translators,\nhe was himself an actor in his own pieces; and it is declared by Livy\nthe historian, that he lost his voice by the frequency with which he was\nencored by the audience. This statement seems to show that puffs were\nnot unknown when the Roman drama was in its very earliest stage; for the\nassertion in question could scarcely have been true, since Cicero[59]\nhas told us that there was nothing worthy of being read or listened to\ntwice, in the plays of Lucius Andronicus.\n\nThe greatest comic writer of the period at which our history has\narrived, was Marcus Accius Plautus, of whose origin little is known; for\nthe Romans held their wits and humorists in such little respect, that as\nlong as they could raise a laugh, it mattered little who they were,\nwhence they sprung, or what became of them. It was not until after a\nwriter's death that any interest was felt in his life, and such was the\ncase with regard to Plautus, who has been the subject of more invention\nthan is to be found in all his comedies. Conjecture--the author of half\nthe history, and three-fourths of the biography, which the world\npossesses--describes Plautus as a low-born fellow, made of the very\ncommonest clay, moulded by one of Nature's awkwardest journeymen into a\nmisshapen lump, and whose angular deformities constituted his chief\npoints of humour. Having made a little money as a dramatist, he is said\nto have embarked it in the baking business; some would say that he might\nmake his own puffs; but his shop failed, and as the public would not, he\nof course could not, get his bread at it. He next entered the service of\na miller and master baker, where he attempted, in grinding corn, to turn\nat once the handle of a mill and an honest penny. Even in the bakehouse\nhe was unable to forget the flowery path of literature; and while\nwatching the bread, he managed to inscribe on different rolls no less\nthan three comedies. Of these he made sufficient to enable him to quit\nthe oven, which was incapable of warming his imagination; and taking\nlodgings in Rome, he resumed the life of a dramatist.\n\nWhat Plautus may have wanted in originality, he made up for by\nindustry, there being still extant twenty of his plays, and he was,\naccording to some, the author of one hundred pieces.\n\nThe mantle of Plautus--supposing the dramatist to have died with a coat\nto his back--may be said to have fallen on Terentius Afer, or Terence.\nHe is believed to have been born at Carthage, and to have been the slave\nof a Roman senator; for his biographers--who, by the way, were writers\nthemselves--will not hazard the supposition that one of their own order\ncould have been the son of a gentleman. Terentius, however, got into\nwhat is usually termed the best society, which had the usual effect of\nthe \"best society\" on a literary man; for it took what it could never\ncompensate him for--his time; it led him into idle and extravagant\nhabits, and thus brought him, where it will inevitably leave him, if it\nonce gets him there--to ruin. His fashionable friends carried their\npatronage so far, as to tax his reputation as well as his means, and\neven claimed a share in the credit of his writings, declaring the best\npart of them to be their own, though they suffered Terentius to affix\nhis name to them.\n\nScipio Africanus, who stands convicted of fraud and embezzlement in a\nformer chapter,[60] had the effrontery to say, or allow it to be said,\nthat he had written portions of the plays in question, or, at least,\ncontributed some of the jokes; but we have nothing to support the claim,\nexcept the fact that he might, perhaps, have made a pun, as he is known\nto have picked the public pocket. The following anecdote, related by his\nbiographer, Donatus, or Suetonius--for the learned are at issue, and\nhave long been stumbling over the two styles--may afford some idea of\nthe treatment to which authors were submitted in the age we are writing\nof. Having completed his play of \"Andria,\" Terence was desirous of\ngetting it licensed, and applied to the \u00c6diles, who referred him to\nC\u00e6cilius, for an opinion on the manuscript. The critic being at dinner,\ndesired the dramatist to take a seat on a low stool, and read his piece,\nso that C\u00e6cilius might, at the same time, swallow his meal, and digest\nthe new comedy. Terence had read but a few verses, when the critic\ndeclared he could not continue selfishly putting good things into his\nown mouth, while so many good things were coming from the mouth of his\nvisitor. He was requested to put the comedy away until after the dinner,\nwhich he was invited to share; and, having done so, the play was\nfinished over a glass or two of wine, which increased the enthusiasm\nwith which the author read, and the critic listened. Both were delighted\nwith each other. Their better acquaintance was drunk; success to the\ncomedy was drunk; their healths were drunk together; and, ultimately,\nC\u00e6cilius and Terence were drunk separately as well as jointly, before\nthe termination of the evening.\n\nThe plays of Terence, though of Greek origin, were moulded after a\nfashion of his own, and what little of the material he borrowed was\nalmost immaterial to the value of his productions. He received for one\nof them \"The Eunuchus,\" no less than 8000 sesterces (about \u00a364), which\nwas, in those days, the largest sum that had ever been paid for a five\nact comedy. After having been successful for some years, he embarked,\naccording to some authorities, for Greece--as our dramatists embark\noccasionally for Boulogne--to lay in a new stock of pieces for future\ntranslation. Other authorities assert that he went to Asia, taking a\nnumber of translations with him, and was never heard of again, the ship\nhaving been sunk, perhaps, by the weight of his too heavy manuscripts.\n\n[Illustration: Terence reading his Play to C\u00e6cilius.]\n\nAmong the writers of the period, we must not forget to mention Ennius, a\nCalabrian, who gave lessons in Greek to the patrician youths, at a small\nlodging on the Aventine. He is regarded as the father of Latin poetry;\nbut Latin poetry could profit little from the paternal care of one whose\ndevotion to the bottle rendered his own care of himself frequently\nimpossible. His productions are of a very fragmentary kind; and, indeed,\nhis habits of intemperance prevented him from making any sustained\neffort. He was the boon companion of several patricians, who helped him\nto ruin when alive, and gave him a monument at his death;--one of them\n(Scipio Africanus) accommodating the poet with a place in his tomb, so\nthat the patron might literally go down to posterity with the man of\ngenius.\n\nWhile on the subject of the drama, as represented at Rome in the days of\nPlautus and Terence, we may refer to the fact that masks were worn by\nthe actors, which gave to a theatrical performance some absurd and not\nvery interesting features. There were several sets of masks among the\nproperties of a regular theatre, beginning with that of the first tragic\nold man, which had a quantity of venerable white worsted attached to it\nfor hair, with cheeks as chalky as grief and tears, strong enough to\nhave washed out the fastest colour, might be supposed to have rendered\nthem. The mask of the second tragic old man was less pale than that of\nthe first, for he was not supposed to have attained to that universal\nprivilege of aged heroism,--a countenance sicklied o'er with a pale coat\nof whitewash. The mask of the tragic young man, or youthful hero, was\nremarkable for its luxuriant head of hair, which, from the earliest days\nof the drama to the present hour, seems to be accepted as the stage\nindication of a noble character. The tragic masks for slaves embraced\nsome interesting varieties, including a sharp nose, intended to be\nindicative of many a blow from fortune's hand,--a sunken eye, to bespeak\na sorry look-out,--and, occasionally, long white hair, quite straight,\nwhich was supposed to convey the idea of the party having seen better\ndays, though the analogy is difficult, unless the lankiness of the locks\nmay be held to show that a favourable turn has in vain been waited for.\nThe mask of a tragic lady had all those signs of a genuine female in\ndistress which are even to this day required on the stage, where long\nblack hair, in terribly straightened circumstances, is the emblem of an\nanxious mind, which has long been a stranger to curl-papers. When\ninsanity, as well as anguish, had to be represented by the mask, the\nhair was undivided in the centre, but floated in wild profusion, as if\nthe wearer had gone through a great deal, and as if, whatever she had\ngone through, her hair had caught in the middle of.\n\nThe classical mask of the first comic old man was drawn excessively mild\nand benevolent, to indicate that propensity for scattering purses among\nthe poor, and bestowing his daughter, with some millions of sesterces,\non young Lucius, which were the probable attributes of the Greek and\nLatin stage veteran. There was also the mask of the testy old man, who\nwas represented perfectly bald, as if he was always taking something or\nother into his head which had torn all the hair out of it. The masks for\ncomic young men had the ordinary characteristics of stage humour,\nincluding red hair, pug noses, broad lips, and raised eyebrows, which\nare in these days supplied from those recognised sources of dramatic\ndrollery, the burnt cork, the gum-pot, and the paint-box.\n\nWe might enumerate a long list of different masks, without introducing\nany variety, for they were very nearly the same; but we have shown\nenough to prove that the classical taste for which so many clamour\nwithout knowing what they talk about, was very little, if at all, above\nthe modern standard. Some authorities[61] assert that masks were not\nworn in the earliest representations of the Roman drama; but some of the\noldest MS. of Terence contain figures of the required masks, just as a\nplay of the present day has prefixed to it a list of the costumes of the\ncharacters. The admirers of the classical may be grieved and astonished\nto hear that the taste, for the restoration of which they so much pine,\ntook greater delight in the deadly games of the Circus, than in the\nlively representations of men and manners.\n\n[Illustration: Light Comedy Man of the Period.]\n\nHistorical literature was in a very humble condition, and had much, or\nindeed all, the prolixity, with little of the accuracy, of a modern\nreport for a newspaper. It is, however, hardly fair to judge the authors\nseverely for writings which we have never seen, and are never likely to\nsee; for they have never come down to us, except in scraps--the result\nof the various cuttings-up they have encountered at the hands of\nPolybius and other critics. For the same reason, we are unable to praise\nconscientiously the \"Origines\" of Cato, which has long ago been lost,\nand we are unwilling to adopt the \"opinions of the press,\" which have\ntoo often been at the disposal of the member of a clique, or of the\npurchaser of a puffing paragraph. Oratory always was, and always will\nbe, an important art, except in those countries which are so excessively\nrepublican and free, that the people are free for every imaginable or\nimaginary purpose, except to do as they please, and to say what they\nthink proper. The Romans took the art of rhetoric from the Greeks, but\neven a good thing is distasteful if forced where it is not asked; and,\nwhen the Athenians sent three professed orators as propagandists of\ntheir art to Rome, the foreign agitators were ordered--very properly--to\nquit the city.\n\nAs lawyers, the early Romans are entitled to high praise, and they\nevinced their prudence by making juris-prudence an essential part of\ntheir ordinary studies. The Roman youth were required to get the Twelve\nTables by heart, or rather, by head, which was supposed to be\nsufficiently furnished when the whole of the Twelve Tables alluded to\nwere crammed into it.\n\nThe science of Medicine was not in very high repute among the early\nRomans, and physic was, commercially speaking, in very little demand, so\nthat it would have been a mere drug if brought into the market. The\naristocratic families generally expected one of their slaves to know\nsomething of the healing process, as they usually did of other arts or\ntrades; and a surgical operation, like a gardening operation, or any\npiece of merely manual labour, was frequently entrusted to the hands of\na simple bondsman. Physic was scarcely known in Rome as a distinct\npursuit, until the year of the City 534 (B.C. 219), when the Greek\nphysician Archagathus opened a shop with an extensive stock, and an\nestablishment of baths; the expense of which would have plunged him into\nhot water, had not the public come forward to make him a present of his\npremises. The shops of the doctors were lounging places for the idle,\nwho are always the most profitable patients; for there is no ailing so\ntroublesome as that of having nothing to do, and abundance of time to do\nit in. The Romans had made little advance in art, though they professed\nto show their love for it by robbing other nations of their treasures.\nOn the same principle, the pickpocket, who pilfers a handkerchief, might\nask credit for being attracted by the beauty of its design; and the\nknave who walks away with a set of silver spoons might pretend to be\nactuated by a desire to patronise their pattern or their workmanship.\nRome, indeed, can scarcely be said to have introduced the arts from\nGreece, but merely to have introduced a few of the articles on which the\narts had employed themselves.\n\nCommerce was looked down upon for a long period as a degrading pursuit;\nbut from the time of the Second Punic War, the equites, with a total\ndisregard of equity, began lending out money at exorbitant interest.\nThough they would not condescend to trade for gain, they were prepared\nto pocket the profits of usury. They would also purchase corn at a low\nprice abroad, and sell it at a dear rate at home; for they understood\nand practised all the tricks of the tradesman, though they sneered at\nand repudiated his position. The slave trade was also carried on to a\nvast extent by the higher classes, and even Cato is said to have done a\nlittle in that way himself, notwithstanding the stiffness of his\nnotions, and the alleged purity of his morals. The patrician principle\nseemed to be, that the same thing which would be blamable on a small\nscale, was excusable when practised on a broad basis--that to sell a\nlittle was degrading, but to sell a great deal was no disgrace at all;\nand by a parity of reasoning, they must have held, that so far from its\nbeing the same thing whether to be hanged for a sheep or a lamb, it\nwould only be the smaller depredator who would deserve any punishment\nwhatever.\n\nRobbery had greatly augmented the public wealth; but individuals were\nwretchedly poor, with the exception of the few who had had a hand in the\npockets of the conquered nations. Slaves were brought in such numbers to\nRome, that at length they would hardly fetch a price; and so many were\nbrought from Sardinia, who were constantly being put up, knocked down at\nnothing, bought in, and left on hand, that \"Sardians to sell!\" passed\ninto a proverb to express an unsaleable article. In vain were the poor\ncreatures prepared to do as they were bid, for no one would give them a\nbidding. The Greek captives fetched a higher price, for they were many\nof them accomplished men, and became tutors, music-masters, or teachers\nof painting, in the families of their purchasers. Among the hostages\nbrought to Rome, was Polybius the historian, who got so good a living by\ngiving lessons, that though he had been brought to Rome against his\nwill, he solicited the privilege of remaining there. His \"Universal\nHistory,\" in forty books, was a work that ought to be, and would have\nbeen, in every gentleman's library, but for the unfortunate fact of its\nhaving been nearly all lost: and we may judge of the excellence of the\nwhole, from the knowledge that though what remains of the work is very\ngood, by far the best part of it is missing.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[56] P. Cornelius Scipio gave no better answer than this to a charge of\nhaving embezzled a sum amounting to 36,000_l._ sterling.\n\n[57] _Vide_ \"The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria,\" by Dennis.\n\n[58] De Re rustica.\n\n[59] Brut., c. 18\n\n[60] Chapter xix., p. 202.\n\n[61] Diomedes, iii., p. 486, ed. Putsch.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST.\n\nWARS AGAINST PERSEUS. THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. SIEGE AND DESTRUCTION OF\nCARTHAGE, AND DITTO DITTO OF CORINTH.\n\n\nPhilip of Macedon bad been from time to time waging war with Rome; but\nthe wages of the troops were so exhausting to his means, that he was\ndriven to a hollow peace by his empty pockets. He had agreed to confine\nhis dominion within a certain space; but, as his ambition had no bounds,\nhe would not be content that his territory should have any limits. He\naccordingly fought with and thrashed the Thracians, who sent ambassadors\nto Rome for the purpose of showing him up, as it were, to their common\nmaster. Rome punished him by ordering him to keep within bounds; and\nthreatened, that if he should be found venturing out of bounds, he\nshould be severely punished. Philip muttered something about seeking\njustice elsewhere--a threat of paulo-post-future revenge which is common\nwith those who, being engaged in a dispute, have got decidedly the worst\nof it.\n\nHis prospects of ulterior measures were, however, sufficiently remote to\ninduce him to attempt an arrangement through the intervention of his son\nDemetrius. The latter had been educated in Rome, and of course had a\nthorough understanding of the Roman character. He succeeded in his\nmission, but he obtained his end in a less agreeable sense; for his\nexistence was brought to a close by treachery. Some designing persons\nfomented a feeling of jealousy between himself and his elder brother,\nPerseus, who poisoned the mind of Philip with such fatal effect, that he\ncaused the poisoning--not merely mental, but physical--of his son\nDemetrius. When the wretched parent discovered that he had been duped,\nhe became so uneasy in his mind, that he went quite out of it, and died\nat the age of three-score, unable to meet the heavy score that he had\nrun up against himself in the court of his own conscience.\n\nPerseus was hailed by the Romans as king; but all their hailing could\nnot render his reign prosperous. He endeavoured to cement his power by a\nmarriage with the daughter of Antiochus Epiphanes, for Perseus thought\nthat the aid he would derive from the match, would render him more than\na match for his enemies. He gave his sister to Prusias of Bithynia, in\nthe hope that the latter, having married into the family, would feel\nhimself wedded to its interests. Avarice was, however, the ruin of\nPerseus; for he did not understand the true use of the purse, which he\nused his utmost exertions to fill, and then held its strings with\nparsimonious stringency. He had promised to pay his allies, but their\nzeal in his cause subsided when they were left without their subsidies.\n\nEumenes of Pergamus being among others seized with a panic, went to Rome\nto ask advice, and on his return nearly lost his life on the highway, by\nsome persons who attacked him in a very low manner. He was passing a\nnarrow footpath near Delphi--from which it would appear that he had\nwalked at least a portion of the way--when some persons concealed in the\nrocks, hurled down several large blocks of granite, which though not\ncausing his death, brought him within a stone's throw of it. Several\nhuge pieces having fallen upon him, something struck him that all was\nnot right; and he was revolving the affair in his mind, when he found\nhimself rolling down the precipice. He was picked up nearly lifeless,\nbut though very much jammed, he was preserved; and though almost dashed\nto pieces, he was sufficiently collected, in a few days, to be enabled\nto go home, by another road, to Asia. It was said that Perseus had had a\nhand in this disgraceful affair; but he declared that even if he had\nwished for the death of Eumenes, he would not have been guilty of making\nsuch a desperate push for it.\n\nThis circumstance gave an impetus to the hostilities between Rome and\nPerseus, who was driven by the Consul Paulus \u00c6milius to a place called\nPydna, where the two armies came to such very close quarters, that their\ncavalry were compelled to go halves in the same stream of water. A Roman\nhorse happened to be drinking, when, startled by his own shadow, and not\ngiving himself time for reflection, which would have shown him the cause\nof his alarm, he ran away into the camp of the enemy. The animal, though\ngoaded on by nothing but the spur of the moment, continued his flight;\nand some Roman soldiers running after him into the enemy's camp, were\nspeedily followed by so many more, that, though they had come after\ntheir own horse, they began attacking the foot of the enemy.\n\nThe battle was commenced under such unfavourable circumstances, that\n\u00c6milius, the Roman leader, thinking it all lost, declared that it was\nall one to him what became of him. He manifested his grief by tearing\nhis robe to show how much he was cut up; and beating his foot\nimpatiently on the ground, he stamped himself for ever as a man without\nstrength of mind, in a case where fortitude was required. The Roman\ncavalry beginning to bear down successfully, the Consul began to bear\nup; and the tide of fortune being turned, the Macedonians were,\naccording to those grave authorities--which never mince matters, though\nalways mincing men--cut, as usual, to pieces. Perseus flew to Pella; but\nhaving omitted to close the gates after him, he was shut out from all\nchance of escape had he remained in the place, and he went on,\ntherefore, to Amphipolis. There he attempted to address the inhabitants\non his own behalf; but he shed so many tears, that he drowned his own\nvoice, and choked his own utterance. He had hoped to rouse the\ninhabitants by going to the country with a cry; but he damped their\nenthusiasm with a flood of tears, when they had been looking for a flow\nof eloquence.\n\nAfter flying from place to place, like a hunted hare, he felt the game\nwas up, and, retreating to Samothrace, he consigned his weary head to\nthe shelter of Castor, in whose temple he hid himself. He had managed to\ncarry about with him a large supply of treasure, which he was anxious to\nsave, and had hired a mariner to take him to Crete; but the money having\nbeen first sent on board, the crafty seaman, out of curiosity, weighed\nthe gold, and immediately weighed anchor. Perseus having gone down to\nthe beach, to embark, saw the ship in the offing, and, having watched\nit, he perceived that it was fairly, or rather unfairly off, with all\nhis treasure. As he paced the shore, he felt himself quite aground, and,\nhaving no lodging for the night, or the means of obtaining one, he\nreturned to the solitary chambers of the temple. Having a wife and\nfamily to provide for, he threw himself on the generosity of \u00c6milius,\nwho gave him a subsistence, but loaded him with chains, that he might\nfeel the weight of his obligations. The unhappy Perseus was made to walk\nin a triumph before the car of his conqueror; and though he had\nentreated that he might not be so lowered, he was still further let\ndown, by cruel confinement in a subterranean dungeon. His\nfellow-prisoners are said to have offered him a sword, to end his days,\nbut, on looking at the weapon, he very properly declined to bring his\nsufferings to a point, by an act of folly and wickedness. He eventually\nfound his way to Alba, where he died in about two years; his son,\nAlexander, having adopted the trade of a turner, with the laudable view\nof turning an honest penny.\n\nPaulus \u00c6milius exercised the usual privilege of a conqueror, by robbing\nthe vanquished of all they had possessed; and Macedonia was declared\nfree, in the customary manner, by placing it entirely under the\ngovernment of its foreign victors.\n\nThe triumph of Paulus \u00c6milius was one of the most magnificent shows that\nhad ever been seen, and lasted three days, during which a perpetual fair\nwas kept up; for, among the Romans, \"None but the brave deserve the\nfair\" was a maxim literally followed. On the first day there was a\nprocession of pictures, showing the exploits of \u00c6milius in the brightest\ncolours. The second day was devoted to the carrying of the trophies and\nthe silver coin; but, on the third, which was the grandest day of all,\nthe gold was paraded, followed by 120 bulls, which seem to be suggestive\nof nothing belonging to war but its butchery. After these came the\nunhappy Perseus, loaded with fetters, and having about him some other\nlinks of a far more affecting kind, in the shape of his three children.\n\nThe fame spread by the fate of Perseus was general among the kings of\nthe earth, who flocked like sheep, or rather, crawled like curs, to do\nhomage to the Roman Senate. Perseus arrived with his head shaved, as if\nto show that he owed not only his crown, but his hair and all, to Rome;\nand he wore the tattered garments of a freed slave, as if to prove that\nhe had not a rag to his back, but what he held at the pleasure of his\nmasters.\n\nAll who had shown any sympathy with the cause of Perseus were cruelly\npersecuted, and the unfortunate Rhodians were so terrified with the bare\nanticipation of their fate, that they began to anticipate it in reality,\nby making away with themselves and with one another. On the few who\nremained the hardest conditions were imposed, which made their own\ncondition the more deplorable. Carthage and the Achaian League were the\nonly two powers that seemed to stand in the way of Rome, and of these\nthe latter was thought so contemptible, that some Achaians who had been\ndetained in Italy were saved by a sarcasm of Cato on their feebleness\nand decrepitude. \"We have only to decide,\" said he, \"whether these poor\ncreatures shall be buried by their own grave-diggers, or by ours;\" a\ncruel pleasantry, which, however, had a humane result, for it was\ndecided that they should be at liberty to go home and yield to their\nnative undertakers the profit--or loss--attendant on their funerals.\n\nThe Carthaginians had been for some years at peace with Rome, but had\nbeen much harassed by some of her allies, and particularly by\nMassinissa, their neighbour, in Numidia. It was annoying enough to be\nsubjected to attack, but it was still more provoking to be unable to\nreturn the blow, which was the case with Carthage, whose hands were tied\nby a bond prohibiting her from going to war without Rome's permission.\nAn appeal was addressed to Rome, which sent ambassadors, who were\ninstructed to hear the Carthaginians, but to decide in favour of\nMassinissa. Carthage at length grew tired of allowing Rome to hold the\nscales of justice; for, though the scales might have been true, a false\nweight was always attached to one side, which gave it a vast\npreponderance.\n\nThe Carthaginians, therefore, took up arms against Massinissa, who,\nthough ninety years of age, fought with great determination; for he\nfelt, probably, that he was too old to fly, and that his only chance was\nto make that determined stand so well adapted to a time of life when\nprogress is somewhat difficult. The Carthaginians were worsted, but they\nwere not yet quite at their worst, until Rome was seized with the idea\nof destroying their city. Cato was especially bent upon this design, or\nrather he pursued it with unbending obstinacy, for he finished every\nspeech with the words \"_Delenda est Carthago_,\" which may be freely\nrendered into \"Carthage must be smashed.\" Whatever might have been the\ncommencement of his oration, he always ended with the same words, and\nwhether he spoke in the Senate, the market-place, or his own house,\nthough the premises might be different, he always came to the same\nconclusion. He went about as a man with one idea, and his conduct was\nalmost that of a monomaniac; for, if he met a friend in the street, and\nconversed on different or indifferent subjects, he would take his\nfarewell with the accustomed words, \"_Valete; delenda est\nCarthago_,\"--\"Good-bye; we must smash Carthage.\" During a debate in the\nSenate he pulled some figs out of his pocket, which he exhibited to some\nof his brother members as being \"remarkably fine.\" As the fruit was\nbeing examined, he observed, that he had \"picked them up in Africa;\"\nthat \"they were capital;\" that \"there were plenty more where those came\nfrom,\" and, in a word, he added, \"_Delenda est Carthago_\"--\"We really\nmust smash Carthage.\"\n\nRome agreed with Cato, more especially when he pointed out that the\nplace was exceedingly rich; for the Romans, whenever there was anything\nto be got by robbery, were quite prepared for violence. The Consuls, M.\nManilius and L. Marcius Censorinus, assembled with a large force in\nSicily, where some ambassadors appeared from Carthage; but the only\nresult of negotiation was an order that 300 members of the best\nCarthaginian families should be sent over by way of hostages. The Romans\nthen passed over into Utica, where the Carthaginian ambassadors again\ntried to treat, but the treatment they experienced was a demand for the\ninstant giving up of all their arms and ammunition. Commissioners were\nsent into the city to see the orders carried out, which comprised the\ncarrying out of 200,000 suits of armour, and 3000 catapults.[62] The\nCarthaginians appear to have lost the use of their heads when they so\nquietly resigned their arms; but when they were told that they must, in\nthe next place, abandon Carthage, and build another city ten miles off,\nthey began to feel--somewhat too late--that it was time to defend\nthemselves.\n\nThe Carthaginian ambassadors proceeded to the usual expression of\nanguish by tearing their hair out by the roots, instead of trying to\npluck up a little courage. Some, who were already bald, rolled\nthemselves in the dust; and only a few went, like sensible men, to\ncommunicate to the Carthaginians the doom with which their city was\nthreatened.\n\nThe receipt of the news seems to have deprived the Carthaginians of all\ntheir natural intelligence; for their first step was to maltreat the\nenvoys. An effort was then made to save the city, by shutting the gates;\nand the citizens armed themselves with stones, having determined to set\ntheir lives upon the cast of these unwarlike missiles. It is impossible\nnot to respect and admire the heroism displayed under the very trying\ncircumstances; but, unfortunately, trying was of little use, for the\nchances were all against the Carthaginians. Hasdrubal, who had been\nliving in exile, at the head of 20,000 men--a somewhat large party to\nremain in banishment--was sent for to take the command, and occupied a\npost outside the city. The inhabitants, having given up all their\nordinary arms to the enemy, supplied fresh ammunition by devoting all\ntheir gold and silver to the furnace; and it was a melting sight to see\ntheir treasure sacrificed for this patriotic object. The women cut off\ntheir hair, to devote it to the making of crossbows, and the sex took a\ncharacteristic pride in furnishing as many strings to a bow as possible.\nThey worked so energetically, that they are said to have fabricated as\nmany as 500 javelins, 140 bucklers, and 300 swords each day; but this\nstatement seems to involve so much of fabrication, that we find\ndifficulty in believing it.\n\nThe resistance of Carthage was obstinate; and the confidence of Rome led\nto a sort of indolence on the part of the latter, which protracted the\nsiege, until a new life was put into the affair, by the appointment of\nyoung P. C. Scipio, the son of Paulus \u00c6milius, to the Consulship. The\nCarthaginians also were urged to fresh exertion, and a party of 300\nwaded through the harbour, with torches in their hands, to burn some\nengines; but the water damped their efforts, which might be compared to\nan attempt to set the Thames on fire; and all who were not drowned were\nglad to make their way back again. The suggestion of the use of flame\nwas an unfortunate one for Carthage, since it seemed to cause the\nbreaking in of a new light upon the Romans, who had recourse to\nincendiarism in their turn for the accomplishment of their object.\nHaving got within the walls, they ignited several houses, and, carrying\nfire from street to street, they invested their cause with a glare which\nis none the less hateful for having been the glare of victory.\n\nAfter nearly everybody had been killed, 50,000 men and women came forth\nwith olive branches to meet the conqueror; and 900 Roman deserters were\nstill stowed away in the citadel. Hasdrubal yielded; but his wife, who\nwas a strong-minded woman, reviled him in a speech from the ramparts,\nand, parading her poor helpless children up and down for a few minutes,\nshe threw them before her, and ultimately flung herself into the burning\nruins. Preceding historians have expressed their admiration of this\nfrantic female, for the act of murder and suicide which we have\ndescribed; but we must confess our total inability to appreciate the\nheroism of a piece of cruelty and cowardice, involving a large amount of\nbrutal daring, but wholly destitute of moral fortitude.\n\nCarthage was now utterly destroyed, and Scipio, who had been the main\ninstrument of its having been set on fire, is said to have shed tears\nover its smouldering ashes; but we should be inclined to attribute the\nfact to the smoke having got into his eyes, rather than to any feeling\nof humanity. Even those who give him credit for sensibility, accuse him\nof selfishness, for they say that he alluded to the possibility that the\nsame fate would befal his own country; and they add that, while thinking\nof his home, he quoted Homer, who had foretold the doom of Troy through\nthe mouth of Hector.[63] The Romans having possession of the place,\nrazed to the ground every part that had escaped the flames; but they\nlowered themselves even still more completely than they levelled the\ncity. Thus fell a place which had maintained a noble rivalry with Rome,\nand which, in many respects, surpassed her proud competitor.\n\nThe greatness of Carthage had been, undoubtedly, the cause of that\nlittleness of feeling which had been manifested towards it by Cato, who\ncould not bear the idea that there should exist a city rivalling in\ngrandeur the place he inhabited. The walls, which were triple, were\ndivided into two stories, the upper for men, and the lower for brutes;\nthe former comprising barracks for soldiers, and the latter being fitted\nup as stables for elephants.\n\nThe chief glory of the place was, however, to be found in its aqueducts,\nwhich ran in a long line of seventy miles, and of which the people had\nmore reason to be proud than of even a still longer line of ancestors.\nThat a place surrounded almost by aqueducts should have been destroyed\nby fire, is an extraordinary fact, though it is possible that turncocks\nmay have been neglectful, and if called upon to turn the water on, they\nmay have turned it off in favour of some more agreeable engagement.\n\nThere were not so many spoils as had been expected, for everything was\nspoilt by the mischief that had been done, and though there had been\nplenty of gold, the fearful amount of violent change had so scattered\nthe gold, that there was not so much remaining as there otherwise would\nhave been. With a touch of that honour which the proverb says is to be\nfound among thieves, Scipio called upon the places formerly plundered by\nCarthage to reclaim their goods; and the people of Agrigentum demanded a\nbrazen Bull they had once used as an instrument of torture, though the\ninvention was so discreditable to humanity, that its inventors ought to\nhave been ashamed to ask for it back again. Among the prizes secured by\nthe Romans, was a very small parcel of books, including a little work on\nagriculture, by Mago, which had taught the Carthaginians to till the\nearth, though not how to keep their ground, for they had lost every foot\nof it.\n\nCarthage became a province of Rome, under the name of Africa, and\nScipio, who subsequently styled himself Africanus, enjoyed one of those\ntriumphs, which were in fact disgraces to the object they were designed\nto honour. Part of the \"triumph\" consisted in the barbarity of throwing\nas food to lions the fugitives that had fallen into his hands, and games\nwere celebrated, in which death to the conquered was the chief sport to\nthe conqueror.\n\nMacedonia, which was groaning under the freedom forced upon it by Rome,\nwas glad to become the slave of everybody who offered to ease it of the\nobnoxious burden. The Macedonians, therefore, became the dupes of three\nimpostors in succession, who, with all their imposition, were less\nobjectionable than the hardships imposed by Rome in her character of\nliberator to the world in general. The impostors--one of whom was a\nrunaway gladiator--were in turn subdued, and Macedonia was swallowed up\nby Rome's insatiable appetite for conquest.\n\nOf the three pretenders just alluded to, the only one who had been able\nto maintain his ground--though, by the way, the ground was never his to\nmaintain--was a young man, who declared himself to be Philip, the son of\nPerseus. The youth was certainly very like his alleged father; and, upon\nthe strength of the resemblance in features, he put upon his claim such\na bold face, that the Macedonians favoured it. They put their crown upon\nhis head, and the kingly name seemed to have invested the young\nadventurer with a tower of strength; for he was successful in an attack\nupon the Romans, under the consul Juventius. The impostor, however, soon\nlost control over himself, and there was at once an end to his influence\nover his new subjects. They threw him off, and he was compelled to take\nrefuge in a Court inhabited by one Bysas, a petty Thracian prince, who\ngave up, or, more probably, sold, the fugitive, who had sought his\nhospitality. The pretender, who had led away so many others, was\neventually led away himself, and made to march as a \"frightful example\"\nin the triumph of Metellus.\n\nAbout this time the Achaians, who had entered into a league, began to\nquarrel among themselves; for Sparta, like a spoiled child, wanted to\nhave its own way, and sulked, as it were, alone in a corner, apart from\nthe rest of the confederacy. Rome was appealed to for advice, and Roman\nambassadors came to Corinth; but they were so unpopular, that on a visit\nto the theatre, where they had gone, expecting fair play, they were\ninsulted and pelted by the audience. This irritated the Romans, and an\narmy was sent, under Mummius, to encounter the Greek general Di\u00e6us, who\nmade so certain of victory, that he had seats erected for the women and\nchildren to see him win a battle. He had prepared everything in the\nneighbourhood of Corinth, and appropriating the privilege of the brave\nwho are said to deserve the fair, he clustered a large bevy of female\nbeauty round the spot of his intended achievement. The ladies were all\nexpectation, and Di\u00e6us was all confidence, until Mummius made his\nappearance, and in a very few minutes sent Di\u00e6us flying towards\nMegalopolis. Here he entered his own abode, and setting fire to the\npremises, celebrated, with the most dismal of house-warmings, the defeat\nthat took the place of his intended victory.\n\nMummius, thinking it idle to pursue the fugitive, preferred following up\nhis advantage, and arrived at the gates of Corinth, which had been left\nwide open by the citizens. The place was deserted; and Mummius not only\nsacked its palaces, but ransacked its private houses, and, looking into\nits magazines, extracted from them some very valuable articles. So\nlittle, however, did he understand or appreciate art, that when sending\nvaluable pictures or pieces of sculpture to Rome, he told the sailors,\nthat if any damage was done on the voyage, he would make them execute\nobjects precisely similar to those with which he entrusted them. Among\nthe pictures was the celebrated \"Bacchus\" of Aristides,--which was so\nperfect as to be looked upon as one of the wonders of the world--and,\nwhen consigning it as part of a cargo of curiosities, he declared that,\nif any injury was done to it, the ship's painter should immediately\npaint another. Such was the barbarism of the destroyers of Corinth, that\nthis picture was only rescued by Polybius from the hands of the\nsoldiers, who were gambling on its face, and who, with every throw of\nthe die, took off a portion of its colour.\n\nThe scenes enacted during the pillage of Corinth were barbarous in the\nextreme, and involved the total destruction of what may have been termed\none of the chief pillars of civilisation--or, at all events, its\nCorinthian capital. Many of the Roman soldiers, intoxicated with success\nand something more, perished in the flames, to which the city was doomed\nby the barbarous order of Mummius. When the conflagration first\ncommenced, it is said that a liquid metal was seen to flow through the\nstreets, which induced the invaders to rush forward in the hope of\nprofiting by such a strange metallic currency. Those, however, who laid\ntheir hands upon the tempting issue, as it ran from the banks on either\nside of the thoroughfare, found it a mass of floating fire, with which\nthey terribly burned their fingers. On cooler examination the material\nproved to be a fusion of beautiful ores, to which the name of Corinthian\nbrass has since been given.\n\n[Illustration: Bacchanalian Group, from a very old Vase.]\n\nGreece was now at the feet of Rome, which trampled not only on her\nfallen foe, but upon all the obligations of honour and morality. The\npopulation and wealth of Corinth were disposed of--the former by murder,\nand the latter by robbery. Greece was formed into a Roman province under\nthe title of Achaia, and Mummius, glorying in, rather than being\nashamed of, his share of the work, took the surname of Achaicus. We may\ninstance as a redeeming feature of the period, the erection at Rome of a\nclock, which was in some degree at variance with the time; for the\nuseful arts were neglected amid the pursuits of war and rapine. The\nclock consisted of a bottle with a narrow neck, filled with water,\ndivided into twelve measures, to mark the hours; but it was only a\nminute observer that could ascertain the minutes. The only mode of\ntelling the time at Rome, had been previously by means of the sun-dial,\nwhich was, of course, useless in the absence of sun, and those who were\nparticular to a shade, could derive from it no assistance in their\nevening arrangements.\n\nWe dwell with some satisfaction on the introduction of the apparatus we\nhave described; for the mere manifestation of a desire to note the\nprogress of time is indicative of a wish to make an improved use of it.\nThe application of the bottle to a wholesome purpose must also be a\ncheering symptom, when it is met with among those who had previously\nlooked at the bottle as the means of killing time, rather than as an\ninstrument for making its flight perceptible.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[62] A catapult was an instrument for throwing arrows to a considerable\ndistance. The arrows were called _Tormenta_, not from the torment they\ninflicted, but from _torqueo_, to twist, because they were made of\ntwisted hair, and perhaps the sight of them was calculated to give a\nturn to the enemy.\n\n[63]\n\n \"The day shall come when Ilium's self shall fall,\n With Priam and his strong-spear'd people all.\"--_Iliad_, vi. 446.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND.\n\nWARS IN SPAIN. VIRIATHUS. DESTRUCTION OF NUMANTIA. THE SERVILE WAR IN\nSICILY. APPROPRIATION OF PERGAMUS.\n\n\nWar had become so familiar to the Romans, that they never felt at home\nunless they were fighting abroad, and the sword was the only thing they\ntook in hand with real earnestness. The intoxication of success, like\nother habits of intoxication, cannot be easily got rid of, and the\nRomans sought to indulge their thirst for conquest in a manner wholly at\nvariance with sober judgment. Their design was to conquer Spain, and in\nthe execution of this design they cruelly executed large numbers of the\nLusitanians, who had laid down their arms, in consequence of a promise\nthat if they quitted the field of battle, they should be allowed quiet\npossession of the fields of peaceful industry. On this assurance, they\ndivided themselves into three parts, and were then--as we are gravely\nassured by the chroniclers--treacherously cut into several thousand\npieces. One of the few that escaped was Viriathus, who combined the\nqualities of the wolf and the lamb, for he had turned a desperate\nrobber, after having been employed as a gentle shepherd. Abandoning the\nhonest hook of a pastoral life, he had adopted the more crooked ways of\nthe common thief; and he seems to have gradually stolen upon the\nconfidence of his countrymen, until they made him a general. He had\npassed his early days among the mountains, and was prepared for the ups\nand downs of life, which he afterwards experienced. His predatory\nproperties had taught him how to attack, and his practice as a\nrobber--which rendered it necessary for him frequently to keep out of\nthe way--had familiarised him with the art of avoiding an enemy. He\nwould appear suddenly from the thick of a thicket, and after doing\nconsiderable mischief, he would find concealment in the hollow of some\nrock which his companions would never split upon. Though he had\ncommenced his career as a poor country clown, he had trained himself to\nperform feats of activity worthy of the most experienced Harlequin.\nLife, which is a drama in the case of most men, was, in his case, a\nseries of scenes in a pantomime. He was here, there, and everywhere,\nwhen he was not expected, and he was immediately nowhere when his\nopponents were in pursuit of him. His policy was first to scatter, and\nthen to destroy; to divide an enemy _en gros_, and cut it to pieces _en\ndetail_. He had encountered Vitellius, the Roman Pr\u00e6tor, near a place\ncalled Tribula, where the latter got into the utmost tribulation by\nbeing led through briers and bushes into an ambush, where he lost half\nhis army. The other half lost him, for he was killed by the sword of\nsome one who did not know him, though, had he been known, the\nacquaintance would, most probably, have been cut in the same barbarous\nmanner.\n\n[Illustration: Assassination of Viriathus.]\n\nViriathus for some time baffled the enemy by cunning and address, or\nrather by having no address at all, for he had no fixed residence; and\nthere was, consequently, much difficulty in finding him. At length he\nfought a battle, in which he was so far successful that a peace was\nconcluded, in which he was acknowledged as the friend and ally of Rome;\nbut having no one to save him from his friends, he was basely murdered\nin his sleep by some Lusitanian assassins that the Roman general had\nhired. The instigators of this barbarous act refused to pay when the\nsanguinary work was done; and the murderers, in making a demand on\naccount of their crime, may be said to have, figuratively, cut their own\nthroats, for they were threatened with punishment for the iniquity they\nconfessed themselves guilty of. After the death of Viriathus, the\nLusitanians having lost their head, were without the brains necessary to\ndefend themselves, and fell an easy prey into the hands of Q. Pompeius.\nThis individual was the son of a musician; but instead of following his\nfather's profession, he had become the leader of a warlike band, and he\nfound the soldiers willing instruments to play into his hands, or act in\nconcert with him, for the gratification of his personal ambition. He\nattacked Numantia, though with so little success, that he was compelled\nto conclude a peace; but treacherously declaring that the conclusion of\na peace meant the beginning of a war, he renewed hostilities at the\nfirst convenient opportunity. Subsequently, C. Hostilius Mancinus\ncommenced an attack, but 10,000 of his men having been killed, and\n20,000 more being blocked up in a ravine, he could not exactly see his\nway out of it without a surrender. The Numantines refused to treat with\nhim, until young Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, whom they trusted, came\nforward to pledge his honour that Numantia should be fairly treated. The\nSenate, however, repudiated the arrangement, and the honour of young\nTib. remains among the enormous stock of unredeemed pledges which\nhistory has handed down to us.\n\nThe Romans began to feel that none but the best man was likely to win,\nand they accordingly looked out for the best man, whom they found in\nScipio Africanus, the destroyer of Carthage. He was sent against\nNumantia, which he surrounded by fortifications, in order that he might\nstarve out the inhabitants by keeping them in, and he did his utmost to\nrestore the discipline of the Roman army. He hardened the soldiers by\nmaking them carry loads of wood, a novel plan of providing them with a\nbillet; he forced them to sleep on the ground, which they complained of\nas hard; and he allowed them no other cooking utensils than a saucepan,\nwhich caused the indignation of many to boil over.\n\nNumantia stood upon a lofty rock, and its inhabitants displayed a\ncourage worthy of its high position. The river Durius (now the Douro)\nwashed its feet; there were forests on either hand; while the mounds and\nditches abounding in the vale before it, rendered any attempt to\napproach it in the front almost unavailable. Scipio Africanus soon\nperceived the hopelessness of succeeding by a direct attack, and he\nproceeded, therefore, to raise round the place a double stockade, to\nprevent any aid in the form of a stock of provisions being carried into\nit. He impeded the navigation of the river by throwing across it large\nbeams, perforated with swords, which, revolving with the tide, cut off\nall communication by means of water.\n\nNotwithstanding all the precautions that had been taken, a party of\nabout half-a-dozen young men, having slipped through the lines--and very\nhard lines they were--succeeded in reaching the town of Lutia. The head\nof the party, holding an olive-branch, begged for assistance with such\neffect, that the Lutians offered to lend him a hand in his terrible\nemergency. Scipio, who had been in pursuit, no sooner heard of the\nLutians having offered to lend a hand, than he savagely declared that\nthey should have no hands to spare, and he barbarously ordered the\ncutting off of the hands of four hundred citizens.\n\nThe Numantines being completely hemmed in, were unable to obtain\nprovisions; but though reduced at last to eat cats, they became only the\nmore dogged in their resistance to the enemy. Eventually, they begged\nfor a truce of three days, which they employed in destroying their wives\nand children--a species of heroism not easily understood; for to kill\nthose who are dear, by way of protecting them, is a mode of insurance of\nwhich we must dispute the policy. The men were so sadly dispirited, and\nso fearfully cut up by their own or each other's swords, that the\nconquerors had only a remnant to take, in the shape of population, when\nthey entered the city.\n\nIn conformity with the custom of the period, Scipio Africanus Minor,\nwhose atrocities, in connexion with the siege of Numantia, have branded\nhis name for ever with disgrace, proceeded to make arrangements for a\ntriumph. Instead of feeling a decent shame, he manifested a most\nunbecoming pride in what he had done; and to identify himself more\ncompletely with the horrors of the siege, he took the name of\nNumantinus. So thoroughly had starvation done its work, that of the few\ncitizens who were found alive, only fifty were in sufficiently good\ncondition to appear in the show got up in celebration of his\ndishonourable victory.\n\nWhile Rome was thus extending her arms, she may be said to have been\npainfully on the stretch; and Scipio, during his consulship, seeing the\nrepublic was likely to outgrow its strength, caused prayers to be said\nfor its safety. Rome was certainly in danger, though from a different\ncause than that which had been apprehended; for the free population had\nbeen greatly reduced by war, and the captives, or slaves to\ncircumstances, had been vastly multiplied. The office of the latter was\nto tend flocks; and they were so thoroughly regarded as a portion of the\nstock, that they were treated like brutes by their masters.\n\nThe system of slavery which existed at Rome, had so much influence upon\nher fate, and is calculated to afford such an insight into her morals,\nthat the fetters she placed upon others may be regarded as so many links\nin her history. We will, therefore, break for a moment the chain of\nnarrative, and proceed to a brief consideration of the Roman system of\nslavery and chains, to which we cannot hope that the attention of the\nreader can remain long riveted.\n\nAccording to the strict letter of the Roman law, a master could treat,\nor maltreat, his slave in any way he pleased, either by death, sale, or\npunishment. Though the slave could hold no property, he had the power of\ntaking anything he could get, but simply as a medium for conveying it to\nhis master. So thoroughly were the slaves looked upon as articles of\ntraffic, that they were liable to be pledged or put into pawn--a\nposition in which they were the subjects of a melancholy sort of\ninterest.\n\nThe demand for slave labour in Rome was caused by the annual consumption\nof the free population in war, at whose bidding many who should have\nremained to cultivate the land, were sent forth to plough the ocean. The\nresult was a redundancy of slave population, accustomed to agricultural\nlabour of every kind, and which, having been already brought under the\nyoke, had become sufficiently brutalised to do the work of oxen. The\nchief supply of slaves was drawn from the prisoners taken in war, and an\narmy was generally attended by dealers, who, in case of a glut, could\nfrequently buy a lot cheap; and at the camp of Lucullus they were being\npicked up for about three shillings and three-pence of our money--or\nfour drachmas. In Rome it was usual to sell slaves by auction, and, as\nif the poor wretches were not already low enough, they were knocked down\nby the hammer. The dealers were in the habit of practising the same sort\nof tricks to conceal the defects of a slave, as are, in these days,\nemployed to hide the faults of a horse, and it was customary therefore,\nin purchasing, to require a warranty. The character was often suspended\non a scroll round the neck, and their chief recommendation consisted in\na guarantee that they would neither commit suicide, nor steal--having no\ntendency to make away with either themselves or their master's property.\nThere was a considerable variation in the value of slaves, and fancy\nprices have been known to be given for some curious specimens of captive\nhumanity. A fool has been known to fetch 20,000 sesterces--about one\nhundred and seventy pounds--a sum that would seem to show that folly was\nscarce; but when we remember how wise a man is required to make a fool,\nwe may take it for granted that the wisdom comprised in the subject of\nthe bargain was the rare and costly part of it. Literary men were often\nexposed for sale like cattle when they happened to be slaves, and the\nuseful hack, or occasionally the literary lion, might be seen chained to\na pen in the public market-place. Slaves had no distinctive dress; and\nwhen it was once proposed to give them one, the measure was rejected, on\nthe ground that it might show them their numerical strength, and that if\nthey once saw their power by obtaining their livery, they might attempt\nto take up their freedom. It was deemed better to keep them in the dark,\nby clothing them in sombre colours, and their numbers not being\nmanifested to them by any peculiar dress, it was not likely they would\nunite in order to redress their grievances.\n\nThere is, however, something elastic in human nature, which causes it to\nrise after being trodden on. Such was the case with the slaves, who\nbegan to swell with indignation, which was rendered particularly tumid\nby the inflated and inflating eloquence of one Eunus, a Syrian, who was\na member of their own body. This individual possessed the art of oratory\nin a high degree, and there is nothing more stimulating to the breeze of\ndiscontent than the breath of an enthusiastic demagogue. He persuaded\nthe slaves to revolt, and while preaching to them the doctrine of\nequality, he claimed to be not only their leader, but their prince and\nruler--a species of practice which is not uncommon with the propounders\nof the most levelling theories. Pretending to possess the gift of\nprophecy, he predicted that he would be a king one day; and the rich,\nputting a mimic crown on his head for a few hours, jeeringly told him\nthat he had been a king one day--or at least half a day, and that his\nprediction had been therefore verified. The slaves, however, put faith\nin him, and shouldering their spades, axes, poles, and hatchets, made\nthemselves, as well as their implements, the tools of Eunus. No less\nthan 70,000 slaves acknowledged as their head the man who taught them\nthat they ought to have no head at all, and he urged them to a merciless\nmassacre of their vanquished foes, while inculcating the doctrines of\nhumanity. Rage without restraint, and revenge without reason, were,\nhowever, of no permanent avail, and the slaves under Eunus were soon\nrouted by the disciplined forces of the Consul, Rupilius. He besieged\nTauromenium; and the slaves, by being completely shut in, were\naltogether shut out from the chance of obtaining provisions. Their\ncondition from day to day was so desperate and monotonous, that, with\nnothing to eat, they furnish but sorry food to the historian. Having\nswallowed their last morsel, the inhabitants could not satisfy their\nhunger by bolting the gates, and Rupilius was admitted within the city.\nEunus escaped into a cutting in the rocks; but when he relied on the\nfriendly shelter of the cave, he found it a hollow mockery. His retreat\nwas discovered, and he was taken into custody with his cook, his\nconfectioner, his butler, and his buffoon, who, with the exception of\nthe last, must have held sinecures in their master's limited\nestablishment. The buffoon must have been worked the hardest of the\nparty, for the pursuit of mirth under difficulties is one of the most\nmelancholy tasks that can be imposed on the professed humorist. Eunus\nhimself was transferred from his subterranean cellar to an underground\ncell, where it is said he was devoured by rats; but happily this horrid\ntale receives no authentic ratification at the hands of history.\n\nThe Servile War had not yet ceased, when Attalus, the King of Pergamus,\ndied, and left no sign; for there was no succeeding king's head for the\ncrown of Pergamus to rest upon. It was fortunate, perhaps, that Attalus\nleft no heir; for had there been any inheritor of his qualities as well\nas his title, the perpetuation of a nuisance would have been the\ndeplorable consequence. The man was so thoroughly wicked that it is\ncharity to pronounce him mad, and we accordingly set him down as a\nlunatic, though we feel scarcely justified in acquitting him of his many\ncrimes on the single ground of insanity. He is said to have been so much\naddicted to the practice of poisoning his relations, that he found it\ncheaper to grow his own plants; and he cultivated the hemlock, or the\nnight-shade, as others grew their own faba or cicer, their beans and\nchickweed. Death lurked at the root of everything his garden contained,\nand it is probable that he sent many a present of putative mushrooms to\nhis unsuspecting kindred. So odious had he become, that it is said he\nwould have been murdered, if he had not died a little too soon for the\narrangements of the assassins to be completed. Having been in the habit\nof expressing his will very briefly in his lifetime, it is not\nsurprising that he should have left at his death a will, so short, that\nit purported to say in four letters all he desired. His last testament\nwas comprised in the characters P. R. H. E.; and all his property was\nsupposed to be represented in this small collection of capitals. The\nRomans affecting to be initiated in the meaning of these initials,\ndeclared them to signify, _Populus Romanus h\u00e6res est_, Let the Roman\npeople be the heirs of my property. Regarding these letters as letters\nof administration, the Romans possessed themselves of all the effects of\nAttalus; but the will was disputed by the next of kin, one Aristonicus,\na natural brother, whose claim to succeed, as a member of the testator's\nline, was stifled by a rope, with which the unfortunate claimant was\ncruelly strangled.\n\n[Illustration: Arrest of Eunus.]\n\nPergamus became a Roman province under the name of Asia Proper--a\nspecies of appropriation which there was nothing to justify.\n\nRome was now in the position of a man who had outgrown his strength, or\nrather of an adult still wearing the clothes of its infancy. Its\nmeasures had been adapted to a social body which had since spread itself\nin all directions, while the constitution, with which it was clothed,\nhad not been extended to the new growth; and the extreme points of the\nRepublic were therefore reduced to all sorts of extremities. The people\nat large had become so miserably poor, that they were easily bribed to\nbecome the tools of their own further abasement; and they were not only\nready to sell themselves for a mere nothing, but to lend themselves to\nalmost anything.\n\nThe tribuneship, which had been originally a purely popular institution,\nhad changed, or rather lost, its character. Instead of being stationed\noutside the entrance of the Senate House, to prevent the door from being\nopened to abuse, the Tribunes were, by a law of C. Atinius, constituted\n_ex-officio_ members of that aristocratic body. The design of the\ntribuneship was to insure to the people a certain number of friends\ninvested with high authority; but the people were eventually anxious to\nbe saved from their friends--a result that is by no means rare in\nancient or modern history. As the bitterest vinegar can be made from the\nmost generous wine, the sharpest of despots is often created out of the\nblandest of demagogues.\n\nSo great had the power of the Tribunes become, and so much had it been\nabused, that even the Senate grew jealous of it; and a law was enacted\nto bring the tribuneship under the operation of signs and omens. These\nwere interpreted by the Augurs, who of course had the power of reading\nin the lightning, and hearing in the reports of the thunder, whatever it\nsuited their purpose to circulate.\n\nAristocracy had lost its exclusive privileges; but these had only become\nmore objectionable by being spread over a larger surface; for they were\nnow extended to a certain portion of the plebeians, who went by the name\nof _novi homines_, or upstarts. These were distinguished from the\nNobiles, or, to speak shortly, the nobs, who enjoyed the right of having\nthe images of their ancestors in wax; but this _jus imaginum_, as it was\ntermed, conferred only an imaginary dignity. There was no legal\nprivilege attached to the sort of nobility above described; but those\npersons who were qualified by the possession of the waxen forms of their\nfathers, were looked upon as men making in society a highly respectable\nfigure.\n\nNotwithstanding the liberty which is declared by republicans to be\ninseparable from the Republican form of Government, laws were passed to\nrestrain the liberty of private action in the days of the Roman\nCommonwealth. By the Orchian law, made in the year of the city 572 (B.C.\n181), the number of guests that might sit down to dinner was limited:\nand as a further illustration of republican freedom, it may be mentioned\nthat the entertainer was obliged to keep open his doors, so that all\nwho were freely-and-easily inclined might enter his house to see that\nthe law was complied with. Twenty years later, it was decreed by the law\nof Fannius, that no entertainment should cost more than one hundred\nasses, or six shillings and five-pence farthing, on high days and\nholidays; on ten other days in the month, the meal was not to exceed\nthirty asses, or one and eleven-pence farthing; but on ordinary\noccasions seven-pence farthing was the figure to which even the richest\nman was to limit the cost of his dinner. The law not only interfered\nwith the bill of expenses, but with the bill of fare; and, under the\nConsulship of M. Scaurus, the dormouse was excluded from the\ndinner-table as an enervating luxury. Vegetables were allowed to any\nextent, and bread might be eaten at--or even beyond--discretion.\n\nTo such a ridiculous extent did the Romans carry their interference with\nthe private expenditure of each other, that when Crassus and Cn.\nDemetrius were Censors, they endeavoured in the most absurd manner to\ndamage each other's popularity. Demetrius publicly charged Crassus with\nhaving been guilty of extravagance for going into mourning on the death\nof a favourite fish; and Crassus retorted by declaring that Demetrius\nhad lost three wives without exhibiting signs of mourning for any one of\nthem.[64]\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[64] Macrobius, Saturnal., lib. ii., c. 1.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD\n\nTHE GRACCHI AND THEIR MOTHER. RISE AND FALL OF TIBERIUS AND CAIUS\nGRACCHUS.\n\n\nA people trained to live chiefly on spoils taken from others must be\ncontinually spoiling itself for any peaceful occupation; and those whose\nchief support is the sword, must be always destroying the food they live\nupon. When foreign means are exhausted, it becomes necessary to look at\nhome, and those who have existed by robbing strangers, are no sooner\ndeprived of their external sources of support, than they begin to rob\neach other. Such was the order--or rather the disorder--of things in\nRome, where wealth had got into the hands of the few, and the social\nfabric, like a building too heavy at the top, was in immediate danger of\na downfall. There were large classes of persons who were assured that\nthey were perfectly free; but, though enjoying the freedom of air\nitself, they found in it no element of comfort, when they had nothing\nmore substantial than the air to live upon. Deprived of every inch of\nland, there was but a flatulent sort of satisfaction in the enjoyment of\nthe atmosphere, nor could the most long-winded of orators impress the\npeople with the idea that life could be maintained by simply imbibing\nthe breath of liberty. They were informed that they were the lords of\nthe earth;[65] but this mockery of respect was simply insulting the\nemptiness of their mouths by a scarcely less empty title. The plebeians\nwere like a number of ciphers without a preliminary figure, and, though\npossessing all the materials of strength in their vast body, were\npowerless until a head could be found for them. This at length appeared\nin the person of Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, the grandson of the elder\nScipio, and as two heads are said to be better than one, Tib. united his\nbrother Caius with him in the office of leader to the great plebeian\nmovement.\n\nThe elder Gracchus had been tutored by his mother Cornelia--one of the\nearliest members of the ancient and honourable order of blue-stockings.\nShe had superintended the education of her children, and had personally\ntutored them in eloquence; an art of which the female tongue is\npeculiarly capable. Her own house was the resort of some of the first\nphilosophers of the day, who, like many modern philosophers, were\nthoroughly impressed with the idea that the way to penetrate the\nyouthful mind, is to continue for ever boring it. In this manner the\nunderstandings of the young Gracchi had been thoroughly drilled, and the\ntreasures of science had been admitted at so many apertures, that the\nonly fear was lest the treasures, through some of the numerous\nopenings by which they had got into the mind, might find their way out\nagain.\n\n[Illustration: _The Mother of the Gracchi._]\n\nTib. had already won some reputation in Spain, and was returning home,\nwhen he saw the Etrurian estates of the wealthy being cultivated by\nforeign slaves in chains, whose bonds not only bore the seal of\ndegradation for themselves, but were the means of fettering native\nindustry. These slaves were housed and huddled together in places called\nErgastula, which were literally workhouses, but practically, prisons.\nThey are said to have been built under-ground in the shape of vaults;\nbut, in giving this account of their construction, there has perhaps\nbeen some misconstruction on the part of Columella, who is the chief\nauthority for the statement.\n\nWe must now return to Tib. Gracchus, who had, by this time, returned to\nRome, and had formed the noble resolution of remedying abuses, though he\nknew that loud abuse of himself would be the inevitable consequence. He\nhad seen that the aristocracy had got possession of nearly all the land,\nallowing the plebeians to have no share in it, except the ploughshare,\nand even this was often denied them by the employment of slaves instead\nof the free agricultural labourer. Tib. was learned in the law, and\nrecollected the existence in the books of the old statute of Licinius,\nwhich had fallen into disuse, and the renewal of which he thought might\nput new life into the plebeian body. By this law, no one was allowed to\noccupy more than 500 jugera--about 330 English acres--of the land of the\nstate; but the state of the land exhibited a very different distribution\nof the public property.\n\nThe poorer occupants of the soil had been compelled by their necessities\nto sell to the richer, and Tiberius made the popular but scarcely honest\nproposal, that those who had bought should give back to those who had\nsold--a suggestion which was hailed by the masses as the happy\ninspiration of a patriot. The idea was simple enough, and if simplicity\nis an element of grandeur, the notion was so far a great one; though, as\nit is based on the principle, that when a man has sold everything he\npossesses, the purchaser or the possessor should hand the property back\nto the original vendor, the project is not well adapted to business\npurposes. The suggestion was, however, one which enabled a patriot to go\nto the country with a \"cry,\" and though the end proposed was laudable\nenough, the means, which involved an interference with the means of the\nwealthy, could not command the general approval. It is true that much of\nthe property had been unfairly obtained, and that much more was held in\nillegal quantities; but some had been the subject of regular sale, and\nthe general confiscation proposed was but a Procrustean measure of\njustice.\n\nThe plan was of course opposed, and the term of \"selfish aristocrat\" was\nliberally, or illiberally--for they are unfortunately too much alike,\nsometimes, in their political sense--bestowed on every one who did his\nutmost to protect what the law had allowed him to regard for years as\nhis own property. Common sense, however, began so far to prevail over\nclamour, that the proposal of Tib. Gracchus was modified to some extent,\nand the distribution of the surplus land was confided to a permanent\ncommission of three men, who were called the Triumviri. In order to give\nsomething like consistency to the measure, it provided, that the land\nwhich had been taken away from its old possessors should not be sold by\nthe new; and thus a sort of uniformity was observed by robbing the\nformer, and restricting the latter; so that the principle of not being\nable to do what one likes with one's own, was affirmed in each instance.\nThe injustice of the whole proceeding was so palpable, notwithstanding\nthe \"popularity\" of the scheme, that a compensation clause was\nintroduced to indemnify those who had built houses at their own expense\nupon the ground; but nothing was awarded to those who had only built\nupon it their hopes of being allowed to continue in quiet possession of\nthe property.\n\nParty feeling ran, of course, exceedingly high, or, in other words, its\nproceedings were extremely low on both sides. Tib. Gracchus was lauded\nby the people as the essence of everything noble, and denounced by the\npatricians as the incarnation of everything contemptible. On one side he\nwas hailed as a patriot, and on the other side he was hooted as a\nfraudulent demagogue; so that if everything that went in at one ear went\nout at the other, his head must have been a thoroughfare for every kind\nof vehicle of abuse and flattery. The Senate took the meanest means of\nrevenge, and reduced his official salary to one denarius and a half, or\nabout a shilling a day in English money. Tiberius, thus curtailed of the\nmeans on which he lived, declared there was a conspiracy against his\nlife, and rather prematurely went into mourning for himself, to excite\nthe public sympathy. Putting his children into black, he took them with\nhim from house to house, requesting that they might be taken in as\norphans; but the public refused to be taken in by a trick so obvious.\nFalse accusations were, however, brought against him; and a next-door\nneighbour stood up in the Senate, declaring that he had that morning\nobserved a diadem and a scarlet robe delivered at the back door, which\nproved that Tiberius intended to usurp the regal authority. In order to\nobtain the weight of an official position for his reforms, Tiberius got\nhimself elected tribune of the people, and the apparently inevitable\neffects of taking office were at once shown in his introduction of a\nmodified edition of the measure he had previously clamoured for.\n\nThe aristocratic party set every engine and every old pump at work to\nthrow cold water on his project, and they at length persuaded one of his\ncolleagues, named Octavius, who was played upon as easily as an octave\nflute, to take part against him. The mode of opposition resorted to by\nGracchus was rather more effective than constitutional, for he called\nupon the people to dismiss his colleague--an arrangement almost as\nequitable as it would be for one judge to insist upon the dismissal of\nanother, who might refuse to announce himself submissively as \"of the\nsame opinion\" with his learned brother. When, however, the people are\nonce fairly off, in a certain or uncertain course, they seldom think\nhow unfairly their precipitancy may operate. They had set their hearts\non a particular measure, and they refused to be guided by their heads;\nbut without deliberation, drove away every obstacle that impeded the\naccomplishment of their wishes. As Octavius still held his position,\nGracchus gave notice that he had a resolution to propose, and, on the\nfollowing day, he moved the removal of his colleague. Octavius, however,\nmet the proposed resolution by a remarkable display of resolution on his\nown part, and he declared that he should stick to his office,\nnotwithstanding the other's unfriendly offices. These means having\nfailed, Tiberius made a personal appeal to his colleague, and pointed\nout to him the gracefulness of a voluntary resignation; but Octavius,\nwho rated himself very highly, objected altogether to the voluntary\nprinciple. Tiberius next attempted to starve his colleague out by\nsealing up the treasury; but the sealing made no impression on Octavius,\nwho retained his official seat until it was drawn from under him by the\nmob, and he fell to the ground, between the two stools of himself and\nhis unscrupulous colleague. A client or creature of the Gracchi was\nelected in the place of the deposed Tribune, who had been got rid of by\nupsetting one of the most important forms of the constitution--that form\nbeing no other than the bench occupied by one of the highest officers of\nthe government. Octavius was hurried out among the mob, who thrust him\nabout in every direction; but, when it came to the push, Tiberius\nGracchus endeavoured to pull him through his difficulties. The effort\nwas almost vain; and Octavius owed his life to a faithful slave, who\nlost an eye in seeing his master through the dangers that surrounded\nhim. After this manifestation of the popular opinion, no Tribune\nventured to have an opinion of his own--or, if he had, he kept it to\nhimself, with a prudent regard to his personal safety.\n\nThe new bill for distributing the soil became at once the law of the\nland, and the two Gracchi--Tib. and Caius--with Appius Claudius, the\nfather-in-law of the former, became a permanent triumvirate. This desire\nof the temporary holders of power to change their tenancy at will to a\nlife estate, has been in all ages conspicuous. The stability of\nauthority is so desirable, that a fixed executive seems to be everywhere\na natural want; but the mushroom might as well seek to substitute itself\nfor the oak, whose roots have struck deep into the soil, as the mere\nchief of a revolution might hope, without any hold on the affections of\na nation, to become the founder of a dynasty.\n\n[Illustration: Tib. Gracchus canvassing.]\n\nTib. Gracchus, in the true spirit of a patriot by profession, proposed\nlimiting every power but his own, which he sought to render as extensive\nas possible. When his term of office had legally expired, he declared\nthat the safety of the republic required his re-election, and he\naccordingly forced himself on the attention of the electors as the only\ndesirable candidate. On the day previous to the election, he spent all\nthe afternoon in the mourning he had already bought, and leading his\nchildren by the hand, he exhibited himself and them as the \"un-happy\nfamily,\" in the public thoroughfares. The election had already\ncommenced, on the following day, when the Conservative party objected\nto it on the ground of illegality. The proceedings were already opened,\nwhen Tib. Gracchus set out on a canvass, expecting that his canvass\nwould enable him to reach the desired point with a wet sail and flying\ncolours. Not content with going alone to solicit the electors, he took\none of his own boys in his hand, and he got all the mothers on his side,\nby introducing what may be termed child's play into his electioneering\nmovements. In the afternoon, the candidate doubted whether he would go\npersonally to the poll, when his friends--some of them from whom he\nwould have been glad to have been saved--assured him that he had better\ngo, for there was no danger. Taking their advice, he had got as far as\nthe area in front of the Capitol, when he was seized with the\nirresolution of an area-sneak, and hanging about the spot, he refused to\ngo further. A debate was in progress among the senators, when one of\nthem, P. Scipio Nasica, called upon the house to come to the door, and\nsave the republic by sacrificing Tiberius. The whole assembly rushed\nupon its legs and its crutches; some of the members seized hold of\nsticks, others snatched up their clubs, and declared that the vengeance\nof the clubs should fall on Tiberius. In this spirit they sallied forth,\nand looking for Gracchus, they soon knocked dissension on the head, by\none of those blows which disposed of any pretensions he might have had\nto a crown when they first encountered him. His brother, Caius Gracchus,\nfell politically with his relative; but without resigning his office, he\nabandoned his post, and he withdrew to a little place he had in the\ncountry, though neglecting to give up his place in the triumvirate.\n\n[Illustration: Melancholy End of Tib. Gracchus.]\n\nScipio \u00c6milianus was on his return from Spain to Rome when he heard of\nthe death of his brother-in-law; and, quoting a line from Homer, to the\neffect that\n\n \"All thus perish who such deeds perform,\"\n\nhe declared that his relative Tib. had met with such a fate as his\nantecedents warranted. Scipio at once assumed the leadership of the\nConservatives, or rather of the destructives; for their Conservatism\nconsisted merely in a desire to keep all they had unfairly got, while\ntheir policy tended to break all the bonds of mutual interest and\ngoodwill, which can alone permanently bind society.\n\n[Illustration: Scipio \u00c6milianus cramming himself for a Speech after a\nhearty Supper.]\n\nThe plebeian party became quite as unreasonable on one side of the\nquestion, as the patricians had been on the other; and C. Papirius\nCarbo, a demagogue, who had got the place of tribune, proposed that the\npeople should have the right of re-electing the same person to the\ntribuneship over and over again,--a suggestion designed to render his\nown position permanent. Scipio \u00c6milianus opposed the measure to the\nutmost; and after going home one night, he had no sooner finished his\nsupper, than he began to cram himself for a speech, with which he\ncontemplated coming out on the day following. He was, however, found\ndead in his bed; and, though probability points to apoplexy as the\ncause, the historians have--without much, indeed, of evidence--returned\na verdict of Wilful Murder against C. P. Carbo. We have no hesitation in\nacquitting him of this dreadful crime; but we cannot say that we shall\nbe able to allow him to quit these pages without a stain on his\ncharacter. It is to be regretted that the Senate had not the courage to\ninstitute an inquiry at the time when the occurrence took place, and\nwhen only the real facts could have been ascertained; for such a course\nwould have saved considerable trouble to those chroniclers who are\nalways ready to frame an entirely new set of circumstances of their own,\nto replace those which contemporaneous investigation has omitted to\nsupply us with.\n\nCaius Sempronius Gracchus was getting daily more tired of his thoroughly\nretired life; and, being an excellent spokesman, he began to flatter\nhimself that the commonweal might profit by his services. He is said to\nhave been urged on by his brother's ghost; but there is reason to\nbelieve that he was impelled by a more commendable spirit. This\nfraternal shade is stated to have appeared to him in his dreams; but the\nmatters he now began to take in hand were not those which he could\nafford to go to sleep over.\n\nIn republics, where he who is the humble servant of the people to-day,\nmay be, to-morrow, the people's master, talent is looked upon with\njealousy by the governing power, which, while ostensibly employing an\nable instrument, may be, in fact, promoting a dangerous rival. Thus,\nwhen the head of a nation is removable, it is reluctant to employ the\nbest men, lest they prove better than the head itself, and aspire to the\nvery highest position.\n\nWhere the form of government is monarchical, it is to the interest of\nthe ruler to avail himself of the ablest assistance he can obtain; for,\nbeing himself irremovable, he becomes the fixed centre towards which the\nglories and successes of his ministers and servants continually\ngravitate.\n\nIt was on the principle of getting rid of a dangerous rival, that the\nrepublican government had sent away Caius Gracchus from Rome,--where he\nmight have been everything--to Sardinia, where he would almost\ninevitably sink to nothing. He was himself apprehensive of this result,\nand he consequently returned to Rome, leaving Sardinia without the leave\nof any one. His duty should have kept him abroad, but ambition urged him\nhome; and, in a republic, there is little to insure the fidelity of one\nwho, though the servant of the Government to-day, may be its master\nto-morrow. Leaving the interests of his country in Sardinia to take care\nof themselves, this professed patriot came to look after his own\ninterests in Rome, and took his talents into the political market. He\nimmediately stood for the tribuneship; and though he had abandoned one\npost--that of Qu\u00e6stor in Sardinia--he was elected to the more important\npost, which might, indeed, be termed the chief pillar of popular\nliberty.\n\nThough he had, of course, solicited and obtained his high office on\npurely public grounds, he at once endeavoured to use it for the\ngratification of personal animosities. His first two measures were\nproposed with a view to avenging his brother's death; and he sought to\ngive the intended new laws a retrospective effect, for the purpose of\ngratifying his private enmity. He introduced a law to prevent a person\ndeprived by the people of any office, from being appointed to the public\nservice again; but this exalted patriot withdrew the bill to please his\nmother. He carried various measures of more or less value, and among\nthem was a law for the establishment of granaries for supplying the poor\nwith corn at a very low price; but though this might have been very\nattractive to buyers, and insured a brisk demand, it does not seem\ncalculated to encourage growers and sellers to such an extent that a\nsupply could always be relied upon. Of course, the deficiency had to be\nmade good from the pockets of the public; and therefore the process\namounted to little more than receiving with one hand what had been paid\nby the other.\n\nThe privilege of purchasing cheap corn was not limited, as some[66] have\nsupposed, to the poor; but every citizen could claim his share; and even\nPiso, a Consul--though perhaps he was one of the greatly reduced\nConsuls--had been shabby enough to demand the privilege. Piso had been\nan opponent of the law; and Gracchus, seeing him among the crowd\nreceiving a bushel of the cheap grain, taunted him with his\ninconsistency in taking advantage of a corn measure which he had set his\nface against. The answer of Piso was sensible and just; for, said he,\n\"though I had a strong objection to your giving away my property, I\nthink I have a right to try to get my share of it.\" Another of his\nenactments vested the right of putting a Roman citizen to death, in the\npeople themselves, a measure that was no doubt theoretically attractive,\nthough practically inconvenient. To vest in the public at large the\nprivilege of applying the sentences to the highest offences, would\nreally be giving a nation so much rope, that business would be suspended\nvery often, instead of the criminals.\n\nCaius Gracchus next applied himself to Law Reform with considerable\nzeal; but it was not so much the law itself, as those who administered\nit, that required amendment. Those who held the scales of justice, used\nto weigh only the gold of the suitors; and the judges were so far\nimpartial, that they had no bias towards any particular side, but\nfavoured that which was the most liberal in bribing them. Many of the\ndefendants had been guilty of extortion, which was a common practice\nwith the judges themselves; and therefore a rude sort of honour,\ncommonly known as honour among thieves, was not altogether banished from\nthe judgment-seat. Caius Gracchus, however, caused a law to be passed,\nin which we trace the origin of that glorious institution, familiarly\nknown as \"twelve men in a box,\" so dear to the hearts, and sometimes,\nalso, to the pockets of Englishmen. The law alluded to, provided for the\ntrial of causes by a middle class of equites or knights, who were,\nliterally speaking, men who could keep a horse, and who, on the same\nprinciple adopted in modern times as to the keepers of gigs,[67] were\nconsidered to be respectable.\n\nThe Senators had made a practice of acquitting all criminals of their\nown class, and, by acquitting themselves thus shamefully, they had\nbecome guilty of the grossest corruption; but the equites were\nfrequently regardless of equity, and were found leaning with undue\nleniency towards offenders of their own order. Gracchus had now become\nthe popular idol, but he never had an idle hour, and was always busy in\nbuilding up a reputation for himself by the construction of works of\npermanent utility. He knew that general occupation is necessary to\npublic content, and he felt that as long as he could keep the hands of\nthe multitude employed on bricks and mortar, he was, in reality,\ncementing his own power. This policy placed considerable patronage at\nhis command, and he rallied round him a crowd of contractors and\nartificers, who, but for his power of giving them something better to\ndo, would, perhaps, have been contracting the bad habit of political\nagitation, or resorting to every kind of revolutionary artifice.\n\nThe greatest political work of Caius was that in which he did the least;\nand his legislative successes sink into insignificance by the side of\nthe real grandeur of his extensive failure. This was his attempt to\nextend the franchise to all the Italians, and the other allies; but Rome\nrefused to aid him in the grand design, and determined to rivet upon\nItaly those Italian irons with which Rome at a future period was\ndestined to burn her fingers. So popular was Caius Gracchus, that, upon\nhis re-election to office, the people, who could not get near enough to\nthe Campus Martius on account of the crowd, voted for him from the tops\nof houses or unfinished buildings; and many came up to the poll by\nclimbing an adjacent scaffold.\n\nHe who would keep himself constantly sailing before the wind raised by\nthe breath of public applause, must be for ever on some new tack; for no\nairs are more variable than those which the people are apt to give\nthemselves. Caius Gracchus was soon destined to discover the fact that,\namid the storms of political life, the highest point can be safely\noccupied by none but the political weathercock. He had too much rigid\ninflexibility to turn with every breeze; and instead of being moved by\neach passing gust, he was simply dis-gusted by the vacillation\nexhibited.\n\n[Illustration: Rash Act of Caius Gracchus.]\n\nThe aristocratic party, perceiving this, resolved to beat him with his\nown weapons; and they prevailed upon M. Livius Drusus, his colleague in\nthe tribuneship, to outbid him by all sorts of extravagances for the\nprize of popularity. When Gracchus proposed to distribute land among\nthe poor at a small fixed rental, Drusus moved, by way of amendment,\nthat they should have it for nothing at all; and as to the corn in the\npublic granaries, if Gracchus said the people ought to have it at half\nprice, Drusus would insist upon their right to be paid for the trouble\nof walking away with it. The people, as a matter of course, followed the\nman who was most profuse in his promises, rather than him who had been\nthe most liberal in his performances. Caius Gracchus was, in the mean\ntime, induced to go to Africa to mark out the ground for a new city. The\nreporters of the period--who were, no doubt, in the pay of his\nopponents--circulated all kinds of ill-natured stories, in which it was\nalleged that the omens had been unfavourable; that the flags had been\nblown down, or the pavement blown up; and that the wolves had eaten up\nevery flag-staff--a thing not very easy to swallow. On his return to\nRome, from which he had been absent only seventy days, he found Drusus\namazingly popular, and every nose turned up at himself, which induced\nhim to recognise a general snub in the faces of many of his old\nfollowers. He offered himself a third time for the tribuneship, but he\nwas at the bottom of the poll, and an election row commenced, when an\nofficious lictor lost, first, his fasces; secondly, his securis--which\nhe had done his utmost to secure; and ultimately his life, in the\nscuffle. Caius Gracchus, who had mainly endeavoured to keep the peace,\nknew he would be accused of breaking it, and he accordingly ran as fast\nas he could; but in scaling a wall to get into another street, he\nunfortunately sprained his ankle. His friends continued to carry him\nuntil, moved by a sudden instinct of self-preservation, they dropped an\nacquaintance it would have been no longer safe to keep up, and poor\nCaius was left alone with a single manservant. His pursuers being at his\nheels, the ex-tribune desired the faithful attendant to stab him, and\nthe man was too much in the habit of obeying his master's orders to\nhesitate. Having respectfully run his employer through, he found himself\nso terribly out of place in the world, that, apologising for the\nliberty, he finished himself off with the same dagger.\n\nA reward of its weight in gold had already been offered for the head of\nCaius Gracchus, when one Septimulcius, having picked it up, carried it\nhome, and plumbed it with lead before he took it to the authorities.\nOpimius, the Consul, weighed it, and exclaiming, \"Bless me! seven pounds\nand a half!\" threw down in exchange for the head, the same quantity of\nthe precious metal. His customer having gone away, Opimius proceeded at\nhis leisure to examine his bargain. \"Well!\" said he, \"I don't know that\nit's worth its weight in gold, but the offer was my own, and I must make\nthe best of it.\" On a minuter inspection, he detected the trick that had\nbeen played, and though he had looked upon Caius as somewhat\nleaden-headed, he at once perceived that nature had not been the only\nplumber employed in this disgraceful transaction.\n\nAll the friends of Gracchus were cast into prison and slain; but it was\nastonishing to observe how contracted his circle became when it was\nknown that ruin awaited every member of it. They who had been his\nintimates made the sudden discovery that they had never known him at\nall, and others, who had been too frequently in his company to repudiate\nthe acquaintance, declared that they had been grievously mistaken in his\ncharacter. Several of his radical associates joined the aristocratic\nparty, and his friend Carbo was so severely bantered on his having gone\nover to the other side, that after trying both sides, he took refuge in\nsuicide as the only side left for him.\n\nRome owed much to the Gracchi; but it paid them both off in a most\nunsatisfactory manner. Tiberius was an orator of such power, that, to\nprevent his voice from being too loud, he took with him a piper--paying\nthe piper out of his own pocket--to prevent him from pitching it too\nstrong when he was addressing the multitude. Tiberius Gracchus was the\nfirst orator who introduced the graces of action into the art of public\nspeaking; and he was in the habit of rolling, as it were, from side to\nside, which gave him great sway with his audience.\n\nCaius Gracchus was a man of action, rather than of words, and was the\nfirst to divide distance into portions of one thousand paces, each of\nwhich he called a mile, and which was one of his really useful measures.\nHe was also the inventor of milestones, and of those stations for\nawkward equestrians, which enabled many to ride the high horse, who\nwould otherwise have been placed on their own humble footing.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe two Gracchi owed, no doubt, to the teaching of their mother, much of\ntheir success--if, at least, that can be called success which ended in\nthe violent death of both of them. Cornelia was, however, a little too\nmuch addicted to making prodigies of her sons; and it is said of her,\nthat, on one occasion, when receiving a visit from a Campanian lady, who\ncame to display her jewels, the mother of the Gracchi, having privately\nsent for the children, exclaimed, as they stole gently in with their\nnurse, \"These are my jewels: what do you think of them?\" So maudlin was\nher maternal sensibility, that she never spoke of her sons without\ntears, which were always responded to by the infants themselves, with\nsympathetic, but uncomfortable, moisture. Nothing, however, can damp\nparental love; and, to a fond mother's feelings, childhood has no\nunpleasant features; though it is different to him who, if approaching\nthem at all, prefers looking at them in a drier aspect.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[65] Plut., Tib. Gracch.\n\n[66] Plutarch implies that it was so; but Cicero relates anecdotes\nshowing the fact to have been otherwise.\n\n[67] The following question and answer, uttered in a Court of Law on a\nmodern trial, are well known:--\n\n_Counsel._ \"What do you mean by respectable?\"\n\n_Witness._ \"He keeps a gig.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH.\n\nTHE JUGURTHINE WAR. WAR AGAINST THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONI.\n\n\nWhile Rome had been making the numerous conquests already described,\nself-conquest--the most important conquest of all--had been altogether\nlost sight of, and she had failed in obtaining the victory over her own\nvices. Though she possessed, nominally, a constituted body of rulers,\nmoney was actually the governing power; and so debasing is its\ninfluence, that it is more fatal to the liberty of a people to be ruled\nwith a rod of gold, than with a rod of iron. No consideration but\npecuniary consideration had any weight, corruption presided in the\ncourts of law, the people were bought by the Senate, and the Senate sold\nthe people. In the army there was a system of shameless plunder on the\npart of the commanders, and the soldiers followed their leaders with\navidity.\n\nNumidia had, since the death of Masinissa, been ruled over by his son\nMicipsa, who, by his will, put his kingdom, as it were, into commission,\nby giving it to his two sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal, conjointly with a\nlad whom he had adopted, and whose name was Jugurtha. Jugurtha was a\nperson of excellent manners and genteel address, an excellent horseman,\nthe first to strike the lion[68] in the field, and himself a lion much\nrun after in society.\n\nOn the death of Micipsa, when the three rulers came to the throne of\nNumidia, they found the accommodation rather insufficient, and Jugurtha\ninsolently threw himself down in the middle of it. By this act the two\nsons of Micipsa were practically set aside, and Jugurtha assumed that in\nhimself alone the monarchy was centered. His next act was to propose the\nabolition of the acts of the last five years of Micipsa's reign,\ndeclaring that they ought all to be dotted out, on the ground of the old\nman's dotage. Hiempsal, with a touch of sarcasm, assented to the\nproposal, observing--\"We shall then get rid of you, as your adoption was\nan act performed within the prescribed period.\" This attempt to be funny\nwas a serious matter to Hiempsal, for Jugurtha caused the would-be wag\nto be murdered in the palace.\n\nAfter this instance of sharp practice, on the part of Jugurtha, Adherbal\nbegan to tremble in his shoes lest he might be made to walk in his\nbrother's footsteps. This fear was so nearly on the point of being\nrealised, that Adherbal took to flight, and ran all the way to Rome, to\nask for aid; upon which a commission of inquiry, consisting of ten\nmembers, was despatched to Numidia.\n\nTo refer any matter to a commission, has always been considered\nequivalent to laying it permanently on the shelf; and such might have\nbeen the result of the quarrel of the Numidian princes, had it not been\nfor the fact that Jugurtha had settled the dispute in his own way,\nbefore the commissioners had even opened their inquiry. By the time they\nhad arrived on the spot to which they had been sent, they found one of\nthe parties dead, and the other in possession of all that he desired.\nJugurtha was, of course, the survivor in this affair; and when the\nambassadors, on their arrival, expressed their astonishment at their\nservices having been dispensed with, he, by offering them something for\ntheir trouble, sent them home fully and shame-fully satisfied.\n\nEvery spark of honour was not, however, extinct in Rome; for the\ntribune, C. Memmius, who had not received, or, indeed, had not been\noffered, any of Jugurtha's gold, became virtuously indignant at the\ndisgraceful harvest made by the ten commissioners. His agitation was so\nfar successful, that war was declared, and the Consul, L. Calpurnius\nBestia, with his legate, M. \u00c6milius Scaurus, were sent to invade Africa.\nBestia immediately made the best bargain he could for himself, by\nconcluding a peace with Jugurtha, on certain terms, for which the Roman\nConsul's own terms were most exorbitant. He and his legate, Scaurus,\naccepted a nominal surrender of all Jugurtha's tents, horses, and\nelephants; but he was allowed to reserve nearly the whole of his canvas\nbooths and his menagerie.\n\nWhen the tribune Memmius heard of the venality of the ambassadors, and\nof the money they had corruptly made by their services abroad, he, whose\nduties kept him at home, became more indignant than ever. He denounced,\nin abusive language, the abuse of which they had been guilty, and\nsucceeded at last in carrying a motion that Jugurtha should appear to\nanswer for his offences of bribery and corruption before the Senate. The\nsummons was carried to Africa, by the stern and incorruptible Cassius,\nwho refused every offer of cash, and insisted on the personal appearance\nof Jugurtha at the time and place appointed. The artful Numidian came\nwith a very small retinue and a very long purse; for he knew that in\nmeeting such an antagonist as Rome, he should not have to draw the steel\nfrom the scabbard, but the gold from the treasury. He threw purses in\nall directions; and so extensive was his bribery, that the criminals who\nhad accepted his money were a strong majority over the few who were\nqualified, by not having participated in the offence, to sit in judgment\nover it. Memmius, who had seen none of Jugurtha's gold, insisted on his\ngiving up the names of those who had received it; but there was such a\nvehement and general shout of \"No,\" that any further inquiry as to who\nwere the culprits, would have been quite superfluous.\n\nThe only punishment the Senate ventured to inflict upon Jugurtha, was a\nsentence of banishment; and it was indeed quite natural that the\ndishonourable members should have been glad to send speedily out of the\nway the principal witness to their own turpitude. As Jugurtha quitted\nRome, he expressed his disgust at her venality, in a sentiment which\ncame with but an ill grace from an accomplice in her infamy. \"Oh!\" he\nexclaimed, with an air of affected horror, \"Oh! thou venal city; thou\nwouldst sell thyself to perdition, if thou couldst only find a\npurchaser!\" The exact point at which this claptrap was uttered, who was\nat hand to hear it, and supposing the reporters to have been present,\nwhether they proceeded to take it down, are points which the historians\nhave not shown any disposition to look into.\n\nAfter the retirement of the only witness, the inquiry into the bribery\ncases was prosecuted with considerable vigour. Scaurus, who had been one\nof the chief delinquents, attempted to expiate his own faults by getting\nhimself appointed a member of the committee, and passing as severe\nsentences as he could upon his fellow criminals.\n\nWar with Jugurtha was again declared; for it was one of the most\nprolific sources of a profitable job to those in power. The Consul,\nSpurius Posthumius Albinus, was despatched with an army to Africa; but\nhe soon came home, like his predecessors, with a large fortune, which\nseemed to be the kind of fortune of war that attended all who went to\nfight against Numidia. He left the army under the guidance of his\nbrother Aulus, who, with his officers, were easily bribed into accepting\nany terms, provided they were of a pecuniary nature, that Jugurtha\nproposed to them. The Senate, however, refused to ratify the\ndishonourable peace concluded by Aulus; and thus, by the somewhat\ndishonest process of repudiating the acts of an authorised agent, Rome\nwas again free to make a further property of the Numidian sovereign. At\nlast, however, the affair was placed in honourable hands, by the\nappointment of Metellus (Q. C.) to the command of the army. His probity\nplaced him far above any bribe that Jugurtha could offer; and though it\nis a maxim with many, that every man has his price, it may be said of\nMetellus that his moral standard was too high for any pecuniary standard\nto be applied to it.\n\nWith the generosity of true genius, Metellus selected as his legate a\nman capable of sharing with himself any of the honours that might be\ngained in the wars about to be undertaken. This man was Caius Marius,\nwho had been, in early life, a labourer; but, while working with the\nspade, he felt sure that something would eventually turn up in his\nfavour. He had served as a common soldier, but proved himself no common\nman; and he rose, step by step, to a highly respectable position.\nVanity, however, was one of his weak points, and he fell into the hands\nof an old Syrian fortune-teller, who resorted to all sorts of tricks to\npersuade him that he was destined for the highest honours. He mentioned\nhis aspirations to Metellus, and hinted at the possibility of his\nobtaining the Consulship; but his superior officer burst into a loud\nlaugh, which, instead of putting Marius out of conceit, put him further\ninto it. He proceeded to Rome, and, by a series of popular speeches, in\nwhich he promised everything to the people, he, of course, gained their\nsuffrages. Having obtained the Consulship, he was despatched to finish\nthe war against Jugurtha; but Metellus, having first pretended that\nthere was nothing more to be done, for that he had settled the whole\nbusiness himself, resigned his post to Marius.\n\nPeace had indeed been already concluded with Jugurtha; but Rome, with\nits habitual want of faith, re-opened the war, which terminated at last\nin Jugurtha's being taken prisoner. He was drawn behind the chariot of\nMarius--a situation little less exalted than being tied to a cart's\ntail, and in that position received the pelting of a pitiless storm of\nmud from the congenial hands of a cowardly populace. Being thrown into a\ndamp dungeon, he--as we are told by the grave historians--still\npreserved his wit; for he exclaimed, as he entered his prison, \"By\nHercules, what a cold bath!\"--a touch of humour which seems to us\nremarkable for neither breadth, point, nor neatness. When, however, we\nconsider the moisture of the circumstances under which he was placed, we\ncannot be surprised that he should have failed in an attempt at dry\nhumour.\n\nThe war with Jugurtha was no sooner at an end, than Rome found herself\nthreatened by the swords of half-a-dozen different foes; and, in default\nof being able to cut herself into six, for the purpose of dividing her\nstrength, she seemed in danger of such a cutting-up at the hands of her\nenemies. It would be a tedious task to unravel the excessive tangle into\nwhich the threads of history are thrown by the windings of those\nnumerous lines of barbarians who kept themselves suspended over Rome at\nabout this period. The Cimbri, a Celtic race, entered into an alliance\nwith the Teutoni--a German band--and threw themselves upon Gaul; which\nwas unable to throw them off again. They encountered the Consul, M.\nJunius Silanus, to whom they applied for a country to be assigned to\nthem; but, as this modest request could not be attended to, they set\nupon Silanus, and gave him a sound beating. At length the Consul, Q.\nServilius C\u0153pio, offered to meet the difficulty, and approached the\nRhone, but the Cimbri cut to pieces 80,000 soldiers and 40,000 camp\nfollowers; at least, if we are to believe the authorities, who are\nalways ready to mince men, though never mincing matters.\nC\u0153pio--according to the same authentic accounts--was glad to make his\nescape across the Rhone with a handful of men, and the term, \"handful\"\nis in this instance not misapplied; for as the number is said to have\nbeen exactly ten, he might have easily told them off on his fingers. As\nif to show that they had not been actuated by mercenary motives, the\nCimbri threw into the river the whole of their booty; and, not satisfied\nwith spoiling the foe, they proceeded to spoil the property taken in\nbattle.\n\nIt says little to the credit of Rome that her dangers seemed to damp the\nambition of her citizens, and no one evinced an anxiety for the perilous\nhonours of the Consulship. Those among the aristocracy who claimed a\nsort of prescriptive right to the government in times when there was\neverything to be got, now that there was a prospect of everything being\nlost, shrunk from the responsibility of a high position. The plebeian,\nMarius, was declared to be the only man for the situation; and, instead\nof being obliged to solicit the Consulship, it was thrust upon him even\nbefore he had returned from Africa.\n\nHis first care was to get together an army capable of bearing the\nfatigues of a military life, in preference to those who were only fit to\nsupport its gaudy trappings. He enlisted large numbers of working men,\nand tested their strength by putting into their hands a spade before he\nentrusted them with a sword, subjecting them to all sorts of privations,\nand putting them even upon reduced rations--an experiment that was by no\nmeans rational. Many of the soldiers, who, under a generous diet, would\nhave become strong healthy men, dwindled to mere skeletons, and many of\nthe recruits were reduced so low that their strength was past\nrecruiting. Those who were able to stand against the fatigue, were hardy\nenough to stand against anything; and, in order to give them the benefit\nof a lengthy training, he refused to accept battle until a convenient\nopportunity. He allowed the Teutoni to pass his camp, and, as they did\nso, they inquired tauntingly if there were any messages or parcels for\nRome, as they--the Teutoni--were on their journey thither. Marius\npursued them to Aqu\u00e6 Sexti\u00e6--now Aix--and purposely pitched his camp in\nsuch a place, that water could not be obtained without a fight for it.\nEvery soldier who went down to the river was obliged to draw his sword\nas he drew the water he required, and, while he fought with one hand,\ndefended himself as well as he could with a bucket in the other. The\nTeutoni were completely defeated, and rushed, for safety, to their\nwagons; but all who remained in the rear, together with many who had got\ninto the van, were cut to pieces.\n\nMarius had no sooner disposed of the Teutoni, than he heard that the\nCimbri were pouring themselves all over the plains of Lombardy; and,\nproceeding to meet them, he threatened to \"turn their bones into\nwhitening for the fields,\" a menace that proves the practice of bone\nmanuring to be an agricultural process of great antiquity. He drew up\nhis army near Verona, at a place called the Campi Raudii, and found the\nfront ranks of the Cimbri linked together by chains,--an arrangement\nadopted, probably, to prevent their running away, and making them feel\nbound to stand against the enemy. Marius, with considerable tact, got\ninto such a position that the sun got into their eyes, and the wind blew\ntheir noses. Unable to look their danger in the face, they were sent\nwinking and sneezing to destruction.\n\nMarius celebrated the success of the day in a magnificent triumph, and\nparaded, among his trophies, a Cimbric king of such a gigantic height,\nthat, notwithstanding his humiliating position, everybody looked up to\nhim.\n\nFor the sixth time the consulship was bestowed on Marius, though not\nwithout a vast amount of bribery on the part of the successful\ncandidate, who, while he corrupted the electors with one hand, raised a\ntemple to Virtue and Honour with the other. He had now become so\ninflated with vanity, that he came swelling into the Senate in his\ntriumphal robes; but he was so coldly received, that he pretended he\nhad forgotten to change his dress, though his astonishment was as\nclearly put on as his objectionable attire. He caused to be engraved\nupon his buckler the image of a Gaul pulling out his tongue; an allegory\nrather difficult to comprehend, except by adopting the somewhat vulgar\nreading, that the design was emblematical of the fact that, after the\nvictory of Marius, the Gaul might as well pull out his tongue at once,\nas there could be no chance of his giving a licking to the Romans.\n\nMarius was so popular, that he was acknowledged as the third founder of\nRome; Romulus, Camillus, and himself being figuratively regarded as so\nmany bricks that the city had been built upon.\n\nSuccess had rendered Marius so arrogant, that he committed many illegal\nacts, declaring that, amid the clashing of the swords of war, the silent\nmotion of the sword of justice could neither be heard nor attended to.\nHis morbid appetite for mob popularity caused him to enter into a\ndisgraceful alliance with an unprincipled demagogue, named L. Appuleius\nSaturninus, whose performances equalled his promises; but he always\npromised one thing, and performed another. He adopted the extremely\nliberal side in politics, and proposed, among other liberal measures,\nthat every member of the Senate should bind himself by an oath to\nsupport some very liberal law for dealing with property, by taking it\nfrom those who had it, and giving it to those who were ready to take it.\nThis friend of freedom suggested, further, that every senator attempting\nto exercise a free will, should pay a heavy penalty. One of the\naristocratic party having ventured on proposing an amendment, was driven\nfrom the Senate by a shower of missiles. Another having suggested that\nhe heard thunder--a sign at which the Assembly should have broken\nup--was told that there would probably be some hail, with hail-stones of\nreal stone, if he opposed the project of Saturninus. Marius had the\ncourage to declare that he would never take the degrading oath; Metellus\nseconded his resolution; and the whole Senate, with one voice--which\nturned out, ultimately, to be _vox et pr\u00e6terea nihil_--swore that they\nwould never swear to what the people had dared to demand of them.\nNotwithstanding this spirited proposition, Marius had not sufficient\nbravery to brave the popular clamour, and his courage had died away\nbefore five days had expired. Having called a special meeting of the\nSenate, he intimated that second thoughts were sometimes best, and that,\nafter his first thought, there had occurred to him a second, which he\nproposed that they should place upon their minutes. He concluded by\nintimating that he had been pelted in public for the part he had taken,\nand, as the people were determined, apparently, on having their fling,\nthere was little use in opposing them. He declared his attachment to his\nnative soil; and, though he had always kept it in his eye, he objected\nto its being thrown in his face by his own countrymen. He finished by\nproposing that the oath should be taken, with a mental reservation that\nit should not be kept--a disgraceful compromise between cowardice and\nconscience, which the Senate without hesitation assented to. There was,\nafter this, so little disposition to freedom among the members, that\nMetellus Numidicus was the only one who held out; and he, instead of\nremaining to battle with the abuse, preferred sneaking away from it into\nvoluntary exile.\n\nSaturninus not only put himself up for the tribuneship a third time, but\nendeavoured to get the Consulship for one Servilius Glaucia; and these\nnoisy demagogues--by way of guiding the people in their choice--coolly\nmurdered C. Memmius, who had started as an opposition candidate.\n\nMarius now began to perceive that he had connected himself with a\ndisreputable set, and finding his popularity on the wane, he repudiated\nhis new political allies as suddenly as he had joined with them. He\ndrove Saturninus to the Capitol, where, being without provisions, the\ndemagogue found himself at last driven to an unprovisional surrender.\nSaturninus, Glaucia, and others were put to death by the command of\nMarius, who thus regained the good opinion of the people, though he had,\nin fact, simply trampled under foot, when down, those whom he had taken\nby the hand when they were uppermost. Having so far reinstated himself\nin the favour of the public, Marius retired into private life; and it\nwas time that he should do so, while he had yet a certain amount of\npopularity left to fall back upon.\n\nLaw Reform, and the extension of the franchise, had now become the two\ngreat questions of the day; for the tribunals were courts of in-justice,\nand the Italians thought that as much weight ought to be allowed to the\nItalic as to the Roman character. It was the policy of the Senate to\npurchase popularity at almost any price, and the members were ready to\noutbid each other by the most extravagant offers, for the object of\ntheir ignoble competition. Among the boldest of the bidders was M.\nLivius Drusus, the son of old Drusus--the colleague of Gracchus--who\nseems to have inherited his father's propensity for sacrificing all his\nprinciple, in order to convert it into political capital. Young Drusus\nis said to have been a remarkable man, because, when Qu\u00e6stor in Asia, he\ndispensed with the insignia of office, preferring to depend upon his own\npersonal bearing, and, perhaps, wishing to save the cost of those\nexternals which, sometimes, take from the public functionary quite as\nmuch in the way of emolument, as they bring him in the way of dignity.\nHe had been elected to the Tribuneship, and in that capacity he did\neverything he could to catch the breath of popular applause, which often\nsullies the brightness of the object that seeks to reflect the\nevanescent vapour.\n\nOne of the principal propositions of M. Livius Drusus was, that the\njudges should be liable to be brought to trial themselves, for their\nmode of conducting the trials of others. This attempt to undermine the\nindependence of the judicial order, was shown to be so fatal to the\nadministration of justice, that the people, who, after all, require only\nto be convinced of what is right in order to take the right direction,\nrepudiated the proposal which Drusus had intended to be the means of\nmisleading them, and obtaining for himself--under false pretences--a\nlittle additional popularity. It was pointed out to them, that a judge\nwho felt every trial at which he was presiding to be his own, and who\nwould be always divided between the calm demands of justice on one hand,\nand the unreasoning voice of public clamour on the other, would feel\nhimself exposed to a pressure that would prevent him from maintaining an\nupright position. Notwithstanding his failure in this instance, M.\nLivius Drusus made himself the champion of the movement, and opened his\nhouse every evening, to give political advice gratis to all who were\ndesirous of consulting him. He was engaged in this manner during one of\nhis evenings at home, when he was suddenly stabbed by a shoe-maker's\nknife; and though the assassin was never discovered, the blow was\nsupposed to have been connived at by some persons who had persuaded the\ncobbler to risk his awl in the dangerous effort. As a Roman could never\ndie without a claptrap in his mouth, Drusus was of course prepared with\na neat speech on the melancholy occasion. Having ejaculated, \"Oh! thou\nungrateful Republic, thou hast never lost a more devoted son!\" he\narranged his toga in becoming folds, and bowing to circumstances--\nbowing, perhaps, to the audience as well--he gracefully expired.\n\n[Illustration: Drusus is stabbed, and expires gracefully.]\n\nThe Italians, being deprived of the support of Drusus, were more than\never oppressed, and the multitude, whom it is customary to regard as\nsynonymous with the liberal party, became vehement in denouncing the\nidea of allowing an equality of rights to all classes of Roman subjects.\nThe Italians, therefore, came to the resolution, that if Rome was not to\nexist for them, it should not exist at all; but that they would either\nbring the city to the ground, or raise themselves from the dust to which\ninjustice had lowered them. Several of the Italian nations formed\nthemselves into a league, but never did a league go to such lengths as\nthe one in question; for some of its members murdered the pr\u00e6tor,\nServilius C\u0153pio, and his legate, who attended a meeting in the hope of\nconciliation at the Theatre of Asculum.\n\nThe next step of the Italians was to start a republic of their own,\nunder the name of Italica; and by way of giving it an imposing\nappearance, it was to have a senate five hundred strong--though in a\ndeliberative assembly numbers are not so much an element of strength as\nof weakness. It was to have two annual consuls, and no less than twelve\npr\u00e6tors; it being perhaps the policy of the framers of the constitution\nto have plenty of patronage to tempt adherents to the new government.\nThe two consuls first appointed were Silo Pop\u00e6dius, a Marsian, and C.\nPapius Mutilus, a Samnite, who took the field with great vigour, but\ntook little else in the first instance; for Silo fell in the fight,\nthough Mutilus, whose army was terribly mutilated, obtained some success\nin Campania.\n\nThough the Italians had commenced their operations as fast friends, they\nloosened considerably in their friendship as the war advanced, and made\nseparate treaties of peace, by which Rome was enabled to deal with them\npiecemeal, instead of being compelled to stand against their united\nefforts. The Samnites evinced their old obstinacy, and waited, as usual,\nto be cut to pieces, before they abandoned the hope of holding together.\nWhen the sword had been busy among them for three years, there remained\nstill a mass of sufficient importance to induce the Romans to offer the\nfranchise to all who would lay down their arms; and of this proposal the\nSamnites at last reluctantly availed themselves.\n\nRome having acquired a large accession of new citizens, was puzzled to\ndetermine what to do with them. Had they been distributed amongst the\nthirty-five country tribes, the old members would have been swamped by\nthe new, and the latter were, therefore, formed into--some say six, some\nsay eight, and some say fifteen separate bodies. Such is the\ndisagreement of the learned doctors on this head, that we cannot put\nconfidence in one without discrediting two; and we consequently take the\nmore impartial course of believing none of them. So great is the\ndiscrepancy of the authorities on nearly every point, that, for the sake\nof history, we can only hope they do not go for their facts to the same\nsources which have supplied their figures. It is true that they usually\nprofess to deal with round numbers alone; and perhaps if every number\nemployed were literally round, it would represent the sum of what is\nknown with certainty on the subjects that are spoken of.\n\nThe fact, however, is indisputable, that, in the times to which our\nhistory relates, the weaker states were the prey of the stronger,--might\novercame right; and the only mode by which a small society could save\nitself from destruction by one power, was by the sale of its\nindependence to another. Those places which were incompetent to practise\nthe noble art of self-defence, could only obtain protection against\nviolence on the right hand, by submitting to robbery on the left; and\nthe Romans, who were usually appealed to for aid, always plentifully\nhelped themselves at the cost of those by whom their help was required.\n\nBy the foreign policy of Rome, ambassadors were always planted in all\nplaces of importance, to interfere in the quarrels between nations and\ntheir kings; and the ambassadors took care, by fomenting quarrels, that\nthere should be no lack of material for their diplomacy. The cost of\nintervention fell heavily on those upon whom it was bestowed, but it\neventually helped to ruin Rome itself; for neglect of one's own affairs\nis the inevitable consequence of interfering with the affairs of one's\nneighbours. The professed object of this meddling on the part of the\ngreat republic, was to give to other states the benefit of freedom.\nThere is, however, no slavery more abject than that which induces a\nnation to accept a foreign, instead of a domestic, tyranny. Those who\nare willing to import their independence from abroad, will never find it\nflourish at home; and there is not a more melancholy object--as recent\nevents have proved--than a transplanted tree of liberty.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[68] Sallust, Jugurthine War, c. vi.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH.\n\nMITHRIDATES, SULLA, MARIUS, CINNA, ET C\u00c6TERA.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nFollowing the order of dates, we come to Mithridates, the son of old\nMithridates the Fifth, surnamed Eupator, who had been a fast ally of\nRome; but his son, who was much faster in another sense, soon came to\nhostilities.\n\nThe birth of young Mithridates had been, according to Justin,[69]\nsignalised by the appearance of a wondrous comet, which was, probably,\nan idle tale; but those whose eyes are always strained towards a rising\nsun, are liable to be dazzled by all sorts of illusory visions.\n\nIf the comet was to have brought prosperity to Mithridates, the\nconsignment must have been dropped on the way, inasmuch as none of it\nreached the young prince, whose early years were passed in hot water;\nfor he was in one continual perspiration, caused by the constant\ndiscovery that his life was in danger. His grandmother, Laodice, had\nkilled five of her children, when young Mithridates, fearing that\ninfanticide might run in the family, resorted to matricide, as an\nalternative for checking the fearful disease, and, according to\nAppian,[70] murdered his mother. It is said that his guardians did their\nutmost to get rid of him, by encouraging him in all sorts of dangerous\ngames;--that they gave him weapons for playthings, and that one of his\ntoys was a real sword, with which the child might have accidentally cut\nthe slender thread of his own existence.\n\nThey mounted him, also, upon the highest horses that could be found,\nwhich was the height of cruelty; but though the animals often kicked and\nhurled the youngster from his seat, fortune always decided the throw in\nhis favour. He soon acquired such skill, that he was deep enough to meet\nthe most fearful amount of plunging; and when placed upon a determined\njibber, he could always back out of his danger. Though the horses given\nhim to ride were quite unbroken, his neck remained entire; and he at\nlength became such an excellent horseman, that he could travel on\nhorseback--according to Polybius--125 miles a day, a length to which we\nare not prepared to go with the ancient historian. Young Mithridates,\ngoing at full gallop, for several successive hours, presents a spirited\npicture to the mind's eye, but duty compels us to pull him up at the\nturnpike of truth; for we can allow no evasion of the important trust of\nhistory.\n\nAmong his other accomplishments, it is said that he could hurl the\njavelin to such a distance, that the enthusiasm of the spectators would\nbe roused to the utmost pitch; but we are obliged to add, that his power\nin throwing the spear was not equal to that of the chroniclers in\nthrowing the hatchet.\n\nHis guardians having failed to kill him by physical force, attempted to\ndo so by the force of physic, and were continually giving him poisonous\ndrugs, which, though exceedingly unpleasant, he was not nice enough to\nreject, for he had the bad taste to swallow them. They put him through a\ncourse of hen-bane, but he was now no chicken, and had learnt to\nneutralise the effects of the bane by a powerful antidote. So admirably\ndid the latter answer its object, that he could swallow arsenic by the\ndrachm without a scruple, and his inside was rendered thoroughly\npoison-proof, though there is an utter absence of historical proof to\nsupport the statement.\n\nIn order to harden himself externally, as well as internally, we are\ninformed that he would lie at night in the open air; but we do not\nbelieve he was any more hardened by lying than those who make the\nstatement. He would trust to the chase for a dinner, and he was often\nvery hard run for a meal, which he sometimes sought by a contest with a\nwild beast: and the question then was, whether the latter was to be\ncooked, or Mithridates himself done for.\n\nThe excitement of an encounter with some ferocious animal furnished the\ncontinual source of a _sauce piquante_ to what he took to eat, which\nformed food for his courage as well as for his appetite. He was well\nversed in physics, which he was continually imbibing at the hands of his\nenemies, and, in accordance with the saying _fas est ab hoste doceri_,\nhe turned the dosing to good account by studying the power of antidotes.\nHe became a master of languages, and taught himself; so that he was, in\nfact, his own master and his own pupil. His object appears to have been\nto save the trouble and expense of diplomatic agents, by qualifying\nhimself to talk with all foreign ambassadors, and to prevent the chance\nof matters being misinterpreted through the mouth of an interpreter.\n\nThose historians who have built up a considerable fabric on\ninconsiderable grounds, do not hesitate to add to their fabrications\nanother story, by describing Mithridates as a giant in growth, and as a\nlad so tall that he might have overlooked an ordinary ladder.\n\nSuch had been the education and pursuits of the young man whom we find\noccupying the throne of Pontus, and interfering in the affairs of\nCappadocia, to which he undertook to supply a king, from his own family,\nwhenever a vacancy happened. Rome, also, began to take an interest in\nCappadocia, and the only party without a voice in the affair, consisted\nof the Cappadocians. They were assailed with the offer of freedom and a\nrepublic at the point of the sword, on one side,--while, on the other,\nthey were asked to pin their faith to a monarchy which would otherwise\nbe pinned to them by the blades of a foreign army. The Cappadocians had\na wholesome horror of republican freedom, especially when imported from\nabroad; and Rome, therefore, sent them a king, who was accepted until\nhis throne was overthrown by Mithridates--the Cappadocians having to pay\na heavy fine on each change of government.\n\nThe king, who was thoroughly put out by Mithridates, applied to Rome,\nwhich raised an army in three divisions; but the Romans were so hated in\nAsia Minor, that they encountered every opposition from the inhabitants.\nAppius and Aquilinus, who were leaders of two of the divisions, soon\nfell into the hands of Mithridates, and it is said that he punished\ntheir avarice by pouring melted gold down their throats; but this is\nmore than any one could swallow.\n\nThe Roman Senate, irritated by defeat, called upon L. Cornelius\nSulla--or Sylla, as, by an alteration of the first syllable, he is\nsometimes called--to take the command of the army. The family boasted of\nits antiquity, though one family must be quite as old as another, if\neverybody's pedigree could be traced; and the real wonder would be to\nfind a man whose ancestors had a beginning, instead of the ordinary case\nof one with an apparently endless line of progenitors. The family of\nCornelius Sulla claimed connection with that of Cornelius Rufinus, who,\nin the year of Rome 540, instituted the Ludi Apollinares, in honour of\nApollo, and in conformity with the directions of the Sibylline books,\nfrom which he had taken the name of Sibylla. This had, according to the\ninterpretation put upon it by family pride, been corrupted into Sulla;\nand such is the empty boast of ancestry, that even corruption is eagerly\nacknowledged as a proof of ancient lineage. The father of L. Cornelius\nSulla had left little--not even an unsullied name--to his son, but had\nbeen equally wasteful of fortune and character. The boy was clever and\nquick, but his speediness speedily degenerated into fastness. Having\nneither morality nor means, he took a cheap apartment, where he\nentertained a low set, and there was nothing to be envied either in his\nroom or his company.\n\nIn early life he had distinguished himself as a soldier in the\nJugurthine War; and he subsequently obtained the office of Pr\u00e6tor, in\nwhich he won the affections of the people, by introducing into the\nentertainments of the amphitheatre the extraordinary attraction of 100\nreal lions.\n\nThese noble animals had been the gift of a Mauritanian king, and as\nSulla might have wished the present absent, if he had been saddled with\nthe cost of the keep of no less than one hundred monarchs of the forest,\nthe donor forwarded a band of Moors, who were to serve as food for the\nlions, by being turned into the arena with them when occasion required.\n\nSulla had excited the jealousy of Marius during the Jugurthine War, and\nthe latter, though now a man of seventy, still cherished his old\nanimosity with all the obstinacy of a most inveterate veteran. He was\nstill ambitious of the laurel, though he should have been thinking only\nof the cypress; and with one foot in the grave, he was anxious to march\nwith the other at the head of an army. Limping into the Campus Martius,\nwhere the soldiers were being drilled, he placed himself by the side of\nthe youngest, and hobbled through the exercise with an air of\nill-assumed juvenility. His feeble evolutions excited a mixed feeling of\nridicule and disgust among the lookers-on, instead of obtaining for him\nthe command to which he aspired. Having been disappointed of producing\nthe effect he had anticipated, he had recourse to his friend, the\ntribune P. Sulpicius, who exercised a sort of reign of terror by means\nof 3000 gladiators, whom he always had about him. This formidable band\nof armed ruffians went by the name of the Anti-Senate of Sulpicius, who\nemployed them to carry any measure he proposed, by showing the point of\nthe sword to those who did not see the point of his argument. In order\nto gain time, the Senate appointed a series of holidays, or Feri\u00e6,\nduring which all business was suspended for the celebration of public\nsports, which often enabled the authorities to play a game of their own,\nby delaying any measure that was opposed to their interests. After a\nbrief interval, the Senate appointed Sulla to the chief command,\nwhereupon the Anti-Senate appointed Marius; and the former had no sooner\nheard the news, than he marched upon Rome with the whole of his army.\nThe utmost consternation ensued; for no army having been expected at\nRome, there had been no preparations for defence; and though the gates\nwere closed, they were almost as crazy and unhinged as the terrified\ninhabitants.\n\n[Illustration: _Marius discovered in the Marshes at Minturn\u00e6._]\n\nA feeble attempt was made to bolt the doors against Sulla and his\nsoldiers, but it was impossible to bar their entrance. As they marched\nthrough the streets, they were assailed from the houses with showers\nof brick, which, though very destructive, could not have been so\ndamaging as the modern mortar. Some of the inhabitants were armed with\nslings, and now and then an arrow was discharged from a bow window.\nOrders were immediately given to set fire to the quarters whence the\nannoyance proceeded, and the directions were acted upon with that\nindiscriminate ferocity which is too often displayed by an incensed\nsoldiery against an unarmed populace. The anger excited by the few was\nvented on the unoffending many, and the troops performed, with savage\nalacrity, the most humiliating service on which they could have been\nemployed--the butchery of their defenceless fellow-citizens.\n\n[Illustration: \"Who dares kill Marius?\"]\n\nThe leaders, or, rather, the mis-leaders of the people in this miserable\nconspiracy, were the first to seek their own safety in flight, and the\ntribune P. Sulpicius, who had set the example of employing brute force,\nevinced the most cowardly haste in running away from it, when he seemed\nlikely to become one of its victims. Marius made for the marshes near\nMinturn\u00e6, where he stuck in the mud, and covered his reputation with a\nnumber of stains that are quite indelible. On being discovered in his\nignoble retreat, by those who had pursued him through thick and thin, he\nwas dragged to the town and lodged in the nearest station. A price had\nbeen put upon his head, but the article does not seem to have been worth\nmuch, for he had shown very little sense in the part he had been\nplaying. His gray hairs, or, perhaps, rather, his total baldness, still\ncommanded so much of sympathy, that nobody evinced a disposition to\nbecome his executioner, until a Cimbric soldier undertook the\ndiscreditable office. He approached the veteran with a drawn sword, but\nMarius had got into a dark corner, and succeeded in frightening the\nman-at-arms by putting on a voice of the most dismal character. The\nsoldier fancying himself in the presence of a ghost, failed in plucking\nup a sufficient spirit; and when a moan was heard--inquiring, \"Who dares\nkill Caius Marius?\" the would-be assassin, having flung down his sword,\nran away, exclaiming--\"Not I, for one, at any rate!\" The soldier, of\ncourse, exaggerated the cause of his fears, and declared that the eyes\nof Marius had appeared to him like two candles burning in their sockets.\nThe inhabitants of Minturn\u00e6 became as nervous as the panic-stricken\nsoldier, and put Marius on board a ship, which, after being tossed about\nfor several days, came to an anchor, or ran aground, high and dry, on\nthe fine old crusted port of Carthage. Here he rambled about the ruins,\nand rested his aching head upon its broken temples. The Roman Governor,\nSextilius, not knowing what to do with such an embarrassing visitor,\nsent a messenger to request him to \"move on;\" but the exile, with a\ndignified air, claimed his right to repose upon the dry rubbish. \"Tell\nthy master,\" he observed to the officer on duty, who had respectfully\ntold him he must \"come out of that,\" in compliance with the orders of\nthe authorities,--\"Tell thy master that thou hast seen Marius, sitting\non the ruins of Carthage.\" The intelligence was not new, but it seems to\nhave been rather startling, for it had the effect of causing Marius to\nbe allowed to remain; and we will, therefore, leave him there, while we\nproceed with the march of our history.\n\nSulla having reduced the city to the most complete subjection, made a\nmerit of not pursuing his vengeance farther against the defenceless\ninhabitants; and so great was his confidence in the efficacy of his\nwork, that he acquiesced in the appointment of L. Cornelius Cinna, a\npartisan of Marius, to the consulship. Sulla proceeded to Greece, where\nhe blockaded Athens, whose inhabitants he plundered, as a practical\nacknowledgment of their worth; and he spared their lives, to show how he\nvalued their ancestors. He manifested his respect for their arts by\nrobbing their city of its chief ornaments; and he paid their learning\nthe compliment of stealing their principal libraries.\n\nIn the meantime Cinna had entered on the duties of the consulship at\nRome, but there the truth of the maxim, that two heads are better than\none, was rendered extremely doubtful by the constant dissensions between\nhimself and his colleague. The latter was Cn. Octavius, who opposed\nwhatever the former recommended; and while one tried to carry his\nmeasures by brute force, the other endeavoured to defeat them by armed\nviolence. Cinna appealed to the mob, and Octavius trusted to the army,\nboth forces being the principal movers under a republican rule or\nmisrule, and both being equally repugnant to the spirit of\nconstitutional government. The arms of such a republic might have for\nits supporters the bludgeon and the sword, with the figure of Liberty\nbattered and bleeding, slashed and sabred, gagged and fettered, in the\nmiddle. Octavius and the sword had, on this occasion, got the upper\nhand; and Cinna, the clubbist, was glad to break his bludgeon or cut his\nstick, in flying from the city.\n\n[Illustration: Marius in the Ruins of Carthage.]\n\nThe Senate decreed that he had forfeited the consulship, and Cinna,\nhaving been well received in the Italian towns, decreed that the Senate\nhad forfeited their authority. The Government was thus reduced to two\nnegatives, which could not make an affirmative; and in the midst of a\ntheoretical perfection of republican forms, there existed only the\nsubstance of practical anarchy. The inhabitants of the Capitol, with the\nsword at their throats, elected a Consul, who was, of course, declared\nby the executive to be their free choice; while the people in the\nprovinces protested, as loudly as they dared, against the violence that\nhad been done to all the principles of law and liberty. Cinna, who had\npossessed himself of large sums of public money, employed bribes and\npromises to get himself acknowledged as the lawful Consul, for it is\ncustomary with despotism, acting under the name of freedom, to rob the\npeople with one hand, in order to corrupt them with the other.\n\nThe veteran Marius, who, after making his bed on the ruins of Carthage,\nwas not too anxious to lie there, had been wanted to join the party of\nCinna, and the great captain of the age was received with enthusiasm, in\nconsideration of the great age of the captain. Papirius Carbo and Q.\nSertorius also gave in their adhesion; but Cn. Pompeius, who was\nstationed with an army at Umbria, waited to see which side would pay him\nbest, and of those who would bid the highest, he was prepared to do the\nbidding. Marius, in the meanwhile, landed in Tuscany with a few friends;\nbut to excite commiseration, he dressed himself in rags, which was,\nindeed, putting on the garb of poverty. He spoke so repeatedly of his\nreverses, and touched so frequently on his old clothes, that the subject\nwas completely threadbare. Rags are seldom attractive, but in this\ninstance, they were successful in obtaining for the wearer a large crowd\nof followers.\n\nCn. Pompeius had at length consented to espouse the cause of the Senate,\nbut the alliance was one of interest on his side, for he would not\nespouse anything without a very large pecuniary settlement having been\nmade in his favour. He met the army of Cinna under the walls of Rome,\nbut both forces were enfeebled by sickness. Each party proceeded to do\nits best, but the soldiers on both sides were so wretchedly ill, that\nnone of them could, for one moment, stand at ease; and all were much\nfitter to be in bed than in battle. A storm did sad havoc among the\ndefenders of Rome, and a flash of lightning falling naturally upon the\nconductor of the army, caused the death of Cn. Pompeius. The gates of\nthe city were thrown open, Cinna was restored to the Consulship, and\nthough there had been an understanding that no blood should be shed,\nMarius set a band of slaves and mercenaries upon the defenceless people.\n\nUnder the pretence that he would only act according to law, this\nsanguinary impostor, declaring himself an exile, pretended that he would\nnot enter the city until the sentence should be repealed; and with a\nsword at every throat, he demanded an expression of the voice of the\npeople. The decision need scarcely be told, and Marius entered the city,\nwhere, standing behind Cinna's consular chair, he made a series of\nsavage grimaces at his intended victims. Among these was the Consul,\nOctavius, who, soothed by the soothsayers into the belief that he had\nnothing to fear, boldly refused to fly, until some hired assassins\nexecuted their task, by executing the unhappy officer. He met his death\nwhile still maintaining his seat, and expired in the arms of his\narmchair of office.\n\nMarius being now master of the situation, did all he could to make the\nsituation vacant by a system of indiscriminate murder. The heads of the\nnation were not only imprisoned, but struck off. The two C\u00e6sars were\nsavagely seized and killed, while Marc Antony--an orator of considerable\nmark--had concealed himself in a place that was made known to Marius.\nThe tyrant was at supper when he heard the news, and as if determined to\nsup full of horrors, he started up with a determination to witness the\nmurder, which he desired should immediately take place; but his friends\npacified him with the assurance that the head should be brought in to\nhim.\n\nIf the chroniclers are to be credited, Marc Antony owed his detection to\nhis fastidiousness as to the sort of wine that was placed before him.\nWhile in concealment, his daily supply was procured from a neighbouring\ntavern, by a messenger who was in the habit of tasting several bottles\nbefore he was satisfied. This excited the curiosity of the landlord, who\nbecame anxious to know the name of his very particular customer. The\nmessenger, on one occasion, had taken so much of the wine in, that he\nlet the truth out, when the wine-merchant treacherously proceeded to\nbetray the hiding-place of Marc Antony. Soldiers were sent to his\nlodgings; but he grew so eloquent over his generous wine, that he\nexcited among the guards a generous spirit. His life would probably have\nbeen spared, had not the tribune Annius rushed up-stairs, and himself\nstruck off the head of the unhappy Antony.\n\nSeveral men of consideration, in the most inconsiderate manner, killed\nthemselves, to avoid the fate which was intended for them by Cinna, and\nthat still greater sinner, Marius. Q. Lutatius Catulus proceeded to the\ntemple, and getting into a corner among the statues of the gods, placing\nhimself opposite Pan, perished by the fumes of charcoal. Merula, the\nFlamen of Jupiter, may be said to have snuffed himself out, or\nextinguished his own vital spark; for, seating himself in the portico of\nthe Capitoline, he calmly made preparations for suicide, and took off\nhis flame-coloured cap, in which it was not lawful for him to expire.\nProducing some surgical instruments from his pocket, he sat ruminating\nover his case, and taking out a lancet, he showed that he was no longer\nin the vein to live, but quite in the vein to die, for he opened an\nartery. The tyrant himself took to drinking in his old age, and\nfrequently rolled about in a state of frenzy, under the impression that\nhe was commanding an army against Mithridates. He ultimately drove\nhimself to _delirium tremens_, and he contracted a constant shake of\nthe hands by his frequent use of cordials. He died after a short\nillness, on the 15th of January, B.C. 86, without having devoted himself\nto that sober reflection, which would have induced him to repent of his\nnumerous enormities. Such was the end of a man, whose faults have been\nsometimes glossed over with the varnish of flattery, though at the hands\nof truth they can only receive an appropriate coat of blacking.\n\n[Illustration: Marius in his Old Age.]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[69] Some say that Just-in was just-out, on this occasion, for that no\ncomet appeared at the time stated. See Justin, xxxvii. 2, _et seq._\n\n[70] \"De rebus Mithridaticis.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.\n\nDEATH OF CINNA. RETURN OF SULLA TO ROME. C. PAPIRIUS CARBO. DICTATORSHIP\nOF SULLA.\n\n\nLiberty being now established on a republican basis, by the massacre of\nall who had a word to say against the military usurper Cinna, that\nindividual began the task of consolidating his power. He nominated L.\nValerius Flaccus to the consulship; and those of the aristocracy who\nwished for freedom, were free to leave Rome if they did not like living\nunder a tyrannical government. To speak openly in the forum or the\ncourts of justice, was prohibited; and the scantiness of the reports\nthat have come down to us of the events of the times, can be no matter\nof surprise, when we consider that the reporters were not permitted to\ngive an account of actual occurrences.\n\nIt was necessary to amuse the masses by what are termed liberal\nmeasures, and as an excess of liberality, it was proposed that every\ndebtor, paying one fourth of his debt, should be released from all\nfurther liability to his creditor. This was sure to be a popular act in\na country already ruined by political agitation, and the despotism to\nwhich it frequently leads; and, as the debtors were by far the most\nnumerous class, a sort of general Insolvent Act was hailed with\nacclamations by a bankrupt community.\n\nSulla, who was still in Greece, refused his allegiance to the despot at\nhome, and L. Valerius Flaccus was sent to supersede him in the command\nof the army. Flaccus was not popular with his soldiers, and as the head\nof the Government had set the example of setting aside all law by a\n_coup d'\u00e9tat_, an imitator was soon found in the person of one Flavius\nFimbria, a lieutenant, who, by a _coup de t\u00eate_, got rid of his\nobnoxious general. Flaccus being thus disposed of, Fimbria promoted\nhimself to the chief command; but, cowardice and cruelty going hand in\nhand, he took his own life on hearing that Sulla was setting out against\nhim. The soldiers of Fimbria, with the most revolting faithlessness,\nrevolted to Sulla, who was now master of Asia. He called upon the\nconquered nation for 20,000 talents, and as the subdued people had not\nso large a sum by them, they were obliged to borrow it with one hand at\nenormous interest, in order to pay it with the other. The Roman\ncapitalists lent the cash, and the Roman soldiers assisted them with\ntheir swords to draw a ruinous per-centage from the unfortunate\nborrowers. Sulla now prepared to march upon Rome, where Cinna had\nre-elected himself as Consul, in conjunction with one Papirius Carbo, a\npolitical incendiary, who acted like so much touch-paper and coal upon\nthe flame of discord. Intending to meet their rival, they proceeded\nwith an army into Italy; but the soldiers no sooner found themselves on\nthe Italian soil, than they declared their determination to remain\nthere. Cinna called them together, and endeavoured to persuade them to\ngo forward, but even when he gave the word of command there was no\nadvance on his bidding. From passive resistance they proceeded to active\ninsubordination, and, denouncing him as a tyrant whom it was high time\nto see through, they perforated him with their swords in several places.\n\nOn the death of Cinna, legal authority began to raise its humbled head,\nand Carbo was summoned to hold a Comitia at Rome; but on the day\nappointed, the attendance of voters not promising a satisfactory result,\nthe augurs declared the auspices unfavourable, and dissolved the\nmeeting.\n\nA deputation had been sent to Sulla to endeavour to make terms, but the\nmembers of the deputation were forced to return without any terms having\nbeen agreed upon. Sulla did not march immediately upon Italy, but went\nto \u00c6depsus, in Eub\u0153a, for the benefit of the hot baths, though he did\nnot limit himself to the waters, for he addicted himself to the spirits\nabounding in the neighbourhood. He amused himself in the society of\nthose who are sometimes said to live upon their wits, though their\nexistence is really derived from the want of wit in others. Sulla,\nhowever, had a counterpoise to any demerits of his own, in the still\ngreater demerits of those who were opposed to him.\n\nThe new Consuls were L. Cornelius Scipio, a highly respectable man, and\nC. Julius Norbanus, a mere creature of Carbo. Against these leaders\nSulla marched from Greece in the rudest health and the most exuberant\nspirits. His pockets, however, were as light as his heart; but this\nsignified little, for the troops were so devoted to him that there was\nnot an officer unattached; and so far from making any difficulty about\ntheir pay, they undertook to raise money among themselves, if necessary,\nfor the use of their leader.\n\nThe expedition landed at Brundusium, where the inhabitants received\nSulla with open arms, or rather without any arms at all, for they\npermitted him to occupy the place without opposition. Passing through\nCalabria and Apulia, he approached the encampment of Norbanus, in the\nneighbourhood of Capua, and sent ambassadors to treat; but their\ntreatment was anything but courteous. They were insulted by all kinds of\nabuse, and it is said that they had a great deal more thrown in their\nface than mere reproaches. When Sulla heard of their reception, or\nrather their rejection at the enemy's camp, he fell upon it with such\nforce that everything fell under him.\n\nHe next turned his attention to L. Scipio, whose army went over in a\nbody to the side of Sulla, while Scipio and his son were sitting\ntogether, talking over general matters in the tent of the general. L.\nScipio had despatched his son with directions for the right division,\nwhen the youth returned to say, that of the right division, there was\nnot one man left; and when Scipio himself went to look after his men,\nhe found there was not one remaining, even for the look of the thing,\nto mount guard at the tent of their commander. He, of course, proposed a\nseries of strong resolutions, seconded by his son, that all those who\nhad joined Sulla were enemies to the state; but the state in which he\nthen was, rendered his denunciations idle, if not ridiculous. The\nposition of Sulla was becoming rather alarming to the party of Carbo,\nwho caused himself to be appointed Consul, for the year B.C. 82, in\nconjunction with young C. Marius, who, as the heir of his father, had\ninherited a large stock of wickedness. Cn. Pompeius had already sent in\nhis adhesion to Sulla, who had received him as a very promising young\nman, for he had a fair share of popularity, and a good amount of\nproperty. Young Pompey was opposed to old Carbo, and the former so\nharassed the latter, that his temper, always sour, became equal to\ncarbonic acid in its inflammable tendency.\n\nSulla took young Marius in hand, and followed him up to a place called\nSacriportus, where, in consequence of a dream--for the ancients were\naddicted to taking advice with their eyes shut--an attack by the former\non the latter was resolved upon. Sulla ordered his soldiers to advance,\nbut they were so fatigued that they fell asleep on the road, and caused\ntheir leader to wonder what they could possibly be dreaming of. Instead\nof their being equipped in the arms of the warrior, they were stretched\nin the arms of Somnus, and Sulla, though reluctant to go counter to his\ndream, perceived the folly of marching to battle with a somnambulist\narmy. He gave orders, therefore, to halt, and the men had commenced\ndigging the foundations for a camp, when the cavalry of Marius rode up\nfor the purpose of annoying them. Irritated by the conduct of the\nenemy's horse, the soldiers of Sulla kicked against it, and even while\nengaged in their work, picked out, with their pickaxes, a few of the\nforemost of the Marian army. This led to a general engagement, in which\nSulla's forces forgot their fatigue, and pursued the enemy to the\nneighbouring town of Pr\u00e6neste, the gates of which were shut in such\nhaste, that all the fugitives had not time to get in, and Marius himself\nwas pulled up by a rope over the wall, together with a few immediate\nhangers-on, who had tied themselves to his fortunes. Sulla is said to\nhave slain 20,000 men, and to have taken 8000 prisoners, while he lost\nonly twenty-three; but as he is his own authority for the statement,[71]\nwe must take in a purely figurative sense many of his figures.\n\nThe Marian party, fearing that the successes of Sulla might encourage\nresistance to the despotism still prevailing at Rome, determined on\ngetting rid of the principal politicians of the day, the heads of the\nNational Assembly of the period. The modern practice might have been to\nhave shut up the place of meeting, and prevent the members, by armed\nforce, from going in--slaughtering them, of course, in case of their\nperseverance; but the Marian policy was to summon them to the Curia\nHostilia, and having got them in, to butcher those who attempted to go\nout again.\n\nThe pr\u00e6tor, L. Damasippus, was entrusted with this sanguinary business;\nand every eminent politician, who was suspected of having an independent\nopinion of his own, was at once massacred. This step was declared to be\nnecessary to give strength to the Government, and to insure the\nunanimity of the nation, by cutting the throats of all who ventured to\nbe of a way of thinking contrary to that of the ruling power.\nUnfortunately, some of the best and wisest men of the day were blind to\nthe virtues of the chief of the republic; and the whole of these,\nincluding Q. Mucius Sc\u00e6vola, the eminent jurist, were unceremoniously\nsacrificed.\n\nThe news of the success of Sulla at Sacriportus, caused a panic among\nthose who had been combining the butcher's business with that of\ngovernment at Rome, and the perpetrators tried to fly when they heard\nthe enemy was approaching the city. Sulla, leaving Lucretius Ofella to\nkeep watch at the gates of Pr\u00e6neste, lest Marius should attempt to creep\nout, marched in person on the capital. Directing his steps towards the\nColline gate, he found there an army of those same Samnites, who had\nbeen previously cut into so many pieces, and who were ready to be cut\ninto so many more, should occasion require the alarming sacrifice. Their\ngeneral, Pontius Telesinus, rode in front of them, entreating them to\ncome and be killed for positively the last time; and the dux had\nsufficient influence to induce them to rush like a flock of geese on\ntheir own destruction. The victory of Sulla was complete; and Pontius\nTelesinus having been overlooked by the foe in the heat of battle,\nsupplied the omission in the business of the day by making away with\nhimself--after the usual cowardly fashion of the heroes of antiquity.\n\nSulla's success seemed only to have effected a change of tyrants; and\nhis conduct proved that the monster grievance of Rome was the series of\ninhuman monsters who had got hold of the government. The atrocities\nattributed to Sulla are, however, so enormous, as almost to border on\nthe burlesque; and it is comfortable to feel in the exaggeration a\nground for hope that in the account furnished by the historians, much\nmay fall under the head of \"Errors excepted.\"\n\nIt is said that 3000 of the enemy at Antenn\u00e6 implored his mercy, which\nhe granted, on the understanding that they were to assassinate their\nassociates--a service that was performed with brutal eagerness. When the\n3000 claimed their own pardon as a reward, they were, according to\nPlutarch, conveyed to Rome, and butchered with a few thousand others,\nwho had the misfortune to differ in opinion with the chief of a\nrepublican government.\n\nIt was found so extremely embarrassing to heads of families and others\nwho were liable every day or hour to be cut off, that it was at length\nproposed, as a matter of convenience, that Sulla should save time by\npublishing a short list, containing the few names of those whom he did\nnot intend to sacrifice. He replied, by bringing out a very long list of\nthose he did, which he stated to be merely the first number of a serial\nwork, which he did not pledge himself to complete within any particular\nperiod. As every copyright is liable to be infringed, the work of Sulla\nwas the subject of numerous imitations; and there were many who made\nlists of their own, containing names disagreeable to themselves; so that\nno man could walk the streets without the chance of reading his own\ndeath-warrant on the walls of the capital. Sulla, in many instances,\noffered rewards for the heads of his victims, and his doors were beset\nfrom morning till night with the cry of, \"Butcher!\" by those who called\nfor the sums they had earned as slaughtermen. Assassinations proceeded\nto such a fearful degree, that Q. Catulus asked Sulla, in confidence,\nwhether it was the intention of the latter to spare any human being at\nall? for there seemed a chance of his having no one left to rule over\nbut himself; and such a man was likely to find self-government\nexceedingly difficult.\n\nWhile these things were going on at Rome, Marius was besieged in\nPr\u00e6neste, from which he tried to make his escape through the common\nsewer; a mode of insuring his life that was far from dignified. He,\nhowever, was espied through an iron aperture, which was so grating to\nhis feelings, that he called upon his slave to run him through; when the\nfaithful fellow immediately bored him to death with a trusty and rusty\nweapon.\n\nSulla, the perpetrator of all the acts of despotism and cruelty which\nare above described, was without any legal authority, and had no more\nright than the meanest subject of the republic to the power which he\nexercised. His reign was a reign of terror, supported by the swords of a\nsordid soldiery. Of the two Consuls, Marius was already dead; and Carbo,\nbeing taken prisoner, was condemned to death; so that Carbo--the\nblackness of whose conduct justified his title of the coal--was soon\nreduced to ashes.\n\nThe senate, which had been cut down by assassination to suit the views\nof Sulla, elected L. Valerius Flaccus as interrex, who immediately\ncaused Sulla to be invested with the power of doing whatever he liked,\nas long as he liked; or, to use the official phraseology, made him\ndictator for an unlimited period.\n\nOn receiving his appointment, the first measure of Sulla was to reward\nthe tools who had assisted him, and L. Valerius Flaccus was immediately\nmade master of the horse, while the military murderers, who had acted as\nexecutioners in the execution of his plans, received grants of land in\nthe places which had been unfavourable to the tyrant. He courted a\ncertain sort of popularity by extending the suffrage to some 10,000\nemancipated slaves, who retained enough of their slavishness to cause\nthem to vote as their master desired. He affected to reconstitute the\nlegislative body which he had illegally destroyed, and he sent into it a\nquantity of that noxious scum which, in the troubled waters of\nrevolution, is frequently cast up to the surface of society.\n\nHaving established his position through the brutality of one part of the\npeople, and the cowardice of the other, he set about the business of a\nreformer; and, though he did much harm, the little good that he\naccomplished must not be denied to him. Being a despot by nature, he\nlimited, as far as he could, the popular element in the constitution, by\ncurtailing the power of the tribunes; and he increased the government\npatronage by adding to the number of pontiffs and augurs, so that he\nmight have the privilege of appointment to lucrative, but useless,\noffices. His changes in the criminal code were, however, really\nbeneficial, for he made murder, whether committed by poison or violence,\na crime by law; and, indeed, it was necessary that the point should be\nclearly defined, for military murders at the hands of the executive had\nbeen so numerous that it was reasonably doubted whether human life was\nhenceforth to be protected at all by the government. Many old laws were\nre-enacted, though they had never been repealed; but the usurpers of\npower had so thoroughly trampled on every legal form, that it was\nimpossible to know which of the laws were to be regarded as imperative\non the people.\n\nSulla, and his friends, boasted that his firmness had given tranquillity\nto Rome; but tranquillity can scarcely be a desirable condition to one\nwhose quietude is the result of a gag in the mouth, a sword suspended\nover the head, and chains on every part of the body. The repose, or\nrather, the stillness thus obtained, was no less costly than\ninconvenient, for there was a wholesale confiscation of the property of\nall who were supposed to entertain views different from those of the\ngovernment. The iniquities of the master will often be followed by the\nman, and, in conformity with this rule, a fellow, named Chrysogonus, one\nof Sulla's creatures, caused the murder of Roscius of Armenia, in order\nto get the opportunity of robbing him. The property of Roscius was\nknocked down at a mock auction to a bad lot of ruffians, who were there\nto intimidate the auctioneer into doing their smallest bidding.\nEverything went for positively nothing, and Chrysogonus was understood\nto have got nearly the whole of it at a ludicrously low figure.\n\nThe laws made by Sulla, though perhaps plain enough in their purport,\nhad an ambiguity in their application which was extremely inconvenient.\nThough binding at some times, in some places, upon some persons, they\nwere not so at other times, in other places, upon others. He had laid it\ndown as a rule that no one could be elected consul until he had been\npr\u00e6tor; though, in the case of his own adherents, Sulla was not at all\nparticular. When, however, L. Ofella, the commander at Pr\u00e6neste, who had\nnever been pr\u00e6tor, put up for the consulship, Sulla declared such\nconduct was not to be put up with at all, and had him killed in the\nmiddle of a morning's canvass. The people were rather angry at the\noutrage, when Sulla, walking among a group with a sword in his hand,\n\"demanded silence for an anecdote.\"[72] A circle drew round him,\ntremblingly alive to what he was about to say, when the despot proceeded\nas follows: \"A labourer,\" said he, \"was at work at the plough, when he\nwas annoyed by insects, which caused him to stop and beat them off by\ndusting his own jacket. Finding himself annoyed a second time he took\noff his jacket and threw it into the fire. Now, I advise those whom I\nhave twice conquered not to oblige me to try the fire,\" The people, who\nknew something of Sulla's threatened fire, dreaded it with all the\nhorror of a burned child, and he was left to pursue his career of\nunchecked atrocity.\n\nA man who has the cruelty of a brute has, generally, the other debasing\nappetites of the lower order of animals; and Sulla had as much of the\nsensualist as of the tyrant in his character. To a thirst for blood he\nadded the appetite of a glutton; and, having amassed enormous wealth by\nmurder and rapine, he longed for the opportunity to expend his\nill-gotten means in idleness and debauchery. He accordingly called the\npeople together in the forum, and, having walked up and down for some\ntime asking if anybody dared to make a charge against him, he resigned\nthe dictatorship. This abdication has been lauded by some as a proof of\nmagnanimity and disinterestedness; but, to sum up the truth in a few\nwords, he had practised human butchery as a trade, and, having realised\nan enormous fortune, he retired from business. Having secured all the\nprofits that were likely to accrue from his unprincipled career, he left\nto others the difficult work of sustaining the results of his policy. He\nretired to Puteoli, where he passed much of his time in the company of\nactors, and became the intimate associate of one or two popular low\ncomedians. In his sober moments--which were very few during the latter\npart of his life--he wrote his own memoirs, and was employed upon the\nwork until within a few days of his death, which happened B.C. 78, when\nhe had reached the age of sixty. Seldom had a man, who had reached but\nthree-score, left so many scores unsatisfied. Such was his cruelty, that\nhe delighted in loading prisoners with fetters, and then shedding their\nblood, which caused it to be said of him that he was no less fond of\nmangling than of ironing. He had so little regard for old associations,\nthat when one of his acquaintances reminded him of the days when they\nlived in the same house--Sulla paying 2000 sesterces for the basement,\nand his former friend 3000 for the first floor--the Dictator refused to\nspare his fellow-lodger's life, but brutally remarked, that the story,\nwhether upper or lower, was an old one, and had long ago lost its\ninterest. It is said that dungeons or cellars were attached to Sulla's\nhouse for the purpose of keeping a supply of human beings always on hand\nfor occasional sacrifice. The manner of his death rendered him an object\nas repulsive as he had become by his mode of life; for, his\nlicentiousness led to a disease which developed itself in the generation\nof vermin in his skin; and he may be said to have been almost eaten up\nwith corruption before he expired. By his own desire his body was\nburned; as if he had thought that fire might act in some sort as a\npurifier of his memory. The ladies of the nobility threw perfume on the\nfuneral pile,[73] but it was too late to bring him into good odour.\nNumerous attendants carried spices of every kind; and, in addition to\nthe ordinary mace-bearers, there were several officers laden with\ncinnamon. The fact of incense having been offered at the funeral pile of\nsuch a monster, is enough to incense any one who reads a statement so\nhumiliating to humanity.\n\n[Illustration: Funeral Pile of Sulla.]\n\nIn personal appearance Sulla was by no means attractive; for he had a\nquantity of green in his eye, an abundance of red in his hair, and a\nprofusion of purple in his countenance. His face was, like his\ncharacter, full of spots; and those who accused him of aspiring to the\npurple, said the fact might be read in his look, for his cheeks were of\nblue, and caused himself, as well as his acts, to wear a very dark\ncomplexion. He was coarse in his manners, and had no appreciation of any\nkind of delicacy but the delicacies of the table. Notwithstanding the\nunpleasant features of Sulla's person and character, he was married five\ntimes; for divorce had become so easy, that a man could always put his\nold wife away when he wished for a new one.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[71] As quoted by Plutarch, in Sulla, c. 28.\n\n[72] Vide the account given by Appian, c. 102.\n\n[73] Plutarch in Sulla, c. 38.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.\n\n\nREACTION AGAINST THE POLICY OF SULLA. SERVICES OF Q. SERTORIUS.\nMETELLUS. CN. POMPEY. SPIRITED STEPS OF SPARTACUS. THE IRATE PIRATE.\n\n[Illustration: C\u00e6sar and Pompey very much alike, especially Pompey.]\n\nThe tyrannical acts of Sulla had smothered, but not extinguished, the\nflame of liberty, and every piece of injustice had been so much fuel\nheaped upon a smouldering fire. At the death of Sulla, the population\nconsisted of little else than those who had been beggared by a rapacious\nsoldiery, and the military desperadoes who had done the tyrant's work; a\nmelancholy combination of the victimisers and the victimised. The\nConsuls were M. \u00c6milius Lepidus and Q. Lutatius Catulus; the former\nhaving enriched himself by connexion with the dictator's party, but the\ntide having turned, he turned with it, in the hope that it might again\nlead on to fortune. Catulus, on the other hand, adhered to the policy of\nSulla; and there being reason to fear that the two Consuls would get up\na quarrel--in the course of which the lookers-on would be robbed--the\nSenate made the Consuls swear that they would not take up arms against\neach other. The oath was readily taken, and no less readily broken by\nthose republican chiefs, who came into violent collision near the very\ngates of Rome; and Lepidus, having got the worst of it, fled to\nSardinia, where, having laid down his plans for the future, he laid down\nhimself, and died rather unexpectedly.\n\nSeveral of the laws of Sulla were so manifestly unjust as to be\nindefensible even by his own partisans; and many of them were repealed\nunder various consulships. Cn. Pompey, who had been a warm adherent of\nthe dictator, had a much warmer feeling for himself, and he courted\npopular favour by the promise of many reforms which involved a\ncompromise of his former principles. The republic was, in fact, the\nsport of a set of unprincipled men, who were trying, by every artifice\nand crime, to get to the head of it. They cared nothing for the public\ninterests, but thought only of their own; which will be too often the\ncase when the chief power in the state is open to any who will make the\nhighest bid for it. Pompey had gone into the market with his abilities\nwhen tyranny required tools; but perceiving that demagogues were now in\ndemand, he endeavoured to make a profit of popular principles. Others\nhad embarked on the same voyage, shifting their course with the breath\nof public opinion, and having no rudder but self-interest. One of these\nwas L. Licinius Lucullus, a man of excessive wealth, which he used, or\nrather abused, in excessive luxury. He employed art for the purpose of\nopposing nature; and, among other pieces of prodigality, he endeavoured\nto convert a portion of the sea into a private fish-pond. This he\nattempted at his winter residence near Naples; where, by a cutting\nthrough the rocks he formed an opening into the bay, and kept upon his\nown premises a continual supply of fresh fish in a reservoir of salt\nwater. His tastes were not, however, limited to the pleasures of the\ndinner-table; for he had not only studied the law, and had the Twelve\nTables at his fingers' ends, but he had collected a library of such vast\nextent, that it comprehended a store of information far beyond the\ncomprehension of its owner.\n\nM. Licinius Crassus was another candidate for power, which he sought\nrather by means of his wealth, than his talents; for he had far more\nmoney than wit; and Crassus often evinced signs of crass ignorance.\n\nAlmost the only illustrious man of the period was C. Julius C\u00e6sar, who\ncould turn his hand, no matter what was in it, to anything. He was as\nready with the pen as with the sword; but the latter was not sharper\nthan his tongue; while his mind was so capacious and elastic, that it\ncould adapt itself to small or great things with equal facility. A very\nlittle subject is often lost in the vast expanse of a very great\nintellect; and a diminutive understanding cannot afford space for the\nadmission of a grand idea; but there was suitable accommodation for\neither one or the other, or both at once, in the self-adapting mind of\nC\u00e6sar. He was an author without jealousy, a scholar without pedantry,\nand a politician without quackery.\n\nThese, and other illustrious men, flourished in Rome about this time;\nbut Pompey, who had a natural love of pomp, possessed the art of\nconcentrating upon himself the rays reflected from the brilliant\npersonages who surrounded him; so that it was difficult to distinguish\nat all times between him and the other men of distinction of the period.\n\nDuring the lifetime of Sulla, Q. Sertorius had been serving, or rather\ncommanding, in Spain, where he held the post of pr\u00e6tor, and was engaged\nin keeping the interests of his party--that of Marius--alive, by killing\nall who were opposed to them. His professed object was to unite\nSpaniards and Romans as one people; but his mode of reconciling any\ndifferences was to put to the sword those who, after he had put their\nopinions to the test, were found to disagree with him. Sulla had sent an\narmy, under C. Annius, to attack Sertorius in Spain, when Sertorius,\nlooking upon C. Annius as a mere deputy, with whom a deputy on his side\nmight deal, despatched Julius Salinator to meet the envoy. The result\nproved that the pr\u00e6tor had done wisely in acting on his discretion,\nrather than giving way to any sudden impulse of valour; for Salinator,\nwhom he had sent as a substitute for himself, was killed, when, in his\ncapacity of proxy, he approximated too closely to the enemy.\n\nSertorius, who had sent out Salinator as a sort of feeler--not exactly\nexpecting that the latter would have to feel his death-blow--perceived\nthere was little prospect of his own success; and he made his escape to\nAfrica. While in Mauritania, having no quarrel of his own, he interfered\nin the quarrels of other people; and there being two claimants to the\nMauritanian crown, he supported one, and--by way of keeping his hand\nin--picked the pocket of the other. His meddling having paid him\nextremely well, he made up his mind and his luggage to retire into\nprivate life, and an account he had heard of the Canary Islands tempted\nhim to deposit his well-feathered nest in that congenial locality.\n\nThe Lusitanians, however, who had been robbed by the Romans belonging to\nSulla's party, having a vague idea of the propriety of setting a thief\nto catch a thief, entreated Sertorius to defend them against their\nenemies. The engagement was entered into after some little delay as to\nthe terms; when Sertorius set to work with so much ardour, that he was\nsoon fighting four Roman generals at once; and, what was still more\nremarkable, he was getting decidedly the best of it. His mode of warfare\nwas to pour down from one fastness to another with such speed, that his\nfoes never knew where to have him, until he had them in the most\nunexpected manner. If they began to march, says Plutarch, he was upon\ntheir heels,--if they sat still, he was upon their back,--and if they\ninvested a town, he turned the investment to his own profit by\nintercepting all their convoys. The enemy had no resource against his\narms but their own legs, for flight was their sole safeguard.\n\nNot satisfied with fighting the battles of the Spaniards, he began\nregulating their civil domestic affairs, and endeavoured to translate\nthe Spanish into the Roman character. His object was to establish a\nRoman republic in Spain; but it is difficult to manufacture a foreign\narticle of native materials. He appointed 300 persons as a senate; and,\nthough the greater part were Spaniards, he took as many proscribed\nRomans as he could find, in the hope that they would serve as a sort of\nRoman cement, to make it hold together. He established a school--a\nclassical academy--where Latin and Greek were taught, and where the\npupils wore boys' tunics, after the Roman fashion.\n\nSertorius was a general favourite with all classes, besides the classes\nof the school; and happening to have a favourite fawn, which followed\nhim wherever he went, flattery declared the fawn was sent him by the\ngods, as a mark of favour.\n\nFortune appeared to favour him in all he undertook; and even Q.\nMetellus, with a large army, could produce no effect,--a failure that\nwas attributed to the age and imbecility of that illustrious veteran.\nSertorius was joined by Perperna, who, on the strength of the forces he\nbrought, expected to share in the command; but such is the influence of\nsuccess, that Perperna's men repudiated their own leader, and insisted\non having Sertorius as their general.\n\n[Illustration: Sertorius and his young Friends.]\n\nThe constant arrival of unfavourable news at Rome, at length induced\nPompey to exclaim--\"This will never do; I must go and settle the matter\nmyself;\" for Pompey's conceit induced him to conceive that he should\neasily conquer Sertorius. The latter was besieging Lauro, the modern\nLiria, to which the former advanced for the purpose of relieving it.\nThere was, near the walls, a hill that it was important to possess, and\nboth parties tried for it; but Sertorius, setting his eye on the top,\nwas the first to get up to it. Pompey, with consummate vanity, expressed\nhis determination to dislodge the fellow forthwith, and sent a message\nto the town, desiring the inhabitants to sit upon the walls, that they\nmight see how cleverly he would dispose of their enemy. Sertorius, on\nhearing the boast, observed, smilingly, that \"a general should watch\nbehind as well as before,\"--an observation that Pompey, who did not see\nbehind him at the time, would often afterwards look back upon. Sertorius\nhad, in fact, a very considerable reserve, with which he hemmed the\nbesiegers in while he burned the inhabitants out, to the utter\nastonishment of Pompey, who, though near enough to the flames to warm\nhis hands, could not interfere without burning his fingers.\n\nPompey was, nevertheless, impatient to measure swords with Sertorius; an\noperation which, though it seems indicative of coming to close\nquarters, must always keep a soldier at arm's length, at least, from\nhis antagonist. Desirous of all the glory that might be obtained,\nPompey, hearing that Metellus was coming up with assistance, resolved on\nprecipitating a battle, and he accordingly commenced one rather late in\nthe afternoon, though he knew he might be quite in the dark as to the\nissue. Sertorius and Pompey each advanced at the head of a division, but\nby some accident they did not happen to meet; and each of them came back\nto the main body of his army with the conviction that he had been\nvictorious. On the renewal of the conflict the generals met, the armies\nknocked their two heads together, when Pompey, being stunned by the\nblow, and having no one to advise him what to do, took to flight for the\npurpose of consulting his own safety.\n\nThough apparently invincible by his enemies, Sertorius was not safe from\nhis friends, for he was murdered at a dinner-party given to him by\nPerperna. The cloth had not been removed, when Sertorius was startled by\na singular _entr\u00e9e_, in the shape of a band of assassins, who set upon\nhim and slew him. So much was he respected by the Spaniards, that it is\nsaid his death brought dying suddenly into fashion, and many killed\nthemselves at his funeral, for the purpose of taking Sertorius as their\npattern. Perperna immediately declared himself commander-in-chief, but\nhe was quite unfit for the place, and in his very first engagement he\nwas cut to pieces, with the whole of his army. Whether they were\nliterally cut to pieces, is a matter of doubt to us, though the account\nis placidly adopted by the graver historians; but when we consider the\nquantity of cutting and coming again of the same parties--as exemplified\nparticularly in the case of the Samnites--which we are continually\ncalled upon to place faith in, we find belief rather difficult.\n\nWhile these things were proceeding in Spain, the slaves were going on in\nthe most perplexing manner in Italy and its neighbourhood. Some of the\nablest of them had been trained in gladiatorial schools to afford\namusement in the Circus; but this outrage to humanity brought much\nmisery in its train to those who were the cause of it. The slaves were\nexercised in the use of all sorts of weapons, and humanity was lowered\nby hiring them out for shows on public occasions. Being skilled in the\nemployment of the sword, they began to think of wielding it against\ntheir oppressors, instead of trying it upon each other, and about\nseventy of them escaped under the leadership of a Thracian of their\nbody, named Spartacus. Being unprovided with arms, they plundered the\ncook-shops, where they seized spits for spears, skewers for daggers,\ncarving knives for swords, dripping-pans for shields, and basting-spoons\nfor general purposes. They next entered the shops of the carpenters, and\nseized the tools of the workmen, many of whom concealed the implements\nof their industry; but, if a saw happened to show its teeth, it was\nimmediately captured. Their party, though at first small, was increased\nby all the runaway debtors of the district; for it is a remarkable fact\nthat those who owe privately more than they can pay, are often foremost\namong those who talk the loudest about what they owe to the public\ninterests. They took up their position on Mount Vesuvius--an appropriate\nplace for a breaking out--and their numbers having swelled to 10,000,\nthey poured themselves down, like a devastating stream of lava, on many\nneighbouring towns, which were speedily laid in ashes. Spartacus pushed\nforward as far as the foot of the Alps; but his followers were intent on\nreturning to Rome, in order to sack it, and add its contents to their\nbaggage. M. Licinius Crassus was sent after him; and having undertaken\nto overtake him, came up with him in Lucania. The slaves fought like\nlions, or, rather, with the ferocity of the brutes with whom they had\nbeen taught to contend, and were, in some instances, victorious.\n\n[Illustration: Armed Slave.]\n\nCrassus had sent Mummius to keep the army in check, but the latter had\nreceived particular directions not to fight; for the object of the\nrepublican general was to take all the glory for himself, irrespective\nof his country's interests. Mummius, however, had the same feeling, and\nwas desirous of winning a reputation, regardless of the orders of his\nsuperior; for he knew that a military success, in the unstable condition\nof the executive, would, however irregular, be passed over by the\npeople, and perhaps made a stepping-stone for himself to supreme power.\nHis men, who were not actuated by the same personal motives as himself,\nsaw the insufficiency of their force, and, being seized with a panic,\nran away, without stopping to draw their swords from their scabbards.\nSpartacus formed the idea of passing into Sicily, and proceeded to\nRhegium, where he bargained with some pirates to supply him with\nvessels; but after pretending much friend-ship, they never furnished him\nwith any ship at all, though he had paid the knaves the price of a small\nnavy.\n\nSpartacus found himself blockaded in Rhegium; and Crassus, cutting a\ntrench all round, thought to prevent all egress from the place; but\nneither Crassus nor his trench proved deep enough to answer the purpose\nproposed, for Spartacus filled up a portion of the ditch, and walked\nover it. Crassus, now fearing that his cause was lost, sent to Rome for\nthe assistance of Pompey, who, priding himself on his previous\nvictories, and mentally ejaculating, \"I'm the only man; they 're always\nobliged to send for me,\" proceeded to meet Spartacus. No sooner had\nCrassus sent for help, than he recovered from his panic, and sent to say\nhe should require no aid; but he had calculated in the absence of the\nhost, for when the host of Spartacus appeared, Crassus found it no easy\nmatter to contend with them. The latter, however, grown too confident of\nsuccess, determined on running the chance of striking or receiving a\ndecisive blow, notwithstanding the misgivings of their leader.\n\n[Illustration: Spartacus.]\n\nSpartacus commenced the day by sending for his horse, and killing it, to\nthe utter astonishment of the spectators, and the intense bewilderment\nof the unfortunate animal. \"If I win the day,\" said he, \"I shall have\nmany better horses; but if I lose it, the poor creature would be useless\nto me in my very humble walk of life, or my more probable walk out of\nit.\" Such was his only mode of accounting for an act, which none who\npitied the suffering of an equine animal could regard with equanimity.\nOn the day of the battle, Spartacus was soon wounded, but falling on his\nknees, he continued to fight in that uneasy position. Being at last\noverpowered, he fell, with 40,000 of his men, who, according to the\nauthorities, were sent to destruction; but though there is no\nhesitation in saying where they went, the question where they came from,\nis one which the grave historians have paid no attention to. Of the\nwhole 40,000 who are said to have been found dead upon the field, it is\nasserted that two only had their backs to the foe; but we suspect that\nif there had been time for the defeated to have turned themselves round,\nthere would have been many more in the same position.\n\nCrassus marched towards Rome, expecting to be received with enthusiasm;\nbut Pompey who had met and exterminated 3000 Thracians, sent a letter\nhome, declaring that \"what Crassus had done was all very well, but that\nhe (Pompey) had really put an end to the war by his act of determined\nbutchery.\" Knowing the value attached by a military republic to a\nsanguinary act, he was sanguine enough to expect the office of Consul.\nThis he obtained in conjunction with his rival Crassus, who laid himself\nout, and laid out a considerable sum of money as well, for the purchase\nof mob popularity. He gave the people corn for nothing, and invited them\nto dinner-parties of 10,000 at a time; but his prodigality only proves\nthe extent of his plunder, for nothing could have gone into the public\nmouth, but that which had in some shape or other come out of the public\npocket. Pompey, on the other hand, practised the profession of humility,\nwhich perhaps answered better in a double sense; for it was certainly\ncheaper, and possibly somewhat more effective, than ostentatious\nprodigality. He used to lead his own horse in a procession, to show that\nhe was a simple _eques_, on a footing of equality with other citizens.\nWhen his consulship was at an end, he retired into a private station,\nwhere he lived like a prince--a style that seems to be much in favour\nwith those who preach the doctrine of perfect equality.\n\nIt was impossible for such an active participator in public affairs to\nremain wholly idle; and the alarming spread of piracy soon gave him an\nopportunity for really honourable distinction. The pirates were becoming\na scourge to Rome, but Rome had richly deserved it, for it had been her\nown injustice that had called into existence these dangerous enemies to\nhumanity. They consisted, in the first instance, of men ruined by Roman\nextortion, who took to the mountains and the sea, where the true\nexcitement of the ups and downs of life may be most vividly experienced.\nThese men had in time been joined by the once rich and noble, some of\nwhom, having sold the wives and families they could no longer keep,\nbegan to plough the ocean as the only field of enterprise. Piracy thus\nbecame a regular business of man, just as in more civilised times it has\nbecome a regular part of the business of bookselling. Towns were\nplundered, the cattle were carried off, and the inhabitants walked off\nto captivity. The rich were frequently kidnapped on the roads, and\nnothing but a handsome ransom would obtain their liberty.\n\nThe pirates had been often reduced, but had never been rooted out; and\nthe tribune, A. Gabinius, proposed, therefore, that Pompey should be\ncalled upon to do extraordinary things with extraordinary powers. He was\nto have supreme command for three years, during which period he was to\nhave whatever was asked, and to order everybody or everything that he\nrequired. He took his own measures extremely well, and took the measure\nof the pirates also with such effect, that he soon drove them from all\ntheir fastnesses, with a speed quite marvellous.\n\nThough his extraordinary powers had been conferred upon him for three\nyears, he had such still more extraordinary power over himself, that he\nmade a voluntary surrender of the former, when the object for which they\nhad been entrusted to him was accomplished. Everything was achieved in\nthree months, during which period he had taken several towns, none of\nwhich he had kept to himself, though one of them, in Cilicia, called\nSoli, he made a solitary exception of, by giving it the name of\nPompeiopolis. The people of Soli talked a mixed dialect of Asiatic and\nGreek, which caused such a confusion of speech, that a great deal of\nconfounded nonsense was the result; and it is said that the word\nsolecism, as applied to an inaccuracy of speech, is derived from the\nname of the place alluded to.\n\nThat the Romans should have been hostile to piracy is somewhat\ninconsistent with the principle, or rather the want of principle, on\nwhich they acted themselves, for they pirated almost everything. Their\nliterature was mere piracy from the Greeks; and according to some\nauthorities, the Romans pirated even from the pirates themselves; for\nthe former are said to have pirated from the latter the idea of the\nsystem of the Zodiac.\n\nThe pirates carried on their lawless trade with such success, that they\nhad a fleet of more than 1000 galleys, many of them being handsomely\ngilded--a fact that glossed over in the eyes of many the iniquity of the\nmeans by which such wealth had been acquired. A dash of gaiety is said\nto have pervaded the enormities of these lawless depredators; and when\namong their prisoners they captured a Roman of high rank, they would\npolitely request him to walk into the sea; for \"to enslave one of the\nlords of the earth was an act they could not think of being guilty of.\"\nYoung Julius C\u00e6sar, who fell into their hands when a mere boy, on his\nvoyage to Rhodes, appears to have met them more than half way in their\nsallies of humour. They asked twenty talents for his ransom, when he\noffered them fifty; and even then was so little anxious to leave them,\nthat he remained thirty-eight days after having paid his money and\nbecome entitled to his quittance. During his stay among them he wrote\nsatirical verses on their barbarous mode of life, and parried off their\nswords by the still keener weapons of ridicule. The pirates were amused\nby the sallies of their prisoner, who conveyed to them all the bluntness\nof truth in all the sharpness of epigram. They were sorry enough to part\nwith him, when the money for his ransom arrived; but they had reason to\nbe still more sorry when they met him again; for when he did so, it was\nonly to capture them and carry them to Pergamus.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.\n\nTHE THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR. DEPOSITION AND DEATH OF MITHRIDATES.\n\n\nWhile Pompey had been busy in punishing the pirates, Rome had something\nto fear from another quarter; for Mithridates had been everywhere\nbeating up for recruits to beat down the Commonwealth. He was extremely\nrich, and had an army of 150,000 men; for the trade of war is unhappily\none of those in which there is never any lack of hands ready to wage\nwar, when their wages can be relied upon.\n\nBithynia was one of the first objects of the attack of Mithridates, who\nwas opposed by the Consul, M. Cotta; but the place was burned to the\nground, and the ashes of poor Cotta were found in the condition of terra\ncotta among the ruins. Lucullus, the colleague of Cotta, was sent into\nAsia with a great army, which attacked Mithridates with such effect,\nthat the king only saved his own life by emptying his pockets of all the\nmoney he had about him, and making a scramble of it among the hostile\nsoldiers. The mercenaries, in fighting with each other for the loose\nsilver, forgot to make sure of the sovereign. Mithridates fled to his\nson-in-law Tigranes, who, having named the metropolis Tigranocerta,\nafter himself, had established himself as King of Armenia. Lucullus\nproceeded across the Tigris, and required that Mithridates should be\ngiven up; but Tigranes, looking at his venerable though determined\nfather-in-law, referred the legate for an answer to the old gentleman.\nThe King of Pontus answered by requesting that the enemy would come and\ntake him, which the Romans were actually about to do, when Mithridates\nand Tigranes thought it safer to run for their lives; Tigranes\ningloriously taking his crown from his head, and putting it in his\npocket, to avoid being recognised.\n\nThe treasury of Tigranocerta, with a surplus of two millions sterling,\nfell into the hands of the Romans, who seized on the spoil, and who had\nbecome so independent by their temporary wealth, that they criticised,\napproved, and abused or disobeyed, when and why they pleased, the orders\nof their general.\n\nMithridates, taking advantage of this state of things, collected a\nnumerous army, and fell wherever he could upon the Roman garrisons. On\none occasion he approached so near the enemy as to be within a stone's\nthrow, and as they happened to be throwing stones, he received one on\nthe knee; while an arrow, fixing itself under the eye, at once opened it\nto the full extent of his danger. He soon recovered from the effect of\nhis wounds, and was ready by the ensuing spring to attack C. Triarius,\nwhen a Roman soldier, disguised as a native, pretended to whisper\nsomething in the ear of Mithridates, at the same time giving him a most\nunfriendly poke in the ribs with a concealed weapon. The King was so\nunprepared for the wound that he fainted right away, and his troops were\nso taken up in catching him, that they forgot to catch the foe, who were\nsuffered to escape, though they might otherwise have been easily seized\nupon. Mithridates, having come to, expressed his anger at the\ncarelessness of his officers, and, notwithstanding his wound and his\nage, he would have attempted the pursuit--under difficulties--of the\nenemy. The next morning he renewed the attack on Triarius, and cut to\npieces 7000 men; an operation, however, which seems almost too extensive\nfor even the scissors of Fate, and we cannot help regarding it,\ntherefore, as a sheer invention of the graver historians.\n\nPompey was now sent to supersede Lucullus in the command; a measure that\nhad become doubly necessary, for Lucullus had not only failed as a\nleader, but his soldiers were daily refusing to follow him. When his\ntroops approached within a short distance of Mithridates, they seemed\nmore inclined to engage with him in a friendly than in a hostile sense,\nfor many of them joined his forces. Soon after the arrival of Pompey, a\nbattle was fought by night on the banks of the Euphrates. The moon,\nbeing near its setting, had lengthened the reflection cast by the Roman\ntroops, and the soldiers of Mithridates, mistaking the reflection for\nthe substance, began fighting most energetically with mere shadows.\nEvery missile, thrown apparently into the midst of the Romans, was as\nineffective as a miss, and the soldiers of Mithridates believing the foe\nto be invulnerable, fled in a state of panic. The King himself fought\nvaliantly at the head of his body-guard; a corps which counted among its\nmembers his own wife, who, in the arms of a man, committed fearful havoc\nupon the Roman soldiery. Notwithstanding the powerful assistance of this\nstrong-minded and able-bodied woman, Mithridates was compelled to fly,\nthough he made extensive arrangements for renewing the war on the first\nfavourable opportunity. This opportunity seems never to have arrived,\nor, if it came, it was lost by the treachery and cowardice of his son\nPharnaces, who persuaded the soldiers that his father was an old fool to\nthink of fighting with the Romans. Several of the principal officers\ntook the same view of the subject, and joined in a conspiracy to depose\nthe King, for the purpose of setting up Pharnaces as his substitute.\n\nMithridates was in bed one morning, when, woke by a considerable\nshouting under his window, he heard the words, \"Pharnaces is king!\" and\nsent to know the meaning of such an outcry. The answer was\nunsatisfactory, when the veteran, mounting his charger, made a speech on\nhorseback, which nobody listened to. His son gave orders that he should\nbe seized, when the old man, putting spurs to his horse, galloped up a\nhill, which for a man in the decline of life, who had been going down\nhill rather rapidly, was a bold and hazardous experiment. From the\neminence he had gained, he saw the depth to which he had fallen; for he\nwitnessed the coronation of his son Pharnaces, amidst the acclamations\nof the army. The poor old man was so affected at the sight, that he took\nfrom a fold in his dress a deadly drug, which, in anticipation of an\nalarming self-sacrifice, he always carried about with him. He was about\nto take off the mixture, when his two daughters, who were standing at\nhis side, entreated the privilege of a drink at the deadly decoction.\nFor some time he hesitated; but he was at length touched by their looks\nof mute entreaty at the fatal liquid. Dividing the contents of the\nbottle into three parts, he gave a dose to each of his daughters,\nreserving a dose for himself; and on a signal from the old gentleman,\nthe two young ladies swallowed the nauseous stuff they had so earnestly\nsolicited.\n\n[Illustration: Mithridates, his rash act.]\n\nThe poison took effect at once upon the females; but their father\nexperienced only a disagreeable taste, without the deadly result he had\nlooked for. Though too much for two, it was not enough for three, and\nthe poor old man tottered about in a state of nausea, unattended with\ndanger. Having been previously tired of existence, he was now thoroughly\nsick of it, and turning to a loyal servant at his side, he requested\nthat he might immediately be put out of his misery. The faithful fellow,\nmaking a compromise between his morality and his duty, turned away his\neyes, and held out the point of his sword, when Mithridates, coming\nspeedily to the point, fell on the outstretched weapon.\n\nThus ended the Mithridatic War, as well as Mithridates himself; and his\ncowardly son Pharnaces sent in his adhesion to Pompey, acknowledging, in\na spirit of humility and subservience to Rome, that he only held his\nkingdom at the pleasure of the Senate.\n\n[Illustration: Mithridates.]\n\nThe character of Mithridates has been drawn by so many different\ndelineators, that his portrait, as taken by the historians, presents a\ndaub in which it is difficult to recognise the true features. So many\nskilful artists have been employed upon the task, that we hesitate in\nsubmitting Mithridates to a fresh canvassing at our hands; nor are we\ndesirous of using the pencil, as some have done, for the purpose of\nimparting additional blackness. Some of those who have taken the sketch\nin hand, have thrown in the shadows with a ten-pound brush, while others\nhave clothed him in several coats and overcoats of varnish, for the\npurpose of glossing over the defects of his character. All are ready to\nadmit that he was an able ruler; but he had not that perfect uprightness\nand straightness which give to a ruler the qualities most to be desired.\nHe could speak twenty-five different languages; and thus he was often\nable to talk over those with whom he might not have been able to come to\nan understanding, had his conversation been less versatile. He was of\ngigantic stature, which caused him to be looked up to by those who were\nplaced under his authority. Notwithstanding his excessive height, he was\nnot at all ungainly in his appearance, but his well-moulded frame was a\nperfect picture.\n\nHis fondness for the fine arts was exhibited in the rapacity with which\nhe seized upon the choicest efforts of human genius, which were in turn\nstolen from him by other amateurs, whose patronage of talent was evinced\nin the ardour with which they appropriated the result of its labours. In\nSinope, one of his cities, was found an astronomical sphere, which seems\nto show that the science of the stars was within the circle of his\nknowledge. In one of his fortresses was discovered a statue of himself\nno less than twelve feet high, in pure gold, which proved not only the\nvalue he set upon himself, but showed how completely he was wrapped up\nin the precious metal.\n\nCredit has been given him for the possession of many domestic virtues;\nbecause, though he was cruel to one half of his numerous wives, he\ntreated the other half with considerate tenderness. He excited the\nterror of his foes, but enjoyed the affection of his servants; and\nthough hated in the field, he was beloved in the kitchen. According to\nPaterculus, Mithridates was a man of whom it is difficult to speak, and\nstill more difficult to say nothing.[74] The same authority confers upon\nhim a character for greatness of mind during the whole of his life; but\nwhen, having a great mind to kill himself, he prevailed on a slave to\nput him to death, he evinced--to use a contradictory expression--a vast\namount of mental littleness.\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[74] Mithridates, Ponticus Rex, vir neque silendus, neque dicendus sine\ncur\u00e2. Vell. Paterc., lib. ii., c. 18.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH.\n\nCONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. INTRODUCTION OF CICERO. C\u00c6SAR, POMPEY, CRASSUS,\nAND CO.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nA Republic without republicans may be an exceptional state of things;\nbut ancient as well as modern history furnishes proof that the existence\nof a republic is not incompatible with the absence of anything for which\nsuch a form of government is usually desired. It is now an ascertained\nfact, that the people have no greater enemies to liberty than\nthemselves; and that universal suffrage is the surest instrument to\neffect the objects of a despot. Equality, in a republican sense, seems\nto imply a condition in which all are equally debased; and a nation\nappears to be never so thoroughly slavish as when it is free to choose\nits own ruler.\n\nThe Romans had for some time been in the habit of placing themselves in\nthe hands of a succession of tyrants and knaves, who obtained popularity\nby the display of the worst attributes. One would win the public voice\nby his boldness as a thief; another would render himself the elect of\nthe people by his sanguinary successes as a wholesale murderer. It is\nunfortunate for what is termed the liberal cause, that the vulgarest\nqualities often attract the largest share of applause; and that those\nwho are entrusted most freely with the confidence of the people are\nalmost always the most unscrupulous in betraying it.\n\nRome had now sunk to the lowest condition; and society, under the\nrepublic, had become so dissolute, that its dissolution might be looked\nfor as a natural consequence. Among the nobles of the period was a\ncertain mass of cruelty and corruption, under the name of Sergius\nCatiline. He boasted of a long line in connection with his family tree;\nbut a much shorter line, in connection with any ordinary tree, would\nhave been more appropriate to his merits. Having spent all his own\nmoney, he spent as much as he could of other people's, by running into\ndebt as deeply as possible. In order to meet some of his old engagements\nsufficiently to enable him to contract new, he murdered his brother,\nwith a few more of his family connections, and, in fact, justified the\nopinion formed of him on account of his antecedents, by killing his\nrelatives. Having obtained a Propr\u00e6torship in Africa, he followed up his\ncareer of private swindling, by the wholesale practice of public\nrobbery. He used his office for the purposes of extortion; and the only\nproof he gave of exactness was in the exactions to which he submitted\nall who were under his authority.\n\nOn his return to Rome he hoped to have a wider scope for his dishonesty\nin the office of Consul, to which he aspired; and he formed a party of\nruined spendthrifts, whose only chance of supporting themselves was by\nsupporting him as a candidate for power. These desperadoes had nothing\nto lose, and everything to gain,--all that they had to lose being their\nown, and all that they had to gain being the property of others.\nCatiline had attracted the sympathies of these adventurers by promising\nto divide among them all the official salaries; and he had rallied round\nhim a considerable number of adherents by offering to the \"million\" an\nopportunity of helping themselves to that which did not belong to them.\nHe professed to be able to relieve all classes at once, by relieving the\npoor of their burdens, and the rich of their property. The dregs of the\npopulace were easily stirred up, and even some of the nominal nobles\nwere base enough to join in a conspiracy against their own order. The\nobject of the conspiracy was to murder the whole of the senate by a\nmassacre _en masse_; but the scheme was frustrated by that treachery\nwhich is almost sure to be found among a set of men who are banded\ntogether for a bad purpose. One Curius was induced to gratify the\ncuriosity of a woman, named Fulvia, with whom he was in love; and the\nsecret having reached female ears, flew to the tip of a female tongue,\nwhen the secret oozed out as naturally as water finding its level.\n\nCicero, who had been the competitor of Catiline for the Consulship, soon\nbecame aware of the facts; and the former resolved to try and talk the\nconspiracy down, by making it the subject of several bursts of indignant\neloquence.\n\nOn the entrance of so illustrious a person as Cicero on the historical\nscene, it is fit that we should act the part of cicerone, for the\npurpose of introducing him. This celebrated character was born on the\n3rd of January, in the year of the City 647, at Arpinum, where his\nfather had a seat before the future orator was capable of standing. His\ngrandfather was a man of some consideration, pecuniary as well as moral;\nfor he was possessed of some property, and looked up to as an authority\nin questions of local politics. He had two sons, the eldest of whom,\nMarcus, was the father of the celebrated Marcus Tullius, from whom the\nfamily has derived that indelible mark which time is not likely to\nobliterate. After receiving the rudiments of his education at his native\nplace, he was sent to Rome, where he studied Greek; and the flame of\noratory was first kindled in his mind by contact with the Greek poetic\nfire. As soon as he had assumed the toga, he became wrapped up in manly\npursuits, and was placed under the care of Mucius Sc\u00e6vola, the augur,\nwho augured extremely well of his pupil. The young Cicero soon evinced\na turn for poetry, which caused his head to be constantly running upon\npoetical feet; and he came out rather strong in numbers at a very early\nperiod. At the appointed age he joined the army; for the laws of his\ncountry required that on his entrance into life he should incur the risk\nof being sent out of it. He was present in the Marsic War, at the taking\nof the Samnite camp; but being in-tent on another part of the field, he\nsaw little of the battle. At the end of the war he devoted himself to\nliterary pursuits, and wrote his work _De Inventione_, which, in\naccordance with the maxim that necessity is the mother of invention, no\ndoubt derived its existence from the author's necessities.\n\n[Illustration: Fulvia.]\n\nHe next studied the art of reasoning, under Diodorus, who came to live\nunder Cicero's roof, so that the latter probably found, or rather\nprovided, lodging, while the Stoic \"stood\" the logic, which was\nundoubtedly a reasonable consideration for the accommodation afforded\nhim. In his twenty-sixth year Cicero came out regularly as a professed\norator; and the public voice soon accorded to his own a reputation of\nthe highest character.\n\nAfter talking incessantly for nearly two years, he found it necessary to\ntake breath in retirement; and proceeded to Athens and to Rhodes, where\nhe cultivated a more subdued style of oratory, getting rid of a\ndisagreeable redundancy of action, and avoiding that motion, of course,\nof the arms, which is the common defect of the youthful advocate.\n\nOn his return to Rome, after an absence of two years, he appeared in the\ncourts of law with distinguished success, and had the next best business\nto those popular leaders, Cotta and Hortensius. The three learned\nbrethren were all of them successful candidates for the offices of\nConsul and Qu\u00e6stor, in the last of which capacity Cicero was sent to\nSicily. There his chief employment was to keep up a good supply of wheat\nfor the capital, and, by the production of large crops of corn, he\ncultivated his growing popularity. During his Qu\u00e6storship he visited\nSyracuse, and discovered the tomb of Archimedes, which was thoroughly\novergrown with briers, presenting an apt monument to one who had\ntrodden, during life, the thorny paths of science. Cicero left the\nisland with the pleasing idea that all Rome had been resounding with the\npraises of his administration; but, on landing at Puteoli, he was not a\nlittle disgusted at meeting a friend who asked him \"where he had been,\nand what was the latest news in the city?\" Cicero, at once perceiving\nthat out of sight and out of mind were the same thing, determined to\nkeep himself henceforth in the public eye to prevent its being shut to\nhis merits.\n\nIt was not long after this period of his history that he came into\ncollision with the conspirator, Catiline, whom he denounced before the\nassembled Senate, in an oration which has been preserved to this day, by\nthe pungency of its sarcastic reasoning. Every sentence smacked of Attic\nsalt, and every word was so much pepper to the guilty Catiline. The\nlatter attempted a reply; but the senators were seized simultaneously\nwith one of those coughs which spread like an influenza over an\nunwilling audience. The mask was now fairly torn off; and Catiline stood\nrevealed in all his naturally atrocious features. He fled from Rome; but\nCicero continued to show that though his hostility was all talk, it was\nof the most effective kind; for he sent forth speech after speech, and\nevery sentence involved a sentence of \"guilty\" against Catiline. All\nthose conspirators who had remained in Rome were seized, and strangled\nby the executioner, who, when they cried for pity, abruptly choked their\nutterance.\n\n[Illustration: _Cicero denouncing Catiline._]\n\nThe conspiracy, though in great part stifled, was not wholly\nextinguished; for Catiline did his utmost to keep it alive, by\nassembling an army in Etruria. There he was to have been opposed by the\nConsul, C. Antonius; but that individual pleaded illness, and declared\nthat a severe headache would preclude him from encountering the din of\nwar, while a hoarseness, which he said had seized him by the throat,\nincapacitated him, as he alleged, for giving the word of command on\nthe field of battle. His troops were, however, so determined on action,\nthat they no sooner heard of their general being an invalid, than they\ninsisted that his appointment was invalidated, and they proceeded to\nbusiness under the command of his legate, M. Petreius. A fierce battle\nensued, at Pistoria, and both sides fought like lions; though, to say he\nfought like a tiger would have been more appropriate to one of the race\nof Cati-line. Nobody fled, if the accounts are to be believed; but 3000\nconspirators fell with their swords in their hands, causing a perfect\nmountain of slain; and, to crown the whole, their leader is alleged to\nhave formed the summit of this cadaverous pyramid. Those of the\nconspirators who were not killed by the sword were suffocated under the\nheaps of their companions; and the conspiracy itself was effectually\nsmothered.\n\nCicero having saved his country, went out of office,--a course exactly\nopposite to that followed by modern statesmen, who sometimes quit the\nservice of their country when they have placed it in danger. He received\nthe thanks of the Senate; was hailed as Pater Patri\u00e6, the father of his\ncountry, and was invested with a civic crown,--a head-dress of\noak-leaves; the material being a fitting type of that popularity which\nfalls away and is scattered to the winds with such fatal facility.\n\nThe fickleness of public favour was speedily shown in the case of\nCicero; for it was proposed that Pompey should be recalled from Asia, to\nrestore the Constitution; it being one of the inconveniences of a\nrepublic, that though the constitution is said to be always the best in\nthe world, it is always in need of a succession of restoratives. Pompey\nlanded at Brundusium, where he disbanded all his army, in order to show\nhis attachment to republican simplicity,--a term which is often\nmisapplied; for the simplicity of republicans consists chiefly in their\naptitude for being imposed upon.\n\nThough Pompey arrived at Rome without his soldiers, he took care to show\nhis grateful sense of services to come, by causing every man of them to\nreceive a sum equal to about forty-five pounds sterling from the public\ntreasury. He devoted a portion of his gains to building a temple,\nostensibly to Minerva, but, in reality, dedicated to himself; for it was\ninscribed with an account of his victories.\n\nHaving sought in vain the support of the Senate, he abandoned the\naristocratic party, and threw himself upon the people, who received him\nwith open arms; but the arms that are open to admit a candidate for\npopularity are often equally open to let him fall from his position.\n\nAs Pompey is destined to lose his life before the end of the chapter, it\nmay be as well to give some account of his birth, that the reader may be\nable to estimate the loss at its true value.\n\nPompeius Cneius was born on the 30th of September, B.C. 106, a few\nmonths later than Cicero, and breathed his first at about the time when\nJugurtha breathed his last, in a Roman prison. The family of Pompey\nbelonged to the plebs; and one of his ancestors may be said to have\nlived upon air, for he was by profession a flute-player. His father,\nPompeius Strabo, had imbibed aristocratic ideas, and fought in the\nMarsic War; but he seems to have despised the laurel of fame for the\nmore profitable branch of plunder. His wealth had been considerable; and\nafter his death his son was accused of having participated in the\nill-gotten gains, when young Pompey, knowing the corruption of the\ntribunals, married the daughter of the judge, as a sure mode of getting\na decision in his favour.\n\nHis acquittal followed as a matter of course; for when public officials\nwere immersed in every kind of selfishness and degradation, the sinking\nof the judge in the father-in-law was comparatively venial. By dishonest\nmeans the elder Pompey had come to a great estate, from a low condition;\nand the son sought to hide, in the abundance of his means, the meanness\nof his origin. He became proud and upstart, evincing a predilection for\naristocracy, which often animates those of lofty talent and low birth;\nwho frequently affect the littlenesses of the nominally great, instead\nof showing that true greatness can exist among the so-called little.\nSelf aggrandisement was his grand, or rather his petty, object; and he\nowes to his ignoble attempts to elevate himself, the low place he\noccupies in the opinion of the impartial historian.\n\nSoon after his return from Asia to Rome, he celebrated a triumph, which\nhad all the attributes of a vulgar puff; for there were carried before\nhim long lists of his achievements, followed by several wagon-loads of\ngoods, the produce of much pillage. Finding his political designs\nopposed by Cato and others, he was anxious to form a party of his own;\nand C. J. C\u00e6sar, who saw the necessities of Pompey, determined on\nturning them to his own advantage. He made overtures, to which the other\nlistened, and effected a reconciliation between Pompey and Crassus, who\nhaving both met, were capable of contributing in more senses than one to\nthe success of the plans of C\u00e6sar. These three men entered into a sort\nof political union, which is usually distinguished by the name of The\nFirst Triumvirate.\n\nC\u00e6sar had become Consul in the year of the City 694, (B.C. 59) when the\nparty of the Senate, wishing to have a check upon him, practised every\nsort of bribery to obtain the election of one Bibulus as his colleague.\nThis individual was a mere nobody, with a remarkable deficiency of head;\nand the small wits of the day were accustomed to date their notes \"in\nthe Consulship of Julius and C\u00e6sar,\" instead of in the Consulship of\nC\u00e6sar and Bibulus.\n\nIt is a remarkable fact that despotism always looks for its tools among\nthose whom it designs for its victims; and there are no instruments so\nready as the people themselves to put an end to popular liberty. It is\nthe policy of a tyrant to destroy all power but his own; and the\ndestruction of legal authority is always favourable to those who are\nplaying the game of unprincipled ambition. C\u00e6sar began by flattering the\npeople at the expense of the Senate; and he enacted that records of the\nproceedings of the latter should be published under the title of _Acta\nDiurna_, which may be regarded as the origin of our journals of the\nHouse of Commons, and our daily newspapers. A second measure was a sort\nof Insolvent Act, for the benefit of the farmers of the public revenue,\nwho, in their anxiety to obtain the contract, had offered more than they\ncould pay for the privilege of collecting the taxes. His third great\nproject was an agrarian law, in conformity with which any pauper citizen\nwho could show at least three children--whether genuine, or borrowed for\nthe occasion, it might have been difficult to ascertain--were entitled\nto a grant of land in Campania. This premium on improvident marriages\ncalled forth such an overwhelming demonstration of paternity, that the\nground in Campania fell far short of the quantity of fatherland that was\nrequired; and it was necessary to purchase several thousands of acres,\nin order to widen the field for the operations of C\u00e6sar. Bibulus opposed\nthe measure; but his opposition, though for the moment busy, proved idle\nin the end; when, disgusted with failure, he shut himself up in his\nhouse for the rest of the year; and every one said that he had been\ncompletely shut up by his more powerful colleague.\n\nC\u00e6sar was now more desirous than ever of a near alliance with Pompey;\nand, in order to draw the bands closer, the former gave his daughter in\nmarriage to the latter, though the gentleman was obliged to put away his\nold wife, Mucia, to make room for the new; and the lady, Julia, was\nunder the necessity of breaking off an engagement with an intended\nhusband. In order to constitute a strong family party for carrying on\nthe government, C\u00e6sar himself married Calpurnia, the daughter of L.\nCalpurnius Piso, who, by means of private influence, was made consul for\nthe ensuing year with A. Gabinus.\n\nIt was customary for a retiring Consul to have a province assigned to\nhim for a single year; but C\u00e6sar having worked all the principal public\ndepartments with tools of his own, obtained, by a flagrant violation of\nthe Constitution, a prolonged lease of his own power. The rich provinces\nof Cisalpine Gaul and Illyrium were assigned to him for five years; and\nTransalpine Gaul was afterwards added by the Senate, because they saw\nthe people were so completely under his influence, that they would\neither have given him all he asked, or he would have taken all he wanted\nwithout asking it.\n\nAmong the members of the aristocracy of this degenerate age of the Roman\nrepublic was one Clodius, whose name, like himself, was a corruption of\nClaudius, for he belonged to the family of the Claudii. This\ndisreputable profligate had obtained an infamous notoriety during the\nfestival of the _Bona Dea_, whose rites were celebrated on the first of\nMay; and being conducted exclusively by women, the ceremony was no doubt\none of a most confused and tedious character. Clodius having disguised\nhimself in a female dress, passed unnoticed amid the din of many\ntongues, till female curiosity detected him in a flirtation with the\nwife of C\u00e6sar, whose house was the scene of the festival. Clodius was\nbrought to trial for the offence, and sent a retainer to Cicero, with\ninstructions to the orator to prove an _alibi_. Instead of following the\nmodern professional course of adopting any falsehood, however gross, for\nthe sake of a client, Cicero hurried into the opposite extreme, and,\nindignantly throwing up his brief, not only rushed into the witness-box\nto give evidence against the accused, but threw up his cause in an\nexplosive burst of eloquence. Notwithstanding this remarkable instance\nof honesty at the bar, there was so much corruption on the bench, that\nClodius bribed the judge by throwing into the scales of justice a sum of\ngold which turned the balance in his favour. Clodius threatened revenge,\nand promised to stick to Cicero through life, for having cast him off,\nand refused to stick to him at such a momentous crisis.\n\n[Illustration: Cicero throws up his Brief, like a Gentleman.]\n\nC\u00e6sar, who was the person most interested in the subject of the lawsuit,\nallowed it to give him very little uneasiness; for having divorced his\nwife, he continued on terms of friendship with Clodius. The latter\nbecame a candidate for the tribuneship; but being disqualified by his\nhigh birth, he got himself adopted into that for which nature had best\nadapted him--a very low family. By a bargain with the Consuls he\nobtained their support; for he promised that if they helped him to the\ntribuneship, he would assist them in helping themselves to a rich\nprovince at the close of their year of office. The disgraceful\narrangement was completed,--the plunderers paying each other at the cost\nof the public welfare.\n\nClodius immediately began to exercise his public authority for the\ngratification of his private feelings; and got a law passed for the sole\npurpose of destroying Cicero. The orator looked to the triumvirate for\nprotection; but Pompey went out of town; Crassus remembered an old\ngrudge; and C\u00e6sar sided with his friend Clodius. Cicero, without\nwaiting to take his trial, left the city, amid the lamentations of all\nthe good, who formed a mourning party, far more select than numerous.\nAfter his departure, sentence of outlawry was passed upon him; his house\non the Palatine, and his two villas, were by the hand of demolition\nbrought to the ground, while the rest of his property was brought to the\nhammer at a public auction.\n\nClodius having been successful in the gratification of one of his\npersonal animosities, began to look about for other victims against whom\nhe could put in force the power with which \"the people\" had entrusted\nhim. Recollecting that he had once been in the hands of pirates, and\nthat Ptolemy, King of Cyprus, had declined to rescue him, he passed a\nlaw that Ptolemy should be at once deposed; and he, in order to kill two\nunfortunate birds with one stone, got rid of Cato, by sending him to\ntake possession of Cyprus as a Roman province. Ptolemy, instead of\nmeeting the matter with spirit, met it with a dose of laudanum, and so\nfar forgot himself as to seek in suicide forgetfulness of his sorrows.\n\nCicero employed his exile in lamenting his fate; and though by\nprofession a dealer in philosophy, he had no stock on hand for his own\nuse, when its consolation was required. He sent whining letters to his\nwife; and his signature was so bedewed with tears, that he left a blot\nupon his name, through his unmanly weakness.\n\nClodius being no longer Consul, a portion of the incubus which stifled\nthe breath of freedom was removed, and the public voice ventured so make\nitself heard in demanding the recall of Cicero. The orator returned in\ntriumph; and he showed his gratitude by supporting any measure that was\nproposed by any of those who had been influential in bringing him home\nagain. His advocacy was demanded, and freely given, in favour of many a\ndisgraceful proceeding on the part of his friends; and he undertook the\ndefence of Gabinius, who had carried on a system of extortion in Syria.\n\nRome was now completely in the hands of an ambitious party, which, by\nmeans of armed mercenaries, disposed of the lives, the liberties, and\neven the opinions of the citizens. Pompey and Crassus, at the\ninstigation of C\u00e6sar, put up for the Consulship a second time, when an\nopposition candidate, L. Domitius, having come forward, his servant was\ncut down by the soldiers before his face, as a hint to those who should\npresume to hold an opinion adverse to the existing authority. The\ncandidate having seen the skull of his domestic split, feared an equally\ndecisive plumper for his own poll, and retired into private life,\nleaving the executive to be re-elected without any attempt at\nopposition. The temporary powers of each member of the triumvirate were,\nby treachery and violence, prolonged for five years; and Cato, who\nventured on an opinion that the step was not quite in accordance with\nthe constitution or the law, was unceremoniously thrown into prison.\nRight was in all cases made completely subservient to might; and the\ncompetitors for power kept armed ruffians in their pay, whose collisions\nwith each other were often of the most desperate character. In one of\nthese encounters between the creatures of Clodius and the mercenaries of\nMilo, the former was killed, which caused the latter to be put upon his\ntrial. Cicero was engaged to defend the accused; but Pompey, who hated\nMilo, had taken care to surround the former with an armed force, which\nso intimidated Cicero, that his tongue stuck to his mouth, when he\nhimself ought to have stuck to his client. The orator had not a word to\nsay for himself, or rather for Milo; and as not a sentence was said in\nhis favour, a sentence was pronounced against him. He went into exile at\nMarseilles; and Cicero, with tardy zeal, wrote a defence when the trial\nwas over. He sent a copy of it to Milo, who pronounced it excellent in\nits way, but a little too late; and he added, in writing to Cicero, \"If\nyou had only delivered it in time, you would have delivered me from the\ndilemma I was placed in.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THE THIRTIETH.\n\nOVERTHROW OF CRASSUS. DEFEAT OF POMPEY. DICTATORSHIP AND DEATH OF C\u00c6SAR.\nEND OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nC\u00e6sar's proceedings in Gaul are sufficiently familiar to enable us to\ntreat them with a sort of contempt, by omitting even the heads of the\noft-repeated tale from our history. Though his arms were abroad, his eye\nwas at home, and he watched the affairs of Rome with a jealous interest.\nHis confederates, Pompey and Crassus, had quarrelled; and the former\nfell out with C\u00e6sar; so that there was a difference between the\ntriumvirate, though they were all three alike in their unscrupulous\ndesigns upon the commonwealth.\n\nCrassus was busy in his province of Syria, laying his hands on every\nthing of any value, until somebody laid hands upon him, notwithstanding\nhis worthlessness. His engagement with the Parthians was a short passage\nin his life, which led to his death; for he had been induced by\ntreachery to plunge into the mess of the Mesopotamian deserts. There he\nencountered an army which endeavoured to strike terror into the Romans,\nby brayings, bellowings, the beating of drums, and every kind of hollow\nartifice. The Parthians, who were skilful in the use of the bow, sent\nforth such a shower of arrows, that fury darted into many an eye, and on\nmany a lip there was a quiver. Crassus began to faint, and went into a\nsort of hysterics, highly incompatible with historic dignity. The enemy,\nhowever, tried a feint of a different kind, and pretended to run away;\nbut when pursued, turned suddenly round, galloped upon the Romans\nthrough a sand-hill, thus raising so much dust, that the latter were\nobliged to lick it, as their mouths were full of it. In this position\nthey were assailed with arrows, which having been shot at their feet,\npinned many of them to the ground; and their hands being skewered in the\nsame manner to their breasts, they could neither fly nor defend\nthemselves.[75] The horses might still have charged; but when the poor\ncreatures arrived at the Parthian pikes, they were obliged to pull up\nrather suddenly. The cavalry being cut to pieces, Crassus and some of\nhis footmen retired to a sand-hill for safety; but they soon found the\nerror of building their hopes on such a foundation. Crassus himself hid\nhis head in the sand, and would see nobody; but ultimately he was\ninduced to enter into a negotiation with the Parthian general. In the\ncourse of the parley a little misunderstanding arose, when some of the\nparties present began to push each other about, first with their hands,\nthen with their clenched fists, and ultimately with their weapons. At\nlength Octavius, who had accompanied Crassus, drew his sword, and killed\na groom, when somebody else killed Octavius; and the assassination\nhaving once fairly--or unfairly--set in, Crassus himself was soon\ndisposed of. The King of the Parthians caused the head of Crassus to be\nfilled with gold, as in his lifetime he had devoted all his faculties to\nthe accumulation of the metal.\n\nBy the death of Crassus, the triumvirate was reduced to a duumvirate,\nand jealousies arose between Pompey and C\u00e6sar; but as the people seemed\nto think that two heads at loggerheads were better than one having\neverything its own way, the opposing tyrants were left by the public to\nfight their own battles. The great prize for which they were now\ncontending was the army, which is too often exposed to the degradation\nof being reckoned upon as the sure means of crushing everything in the\nshape of law and liberty.\n\nC\u00e6sar had certainly obtained the attachment of his soldiers; for he had\nshared their dangers; but the vain upstart, Pompey, had no more claim\nupon the army than he could establish by corrupting them. C\u00e6sar held\nthem by their affections, but Pompey hoped to unite them to him by those\ngolden links which never fix themselves to the heart, though effecting a\nsort of temporary hanging-on to the pocket. C\u00e6sar stood on the bank of\nthe Rubicon, which divided his province of Gaul from Italy, and, looking\nat the surface of the river, he was soon absorbed in his own\nreflections. He knew it was against the law to cross the stream with an\narmy; but after looking at both sides, and feeling his position to be\nthat of sink or swim, he made a bold plunge, with one of his legions\nafter him. The Rubicon was now passed; and Pompey, hearing of C\u00e6sar's\napproach, was struck with such a panic before he had received any real\nblow, that he had at once quitted the city. So great was his haste, that\nhe omitted even to follow his natural bent, and went away without\nrobbing the treasury. The tyrant is so frequently associated in the same\nperson with the coward, that the ignoble retreat of Pompey was the\nnatural sequel to his previous despotism; for that which passes for\nboldness of action may be prompted by the fears of the knave, instead of\nby the courage of the hero.\n\nC\u00e6sar arrived at Rome, which had become freed from the presence of one\ntyrant, to receive another; and the people certainly deserved all they\ngot, or rather all they lost; for they conferred upon the despot many\nmarks of popularity. When he wanted money, he burst open the\ntreasury-door like a thief; and when opposed in the name of the law, he\ncut down everything in the shape of objection, like a butcher.\n\n[Illustration: \"Quid times? C\u00e6sarem vehis.\"]\n\nC\u00e6sar next proceeded to Spain, but only to be recalled as Dictator, to\nwhich office he had been illegally nominated by one of his creatures,\nthe Pr\u00e6tor, M. Lepidus. Having laid down the dictatorship in eleven\ndays, during which period he laid down the law on some very important\nquestions, including that of debtor and creditor, C\u00e6sar abandoned his\nlegislative pursuits, and started in pursuit of Pompey. The latter had\nproceeded to Greece, where the former suffered much inconvenience in\ntrying to manage the movements of his army. Only a portion of his troops\nhaving got across the water, he became so impatient at the non-arrival\nof the rest, that he went to see after them by going to sea himself in\ndisguise, on board a small fishing-boat. The winds were extremely\ncontrary, and were blowing the vessel back, with a force threatening to\ndismast her, and to the utmost dismay of the master, when C\u00e6sar, who was\nsitting at the stern, put on a stern look, exclaiming, \"_Quid times?\nC\u00e6sarem vehis._\" \"What are you afraid of? You carry C\u00e6sar as a\npassenger.\" At this moment the vessel gave a lurch, and the heels of\nC\u00e6sar were suddenly brought to the level at which his head had the\nmoment before been visible. The mariner was about to ask for further\nexplanation, and had got \"_Quid?_\" in his mouth, when a wave completely\nwashed him up, and he remained in soak for the rest of the voyage. The\nvessel was driven back, and C\u00e6sar, who was wet through, as well as in\ndespair, sat wringing alternately his hands and his toga.\n\nAt length, soon after his return to his camp, his army was brought to\nhim by Antony; but provisions were so scarce, that the soldiers had to\nlive upon bark, which proves that the unlucky \"dogs of war\" were exposed\nto the most biting necessities. There, however, they continued, without\nbeing subdued; and, indeed, the bark seems to have made them more than\nusually snappish; for they threw some of it into the hostile camp, and\ndeclared they would live upon grass; nor would they lay down their\nswords while there was a single blade remaining.\n\nC\u00e6sar encountered some slight reverses, and took up his quarters at\nPharsalia, where he might have been blocked in and starved out, had not\nPompey been taunted into attacking him. C\u00e6sar was delighted at that\nimprudence, the fruits of which were speedily shown; for Pompey's army\nwas utterly routed; and Pompey himself, retreating to his tent, was\nliterally sick at the disgusting result of his enterprise. \"The way in\nwhich my soldiers turned their backs,\" exclaimed Pompey to an intimate\nfriend, \"has positively turned my stomach;\" and he was only sufficiently\nrecovered on the following day to start _vi\u00e2_ Lesbos for Egypt. There\nill-fortune still awaited him; for Ptolemy, the young king, instead of\nreceiving the outcast with hospitality, was advised to put him to death,\nas a little compliment to C\u00e6sar. Septimius, a Roman, who had served\nunder Pompey, was sent to meet him, with instructions to stab him in the\nback; and the victim had no sooner felt the blow, than, according to the\ncustom of the period, he arranged the folds of his robe across his face,\nso that although very disgracefully killed, he might very gracefully\nexpire. His wife, Cornelia, who witnessed the scene, sailed away as fast\nas she could from the melancholy sight, leaving no one but an old\nservant, named Philip, to perform not only the funeral, but all the\ncharacters that the performance required. He was, in fact, the\nundertaker of the whole of the sad ceremony, and attended as sole\nmourner at the melancholy undertaking.\n\nOn the arrival of C\u00e6sar in Egypt, he was welcomed by having the head of\nPompey put into his hand; but the former turned away in disgust, and at\nonce dropped his old animosity.\n\nBeing detained by contrary winds at Alexandria, C\u00e6sar entered into the\ndisputes between Cleopatra and her elder brother Ptolemy; when the young\nlady, relying on her powers of fascination, caused herself to be\nbrought, concealed in a mattress,[76] into the presence of the Roman\ngeneral. Having emerged from under the bed, she pleaded her cause so\nearnestly, that he went to war on her account with her brother, who\nultimately fell into the water; thus causing the drowning of himself and\nall his enmity. Cleopatra reigned in Egypt; and C\u00e6sar was so enslaved by\nher charms, that he remained nine months on a visit; nor would he have\ntorn himself away, but for the intelligence that Pharnaces, the son of\nMithridates, was endeavouring to recover his father's lost possessions.\nHurrying to Pontus, he looked out for the enemy, drew his sword, struck\none decisive blow, and in the memorable words, \"_Veni, vidi, vici,_\" he\nset an example of the laconic style, which no writer of military\ndespatches has since followed.\n\nDisturbances had by this time broken out at Rome; and in order to repair\nthe evil, C\u00e6sar was obliged to repair himself to the capital. So much\nenthusiasm had been excited by the battle of Pharsalia--for the people\nare always too ready to lick the hand which seems capable of striking\nthem--that C\u00e6sar had been elected Dictator for one year, Consul for\nfive, and Tribune for his whole lifetime.\n\nThe fact is, that Rome had become so thoroughly tired of the continual\ncontests for the chief power, which a republican form of government\nnecessarily invites, that the nation yearned for a permanent head, and\neagerly adopted the very first that offered. It was thought better to be\nthe slaves of one despotic adventurer, than the victims of half-a-dozen;\nand even absolutism was preferred to the republican system, which had\nkept the country so long exposed to laceration at the hands of those who\nwere trying to snatch it from each other, without being able to govern\nit.\n\nAfter a short stay in Rome, during which he exhibited his power by\nmaking various arbitrary changes in the Law and Constitution--for it is\nthe tendency of a republic to place a whole nation at the will of one\nman--C\u00e6sar proceeded to Africa, with the view of quelling there the\nparty opposed to him. He marched against Utica, which was governed by\nCato, who, when he ought to have been preparing to fight, was standing\nupon ceremony, and politely insisting that Scipio ought to take the\ncommand, as being the man of the highest rank present. Scipio, who was\nnot ambitious of the foremost place in the field, declared that the\npretended deference to his rank was rank nonsense, and that Cato must\nassume his proper position. The Governor, however, persisted; and Scipio\nwent forth to fight; but he seems to have killed nobody except himself,\nwhile Juba and the legate Petreius, two other brave fellows on the same\nside, slew each other.\n\nCato, trembling for the fate of Utica, called a meeting of the Senate,\nwhich resolved unanimously to run away; and the Governor went home to\nsupper. On retiring to his chamber he called for his sword, which was\nnowhere to be found; and he became so irritated, that he savagely struck\nthe domestic who returned without the missing weapon. At length it\nturned out that \"one of the young gentlemen had got it;\" for the sword\nwas brought to Cato by his eldest son, and it was quietly put away for\nthe night under the old gentleman's pillow. Cato went to bed, and fell\nasleep while reading one of Plato's dialogues. Waking again at dawn, he\nrose, and having methodically finished the perusal of the dialogue he\nhad commenced over-night, he ran himself through the body. His\nattendants rushed in, and sewed up the wound; but they had no sooner\nturned their backs, than--if we are to believe the authorities, which we\nconfess we cannot at all times--he either undid the numerous stitches in\nhis side, or ran himself through the body again; and, with a compliment\nin his mouth to the excellence of the reasoning of Plato, expired.\n\nCato was only eight-and-forty at the time of his death; and therefore,\nthough in the course of nature too young to die, he was quite old enough\nto have known better than to kill himself. The graver historians inform\nus, that \"he died the death of a hero and a philosopher;\" but being\nunable to appreciate the heroism of running away from misfortune,\ninstead of meeting it, or the philosophy of refusing to endure what one\ncannot cure, we must beg to be allowed to differ from the serious\nwriters, who generally hold up suicide as a subject for respect and\nadmiration. C\u00e6sar was, of course, deeply affected on hearing of Cato's\ndecease; but such affectation was common in those days; and there was\nnothing extraordinary in C\u00e6sar's having gone into mourning for the man\nwhose death he had long been compassing.\n\nThe victorious general now returned to Rome, where he might have\nobtained as long a lease as he pleased of almost unlimited power. He was\nnamed Dictator for ten years; and, instead of pursuing the ordinary\npractice of tyranny, which abuses the greatest power to gratify the\npettiest spite, C\u00e6sar not only made no proscriptions, but declared a\ngeneral amnesty. He celebrated four triumphs, and gave a succession of\nbanquets; for he knew that there is no more portentous grumbling than\nthat which proceeds from an empty stomach.\n\nBeing entrusted with supreme power, he turned it, in many instances, to\ngood account; and introduced, among other wholesome regulations, the\nvery valuable reform of the Roman Calendar. This was an improvement, not\nmerely for the day, but for all time, and has handed down the name of\nits author to every age, and every civilised country, in every almanack.\n\nIn these and similar salutary occupations he was disturbed by an\ninsurrection in Spain, headed by the two sons of Pompey, Cneius and\nSextus, whom he encountered, on Saturday, the 17th of March, B.C. 45, on\nthe field of Munda. The battle, though ultimately decisive, was at first\ndoubtful; for C\u00e6sar's troops had commenced retreating, when their want\nof spirit so dispirited him, that, as they ran away, he was near making\naway with himself, by the mere force of sympathy. By a last effort,\nhowever, he succeeded in stopping the fugitives, and asked them if they\nwere mad, to display such flightiness. His appeal was successful; and,\nhaving first come to themselves, they fell upon the enemy. Cneius made\nfor the shore, and was getting into a ship, when a rope caught his foot,\nand he remained tied by the leg in a most perilous position. Having\nendeavoured for some time to effect his own extrication from the cable,\nwhich proved utterly impracti-cable, he called to one of his\ncompanions, who endeavoured to cut the rope, and in doing so, wounded\nCneius. The unhappy sufferer attempted to fly, but being pursued to\nwithin an inch of his life, he naturally had not a foot to spare; and\nfinding himself deprived of the use of one of his legs; he was, of\ncourse, in a sad hobble. He had got on shore, and had just placed his\nfoot in a doctor's hands, when he was overtaken and killed by the enemy.\nHis brother Sextus made his escape; and his hopes of rulership being at\nan end, he commenced the trade of a robber, which is not a very\ndifferent kind of business from that of government in the days of\nmilitary despotism.\n\nOn C\u00e6sar's return to Rome he was received with increased adulation,\nthough his victory had been over the Romans themselves; who, by\nacquiescing in their own degradation, became fully deserving of all the\nacts of tyranny they were made the victims of. Success, however, is the\nidol to which the multitude will bow, let the object of adoration be\neither good or evil; and it is only when the latter encounters the fall,\nwhich, sooner or later, must be its inevitable fate, that the _Vox Dei_\nis really echoed by the _Vox Populi_.\n\nWe must, however, accept with caution the accounts of the rejoicings\nthat are described as attending the dictatorship of one who had so\ncompletely subjugated his country, that murder or banishment, without\ntrial, had become the certain fate of every one who should venture to\nexpress the smallest disapprobation of any of his measures. Nothing is\neasier than for one who has a drawn sword ready for every hostile\nthroat, to style himself the \"father of his country,\" and to exercise\nthe ancient privilege of paternity by taking the lives of such of his\nchildren as might rebel against his parental authority. It was easy to\ndecree a thanksgiving of fifty days, and to obtain its outward\nobservance, when instant death at the hands of a mercenary might be the\nfate of any one expressing a doubt as to having much to be grateful for.\nThe statues of the usurper were placed in all the temples; but this was\nno test of true popularity; for if an armed band should break into our\nhouse, take forcible possession of all its contents, rob us of all we\npossess, and spend a portion of the proceeds in placing a bust of the\nhead of the banditti in our principal apartments, it would be no proof\nof his being a favourite of ours. He decreed himself imperator, or\nEmperor, for life,--a proceeding no less impudent than that of a\nburglar, who, having broken into our premises, calls himself the\nlandlord of the property. He declared his own person sacred--a poor\nconsolation for a tyrant who knows that there is a curse which must\neventually be brought terribly down upon all injustice and iniquity. He\nseized upon half the magistracies, as his own private property, to be\ngiven away by himself; and he virtually seized upon the other half, by\nclaiming the nomination of the candidates. He was, in fact, supreme and\nsole master of the Republic; and without any one of the conditions which\nare absolutely essential to the permanency of power. His usurpation had\nneither law, morality, justice, nor reason--nor even that hollowest of\nall mockeries, expediency--to rest upon. The first utterance of the\npublic voice, when free to speak, must have overwhelmed him with one\nshout of indignant execration; and the first movement of the popular\narm, when freed from its ignoble paralysis, must have hurled him from\npower.\n\nSome supporters of the miserable and unprincipled fallacy, that the end\njustifies the means, have pointed to some of C\u00e6sar's salutary acts, as\nan excuse for his usurpation; but that right can never result from\nwrong, is shown in the fate which the Dictator soon met with. His aim\nwas evidently the monarchy; and his adherent, Antony, caused a statue of\nC\u00e6sar to be crowned; when two Tribunes seeing the diadem, and perceiving\nthat there was an intention of trying it on, ordered it to be taken off\nagain. The Dictator of the republic was so offended at this outrage on\nthe symbols of monarchy, that he was on the point of putting the\nTribunes to death, when it was suggested to him that exile might do as\nwell, and he accordingly sent them into banishment.\n\nIt is one of the numerous penalties of iniquity, that its own example\nmay be followed in opposition to itself; and that he who uses\nlawlessness and violence to attain his ends, may find them conducing to\nhis own, in a sense he had not expected. The sentiments which, in\ncontact with the open air of freedom, form the wholesome breath of\npublic opinion, can never be stifled and pent up, without generating the\nfoul and dangerous vapours of conspiracy. This noxious poison speedily\nforms itself among an enslaved people, and an explosion eventually takes\nplace, which removes a load of oppression, and clears the political\natmosphere.\n\nA conspiracy had been for some time forming against C\u00e6sar's life; and a\nband of about sixty, headed by M. Brutus and C. Cassius, had resolved on\nhis downfall. The Dictator kept continually aiming at the crown, which\nhe might perhaps have worn in dignity and safety, had he sought to gain\nit by honest means; for the nation had become so heartily sick of the\nalternate farce and tragedy of a Republic, that the necessity for some\npermanent authority based on law was on all hands admitted. He had,\nhowever, tried to effect his object by the cunning of a knave, the\naudacity of a thief, and the inhumanity of a butcher.\n\nWhen a sovereign is really wanted, much may be done for a candidate who\nhas circumstances, seconded by prudence, honour, and ability, on his\nside; but that crown is not worth an hour's purchase which is seized by\nforce, fraud, and cruelty. The last trick of C\u00e6sar, in trying to turn\nhis usurpation into a right, was a pretence that the Sibylline books,\nhaving declared the Parthians could be conquered by none but a king, it\nwas necessary to make him one. The Senate was to meet to consider the\nmatter, on the 15th of March, in Pompey's Curia, where now stands the\nPalazzo Massimi. The professional augurs had already begun to prophesy,\non the strength of those shadows which precede coming events; and C\u00e6sar\nwas so puffed up with self-conceit, and the people had been so long his\nabject slaves, that he had almost learned to believe the world would\nnever throw off the atom that had got to the top of it. His wife had, it\nis said, an unfavourable dream, on the day previous to the meeting; but\nC\u00e6sar smiled at her warnings, and told her that her night-mare proceeded\nfrom some ridiculous mare's nest. C\u00e6sar walked down to the house of\nassembly, chatting arm-in-arm with the Consul, Decimus Brutus. Seeing in\nthe crowd an augur, who had told him to beware of the Ides of March,\nC\u00e6sar observed, smiling, \"Well, here they are; and here am I;\" to which,\n\"Wait till they are gone, and then where are you?\" was the only reply of\nthe soothsayer.\n\nThe secret of the conspiracy, which had been hitherto well kept, now\nbegan to ooze out in all directions; and nearly everybody that C\u00e6sar met\nthrust a paper into his hand, or dropped a whisper into his ear; but he\nwould read and listen to nothing.\n\nThe Senators rose on his entrance; and when he took his seat the\nconspirators got round about him, until one of them, Metellus Cimber,\ncame rather intrusively to close quarters, with a petition. C\u00e6sar gave\nhim a slight push, as a hint to him to keep his distance; and Cimber, as\nif to catch himself, took hold of the Dictator's toga, which was the\nsignal agreed upon. Casca instantly stabbed him in the neck, when\nCassius followed up the blow with a poke in the ribs; and Brutus had\nraised his hand with a dagger in it, when C\u00e6sar exclaiming, \"_Et tu,\nBrute!_\"--And you!--you, Brute!--staggered to the foot of Pompey's\nstatue, that he might form a _tableau_ as he expired.\n\nThe republic was now virtually, if not nominally, at an end, though a\nfaint struggle was still made by the murderers of C\u00e6sar, who ran through\nthe streets, proclaiming that they had killed a king, but obtained no\npraise for the achievement. Antony, on the other hand, created an\nimmense sensation, by exhibiting the identical toga in which C\u00e6sar had\nfallen, and thrusting his ten fingers through twice as many large holes,\nwhich he declared had been made by the assassins' daggers. Not satisfied\nwith making the most of C\u00e6sar's wardrobe, Antony appropriated the money\nof the deceased; and while the widow was wrapped in grief, with her face\nburied in her hands, her late husband's friend was carrying off all he\ncould lay his hands upon. Antony had been at once grasping and prodigal,\ngiving away with one hand what he had snatched with the other; and\nbuying at a liberal price what he had no means of paying for.\n\nHis rival in the contest for the supreme power was Octavius, the son of\na daughter of C\u00e6sar's sister, and who, with no other qualification than\nthat of nephew to his uncle, had the impudence to claim absolute\ndominion over a great but broken-spirited nation. This individual was\nwithout character or courage; and though afraid to be left in the dark,\nhe was still more afraid of the light; for he felt that his own actions\nwould not bear looking at. His cowardice had the usual effect upon him,\nfor it made him cruel; and though there was nothing but his name to make\nhim a favourite with the army, he had betrayed the soldiers into the\ndisgrace of turning their arms on their fellow-citizens. By a constant\nuse of the name of his uncle, he succeeded in cozening a people who\nsought only permanence in their institutions; and Antony being\nultimately subdued, more by his own feebleness as a voluptuary, than by\nthe strength of his opponent, an empire fell into the hands of Octavius.\nHe was invested with the title of Imperator for life; and he retained\nhis position till his death--a circumstance to be attributed to the\nconviction that had been brought home to the popular mind, that the\nconstant changing of the head of a State is a source of constant danger\nto the peace and happiness of the whole community.\n\n[Illustration: The End of Julius C\u00e6sar.]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[75] Those who doubt the accuracy of this description, may consult\nPlutarch's \"Life of Crassus.\"\n\n[76] This story of the mattress, though gravely told, is somewhat\ndoubtful, and is hardly worth the straw involved in it.\n\n\nLONDON: BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS\n\n\n\n\n No. 11, BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C.\n _November, 1860._\n\n\nWORKS PUBLISHED BY\n\nBRADBURY AND EVANS.\n\n\n\"ONCE A WEEK.\"\n\n \u2042 The Silver Cord, a new Serial Story by SHIRLEY BROOKS, with\n Illustrations by JOHN TENNIEL, is now in course of publication.\n A number of \"Once-A-Week\" is published every Saturday, price\n 3_d._; also in Monthly Parts and Volumes. Vols. I. and II. are\n completed. Vol. III. will be published in December.\n\n\n_In One Volume, post 8vo_,\n\nHEALTH,\n\nHUSBANDRY, AND HANDICRAFT.\n\nBY HARRIET MARTINEAU.\n\n [_In the Press._\n\n\n_In Three Vols., post 8vo, price 1l. 11s. 6d._\n\nEVAN HARRINGTON;\n\nBY GEORGE MEREDITH.\n\n [_In the Press._\n\n\n_In One Volume, with Coloured Illustrations and numerous Wood-cuts, from\noriginal Japanese Pictures._\n\nJAPANESE FRAGMENTS,\n\nBY CAPTAIN SHERARD OSBORN, C.B.\n\n [_In the Press._\n\n\n_In One Vol., price 10s. 6d._\n\nTHE TIN BOX.\n\nA STORY OF THE LAST CENTURY.\n\nFROM THE ESCRITOIRE OF THE LATE SAMUEL SCOBEL, CLERK.\n\n \"This is a story written in a course of old-fashioned letters,\n in which the style of the period is extremely well imitated;\n the contemporary events are touched on just as they would\n naturally be in the course of a real correspondence. The story\n is interesting; and there is a tone of good feeling and gentle\n piety which has a charm that grows on the reader as he\n proceeds.\"--_Athen\u00e6um_.\n\n\nTHE NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH SEA-WEEDS.\n\nContaining Seventy Coloured Nature-Prints, with Engraved Magnified\nDissections of the whole species described in the Volume.\n\nThe Descriptions by WILLIAM G. JOHNSTONE and ALEXANDER CROALL.\n\nThe NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH SEA-WEEDS forms Four Handsome Volumes, in\nroyal octavo, consisting of 210 plates, with the necessary letter-press.\n\nThe price of each volume is 2_l._ 2_s._\n\n\nTHE NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH FERNS.\n\nThe Descriptions by THOMAS MOORE, F.L.S.\n\nThe Work contains 122 Plates, and 500 pages of Letter-press, and is\ncompleted in Two Volumes, royal 8vo, uniform with the NATRUE-PRINTED\nBRITISH SEA-WEEDS.\n\nThe price of each volume is 2_l._ 2_s._\n\n\n_In Two Volumes, fcap. 8vo, price 12s._\n\nSELECTIONS FROM THE PLAYS OF SHAKSPEARE.\n\nAs arranged for representation at the Princess's Theatre, and especially\nadapted for Schools, Private Families, and Young People.\n\nBY CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A.\n\n MACBETH.\n KING HENRY VIII.\n THE WINTER'S TALE.\n MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.\n KING RICHARD II.\n THE TEMPEST.\n KING LEAR.\n THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.\n KING JOHN.\n MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.\n HAMLET.\n KING HENRY IV.\n\nEither Play may be had separately, price 1_s._\n\n\nA LITTLE TOUR IN IRELAND.\n\nBEING\n\nA VISIT TO DUBLIN, GALWAY, CONNAMARA, ATHLONE, LIMERICK, KILLARNEY,\nGLENGARRIFF, CORK, ETC. ETC. ETC.\n\nBy AN OXONIAN.\n\nWith a Coloured Frontispiece, and Numerous Illustrations on Wood by JOHN\nLEECH.\n\nPrice 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n\nMR. BRIGGS AND HIS DOINGS (FISHING).\n\nA SERIES OF TWELVE COLOURED PLATES.\n\nEnlarged from Mr. JOHN LEECH'S original Drawings from \"Punch.\"\n\nCONTENTS:\n\n Plate I.--MR. BRIGGS CONTEMPLATES A DAY'S FISHING.\n II.--MR. BRIGGS MANAGES HIS PUNT HIMSELF.\n III.--MR. BRIGGS TRIES FOR A PERCH.\n IV.--MR. BRIGGS CATCHES A JACK.\n V.--MR. BRIGGS CATCHES AN EEL.\n VI. and VII.--MR. BRIGGS GOES OUT FLY-FISHING.\n VIII.--XII.--MR. BRIGGS GOES SALMON-FISHING.\n\nPrice 10_s._ 6_d._; or, separately, 1_s._ each.\n\n\n_Price 2s. 6d., fcap. 8vo, with Eight Illustrations, by_ CAPTAIN MAY,\n\nTHE CAREER, LAST VOYAGE, AND DISCOVERY OF THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.\n\nBY CAPTAIN SHERARD OSBORN, C.B.\n\n\nBOOK FOR EXAMINATION CANDIDATES.\n\n_This day is published, price 3s. 6d,_\n\nTHE ROMAN REPUBLIC;\n\nBeing a Review of some of the salient points in its History, designed\nfor the use of Examination Candidates.\n\nBY HORACE MOULE,\n\nAuthor of \"Christian Oratory in the First Five Centuries,\" being the\nHulsean Prize Essay for 1858.\n\n\nTHE WORKS OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.\n\nIncluding the Imaginary Conversations, with a New and Original Series;\nPericles and Aspasia; Examination of Shakspeare; Pentameron of Boccaccio\nand Petrarca; Hellenics; Tragedies; and Poems.\n\nWith many large Additions throughout, and the Author's last Corrections.\n\nIn two Volumes, medium 8vo, price 32_s._ cloth.\n\n_Also, by the same Author,_\n\nIMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS OF GREEKS AND ROMANS.\n\n_10s. 6d. cloth._\n\nANTONY AND OCTAVIUS.\n\nSCENES FOR THE STUDY.\n\n_Fcap. 8vo, 2s. 6d._\n\nLAST FRUIT OFF AN OLD TREE.\n\n_10s. 6d. cloth._\n\n\n_In One Vol., fcap. 8vo, price 5s.,_ THE\n\nAUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ITALIAN REBEL.\n\nBY G. RICCIARDI.\n\nTRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN.\n\n \"The autobiography before us is possessed of a charming\n reality.\"--_Literary Gazette._\n\n\nA DESCRIPTIVE DICTIONARY OF THE INDIAN ISLANDS, &C.\n\nBY JOHN CRAWFURD, F.R.S.\n\nDemy 8vo, with Map, price 16s.\n\n \"It will take its place at once among standard\n works.\"--_Athen\u00e6um._\n\n\nWORKS BY MR. CHARLES DICKENS.\n\n_In One Vol., 8vo, with Illustrations by H. K. Browne, price 21s. each,_\n\n I.\n DOMBEY AND SON.\n\n II.\n DAVID COPPERFIELD.\n\n III.\n LITTLE DORRIT.\n\n IV.\n BLEAK HOUSE.\n\n V.\n OLIVER TWIST.\n Illustrated by G. Cruikshank. 8vo, 11_s._\n\n VI.\n HARD TIMES.\n In crown 8vo, cloth. Price 5_s._\n\n VII.\n A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.\n Price 10_s._ 6_d._, neatly bound in cloth, complete in 3 vols.;\n or 3_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\n\nCHEAP EDITION OF THE WORKS OF MR. CHARLES DICKENS.\n\n_In One Volume, with an Engraved Frontispiece, price 5s. each,_\n\n DOMBEY AND SON.\n\n BLEAK HOUSE.\n\n DAVID COPPERFIELD.\n\n\u2042 _The above editions are uniform in size and price with the Cheap\nEdition of Mr. Dickens's former Works, published by Messrs. Chapman &\nHall._\n\n\nCHRISTMAS STORIES OF CHARLES DICKENS.\n\n_Handsomely bound in cloth, with gilt edges, price 5s. each._\n\n A CHRISTMAS CAROL IN PROSE. Being a Ghost Story for Christmas.\n\n THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH, A Fairy Tale of Home.\n\n THE CHIMES.--A Goblin Story of some Bells that rang an Old Year\n Out and a New Year In.\n\n THE BATTLE OF LIFE. A Love Story.\n\n THE HAUNTED MAN AND THE GHOST'S BARGAIN.\n\n\nBOOKS FOR MR. DICKENS'S READINGS.\n\n _s._ _d._\n A CHRISTMAS CAROL IN PROSE 1 0\n THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH 1 0\n THE CHIMES 1 0\n THE STORY OF LITTLE DOMBEY 1 0\n THE POOR TRAVELLER; BOOTS AT\n THE HOLLY-TREE INN; AND\n MRS. GAMP 1 0\n\n\nCOMPLETE LIBRARY EDITION OF THE WORKS OF MR. CHARLES DICKENS.\n\n_Published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall and Bradbury & Evans, post 8vo,\nprice 6s. each, with Vignettes._\n\n VOLS.\n\n THE PICKWICK PAPERS 2\n NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 2\n MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT 2\n BARNABY RUDGE, HARD TIMES 2\n OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, AND\n REPRINTED PIECES 2\n SKETCHES BY BOZ 1\n OLIVER TWIST 1\n DOMBEY AND SON 2\n DAVID COPPERFIELD 2\n PICTURES FROM ITALY, AND\n AMERICAN NOTES 1\n BLEAK HOUSE 2\n LITTLE DORRIT 2\n CHRISTMAS BOOKS 1 Vol.\n\n\nWORKS OF DOUGLAS JERROLD.\n\n_In Eight Volumes, crown 8vo, price 4s. each,_\n\nTHE COLLECTED EDITION\n\nOF\n\nTHE WRITINGS OF DOUGLAS JERROLD.\n\n\n VOL. 1.--ST. GILES AND ST. JAMES.\n\n VOL. 2.--MEN OF CHARACTER.\n\n CONTENTS:--Job Pippins: the Man who \"couldn't help it\"--Jack\n Runnymede: the Man of \"many thanks \"--Adam Buff: the Man\n \"without a Shirt\"--Matthew Clear: the Man \"who saw his\n way\"--John Applejohn: the Man who \"meant well\"--Barnaby Palms:\n the Man \"who felt his way\"--Christopher Snob: the Man who was\n \"born to be hanged\"--Creso Quattrino: the Man \"who died rich.\"\n\n VOL. 3.--MRS CAUDLE'S CURTAIN LECTURES--THE STORY OF A\n FEATHER--THE SICK GIANT AND THE DOCTOR DWARF.\n\n VOL. 4.--CAKES AND ALE.\n\n CONTENTS:--The Lesson of Life--Perditus Mutton, who bought a\n Caul--The Mayor of Hole-cum-Corner--The Romance of a\n Key-hole--Mr. Peppercorn \"at home\"--The Preacher Parrot--The\n Lives of Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson--Shakespeare at\n \"Bankside\"--The Wine Cellar, a \"Morality\"--Kind Cousin Tom--The\n Manager's Pig--The Tapestry Weaver of Beauvais--The Genteel\n Pigeons--Shakespeare in China--The Order of Poverty--A Gossip\n at Reculvers--The Old Man at the Gate--The Epitaph of Sir Hugh\n Evans.\n\n VOL. 5.--PUNCH'S LETTERS TO HIS SON, AND COMPLETE\n LETTER-WRITER--SKETCHES OF THE ENGLISH.\n\n VOL. 6.--A MAN MADE OF MONEY.\n\n VOL. 7.--COMEDIES:\n\n CONTENTS:--Bubbles of the Day--Time Works Wonders--The\n Catspaw--The Prisoner of War--Retired from Business--St. Cupid;\n or Dorothy's Fortune.\n\n\u2042 _These are also sold separately, price 1s. each._\n\n VOL. 8.--COMEDIES AND DRAMAS:\n\n CONTENTS:--The Rent Day--Nell Gwynne--The Housekeeper--The\n Wedding Gown--The School-Fellows--Doves in a Cage--The Painter\n of Ghent--Black-eyed Susan.\n\n * * * * *\n\nTHE FOLLOWING ARE PUBLISHED SEPARATELY:--\n\n _s._ _d._\n THE CAUDLE LECTURES 1 0\n THE STORY OF A FEATHER 2 0\n PUNCH'S LETTERS TO HIS SON 1 6\n THE LESSON OF LIFE--THE LIVES OF\n BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON 1 6\n SKETCHES OF THE ENGLISH 1 6\n\n * * * * *\n\n_Price 21s., or separately, 6s. each,_\n\nFOUR PORTRAITS OF DOUGLAS JERROLD.\n\nPHOTOGRAPHED BY HIS FRIEND, DR. DIAMOND.\n\nThree of them were taken within a fortnight of his death, the fourth\nfrom the marble bust executed by E. H. BAILEY, R.A., F.R.S.\n\n\nVALUABLE WORKS OF REFERENCE.\n\nCONDUCTED BY CHARLES KNIGHT.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_In Six Volumes, price 3l., or bound in 3 Vols., half morocco, 3l.\n12s.,_\n\nTHE CYCLOP\u00c6DIA OF BIOGRAPHY.\n\nThis Cyclop\u00e6dia of Biography may, without presumption, be stated to be\nthe best Biographical Dictionary extant; unequalled in any language for\nthe universality of its range, its fullness, accuracy, and completeness.\nIt possesses the new and important feature of giving notices of living\npersons, English and foreign, of contemporary celebrity. No work of a\nsimilar nature approaches the English Cyclop\u00e6dia of Biography in\ncheapness.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_In Four Volumes, price 2l. 2s., or bound in 2 Vols., half-morocco, 2l.\n10s.,_\n\nTHE CYCLOP\u00c6DIA OF GEOGRAPHY.\n\nThe fullness and accuracy of its information renders the Cyclop\u00e6dia of\nGeography a necessary manual for every library and newsroom; not\npresenting a dry catalogue of names and places, but furnishing ample and\ninteresting details of the History, Statistics, and physical features of\nevery country in the world, according to the most recent discoveries and\ninvestigations.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_In Four Volumes, price 2l. 2s., or bound in 2 Vols., half-morocco, 2l.\n10s.,_\n\nTHE CYCLOP\u00c6DIA OF NATURAL HISTORY.\n\nThis Cyclop\u00e6dia, embracing the most interesting details of Natural\nHistory, presented in the most attractive form of scientific\nexplanation, and illustrated with many hundreds of beautiful\nwood-engravings, will furnish a most desirable addition to every\nlibrary. To the Medical Student the work is indispensable.\n\n * * * * *\n\nTHE CYCLOP\u00c6DIA OF ARTS AND SCIENCES\n\nIs now in course of publication, in Monthly Parts, price 2_s._ 6_d._\neach.--This Cyclop\u00e6dia will be completed in Eight Volumes. Of these,\nVols. I., II., III., IV., and V. are published, price 12_s._ each: Vol.\nVI. will be published in December: Vols. VII. and VIII. in 1861.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThese Works, perhaps forming the most valuable and comprehensive Works\nof Reference in the language, published as a whole under the title of\n\"THE ENGLISH CYCLOP\u00c6DIA,\" are founded upon the valuable Copyright of the\nPENNY CYCLOP\u00c6DIA, which has always remained in the hands of MR. KNIGHT.\nThe elaborate revisions, with the large additions, of the present work,\nhave involved a new outlay for literary labour of not less than Seven\nThousand Pounds, making the cost of literary production alone not far\nshort of Fifty Thousand Pounds.\n\n\nNATURE-PRINTED BRITISH FERNS AND SEA-WEEDS.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_This day is published price 21. 2s. (completing the Work in 2 Vols.,\nprice 41. 4s.) Vol. II. of the_\n\nOCTAVO NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH FERNS.\n\nBeing Figures and Descriptions of the Species and Varieties of Ferns\nfound in the United Kingdom.\n\nBY THOMAS MOORE, F.L.S.\n\nThe Work contains 122 Plates and 500 pages of Letter-press. Royal 8vo,\nuniform with the \"Nature-Printed British Sea-Weeds.\"\n\n\u2042 Either Volume may be had separately.\n\n * * * * *\n\n_This day is published, price 21. 2s. (completing the work in 4 Vols.,\nprice 81. 8s.) Vol. IV. of the_\n\nNATURE-PRINTED BRITISH SEA-WEEDS.\n\nA History accompanied by Figures and Dissections of the Alg\u00e6 of the\nBritish Isles.\n\nBY W. JOHNSTONE AND ALEXANDER CROALL.\n\nCONTENTS:\n\nVOLS. I & II\n\n=RHODOSPERME\u00c6.=--RED SEA-WEEDS.\n\nVOL. I.--SERIES I. DESMIOSPERME\u00c6. 90 Species. 70 Plates.\n\nVOL. II.--Series II. GONGYLOSPERME\u00c6. 88 Species. 63 Plates. With\nDissections of all the Species.\n\nVOL. III\n\n=MELANOSPERME\u00c6.=--OLIVE SEA-WEEDS.\n\nSERIES III. 95 Species. 52 Plates. With Dissections of all the Species.\n\nVOL. IV.\n\n=CHLOROSPERME\u00c6.=--GREEN SEA-WEEDS.\n\nSERIES IV. 102 Species. 25 Plates. With Dissections of all the Species.\n\nSynoptical Tables of the Orders, Genera, and Species. General View of\nthe Structure and uses of the Sea-Weed Family. Sketch of their\nClassification and Distribution. Instructions for the Cultivation of the\nAlg\u00e6, their preservation in the Herbarium, and their preparation as\nobjects for the Microscope.\n\n\u2042 Either Volume may be had separately, price 2_l._ 2_s._ each.\n\n * * * * *\n\nNOTICES OF THE PRESS.\n\n\"This volume is well qualified to receive popular approval, but it has,\nbeyond this, other recommendations. It is a first-class book, and it is\na first-class scientific book as regards its execution.... As a\nscientific book, the authors have well done their part too; for they\nhave given us a clear, correct, and comprehensive scientific account of\nthe plants they have treated on, adding such popular information as the\nsubject admitted of; and they have given us, in addition, well-executed\nmagnified dissections of the parts essential for scientific\nstudy.\"--_Illustrated London News._\n\n\"For this kind of work Nature-Printing is exactly adapted. Every\ndelicate and inimitable ramification is most attractively and accurately\nrepresented. The fifty-six plates in this volume can scarcely be\nsurpassed, and have not, as far as we know, been equalled.... We have\nfound them pleasing, and still pleasing during several inspections. The\nvolume is handsomely got up, and will make a very attractive\ndrawing-room table-book at home or at the sea-side.\"--_Athen\u00e6eum._\n\n\"The process by which it is produced is that delightful one which has\nbeen a labour of love to Mr. Henry Bradbury in bringing to perfection,\nand which was first applied to the Ferns. To speak of the accuracy of\nthe plates is of course a misnomer. They are of the nature of\nphotographs; and the only possible drawback to the work is, that its\nextreme beauty will banish to the drawing-room table, as a mere example\nof pretty drawing, what, as a scientific manual, has not been\nequalled.--_Saturday Review._\n\n\"Mr. Henry Bradbury's 'Nature-Printed British Sea-Weeds' is now\ncompleted by the appearance of the fourth volume. The authors have added\nsketches of the history of British Sea-Weeds, of their geographical\ndistribution, of their structure, and of their uses. There are also\nchapters on arranging Alg\u00e6 for the Herbarium, on the families and\ngenera, on the species, and on the bibliography of the subject, the\nwhole concluding with a glossary of scientific terms, and a complete\nIndex. The whole work now forms four volumes unsurpassed for beauty even\nin the rich field of Natural History.\"--_Gardeners' Chronicle._\n\n\nILLUSTRATED WORKS.\n\nI.\n\nPICTURES OF LIFE AND CHARACTER. From the Collection of Mr. Punch. By\nJOHN LEECH. In Three handsome Folio Volumes, price 12_s._ each.\n\nII.\n\nYOUNG TROUBLESOME; OR, MASTER JACKY'S HOLIDAYS. By JOHN LEECH. A Series\nof Plates; price 5_s._ 6_d._ plain; 7_s._ 6_d._ coloured.\n\nIII.\n\nTHE FOREIGN TOUR OF MESSRS. BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON. What they saw\nand did in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. By RICHARD DOYLE. A\nhandsome 4to volume, cloth extra, price 21_s._\n\nIV.\n\nMANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ENGLISH. By RICHARD DOYLE. With Extracts by\nPERCIVAL LEIGH from \"PIPS' DIARY.\" Elegantly bound in half morocco,\nprice 15_s._\n\nV.\n\nTHE COMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By GILBERT A. A'BECKETT. With Coloured\nEngravings and Woodcuts. By JOHN LEECH. Handsomely bound in two vols.,\nprice 21_s._\n\nVI.\n\nTHE COMIC HISTORY OF ROME. By G. A. A'BECKETT. With Coloured Engravings\nand Woodcuts. By JOHN LEECH. Handsomely bound in cloth, price 11_s._\n\n\nSPORTING WORKS.\n\nWITH COLOURED ENGRAVINGS, AND NUMEROUS WOODCUTS,\n\nBY JOHN LEECH.\n\nI.\n\nMR. SPONGE'S SPORTING TOUR. By the Author of \"Handley Cross,\" &c. With\ncoloured Engravings, &c. By JOHN LEECH. One vol. 8vo, price 14_s._\n\nII.\n\nHANDLEY CROSS; OR, MR. JORROCKS'S HUNT. With coloured Engravings, &c. By\nJOHN LEECH. 8vo, price 18_s._\n\nIII.\n\nASK MAMMA; OR, THE RICHEST COMMONER IN ENGLAND. By the Author of\n\"Sponge's Tour,\" \"Handley Cross,\" &c. Illustrated with Thirteen Coloured\nEngravings and numerous Woodcuts by JOHN LEECH. 8vo, price 14_s._\n\nIV.\n\nPLAIN, OR RINGLETS? By the Author of \"Handley Cross,\" &c. With coloured\nEngravings, &c. by JOHN LEECH. One Vol., 8vo, price 14_s._ cloth.\n\nV.\n\nMR. BRIGGS AND HIS DOINGS. (FISHING.) A Series of Twelve Coloured\nPlates, Enlarged from the Original Drawings. By JOHN LEECH. Price 10_s._\n6_d._; or each plate separately, 1_s._\n\n\nWORKS BY W. M. THACKERAY.\n\n * * * * *\n\nTHE VIRGINIANS.\n\nILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR.\n\nTwo Volumes, 8vo, cloth, 26_s._\n\n * * * * *\n\nTHE NEWCOMES.\n\nIllustrated by RICHARD DOYLE. Two vols. 8vo, cloth, 26_s._\n\n\u2042 Also, _a Cheap and Popular Edition, without Illustrations, uniform\nwith the Miscellanies, in crown 8vo, 7s._\n\n * * * * *\n\nVANITY FAIR.\n\nIllustrated by the Author. One vol. 8vo, cloth, 21_s._\n\n\u2042 Also, _a Cheap and Popular Edition, without Illustrations, uniform\nwith the Miscellanies, in crown 8vo, 6s._\n\n * * * * *\n\nPENDENNIS.\n\nIllustrated by the Author. Two vols. 8vo, cloth, 26_s._\n\n\u2042 Also, _a Cheap and Popular Edition, without Illustrations, uniform\nwith the Miscellanies, in crown 8vo, 7s._\n\n * * * * *\n\nHISTORY OF SAMUEL TITMARSH.\n\nIllustrated by the Author. One vol. small 8vo, cloth, 4_s._\n\n\nA COLLECTED EDITION OF MR. THACKERAY'S EARLY WRITINGS.\n\nComplete in Four Vols., crown 8vo, price 6_s._ each, uniform with the\nCheap Editions of \"Vanity Fair\" and \"Pendennis.\"\n\nMISCELLANIES IN PROSE AND VERSE.\n\n_The contents of each Volume of the \"Miscellanies\" are also published in\nseparate Parts, at various prices, as follows:_--\n\n VOL I.\n _s._ _d._\n BALLADS 1 6\n THE SNOB PAPERS 2 0\n THE TREMENDOUS ADVENTURES OF MAJOR GAHAGAN 1 0\n THE FATAL BOOTS:--COX'S DIARY 1 0\n\n VOL. II.\n\n THE YELLOWPLUSH MEMOIRS:--JEAMES'S DIARY 2 0\n SKETCHES AND TRAVELS IN LONDON 2 0\n NOVELS BY EMINENT HANDS:--CHARACTER SKETCHES 1 6\n\n VOL. III.\n\n MEMOIRS OF BARRY LYNDON 3 0\n A LEGEND OF THE RHINE:--REBECCA AND ROWENA 1 6\n A LITTLE DINNER AT TIMMINS'S:--THE BEDFORD\n ROW CONSPIRACY 1 0\n\n VOL. IV.\n\n THE FITZBOODLE PAPERS:--MEN'S WIVES 2 6\n A SHABBY GENTEEL STORY 1 6\n THE HISTORY OF SAMUEL TITMARSH AND THE\n GREAT HOGGARTY DIAMOND 1 6\n\n\nWORKS ON GARDENING AND BOTANY.\n\nI.\n\nTHE VEGETABLE KINGDOM; or, THE STRUCTURE, CLASSIFICATION, AND USES OF\nPLANTS. By DR. LINDLEY. Illustrated upon the Natural System. In One\nVolume, 8vo, cloth, price 36_s._, with upwards of 500 Illustrations.\n\nII.\n\nTHE ELEMENTS OF BOTANY, Structural and Physiological. With a Glossary of\nTechnical Terms. By DR. LINDLEY. In One Volume, 8vo, cloth, with numerous\nIllustrations, price 12_s._\n\nIII.\n\nMEDICAL AND \u0152CONOMICAL BOTANY. By DR LINDLEY. With numerous\nIllustrations. A New Edition, in One Volume, 8vo, cloth, price 7_s._\n6_d._\n\nIV.\n\nSCHOOL BOTANY; or, THE RUDIMENTS OF BOTANICAL SCIENCE. By DR. LINDLEY.\nIn One Volume, 8vo, half-bound, with 400 Illustrations, price 5_s._\n6_d._\n\nV.\n\nDESCRIPTIVE BOTANY; or, THE ART OF DESCRIBING PLANTS CORRECTLY, in\nScientific Language, for Self-Instruction and the Use of Schools. By DR.\nLINDLEY. Second Edition. Price 1_s._\n\nVI.\n\nPAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. Edited by SIR JOSEPH PAXTON and DR. LINDLEY.\nComplete in Three Volumes, price 33_s._ each, elegantly bound in cloth.\nThis work appeared in Monthly Parts, which are still on sale, price\n2_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\nVII.\n\nPAXTON'S BOTANICAL DICTIONARY; Comprising the Names, History, and\nCulture of all Plants known in Britain, together with a full Explanation\nof Technical Terms. Crown 8vo, price 16_s._ cloth extra.\n\nVIII.\n\nTHE LADIES' COMPANION TO THE FLOWER GARDEN. Being an Alphabetical\nArrangement of all the Ornamental Plants grown in Gardens and\nShrubberies. With full directions for their Culture. By Mrs. LOUDON. The\nSixth Edition, cloth gilt, price 7_s._\n\nIX.\n\nPRACTICAL HINTS ON PLANTING ORNAMENTAL TREES. With particular reference\nto Conifer\u00e6. In which all the Hardy Species are popularly described. By\nMessrs. STANDISH and NOBLE. Price 5_s._ in cloth.\n\nX.\n\nHOW TO LAY OUT A GARDEN. Intended as a General Guide in Choosing,\nForming, or Improving an Estate (from a Quarter of an Acre to a Hundred\nAcres in extent). By EDWARD KEMP. Price 12_s._ Illustrated with numerous\nPlans, Sections, and Sketches of Gardens and General Objects.\n\nXI.\n\nTHE HANDBOOK OF GARDENING. By EDWARD KEMP, For the use of Persons who\npossess a small Garden. The Eleventh Edition, enlarged and improved.\nPrice 2_s._ in cloth.\n\nXII.\n\nMY KITCHEN GARDEN; MY COWS; and HALF AN ACRE OF PASTURE. By a COUNTRY\nPARSON. Price 6_d._\n\n\nMISCELLANEOUS WORKS.\n\nCIVILIZED AMERICA. By THOMAS COLLEY GRATTAN, late Her Britannic\nMajesty's Consul for the State of Massachusetts; Honorary Member of the\nAmerican Institute, the New York and Boston Historical Societies, &c.\n&c.; Author of \"A History of the Netherlands,\" \"Highways and Byways,\"\n&c. &c. Second Edition. In Two Vols., Demy 8vo, with a Coloured Map,\nprice 28_s._\n\n \"The chief importance of Mr. Grattan's work at this moment\n consists, however, in its explanation of the North-Eastern\n Boundary dispute, and of the questionable proceedings of our\n American cousins in the course of its discussion.\"--_The\n Times_, Dec. 29.\n\nSIR PETER PAUL RUBENS. Original Unpublished Papers illustrating his Life\nas an Artist and a Diplomatist. Preserved in Her Majesty's State Paper\nOffice. With an Appendix. Collected and Edited by W. NOEL SAINSBURY (of\nHer Majesty's State Paper Office.) In One large 8vo Volume, bound in\ncloth, price 16_s._\n\nTHE LIFE AND TIMES OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH. By JOHN FORSTER,\nBarrister-at-Law, Author of \"Lives of Statesmen of the Commonwealth.\"\nCrown 8vo, price 7_s._ 6_d._, with Forty Woodcuts.\n\n \"This is real Biography.\"--_Quarterly Review_, Oct. 1854.\n\nTHE EGYPTIANS IN THE TIME OF THE PHARAOHS. By SIR GARDNER WILKINSON,\nD.C.L., F.R.S. To which is added, an INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF\nEGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. By SAMUEL BIRCH. Crown 8vo, with numerous\nIllustrations, price 7_s._ 6_d._ cloth.\n\n \"A delightful book to go to Sydenham with.\"--_Athen\u00e6um._\n\nTHE COMIC BLACKSTONE. By G. A. \u00e1BECKETT, Author of the \"Comic History of\nEngland,\" &c. With an Illustration by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. New Edition,\nfcap. 8vo, price 2_s._\n\nTHE QUIZZIOLOGY OF THE BRITISH DRAMA. By G. A. \u00e1BECKETT, Author of the\n\"Comic History of England,\" &c. With Illustrations by G. CRUIKSHANK.\nFcap. 8vo, cloth. Price 2_s._\n\nSCRIPTURAL CHURCH TEACHING. By Rev. H. MOULE. 12mo., cloth. Price 2_s._\n6_d._\n\nBARRACK SERMONS. By Rev. H. 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Price 1_s._\n\nTHE GREAT EASTERN'S LOG; containing Her First Transatlantic Voyage, and\nall Particulars of Her American Visit. By an EXECUTIVE OFFICER. Price\n1_s._\n\n\nCHARLES KNIGHT'S\n\nPOPULAR HISTORY OF ENGLAND.\n\nThe Publishers of this Work have to announce a change in its mode of\nissue. The necessity for this change rests upon the following\nrepresentation of the Author, which appears to the Publishers as\nconclusive as they trust it will be satisfactory to the Public.\n\n \"I have been occupied,\" says Mr. Knight, \"during nearly five\n years, in writing the Popular History of England, for Monthly\n Publication. With three exceptions it has appeared regularly\n during that period; and has now reached to Fifty-three Numbers,\n bringing up the narrative to 1793. I now find it\n impossible,--in the first place, with a proper regard to my own\n health, and, secondly, with an anxious desire to complete my\n book in a way to justify the favour with which it has been\n received,--to proceed with a _Monthly_ Publication. The\n pressure of a periodical issue, with so short an interval\n between each publication, has become incompatible, according to\n my view, with a due regard to the research and thought which\n are necessary to deal with the vast accumulation of materials\n for history since the period of the French Revolution. The\n difficulty which now presses upon my responsibility for\n accuracy and impartiality has not been felt by me in the\n earlier stages of my undertaking, when the field of\n investigation was more limited. It has now become so onerous as\n to demand a decisive change.\n\n \"I propose, therefore, that it should be announced that the\n publication in Monthly Numbers will be discontinued, and\n therefore that a Number will not appear on the 1st of October.\n\n \"That the quantity required to complete Vol. VII. will be\n published as a Part, or Section in the month of January, 1861,\n simultaneously with the publication of the Volume.\n\n \"That Volume VIII., completing the work, will be published in\n the course of 1861; and, for the convenience of purchasers,\n will be divided into two Parts, or Sections.\"\n\nIn making this announcement the Publishers have only to add, that on the\nappearance of each of the Parts, or Sections, the Work will also be on\nsale in the usual form of Shilling Numbers.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u261e _The Six Volumes of the_ POPULAR HISTORY OF ENGLAND, _which are now\ncompleted, bring down the narrative from the Invasion of C\u00e6sar to the\nclose of the American War. The first Four Volumes, forming the First\nDivision of the Work, carry down the history to the Revolution of 1688,\nand are published with a copious Index. The Second Division, commencing\nwith Volume V., will come down to that period of the reign of her\npresent Majesty which has become a constitutional epoch in the important\nchange of the commercial policy of the country. The price of each Volume\nis 9s._\n\n\nBRADBURY & EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C.\n\n\n * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes\n\nNumerous errors in punctuation (mostly missing periods) have been\nsilently corrected. Otherwise, the somewhat eccentric use of punctuation\nhas been left untouched.\n\nThe following typographical errors have been corrected:\n\n\"Publiliu\" (p. xi): corrected to \"Publilius\";\n\"educa-\" (p.6): corrected to \"education\";\n\"isin\" (p. 38): corrected to \"nisi\";\n\"vain for his recal\" (p. 43): corrected to \"vain for his recall\";\n\"it it is said\" (p. 94): corrected to \"it is said\";\n\"Romans to continuue (p. 117): corrected to \"Romans to continue\";\n\"Hasbrubal\" (p. 190): corrected to \"Hasdrubal\";\n\"to day\" (p. 241): corrected to \"to-day\";\n\"Sertorious\" (p. 277): corrected to \"Sertorius\";\n\"ttifled\" (p. 297): corrected to \"stifled\".\n\nThere are many examples of words with two spellings: one with a hyphen\nand one without; this seems often to be deliberate (and often for\nhumorous purpose) and they have therefore been left unchanged (e.g.\ndis-gusted and disgusted; Ro-man and Roman).\n\nThere is no consistency in the use of the \u00e6 ligature. For example, Both\n\u00c6milius and Aemilius, Pr\u00e6neste and Praeneste are found. These\ninconsistencies have been left unaltered.\n\nSimilarly the spelling Maxim\u00f9s, which appears in a footnote on p. 16,\nhas been left unaltered, although the spelling elsewhere is Maximus.\n\nText in bold is indicated by =bold=.\n\n\n\n\n\n
","title":"The Comic History of Rome","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":141559}